The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-29 00:00:00

her extremity. Well, the war of 1853 broke out, Could
any British Minister believe that Turkey was then able
by herself to contend with Russia ? Who could believe
this, after the results of the war in 1823 ? When the war
broke out in 1853, could any one believe that Turkey
could fight Russia in Asia ! Why, she was beaten in wee
ral battles, and the only thing which saved their army
was the summoning that admirable officer, General Guyon,
to their assistance, who restored the army to something
like a disciplined state, and whose only reward had been
neglect and contumely. Then came the year 1854. What
was the state of things at the commencement of that year?
One of our countrymen had described the campaign. Tb•
course of Russia was one continued success, for our com-
merce was stopped, the Turkish armies were defeated in
battle after battle, defeats which might have been
avoided if the advice of Gen. Guyon had beeu followed,
and the artillery was only saved by the abilities of.Talair
Pacha, who had been educated in England, and who car-
ried with him English knowledge and English vigour. He
had so well organised the artillery, that in the last battle
the loss of the Turks was 3,025, while that of the Ruse
shins was 3,050. The remains of the Turkish army then
retired to Kars. It had often been a question why
the Russian army did not at once advance upon Kars.
Their army was superior in number, the enemy
was
routed and broken. This consideration would introduce
them to a personage of whom little had been heard
lately—it had been said because he had made his own
private terms with Russia—be meant Schamyl. (Hear,
hear.) That chief made an expedition towards Georgia,
and threatened to attack Tiflis. The result of this foray—
for he could give it to no other name—on the capital of the
Russian possessions in that part of Asia at that critical
moment was to compel the Russian general to divide his
army in order to protect Tiflis, and thus save the Turkish
army from complete annihilation. It thus became evident
that in the case of Russian invasion of Turkey her great
strokescarne from the Asiatic provinces, so the great stroke
to be aimed at Russia should be in Georgia, which was the
root of her power. A stroke at Tiflis put her under the
necessity of retiring to protect her power, and this was
what Schamyl did. It was now that the English Govern.
ment felt the necessity of stepping in, and it must be ad-
mitted that it was high time, if an English minister looked
at Lis duty, not merely in reference to Turkey, but in re-
ference
to Russia's designs against Turkey. But with
reference to her designs against Peirsia and to eur in-
terest in the East, it was at least time for the Go-
vernment to put itself in motion— and it did so by
creating the materials for a blue-book. This blue-book
was one of the most extraordinary ever written—it
seemed to have been made, out with a view studiously
of perplexing its readers, But as to its matter, what
was the course taken by the Government of England!
The Turkish army was utterly deficient in food and sup-
plies, it had lost several battles. Kars and Erzeroum
were threatened, tire affairs in Asia were in a desperate
state, and so at last the English Government resolved to
sent out a commissioner. (Hear, and a laugh.) He was
to pick up news in the best way he could, to communicate
with the ambassador and with the ministers, and to make
reports on the condition of the army ' • and with these in-
structions it was decided that he should 'leave England.
It was tiue that Lord Clarendon wrote him a lettter the
slay after, in which he was desired to restore the Turkish
army by every means in his power, but what those means
were to be the noble lord forgot to state. He had no in-
struction, no guide, except his mother wit and his true
English heart. He was, indeed, told that he might get
instructions from our ambassador at Constantinle.
What woul.d the house think of this way of fighting Rus-
sia, when all we did, after all the misfortunes which we
had taken upon ourselves to redress, to send out a come
IniBSi°T /or who was to tell our Minister-at-War what he
ought, to have known long before, the state of the army
and . the means of providing fur it ? It was true that the
co minissioner, regardless of the trammels of etiquette and
ley trampling them down, had of himself saved the army,
and Heaven bless him for it. Had he been in the Crimea,
and had seen men dying by hundreds of starvation, with
provisions in the hence, and the door closed by red tape,
he would have kicked it op..n. It had been said that
Commissioner Williams received instructions from Lord
Raglan; if so, where were those instructions? He had a
right to ask if such instructions had ever been issued—
whether the commissioner got them or not was nothing to
his present purpose. He divided the blue book into three
parts-Lthe first consisted of 170 pages, and contained the
correspondence between our ambassador at Constantinople
and the commissioner ; the second referred to the events
of July; and the last contained the memorable despatch
of Lord Clarendon, which put an end for ever to the hopes
of our allies—he meant the despatch of the 7th of Septem-
ber. This book had been put out to make out a case f.r
the Ministry. If any hon. member could lay his hand on
his heart and say that he believed that the blue book esta-
blished that case, it would be his duty to vote for the
Ministers on the present occasion. It appears that the
commissioner was well received by our ambassador at
Constantinople. Ho received, what was not in his instruc-
tions, seine information as to the state of things in Asia
Minor. In the first or second page of the blue book is a
letter which refers to the fact that it is impossible
to separate Persia, from Turkish interests. This
letter was written in August. One of the points
with which General Williams was to inquire into was
t,) discover a great general. He observed that Lord
Clarendon was in want of a first-rate general, and he
hoped Lord Clarendon would have found him. He would
have been of great use in the ensuing campaign. There is
another letter from General Williams describing the state
of the supplies, and above all the arrears of pay then duo
for the nine months. In the letter was a most important
fact, that of General Williams pressing upon the attention
of Government the state of ourrelations with Persia. This
letter was written in September. About December arose
the quarrel between our ambassador and General Williams.
What were the motives of Lord Stratford he could not
pretend to ascertain, but the quarrel then began —if quar-
rel it could be called—in which ono party gave no cause of
offence, and the other never explained the reason for his
feelings. He explained that General Williams had orders
to send copies of his despatches to Lord Stratford and to
Lord Raglan, and then to have them forwarded to London,
but the roundabout plan was wisely abandoned. At Erze-
roum, General Williams met with that excellent young
officer Teesdale, and two other officers were sent him by
the Government, so that the total of the contribution of
the Government to the great war in Asia was five men and
a doctor. These were, however, men such as could rarely
be found elsewhere ; these noble specimens of their race
and country had gained the affection of an array which had
declared themselves ready to follow them to death ; and
these ware the men who had been abandoned to a dismal
fate. (Lou I cheers.) In December, 1854, General Williams
addressed a letter to the Secretary of State. It appears
that the only order given by the Ministry was touching the
release of some ladies taken prisoners by Schamyl. This
touched the gallantry of our Secretary. It would be ob-
served that General Williams had addressed fifty-fonr de-
, spetches, and to them he had no answer. He (Mr. White.
side) held the Ministry responsible for those things, and
when he said the Ministry, he meant the Prime Minister,
whose duty it was to read all important documents. Gene-
ral Williams talks about the ;olden opportunities they
were losing ; what were these golden opportunities but the
opportunities of striking a blow at the power of Russia in
Georgia, at Tiflis, and attaching that stronghold of Russia
against Turkey and Persia. 1u January, 1354, Lord Cla-
reuden wrote to Lord Stratford. In his letter Lord Claren-
don requested that the insult to General Williams as a Bri-
tish envoy should be redressed, and that his proper title
should begiveu him. No w this was the only case in which Ge-
neral Williams was wrong; for the title given him in the Turk-
ish doeument referred to wise as long as his arm. And yet this
was the only thing in the whole course of the preliminaries ia
which our ambessador get the better of the commissioner.
Now there were bold avowals in Lord Stratford de Red-
cliffs's despatches that he had disobeyed the instructions of
the Foreige Secretary, and this would give the house an
opportunity of investigating the constitutional constitution
to which he would further advert after he had read one or
two more extracts.' Ho understood that Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe made some defence to not having replied to the
51 unavailing despatches, but that was before ho condes-
cended to write to Col. Williams. On the 28th of Decem-
ber ho wrote a letter, in which lee stated Col. Williams had
been hasty in his desire to obtain answers to his letters,
and because ho did not write to him as fast as he wished
he communicated with Lord Raglan on the subject. The
noble lord must be of a very phlegmatic temper to write
such a letter as that. (Hear.) It was plain from these and
other letters that the documents alluded to were sent to
Lord Raglan—it was plain that that noble and estimable
lord had sent his opinions upon the question in dispute, and
it was plain that his lordship's letters were suppressed.
(Hear.) Well, Lord Redcliffe employed a certain gentle-
men of Constantinople—a Count Pisani—to obtain answers
to a long series of queries. He performed that duty much
to the satisfaction of the ambassador; but the Foreign
Secretary would be a very innocent man if he believed a
tenth part of the answers to the queries so reported to him.
It was is somewhat remarkable circumstance, but one no
doubt which would be well understood, that when Lord
Stratford wanted anything done he went himself, but
whenever lie wanted a thing not to be done ho sent this
Count Pisani. Pisani trembled before a pacha. The pacha
told Pisani what he liked, and Pisani told the ambassador,
who immediately said " Put that down ;" and in such a
form it came to the Foreign Secretary at home. It ap-
peared to him that from the beginning Lord Stratfordde
Redcliffe understood that he Was violating his duty,. and
this view of the case received a strong confirmationiChcontatir.no:ad
the fact that, at the close of the volume which
these despatches, he found a large
quantity of matter col-
iittTahis circum-
stancea murder.
e
lected
remindedge h e r for
him theo
fp. tar r
manpose
of defence.
who
committed
He made his escapeing home, and
ho said, I
went home, and
wento forbeingn th e askedpur:
posy of preparing my
the reason for go
defence." In like manner, whilst
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe was corresponding, Pisani was
making up the defence for the trial which he knew must
take place.
Mr. LABOUCFIERE—Count Pisani is a dragoman.
Mr. WHITESIDE—Yes • be was aware of that fact.
what did this country pay, he should like to know, for the
large force of officials which we kept up at Constantinople ?
First, there was the ambassador ; then the secretary, Lord
Napier, who appeared to be equal to the ambassador him-
self ; then an oriental secretary, and six or seven attaches.
Why, then, should not this business have been transacted
by one of those gentlemen, instead of by a Levantine
count? For aught he kneve'the ambassador did not speak
to any one of those gentlemen, or perhaps Count Pisani
would undertake matters to which they would not for a
moment consent. (Hear.) He had boon told that throe
English gentlemen had been specially appointed there on
account of their knowledge of the Turkish language, but
they never seemed to be employed in the performance of the
duties of their country. Now having disposed of Count
Pisani, he would turn to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who
after going through the queries, said :
" But the well-known proverb, which contrasts the faci-
lity of bringing a horse to water with the impossibility of
forcing him to drink, is no less true at Constantinople than
in London or Paris. Unfortunately, too, the horses whose
reluctance I have to overcome, are not without circum-
stances to excuse, though not entirely to justify the slow-
ness of their pace ;" and then to this were appended some
remarks upon Lord Bacon and other writers. Now he (Mr.
Whiteside) would venture to make a remark,
thatmar k,awn'yhicrhespweacst
this—did Lord Stratford de Redcliffe believe that he would
ever have any hold on public opinion, o
would be attached to his office while he pursued such a
course of conduct as this? (Hear, hear.) Could he appeal
to public opinion in the present day, if the acts ho com-
mitted in plain violation of his public duty were protected
by the Government, which retained
unfit. Of what useamed him in an office for
which be had clearly proved himself
was it to be moralising about Bacon, except to prove that
a man might have groat talents, and at the same time great
vices, and that while cultivating lighter literature he was
neglecting the heavier concerns of State. And then he
used these remarkable words :
" It remains for me to say a word about my release to
Colonel Williams. It originated in my desire not to an-
nounce measures which might not be carried into effect,
for I preferred giving him an answer in full, and then
found I had not time."
Why, every word that the noble lord wrote was inconsise
teat NitiA 09W9tIlipg he had written latfqet Pountirm