The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-27 00:00:00

subjected to, were sueh as to excite :the indignation of the
entire British nation, and the almost unanimous opinion
; of a cloud of witnesses coupled with a recorded opinion of
the greatest man that ever lived, and, thank God, still
lived, were all in favour of the expedition to the coast of
China. He would not refer to the rnoderasien and for-
bearance that had marked the proceedings of that arma-
ment ; they had tempered their power with moderation to-
wards the defenceless people of A defenceless coast, and
I it was no part cf the policy, although !hey drew the sword,
to dispense with more peaceful agents. He trusted, as
they had embarked on these waters, that their demands
would be equal so the emergency of the case—he truated
satisfaction would to demanded for all the insults and
injuries that had been heaped upon them. He could net
fur a moment believe, although such rumours had reached
him, that any stipulations er treaties would he entered: 'rate, I
and that eatisfretion for the insults offered td them tiit
Chinese Government would be obtained throe h: the '
medium of a piece of parchment. He hoped at,
would have some such security as they at I
present held. The . whereabouts Lad been well
chosen, but they might rely upon it that tire moment they
reersed their grasp every thing they had done would be
the resale as if it had not been done at all, and the hopes
of the expedition would be miserably defeated and disap-
, pointed. The Noble Lord who had preceded him had
touched upon many topics which he would otherwise have
dilated upon, and little of these good things had been left
for him to refer to. Upon a review of all these things,
1 he agreed there remained much to be done—winch to he
handled with forbearance, delicacy and judgment, and
much to be well done and done quickly. He would oh-
serve, however, that Continental peece had been pre-
served, and that was no small matter. Throughout all the
contentions that had recently taken place, no ere that (meld
excite the ill will of other Powers had been committed.
If the Ottoman empire had been curved out into prizes for ,
enterprising warriors and avaricious statesmen, that might
have lad to interaainable war with other Powers ;
but he was not called upon to eerier into any
such question as that. , lie hada not to dwell upon
discomfitures and disappointmentz, er British failures
and defeats; on the contrary, their Lordships had to
commemorate signal successes. We had not failed in the
Levant ; nor had we failed anywhere else, thank Gcd ;
and that was the bill of fare for that evening.—( A laugh.)
Their Lordships had now an opportunity of causing the
hearts of the Royal parents to leap for joy when they to de
up to her Majesv the congratulations of the country end
of the Legislature upon the birth of her first-born, °filling
the bosom of the Queen of England with renewed pride
and exultation. Tee), had an opportunity of taking up to
the Throne a manifestation of that loyalty on which hed
Majesty relied with such entire confidence ; and under
these circumstances, he would ask whether his anti&pa- •
tions had been too eaeguine, when he expressed his belief •
that the Address would meet with their Lordships' cordial
and unanimous approval ?
Lord BROUGHAM did not rise for the purpose of
debating the various matters in which his Noble Friend
who had just sat down had embarked, but merely for the
purpose of calling the attention of the liour-e to some of
the statements he had made. Although lie was quite
aware that an Address in answer to the Speech from the
Throne in no way whatever pledged those wile agreed to
it to any proposition contained in it, yet as it was apt to I
be forgotten in the after part of the Session, he felt
bound to remind their Lordships of it. Tney would dis-
pense with his protesting against a large portion of the
speech of his Noble Friend who had just sat down, but
there was one part to which he was compelled to advert,
because he would that he could believe the statements of his
Noble Friend were authorised by her Majesty's Government.
His Noble Friend had congratulated their Lordships, as
well he might, upon the Crown having received unabated
assurances from all foreign rowers of their disposi-
tion to maintain the most friendly relations with
this country; that, however, was not in her Majesty's
Speech of that day.-4 Hear, hear, from Lord Lyndhurst.) !
It was in the Speech of last year, but it was ,not in that of
the present. The comparison of those two Speeches sug-
gested to his mind matter of gloomy apprehension, which
would be dispelled at once if his Noble Friend at the head
of her Majesty's Government would repeat that which had
been stated by his Noble Friend who had seconded the
Address. He should rejoice, no man more so, if it could
he shown that the words in the Speech of last year were
appliretile to the present, namely, that assurances bad
been race:easd of the unabated desire of the French Go. •
rernment to maintain with this country the most friendly
relations. Tnis led hire et once to state that those things
which took place within the lost six months, and which •
were preparing for some months preeceding the proroga-
tion of Parliament, naturally filled his mind with I
deep and gloomy apprehension. It was a tre-
mendous thing to refleet that the friendly dis-
positions had been changed, that the good an. I
deretanding had been impaired, that the alliance of ten
years ' standing had been terminated—at least for the pre.
sent—which had knit together England and ?enlace, and
which by binding them in the habits and feelings of arnica-
ble intercourse, had secured the peace of Europe and the
world. It sass a grievous thing to have to reflect that the
wo:k of slaughter in ono part of the world had already
commenced, and that they were engaged, he would nut l
say in a war that would have no triumphs, and which had
already had none, but in wars -which ended in triumphs of
such a nature as to dash the exaltations of this country
with feelings of a far different nature. it wes possible
that all this might be defensible ; but if defended with
success, if capable cf justification, it must be upon grounds
not of any mere policy, or interest, or expediency—it i
must be upon grounds approaching upon necessity, upon I
dangers not remote and contingent, but all but immediate. I
It was upon such grounds, and such grounds alone, I
that those things could be justified, and the policy which
had been adopted, defended. An opinion had at various '
times prevailed in this country, nail it had been greatly
reinforced of late years, and very winch added to by re-
cent events, tout in wlaich he had never concurred, that the
best policy for this country was to keep herself aloof from'i
all connection with foreign affairs, to take no more con-
cern in the proceedings of foreign powers than our brethren
of America, that we should trade with all, and treat
all powers in a friendly manner, so long as our interests
were respected arid our flag not insulted. He wished it
were possible the, from our position, and frem;the
nature of human affairs, such a policy as that could be
pursued. He considered it impossible, but there was a
wide difference between never interfering at all, and be-
tween incessant interrneddling—hetween shutting ourselves
up in our in:ular position, as if we were divided by the
Atlantic and nut by the mere Channel, and nicking our-
selves everywhere present, and perpetually intriguing. fie
did not wish to be offeisive; therefore, he would say ne-
gotiating,; but always meddling everywhere, as if our exist-
ence were extended throughout the whole Continent, and
that it formed part and parcel of the British dominions.
It was of that excess that he complained, and ever would
complain. The negotiations of the last six months made
it appear as if inert and Ministers thought that the
capital of the Turkish empire was the capital of
this country--as if Syria were Ireland. There was no•
thing more wide of the question then under discussion than
the conduct of Mehemet Ali--that conduct was repre•
seated according to the interest of the parties making the
representation. Sometimes lie was represented as an in-
dependent Sovereign, at other times as the mere vassal
of the Sultan; again it was stated he was powerful, and
his resources great; or on the contrary, that he was weak
and vacillating. Whatever his resources were was not
now the question ; in late events, however, he had shown
they were not now so great as they were in 1832. But what
was the avowed object of all these proceedings for which
so great a risk had been run in that quarter where the
peace of Europe hinged, and which had put an end to the
alliance between France and England ? He found
that it was to maintain the integrity of tire Turkish
empire. Since when had we begun to think it
absolutely and indispensably necessary to consult
for nothing but the independence and integrity of
the Turkish empire? Was it in 1827, when Russia, in
defiance of the rest of Europe, determined by a cele-
brated Treaty to destroy the independence turd inte-
grity of that empire? Was it in 1830 or 1831, when with
the assent of Russia, we joined with her and other Powers
to dismember the Turkish Empire by taking from her a
large and valuable portion of her territory. There was
no doubt—no hesitation, except about the amount of the
territory which should be taken—the amount of the en-
croachment which should be made upon the Turkish
Empire. In 1839 they had offered the Pacha himself
Egypt, the most valuable of the Turkish provinces, in
hereditary sovereignty. That was not all —in October
1839, they not only offered hint Egypt, but they en-
croached upon Syria, that very ground of contention—
they had offered him the Pachalic of Acre without the
fortresses. Now they would not allow him to have it.—
( Hear, hear.) In May 1840, they had offered him the
Pachalic of Acre with the fortresses, but for life ; but the
difference between the hereditary government and that
for life was a trifle which he would not detain their Lord.
ships upon. The independence of the Turkish empire
was an object of so much importance that, fur it
they were to give up the alliance and friendship of
France, and, with the remeant of the Holy Alli-
ance, to secure that integrity and independence—an ob-
ject so absolutely necessary to be secured that all other
considerations were of no value as compared with it. To
secure that, the real and Prue basis of any
there could be for the peace of Europe, namely,
na good
understanding and alliance between France and
idEeregtliar.,
solid foundationd
was to be placed in jeopardy. It had been considered
ne-
cessary for the rake of keeping peace some y
t hence,present,
Levant as
that they should run the risk of going to war•
and to arrange matters in such way in the h
would prevent the Turkish empire from falling
a State towhich pieces.
Talk of preventing frern falling to pieces
in a complete state of decay and dismemberment,even
.with '
the most chime.
the assistance of Russia, appeared to him
rival object that could enter into the brain of airy man.
Suppose the Government of Syria was restored to the
Porte, and taken from Mehemet Ali, what guarantee had
they that the Government of the one would be more popu-
lar than that of the other ?—( Hear, hear.) Did they
sup-
pose that, having ruined the Syrians, they would not retain
and use these arms against any other opponent ? Those
who entertained no such opinions took a much more san-
euine view of the matter than he (Lord Brougham) did,
and it was absurd to suppose that au undisciplined, untutored
mob would, at the word of command, take up and lay down
their arms. But then again let them only perceive how the
argument was used: Danger was apprehended. To provide
against that danger was the object of the endeavour to
keep the Turkish empire together—keep it together they
could not say with any correctness, but to renovate, to re-
form it—to put it together again when it had already been
broken to pieces by time, by its own hands, by other hands