The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-10 00:00:00

PETITIONS.

Sir J. WALMESLEY presented a petition from
the Corporation of Leicester against the recommenda-
tion of a select committee of the house for consolidating
borough and counties into districts for police purposes.
Mr. MIALL presented a petition from Rochdale pray-
ing for energetic measures against Russia in favour of
Turkey.
_ _ _

Mr. LOWE presented a petition from Kidderminster
in favour of reformatory schools.
Mr. P. MILES presented a petition from a parish in
Somerset against the sale of intoxicating drinks on Sun-
days.

GREEK CLAIMS.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, by command of her Ma-
jesty, brought up a further correspondence respecting
the rights and privileges of the Greek Church in Turkey.
The correspondence was ordered to lie upon the table.

RUSSIA AND TURKEY
Sir H. WILLOUGHBY gave notice that, on Mon-
day, he should ask the noble lord the member for the
City of London a question relative to the Turkish papers,
commencing with those which were signed by Count
Buol. The hon. baronet took that opportunity of asking
whether the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi could be pro-
duced ?
Lord J. RUSSELL replied in the affirmative.
THE AMERICAN MINISTER.
Mr. ROEBUCK drew attention to the fact that the
American Minister had been unable to attend the open-
ing of Parliament, owing to the regulation which pre-
vailed that none but persons in full dress were admitted
to the body of the House of Lords. He wished to know
if the Government approved of that regulation.
Lord J. RUSSELL said the card of admission sent
to the American Minister was the ordinary card issued
by the Lord Chamberlain on such occasions, and it bore
the usual words stating that the bearer of the card must
appear in Court dress. The American Minister did not
make any application to the Foreign-office on the sub-
ject, but simply contented himself with not attending
the opening of Parliament. The Emperor of the French
had allowed the American Minister to present his cre-
dentials in plain dress, but at the time it was intimated
to the Minister, that upon all future occasions when he
was invited to the fetes of the Court he would be ex-
pected to attend in the ordinary Court costume. He
did not, under these circumstances, apprehend that any
inconvenience was likely to arise from the regulation
which prevented the American Minister from attending
the opening of our Parliament.

RETURN OF THE COMBINED FLEETS TO
CONSTANTINOPLE.
Mr. FRENCH wished to ask the noble lord the
member for the City of London, if he could give any
explanation as to why the combined fleets had returned
to Constantinople from the Black Sea ?
Lord J. RUSSELL said some time ago the admirals
commanding the combined fleets were desired by the
English and French Ambassadors to g• into the Black
Sea, which they accordingly did, and the combined fleets
stood in Sinope Bay for some days. (Hear, hear.)
The British admiral then wrote to say that he found
it would be dangerous to remain any longer in
that anchorage, inasmuch as if the united squadrons
were to remain in the Black Sea for two months, it
would pave the way towards promoting any wish which
the Emperor of Russia might entertain that the
British and French fleets should be destroyed. The
Admiral, therefore, thought it to be his duty to return
to Constantinople with the ♦iew of sending steam-
ships from time to time into the Black Sea in order to
obtain the command of that Sea, which the British and
French Governments had ordered the two admirals to
do. He believtd this conduct of the admiral was at
variance with the instructions of the British and French ,