The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-14 00:00:00

THE LAST RUSSIAN MANIFESTO.

The Earl of DERBY said,—l have a question to put
to the noble earl at the head of the Government, of
which I thought it my duty to give him notice, but
which, had I not done so, the noble earl would probably
have anticipated, and to which I hope he will have no
hesitation in giving me an answer. In most of the
morning papers on Saturday last there appeared a docu-
ment of a very remarkable character, purporting to be
an extract from the Journal de St. Petersbourg, and pro-
fessing to be in point of fact, as it seems to be, the semi-
official answer of no less a person than the Emperor
of Russia to a statement made by one of the leading
members of her Majesty's Government in the other
House of Parliament. If that. article had merely con-
tained a protest against the terms made use of by that
member of her Majesty's Government, as being incon-
sistent with the position which he occupied and deroga-
tory to the dignity of the party to whom they referred,
I should certainly not have thought it necessary upon a
matter which partook more of a personal than a public
character to call your lordships' attention to it ; but the
assertions and allegations contained in this manifesto or
memorandum, or vihatever it may be called, are of a na-
ture which require an explanation at - the hands of her
Majesty's Government, because unexplained, they appear
to reflect at all events on the political honour, if I might
not also say, on the personal honour of some of the prin-
cipal members of that Government. I take the extract
from the Times newspaper, first, because the document
appears to be given at greater length, and next because
that is a paper which professes—and which, I believe,
professes truly--to enjoy to a very great extent the confi-
dence of her Majesty's Government, and more especially
that of the noble earl at the head of the Governmont.
("Hear" from the Earl of Aberdeen.) A confidence which
I hope is not entirely undeserved, and which certainly,
I must say, appears to be reciprocated by the news-
paper in question. I also refer to it, because the com-
ments which appear in that paper upon the subject
under discussion were hardly of a less remarkable cha-
racter than the document itself. (Hear, hear.) The
Emperor of Russia, or the editor of the Journal de St.
Petersbourg—who probably would not have put forth a
document of this character without Imperial sanction—
after commenting on the language made use of and the
expressions applied to the Emperor by Lord John Rus-
sell in his place in the House of Commons, and after
referring to the distrust in the intentions of Russia,
which, as he states, have led to the nowlimpending war,
goes on to say :

" That such distrust may have been entertained by
France—that it may up to a certain point have found a place
in the mind of a Government still recent, which has not
had time to acquire by long experience of former relations
with it an exact idea of our real intentions, and
abandoning itself involuntarily to the almost traditional
opinion which has been formed of Russian policy in the East
—that may be easily conceived; but on the part of Eng-
land, which is aware of the antecedents and the character of
the Emperor from a connection of long date, an opinion of
such a nature justly excites surprise. Less than any other,
the British Government should entertain such suspicions. It
has in its hands the written proof that there is no foundation
for them, for long before the present condition of affairs, before
the questions which led to the mission of Prince Menschikoff
to Constantinople had assumed so serious an aspect of differ-
ence, before Great Britain had adopted the same line of policy
as France, the Emperor had spontaneously explained himself
with the most perfect candour to the Queen and her Minis-
ters, with the object of establishing with them a friandly un-
derstanding even upon the most important result which can
affect the Ottoman empire."

This last sentence in a leading article of the Times of
the same date is expressed with even more emphasis and
in italics, the concluding words being "in the event of
the most formidable contingency that could befall the
Ottoman empire." The article from the St. Petersbourg
Journal, after alluding to the organization of the Tur-
kish empire, then goes on to say,

" Penetrated with the extreme importance of such a result,
and having at that period almost reached the region of
the possible, if not entirely of the probable,—convinced
of the disastrous consquences which might result from
it, the Emperor thought it necessary to assure himself
beforehand whether the English Government shared
his apprehensions. He wished more particularly by a
frank previous understanding to remove every subject of
misunderstanding between Great Britain and himself. It
seemed of the highest importance to his Majesty to establish
the most perfect identity of views with the Government of
Great Britain. With this view the Emperor engaged the
English Minister at St. Petersburg to cause her Majesty to be
informed of his anticipations with respect to the danger, more
or less imminent, that menaced Turkey. He requested on
this subject a confidential interchange of opinions with her
Britannic Majesty. That was certainly the most evident
proof of confidence which the Emperor could give to the
Court of St. James ; and thus did his Majesty most openly
signify his sincere wish to prevent any ulterior divergence be-
tween the two Governments. Sir H. Seymour acquitted
himself forthwith of the important commission which the.
Emperor had impressed on him in a long and familiar con-
versation. . The result has shown itself in a correspondence
of the most friendly character between the present English
Ministers and the Imperial Government. It is not permitted
to us to divulge the contents of non-official documents which
do not concern the Emperor alone, and which contain the ex-
pressions of a mutual confidence. What we are permitted to
say is, that in examining the circumstances more or less likely
to affect the duration of the status quo in the East,—an ex-
amination undertaken from the conviction respectively enter-
tained that every effort should be made to sustain that status
quo, and to prolong it as long as possible, there never was any
question of a plan by which Russia and England might dispose
beforehand, and between themselves, of the destiny of the
different provinces which constitute the Ottoman empire ; still
less of a formal agreement to be concluded between them,
without the knowledge and unassisted by the counsel and in-
tervention of the other Courts. The two parties were limited
to a frank and single confidence, but without reserve on
either side, to communicate what might be adverse to Eng-
lish interests, what might be so to Russian, so that in any
given case hostile or even contradictory action might be
avoided. In looking over the different parts of this confi-
dential correspondence—in recalling the spirit in which they
themselves had interpreted it, the /iinisters with whom at
the time it was carried on, and who since have permitted
themselves to be swayed by prepossessions to be regretted,
will be able to decide if those prepossessions are just. Let
Lord J. Russell more especially reperuse that correspondence,
in which he was the first to take part before ceding to Lord
Clarendon the direction of foreign affairs, Let him consult
his conscience, if the passion which leads him astray permit
him to recognise its voice. He can decide now whether it be
really true that the Emperor has been wanting in frankness
towards the English Government ; or if rather his Majesty
has not unbosomed himself to England with as little reserve
as possible ; if there exists the least reason for believing that
we have ambitious or exclusive views on Constantinople ; or,
if on the contrary, the Emperor has not explained himself in
a way to remove all doubt as to his real intentions on the
subject of the political combinations to be avoided, in the
extreme case which he at the time pointed out to the fore-
sight of the British Government."

Now I must say that, it appears to me, the concluding
paragraphs of this article, and the course which events
have taken, go far to show that there were indeed, on the
part of the Emperor of Russia, ambitious designs' enter-
tained with reference to the Ottoman empire—(hear,
hear)—but that which is of importance in the present
case is, that, according to this article, the Emperor of
Russia had made to Sir Hamilton Seymour the most
friendly and unreserved communications relative to the
views which he entertained on this subject ; that such
communications had been forwarded by Sir Hamilton
Seymour to the British Government ; and that a most
friendly correspondence had been carried on between the
Emperor of Russia and different members of such Bri-
tish Government relative to the Emperor's views, in
which correspondence there appeared to be a most per-
fect unity of action and harmony of thought existing
between the corresponding parties. If this were so, I
contend that the British Government have no right to
express surprise at the aggressive demonstration now
made on the part of the Emperor, or to deal with his mo-
tives as if they were not previously communicated and
understood. What appears to he most remarkable in the
conduct of the British Government is this—that, while
the confidential documents referred to went to show that
there were ambitious views entertained by Russia, and
also all the papers in the command of Government went
to prove the ambitious policy and violent designs of
that state with regard to the dissolution of the Turkish
empire and its final settlement ; while all this must
have been evident, the British Government should imply
that they were ignorant of what the intentions of Russia
really were. (Hear, hear.) I do not complain, my
lords, that the conversation of Sir Hamilton Seymour
with the Emperor, and the confidential correspondence
carried on between the two Governments should have
been withdrawn from the regular correspondence laid on
the table of the house, because such withdrawal of the
papers might well be justified by an honourable objec-
tion on the part of the British Government to make use
of private correspondence for public purposes. (Hear.)
Previously to the late discussion on the documents
which have been laid upon the table, I had from au-
thentic sources good reason to believe that such a pri-
vate correspondence as the one I am now speaking of
existed ; but I felt, since Government, in its discretion,
had not thought proper to produce such correspondence
that it would not be right or fair in me to make my in-
formation public. lam now about to refer to certain
comments, and these of a very singular character, which
appeared in the Times newspaper upon those documents,
and I must say, in passing, that this is not the first time
by many, within the last few months, that the Times
newspaper has professed to have, and has been proved to
be in possession of, secret and exclusive information,
which ought, !and was supposed to have been known
only to the Cabißpt ; also to have possession of, and
access to, papifrti, and documents refused to both
Houses of Parliament, and to be at liberty, and ap-
parently authorised, to make public these documents,
previously refused even to Parliament itself. • (Hear,
hear.) The noble earl (Aberdeen) may disclaim,
if he pleases, any communication, either direct or
indirect, with the Times newspaper, or may say that he
ever personally in any way communicated with that