The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-17 00:00:00

meat they had just heard. He was quite sure that, after the
repeated postponements of the subject made at the pressing
request of the noble lord, the noble lord must feel that
his right hon. friend the member for Buckinghamshire
would have desired to hear any statement which the noble
lord might have to make, and share in any discussion
which might take place. His right hon, friend only left
London yesterday morning, and doubtless would be as
much surprised as he (Sir J. Pakington) confessed he was
surprised yesterday, when he learned that it was the in-
tention of the noble lord to make to the house to-day the
statement they had just heard. Having listened to that
statement, and the tone in which it was made by the noble
lord, he certainly now felt that it would be inexpedient
either to attempt to express any opinion upon tho policy
which her Majesty's Government had adopted upon this
question, or to follow the noble lord upon the various topics
to which he bad adverted, and to touch upon those details
on which the hon. gentleman who had just sat down dwelt
in the course of his speech. But he could not refrain from
stating the very deep regret he felt that before Parliament
separated it had not been in the power of the noble lord to
make a statement more satisfactory to Parliament and the
country than, lie was sorry to say, he thought the state-
ment just now made must be regarded. (Cries of hear,
hear.) In one respect he heard what fell from the noble
lord with great pleasure. He was very glad to hear the
noble lord confirm what had been stated in the other house
by his colleague—namely, that her Majesty's Government
were determined to regard the evacuation of the Princi-
palities as a sine qua non in the agreement ; but he cer-
tainly, on the other hand, felt very great regret at not
hearing from the noble lord a solution of that question, on
which an unusual amount of public anxiety was felt, namely,
whether the note which had been agreed upon by the Four
Powers involved the evacuation of the Principalities ? He
should be very sorry to misunderstand what fell from the
noble lord on this subject, but his impression was that his
lordship had distinctly stated that the note agreed upon by
the Four Powers did not call for the evacuation of the Da-
nubian Principalities, but that that important question still
remained in as unsettled and as uncertain a state as hereto-
fore. In that case he was afraid that the country must
still regard the whole question as being in a very uncertain
and unsettled state. The house had, however, had the
satisfaction of hearing that her Majesty's Government con-
sidered the evacuation of those principalities as indispen-
sably necessary to a state of peace. He had no doubt that
in this determination her Majesty's Government would be
supported, not only by the opinion of that house, but by
the almost unanimous opinion of the people of this country,
which he believed were quite as united as they had ever
been of late years on any public question with respect to
the necessity of making that evacuation an indispensable
condition of peace, and of preserving unimpaired the in-
tegrity of the Turkish empire. The noble lord had very
justly and properly said a good deal on the importance of
preserving to this country those blessings of peace which
she had so long enjoyed. The noble earl at the head of the
Government had also said a good deal—perhaps, as was
remarked by the hon. gentleman who had just resumed his
seat, too much—upon the same point. Nor did he doubt
that all parties, both in that house and in the country
generally, were deeply desirous that the blessings of peace
should be preserved to the country. But, on the other
hand, he believed with equal confidence that most—he
trusted, indeed, all—parties in that house, and he believed
all parties in this country, desired that peace should not be
preserved longer than was consistent with a due regard to
the interests and honour of this country, and to, that
balance of power which had been so long established in
Europe. (Hear, hear.) He did not think he should be
justified in going further into this subject in the absence
of those papers which he was sorry that the noble lord still
considered it to be inconsistent with his public duty to lay
on the table. No doubt her Majesty's Government were the
best judges of the proper time for their production ; but until
that time it was impossible to form a conclusive judgment
upon the policy which Ministers had pursued. Neither he nor
the house could at present judge how far they were justified
in not considering the invasion of the principalities a cams
belli, or whether the blessings of peace might not have been
better secured and more surely attained had the Government
followed a more vigorous and decided policy at an earlier
period of the negotiations. This question had been now
Pending and unsettled for six months ; during that time,
not only had the interests and the welfare of Turkey, but
also those of this country, suffered from this long sus-
tense and it would be for her Majesty's Government
suspense
to show that they were not responsible for the
occasioned.
that had existed, and for, the injury which it had
of the noble He
deeply regretted that the announcement
(Sir J. lord had not been more satisfactory than he
reservehis Pakington) for one must consider it ; but he must
had take judgment upon the policy which the Govern-
mentesre to make this and
he said this without the slightest
if it could be
avolleVon a subject of party difference,
papers which were re eu(iTTntil the production of those
requisite I,eoithrow light upon the nego-
tiations which had been
Lord D. STUART said that hoen d'id (nHoetaorite) n agree with
the right hon. baronet and hon. gentlemen opposite ; but
OR this occasion he coincided with everything that
had fallen from the right hon. member
for
trDroitwich (Sir
J. Pakington). He thought they had a right
her Majesty's Government had not allowed tho
is complain
subjectt
in
ne thco course
be discussed on a previous occasion ; especially as
taken by the noble lord the member for London
stunce was quite different from that which had been 's
in-
sued by other British Ministers when important questions
of foreign policy had arisen. On all such occasions there
had been frequent, and indeed often animated, di-cussions
in that house. In addition to, the case refereed to by the
hon. member for Aylesbury (Mr. Layard), the house would
recollect the debates on the questions of Syria and of the
Spanish marriages, and he might also recal to their me-
inory the• discussions which took place in 1823, on the
attempt of the Holy Alliance to interfere in the affairs
el Spain. On that occasion no British Minister ventured
to tell the House of Commons that there should be no
discussion because negotiations were in pro. eress ; on the
contrary, the then leader of the house invitedb a free
expression of opinion, and it was the_ occasion of some of
the noblest and most fervent displays of eloquence that
ever took place in that house. He could not help
thinking
that it was both the right and the duty of that house to
have declared whether they considered the invasion of the
Danubian principalities by Russia right or wrong. He
had heard the Foreign Secretary, the Minister especially
responsible in this matter, declare in the other house that
he had no objection to a discussion, and that if a debate
were waived it was not in consequence of the wishes of the
Government but in deference to the advice of other parties.
If, then, the Government did not consider it improper to
ave a discussion in the other house. why did they object
tone that hoes)? (Hear, hear, Bear.) Although the
did not ble lord's explanation was not a very full one, since it
atm hi
Wt htnn a single thing hat what they knew before,
to the concluas
sion
that, from its omissions, he must come
of which ho eweiai that the noble lord had been doing things
All previous Govs (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
assurancesetrnaot the Porte
this country had given con-
tinualthns from the Throne, b- and to Europe, by declare
and by the ~=3eches in both houses of Par-
liament,preambles of treaties that they regarded
the preservation of the integrityo of the Turkish empire as
one of the raost pressing
and
independence
of their solicitude. But
now, when the integrity
thater vuisn to
deuce of Turkey were
threatened, the Government ha(deZeti,l
the effect of which seemed to benegotiations,
to get all that she wanted, notwithstanding s wastha
tvaihr virtually
hada ll y
committed an act of war against Turkey, wad had been
2e