The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-18 00:00:00

ments to the people to take up arms against the Power that
was then oppressing them, and they did so upon the faith
that they would be better treated. He did all in his power,
and so did Admiral Stopford, to adjust the quarrel; but
before the ink was dry on the treaty which he made, the
Turkish Government broke faith in the matter. If hon.
gentlemen would look into the blue-books of the time, they
would see that 30,000 people were sacrificed on that occasion.
He believed now, as then, that it would be better if both
the Druses and the Maronites were placed under the rule
of the Turkish Government than be under the monster
governor who put Christians to the sword. It was a dan-
gerous thing to allow the French to go into and occupy
Syria, where they would, he believed, act as they had done
in the case of Rome. They would try to remain there, but
he would far sooner see the French altogether in possession
of Syria to seeing such scenes of tyranny, blood, and mas-
sacre as were now taking place there. It was necessary
that some steps should be taken ; and upon that point he
remembered having heard the noble lord at the head of the
Government, in 1841, make a speech in which he called
upon Lord Derby's Government to come forward and do
something to mitigate the condition of the people in the
Lebanon.

Lord PALMERSTON said he was sorry that his hon.
and gallant friend the member for Roscommon (Colone
French, who ejaculated an expression) had nothing better
to do than invariably launching arrows at his noble
friend the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (the Earl of Car-
lisle). He assured the hon. and gallant member that he
weuld receive no sympathy in those attacks, either from
those who intimately knew his noble friend, or those who
had traced his noble friend's conduct, because everybody
who knew him professionally and intimately, must be aware
that there never was a man of high position who got
through his work with a more hearty desire to promote
good feeling among an men. (Hear.) With regard to his
hon. friend the member for Marylebone (Lord Fermoy) who
made some observations in reference to the conduct of the
King of Dahomy, he might say that the matters to which
his noble friend had referred had for a long time occupied
the attention of her Majesty's Government; and he re-
membered whcn he, some years ago, was in the Foreign -
office, he did all in his power to persuade the former King
of Dahomy to abandon his -habit of sacrificinghiunan beings
and selling others into slavery. They sent two or three
missions to him, and he was sorry to say when they arrived
there they found the walls that surrounded his palace de-
corated with human skulls. He thought their representa-
tions on the occasion had some good effect. But with re-
gard to an interference by force, the territory of Dahomy
was situated at such a considerable distance in the interior
of the country that it would be impossible for European
troops to advance to it. Ile could assure the hon. gentle-
man that her Majesty's Government would do all in their
power to put a stop to those horrible massacres. This prac-
tice had arisen to a great extent from the system of slavery
prevailing in that country—not that sort of slavery which
his noble friend (Lord Fermoy) had referred to, and which
had nothing to do with the internal arrangements of Africa,
and which system of slavery the Government had laboured
so much to put an end to. He would remind the noble lord
that the capture of Lagos, and other circumstances con-
nected with that matter, had very much diminished the
means of the chiefs of the interior, who were in the habit
of capturing persons for the purpose of sending them out of
the country. It was the chiefs alone who clung to this traffic,
because they derived from it a revenue more easily ob
tained than they could from their subjects by legitimate
means. The people abominated, and were certainly the vic-
tims of it. The only difficulty was to persuade certain chiefs
who derived pecuniary profit from the trade to abandon it,
but unfortunately they were stimulated to pursue this un-
holy traffic by men who, being citizens of civilised coun-
tries, ought to be ashamed of themselves. His hon. friend
the member for Perth had asked whether any instructions
had been given to Lord Dufferin to rescue the women car-
ried away from the Maronites. Representations had been
made to her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople to
co-operate with Lord Dufferin to accomplish that humane
object. (Hear, hear.) With regard to those two chiefs,
Kurachid Pasha and Osman Bey, one of them being a mili-
tary officer, they were sent to Constantinople to be tried,
but whether they were received with military honours or
not he could not say, but they were sent back from Con-
stantinople to Syria, where he hoped they would receive the
reward due to their atrocities. His right hon. friend the
member for Limerick had adverted to the general question
of the state of Syria, and seemed to imagine that the recent
events arose from the tyranny of the Turkish Government.
But so far from that being the case, those disturbances
arose from the absence of any sufficient authority on the
part of the Turks.
Mr. MONSELL said he did not say the tyranny of the
Turks was the cause of it, but he thought the Turks set the
Druses against the Maronites.
Lord PALMERSTON said his hon. friend held the Go-
vernment responsible for those events. He (Lord Palmer-
ston) denied this responsibility. There were strange reports
abroad as to who were the aggressors. Some reports
stated that the Maronites were the aggressors, but it
would not be prudent to offer an opinion either way with
the information is the possession of the Government.
His gallant friend (Sir C. Napier) had distinguished him-
self not only as a anval and military commander, but as a
negotiator, for he vas able in the three capacities ; he first
achieved the vide?), of Acre, then on land he defeated the
farces of Ibraham Pacha, and afterwards extorted in Alex-
andria a good treaty from Mehemet Ali. After that treaty
an arrangement ,eus made with the Government of the dis-
trict ; but instead of being carried on by the direct autho-
rity of the Sultan, it was agreed that it should be done by
two chiefs, one to govern the Maronites, and another to
govern the Druses. but both to be subordinate to the Sul-
tan. Prima facie, one would imagine that would be a good
state of things, as
of its own, and each tribe would be governed by a chief
that it would be more likely they would be
well governed that being under the direct authority of a
Turkish commander. When he (Lord Palmerston) was
at the Foreign °Oleo, it was the constant endeavour of the
Constantinople (1
-overnment to overthrow that system of go-
vernment, and, pike Syria on the same system as other
provinces. Iherebre,
so far from the arrangement being
favourable to Turkish tyranny, it was directed, specifically
directed, to wit
lultaw the direct action of the Turks and
secure the Government of the two tribes under chiefs of
their own race.
Although you could not expect it, among
half civilised co
ulitries where there were two races who
had been from tittle
immemorial in hostility against each
other,
yet from 1841 down to the present time nothing had
happened to be
at all compared to the atrocious practices
and calamities of
Which we had heard. (Hear.) Ho was
not prepared to la
on the table the instructions given to
Lord Dufferin, but he could assure his hon. friend that one
of the noble lort
duties, in conjunction with his col-
leagues, would be to inquire fully into the state of Syria and
ascertain what sYsttin of Government would be most con-
ducive to the welfare and benefit of both parties, and pre-
vent a repetition of those disgraceful scenes between those
races.

The house then Went into committee of supply.
Tho vote of £250,000 for the disembodied militia was
agreed to.
The next vote Was £320,355 for fortifications at home and
abroad.

Sir F. SMIT le expressed his general approval of the
plans of the Government. With regard to Dover, how-
ever, he regretted to say that he could remember the place
for half a century; they had been patching up the works
there all that time, The commissioners said that if there
were no works at Dover already, it would be a question
as to whether that place should or should not be fortified,
and yet a large sure was now to be expended on it. Would
any man pretend to tell them that Dover would be the
place to effect a hostile landing? He thought not. The
works Proposed by the comneissioners—if works wore want-
ing at all--.Was no doubt a sound proposition ; but on the
ell owing of the commissioners themselves the works were
not necessary. Good field-works would meet all the nece
case, s-
sities of the as they were only to occupy a point
which they did not want their enemy to have. The next
item was for the purchase of land at Alderney. He thought
that island should be held, and believed it could be held,
whether the other Channel Islands could be held or not.
As to Portland, he thought £169,000 was much too large a
sum to place on the end of a breakwater. The next point
was the line at Stokes Bay, which he believed was one of
great importance, and ought to be completed at once, and
then they Were secure at any rate in the Solent. The
same might be said of Southsea, and with the whole line of
the Solent thus guarded theymight go to sleep in confidence.
With respect to the defences of our commercial harbours ho
thought earthworks would suffice for them, and they should
be carried out at once. They might be completed in 12 months.
They would thus give satisfaction to the commercial com-
munity, and they would get plenty of volunteers to man
those works. With regard to Malta, anything that could he
done to strengthen the island he was sure would prove to be
money well laid out, as it would be a tempting place in ease
of war with France, or France and Russia. As to what
the noble viscount stated the other night about two glitill.erB
being enough to each gun, b. ee-. ~ ,tio had certainly
never expressed (r" ' ~., k on. F. ore.i. 7 ..._
ticularly
with re and to _ ever I:ei MA an opinion, rx
- ', Laval guns, where celerity of action was of
the eTe....cest importance. He thought there should be six
"..eII-trained gunners to each gun. He hoped the plans
would be laid on the library table if possible, so that they
might be consulted by professional members. They ought
to have before them the plans in as complete a form as the
Government could present them. The House of Commons,
which had to vote the money, ought to be made aware of
the full details.
Mr. W. S. LINDSAY asked where they were going to
end with these fortifications ? As to Dover, they ought not
to be asked for more money for that place that night, after
what the commissioners had said on the subject. He
thought it the grossest absurdity that ever entered into the
mind of man to think seriously that France or any other
country would venture to invade England with her
25,000,000 of free and intelligent people. (Hear.) But, if
they did so, certainly they would not land under the cliffs
of Dover. (Hear.) If fortifications were needed anywhere
they were needed in commercial harbours ; but he -did not
think they were wanted even there. There would be a re-
action from the profusion with which money was now voted
for these purposes, and, in the course of a year or so, his
views on the subject would become generally prevalent,
and then there would be a reckless cutting down of
all these items, and an abandonment of works and disarm..