The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-24 00:00:00

THE GUANO ISLAND OF AVES.

Mr. HORSFALL a ked the First Lord of the
Treasury whether her Majesty's Government were aware
of the fact of the Venezuelan Government, or persons in
the name of that Government, havieg taken peesessien
id the Island of Ayes, which was surveyed by the Bri-
tish Government in 1849 ; and if so, whether it was in-
tended to take any measures for the recovery of the
islan.l, and far the preservation to this country of the
supply of guano, which is said to abound there ?
Lord PALMERSTON, after going into a brief state- '
meat of the cut vey of the ieland, said that the question
arose as to whether England had any right over the
island by virthe of its being unoccupied. The law
officers of the Crown had been consulted, and they had
decided that England had no right whatever over it ;
but instructions hal recently been forwarded to our
consul to require from the Venezuelan Government that
Great Brvain should have the privilege of getting guano
equally with any other country.
THE SNIYRNA HOSPITAL.
Mr. S. HE! BERT asked the Under-Secretary for '
War, whether arraireements were in prrgress for the
removal of the hospital from Smyrna to any other place
when the smuttier set in ?
Mr. F. PEEL said he did not think there was any
necessity for the change. He had been informed that
the number of patients had been reduced to 480, and
that the medical staff was quite adequate to attend to
double that number:
Mr. LA.YARD inquired whether the right hon. gen-
tlean had received any information to the eect that
them fever had broken out in the whole of the lower wards
I of the Smyrna hospital
Mr. P. PEEL said that by a letter be had received
from Dr. Meyer, dated 7th April, the general state of
the hospital was improving daily, and that the fever was
decreasing.
THE VIENNA CONFERENCE.
Mr. BRIGHT said he wished to ask the noble lord at
the head of the Government a question of which he had
not given notice, but the subject of which was of great
importance. Me understood that the noble lord
the member for London had left Vienna and
he wished to know whether, therefore, our ne-
gotiations might be considered to be at an end ;
and if so whether the noble lord at the head of the Go
vernment could inform the house on what day the noble
lord the member for London would make a specific
statement as to the result of his mission, or if some
documentary information would be rought for-
ward showing precisely what was the difference be-
tween the terms offered by the Allies and those pro-
posed by Russia ; also what terms had been offered by
the Russian Government, in order that the house and
the country might clearly understand on what ground
the war would in future be conducted ? (Hear, hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON—Sir, the question which has
been asked by the hon. gentleman is of too deep impel'.
tance to he allowed to pass by without same explana-
tion. (Hear.) What may be the time at which the
Government may think fit to make a more detailed state-
ment on the subject I cannot of course now say ; but
it is well known to the house that the English and
French Governments, in concert with Austria, have de-
termined that the proper development of the third point,
which revived the treaties of 1840 and 1841 with respect
to the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, that the proper
development of that point should be that the predomi-
nance of Russia in the Black Sea should henceforth
cea-e. That was the principle laid down by Eng-
land and France, and agreed to by Austria, and it
was virtually accepted by the Russian plenipotentiary.
On Thursday last, when the Conference met, when the
plenipotentiaries of England, France, Austria, Turkey,
and Russia were present, the plenipotentiaries of
England, France, Austria. and Turkey proposed
to the Russian plenipotentiary, as a way of
causing the preponderance of Russia in the Black
Sea to cease, that the amount of the Russian naval furce
should be limited by treaty, or as an alternative,
that the Black Sea should he declared neutral, and
that all ships of war should be excluded from it.
Toe Russ;an represen'ative required 48 hours to con-
sider this proposal. Those hours elapsed on Saturday,
then another conference was held and at that he abso-
lutely refused to accept either of the alternatives proposed.
Thereupon the Conference adjourned sine die, and the
noble lord the member for London and the French minis-
ter were, I believe, to take their departuro from Vienna
in the course of the p-esent day. I should add that Russia
made no counter proposition. (Hear, hear.)