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

diplomatic victory—if we induced the Russians to leave
the principalities. I much doubt the victory. Russia has
gained without firing a shot what would have been well
worth purchasing by a bloody and expensive campaign.
(Hear, hear.) She has established her power in the East
—she has humiliated Turkey—she has compelled her to
submit to an invasion without resistance—she has cir-
hanged her resources—and, what is more, she has humi-
liated this country and France in the eyes of her owis
henrb,
jects, and of the populations of Turkey. (Hear,
macis)
What have we done for Turkey, who opposed theclt
of Russia with our sanction and support—deman demands
we admitted to be outrageous and unjust ? (Hetaor, h a )
'alle the
We have subjected her to humiliation and .
expenses of a war ; and. we are now uragmgsehder
herto
accept the very demands which we
in the first instance to reject. (Hear, hear.) And
how had those demands been now urged upon
_her, and
what does their acceptance involve ? Why, we_ have just
learnt from the noble lord that the draught of the proposal
to be agreed to by the representatives of the four powers at
Vienna was first communicated to St. Petersburg, and was,
of course, eagerly accepted—the acceptance being sent back
without delay, and before the proposal could have even
reached the Porte. The consequence is that, if the Porte
declines to adhere to this proposal, Russia will call upon us
to support her in compelling the Turkish Government, who
has the real voice in the matter, and can alone judge how
far the proposal affects her rights and independence, to
accept that which we have sanctioned and recommended.
(Hear, hear.) In fact, Russia has turned the tables com-
pletely upon us, and has made us her allies against Tur-
key, instead of being supporters of Turkey in resisting the
unjust and unrighteous demand. (Hear, hear.) If Turkey
accepts the proposal under this terrible pressure—for it is
a terrible pressure, Russia now being united with four great
powers of Europe against the Porte—we have directly
sanctioned the pretensions of Russia to protect and inter-
fere on behalf of the 12,000,000 of the Christian subjects of
the Porte, a privilege which she might always have claimed,
and, to a certain extent, exercised, but in which we have
never acquiesced. (Hear, hear.) Why, this is monstrous !
(Hear, hear.) Let this case be reversed. If Turkey had
been in the place of Russia, what should we have done ?
Why we should have compelled her to evacuate the princi-
palities at once, to have paid the whole expenses caused to
Russia by an unwarrantable act—(hear, hear)—and to have
sent an ample apology. (Hear.) Nothing less now will
satisfy the ends of justice. (Cheers.) If we do not deal
with this outrageous case after this fashion, we show to the
world that we have one measure for the weak and another
for the strong, and we forfeit our character and prestige
in the East, rendering the position of our ambassador
at Constantinople utterly untenable. When once this great
country has lent itself to a palpable act of injustice, as
she has unfortunately done in this instance, she must
descend in the scale of nations. (Cheers.) Look at the
question as we may, we have taken the place of a second-
rate power, and conceded that of a first-rate power to Rus-
sia alone. (Hear, hear.) It is said that the question is
settled. (Hear, hear.) I contend that it is only a ques-
tion deferred. (Hear, hear.) Allied with France, sup-
ported by the public opinion of the whole of Europe,
-en-
gaged in a just and righteous cause, we have lost an oppor-
tunity or
tunity which may perhaps never occur agaln, o f settling
on a proper basis this great Eastern quest' on. and those
vast conflicting interests that yearly threaten the peace of
the East, and of assigning to Russia that place to which as
a great power she is entitled,and which I should be the
be
last person to refuse her, but yosafety beyond which the of
t
Europe and the interests of civilisation forbid that
should go. (Cheers.) Better would it hav
!been to t she
have
induced Turkey at once to have accepted Prince Menschi-
koff's proposal, than to have abetted her in a resistance
which has only ended in her humiliation, and which has
inflicted a blow upon her which must accelerate her rain,
and render utterly hopeless any attempt to preserve her as
an independent power. (Hear, hear.) Bnt it is not only
in Turkey and in the East in general that the effects of
this fatal policy will be felt. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, '
and every weak state in Europe, which depends for sup-
port—aye, for its very existence—upon the high character
of England, and our known respect for treaties, will look
upon further opposition to Russia as hopeless. (Hear,
hear.) The day will probably come when we shall see the
error we have committed, and repent a policy against
which, as a humble member of this house, I can only record
my solemn protest. (Cheers.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON could not help feeling that they
had some reason to complain of the extreme shortness of
the notice which the noble lord had given of his intention
to bring this subject under the notice of the house. Consi-
dering the brief interval that yet remained before the pro-
rogation, they might fairly have expected that on Friday
last, or at least on Saturday, the noble lord would have
made known his intention to make to the house the state-
ment they had just heard. He wasquite 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 the policy
which her Majesty's Government had adopted upon this
question, or to follow the noble lord upon the various topics
to which he had 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, he 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 bo 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, ou 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 jildges 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 honor
•
the house could at presentjudge how far they were justified
in not considering the invasion of the principalities a cam
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-
pense ; and it would be for her Majesty's Government
e hreafter to show that they were not responsible for the
suspense that had existed, and for the injury which it had
occasioned, He deeply
of the noble lord had(Sir not been more satisfactory than he
reserve his jnagi2efotr. one must consider it ; but he must
ment had taken—annaupen the policy which the Govern-
desire to make this he said this without the slightest
if it could be avo(sdtion a subject of party difference,
lieeni
requisite
the production of those
papers which were re tothorow lfht up g
on the neo-
tiations which had been carried
Lord D. STUART said that hendi. d(i noetaorftn agree with
the right hon. baronet and hon. gentlemen
al opposite ; but
member
rofst everything that
on this occasion he coincided w
J. Pakington). He thought they had a
right
e3roitwich (Sir
had fallen from the right hon.
complain that
subjectth
her Majesty's Government had not allowed the
be discussed on a previous occasion ; especially as'
taken by the noble lord the member for London inethcoiurse
in-
stance was quite different from that which had been spnin;
sued by other British Ministers when important que,iic;:s,
of foreign policy had arisen. On all such occasions there
had been frequent, and indeed often animated, discussions
in that house. In addition to the case referred to by the
hon. member for Aylesbury (Mr. Layard), the house would
recollect the debates on the questions of Syria and of the
Spanish marriage! and he might al so recal to their me-
mory the discussions
__ which took place in 1823, on the
attempt of the Holy Alliance to interfere in the affairs
of Spain. On that occasion no British Minister ventured
to tell the House of
o.Gotmiamtioonnss
were
itnheprerogrsheosusld;
one
the
discussion because nee
contrary, the then leader
it of the houeseeasiinonviotefdsoamfereoef
expression of opinion, and was the o
the noblest and most fervent dispeloauylsdonfotelhpoeqluetnhince
kthinagt
ever took place in that house. He
that it was both the right and the dutrhoefintvhaasit house to
have declared whether they considered _
Danubian principalities by Russia rig
stet
osirtewrroesnpge.ciallnye
had heard the Foreign Secretary, the
responsible in this matter, declare in the otheril a house that
be had no objection to a discussion, and that
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
have a discussion in the other house, why did they object
to it in that house? (Hear, hear, hear.) Although the
noble lord's explaansaitirl Nize, not a, very full one, since it
did not tell them
still he was afraid
thatt hnalt,
knewhefromingitbsnotinwihssaitonthcyhe mmast
t before,
come
to the conclusion
dn.oble lord had been doing things
of which he was ash
All previous Governmentsa (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
of this country had given con-
tinual assurances to the Ports
i-eli, tions from the Throne, b 7 s s and
to Europe, by declare
preanizeociies in both houses of Par-
, ) NVI 57) liament, and by the
treaties that they regarded
s I z; the preservation of
pressingert of the Turkish empire as
~, ~/ 4 no of the most g
aonleicti ofentdh
senircesoolficTitnirikde. But
k-, / '`.-, '.( v., when the integrity , ~ , .. ,
negotiations,
s. was virtuall
, ,
...... '-ein-- eatened, the Government linadeepntereßduisnsto.
,14.
that
'''-'" I) h.
--:" . lib effect of w 'eh seemed to be that
••••''... ;24-35get all that she wanted, notwithstanding
"committed an act of war against Turkey, and had
t. / • been
.1