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

IYIPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

SOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.)
The Loin) CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
Lord BROUGHAM moved for certain returns con-
nected with the, administration of the criminal law as
regards the trial of persons accused of petty larcenies.
THE CHURCH IN CANADA.
The Bishop of OXFORD rose to move for an address
presented to her Majesty by the House of Assembly and
Legislative Council of Canada, praying for the removal
of disadvantages to which the Church in Canada was sub-
jected, and to enable it to elect its own bishops, and also
for any answer which had been given thereto. The
right rev, prelate said that when the notice for those returns
Was placed before their lordships, it would be time
enough for him to enter into details on the subject.
Hbe
h e
would take that opportunity of observing that henefitted-
lieved the Church and State in this country
e for
by the relations that. existed between them, an d he
one would not see this relation altered. The supremacy
of the Crown, on the whole, in its influence was highly
beneficial to the Church of this land. The reason why
the Church of England had authority with the Crown
was this ; the Church ofd ngland was acknowledged to
be the national Church, d every step tending t take
from it that character took from it also that wholesome
influence which he wished to preserve.
Earl GRANVILLE said be had no objection to the
'stun's asked for.
The Earl of DERBY said he regretted the course
which had been taken with respect to the Church of
Canada. He felt, however, that he was by no means
responsible for what he considered was a violation of
the engagements which had been entered into between
the Church and State of Canada.
The Bishop of OXFORD said he bad not given his
sanction to the Clergy Reserves Bill ; on the contrary, he
considered the act to be a spoliation of church property.
THE NEGOTIATIONS AT VIENNA.
Earl GREY then rose to bring forward the motion of
which he had given notice on this subject. After stating
the pain which he felt' at bringing forward a motion of
which very few of their lordships would approve, and
which implied a censure of many of the political friends
with whom he had been connected, the noble earl pro-
ceeded :—But though for these reasons I would gladly
have resigned the task I have now to perform, I am im-
pelled to proceed by many more powerful motives. I
cannot, my loid, look on the calamities in which Europe
is now involved without a feeling of horror that it is
impossible to describe. The noble marquis (the
Marquis of Lansdowne) informed the house the
other evening that upon information which had
reached the Government, of the accuracy of which
he did not doubt, he believed that the number of Rus-
sian soldiers who had perished by the sword or disease
since this war began was not fewer than nearly 250,000.
I see in the public newspapers, upon calculations
apparently founded on very sufficient data, that the
loss of the Turkish armies from the same causes
are not less than 120,000 men. We know how heavy
have been the losses of our own army, and that of our
allies the French, and if to those who have perished in
these armies we add the inhabitants of the provinces
which have been the seat of war, who have fallen victims
to want, to disease, and to violence arising from the war
now unhappily going on—when, I say, we reckon up the
total sacrifice of lives from all these causes, it is impos-
sible to believe that. it is less than 500,000 persons.
500,000 human beings already sacrificed to the grim
idol of war, before it has yet lasted three years ! Think
of the amount of suffering which that represents, not so
much perhaps on the part of victims who have died and
are at rest, but think of the anguish of the wounded,
the pain and the misery of the sick. And then recollect
that not one of these 500,000 men, whether our fellow-
subjects, or those of other nations, but has left be-
hind those near and dear to him whO have suffered
grief and anguish from his loss. Recollect the pro-
vinces devastated, the progress of civilisation, indus-
try, and commerce arrested, and thrown back perhaps
for years. And think of the moral evils which must
have resulted from a war which proverbially rouses the
worst passions in human nature. How many men in
the contending armies must be demoralised by this wais
and unfitted for the pursuits of peace ! The expenditure
of money which has taken place is a lesson, but is no
slight evil. Even in our own country we know that the
expenditure on the war before the termination of the
second year will not fall short of fifty millions. 'You
must consider how enormous a sum that is. How many
objects of first importance to this country have been
postponed for years-for one-tenth or one-twentieth part
of that sum. Consider what that sum would have done
for the permanent welfare of the country, if, instead of
the purposes of destruction, it had been expended for
the public welfare. With such a sum at our disposal
this great city might have been relieved from the oppro-
brium of its present sanitary condition, and the educa-
tional wants of the country been provided for even by
a permanent endowment. When, my lords, I reflected
on the magnitude of the evils thus brought on
Europe and the world, and felt satisfied that an oppor-
tunity was recently thrown away, by which, if judi-
ciously improved, a reasonable prospect of terminating
these calamities was afforded, I could not reconcile it to
my conscience if I failed to raise my voice in protest
against the course which has led to such results. lam
willing, my lords, to assume, for the sake of argument,
that the policy of this war, from which I have more than
once expressed my dissent, was right—that Turkey was
engaged in a quarrel in which it is the duty of this coun-
try to come forward to her support. And even on that
assumption I am prepared to contend that the Govern-
ment erred in refusing to entertain the proposals made
by the Russians in the recent negotiations, which, I
think, afforded a fair ground for discussion ; a basis for
negotiation which was capable of being worked out to a
satisfactory settlement of the differences between the
two nations. That is the opinion which I ask
your lordships to express in an humble address to
her Majesty, and if I can succeed in convincing your
lordships of its soundness, I apprehend that there can
be no doubt that it is not only the right but the bounden
duty of your lordships to lay your opinion before her
Majesty, to inform her that in your opinion she has been
ill advised by her confidential servants. I do not pro-
pose to go farther than to ask you to inform her Ma-
jesty that you think a mistake has been committed by
shutting the door, as has been done at Vienna, to fur-
ther negotiations with Russia. I do not presume to
suggest what further steps should be taken. I know
that after negotiations have been suspended sine die
their resumption is a matter of great delicacy. I know
that we have an ally with whom we must act in con-
cert,. and I do not, therefore, ask you to suggest to her
Majesty any further steps. I believe that if her Ma-
jesty's Government could be induced to think that ne-
gotiations should be opened on .the basis offered by
Russia, they could not be at a loss to do so. Nor do
I think they would encounter great difficulties on the
part of our ally. Because, unless the public have
been misinformed, and unless all the symptoms by
which the public can judge, have deceived us, we may
come to the Conclusion that the view of her Majesty's
Government on this subject has had no inconsiderable
influence on the opinions formed by France ; and that if
they were led to form more pacific views, their coming to
that conclusion would have its just weight with our allies,
and they would find no difficulty in inducing them to
adopt a corresponding policy. I would, in the first
place, beg leave to remind your lordships what were the
objects for which the war was originally undertaken,
and what was the quarrel in which it originated. lam
sure your lordships must all remember that when this
war began, we wera informed by her Majesty's l-lovern-
naent, that in entering upon it they had no views of
selfish advantage, that it was strictly a defensive war,
to repel an unjust aggression committed by a reigning
sovereign. The same view was still more formally re-
corded almost immediately after the war began, in the
Vienna protocol oc. April 9, 1854, which insisted on the
abandonment by Russia of the principalities, and on the
surrender of her claim to the exclusive rotection of
the Greek Christians of the Turkish empire, there
being then no question as to the revision of the treaty
of 1841, I ask, your lordships, have not these objects
been long since attainedl Russia has many months ago
been compelled to evacuate the principalities ; her de-
mand from Turkey of the recognition of her right to pro-
tect the Greek Christians iu the Turkish dominions has
been long since withdrawn, and she is willing that a
common league of Christian Europe should be formed
for the protection of the Christian subjects of the Porte.
Undoubtedly, when you had once take up arms, you de-
clared that you would require more than you deemed
necessary before the war commenced, and would exact
security for the future by means of means of additional
concessions. Accordingly the powers deliberated to-
gether, and agreed upon arrangements to be proposed to
Russia and taken as the groundwork of negotiations. In
the first instance Russia rejected them, but ultimately
she accepted them, and the recent conference at Vienna
washeld for the purpose of ascertaining whether Russia
and the allied powers would agree on the method of
giving effect to those four heads of agreement, which
on the 28th of December had been communicated to
Russia. When the'Conferences opened no serious diffi-
enitr was experinced on the first two heads. Russia
e'mentsid to give up all her treaty rightS with regard to
the - •
sionTtelf iasPaluititi.es of Wallachia and Moldavia, a conces-
sion
asking at the importance, which you did not think
lm
ngly admit
ise begiening of the war but which I wii-
to diminish thel vet"' great value, and tends materially
pointi seenas to have
of future war. Russia on this
arrangement was
concluded
you as fairly as possible, and an
powers
by common accord between
her and the allied
the constitution of one or
more states in the PrincrifiTties, which were to be in fu-
ture entirely relieved from exclusive protectorate or
anti
on
2d article related to
right of interference by
he navigationof the Danube,
tatubead also Russia
greatestd
granted all your demands. The
id was that on
which it was always felt that %I
several
iviraentils
sltayftwerotuhide
arise. It was never started until
war had broken out, and the first allusion made to it w
in the month of July, 1854, on the vote of credit b a:
ien "
proposed for the continuance of the war. It was
to
this effect, that the revision of the treaty of July 1841,
must have for its object to connect the existence of thn
Ottoman empire more completely with the European
equilibrium, and to put an and to the preponderance of
Russii in thi3 Black Sea. Upon the first part of this
beast-ys serious difficulty arose, and an article was agreed
'post_declaring that the -high contracting parties engaged
"."11144, twreepect the independence and territorial in-
-11.17147 or the Ottoman empire, guaranteeing together
6°4s'nes°l3l€44linee of this arrangement, 'and in cones-
frineills7C4l:4l4:....stg. every sot or. event of a nature to in-
satiate rArtiinr..ft,(!Y_*, can interest. second
Witten tht Potteastaitit a inisunderitandlirg should-. arise
one of the high tontractivg par-.