The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-08-05 00:00:00

_‘ • . :",

PARLIAMENT

The HousE or Comm sat on Saturday, July 29, at noon,
and completed the Committee cn the Education Bill, which
was commenced on July 10, and has extended over 12 sit-
tings. The Report was fixed for Thursday. Some other
unopposed business was disposed of, and the House ad-
journed.

In the HOUSE OF LORDS, July 31, Lord Stratheden and
Campbell, in calling attention to the further correspondence
on the affairs of Turkey, said that nothing was so likely to. I
promote war in Europe as an infraction of public law, and
expressed his ()Lewes., thee no such infraction was likely to
occur, if it were distinctly made known theseineteSO et teems
approved any infraction was likely to be resisted. Tbe
authority of the British Government would be increased,
he thought, by a declaration on the part of Parlia-
ment that the British Legislature was ready to adhere
to the guarantees provided by the Treaties of 1850,
and no one could contend that such a declaration
would be at all dangerous or superfluous at the pre-
sent time. Alluding to the alliance of the three Imperial
Powers, he remarked that Lord Derby was engaged in a
diplomatic conflict with them, and he trusted that the late
Government would not at ernpt to refuse to the Foreign
Secretary any strength which the .13-esolutlon of which he
had given notice would impart Lord Siratheden then
moved the Resolution, declaring that "the House of Lords,
anxious for the welfare of the various races subject to the
Ottoman Empire and for the improved administration of their
Government, is ready to support the measures which may
hecome necessary for upholding the Treaties of the 30th of
March and the 15th of April, 1856."
Lord Granville, after referring to the circumstances con-
nected with the Crimean War, stated that the promises made
at its conclusion on the part of the Turkish Government had
never been fulfilled; and he thought that Lord Derby ought,
at the time when the Andrassy Note was being drawn up,
clearly to have explained to the three Imperial Powers that
this Eastern Question was one in which we claimed to have
an equal share with them in the solution. As to the Berlin
Memorandum, he certainly thought it quite impossible
for the Government to have accepted it, though he did
not think that they doses ved credit for the manner in
which they declined to concur in it, and he believed that
they should have enleavoured to keep up the concert with
the other Powers f)r the purpose of seeing whether some
better proposal might not have been agreed on. I very
remarkable speech having been made to a deputa9.en at the
Foreign Office not long ago, he wished to know why the infor-
mation contained in that speech, and the explanation of the
reason for sending the British Fleet to fiesika Bay, was not
communicated at an earlier period to the House of Lords.
He expressed a hope that, whatever steps nrght be taken by
the Government to hasten a pacification in the Insurgent
Provinces of Turkey, it would also be possible for them to do
something for the amelioration of the condition of the
Christian subjects of the Porte.

Lord Derby recommended Lord Stratheden and Campbell
not to press his motion, though he admitted it was desir-
able that the subjct should be dif cussed in Parliament. In
reply to Lord Granville's observations respecting the Andrassy
Note, he explained that the British Government thought it

right to aai t until the Note was presented to them, i'ather
than insist on knowing what the Three Imperial Powers
Intended before, possibly, they knew it themselves. Passing
on t,) the Berlin Memorandum, he said it was the last
paragraph in that document which constituted the real
objection to it, for that paragraph was likely to be con-
sidered, rightly or wrongly, as a direct encouragement to
the insurgents to refuse the terms offered them. With regard
to the statement he made to a deputation at the Foreign Office,
he stated that he had not thought it right to make it at an
earlier period, becadse he conceived that the discussion of the
subject might have an unfavourable bearing on the prospect of
maintaining peace, so long as hopes of peace existed, and he
certainly considered that he took no unusual course in
volunteering a general statk ment of that kind, at a time
when it would have been undesirable to begin discussion in
the House of Lords before the official papers were communi-
cated to Parliament. He explained the circumstances under
which the British Fleet was sent to Besika Bay, adding that
the course of policy to be pursued by the Government must
depend on the result of the military operations now going
on.

The discussion was continued by Lord Stanley of Alderley,
who approved the course which Lord Derby had hitherto
pursued ; by Lord Bath, who denounced the atrocities com-
mitted by the Turks • by Lord Hammond and by Lord
Waveney. Lord stratheden and Campbell then replied, de-
clining to withdraw his motion, whereupon the Duke of
Richmond and Gordon moved the "previous question," which
n a- -re awes 'atrssivn
Amendments, and the other business having teen disposed
of, their Lordships adjourned.
In the HOUSE OF COMMONS, in answer to Mr. Forster, Mr
Disraeli said he had heard from Constantinople and Athens
that there was no foundation for the statement that it was
Intended to settle eircassiane in the Provinces bordering on
the Greek Empire; and Mr. Lowther informed Sir E. Wilmot
that the Colonial Office has no knowledge of, and has given
no authoriz,tion for, the attack on the capital of Dahomey
as reported by the Daily News of last Friday.
The Turkish Debate was opened by Mr. Bruce, who moved
"That this House is of opinion that her Majesty's Govern-
ment, while maintaining the respect due to existing
Treaties, should e ercise all their influence with the
view of securing the common welfare and equal treat-
ment of the various races and religions which are under
the authority of the Sublime P rte." Mr. Bruce began by
explaining that the language of his motion had been changed
in order not to introduce the smallest spice of party spirit
into the debate. Our interest in retaining the Turks at Con-
stantinople was not because they were Tusks, but because
Turkey was an unaggressive and a settled Power; but we
ware net willing to purchase this advantage by the main-
tenance of a system of cruelty Mr. Bruce next reviewed at
length the condition of the disturbed Provinces' and the
course of events leading up to the Andrassy Note, the
saionica massacre, the despatch of the Fleets to Bestirs' Bay,
and the Berlin Note. The grievances of the Iniurgents were
more agrarian and fiscal than religious. He thought she
Government to blame for having admitted, by the acceptance
of the Andrassy Note, that the three Northern Powers
had a special right to interfere in the affairs of Turkey;
but be approved the despatch of our Fleet to Besika,
because it relieved the Turk from the suspicion that
he was to be crushed without consideration and without
fair play, and thereby calmed the Irritation which had begun
to take possession of the Turkish mind, and prevented the
repetition of outrages. The policy of non-intervention was
the wisest which could have been adopted: and when the
Powers were called on to stop the effusion of blood, he
urged that the ref,rms should be secured in such a manner
as to enlist the support of the Mussulman population.
Merely to sustain the cause of the Christian egainst the
Turk would never bring about a permanent settlement.

Mr. Hanbary, in seconding the R,.eolution, maintained
that at present, at least, Tut key waa the only Power which
we could trust with the keys of Asia and oar Colonies. Bce
oppressions by which it was said that the insurrection hAd
beets bromht about were not comm tLed by the Turkush
Government, but by the Idahomadan Slays and by their own
Bbhops, and by the rich Christians, and he denied that
Turks, if able, were more fanatical than Western
nations. In fact, the Austrian Slays had suffered more htli
those In the Ta:kl.ll dominions. Mr. limitary looked for-
ward to the time when the Serbs would forma strong barrier
against the advance of Russia southward, for no nation
bated Russia more heartily, tivugh they were glad to receive
aid from her. Throughout ell these proceedings the policy
of Great Britain had shone out straightforward and clear.

Mr. Forsyth moved an amendment—" That this Home is
of opinion that It is the duty of the British Government, as
one of the Powers which, under the Treaty of UK guaran-
teed the independence of the Ottoman Empire, in any steps
that may be taken with a view to the restoration of peace
between the Ottoman Porte and her Sclayout(' provinces, to
obtain for those provinces adequate and effectual guarantees
for good and impartial rovernment, irrespective of race or
creed." He (Mr. Forsyth) in opposition to !dr. Bruce and Mr.
Hanbury, maintained that the insurrection had been pro-
voked by the corruption and misgovernment of the Ottoman
Porte and by the cruelty of the lurks; cud Sir If. Wolff, in
seconding his amendment, argued that the despatch of our
fleet to Besika Bay gave us a right to speak to Turkey in
strong laagnage. it was idle to contend that the insurrec-
tion had been brought about by foreign interference. The
cause was her own misgovernment, and Turkey ought to be
made to understand that since she had been admitted Into
the circle of European Powers, she could only maintain her-
self within it by governing her Provinces after the European
fashion.

After speeches of great lei gth had been made by Lord E.
Fitzmanrice, Sir H. Wolff, and Mr. Holms,
-- -- - -

Mr. Gladstone rose, as the sole surviving member of
Parliament who was responsible for the Crimean War, to
justify that war, and to show that its results afforded a
means of dealing with this crisis. First of all, however,
he-corrected M. Bright's misapplication on a recent ooze-
sion of Lord Clarendon's celbbrated phrase "drifting into
war." The object of the war was the defence of the Turkish
Empire from outward attack and against corruption and
I dissolution irom within, anu the particular points to which
our attention was directed were the navigation of the
Danube, the Russian preponderance In the Black Sea,
the position of the Principslities, and the separate pro-
tection of the Christians claimed by Russia. On all these
points Rusts was worsted, and so reduced in her resources
that the terror of Russia was now a mire bugbear. Her
best friends, indeed, were the alarmists who implanted in
the minds of the Christian population the notion that
Russia was as powerful as ever to assist them. The re-
sult of the war was to substitute a collective protection
for the particular protection claimed by the Russians; and
we also acquired a moral right diplomatically to interfere
and to remonstrate with the Sultan. The promises made
by the Tnrklids Government at that time had never
been fulfilled, tot so much from iniquity as from
Impotence, and this Mr. Gladstone enforced by
quotations from Lord Derby and Lord Stratford.
tiade.rpOanttheids
Tu
point and on the rkith atrocities Mr.
at considerable length. Proceeding to criticize the conduct
of the Government, he blamed trim for not protesting
vigorously against the attempt of the Three Powers to
assume to themselves the initiative in dealing with Turkey.
They seemed also to have forgotten that they had acquired
;he moral right of remonstrance with the Government ; and
he found fault with the way in which the Fleet had been
sent to Besika Bay. It was an error, too, to have re-
acted the Berlin Memorandum without having some
counter-project of our own. As for the future, the first
thing to be done was to restore the European concert, for
without that nothing could be accomplished, and this, he
hoped, would be followed by measures conceived in the spirit
and advancing in the direction of self-government. The
application of the principle of local administration had been
successful in other parts of the Turkish Empire, principally
In the Principalities. Be was in favour of maintaining the
territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and, believing
that the prolongation of hostilities could be of no use to the
Porte, he hoped that no time would be lost in this concerted
action.

Mr. Disraeli commented on the vague character of the
Motion and Amendments, which expressed no opinion, but
rather a sentiment, and remerked that as the conduct of the
G ivernment was not censured, he woul I not defend, but
merely explain it from the id-ginning. The policy of the
British Goverument wars througnout a policy of non-inter-
ference, and that was the reason why, until earnestly pressed
by turkey, we refused to join in the Audrassy Note. No
doubt, when we refused to sanction the Berlin Memorandum,
we were in an isolated position : but it ended in the other
five Powers coming over to our pnlicy of neutrality.
The Government refused to sanction the Berlin Memorandum
ulterior rLioorra inxeasruirtez_
s
which won
because they knew that the Turks could nut possibly carry
out the promises they were asked to give; and at the end of
the Memorandum
hnduamvethleedre
t occupation. was
a
of
fAs
Maurice's suggestion that we should have been ready with
could be more unwise than to make
propositionsa
counter-project, nothing
of
Carrying
which we had no means
the fleet to Balks Bay, Mr.
out. The despatch of
Disraeli explakned, was Aral of all _ .to Pr° tea the
English residents at Constantinople, but the meet