The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-06 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6, 1853.

come from himself, and he might have been mistaken.
He pretended to speak of a conversation with the Chief
Secretary for Ireland, and I presume he was not
present. (Dr. M`linight—" I was not.") His vera-
city was in no respect pledged to the original state-
ment, he might have been told so. I was anxious
to know his authority—(Dr. M‘Knight—" You can
get it")—but for the second statement he has the
authority of himself. If that statement is a falsehood he
is false. (Dr. M`Knight—Just so.) If he is not to be
believed in the last statement, neither is he to be cre-
dited that anybody told him of the former falsehood. I
therefore have two lies with one neck, and I behead
them with one blow. (Cheers.) The statement which
Dr. M‘Knight has now made is the most unmitigated
falsehood I ever heard. It is not true ;it is nothing
like the truth—it has no foundation in fact—it has not
an element of truth in it—it is all the invention of that
wicked mind. (Cheers.)
Mr. MOORE complained of false statements which had
been made in the Banner of Ulster respecting him, and
reiterated, notwithstanding his contradiction of them
among others, that he was in communication with Mr.
Disraeli in the last session. (Hear.)
Dr. M'KNIGHT—What I stated was, that after the
accession of Lord Aberdeen, the member for Mayo was
the first to wait upon him, and pay him his respects.
Mr. MOORE.—It is as completely and entirelyeritthr
out foundation as the rest. I never even sent him a
message, nor had any communication whatever with
him. (Oh !)

Dr. M‘KNIGHT.-I can tell the hon. gentleman that I
gave those statements upon the authority of a Parlia-
mentary correspondent who gathers up chit-chat.
The conference then, at half-past 6 o'clock, adjourned
until 11 o'clock next day.

TIIE EASTERN QUESTION.

GREAT MEETING AT LEICESTER.

For the purpose of conveying to her Majesty's Govern.

anent the sentiments entertained by the people of the
flourishing and important town of Leicester on the neces-
sity of prompt, energetic, and decisive action at the pre-
sent crisis of the Eastern question, a public meeting was
held there on Tuesday evening, in the New Hall, which
was attended by upwards of 1,000 of the inhabitants.
The assembly was convened and presided over by the
Mayor, John Manning, Esq., upon a requisition which
had been signed, in a few hours only, by upwards of 160
householders, comprising amongst them many of the
most respectable and influential gentry, manufacturers,
and tradesmen of the borough, and that irrespective alike
of party and creed. That so large a number of persons
could be brought together in defiance of the pitiless storm
of wind and rain which they had to encounter on their
way to the meeting, and that the attendance included
men of all shades of political opinion, may be taken fairly
to indicate the depth of the sympathy pervading society
generally in Leicester on behalf of our old and trusty ally
the Ottoman Porte. The only parties who kept aloof
were the local Whig leaders and the admirers of the Earl
of Aberdeen ; but in Leicester these people form but an
insignificant section of the community, and their absence
failed to excite either surprise or regret.
After some preliminary observations by the chairman,

Dr. NOBLE moved the first resolution :—" That in the
opinion of this meeting the invasion of the Danubian
principalities, and the continued occupation of those pro_
winces by the armies of the Emperor of Russia, is an un-
principled act of aggression, contrary to the law of na-

tions, and calling for the most decisive interference on
the part of the Enghsh people." (Cheers.) In appealing
to that meeting of Englishmen he doubted not he should
receive their acquiescence in the resolution ; for he was
asking them for their moral support of the weak against
the strong, their reprobation of the spoiler, and their
sympathy with the spoiled. (Cheers.) At a period
of the year when their representatives happened not to
be assembled within the walls of parliament it seemed
especially fitting that, on a great question which involved
the possibility of the recurrence of another European
war, the opinions of the nation should be decidedly ex-
pressed, whether to urge to activity and vigilance a
torpid and lagging ministry, or to confirm a resolute
though cautious one. (Hear.) It might be said that

the fears which were entertained from the first with
regard to the despotic tendencies of the Prime Minister
of the present Coalition Government were now realised
in the unsatisfactory results of the foreign policy said to
have been adopted in conformity with his views. But
he (Dr. Noble) thought that such men as Lord John
Russell, Lord Palmerston, Sir James Graham, and Mr.
Gladstone, however they might defer to the opinions of
their chief, would rather desire to be urged on to the
adoption of a policy more in accordance with their own
well-known and oft-expressed opinions. It was probable
therefore—if the meeting concurred in the resolution,
and if similar demonstrations to the present were made
in other great towns of the kingdom—that the sluggish
motions of the Government on the Turkish question
would be materially quickened. (Cheers.) The first
manly step they had taken since negociations were
pending—was that of sending a portion of our fleet into
the Dardanelles—to the assistance of the Sultan, and
that step should be followed by measures of a much mere
decisive character. (Cheers.) The quarrel begun by
Russia, who was now openly sympathised with by Aus-
tria' was in reality a quarrel of much older date than on
the face of it it.seemed to be. But he thought the noble
conduct of the Sultan was worthy the imitation of any
Christian king or potentate in Europe. When, in defence
of their national liberties, the brave Hungarians rose
and overthrew their oppressor, the Emperor of Austria,
and were on the eve of accomplishing their indepen-
dence, that Calmuck, the Czar of Russia, marched
his savage hordes into their territories, and over-
whelmed them. Again the nationality of the Hunga-
rians was destroyed, and the liberties for which they
had fought and bled once more subdued, though not ex-
tinguished ; for he believed that that noble people,
wisely profiting by the calamities of their last struggle,
and acting not less enthusiastically, but with more pru-
dence, caution, and unanimity than they did then, would
yet achieve the conquest of their nation's independence.
(Loud cheers.) There were few men in England pos-
sessing any political reputation at all who were opposed
to an active interference on the part of this country in
support of the Sultan of Turkey at the present crisis.
(Hear, hear). True, it was said by some, that the Turks
ought not to receive our aid against the Russians, be-
cause they were infidels. But that was not the fact.
The Turks were by no means infidels : they were deists,
not atheists ; and he doubted if they were one-half as
blasphemous as those Christian Russians whom the
friends of peace and non-interference so greatly ad-
mired. (Cheers.) In Turkey the principle of religious
toleration was well understood and acted upon, and in
reading the work of a French traveller lately he observed
it stated, that as much as three centuries ago the Turks
were in the habit of providing for the administration of
the religion of every Christian sect in their dominions,
and that even those who were sent to the galleys for
social crimes were supplied with spiritual instruction in
their own peculiar religious views. That was an ex-
ample of toleration and liberality which might lay claim
to the consideration even of many soi-disant Christian
monarchs and governments of the present day. Upon
the ground then of the great principles of civil and re-
ligious liberty, always so cordially sustained by the
public opinion of Leicester, he called upon them to raise
their voice in behalf of the Sultan in this crisis of his
country's history. (Cheers.) If the Czar of Russia
should succeed in his dishonest and infamous aggression
on his weak ally, the Porte, from that moment Tur-
key would become, not even a new Greek empire,
but a mere Cossack province, throughout which liberal
principles and opinions would be suppressed at the
will of the Russian Emperor, who arrogated to
himself the power of dealing out life or death
to his subjects, and a ukase, with his seal affixed to
it, had all the authority and force of law. (Hear, hear.)
The policy of interference by the western nations of
Europe, for the purpose of protecting the weak against
the strong, was not a novel policy. But something more
than this was involved in the present question—some-
thing more than a simple expediency. It was very pos-
sible, if the Russian were permitted to acquire the rich
territory of Turkey, that, emboldened by success in that
quarter, his appetite would increase by what it fed upon,
and that in his cupidity and lust of conquest he would
cast his eyes on yet fairer and richer provinces of Europe,
and make war on the nations around with still greater
chances of success. (Hear, hear.) It was, therefore,
upon the general principle of European policy, and,
above all, in aid of the great and glorious principles of
civil and religious freedom, that he called upon them to
give their unanimous support to the resolution which he
had now the honour of moving. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. W. HARDY, in seconding the resolution, said,
that having felt that for the last three months two of the
greatest and most civilised powers of Europe had been
placed in an extremely humiliating and degrading posi-
tion, and feeling also that of the two our own govern-
ment was the more degraded, he for one could not re-
fuse any post that might be assigned to him on this
occasion for the purpose of expressing that opinion.
(Cheers.) The question at issue to his mind assumed an
amount of importance considerably greater than that
which had attached itself to any subject connected with
our foreign relations during his lifetime. It became
them, therefore, in considering it, neither to adopt
rash conclusions on the one hand, nor on the other
to submit to tnything cowardly. (Great cheering.)
The course of aggression upon Turkey commenced in
the present instance, he was sorry to say, by a
series of palt'y claims, not on the part of Russia,
but of Franc, and Austria. France first sent her
ambassador, hi. Lavalette, to Constantinople, to claim
certain concessions with regard to the Holy Places—
in fact, he heheved ghp wished to have the kev of the
door. War was even threatened against the Sultan, and
when M. Lavelette quitted Constantinople he did so
under the impression that he had obtained a triumph for
his master, tat) Emperor Napoleon. No sooner did this