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

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF COMMONS--Last Evening.

Several petitions were presented by Lord HOTHAM and
Mr. W. PATTEN, and other hon. members, againss the
safp of intoxicating liquors on the Sabbath.
:GREECE.

On the inoant Of Lord PALMERSTON, it was ordered
that this eventnc, trail orders of the day be postponed till
after the notice of :notion relating to Greece.
Mr. B. COCHRANE rose to move for no address for
further correspondence relating:to the affairs of Greece. Ifs
said that the Greeks had been much dis Tpointed in not
having for their king either the Bake of Saxe Coburg
or Prince Alfred. It was exceedingly int portrtnt
even upon financial grounds that the closest re-
lations should subsist between this country and
Greece. The unguaranteed debt owing to this 0 nruttY
amounted to £7,000,000, and the gui.ranteed debt now
amounted to £2,090,000, and the accumulate' interest ma
beth had reached the enormous sum of £900,090. (Hear.:
1. he Greek people were unanimous in their desire to get
Prince Alfred for their sovereign. Several votes had been
given for others ; but he could not but regret I lutt the right
1 hon. pntlernan oppaite (tile Chancellor of the Exche-
quer) was not himself a candidate— (laughter) —for
he was a great favourite with the Greek people, and would
have an ample opportunity there of exercising his tinancia/
abilities for the welfare of the people. (Renewed laughter.)
The Greek people, in their extremity, had thrown them-
selves entirely on Engin& 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 the result had been
that Greece had greatly suffered from the policy that
the Government had pursued towards it. (Hear, hear.)
He stigmatised the conduet of Earl Russell as offensive and
erroneous. Had 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 :Franco calling attention to the protocol of
lflos, 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, He
had received two letters from persons of very high standing
whose names he would have no objection to communicate
to the Government privately, though he could not mention
them publicly. The hon. gentleman then read the two let-
ters, which, though dated Nov. 25 and Jan. 18, he said he
had only received that morning, complaining of the hopes
. that had been raised by the Nurse pursued by the English
Government, and the damage done to the Greeks with other
Powers 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, sicting hi con-
cert with the Government of France, had-agtiecfto recom-
mend Prince Ferdinand as a candidate foilhe Greek throne.
[Mr. Layard shook his head.] The hon. gentleman shook
his heade 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
pioduced upon Greek commercial securities by the undecided
policy of the Government. That indecision had been
qiiite uncalled' for, because there had been a large num-
heir of candidates in the field, including amongst
o ers the Prince de Joinville, the Due de Leuchten-
tr b g, Marshal M'Mahon, Garibaldi, a Mr. Camps,
w o claimed to be a descendant of the founder
o 4 Greece—(a laugh)—and even the right hon. gentleman
oiposite 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. That
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 wilt say, ' Oh, me must not
a Buse the English Government or we shall not get the
I nian Islands.' " (Hear.) After all, were the Greeks not
b ing deceived now ? Was it intended to give them up the
I 1
nian Islands at all? (Hear.) Not long since a public
meeting upon the subject had been anneunced, but the tele-
glom stated that the Lord High Commissioner had prohi-
bited the meeting being held under theeet of imprisonment,
((fear.) Lord Russell stated several times in his despatches
that no encroachment by the Greek nation was to be encou-
rigcd, but did it not occur to him that when they got the
Itinian 'steeds it was most natural that they should want
Albania, Thessaly, and Tangier ? That was not only the
view of many in this country, but of M. Montaternbert and
others in the French Chambers. Personally, he (Mr. Cock-
rane) regretted that Prince Alfred had not been allowed to
a4cept 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
nitrtion. And now he would ask, after having submitted the
actual state of things, and the great responsibility which
hfing over the future of Greece, whether he was not justi-
fitd when he said that the people of Greece bad not been
treated with justice. Why, the very first act of their poll-
tioal existence was to place the honour and independence
0' their country under the protection of Great Britailif
aid 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
Idowed Queen of England. Well, that feeling having
1 e isted, 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
tteaty and protocol, but it could not have been right to de-
c, tive the people of Greece for the sake of a diplomatic sue.
chs, and to throw them into all the perils of an untried
Intuit. 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 his hon. friend had uttered
with respect to the future 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 tothe 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-
edgers, '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-
flicted upon England, and a feeling adverse to Greece might
he created in this country. He differed from his hon. friend
upon another point, namely, that from the beginning her
1 Majesty's Government had not held out any expectations to
I the people of Greece that Prince Alfred would ascend the
throne. The hon. member then referred to the date of the
I 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 Russia, 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
Leak him whether, since the English Foreign Office 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 set aside, and the management handed over to a
gentlemanj
ub
se
tl o
reason n gi ng t
for
rthe
kfamily fito;ftohreaEpleleiortws.ho(Abolarougthha.)t
name had been sent to Italy in 1848, and they also knew
that of late, when Italy had been passing through a severe
ordeal requiring men of ability to conduct affairs, it had been
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 Mr. Scarlett 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 foithwith he had an interview with the head
of the Provisional Government. Mr. Elliot opened his
budget, and said he had the King of Portugal in one hand
and the lonian Islan sin the other. Persuasion seemed to
flow from his lips, and on the 2d of January he wrote vvhat
he (Mr. Gregory) considered a rather extraordinary 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. He asked the Govern-
ment why they did not ascertain the state of the affec-
tions of the King of Portugal before they wade their an-
nouncement? (Cheers.) If the Government had done so