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

THPERIAL PARLIAMENT • He understood that all the correspondence had been pro-
Iduced.
lir. D. GRIFFITH inquired if the application for
!he police had, in the first instance, been made to the
noble vi;;;9unt the First Lord of the Treasury?
Sir G. GREY replied that the application was made to
him, and that he acted in the matter entirely on his own
responsibility.

HOUSE OF LORDS—Last Evening._
The Loup CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at tho usual hour.

LEASES AND SALES OF SETTLED ESTATES

ACT.

The LORI) CHANCELLOR brought in a bill to amend
the Leases and Sales of Settled Estates Bill, passed last
session.

The bill was read a first time.

LOANS IN IRELAND.

The Earl of LEITRIM presented a petition from a place
in Ireland, complaining of the sudden manner in which the
commissioners of the Loan Fund had suddenly sought to
recover from the pocr inhabitants the sum of £4,000 or
£5,000. He condemned the conduct of the commissioners
in very strong terms.
Earl GRANVILLE thought it extremely irregular for
the noble lord to make charges against absent persons with-
out giving the slightest notice of his intention of doing so.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The Edinburgh Water and Great Grimsby Water Bills
were read a third time and passed.

UNION RELIEF AID ACT CONTINUANCE

BILL.

Earl GRAN VILLE move:: the second reading of this
bill. lie said the necessity, he regretted to say, still
existed, but the occasion for it would have been
much more urgent had it not been for the
noble effort that had been made by private individuals
to alleviate the distress which unfortunately existed in
Lancashire. He hoped their lordships would cheerfully
give their consent to the second reading of the bill, and
thus show their appreciation of the admirable manner in
which the calamity had been borne by the people of Lan-
cashire.
The bill was read a second time.

GREECE.
On the motion of Lord PALMERSTON, it wag ordered
that this evening the orders of the day be postponed till
after the notice of motion relating to Greece.
Mr. E. COCHRANE rose to move for an address for
further correspondence rola+ hag to the affairs of Greece. He
said that the Greeks hal been much disappointed in not
having for their king either the Dake of Saxe Coburg
er Prince Alfred. It was exceedingly important
. -
even upon financial grounds that the closest re-
lations should subsist between this country and
Greece. The unguaranteed debt owing to this county
amounted to £7,000,000, and the gueranteed debt now
amounted to £2.,000,000, and the accumulated interest on
both had reached th ) enormous sum of £990,000. (Hear.)
The Greek people were unanimous in their desire to get
Prince Alfred for thenr sovereign. Several votes had been
given for others bat he c 'uid not but regret that the right
hon. gentleman opp site (the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer) was not hi f a candidate (lane- h ter) for
he was a great favourite with the Greek peopl2, end woulct
hav ) an ample opportunity there of exercising hit financial
abilities fur the welfare of the people. (Renewed laughter.)
The Greek people, in +heir extremity, had thrown them-
selves entirely on Englnd, to the exclusion of the two other
great powers. (Hear, hear.) It was well, therefore, at
this juncture to inquire how the Government had dis-
charged the obligations cast upon them ; whether they had
shown that consideration for Greece that 'the people
of that country had a right to expect. In his opinion
the conduct of the Government had neither been
just nor very generous, and tho result had been
that Greece had greatly suffered from the policy that
the Government had pursued towards it. (Hear, hear.).
He stigmatised the conduct of Earl Russell as offensive and
erroneous. Ike the noble viscount (Lord Palmerston)
held the seals of the Foreign-office, he was satisfied, from
the course he had invariably pursued in that house that a
very different course would have been adopted. It was
on the 22d of October, last year, that the revolution took
place. Immediately after Earl Russell wrote to Russia
and ;France calling attention to the protocol of
1805, excluding any of the scions of the three
Royal houses from the throne of Greece. Russia concur-
red frankly and at once, agreeing with the language of
Earl Russell, but France replied with more reserve. Ho
had received two letters from persons of very high standing
whose names he would have no objection to communicate
to the Government privately, though ho could not mention
them publicly. The hen. gentleman then read the two let-
ters, which, though dated Nov. 25 and Jan. 18, he said ho
had only received that morning, complaining of the hopes
that had been raised by the course pursued by the English
Government, and the damage done to the Greeks with other
Pow, rs by the delay in declaring its ultimate determination.
His next point was, that having done the Greeks an injury,
the British Government then proceeded to make them ridi•
culous. On the 9th of February the noble viscount at the
head of the Government stated in the house that Prince
Ferdinand had been sounded as to accepting the throne of
Greece, but had decidedly refused ; whereas, on the sth
February Mr. Elliot had declared at Athens, in reply to a
deputation, that her Majesty's Government, acting in con-
cert with the Government of France, had agreed to recom-
mend Prince Ferdinand as a candidate for the Greek throne.
[Mr. Layard shook his head.] The hon. gentleman shook
his head, but he (Mr. Cochrane) was speaking from docu-
ments which he believed to be authentic. The hon. gentle-
man then quoted a city article of the Times, as to the effect
produced upon Greek commercial securities by the undecided
policy of the Government. That indecision had been
quite uncalled for, because there had been a large num-
ber of candidates in the field, including amongst
others the Prince de Joinville, the Due de Leuchten-
berg, Marshal M‘Mahon, Garibaldi, a Mr. Cecrops,
who claimed to be a descendant of the founder
of Greece—(a laugh)—and even the right hon. gentleman
opposite himself (Mr. Gladstone), who little knew how popu-
lar he was in a country where he would have such a grand
scope for his great financial abilities. (Laughter.) The
most remarkable part of the affair, however, was the scheme
of the Government to get rid of all consequences of the con-
fusion they had caused by a diplomatic coup d'etat. lhat
coup d'etat, singularly enough too, had been successful.
" Let us propose to give up the lonian Islands," said they,
"and then the Greek people will say, ' Oh, me muet not
abuse the English Government or we shall not get the
lonian Islands.' " (Hear.) After all, were the Greeks not
being deceived now ? Was it intended to give them up the
lonian Islands at all ? (Hear.) Not long since a public
meeting upon the subject had been announced, but the tele-
gram stated that the Lord High Commissioner had prohi-
bited the meeting being held under threat of imprisonment.
(Hear.) Lord Russell stated several times in his despatches
that no encroachment by the Greek nation was to be encou-f
raged, but did it not occur to him that when they got the
lonian Islands it was most, natural that they should want
Albania, Thessoly, and Tangier ? That was not only the
view of roan) in this country, but of M. Montalembert and
others in the French Chambers. Personally, he (Mr. Cache
rane) regretted that Prince Alfred had not been allowed to
accept the vacant throne. Having said so much for the
past, he now wished to say a word for the future, premising
that his sole object was justice and the welfare of the Greek
nation. And now he would ask, after having submitted the
actual state of things, and the great responsibility which
hung over the future of Greece, whether he was not justi-
fied when he said that the people of Greece had not been
treated with justice. Why, the very first act of their poli-
tical existence was to place the honour and independence
of their country under the protection of Great Britain,
and the same touching affection for the Sovereign of this
country had been evinced in the candidature of Prince
Alfred, whom they spoke of as the son of the beloved and
w;dowed Queen of England. Well, that feeling having
existed, and the people of Greece having asked the English
' Government for assistance, he must say that the -English
Government had not acted fairly towards them. (Hear.)
It might have been perfectly right to have stood upon the
treaty and protocol, but it could not have been right to de-
ceive the people of Greece for the sake of a diplomatic sue.
cess, and to throw them into all the perils of an untried
future. It was for that he had brought forward the ques-
tion, and he asked her Majesty's Government to declare
their policy, not only for the future, but their past policy
towards Greece. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. GREGORY said he sympathised in many of the
sentiments and aspirations which hi 3 hon. friend had uttered
with respect to the tuture condition of Greece ; but with
regard to the aspiration that Prince Alfred should have been
permitted to ascend the throne of Greece, he must say, hav-
ing regard both to the interests of England and Greece, that
her Majesty's Government had taken the right course.
(Hear, hear.) Independently of those considerations pointed
out in Lord Russell's despatch, of the position of Prince
Alfred as regarded the throne of Greece, and the jealousy
which would arise from his ascending the throne, complica-
tions of a grave nature might hereafter take place, and it
might be turned into a precedent for preparing thrones
in the future for Royal, and might be Imperial, princes;
and thus a dangerous precedent might have been esta-
blished. (Hear, hear.) They should also bear in mind
that Prince Alfred was young and inexperienced ; and if
he went to Greece, he should go alone, or be obliged to re-
sort to English advisers. If he went alone to Greece he
might fall into the hands of parties who would render him
unpopular; and, if he went to Greece with English ad-
visers, differences might arise, and in a moment of popular
outbreak Prince Alfred might have lost the throne of
Greece, and thereby a great act of humiliation would be in-
! fficted upon England, and a feeling adverse to Greece might
bo created in this country. He differed from his hon, friend
upon another point, namely, that from the beginning her
Majesty's Government had not held out any expectations to
the people of Greece that Prince Alfred would ascend the
throne. The hon. member then referred to the date of the
insurrection and the several telegrams and communications
which passed between Mr. Scarlett and Lord Russell, and
subsequently between Lord Russell and Mr. Elliot ; and
contended that the obvious scope and meaning of the whole
went to show that Prince Alfred could not accept the throne
of Greece. (Hear.) It was true that Lord Russell, bear-
ing in mind the double dealing policy of Ruesia, did flap
his wings and indulged in a crow; but nothing which the
noble lord had written could be taken as holding out any
expectation that Prince Alfred could accept the throne of
Greece. He wanted to ask the Under-Secretary for
Foreign Affairs one or two questions. He wanted to
ask him whether, since the English Foreign dffice was
placed under the present regime, there was any axiom
laid down that when any particularly difficult matter
was to be conducted, the ordinary diplomatic agents
were sot aside, and the management handed over to a
gentleman belonging to the family of the Elliots. (A. laugh.)
He had a just reason for asking it ; for a peer who bore that
,conduct passing
affairs, t
had a severe
been
name had been sent to Italy in IS4B, and they also knew
that of late, whenltaole;
a y beent, hbai
ability
t
ordeal requiring men
intended to set aside Sir James Hudson and replace him by
a gentleman of the name of Elliot, and as it had been sup-
posed that Scarlott was unfit to manage the affairs of
Greece, a gentleman of the name of Elliot was sent there.
(Hear, hear.) Mr. Elliot arrived in Athens on the 23d
December, and forthwith he had an into' view with the head
of the Provisional Government. Mr. Elliot opened his
budget, and said he had the King of Portugal in one hued
and tht. lonian Islan sin the other. Pt nuasion Kereett to
flow from his lips, and on time 2.1 of January he wrote what
he (Mr. Gregory) considered a rather extraca dinary de-
spatch, in which he seemed to argue that the holding out
false expectations had produced a beneficial effect, and that
during the last week a change was taking place in favour of
King Ferdinand ; owing, no doubt, to the persuasion of Mr.
Elliot., Well, all at once came down upon the people a clap
of thunder in the shape of a despatch from Lord Russell to
Mr. Elliot, in which the noble lord said he was sorry to
state that King Ferdinand on account of his affection for
his sons declined to come forward. Ho asked the Govern-
ment why they did not ascertain the state of the affec-
tions of the King of Portugal before they made their an-
nouncement ? (Cheers.) It the Government had done so