The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-04 00:00:00

wisdom, with which she managed, throughout the whole
f the lets seregel .to ceeder- e - ee' e e ee ; el
_, Isee
position iu Italy without entering Lite, the contest.
Lord PALMERSTON—With what Power has that
treaty been entered into?
Mr. DISRAELI—The noble lord asks tee with what
Power it was entered into. With the only Power which
Austria dreads ; for a guarantee was given from France
to Austria that her Italian possessions should be guaran-
teed, and that guarantee was not only sanctioned by the
noble lord, but was made by the advice and at the special
instance of his Government. (Cheers.) Thie secret treaty
is not denied, though mentioned now for the first time.
" What Power?" said the noble lord. It is not the Power
of England that crosses the Alps, that threatens Austria in
Italy. It is that Power which, according to the noble lord
and his Minister, wss to be his main support in the great
plan for the ereancipalion of Italy. (Cheers.) Read the
protocol in which Lord Clarendon made the memo-
rable statement about Italian rights, now that I hive
given you the key note. You will then und-r,tand the
haughty contempt with which Count Boot listened to the
noble lord, and the scoffing derision of Baron Hubner in
listening to the representations of the English Ambassador.
When the Austrian Ministers had a guarantee of all the
Italian dominions of their Sovereign in their pockets, what
did they care for the representations brought forward with
so much pomp in the House of Commons, and on account
of which the treble lord claimed the support of the Liberal
party of this country? Now, what has happened in conse-
quence of this imposture upon the credulity of the con: try?
What have you done for the benefit of Italy ? I remember
urging upon the Government of this country not to inter-
fere at all unless it interfered actively. (Hear.) We have
had protocols, State papers, asid speeches in Parliament,
but what have we done ? what has happened in Italy ?
fruitless assassinations, unsuccessful insurrections, and the
death of many excellent and some brave and distinguished.
men ; the. aggravation of every former evil, and the exagge-
ration of all former misgovernment. (Hear, hear.) You
denounced and you threatened the King of Naples, and
the King of Naples treated you with contempt; because,
when menaced by such a Power as England, he naturally
turned to his friendly neighbour Austria, to whom he no
doubt said, "I regard the friendship of Austria, and I can-
not bring you into a dangerous collision with the great
Western Powers, who are determined to bring about a re-
volution in Italy by all possible means. If we are to have
a Free& army teaming the Alps, and English fleets in
Italian waters, I . o not wish to bring you into any serious
difficulty. But my independence as a Sovereign is threatened.
What am Ito do ?" Said Austria—" Ease your mind of
any embarrassment, for a' French army will cross the Alps,
except to maintain my authority and to guarantee my do-
minions. (Laughter.) You will have no French troops or
English fleets here. They are my best friends, a.d have
given me the title-deeds of my estate. You, there-
fore, as an independent Sovereign, -vindicate your
rights." (Hear, hear.) The King of Naples followed
that advice, and how far the policy of the noble lord op-
posite has benefitted the interests of the Liberal party in
Italy, or tended to the amelioration of Italian society, I
will now leave the house to judge. It is often said thatthe
noble lord (Lord Palmerston) is remarkable for getting the
country out of difficulties, but it always in reality happens
that those difficulties are created by himself. His conduct
4 on these occasions resembles the Rhine, which never reaches
the ocean, but vanishes in a mud bank. (A laugh.) It is
in this way that he extricates himself from difficulties of
which he himself is the creator. Well, at the end of the
summer it was thought that her Majesty's Government,
taking advantage of the peace just terminated, w ruld have
taken steps to reduce the military expenditure of the coun-
try; that they would be in a condition, when Parliament
met, at once to enter into the great struggle for economi-
cal and administrative reform with spirit and vigour, and
which hart been ushered in with so muchpromiso. I awoke
one morning and found that, althorgh the Turkish diffi-
culty was settled, and the Italian difficulty was settled or
had disappeared suddenly, we nevertheless had not been
at peace, but had simply enjoyed an armed truce, and that
we were about to be involved in a great war—a war on a
grand scale—under circumstances of great disadvautage.
end without that generous and disinterested ally who had
hitherto acted with us. When Parliament was prorogued
I left our usual place of meeting with the idea that the
French alliance was the great foundation of the policy of
the noble lord at the head of the Government, and that on
that alliance we were to rest. But I found about the Ist
of Sept. that there never had been a real peace ; there had
only been an armed truce, and welwere going to war with
Russia again w; thout the assistance of our ally—(hear)--
to encounter Russian diplomacy ail French perfidy,
and that the contest would be of a very alermingcheracter.
Here was asain another difficulty, a Russian difficulty;
but on this point it is quite unnecessary for me to enter
into any details, because honourable gentlemen are per-
fectly familiar with them I may say that I wish
there may be no misconception as to what I consider, and
the house will consider, to have been the legitimate object
of the late war with Russia. When the subject was first
discussed in 1854, I then said I thought no peace would be
satisfactory to the country which did not secure the inde-
pendence of the Black Sea and the freedom of the Danube.
(Hear, hear.) Two years efterwerds, Shen the wildest no•
tions on the subject of the war and on the terms of peace
were afloat, when you were told nothing but the dismem-
berment of the immense empire of R119,;14 would satisfy
, Europe, I took the liberty of laying down the far more
moderate terms upon which peace might be, in my opinion,
and ought to be, secured; and they involved those tw
great points—the independence of the Black Sea and the
freedom of the Danube. (Hear, hear.) And I say frankly
and freely to the noble lord that if he found iu the month
of September the country was to be deprived of one of the
prime objects for which it had made such enormous and
costly sacrifices of blood and treasure, it was the duty of
the noble lord—never mind what was the cause—even at
' the risk of another war, to obtain his object. (Hear, hear.)
I do not see how he could have faced this house or the
country, unless with a view of announcing that his object
had been accomplished. The noble lord, however, had to
communicate to us that one of the most important objects
of the war was lost to us. I give the noble lord full credit
for his intentions; but then the question naturally arises—
Why were we on the point of losing the fruits we so richly
deserved ? I hear a great teal of Russian maps and Rua=
. elan duplicity, and of French maps and French duplicity ;
, but I hear nothing of English snaps and English know-
. ledge of the subject. Nobody denies now that this town of
L Bolgrad was unfortunately left in the possession of the
Russians. Never mind what was the spirit of the treaty;
so far as England was concerned, she was determined to
have the freedom of the Danube secured, and Russia pos-
sessing Bolgrad, that freedom was not secured. Why, then,
was it retained ? lam told that the Russian Minister be-
haved very ill—wicked Baron Brunovr bad taken care of his
own country—(.aughter)—ungrateful Baron Bruno w had
thus acted after all the hospitality he had received in Eng-
laud—(faughter)—and had not done for Lord Clarendon
that which Lord Clarendonought to have done for himself.
(Renewed laughter.) Now, that is the real state cf the
case. When it is a blunder of our own negotiator which
has occasioned the whole confusion, I don't sue the advan-
tage of turning round upon our late foe and present ally,
and accusing one of duplicity, and the other of breach of
faith. Lord Clarendon was not pressed for time in the
negotiation of the treaty, because he found time to recom-
mend interference in the affairs of the kingdom of Naples,
and he also found time to interfere with the liberty of the
press throughout Europe. Lord Clarendon went to Paris
to obtain the independence of the Black Sea and the free-
dom of the Danube, and he omiteed to obtain one of those
iesportant objects for which he was so sent. Was it from
want of information ? That is the most charitable con-
clusion. With regard to want of information, we have an
Ambassador at Constantinople who may have his fail-
ings, but nobody will deny that he is a man of great ability
and great experience, and he is surrounded by a diplomatic
staff possibly the most able that surrounds any Minister.
In addition to this we here consular establishments
throughout all the provinces of the Turkish empire, and
throughout the Principalities in question. One souls
therefore suppose thet our diplomatic and consular sources
of information would have furnished Lord Clarendon with
sufficient knowledge, at least to have obtained that which
was the object of the war and the object of negotiation.
Lord Claren too had also all the archives of the Foreign
office in Downing-street, which he ought to have found
prepared for him before he went to Pails. But it is a per -
feet libel on the eliplornatic service of the country to sup-
pose that if information had been sought it would have
failed. All the insormation might have been obtained by
means of railways and the telegraph. Was it not worth
their while to avail themselves of those means of informa-
tion? The freedom of the Danube was no slight point -it
was the very pith and essence of the whole negotiation,
the cause of the quarrel, and the cause of the treaty—(hear,
hear)—and yet out of this condition of affairs--out of this
almost unprecedented blunder of our own plenipotentiary,
an excitement is got up, so that the people of Bog and,
who in the spring or the summer expected they were going
to war about Italy, now thought they] were going to war
again with Russia; and yet we are told this was enjoying
the blessings otepeace. In this way the spring, the summer,
and the autumn had been occupied. A great blunder is
made by the chief howl of our diplomacy himself. (Hear.)
It is not made by any poor devil whom you can throw
over, and say he acted without instructions, or lead been
t
improperly promoted by a former Ministry, and was
that the
in his position out of good feeling. You determined
inteh.
chief pf your diplomatists—one of the principal Ministers
of the Queen—one of the leading members of e!,:abinert
should go to Paris in order to secure that which youare
determined to achieve. Ho commits that awful mistake;
but it is not discovered, and he returns to this country, and
is crowned with laarels. The blunder is at length discovered
in the most natural way possible ; but iustea I of our turn-
ing round and saying—" Let us understand each, other ;
give us that which is the spirit of the agreement, in the
most conciliatory manner ; instead of that, every means
are used to lash up the passions of the people of England.
You would suppose that instead of one of the Ministers
making a great blunder, our late foe and present ally were
trying to deprive us of the fruits of our victories. The
noble lord (Viscount Palmerston) goesdownhimmasney of
himself to
the
great capital of industry and peace, amongst
most eminent members of the Peace Society—the absence
of one of whose members (Mr. Bright) in this house I sin-
cerely deplore—(hear)—and the noble lord excites them to
that pitch of enthusiasm, that even the Pt ace Society "half
draws its sword ; and he then says, " see what a people I
have to govern—backed by their opinion, I am resolved
that I will have this treaty executed."
we should havelos(tElee,v The noble
g)
If it had been executed,
for which we were struggling. (Laughter.)
lord excited the passions of the people until the
s whole
of the country were prepared to go to war with
Pu-sita
again ; and you might have had an income tax of 20 per
cont.—and why? Because Lord Clarendon made that
blunder. (Laughter.) Now, see in what an absurd posi-
tion a man must be placed who is wrong, What was the
end of all this blundering ? Understand that. from the
first Russia was never in a position to struggle. Russia
would never have consented to a peace if she had not been
in that state which rendered the continuance of the struggle
impossible. The noble lord tells the people of Manchester
to have confidence in him, and he uses all those arts of ex-
citement of which he is a greater master than any Minister
siuco the days of Lord Bolingbroke. He will have the
treaty, and there shall be no conference. At last it ooze,
out that there are to be conferences at Paris; but not to
be presided over by the Minister of France, because he had
been perfidious. Well conferences were held, and they
were presided over by the Minister of France. (i.,aughter.)
The conference was to be only a matter of form ; but in-
stead of that they were obliged to meet and agree that it
was not the desire nor the wish of the English Minister
that the treaty should be so expressed. Russia said, "We
offered you a conference in August. when the difficulty was
first discovered, and before it was known to the world. As
the treaty was against you, it could only be rearranged by
conference ;" and Russia says, " Let us have . compensation
for giving up Bolgrad." Now, if Bolgrad did notbelong
to Russia, why give Russia aoy compensation
in a period of peace, we are not reaping the ? Although
fruits of ileac. .
(Hear.) During the spring,
summer, f
and autumn, you
have had nothing bat difficulties in your foreign affairs.
All those difficulties were created by her Majesty's Minis-
ters, who have extricated us somehow or other from them ;
and because they have done so they consider they are en-
titled to our confidence, as the only men who understand
how to manage foreign politica. But eight months Imo