The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-01 00:00:00

that house some talk of a policy of connivance or credulity.
As an Englishman he should revolt at the appearance of
connivance, but the circumstances of the case were so ex-
traordinary that he could not understand them, unless it
was that, as there was two opinions in the Cabinet, there
had been both connivance and credulity, and that out of
that unnatural union was begot the bastard policy which
had brought the country to war. (Hear, hear.) He was
going to refer to the Times newspaper, but not for the
opinions of that journal, because if there was any opinions,
he might quote them on all sides from hour to hour ; but
when be found the opinions expressed there were those of
two members of her Majesty's Government, an importance
attached to them which could not be denied. (Hear, hear.)
This was a momentous question, and he did not wish to
exaggerate it, but he would undertake to prove that these
secret and confidential despatches were communicated, if
not the very day after their arrival, at least two or three
days after, and furnished materials for leading articles in
the Times. They were not communicated by any clerk in
the Foreign-office, because they could not at the time have
gone beyond the knowledge of one or two members of the
Government of this country. (Opposition cheers.) There
were, however, evidently men in this country endeavour-
ing to bring the country to consent to the nefarious tran-
saction to which he had alluded. In February and March,
last year, there appeared an extraordinary series of articles
in the Times newspaper, declaring that the time for the
dismemberment of the Turkish empire had arrived, and
that it was necessary to take into consideration whether
some arrangement could not be come to relative to the
partition of that country. He remembered being particu-
larly struck with those articles, which came out without
any purpose that he could make out, nothing having oc-
curred to lead to them ; but when these secret papers be-
came known, he recognised in them expressions which had
appeared in the articles published in the Times. Together
with a member of that house—a dispassionate man, but
not agreeing in his (Mr. Layard's) views—he referred to
the Times, and, to their astonishment, they found, in an
article published in the commencement of last year, the
very same words used by Lord Clarendon in one of these
despatches. If this were so, the question --was one of
the utmost importance, for the interests of the empire
were at stake if the secrets of the Cabinet, which could
not be divulged to the House of Commons, were to be made
use of to defeat the friends of the true interests of the
country, who were struggling to maintain its interests as
well as the interests of Europe. (Cheers from the Oppo-
sition.) The first of these secret despatches was received
in this country on 23d Jan., 1853, and on the 26th of the
same month appeared in the Times the first of those articles
to which he had referred. The next despatch was receiver
on 6th Feb., 1853, and on the 11th of the same wont.,,
four days afterwards, there appeared an extraordinary
article in the Times, from which he would now quote. In
one part of the article it was stated—
" We do not suppose that it is the intention or the policy
of Russia to accelerate a catastrophe in the East, and the good
offices of this country will again be employed to lessen the
perils of a situation which is becoming critical. We cannot,
however, forget that the attempt to prolong the brutal and
decrepit authority of the Turks in Europe is purchased by
the surrender of fine provinces and a large Christian popula-
tion to barbarous misgovernment ; and we shall rejoice when
civilisation and Christianity are able to repair the injuries of
the Ottoman conquest."
Again, it was stated in the Times on 23d Feb., 1853, after
various comments on the exhausted state of Turkey :
" With the utmost political cadacity, with a total want of
ability and integrity in the men who are still its rulers, with
a declining Mussulman population, and an exhausted trea
sury, the Porte unites, as if by way of derisory contrast, a
dominion over some of the most fertile regions, the finest
ports, and the most enterprising and ingenious peeple of
southern Europe. . . . It is hard to comprehend how so
great a positive evil can have been so long defended by poli-
ticians as a relative good; and, though we are not insensible
to the difficulties attending any change in the territories of
so huge an empire, we are disposed to view with satis-
faction rather than with alarm the approach of a period"
--How did the Times know the period was approaching I—
" when it will be impossible to prolong the domination of
such a Government as that of the Porte over such a
country as that which is now subject to its authority.
Perhaps that period is less distant than is commonly sup-
posed ; and it may be the part of wise statesmen to provide
against such a conjuncture, which it is beyond their power
indefinitely to postpone. We do not believe, andowe do not
mean to imply, that any combination of Austria and Russia,
hostile to the territorial claims of the Ottoman empire, is now
in existence, or is likely to be formed without the knowledge
of the other European rowers. We have strong grounds to
believe"---When the Times says that, we know what it means
—" that Prince Mensohikoff is sent from St. P.tersburgh
to Constantinople upon a special embassy, for the express pur-
pose of declaring, in the name of the Emperor Nicholas, that
as head of the Greek church he cannot submit, or allow the
Eastern church to submit, to the conditions of the firman
recently obtained by the French ambassador with reference to
the Holy Shrines in the Holy Land."
Now, the first intimation of Prince Menschikoff's mis-
sion was contained in Sir H. Seymour's despatches, re-
ceived February 14 and February 21. It was important
to observe that on the 6th of March, 1853, arrived the
despatch giving the whole of the Emperor of Russia's plan
for the partition of Turkey. The answer to it, as he had
before said, was not returned before the 23d of March, and
no Cabinet Council was held until the 13th of March,
though certain members of the Government had seven days
previously received the Emperor's proposal. That proposal
was net submitted to their colleagues till the 13th of
March, but it had been previously submitted to the Times,
for on the 7th of March, the morning following the receipt
of the despatch, which then could not have been known
to more than two or three members of the Cabinet, and
which could not then have been seen by any clerk in the
Foreign-office, there appeared a particular article in the
Times. (Hear, hear.) The article said, among other
things, that
" The state of the Turkish empire and the relations of the
European Powers to the East are subjects on whieh it may
be useful for reflecting politicians and the independent press
to form and express opinions, though the consummation to
which these opinions point bo still unwelcome and remote.
Statesmen, bound to transact the business of the day, and to
recognise at every turn the obligations of what is called State
necessity, are restrained within narrower
probably be unable to give effect to any novel and original con-
ception, if it had not previously been entertained by the mind
and reason of the public."
He entreated the noble lord to mark the words which fol-
lowed, for they referred to the objection which he had
offered :

" We are therefore Iby no means surprised that, in ad-
verting to the differences which have lately taken place in
Turkey, especially on its European frontiers, Lord John
Russell should have expressed his dissent from the opinions
which have been recently put forward on this subject, and
should have repeated in his place in Parliament, speaking
under the weight of official responsibility, the old story of
the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire. We
ourselves, however, are not affected by similar considera-
tions."

How did the writer know that the noble lord dissented ?
(Hear, hear.) The article proceeded :
"We do not, therefore, concur in the opinion of Lord J.
Russell, that no greater calamity could occur to Europe at
the present time than the necessity of considering what
ought to be done in such a case as the dismemberment of
that empire. It would, we think, be a far greater cala-
mity"—mark these words, because they occur in the Em-
peror's communication—" that the dismemberment corn-
menced before any such consiiieration took place." Again,
he asked the house to mark these words, because they oc -
cur in the Emperor of Russia's communication. Why
this remark about the dismemberment having commenced,
was that the Emperor told us himself. The article went
on to say :—" And here we must be allowed to express
our surprise that any statesman should, for an instant,
confound the policy which it might be proper to pursue in
the event of a dissolution of the Turkish empire with that
which led to the partition of Poland." The next article
appeared on March the 10th ; and what does it say ? I
will give you the exact words :—Prince Menschikoff
arrives in a more strictly diplomatic capacity, and we
have reason to believe"—the house knows what that means
(Laughter) " we have reason to believe that his instruction
are more conciliatory than those of Count Leiningen." Now
I find that on March the 6th, in the despatch of Sir H.
Seymour, sent to the Earl of Clarendon it is said:—
" His Excellency (Count Nesselrode) wished to assure me
that the instructions withwhich Prince Menschikoff would
be provided were of a conciliatory nature." No Cabinet
Council was held till the 19th, when the dispatch received
on the 9th was discussed and an answer returned on the
23d March. That answer commenced with the following
words :—" Although her Majesty's Government feel com-
pelled to adhere to the principles and the policy laid down
in Lord John Russell's despatch of the 9th of February, yet
they gladly comply with the Emperor's wish that the sub-
ject should be further and frankly discussed." To the hon-
our of the British press, although it could not command
that brilliant and epigrammatic pen which almost shook a
colonial minister from his place, it rejected with indigna-
tion the nefarious proposal that the Times wished it to ad-
vocate. Well, after the appeal of the Times to the public
mind, we have, the very same day after the despatch that
had been kept back from the Cabinet Council for seven
days was sent to St. Petersburg, we have it announcing
that the proposition for the partition of Turkeyhad failed—
(Murmurs.) I would read all the articles on this subject,
and if I did it would only add to the strength of my case ;
but surely, surely--(a laugh)—no man in this house will
tell me, after what I have read, that the person who wrote
those articles was not acquainted with these despatches.
Well, putting aside the charge against the person who made
these communications to the newspapers, I ask what must
have been the effect of these articles in Russia, where the
greatest care is taken to examine every shade of opinion in
this country ? Again, do you think that Baron Brunow
was not aware of these conversations between Sir H. Sey
mour and the Emperor of Russia, and of what passed at
St. Petersburg, and what must have been his surprise to
find almost every day after the receipt of these despatches
that the information and opinions contained in them were
re-echoed by the Times? (Hear, hear) 1 may be told that
after all, although this information is of such a nature as
almost to preclude any doubt as to its origin, that it is
only evidence of a mere coincidence. I confess, sir, that
no doubt whatever remains upon my m
now endeavouring to show that there were two
Mark, I am
twoparties then
in the Cabinet, and that there are two parties now, andtti
that these discordant elements have been trying to coup e-
ract the influence of each other, and that one of these par-
ties wishes to pursue a policy which I, and I believe the
country, most completely concur in. (Hear.) A very
carious thing occurs with regard to the speech of the Earl
of Clarendon, on the 25th of April last, in the House of
Lords, when the Marquis of Clanricarde asked a question
with
reference to the alarm that had been excited at Con-
sta ntinoplo by the demands of Prince Menschikoff. The
noble earl said, after he had received all these despatches,
secret and otherwise—"lt is not for me to say that the
Emperor of Russia is to be blamed for not keeping the
public informed with regard to his envoy's proceedings.
There is no disguise on the part of the Emperor with re-
spect to his embassy at Constantinople, and no hesitation
in answering our questions. I can only say that her Ma-
jesty's Government feels precisely the same confidence as
my noble friend in the honour and integrity of the Em-
peror of Russia." This was after all these secret commu-
nications ; and the noble earl added---" Exaggerated
re-
ports of recent events have been circulated during the last
four days which are calculated to excite alarm, but your
lordships will be pleased to hear that her Majesty's Go-
vernment have recently received a de patch from Lord
s
Stratford, dated on the day after his arrival at Constan-
tinople, in which he states that he has great reason to be-
lieve that the views of all parties upon the question are
such as to ensure a satisfactory result."
allude to Now, I want to
a very extraordinar fact. The date of the de-
spatch has been changed. But I suppose there is some ex-
planation of the circumstance ; but the Earl of Clarendon
made a mistake, and Morethan
country. Does Lord Stratford de that, he deceived the
Redcliffe assert that all
parties believe that the disp 9utes between Turkey and
Russia will be brought to a very satisfactory conclusion .
He says the very contrary. I suppose it was the despatch
that Lord Stratford sent on the day of his' arrival at Con-
diwatinoplo that Lord Clarendon meant to quo% but ho