The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-28 00:00:00

CUSTOMS ACTS.

In reply to questions from Mr. if:BROWN,
Mr. WILSON said the bill for consolidating the
whole of the customs acts was in a forward state of
preparation, and he hoped to be able to lay it on the
table in the course of a fortnight.
IRISH DRAINAGE COMMISSION.

In reply to questions from Col. DUNNE,
Mr. WILSON said the report of the Irish drainage
commissioners was now ready, and would be laid on the
table next week.

THE AFFAIRS OF THE PORTE.-THE HOLY

PLACES.
On the motion that the house at its rising do adjourn
to Monday next,
Mr. DISRAELI roes and said—l am most unwilling
to take advantage of this motion at any time for the

purpose of entering into a general discussion upon any

subject, and nothing but a sense of public duty woula

induce me now to take this opportunity of adverting to
the topic to which I am about to refer. In doing so, I
will endeavour to confine myself as much as possible to
an inquiry of her Majesty's Government, making one
or two remarks merely in order to bring the subject to
their attention, and the attention of the house. That
subject is, the state of our relations with the Ottoman
Porte. The house will recollect, that early in the spring
of the present year, considerable alarm was created, not
only in this country, but in other states
the arrival of an extraordinary emba.ssys
.froof
mßilrus°Psei 'a, by
t
deacllaarmrat: was
m some degree
allayed,Co ns t a n tbi ny otphl
ee —c
confident
etnhta t
thority, that this mission,
gre at thouogh laopliparofenPtelnycoonms minencaenci
after
ri cailrlcruemfesrtatno
caesnyofsubject Pofmp and urgency, did not
pocuohrgutitenhct
Church,
, but merely
had referengeeenteoratiheilirrlaretis
otuasnwdhiimob-
,wshuobswisetrebetthweeesunb thets members of the Greek
holy places at Jerusalem jrjodeorfthtahte
general Porte, aimndprtehse.
sion which obtained curt:
I think I may say an asencY' the public mind assumed,
kpect of tran.quillity. But it so happened about ix w s ago orh a little more, that Col.
Rose, who was at thatei liintistirmabinseisnteeeroaftLco,orndsStatnratit:
\
Strat-
ford, our ambassador, them
pople—a gentleman of whom I am bound to say all who
have been in any way placed in connection with him will
bear witness, that he is a man of great ability and pos-
sessing considerable knowledge of the country in which
he has been placed, in a very responsible position, it is
happened that about the period I have stated, Colonel
Rose suddenly felt it his duty to telegraph to the British
Admiral at Malta, requesting the immediate presence of
sheinogr
a at t thesa m
Constan-
tinople
LL ttihmeeßarnitnisohunflceeedt
tahtatthteheDFreardan:ch ad
Dardanelles,
despatched a message to the French squad-
rona had
tTonlon,requesting its immediate presence in the
same locality. These circumstances immediately revived
the alarm that had previously been so prevalent, but

those circumstances were, of course, duly considered by
her Majesty's Government, and it was generally under-
stood that they had, from their knowledge of the facts,
arrived at the opinion that there was no necessity for the
appeal made by Colonel Rose to the British admiral, and
the departure of the British fleet from Malta, which, ac-
cording to *he instructions given to the British admiral,
could not take place without first communicating with
the authorities at home, never, therefore, occurred ; and
the French fleet arrived in the vicinity of Constantinople
while the English fleet remained at Malta. Well, sir,
the country placing a wise confidence, as I think, in
those who are charged with the responsibilities of the
high office of her Majesty's ministers on such subjecants,
did not press the Government for disclosures, d
seemed inclined to think that the view taken by Colonel
Rose, and upon which he had acted, in his despatch to
the British Admiral at Malta, had been somewhat preci-
pitate in its character. Shortly afterwards Lord Strat-
ford, her Majesty's ambassador to the Porte, arrived at
Constantinople, which he found the Russian Ambassador
Extraordinary had not yet quitted ; and the question of
the holy places was still the subject of negotiation, and
of some anxiety, with those who gave their attention to
the question, and who were familiar with some of
its details. Very recently, however, it appears
that the question which at Constantinople absorbed
the interest of the representatives of the great powers,
and occupied the attention of the Porte, was altogether
of a different character—and that instead of its being a
limited and a mere local question connected with the
holy places at Jerusalem and the relations which those
subjects of the Porte who profess the Greek religion ne-
cessarily have with those places, it was announced with-
out any circumlocution that the Ambassador Extraordi-
nary of Russia had called upon the Porte to enter into
a convention which may be described—not to weary the
attention of the house with its details—which may be
fairly described--as a convention which, if carried into
execution, would transfer the allegiance of the vast ma- ,
jority of the subjects of the Porte in European Turkey ,
to the Emperor of Russia. (Hear, hear.) Well, sir, 1
when this became known, considerable alarm was un-
doubtedly
created, and it has not, as yet, been in any
way allayed, and it was announced (I know not with
what authority), that her Majesty's Government then
felt that Colonel Rose, who had applied at a previous
period for the presence of a British force, was justified
in the course he recommended, and that we had sent
some ships of war to Constantinople. I mention these
circumstances in order that I may place before the house
as clearly as I can, without presuming to give any opi-
nion at present as to what has transpired. The grounds
upon which I venture to ask for some explanation from
her Majesty's Government, and, having so stated the
circumstances, I will now put these two questions to the
noble lord. First, I wish to know whether the English
ambassador and the French ambassador at Constanti-
nople are at this moment acting in concert together, and,
if that be the case, then I would wish to know whether
there would be any difficulty on the part of her Majes-
ty's Government in communicating to the house the
general scope and tendency of the instructions which
they are so in concert together fulfilling. These are the
two questions which I feel it my duty to put to her Ma-
jesty's Government, and I await with some interest
their reply. (Hear, hear.)

Lord J. RUSSELL said —Sir, I will communicate to
the house as much information on the subject to which
the right hon. gentleman has referred as it is pos-
sible for me to communicate, without injury to
the public service. The right hon. gentleman has made
a statement which requires some correction, though not
material correction. Her Majesty's Ministers had
received information from the Government of
the Emperor of Russia, that the Emperor thought
it necessary to dispatch a special mission to Con-
stantinople in order to obtain a confirmation of those
concessions which had been made with the Greek Church
in reference to the holy places. He was informed
at the same time that the Emperor of the Russias had
occasion to complain that former concessions had not
been observed, and that he considered it necessary to
have some security that the present concession
would be duly observed. What was the nature
of th e security required the Russian Govern-
ment (lid not state, nor what were the instructions
of the Ru sian ambassador. Certain circumstances, how-
ever, occurred which induced the Grand Vizier to
entertain some apprehension as to what might ultimately
be the result, and under these circumstances he applied
to Colonel Rose for advice, and that officer asked for
the presence of an English fleet in the Dardanelles.
Col. Rose did not communicate by telegraphic mes-
sage to Malta, but he seat a steamer to Rialto
with dispatches, and with a request to the admiral,
after reading those dispatches, to consider the
grounds on which the Grand Vizier requested him to
proceed to the Dardanelles. Admiral Dundas forwarde f
these dispatches through London, and said he should
wait the orders of time Government before he left Malta.
The Government entirely approved of the discretion of
Admiral Dundas. Colonel Rose himself was informed
—I think not snore than two or three days afterwards—
by the Grand Vizier that there was no necessity for
the English fleet lcaving Malta, and accordingly
a dispatch was again sent by a steamer to Malta, with
a request that Admiral Dundas would not prose-
cute his voyage to the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles.
I believe both that Admiral Dundas exercised a wise
discretion, and that Colonel Rose was perfectly justified
in that s.econn order that he sent that the English fleet
should not leave Malta. The negotiations continued,
and Lord Stratford, whose ability and long experience
in Turkish affairs was well known, had been able mate-
rially to assist those negotiations, and to enable Prince
Menschikotf to obtain declarations and acts sufficient
in his estimation, and to which the French Ambassador
offered no material objection. It was hoped in London
and other courts of Europa that a matter which
had unhappily been the occasion of difference,
and been the source of considerable disquietude to
the Turkish Government, would have been settled,
and that the mission of Prince Menschikoff would
have also terminated favourably, but it appeared
that the demands made by Prince -Menschikoff, in
accordance with the instructions he received, were such
th 1, though in the opinion of Russia they were no more
than were necessaay in order to secure the fulfilment
of the concessions made by the Porte with regard to holy
places, they were, in the opinion of the Turkish
Government, as well as of her Majesty's ambassador
at Constantinople, and the ambassador of the
Emperor of the French, in a nature which could not
but be considered as dangerous to the independence of
the Porte, and as infringing in some degree those stipula-
tions which all the great powers of Europe agreed to in
1815. The last dispatches received from Lord Stratford
were of the date of the 9th inst. Both the English and
French ambassador took the same view of the articles of the
convention which were proposed. In the present state
of the negotiations it would not be consistent with the
public service that the Government should produce the
instructions under which Lord Stratford was directed
to act. I can only say, that they may be generally
described as instructions leaving much to his discretion.
but pressing on him that it was the fixed policy
of the Government to maintain inviolate the faith
of treaties and to support the integrity and independence
of the Turkish government. (Loud cries of hear, hear.)
Perhaps I may be permitted to say, that though we
have received no later official information, I trust from
the appearances at the present moment that the Russian
Government will finally seek no other security for Tur-
key than is compatible with the full authority of the
Sultan, as Sovereign of Turkey, and with the mainte-
nance of the peace of Europe. (Cheers.)
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
In reply to a remark from Mr. C. BERKELEY,
Lord J. RUSSELL stated that Government intended to
follow the same course in regard to the Wednesday sittings
as in former years—that was, to put Government orders on
the paper when necessary, but not to bring them on until
the orders standing in the names of private members had
been gone through.
REGISTRATION OF ASSURANCE BILL.
Mr. BRIGHT stated that he had received a telegraphic
message from a deputation from a number of building so-
cieties of Manchester, now on its way to London, in refer-
ence to this bill. What they wished to know was, whether
if the bill were read a second time pro forma, and it was
sent to a select committee, they would be allowed to give
evidence before that committee as to the operation of the
measure upon such societies as those to which they belong—
that was societies which purchased small parcels of land,
and built houses upon them for their own members ?
Lord J. RUSSELL replied that the bill in question,
which had come down from the Lords, was founded on the
reports of several legal commissioners, who had instituted
very laborious inquiries into the whole subject. What he
proposed was that the bill should be read a second time to-
night, and that its clauses should be afterwards submitted
to a select committee ; after which, as the hon. gentleman
was aware, it must come back and pass through a general
committee of the whole house. He thought it would be
inconvenient, after the inquiries which had already been
gone into by persons in every way competent for the task,
that fresh evidence should be taken, but the petitions of
the parties to whom the hon. gentleman had alluded might
be referred to the select committee, by whom, no doubt,
they would receive full attention.
Mr. BRIGHT thought it quite possible that the legal
commission from whom this bill had emanated might not
be aware of the peculiar circumstances of these societies—
but he would communicate what the noble lord had stated
to the deputation, and they would probably adopt the
course the noble lord had suggested.
Xs% HADFIELD intimated that he had presented a
number of petitions from some hundred thousand persons
fleeted with building societies against the bill.
MULLINGS believed that the commission referred
tr ea t
oa.
ndonfottligiosnu'into any evidence in reference to the ope-
thought the measure
members of building societies. He
at the expense of Xowould increase the profits of solicitors
pressed he shgt.i.Lsnzie7 poor persona. If the measure was
Asslialoestxonement.
wonliettthe bill, founded on the re-
L COURTS.
port of filtlUseMCEolionsuPlisisriedon
Pubiect, would be brought
forward, and whether it would' be introduced in the Lords
or the Commons ?
late
occasion,
Lord J. RUSSELL had stated, otehee
Government g.
we general ez,u tline of the
that the commission appointed by
he.,l made up their minds as to the
probably
bill, but not to tho details ; and it
three or foursonths to complete those details"'
TH ETROPOLITAN POLICE.
Lord D. S'P'u'AIIT complained that certain returns for
which he had moved, as to the number of the members of
d City police who had been charged be_
the Metrop9.4tait,,r.
.Iffl been punished, had not been
fore the. ni!igi/tra c.),;AtsA •
ies.e)(Toist:l. Ihe world inquire. into. the
1,(7 - the, table as soon as possible.
matter, and lay the papc"-ts
T -07 a NBAVSPAPERS.
.16-,NEWDEG,.ITE ire. of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer whether there :Ls_ 25 per, cent. difference in
the .stamp duty levied 0
nsh novvapers as compared
wittanglish papers, an f so, what reason there was
for it.
Tice aNcgreeker,"R e EXCHEQUER said that it
was in r• _t low 25 per cent. to Irish ne WS'