The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-01 00:00:00

THE VIENNA CONFERENCES.

Mr. DISRAELI—Seeiug the noble !ord the Secretary
for the Colonial Department once more among us—
(laughter)—l take the liberty of inquiring whether it is
the intention of the noble lord to lay any papers upon
the table with respect to his late mission, or -to make
any statement to the house with regard to it, and, if so,
when ? And whether it is his intention, by any other
means, to afford the house any information as to the
proceedings of the last two months at Vienna? (Hear,
hear.) I should be glad to hear from the Government
what their intentions are on this subject.
Lord PALMERSTON--Before my noble friend re•
plies to the question, I wish to correct an answer I gave
to the hon. member for Manchester the other evening in
reply to his question whether the Russian Plenipoten-
tiaries had made any counter-proposals to the Conference
after the rejection of the proposals made by the English
and French Plenipotentiaries.' I then answered from a
telegraphic message, and such messages are generally
rather short—(a laugh)—but from despatches subse.
quently received it appears that cTinter-proposals were
made by the Russian Plenipotentiaries, those counter-
proposals, however, not being deemed- either by the
British, the Fren,ch, the Austrian, or the Turkish Pleni-
potentiaries as calculated to produce a satisfactory con-
clusion.

Lord J. RUSSELL then rose, and was received with
some cheering. The noble lord said—ln reply to the
questions which have been put to me by the right hon.
gentleman, I have to state, in the first place, that I
do not think it is for me to decide what papers shall
be laid upon the table of the house. I may say,
however, that I believe her Majesty's Government
intend very shortly to lay upon the table the pro-
tocols of the Conferences which have taken place at
Vienna. Those protocols will convey to the house in-
formation of the substance of the negotiations that have
taken place. Perhaps I may say a few words more,
without intending to go into any detail as to the nego-
tiations. The first meeting of the conference was on
the 15th of March. The negotiations with respect t 6
the first two of the four points with which the house is
acquainted lasted until the 26th of March. On the
26th of March the third point came under consideration.
It was suggested by the plenipotentiaries of Austria that
the plenipotentiaries of Russia should themselves make
a proposal calculated to satisfy the exigencies of the
case. The plenipotentiaries of Russia replied that they
had no instructions to do so, but they asked for time to
refer to their Government. The consequence was that
the conference was then adjourned, and that no meeting
for the transaction of business took place until the an-
swer was received from St. Petersburg. On the 17th of
April another conference was held, when the pleni-
potentiaries of Russia informed the conference
that they had received instructions from their Go-
vernment not to take the initiative of any proposi-
tions, but that they were ready to hear and discuss
any proposal which might be submitted to the confer-
ence. The representatives of the allied Powers then re-
quested 48 hours to consider the farm in which they
should make their proposal, and on the 19th of April the
plenipotentiaries of France and of Great Britain, sup-
ported by the plenipotentiaries of Austria, laid their
proposition before the conference. The Russian pleni-
potentiaries, on their side, asked for 48 hours in order to
prepare their answer to this proposition. Accordingly,
on the 21st they gave their answer totally rejecting the
propositions which had been made to the conference.
They stated to us, however, that they had propositions
to make on the part of their Government which they
conceived would be in accordance with the demand that
Turkey should he united more closely with the mainte-
nance of the balance of power in Europe, and that some
restriction should be placed upon the preponderance of
Russia in the Black Sea. The plenipotentiaries of Aus-
tria, France, and Great Britain found those proposals of
Russia entirely unacceptable, and refused to consider
them in detail. The plenipotentiary of Austria then
said, although these propositions had been rejected, he
trusted that all the means of reconciling the belli-
gerent parties by peace were not yet exhausted. To
this the plenipotentiaries of France and of Great
Britain replied that their instructions were exhausted,
and that they had no powers to consider any
further propositions. , I then considered that the
best way of performing my duty would be to 're-
pair to my own Government, and to lay before them
the whole state of the case with respect to the negotia-
tions at Vienna, and the manner in which the confer-
ences had been suspended. Two or three days after-
wards the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, having
requested the orders of the Emperor, came to a similar
determination. I believe he was expected to arrive in
Paris last night, and I have no doubt he will lay before
his Government hie account of the occurrences that have
taken place in the course of those negotiations.
Mr. DISRAELI—I wish to inquire whether, before
the protocols of the conference are laid upon the table—
and I trust they will be produced with all possible de-
spatch—her Majesty's Government have any objection
to give us some preliminary papers—for instance, de-
spatches of our ambassador or plenipotentiary at Vienna,
which will afford us an authentic and official description
of what the four points are ? The noble lord will per-
haps recollect that at the present moment we have not
the four points on the table of the house in au official
form. I think, therefore, it would be very much for the
convenience of the house if, without loss of time, we
were put in possession of these preliminary papers, so
that, before the protocols of the conferences are in our
hands, we may understand what were the data and the
bases upon which those conferences took place, and why
they were brought to an end.

Lord PALMIRSTON—I think the protocols them-
selves will pretty clearly explain what the four points
were, but if the protdcols do not afford sufficient infor-
mation there can be no objection to laying some paper
on the table that will give the requisite explanation.
With regard to papers belonging to the 14ng course of
negotiation that preceded the conferences, I think
there might be great objection to their production ; but
I will take care that the house shall be in full possession
of a knowledge of the four points that were brought
under the consideration of the conferences.

Mr. DISRAELI—Perhaps I did not make my ques-
tion sufficiently clear to the noble lord. I have no
doubt that when the protocols are in our possession we
shall clearly understand the nature of the four points—
(► laugh)—but, as the Government have only given a
vague promise to produce the protocols, and have not
fixed any time when they will be placed on the table,
what I wished to know was, whether the noble lord
would have any objection to afford the house at once
some authentic knowledge of what the four points of
which we have heard so much consist ? I should not,
of course, press the Government for any private des-
patches ; but if they would lay upon the table the
single despatch in which the nature of the four points
was communicated to her Majesty's Government, so that
the house may at once be placed in possession of t►,at
information, I think such a course would be highly
satisfactory to hon. members generally, and could not
be attended with any inconvenience.
Lord PALMERSTON— Whatever papers can be
produced will be laid before the house as soon as pos-
sible, and I do not think their production will be de-
layed so long as the right hon. gentleman supposes.
(Laughter.)

Mr. DISRA.ELI—I wish only for complete and sa-
tisfactory information. The noble lord repeats that he
will lay before the house as soon as possible the protocols
of the conferences, but does he mean at the same time to
produce the correspondence which took place between
our plenipotentiaries at Vienna and her Majesty's Go-
vernment in pursuance of the treaty of December 2 ?
That is the information the home would be desirous of
having.

Lord PALMERSTON—I cannot at present say
what papers beyond the protocols will be laid upon the
table, but the Government will consider the subject.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE understood news had been re-
ceived from Vienna that negotiations bad been opened
between Russia and some of the gentlemen who had
been left' behind by the :plenipotentiaries. (A. laugh.)
He wished to ask whether any negotiations of any sort
or kind had been resumed at Vienna since the departure
of the noble lord opposite ?
Lord PALMERSTON said that since his noble
friend left Vienna some proposal had been made by
Russia, which was not deemed likely by any of the re-
presentatives of the other Powers to lead to satisfactory
results.
Mr. BASS inquired what part Turkey had taken in
the confer epees ? (A laugh.)
Lord J. RUSSELL—I cannot go into details, but
the Turkish. plenipotentiaries were of the same mind as
the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, France, and
Austria. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)