The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

Lord BEAUMONT then rose to move the following
resolution :—" That it appears from the documents which
her Majesty has been graciously pleased to communicate
to this house, that the efforts of her Majesty and her allies
to establish, without recourse to arms, amicable relations
between the Sublime Porte and his Imperial Majesty the
Emperor of Russia, have been unremitting ; that it ap-
pears also, that those efforts have failed to produce the
desired effect, and that the Emperor of Russia continues
to hold by force of arms two important provinces of the
Ottoman Empire; that it is, therefore, the opinion of this
house, that the best interests of this country require that
immediate and effectual means be taken to repel the
unjustifiable aggression of Russia on the territory of the
Sultan—(hear, hear)—and that the power and influence
of this country should be exerted to place the relations
of the Sublime Porte with the rest of Europe on such
foundations as shall appear best calculated to secure
a durable peace, and ,afford the Ottoman empire a fair
opportunity of developing its natural resources, and of
proceeding with its administrative reforms." Having in-
timated that it was not his intention to resume the dis-
cussion which had recently taken place in that house on
the subject, he observed that though the Government had
very ably defended themselves against the attacks made
upon them, there ware two or three charges affecting their
conduct which still remained unexplained. The accusa-
tion as to their incredulity in not believing in the real in-
tentions of the Czar—incredulity carried to a point
'of weakness had been altogether uncontradicted.
With respect to this allegation the noble lord reviewed
the policy of Russia for a number of years before the ex-
isting rupture with Turkey, and read documents to chow
that she had violated treaties in order to carry out her ob-
ject of seizing Constantinople. He particularly condemned
her conduct with regard to the treaty of Adrianople ; and
read a letter or despatch, written soon after that event by
Count Nesselrode, to the effect that it was desirable, by
indirect means, to acquire an overwhelming influence over
the Porte. He contended that the history of this period,
which the Government must have been perfectly acquain-
ted with, ought to have led them to place little reliance on
the assurances of Russia. He did not, however, regret
the efforts they had made for the preservation f peace,
because they had enabled them to ascertain the feelings of
the people on the aggressions of Russia, and at last to act
upon them with vigour. The second charge which the
Government had not satisfactorily answered was, that
they had not availed themselves of the information
at their disposal to ascertain the relative positions
of the empires of Turkey and Russia. They had
attempted at the commencement to run down and bully
Turkey, unaware of its real character and resources, and
had used language in relation to its independence and in-
tegrity which had had a very injurious effect in encouraging
th aggressions of Russia. There was, however, great differ-
ence in the language used on these subjects by Ministers in
their lordships' house, and those of Lord J. Russell and
Lord Palmerston in the other house. That used by the
First Minister had been such that he felt it necessary to
bring on the motion With which he intended to conclude,
for he had said he had misgivings as to whether we were
right in going to war, that it was for the Government to
resist the feelings which the people had shown, and that it
was their duty to encourage them into pacific views. He
denied with indignation the morality of these doctrines
under the circumstances in which the country was placed.
Lord Palmerston's tone had been totally different. His mo-
tion, however, was founded upon what had taken place
since the meeting of Parliament. The Queen's Speech told
their lordships the state of relations between the Porte and
Russia, and said that the papers should be laid on the
table. About that time Russia had rejected the note
founded upon the protocol of Vienna, the alternative of
which was war ; and he naturally expected when it was
rejected, that the next step would be either a declaration
of war or a message from the Crown. But no information
whatever had been given to Parliament since that period,
and the absence of it justified him in stating that their
lordships were in a state of ignorance as to the proceed-
ings and the intentions of the Government. Describing
Ole inconvenience which thus arose, he expressed a fear
that the Government might bo considering the note which
resulted' from the protocol of Vienna as still before the
Emperor of Russia ; and that, if the Emperor accepted
that note, her Majesty's Government would feel them-
selves justified in accepting peace. He protested against
any such conclusion after the sacrifices which this
country had made. That note, indeed, would place
Russia in a better position than she was before, and he
was sure that the people of England would never sub-
mit to such a result. We had now an opportunity
of erecting a barrier against the insidious attempts
of Russia to obtain authority in the Ottoman empire, and
England would never be satisfied if the sole issue of all
our preparations were the Vienna note. The independence
of the Ottoman empire must now be firmly established,
and Russia be confined within her own territories. He
wished, therefore, to see the treaty of 1841 re-enacted, the
spirit of which raised barriers against any infraction of the
territory of Turkey or any other Power. Alluding to the
argument of Earl Grey in the last debate, he contended,
from his own personal knowledge, that in no portion of
the world, not excepting England itself, was there such
complete religious toleration for different sects as in Tur-
key. The intolerance- was on the side of the Greeks and
Latins, and not on that of the Mahometans; while in all
disturbances between the contending sects the Turks inva-
riably took the side of order. He wished, indeed, that a
portion of the toleration afforded to the Greeks were cur-
tailed, because the clergy exercised it to the detriment of
the laity. In all other respects the administration of Tur-
key had made great progress. After some lengthened ob-
servations on these and other topics, the noble lord con-
cluded by moving the resolution.
The Earl of CLARENDON—I have listened with great
attention to the long and able discursive speech of my noble
friend, but I have listened in vain for any argument in
support of the resolutions with which he has concluded his
speech. There are parts of those resolutions which are
certainly unobjectionable, but it appears to me that it is
perfectly useless for your lordships to affirm by a positive
resolution any facts that were contained in the speech from
the Throne, and that it would be highly objectionable for
your lordships to adopt a resolution with reference to a war
which has not yet commenced, in order to give scope and
development to Turkish administrative reforms. I hope
that any noble friend, having had the opportunity of mak-
ing his speech, will not press his resolutions. I am not
about to follow my noble friend, even if I were able to do
so, through the various points to which he has referred. I
shall not call your lordships' attention to the speeches
which have been made on this subject, nor to the articles
in the Times, nor to the Turkish or Russian iniquities to
which my noble friend has referred. Nor should I have
troubled your lordships at all to-night, if it had not been
that my noble friend referred to that unqualified opposi-
tion to which we have been subjected, and if he had not
accused us, as others have done, of what I know is not the
fact—of having exhibited vacillation and want of energy
during the negotiations on this question. But, after all, the
only matter on which I feel bound to offer any explana-
tion, or, indeed, concerning which any explanation either
to your lordships or the country is necessary, is in respect
to that part of my noble friend's speech which refers, not
to past events, but to the condition in which we now stand
and to the prospects that are before us. My noble friend
has referred to our ready credence of what was stated to
us by Russia, and has alluded to my having said that, up
to the time of Prince Menschikoff's mission, we believed
that it would have been impossible for any government not
to give credit to those frequent, solemn, and, on many oc-
casions, unsolicited assurances which were given to us by
Russia. lam sure he would have done the same. About
two months after that began a change, and as as soon as we
found what was the course of policy being pursued by
Russia we never felt one moment's hesitation as to the
course we should adopt. We declared our determina-
tion to maintain the independence of the empire of
Turkey, and we advised the Sultan not to assent to
anything contrary to his dignity or independence. We
assured him, and we told him, that if terms consistent
with his dignity and independence were refused to be ac-
cepted by Russia he might securely rely on our active sup-
port ; but, at the same time, we strenuously and sincerely
laboured in the cause of peace. If 33., noble friend would
put himself in our place, as we were situated eight months
ago, be would find that at that time it was our interest and
the interest of our allies, and even of Turkey itself, not to
rush into a war. The state of things at that period was
this :—Turkey was wholly unprepared to defend herself ;
there was no Baltic fleet ; our own fleet was cut off, and
so was that of the French, while Austria and Prussia were
entreating us not to resort to hostile measures, notwith-
standing the occupation of the principalities by Russia, as
t
itwnfhe ett
ffhyb.
ee huct
their
up.r
aeo
ldp,Nr tto
ohhs
eae nnt tt
theyaht
soonerei oyn cold o
assured
intethd
tehed e us
Emperor
Rr c
tuehds
ea eyi Russian
nwoi totf hrunolßodupusassscisetai :is,tnhebrcoueou tdh
ba
et
idn the
principaoliftirutstrta,
hantthheeobEmperorobject
of
owf
hßussia
aasc
to get
htihme me-
diationoutof those provinces. Your lordships need not be told that
at that time there was no desire for war, there as no one
who would listen to war,
and nobody believed in the pos-
sibility of war. But now nay noble friend says that the use
of strong language on our part would have controlled Russia
means
'la
menace,ave prevented
war.nenacemeans war. I,
My lords, strong language
that you have no right—my noble friend has no right—to
_
say that the Emperor of Russia, or any man, would have
feared a menace. When we aro talking of Russia we are
dealing with a very great nation, but we are also dealing
with a single man holding despotic power, and irresponsibleg
for the exercise of it, over many millions of people ; and I
should like to know why ho should yield to menace, even if
the English and French fleets had occupied the Black Sea.
If we bad gone to war, what would have been the conse-
quence ? My noble friend has said that on account of the
great military preparations which Russia had made, there
was nothing to prevent her from crossing the Danube and
going to Constantinople. Now, I believe that Russia could
not cross the Danube. But what would have been the state
of the Turks if that had taken place? Turkey was unarmed,
unprepared, and unable to resist a hostilentissia Power,
have
and
the consequence must have been, that
been able to extort from the fears and weakness of Turkey
whatever she desired. Turkey might then have fairly
said that we had disregarded her interests, and the people
of this country would have been highly indignant that no
attempt had been made to save Turkey from those disas-
trous consequences. -But, my lords, we acted otherwise ;
we acted as any men of sense, conscious of what the law
of nations required, and of the weighty responsibility
which attached to their ewn acts, wouldihave acted. What
has been the consequence? Even my noble friend admits
that a powerful army has been raised in Turkey with a ra-
pidity perfectly wonderful—an army which has done great
service, animated by a spirit wholly apart from any fanati-
cal spirit, and which inspires the utmost confidence in the
Ticcur mad vitality of that country, Well, thou Quo