The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-18 00:00:00

EVIPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.)

Tie LORD CHANCELLOR took is seat on the woolsack
at Awe o'clock.
Lord CLARENDON laid on the table the private
correspondence alluded to the other evening, between
Russia and her Majesty's Government, respecting
Turkey.
DISCLOSURE OF CABINET SECRETS.

The Earl of M.AL VIEiBURY called the attention of
the house to the charge made by the First Lord of the
Treasury against a gentleman, formerly a clerk in the
Foreign-office, for a violation of his duty in disclosing
some secret correspondence of that department. Having
observed that he felt it his duty to take this course in
the interests of justice and (airplay, he stated that he
was convinced for two reasons, that the noble earl had
been deceived in making the charge against the'young
gentleman in question—first because the esprit de corps
which existed among the clerks of the Foreign-office
was such that there was not a single instance on record
of any important secret haVing been disclosed by them ;
and, secondly, because this gentleman had, during the
whole period he was in the office, conducted himself in
the most praiseworthy manlier. Ile (tha Earl of
:Malmesbury) had communicated with the gentleman,
whose name was Mr. Astley, and he had received a
letter from him, expressing his deep concern at the
charge made against him by the Earl of Aberdeen,
and stating that he had not at any time, or
in any way, divulged the secrets of the Foreign-
office and that he could not therefore admit, as alleged
by the, noble earl, that he had scandalously violated his
duty. Considering that Mr. Astley was the son of a
baronet, had hitherto borne a high character, and was
hardly 22 years of age, lie hoped the noble earl would
retract his accusation, which, coining from the first per-
son in the country, next to. the Sovereign, and having
been for several days before the public, could not but
have a very injurioas effect on Mr. Astley's reputation.
The Earl of ABERDEEN replied that, on a former
evening, he had said he was perfectly ready to leave
the issue tupon this matter entirely with the gentleman
himself. Undoubtedly, when he made the statement he
did, he had not the, slightest belief that this gentleman
would find it possible to deny its truth ; but, as the
letter read by the noble lord convinced him of the con-
trary, he was bound to accept the denial, and at the
same time to express his sincere regret that he had been
the means of casting any aspersions upon his conduct. •
$l6 was sure, however, their lordships would
believe him when he said that he would not
have made the charge without a moral conviction
of its truth, but if the noble earl was not satis-
fied, lie was quite ready to make known to him the
ground he hal fir entertaining that belief. The Earl
Aberdeen concluded tiy bearing strong testimony to tho
ability, zeal, and fidelity of all the clerks in the. Foreign-
office.

The Earl of DERBY expressed himself fully sa-
tisfied with the statement and ample apology of the
noble earl, and said 'ha hoped his noble friend
would be ready to accept them, but he could not but
think it would be more satisfactory if the noble earl, in
pursuance of his offer, acquainted his noble friend
with the quarter fr(Ma which he obtained the
information affecting the chars ier of Mr. Astley.
The ' Eanl of Derby then strongly condemned
the practice of communicating Cabinet secrets to the
newspapers as injurious to the public service; and men-
tioned that the ultimatum sent to St'. Petersburg for the
evacuation of the Danubian principalities was • pub-
lished in the Times newspaper the next morning after
,the sitting of the Cabinet Council, in Which it was
agreed to. The noble earl intimated that if the practice
continued, he should feel it his duty to take up the ques-
tion, and.endeavour to ascertain from the parties who
published such information, the sources from which it
was derived.

The Earl of 11A.LgESBITRY observed that what
the noble earl opposite bad said must be extremely satis-
factory to Mr. Astley. (Hear.) He would only make
one or two thservations on what had fallen from his
noble friend behind him. When a correspondence took
place between two parties, and the secret was known to
both, it was possible for the secret to be violated by one
of the parties He bad never heard of its being violated
by the department in England, but he was sorry to add
that he couldnot say the same thing of offices abroad,
, for he had known instances of secret correspondence
being most shamefully nride public. But in the case of
the nitimatun, or whatever the paper might be called,
referred to by, his noble friend, that could have been
known only td the Cabinet and the persons employed by
the Cabinet, sad it was quite evident, therefore, that in
that case the, betrayal could not take place abroad, but
must have occirred in this country. Nay, more, the
very short tim3 that elapsed between the decision of tlfe
Cabinet and tier publication of this document was an ad-
ditional proof that the person violating his duty must
be a person connected somehow or other with the Go-
vernment, whom, therefore, the Government were bound
to discover, He did not believe it possible that any
member of the Cabinet could have had the indiscretion
to allow anything that passe•_! within the Cabinet to be
publicly known ; but if any repetition of these improper
proceedings took place, he trusted that the noble earl,
Whose first duty it was to discover the culprit, would
not rashly lay the blame on the youngest, and, perhaps,
the most iemignificant member of a department, but
would remember the observation nfSancho Panza-, "that
a cask may leak at the top just as well as the bottom."
The subject 'then dropped.
BRITISH MERCHANTS IN RUSSIA.
The Marquis of CLAN RICARDE, in rising to move
for copies of the late correspondence between the noble
lord her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
and her M jesty's consul at Riga, regarding the export
of the produce of Russia belonging to her Majesty's sub-
jects, and to the rights of neutrals in the event of war,
.said that he wished to call the attention of their lord-
ships to the substance of a despatch from the noble lord
to her Majesty's consul at Riga, which was dated on the
10th of February last. The words of this document
Were as follows :

" The Earl of Clarendon has had under his consideration
a despatch requesting to be informed what respect would
be paid by British cruisers, in the event of war, to bona
fide British property, the produce of Russia, if shipped on
board neutral vebsels. I am to acquaint you, in reply,
that property of the description in question, the produce
of Russia, and exported therefrom by and on account of a
British merchant domicile 1 and trading there, although
purchased before the war, and exported to England, would
not be respected by her Majesty's cruisers, inless in pur-
suance of a license, or of some special instructions from her
Majesty to the officers of the navy. By the law and practice
of nations, a belligerent has a right to consider as enemies all
persons who reside in a hostile country, or who maintain
commercial establishments therein, whether such persons be
by birch neutrals, allies, enemies, or fellow-subjects ; the
property of such persons, exported from such country, is,
therefore, res hostium, and, as such. lawful prize of war.
Such property will be c.eidemned as prize, although its
owner may be a native-born subject of the captor's country,
and although it may be in transitu to that country ; and
its being laden on board a neutral ship will not protect the
property. You will therefore inform those whom it may
Concern that, in the event of war, the property in question
'Will not be protected by the consular certificate, or by any
other document, but will be liable to capture and condem-
nation` as prize."
Now, he did not mean to question in any way the law
as laid down by the noble lord, but merely wished dis-
tinctly, to understand the extent of its applicability to
the British merchants resident in Russia, who, as a mat-
ter of course, were most anxious that a question of so
Much moment to them should be reduced into as plain
language as possible. By treating the British merchants
resident in Russia with too great severity, we should not
only be doing an injury to them, and to our own coun-
try, but we should also be doing an advantage to Rus-
sia. The measures held out in the despatch as likely to
to be adopted with reference to such merchants have, if
rigorously enforced, a most unjust and pernicious influ-
ence ; because only last autumn such merchants had re-
ceived the most positive assurances from the British
Government of the peaceful termination of the question
at issue between the Western Powers and Russia ; and
the Emperor of Russia himself had told them that their
persons and property would be protected either in peace
or war, and, under these circumstances, he th iught that
the British merchants had noright to be led to suppose that
theirown Government would desert, them at this particular
crisis. In connexion with thissubject, also, he read in the
Times newspaper of to-day a letter from the Board of
Trade, which was addressed to Messrs. Martin and
Levin' -of -Trinity-square. The letter was in these
Words :r-

" Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade,
,
Whitehall March 14.

"Gentlemen,—In reply to your letter of the 24th of
February requesting to be informed whether, in the event
of war between this country and Russia, Russian goods
imported from neutral ports would be considered contra-
band, or would be admissible into England, I am directed
by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade
to inform you that, in the event of war, every indirect at-
tempt to carry on trade with the enemy's country will be
illegal ; but, on the other hand, bona fide trade, not subject
to the objections above stated, will not become illegal
)merely because the articles which form the subject-matter
of that trade were originally produced in an enemy's coun-
try--I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,
" J. EMERSON TENNENT."
Ile was quite sure that their lordships would agree with
him that the subject to which he was calling their atten-
tion was one of the greatest gravity and importance, and
-one which affected a very large class of our fellow-cdun-
trymen. (Hear, bear.) He felt very strongly on the
matter, having been resident at the Court of St. Peters-
burg, and knowing how many disagreeable disputes con-
stantly arose, and how much trouble and annoyance
Was brought about in reference to the protection of the
persons and property of British subjects. He had no
doubt that the subject would receive the attention that
Was due to it, both from the English and French Go-
vernments ; and he had also no doubt that very often,
in the commencement of a war like the present, se-
verities were necessary, and in many cases una►oid-
able ; but still, at the same time, he hoped that
every opportunity would be taken to relax them as far
as possible, especially with reference to, our own sub-
jects, whom it ought to be our wish` and desire, as it
Was our duty and privilege, to protect. (Hear.) [The
noble lord spoke so indistinctly that it was difficult to
hear any two oonsecutive sentences of what he said.]
The Earl of CLARENDON—With respect to the
letter to which my noble friend has alluded, and which
I had not seen before, it appears to me that, although
there may be some indistinctness in its wording, there
can be no doubt as to the meaning to be attached to its
contents. It meant to state that, in the event of war,
all indirect trading with the enemy's country would be
considered as illegal ; but that on the other hand, bond
,Aide trade, not subject to the objection stated in the
letter, would not become illegal from the mere fact that
the articles forming the subject-matter of that trade were
originally the produce of an enemy's country. (Hear.)
This is the meaning I attach to the letter to which the
noble lord has referred, and this is, I consider, the fair