The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-09 00:00:00

money, if requisite, and spreading the repayment over a
certain number of years. (Hear, hear.)
OUR FOREIGN POLICY.
Lord J. RUSSELL—A question of some importance has
been raised with regard to the responsibility which the Go-
vernment is said to have incurred in giving advice to foreign
Governments; and it has been said not only that we ought
not to advise other States to refrain from increasing their
armaments—the fact being that we have given no advice of
the kind—but that we ought not to counsel those States to
remain at peace, and not to extend the ravages of war.
Now, I find the following advice given by Lord Malmes-
bury to the Confederation. It is contained in a despatch
to Sir A. Male; dated May 1, 1859 :
" I have received your telegram of this day, by which it
appears that a motion will probably be made to -morrow in
the Diet, calling upon the Confederation, without any
casus faderi4, to make common cause with Austria. Her
Majesty's Government trust, however, that the answer
which I immediately returned to you by telegraph may
have arrived in time to prevent any such ill-advised step
on the part of the Confederation, and that the protest whicb.
I have instructed you to make against its adoption, and the
warning that I have desired you to give, that if Germany
should at this early stage involve herself, without a treaty
obligation, in the present war, she would have no assistance
to expect from England, and that without such assistance
her coasts would be exposed to the ravages of hostile fleets
in the Baltic, will deter the Diet from adopting so preci-
pitate a course, which would at once extend to Europe the
ravages of war, which every friend of humanity must desire
to see confined, if possible, to the country in which it has
broken out."
(Hear.) To state, therefore, that Lord Malmesbury had
never given advice to any foreign Power to maintain an
attitude of neutrality, and not enter into war is certainly
not to put a fair interpretation on the language which that
noble lord has used. (Hear, hear.) Ido not think that I
have employed language so strong as that which was di-
rected to the German Confederation requesting it not to
take part in the present contest in Italy, and warning the
Germon States that if they did so the coasts of the Baltic
would be ravaged by a foreign Power. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. DISRAELI—The advice which Lord Malmesbury
give in this despatch is very frequently given by him in the
course of the papers which have been laid before the house,
and in none of them more strongly than in that from which
I last quoted. He there says, "Her Majesty's Government
strongly declaie that Germany should not be influenced in
arriving at a decision then under the consideration of the
Diet by any hof succour from this country." Now, that
is stronger language than any which the noble lord opposite
has quoted; but I apprehend that the noble lord himself
has written a despatch to the Court of Prussia, in which he
has recommended to that Court the adoption of a certain
line of policy. That hon. members will perceive is
a very different thing from giving k'rtussia to understand
that if she entered into war she must not expect the assist-
ance of England. The course which the noble lord has
taken, in short, I do not conceive to be consistent with the
observance of a strict and impartial neutrality; while all
that Lord Malmesbury did was to impress upon Prussia the
conviction that if she engaged in hostilities she must do so
on her own responsibility. (Hear, hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON—The despatch of Lord Malmes-
bury which has been quoted by my noble friend does not
confine itself to an intimation to Prussia that if she went to
war she must not count upon the support of England, but
tells her she must reckon on something else—namely the
ravage of her coasts in the Baltic. (Hear, hear.) The charge
which was made against my noble friend in the early part
of this discussion was that he had given advice to the Ger-
man Powers. He simply gave advice to Prussia, dissuading
her from entering into the war which was then being waged
in Italy ; but the charges made being that my noble friend
had given advice to the German Powers, he proves fromthe
Blue-books that Lord Malmesbury did not merely give ad-
vice to the Diet to abstain from war, but pointed out the
course it ought to pursue, and warned it of the dangers
which would arise if it pursued a different line of policy
from that which the late Government had shadowed out.
The late Government protested against the steps which the
Diet was going to take, and I do not find fault with them
for having done so. I think they acted wisely in the course
which in that respect they pursued, but then it is going too
far to turn round upon us because we have, although only.
in a modified degree, adopted a similar policy. (Hear.) Of
all men the late Ministry are the last persons who ought
to have found fault with our proceedings in this parti-
cular. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. DISRAELI—The noble lord who has just spoken
seems to labour under the impression that in warning Prussia
against ravages in the Baltic we were speaking of the pos-
sible policy of England.
Mr. B. COCHRANE said that nothing could more com •
pletely breathe a spirit of neutrality than the language
which Lord Malmesbury had employed. (Hear, hear.)
LAW OF LANDLORD AND TENANT (IRELAND).
Mr. HASSARD asked the late Attorney-Goneral for
Ireland (Mr. Whiteside) what course he proposed to take
with respect to the bills for the adjustment of the relations
subsisting between landlord and tenant in Ireland, of which
he had given notice when a law officer of the Crown.
Mr. WHITESIDE said the late Government had done
all in their power to bring about a settlement of the ques-
tion of landlord and tenant in Ireland, but now that they
were no longer in a position to deal with it satisfactorily,
they were fotcedto resign it into the hands of those to whom
it bad been confided by a vote of that house. (Cheers.)
DOCKYARD COMMISSION AND DOVER CON-
TRACT.
Mr. A. KINGLAKE asked the Secretary to the Admi-
ralty when the report of the Dockyard Commission, ap •
pointed by the late board, would be laid before Parliament?
Sir F. BARING observed in• the supplementary esti-
mates a vote for the Dover contract. If the house voted
the money they affirmed the new contract, and he should
prefer waiting until he had seen the evidence before he ap-
proved it. (Hear.) Would the Government postpone the
vote until the Contract Committee had reported on the sub-
ject of that particular contract ?
Lord C. PAGET said, in answer to the hon. member for
Bridgewater, that the report of the Dockyard Commission
was printed, and was now before the commission for cor-
rection. It would then be laid before the Board of Admi-
ralty, and it would be for the Admiralty to lay it on the
table. But, before doing so, he believed the Admiralty
wished to receive some remarks upon the report which the
Surveyor to the Navy desired to make. As soon as these
matters were settled the report would be laid before Parlia.
ment. With regard to the packet vote, he thought it very
unlikely that they would reach that vote to-night, and if it
were the wish of the house there would be no objection to
postpone it.
Sir J. PAKINGTON said he was apprehensive, from
the answer of the noble lord, that some considerable delay
would take place before the report of the Dockyard Com-
mission would be laid on the table. It was one of the three
commissions which he mentioned to the house early in the
session. The other reports which he had promised had been
produced, and he regretted that before he left office he had
been unable to see completed this very important report on
the expenditure of large sums of money expended in the
neighbourhood of our dockyards. If he understood the- an-
swer of the noble lord, the report was to be considered by
the commission—[Lord C. PAGET—Corrected]—referred
to the Surveyor, and then sent back to the Admiralty. He
was afraid that the inference was, that a considerable time
would elapse before Parliament could see the report, and he
ventured to express a hope that no unnecessary delay would
take place. (Hear, hear.)
The motion that the Speaker leave the Chair was then
agreed to.