The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-17 00:00:00

STEEPLECHASE.

Holderness

MuHum in Parr, .

Eight ran.
HURDLE RACE.

Lucifer ..

' Three ran.
STAND STAKES.

Friewalese Boy
The Twin

Eight ran.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(THIS EVENING.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR took is seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

Lord CLARENDON laid on the table the private
correspondence alluded to the other evening, between
Russia and her Majesty's Government, respecting
Turkey.
DISCLOSURE OF CABINET SECRETS.

The Earl of I.AIVESBURY called the attention of
Ithe house to the charge made by the First Lord of the
'Treasury against a gentleman, formerly a clerk in the
Foreign-office, for a violation of his duty in disclosing
some secret correspondence of that department. Having
observed that he felt it his duty to take this course in
the interests of justice and fairplay, he stated that he
was convinced for two reasons, that the noble earl had
been deceived in making the charge against the young
gentleman in question—first because the esprit de corps
which existed among the clerks of the Foreign-office
was such that there was not a single instance on record
of any important secret having been disclosed by them ;
and, secondly, because this gentleman had, during the
whole period he was in the office, conducted himself in
the most praiseworthy manner. He (the E trl of
Malmesbury) had communicated with the gentleman,
-whose name was Mr. Astley, and he had received a
letter from him, expressing his deep concern at the
charge made against him by the Earl of Aberdeen,
and stating that he had not at any time, or
in any way, divulged the secrets of the Foreign-
office, and that he could not therefore admit, as alleged
by the noble earl, that he had scandalously violated his
duty. Considering that Mr. Astley was the son of a
baronet, had hitherto borne a high character, and was
'hardly 22 years of age, he hoped the noble earl would
retract his accusation, which, coming free, the first per-
son in the country, next to the Sovereign, and having
',hen for several days before the public, could not nu,
Lave a very injurious effect on Mr. Astley's reputation.
The Earl of ABERDEEN replied that, on a former
evening, he had said he was perfectly ready to leave
the issue upon this matter entirely with the gentleman
himself. Undoubtedly, when he made the statement he
did, he had not the slightest belief that this gentleman
would find it possible to deny its truth ; but, as the
letter read by the noble lord convinced him of the con-
trary, he was bound to accept the denial, and at the
same time to express his sincere regret that he had been
the means of casting any aspersions upon his conduct.
He was sure, however, their lordships would
believe him when he said that he would not
have made the charge without a moral conviction
of its truth, but if the noble earl was not satis-
fied, he was quite ready to make known to him the
ground he had for entertaining that belief. The Earl of
Aberdeen concluded by bearing strong testimony to the
ability, zeal, and fidelity of all the clerks in the Foreign-
office.

The Earl of DERBY expressed himself fully sa-
tisfied with the statement and ample apology of the
noble earl, and said he hoped his noble friend
would be ready to accept them, but he could not but
think it would be more satisfactory if the noble earl, in
pursuance of his offer, acquainted his noble friend
with the quarter from which he obtained the
information affecting the character of Mr. Astley.
The Earl of Derby then strongly condemned
the practice of communicating Cabinet secrets to the
newspapers as injurious to the public service; and men-
tioned that the ultimatum sent to St. Petersburg for the
evacuation of the Danubian principalities was pub-
lished in the Times newspaper the next morning after
the sitting of the Cabinet Council, in which it was
agreed to. The noble earl intimated that if the practice
continued, he should feel it his duty to take up the ques-
tion, and endeavour to ascertain from the parties who
published such information, the sources from which it
was derived.