The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-26 00:00:00

NEGOTIATIONS.

The adjourned debate was resumed by
Mr. WHITESIDE, who said that after what had oc-
curred in that house with reference to this question, the
house would have failed in its duty to itself and the
people if it did not unequivocally express its in-
dignation on the conduct of the First Minister
of the Crown. He (Mr. Whiteside) admitted the im-
portance of the question, and contrasted the views of the
hon. member for Oxford and those of the noble lord on
the question—gentlemen who had rode in the same
carriage on ' this question who had expounded
their views with great ability, but not with
equal consistency ; and if there was a justification re-
quired for the motion of the right hon. gentleman, he
would ask any impartial and attentive listener
to these speeches whether there was ever exhi-
bited before that house, or any 'reasonable as-
sembly, more striking proof of inconsistency of
opinion and insincerity of, conduct, not on small mat-
ters, but on the greatest subject that could well occupy
the minds of statesmen, oh this question. On the ques-
tion of the war, the noble lord bad said he was for war,
and the honourable gentleman that he was for
peace, and would be satisfied with a treaty with Russia,
but the noble lord was for something more substantial.
The right hon. gentleman' thought the revision of the
treaty of 1841 would be of much value in the
settlement of this question, but the noble lord
thought it would amount to nothing, because, as he
very truly said, without any fresh treaty the Sultan
must call out for help when assailed. (Hear, hear.)
The honourable gentleman thought these terms real
and substantial, but the noble lord considered them
futile and useless, and so the argument stood between
them. One part of the noble lord's speech claimed
his attention on account of its fairness, be-
lieving that everything the noble lord said,
from his position, entitled him to implicit
respect, and that was that the negotiations with which
he was charged to conduct at Vienna that,
although the noble lord thought the success
of those negotiations came within the - range of
possibility, he felt at no time sanguitie of it.
The chief of the negotiations had, in fact, described him-
self as the leader of the forlorn hope of diplomacy—
(hear)—and such being the case, they were survrised if
hon. members still hesitated to vote for the motion
of his right honourable *friend. (Hear.) The result was
that those who proposed to pursue a direct and
honest course had the alternative but to declare that
they would do all in their power to carry on the war
and send diplomacy to the winds. (Hear.) Why, what
was the effect of the statements of the noble lord the
member for the city of London ? Why, that be had no
faith in diplomacy, and by doing so he had completely
destroyed the well drawn arguments of his noble friend
at the head of the Government. (Hear, hear.) The
opinion of the noble lord was doubtless that it had been
the intention of Russia to destroy Turkey but f'r the in-
terference of England and France, and yet with those
opinions strongly impreissed within him the noble lord
had said, on the motion IsSf the right hon. gentleman the
member for Manchester; there were still hopes that ne-
gotiation% might be entered into, and attended with
the best effects. For his own part he entertained
no such fallacious ideas believing from the
noble lord's speech of last night that any further nego-
tiations were useless. (Hear.) Much had been said about
what Russia had done for the free navigation of the
Danube. In his opinion the course she had pursued was
an insult to any civilised nation in Europe. (Hear.) The
sketch that had been given last night by the noble lord
of the course adopted by Russia, of her filching king-
doms and bribing officials, was frightful in the
extreme, and he thought that if Count Nesselrode wanted
to preserve the good opinion of the nations of the worki,
with respect to the conduct of Russia, he could not do
better than enrol the sketch given by the noble lord the
member for London in the Chancellerie of St. Petersburg,
as it would be a fitting memento of the perfidy of Russia.
The noble lord then described the evils we had to contend
with. What was the remedy ? Why, it was the moun-
tain and the mouse over again. (Laughter.) The co-
lossal power of Russia must, in some way or other, be
reduced, said the noble lord. He (Mr. Whiteside) listened
to the remedy ithe noble lord prescribed ; and what
did he point out ? Nothing—really nothing. (Laughter.)
All the noble lord suggested, as far as he (Mr. White-
side) could gather was, that something must be done
—which was a very safe theory to perform. (Hear, and
laughter.) lint, said the noble lord to the Opposition,