The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-06 00:00:00

STAMPED ....sd.

was equally certainly not followed by them. (Laughter.)
The second was the able reply of the Danish Minister. The
third was the despatch which, if indeed it was genuine, was
addressed by the Swedish minister to the noble earl, thank-
ing him for communicating information (which Sweden
already knew) as to the effect cf the first document. The
fourth was a document about the authenticity of which
there could be no doubt—the despatch which your lordships
are aware was addressed by a certain Count Elsinore to a
certain Earl Russell. (Laughter.) I must say, however,
that if I had to determine which of the four had been most
successful in throwing ridicule on our diplomacy, I should
give the preference to the original despatch of the noble
earl. (Laughter.) The noble Earl and myself had once the
happiness to be colleagues of one of the most able, the most
agreeable, and the shrewdest men I ever had the good for-
tune to meet with—the late Lord Melbourne. There was
one piece of advice which Lord Melbourne was always in-
culcating upon his colleagues, but by which I am afraid
the noble earl has not profited. Whenever any matter arose
which involved considerable difficulty or embarrassment,
Lord Melbourne's favourite precept used to be, " Can't you
let it alone ?" (Laughter.) The noble earl must, I am sure,
recollect the manner in which Lord Melbourne used to say
" Can't you let it alone ; it will do very well if you will only
let it alone," But with all the advantage of Lcrd Mel-
bourne's precept and example, the noble lord can't let it
alone. (Laughter and cheers.) Whatever it may be, he can't
let it alone. The noble earl's readiness to undertake every-
thing has been proverbial since the days of Sydney Smith.
(Laughter.) If there is any difficulty to be settled—if there
is any new constitution to be reorganised at once—if there
is any embarrassing question which has occupied the at-
tention of statesmen for years, and almost for centuries, the
noble earl is quite ready at a minute's notice. His language
is always " Come to me, I'll settle it for you, I'll tell you
what to do ;" and he sometimes comes forward to offer his
gratuitous advice without even that apology which used to
be made by a very popular character, " I hope I don't in-
trude." (Laughter.) To speak seriously, if the noble earl
must needs offer his advice to Denmark could he not have
satisfied himself with communicating privately with the
Danish minister ? Does he not see that by taking the broad
line which he did in the face of Europe he has materially in-
creased the embarrassment of the Danish Government, and
induced Prussia and Russia to bring upon it that pressure
which such sentiments, enunciated for the first time by the
British Government, could not fail to exert. (Hear.) But if
the noble lord's intervention in Denmark has been so success-
ful what has been the case with his intervention at Rome?
(Cheers and laughter.) If England must give the Pope
advice, does the noble earl think that he was the person
from whom the Holy Father would be most ready to accept
it ?—(laughter)—and what was the moment the noble earl
chose for the purpose ? The Pope having casually made
the remark that he might perhaps one day seek the hospi-
tality of England, the noble earl at once makes him a formal
offer of ships to take him away, accompanied by advice to
take the earliest opportunity of leaving Rome, and a pro-
mise of an asylum in Malta. (Laughter.) But the mo-
ment he did this was precisely that at which the Emperor
of the French had promised the Pope to maintain him in
Rome. Thus while the noble earl was intervening to in-
duce the Pope to go away, France was intervening to keep
him where he was; and this was the French alliance, this
the cordiality, the unity, and the harmony with which
England and France were acting with respect to the affairs
of Italy. (Cheers.) But was it :or the interests of Europe
that the Pope should be maintained, under the protection
of a Protestant Government, in a colony the majority of
which are Roman Catholics ? Why, if there was any posi-
tion which could be conceived more calculated than another
to produce the greatest amount of difficulty and embarrass-
ment, it would be the Pope at Malta. (Cheers.) There is
another question of great importance referred to in her Ma-
jesty's speech—l mean the constitution of the new kingdom
of Greece, and proposed cession of the lonian Isles. With
regard to the first of these I am not satisfied with the course
which has been pursued by her Majesty's Government.
When the revolution took place it is only just to the Greek
nation to bear witness to the singular moderation, good
feeling, good temper, and judgment which they dis-
played throughout. I do not think there was a
drop of blood spilt. Ido not think there was an intem-
perate word 'spoken or a violent act done. Nothing, in
fact, could be more creditable than the unanimity and mode-
ration of the inhabitants ; and nothing could be more cre-
ditable to them than the personal compliment which they
paid to the sovereign of this country and to the constitu-
tion under which we have the happiness to live, when they
desired to place themselves under a branch of our royal
family. Her Majesty says on that point :—" But the
diplomatic engagements of her Majesty's crown, together
with other weighty considerations, have prevented her Ma-
jesty from yielding to the general wish of the Greek nation."
These "other weighty considerations" seem to be consi-
dered equally weighty by other persons, for it does not ap-
pear that any one has yet been found willing to accept the
Greek throne. It is true, we were informed a short time
ago that arrangements were likely to be made which would
afford a satisfactory solution to the difficulty, but it now
appears that the negotiations were terminated, and ter-
minated unsuccessfully. If, however, diplomatic rea-
sons prevented her Majesty's Government from accept-
ing the throne for Prince Alfred, I want to know
why for a considerable period hopes were held out to
the Greek people that Prince Alfred would be a candidate
for their crown ? Why was it that instructions were sent
out to their minister at Athens not to interfere in the pro-
gress of events ? Either the noble earl once contemplated
accepting the throne for Prince Alfred, or he did not. If
he did not, he has acted most unfairly and ungenerously to
the Greek people in allowing them so long to entertain the
hopes they had. If he did, then he must have withdrawn
from his purpose in a not very dignified manner in conse-
quence of the strong language of France and Russia, and
on one or other horn of this dilemma I leave him. (Hear,
hear.) But there is another subject of very great difficulty
which is mentioned in her Majesty's speech—the proposed
cession of the lonian Islands. I look upon this question not
as one affecting Greece merely, but as it affects the interests
of this country and of Europe at large. lam not about to
say that her Majesty could not constitutionally cede these
islands without the consent of Parliament. Ido not speak
of them as a part of her Majesty's dominions, so that their
cession would be a dismemberment of the empire ; but still
I think the thing ought not to be precipitately done, for it
involves a serious question of European policy, which had
been determined after grave deliberation ; and I think also
that it seriously affects the interest of this country in the
Mediterranean. For, observe what was the position of the
case previous to 1814. The lonian Islands, or a great part
of them, had been captured by Great Britain. Corfu had not
been taken by us, but it had been blockaded for two years,
and on the fall of Napoleon the French authorities in the
island surrendered it to us ; so that it was not then lightly
thought of. I believe that both naval and military officers
concurred at that period in thinking the lonian Islands of
immense importance to us. Lord Collingwood said that
the possession of Corfu was as good as two frigates to his
fleet. It is, in fact, a position of the utmost geographical
importance, more especially having reference to our com-
munications with India by way of Egypt and the Red Sea.
(Hear, hear.) It is not, therefore, a place to be regarded as
worthy of little consideration. I admit that some expense
is necessary for maintaining it under our power, but the
question is, does not its importance justify that expendi-
ture ? I would ask the illustrious duke on the cross-
benches (the Duke of Cambridge) whether he did not find
during the Crimean War that the possession of Corfu, and
the power of withdrawing from it regiments of the
line, to be replaced by regiments of militia, was
an important assistance to our arms. (Hear, hear.)
I am not arguing that at no time it would be desirable, but
I greatly doubt whether it would ever be the interest of
England to surrender that nominal protectorate which con-
stitutes the lonian Islands in reality though not in form a
British possession. But of this lam sure, that the utmost
attention ought to be bestowed upon the subject by the
Government before throwing up so important a possession.
I think I can recollect, and I dare say the noble earl
will recollect, that some time ago, when he was speaking
in the other House of Parliament of the
Which England had in the Adriatic, some hodnrigrinr:
when the
betur asked
him what interests England had in
htheehAarhour
of Corfu."
noble earl replied, " England has
aSretcorfetharyer
mofaitehse.
And only last year the noble. dusknte
ththeep
Colonies disclaimed
y oinbetenhthonefonian Islands. He con-
sideredty's Government to surrenderantt a solemn trust imposed on this
noble
slightestearl
parting idea o
with
partingth the
the protectors
country, and said theree wass
the
et
nthobe
with it. But to whom wa
lonian Islands ? You propose gratuitously to part with
these islands to a Government not yet formed—(hear, hear)
which was still in the throes of revolution—(hear, hear)
—and you propose to give them to this Power unasked for,
and, as I will presently show, in direct opposition and con-
tradiction to all the principles laid down by the noble earl
himself as to the regulation of the policy of the country. My
lords, in a correspondence of the noble earl, again T think
somewhat gratuitously, with Prince Gortschakoff, the noble
earl laid down the principles which should regulate the con-
duct of this country in the East, and he insisted, in terms
with which Prince Gortschakoff agreed, in the necessity on
the part of Greece of an absolute abandonment of all acts of
agitation, and of that revolutionary spirit which threatened
all the thrones of Europe. The noble earl said the great
object was to prevent Greece from being a dangerous enemy
to Turkey. That no doubt was the object; but how did the
noble earl propose to do this ? He insisted first of all upon
a monarchy—l presume a constitutional monarchy—a mon-
archy with a Parliament, a monarchy in which the Parlia-
ment should exercise some influence over the foreign and
domestic affairs of the country. He:proceeded to say that
when such a monarchy shall have been established, aban-
doning its grandes idees, abandoning the idea of extending
its territories, and of interference with the Turkish fr on-