The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 17, 1863.

Sclavonie race of the Greek faith, but independent of the
orthodox Greek Church as represented by the Greek Patri-
arch at Constantinople. You have Bulgaria, inhabited by
a race presenting an ethnological anomaly. Although speak-
ing the Sclavonic language and professing the Greek faith
they are, in fact, a Tartar tribe. The landowners are
Turks, and they hold the land absolutely. The labouring
population are Christians of the Greek faith, yet not accept-
ing the superintendence of the Greek Patriarch at Constan-
tinople, for a very short time ago so great was the struggle
to throw off the Government of the Greek Patriarch, that
they actually threatened to become Roman Catholics if they
did not succed. You have Bosnia, inhabited by a Scla-
vonic race. At the tine of the Turkish conquest the land-
owners embraced the Mahomedan faith to save their lands.
But the people are of the Greek faith. In Roumelia you have
a Sclavonic people of the Greek faith, and the landowners
are Turks. We then come to Albania, where, with the ex-
ception of the south, the population is Mahomedan, In
Thessaly you have a substratum of the Greek race, but there
too the landowners are for the most part descendants of the
old Mahomedan conquerors; u hile in Macedonia much the
same state of things prevails. But what, let me ask, is the
population of these provinces, for it is of importance the
real facts of the case should be known to the country. I
find that M. Übicini,Who is a good authority on the subject,
gives the population as follows. He sets down the Otto-
mans in Turkey in Europe as being 2,400,000 ; the slave
Greeks, 4,000,000 ; Armenians, 400,000 ; Jews, 70,000 ;
Slaves, 6,200,000 ; Rounnins, 1,500,000 ; Albanians,
1,500,000; Tartars, 46,000; and Tsigames, a pecular
race, 214,000. In Constantinople you have Mahomedans,
475,000;Armenians, 205,000, the Greeks being only 130,000.
Such being the case, you will perceive that the great ma-
jority of the population is Mahomedan, while in the pro-
vinces the Mahomedans are also the great landowners.
More than this, they are men inured to arms, against whom
the Christians have no power of successfully contending. I
must, moreover, maintain, in opposition to my hon. friend
that it was not the Turks who corrupted the Greeks, and I
venture to say that no conquerors ever pursued a more libe-
ral policy than that which the Turks adopted. They ac-
knowledged the church of the Greeks and their municipal
system. It is all very well to talk of taking the Greeks to
Constantinople. Indeed, I do not exactly know what is
meant by those who speak after that fashion. Do they de-
sire to give Constantinople a Greek Administration and a
Greek King ? If so, the result of their action would be to
cause a disturbance throughout the whole population. Now,
without being particularly in love with the Mahomedans,
I wish to be just to all parties, and how, let me ask, if the
views to which I have adverted are carried into effect, do
you propose to deal with the Mahomedan landholders ? Are
you to forfeit their lands ? The consequences of such a po-
licy are too horrible to contemplate. You cannot expect
4,000,000 of a warlike race to leave their lands without a
struggle, and you would in the end have the Powers of
Europe marching in, and in all probability, an European
war, My hon. friend alluded to Belgrade, and I think it
is well to state that Servia was under the guarantee of the
European Powers; that Turkey never broke the treaty
with Servia, while she over and over again violated it in
the case of Turkey. When, however, there was a struggle
in Servia between those who attempted to oppress the peo-
ple and the people themselves, the Porte invariably took the
side of the liberal party. The hon. gentleman then en-
tered into a narrative of the events which had taken place
in Servia, observing that the Servians, instead of applying
themselves to the development of their own resources, had
been worked upon by intriguers who sought to pick quarrels
between the Servian and Turkish populations, and contending
that to throw the blame of what followed entirely on the
Turks was to adopt a line of argument totally at variance
with the facts of the case. Now (continued the hon. gen-
tleman) what we say is that we should like to see the posi-
tion of the Christians improved ; that we should wish them
to have the full enjoyment of their properties, to be allowed
to profess their religion unmolested, and to be as well go-
verned as possible. That we believe to be a surer way to
better their condition than to permit them to be worked
upon every year by intriguers, and exposed to be put down
by Turkish or European intervention. You say we are
always interfering in Turkey; but all we ask is that no one
else should interfere. Then we shall have no wish to do so.
We have no desire to throw back these populations for years
and years, instead of allowing the Turkish people to im-
prove their condition. What has happened within the last
few years in Montenegro ? She has lost some of her best
men, has been thrown back 50 years, and has gained no-
thing. If she had taken our advice instead of rising in so
hopeless a manner, all this would not have happened. My
conviction is, then, that the policy pursued by the Govern-
ment is a fair policy, and it is the best, not only for the
Christiana themselves but for Europe at large, which can
be adopted. (Cheers.)
Lord J. MANNERS condemned the policy of British
Ministers. as having in every way failed to maintain the
honour and dignity of England; and contended that through-
out the printed correspondence laid before the house there
was no evidence of any such intriguing on the part of the
Russian Government as had been imputed by the hon.
Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Layard). The
noble lord referred to the correspondence at some length in
support of his argument. He did not think the present was
a convenient time to go into the question of the cession of
the lonian Islands—(hear)—but he should state that he en-
tirely differed with the hon. member for Galway with regard
to it. From whatever point of view, whether European or
English, he considered the cession of the lonian Islands, he
could not but regard such an act upon the part of the Go-
vernment of this country as highly impolitic; and, further,
he looked upon the safeguards with which they attempted
to hedge round the cession as illusory and ineffectual. The
Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs had given them a
minute account of everything that happened all over Eu-
rope; but of Greece he said nothing. The English Go-
vernment had been dangling the bauble sceptre of Greece
before the unenraptured eyes of every German, and it might
be of every Scandinavian prince, but it so happened that
one and all declined to accept it. He knew the noble lord
opposite was fertile in resources, and that when he made
up his mind to carry out a project he would do it. As the
case now stood, it may be that as a solution of the difficulty
the crown of Greece would slip through the wearied fingers
of the noble earl the Foreign Secretary, in which case Greece
would obtain a constitutional monarch—(hear)—and this
country lose, for a time at least, one of the most rash, most
impulsive, and most meddlesome of her statesmen.
Mr. H. SEYMOUR said, although he did not think her
Majesty's Government were entirely without blame, still he
thought they did not merit all the criticisms lavished upon
them by hon. gentlemen opposite. Her Majesty's Govern
ment were not so free from blame on other points of the
negotiations, and he should like to know if King Ferdinand
was consulted before the crown of Greece was offered to
him; and if not, was that a careful consideration for the
Greeks in case he should refuse ? He also asked why the
Duke of Coburg was announced at Athens before the nego-
aiations were half concluded, a course that had tended to
bring the Greeks into contempt more than anything else.
He regretted the bungling manner her Majesty's Govern-
ment had gong abut the matter, and he asked to be informed
what had been done lately, and who was now in the field ?
The Greeks, who had behaved admirably, felt deeply the
manner in which the English Government had negotiated
the matter. The Greeks having placed the choice of their
king in our hands, it was necessary that it should be made
quickly, though he was unable to find any signs of motion.
The state of Greece was daily growing worse in consequence,
and as no man in Europe was more interested in the matter
than the noble Premier, Greece being one of his children,
which he called into existence 30 years ago, he called upon
the noble lord to act in this emergency. He considered there
was a strong parallel between Greece and Sardinia, and he
condemned the advice given by the Under Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs both to Greece and Turkey. In
reference to Turkey, the hon. gentleman (Mr. Seymour)
complained that her Majesty's Government had not used

--.
that peremptory language which they ought to have done,
and have enforced the promised reforms under the treaty of
1856. He rejoiced at the course taken by her Majesty's
Government with regard to the lonian Islands, which were
placed under our protectorate in 1815.

Lord IL SCOTT was unable to approve of the policy
pursued by her Majesty's Government. If they had as
distinctly announced to the people of Greece as they did
diplomatically to their agents that Prince Alfred was not

_ • .... _
to become King of Greece, then this unfortunate entbroglio
would not have arisen. He considered her Majesty's Go-
vernment acted wrong in dragging the names of two emi-

nent members of royalty before the public without first
having their sanction for so doing. As the whole matter
now rested with the English Government he hoped there
would be no more delay, but it appeared to him that her
Majesty's Government had been animated more with a
desire to exclude certain persons from the throne of Greece
than obtain a sovereign for that country.
Mr. D. GRIFFITH pronounced the policy of the Go-
vernment on the subject of the election of Prince Alfred to
have been wanting in frankness to the Greeks. At the same
time, their present policy towards Greece was most incon-
sthiseternetspvroiltihsibthi:tiry
ogfenisin
general policy on the Eastern question.
He entirely repudiated the right of the crown acting upon
and without the sanction of
Parliament, to cede any portion of the sovereignty of Eng-
land to another State, and therefore the offer of the Govern-
ment to make ever the lonian Islands to the kingdom of
Greece was much to be reprehended.
Mr. CAVE said it had been assumed that evening—and,
indeed, it was so whenever mention was made of the
lonian Islands in that house—that the lonians were
generally desirous of separating from England. Now, he
believed that to be an entirely erroneous impression,
(Hear, hear.) It was true, perhaps, that in their house
of Representatives, resolutions had been more than once
passed to that effect ; but it was very much to be doubted
whether the lonians were represented there at all. He

de
was at Corfu at the time the announcement was ma
that England was willing to renounce the protectorate;
and, certainly, it was not too much to say that the news

was received with universal consternation. (Hear, hear,

and laughter.) He could not do better than repeat the

language of an intelligent islander, who assured him that
every lonian who had a pair of breeches was in favour of
the Protectorate. (Laughter.) The lonians were never

more prosperous than they were at present, and all the diffi •
culties which had sprung up under Lord Seaton's constitu•
tion were fast disappearing under the energy of the present
Chief Commissioner. At the same time it could not be de•

tried that the uncertainty which now prevailed as to the
future would exercise a very deleterious effect upon the cha-
racter of the lonians. The manifest destiny of the lonian
Island was to be absorbed in Greece. He had no objection
to see them belong one day to Greece ; but it must be a
tranquil well-governed Greece. (Hear.) He believed that
expense of the occupation of the lonian Islands might be
greatly lessened, though the truest economy was the main-
tenance of the national character. By thus precipitating
an event which later might have been done with honour,we
had acted with impropriety towards our allies, and had
gained neither the gratitude of Greece, nor the good opinion
of Europe.
Mr.CLIFFORD said that the people of the lonian Islands
might be divided into two classes—those who had got places,
and those who wanted them. Though always remonstra-
ting, he believed they had been far better governed than
if they had been united to Greece. As a military station he
thought that the value of these islands had been mnch over-
rated, and since the introduction of steam they were no
longer valuable as a naval station.
Lord PALMERSTON—Sir, I own that when the la-on.
member who made this motion gave notice of his intention,
my curiosity was greatly excited to discover what could pos-
sibly be the ground upon which he would found an at tack
upon her Majesty's Government for its conduct in regard
to this affair of Greece. And certainly the result of his
speech has shown that, whatever talent he possesses—and
I do full credit to it—even his ingenuity and that of those
who have followed him have been very much at fault to find
any tangible point upon which they could rest a real attack.
They have been liberal in their personal abuse of my noble
friend at the head of the Foreign Department. But the
conduct of our foreign relations by my noble friend is suffi-
ciently known to the public to make him perfectly indiffe-
rent to the personal attacks which have been made on him
this evening. (No, no.) And judging by recent allusions
to persons in the lonian Islands, who are described as only
attacking the Government when they want places, I think
that if that be a reflection generally applicable to mankind,
my noble friend may be more indifferent than ever to the
observations which have been made this evening. (Laugh-
ter.) As far as I was able to collect what has fallen from
gentlemen opposite, I think there are one or two things
which have grievously weighed upon their minds, and
which have excited on their part bitter regret and disap-
pointment. The first is that the Greeks should have exhi-
bited so universal a desire to elect an English Prince. (No,
no.) I will prove it, because one attack which has been
made on the Government is that we did not let the Greeks
know that by our diplomatic engagements, and by conside-
rations of our own, Prince Alfred could not accept the
Crown of Greece. (Hear, hear.) But those who raised
that objection were compelled by the papers to acknowledge
that at the earliest possible moment we did let the Greeks
know that our diplomatic engagements and our own impe-
rial considerations would prevent him from accepting the
Greek crown. That when we told the Greeks that Prince
Alfred could not accept the crown if elected, and when in
spite of that communication they went on with a full de-
termination to elect him, hoping that, as they themselves
avowed, in spite of the first refusal, those objections would
be waived if he were elected by an unanimous vote of the
Greek nation, it is said, " You committed an egregious
fault because you actually told your Minister in Greece he
was not to interfere in the Greek election." Well, that
was indeed a grave offence. Would hon. meffibers opposite,
then, have had Mr. Scarlett and Mr. Elliot to have gone
about to all the Greek hustings and all the assemblies where
the elections were taking place, saying to the people "Now,
mind, you are not to vote for Prinza Alfred, but vote for
anybody else you please ?" Why, if we had instructed our
Minister to interfere in any such way, we should have been
told that it was most unbecoming thus to meddle with the
domestic concerns of any foreign nation. (Hear, hear.)
Weidid our duty by taking the earliest opportunity of ac-
quainting the Greeks that Prince Alfred could not be their
King, if elected ; but it would have been a gross imperti-
nence on our part had we interfered in the election by trying
to prevent the Greeks from voting in a particular manner.
(Hear, hear.) The noble lord opposite talked about the
instructions given to our Minister with regard to the ballot
or open suffrage. Surely the noble lord could not have
supposed anything so absurd ? What was meant was what
the plain words expressed—namely, that our Minister,
having told the Greeks what the decision of the English
Government would be, was not to meddle with the manner
in which they might see fit to express their opinions by
their votes, Sir, lam astonished that hon. gentlemen,
Englishmen, should feel this sort of regret that the Greek
nation have expressed such confidence in England. ("No,
no 1") If that is not their feeling, what is it they mean,
and what is it they would have had us do Two things
evidently weighed upon their minds,—first, that the Greek
nation should have been permitted to express a unanimous
vote in favour of an English prince, and next, that they
should not have been allowed to elect a Russian. (° No,
no 1") That is the only conclusion to which we can come
from the arguments that have been used. (" No, no 1")
When hon. gentlemen declare that we have befooled the
Greeks, that we have deluded them, and brought them into
a wretched condition, we deny every one of these assertions
and say that our course throughout was perfectly frank
and straightforward. W. told the Greeks from the first
what our position was, and what would be the result
of their election ; and if they chose in spite of this
to manifest their confidence in the British Constitu-
tion, and their attachment to the Royal family of this
country, I say that instead of repining at that, as hon. gen.
tlemen do—(loud cries of "No I ")—they may cry "No "
if they please, but the country when it reads this debate will
say " Yes I"—instead of repining at such a mark of confi-
dence, they ought to feel proud at an election which enabled
the Greeks in the face of the world to show their respect
for England, and their admiration for the Royal family of
this country. (No, no 1) It is said that we have neglected
the Greeks—that we have not taken pains to fulfil the trust
reposed by them in the British Government with respect t o
suggesting to them a Sovereign. But, sir, we have lost no
time and spared no pains to accomplish that object. We
have communicated with several distinguished persons
whom we thought fit to be selected by the Greeks for the
high post of reigning over that which, in spite of all that
has been said, is, I believe, a most enlightened nation, and
one destined to a high place among the Powers of Europe.
The very fact of the distinguished persons to whom our at-
tention was directed as being fitted for the selection involved
the fact that they were persons who had had other interests
and other occupations which might prevent them from ac-
cepting the throne. But, undoubtedly, we did from time
to time let the Greek Government know we were in con-
nexion with these persons. We we re greatly mortified and
the Greeks were much disappointed when one after another
these illustrious persons felt themselves prevented by their
local duties and ties from allowing themselves to be put in
nomination for the Greek throne ; but we do not despair
that we may yet be able to point out to the Greeks one who
may be fit to perform the high duty of reigning over
Greece and be acceptable to the people at large. At the
same time the selection of a Sovereign lies with the Greeks
themselves, for we have not received, as my honourable
friend seems to suppose, plenary powers from that peo-
ple to select a sovereign for them. They are to exercise
their own choice. All the British Government can do is to
suggest a person who may appear fitting on the one hand and
whom they would be likely to succeed on the other. (Hear.)
Sir, it has been said that the Greeks are reduced to a lament-
able condition. They are reduced to no lamentable condi-
tion. (Hear, hear.) They have shown great moderation
and prudence ; they have conducted a great revolution in a
manner that does them honour. (Cheers.) There have
been no acts of violence—no outbreaks. (Hear, hear.) They
have, had great difficulties in arranging their Provisional
Government, but they have done it to the best of their judg-
ment, and nothing has happened to make any man say that
their condition is a miserable one or that they have suffered
in the eyes of Europe by the course which they have pur-
sued. (Cheers.) It is most m: ritorious on their part, be-
cause undoubtedly the Government they have suffered
under for the last l 0 years has been calculated to degrade
and demoralise them. It has been a Government carried
on by corruption for the purposes of arbitrary and despotic
rule. It has been a Government on which a Constitution
was forced in 1843, but which from that time down to the
last moment of its existence endeavoured by every device
and artifice to render that C onstitution null. That endea-
vour was made by corruption of every description which at
last led to the events of October. (Hear, hear.) And, sir,
when hon. gentlemen say the Greeks are so difficult to go-
vern that it will not be easy to find a prince to undertake
that task, I say that a nation which has submitted for 30

years to 'such a Government as the Greeks have at last
severed themselves from cannot be difficult to govern.
There must be in such a people a latent feeling of subordi-
nation and order which must give rise to a feeling of en-
couragement, and not of difficulty, in those who are called
upon to take a part in managing their affairs. (Hear, hear.)
I should like to know in what manner we have laid our-
selves open to imputation in our dealings towards Greece.
I say that from the beginning of the negotiations to this
moment we have been frank and straightforward in our lan-
guage to the Greeks, and that we have been persevering in
our efforts to find a prince willing to accept the throne who
would be fitted for that high position and acceptable to the
Greek nation. (Hear, bear) What has been said by my
hon. friend (Mr. Layard) as to the conduct of Russia is quite
true. I will speak out. The shuffling and evasion on the
part of the Russian Government were such that it was with
the utmost difficulty we got them to acknowledge that the
Duke of Leuchtenberg was, as he is, a member of the Impe-
rial family. He is doubly a member of the Imperial family
—first, as the son of the daughter of the late Emperor, and
next through an ukase by which he was aggregated to the
Imperial family, and brought within the line of succession
to the Russian throne. The Russian Government were not
straightforward in the matter, and we had to bring them to
acknowledge that the Duke of Leuchtenberg is excluded
by the protocol. (Hear, hear.) Now, sir, other topics
have been brought into the discussion. My hon. friend
the Under-Secretary has been taxed with having intro-
duced the subject of Turkey and the European provinces
of Turkey. It was not he who introduced it. It was my
hon. friend the member for Galway (Mr. Gregory). who,
soon breaking away from Greece, entered into Servia and
other places. (A. laugh, and hear, hear.) My hon. friend
the Under-Secretary has very rightly corrected the errors
into which my hon. friend the member for Galway had
:alien. From his knowledge and personal experience of
the country, no man has a batter right to express an ,

opinion on the subject, and he has stated that, so
far from Turkey being in the decrepid state in which it
is the fashion in some quarters to represent to the house, it
has of late years made great progress towards that state of
civilisation at which we hope soon to see it arrive. My hon.
friend the member for Poole (Mr. Seymour) has used lan-
guage which shows he has prejudices against the Turks.
He ought to get rid of those prejudices, for it is perfectly clear
that education and intelligence are abroad in Turkey, and
that the Turkish Government is improving. (Hear.) I
trust their organisation will go on improving from day to
day. As to the Christians, no doubt there are privileges
and equalities yet to be acceded to them ; but they are much
better off than they were at any former period. I will not
go into the siege of Belgrade—(a laugh)—or the attack on
the fortresses, but there is another question which has been
introduced, and which is connected with the subject of the
debate—namely, the cession of the lonian Islands. The
hen, member for Devizes (Mr. Griffith) says they were a
Br tish possession, and that in the course of last autumn,
when Parliament was not sitting, we alienated thorn. Now,
first, the house knows that the lonian Islands are not a
possession of the British Crown; and secondly, it is aware
that though we intimated that under certain circumstances
we should 'take certain steps which would lead to the cession
of those islands to Greece, yet nothing has been done.
Therefore, when the bon, member says we have surrepti-
tiously alienated what he calls a possession of the British
Cr ,wn, I must reply that we have done no such thing.
(A laugh, and Hear.) The hon. member for Shoreham (Mr.
Cave) said he was much opposed to the cession which we
proposed ; but he added that if the Greek Government would
maintain oriel and peace, and conduct itself in such a 14 ay
as to render the people happy. then it might be will w cede
the lonian islands to Greece. But, Sir, the hon, member
has only paraphrased a passage in the despatch of my noble
friend; because these were the conditions on which my
noble friend said the Government was willing to take
steps for a cession of the lonian Islands to Greece.
(Cheers.) The hon. member, though, began by stating
facts which had come to his knowledge to show that the
lonians were anything but willing to part with the English
protection and be ceded to Greece. No doubt, as Greece
was under the late Government, under King Otho, it
would have been a great misfortune for the lonian Islands
to have been transferred to Greece, and when we are
told that we argued against the cession it was because it was
so ill-governed at the time that we felt it would have been
a cruelty to be accessory to depriving the lonian Islands of
the protectorate of this country and ceding them to Greece;
but if the Government of Greece becomes a good one, regu-
lated by the principles referred to by the hon, member for
Shoreham, then the feelings of the lonians may become en-
tirely altered, and they may be desirous of being transferred
to Greece. Again, it is said that annexation to Greece is
the manifest destiny of these islands. If that be so, we are
not to blame for saying the time may come when that des-
tiny may be accomplished to their profit and not to our loss,
and that we ought to aid in accomplishing it. The hon.
member says that we aro laughed at in France for this
transfer. Perhaps, in a country which so very lately made
such acquisitions as Savoy and Nice, the voluntary surrene
der of anything belonging to us may be looked on as a
childish piece of folly ; but I cannot help thinking that the
example, if we set it, of a country on principle, and without
any regard to selfish considerations, releasing a population
from her rule on the ground that it is for the advantage of
that population she should do so—l cannot help thinking
that may be an example so applicable to many transactions
pending in Europe as to be not only honourable to England
but useful to other parts of Europe. (Cheers.) I can only
say that I hope the hon. gentleman will be contented with
having expressed his own opinions. We shall be ready to
give any papers which may seem to bear usefully on the
subject, and I hope that, notwithstanding the late hour, he
will now allow us to go into committee of supply. I pro-
mise him that as time and the correspondence go on, or when
there are other papers whieh may be useful to the delibera-
tions of the house, we shall have no objection to produce
them. (Cheers.)
Mr. S. FITZGERALD said that though the debate had
wandered very far from its original purpose, and though
various members who had spoken had carried the house
half over the map of Europe, the question before the house
was short, simple, and narrow. The noble lord had cer-
tainly recalled the house to the real question before it, and
yet he too very adroitly had tried to lead them away from
that which was in fact presented to their consideration.
(Hear, hear.) It seemed as though the noble lord were con-
scious of the weakness of his answer—(hear,hear)—and as if
he well knew that on the particular points which the member
for H oniton addressed himself the Government could offer
no reply. (Hear, hear.) He ventured, therefore, on topics
which were utterly unjustifiable by the whole course of the
debate, and which certainly had nothing on earth to do with
the question betore them. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord
said he was surprised to find that this debate had been taken
advantage of by gentlemen on that and on the other side of
the house to make a personal attack on the noble lord at the
head of the Foreign-office. 1-1 e had listened to the debate
from the commencement, anti he had heard nothing from
either side which in any shape could be called a personal
attack. (Hear, hear.) If criticism on a Minister and his
policy were to be characterized as a personal attack then
there was an end of all freedom of debate. (Hear, hear.)
The noble lord even went beyond that, for he said that it
seemed to be a matter of regret with honourable gentlemen,
particularly on that side of the house, that a Russian
prince had not been placed on the throne, and that they
had complained of the Greeks for showing their respect
for this country and its Sovereign by offering the throne
to a British prince. Not only had no such reflection
been cast on the Greeks, but, on the contrary, there had been
an universal opinion expressed that it was a credit to the
Greek people, and a compliment to this country, that to an
English Prince in the first instance the hopes and aspira-
tions of Greece had been directed. The question before the
house was whether the policy of the Government towards
the Greek people had been frank and straightforward.
(Hear.) No one had regretted that an English Prince had
been elected, but the complaint was that, when that com-
pliment was paid to this country, the policy of the Govern-
ment had not been that which became an English Govern-
ment. (Hear.) The noble lord, in strong language, had
given his opinion of the Greek people, and of the manner
in which the revolution was carried through. He had told
the house that it did honour to the Greek people to have got
rid of what he called a corrupt Government without vio-
lence and without bloodshed; that they had asserted their
right to the establishment of a constitutional Government,
and that they had directed their wishes to this country as
the best security for such a form of Government. The noble
lord pointed out that they did not desire to wage war or to
commit any act of aggression, and that they desired simply
to obtain their rights in a peaceable and constitutional
manner. But what was the position of the Greek people
now ? They were without a Government and without a
Sovereign. This very day news had been received that the
Greek army was divided into two parts, and that the peo-
ple at this moment were in fear of massacre and bloodshed.
(Hear.) What had led to this state of things ? When the

revolution on its outset was peaceful, and in its course cre-
ditable to the Greek people, how was it that, contrary to
all that could have been expected, instead of constitutional
Government there was anarchy, and instead of peace
massacre and bloodshed were feared ? The reason was that
the wishes of the people had been trifled with. An oppor-
tunity had been lost for establishing constitutional Govern-
ment, and to a great extent this was the fault of the
policy of her Majesty's Government, (Hear, hear.) The
noble lord and the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs
had not dealt quite fairly with the house in quoting from
the papers, No one had regretted that his Royal Highness
Prince Alfred had not accepted a position which would
have been a fruitful source of embarrassment and danger

to this country, and would not have contributed to his own
future peace and honour. But what was to be regretted
was that the Government, having in the first instance,
adopted a clear, open, and decided policy, and having an-
nounced that policy in the most unmistakeable terms, had
afterwards changed their toneand allowed the Greek people
to believe that it was possible that it Prince Alfred were
elected he 'might accept the throne—the result of which
was a cruel disappointment to the Greek people. (Hear.)
This might easily be proved by a reference to Mr. Scar-
lett's despatch, No. 92, page 86, in the papers. After the
noble lord at the head of the Foreign-office had announced
in the clearest terms that no Prince of the Royal fatuities
of Russia, France, and England could be eligible to the
throne, and had desired Mr. Sea/lett not only to communi-
cate his views to the Greek Ministers, but to make them
known in society and in every quarter as widely as he

could, ho sent a telegram dated November 10, which was
acknowledged by Mr. Scarlett in his despatch of the 24th.
Mr. Scarlett says in his despatch,—
" Your lordship is aware that on account of the uncer-
tainty hanging over the question of a successor to the
throne of King Otho, and more especially since I received
a telegram from your lordship (dated the 16th of Nov.),
directing me not to interfere at all in election of the King,'
but to leave them to choose whom they like," I have in
my position here maintained the necessary reserve on that
important subject. When informed previously that a de.
monstration was likely to occur in front of the Legation, in
order not to give umbrage to any of my colleagues I pur-
posely left tee house, and by my language deprecated the
intention of the Greeks to make any manifestation of this
kind before my residence, thinking it might have the effect
of compromising her Majesty's Mission, and causing a
false construction to be placed on the neutral line of con..
duct I had determined to adt,pt."

it Ni as perfectly clear that Mr. Scarlett' having been once
directed clearly to announce publielyithat Prince Alfred
could not accept the throne, was thrown into a state of
complete uncertainty by the telegram which directed them
not to interfere at all in the election, (Hear, hear.) He then
went on to describe another demonstration in favour of
Prince Alfred, in answer to which he returned thanks for
the honour done to his Royal Highness, and expressed
sympathy for the Greek people. On the same day there
was another demonstration, and when he was asked by the
spokesman on behalf of the crowd to be the bearer of the
unanimous wish of the people to have Prince Alfred for
King, he said, "To this I replied that I was not authorised
to give them an answer on this point." Not authorised to
give them an answer, when the very instructions which he
had received from Lord Russell in the first instance were to
make it publicly known that Prince Alfred could not accept
the throne ! (Cheers.) But that was not all. On the
unday a still larger demonstration took place, and Mr.
Scarlett, after describing the form of demonstration, says :
",I was then addressed in the same manner, and I spoke