The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-26 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY

the question of the amount of money which ought to -be
paid, Baron Gros said he would counsel the Greek Govern-
ment to pay 150100 drachm-is. Mr. Wyse said be was
willing to accept of 180,000 drachmas, and that being the
difference existing between them, Mr. Wyse at last, acting
in a much more prudent manner than 4 he referred the
point to the Foreigre.office, and so exposed Gieek commerce
to restraint by the continuance of the state quo for a whole
month, stated, " If other things are agreed to, 1 will come
down to that amount, and accept of the sum which you say
you are disposed to recommend the Greek Government to
pay."— (Hear, hear.) Therefore, practiCally, and in the
result, that case did not arise to which those instructions
could apply. If these instructions had reached Mr. Wyse,
they would not have applied to the differences which had
arisen between him and Baron Gros, for the difference was
this :—lt turned on the 'claim of Don Pacific:o. Baron Gros
on the 16th of April was willing to recommend' to the Greek
Government to undertake an engagement for the investiga-
tion of Don Pacifico's claims, arising out of, the destruction
of those documents which constituted his demand on the
Portuguese Government, and that they should deposit—l
mean the Greek Government-150,000 drachmas as a pledge
of their good faith in the execution of that engagement. The
only difference between Mr. Wyse and Baron Gros on that
day was this—that Baron Groa proposed that the deposit
should be lodged in shares of Athens in that bank—that is
to say, in the custody of the Greek Government—and Mr.
Wyse insisted that the deposit of the money should, be made
in the Bank of England, or, if Baron Gros ltequired it, in the
Bank of France.—(Hear, hear.) Now that seemed to be a
difference of opinion that could easily have been adjusted.
But on the 22d of April Baron Gros altered his mind. He
retracted his opinion on that point. He said that later in-
formation had convinced him that Don Pacifico's claims on
the Government of that nation were ill founded, and that
be would not consent, therefore, to recommend the Greek
Government to enter into any engagement to pay Den Pa-
cifico anything on that ground ; that- investigation
might be entered into, but if there was a claim at all on the
part of this individual, it was on the Portuguese anti not on
the Greek Government; and, in short, that Pacifico's claim
was undergoing a further consideration. Now. Sir, that was
not a point which it was competent for Baron Gros to
act upon, much less to decide.—(Hear, hear.) It was in
clear violation of the very terms upon which we accepted the
proffered good offices of France, nor would Mr. Wyse have
been authorised in departing from the instructions which he
had received on the 25th March, those instructions being
clear and positive for the guidance of his conduct. Then
Baron Gros withdrew from the negotiation. On the 23d,
Baron Gros not only ceased to act, but wrote a formal letter
to Mr. Wyse, and another to the Greek Government, an-
nouncing finally his withdrawal.—(Hear, hear.) On the
24th it seems that Baron :hos receives a dispatch from Ge-
neral de la Hitte, which dispatch purports to give an acs
' count of a conversation which passed between M. Drouyn de
l'Huys and myself Oa the 9th. That account is not correct,
and it dwells upon generals instead of
particulars. It
is there said that I agreed to the arrangement proposed by
Baron Gros; but it is not stated in what re-
spect I had limited that consent. It is not,
therefore, a correct description of the arrangement which
had been come to between M. Drouyn de l'Huys and myself.
M. Gros, however, on the 24th, wrote to Mr. Wyse, express-
ing his willingness, in consequence of the note of General de
la Hitte, received on the 24th, to retract or correct his note
of the 23d, and to make a reference to France and England.
The impression has gone abroad that, on the 24th, Baron
Gros received, and communicated to Mr. Wyse, not merely
an account of the conversation , between's-myself and M.
Drouyn de l'Huys, but also an account yf the obasie, anti of
the nearly approaching arrival, of' a draft of the conven-
tion iitlsielVivis*forl the first tittle iiropoged to rd on' the
ltths Which was. discusied t inoternas on the 16th,-.Which
was „agrees' t? en, the 18th, and sent off ,on the:l9th.
Mr. Wylie has ` been dreafly blamed by many perking" both
-belle and in.'Ffanee, 'Upon the assumption that-whereas
Baron,Qree.,iinfornaed him, on the 24th,of April, that the
English' arid French Governments had come to an agree-
ment las tO.ther -diseritial 'basis 'of the donventien that had
been signed between the two powers, and that Mr. Wyse,
being in actual possession of that information, and knowing
of the existence of that convention, had nevertheless, with a
full knowledge of that fact, renewed coercive measures, by
which he compelled the Greek Government to agree to his
proposal. That assertion, Sir, is, as far as he (Mr. Wyse)
is concerned, utterly and positively untrue.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Wyse received no communication from Baron Gros on
the 24th, or at any time earlier (I believe) than the 2d of
May, realative to the draft of a convention of any sort or
kind.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Whether Baron Gros re-
ceived the communication or not is to be settled between
him and his Government.—( Hear, hear ) I declined, from
the statements of General de la Hitte, to believe that he did
not receive that intimation. "Our own correspondent" of
the Times—(A laugh)—stated that Mr. Wyse had received
this intimation from Baron Gros, and was a most valuable
auxiliary to some who had spoken and written on these
matters; but the information was not correct, as the blue-
book established. The correspondent of the Times distinctly
stated—and, no doubt, public opinion in this country was
much formed upon those statements—that the British Go-
vernment did inform Mr. Wyse on the 24th of this conven-
tion, and that he did receive by the ship Vauban information
of the convention. and yet that, in spite of this, Mr. Wyse
proceeded with his coercive measures. I understand the
French Government now to say that they were, in the first
instance, under a mistake, and to acknowledge that Baron
Gros did not receive by the Vauban information of the con-
vention, and therefore, no such communication having
tuken place, Baron Gros could not communicate, and
Mr. Wyse could not receive it. —( Hear, hear.) Therefore,
Sir, the complaint against Mr. Wyse, come from what
quarter it may, is now disavowed and is no longer perse-
vered in.— (Loud cheers.) As to the next complaint, that I
did not write on account of what passed on the 9th of
April, my answer is, that Mr. Wyse was already in posses-
sion of instructions which were tantamount to a communie
cation, and that, had those instructions been agreed to in
spirit and substance, the arrangement would have been
carried out on the spot, and reference to home would have
been out of the question. But, said those objectors, why
not send out instructions by the Vauban, as the French
Government did? Why, I was 'in London, and General de
la Hitte was in' Paris. The steamboat was at Tou-
lon, and to send a steamboat from London the
journey would not have been performed in so short a
time as by the ordinary route by Marseilles and Trieste.—
(Hear, hear.) When it is said that those demands of ours
are so much repudiated by the Governments of Russia and
France that our putting them forward would cause the 'risk
of involvingns in .a war with thes6 powers, I must be per-
mitted to say that, with regard to Russia, the dispatch of
Count Nesseirode to Baron Brunnow, of the 19th of
February', totally negatives any such assertion as regards
Russis.......(eiear, hear.) In that note the idea of our finally
resorting to coercive measures is distinctly admitted—that
two years ago, in October 1847, he was of opinion that the
time was coming .when he should think it necessay to have
recourse to coercion, and that at the moment when we should
have recourse to these measures, we ought to ask those powers
for their assistance, so that they might use their efforts
.in order to obtain that which it was clear we could not post-
pone indefinitely in deference to their wishes.—(Hear, hear.)
So far as to Russia. Then as to France. What was the
basis of the convention of the 19th of February ? It was a
convention acknowledging all the principles of our demands
and even the amount which France thought we had a just
right to demand.—(Hear.) I am sorry that that convention
did not arrive before another , settlement took place. But
that was not the fault of our negotiator. It was not Mr.
Wyse who put an end to Baron Gros's interference. Why,
Sir, it was Baron Groh himself.—(Hear, hear.) He formally
and officially, by a written communication, withdrew from
the negotiation. Baron Gros addressed his letter of with-
drawal, not merely to Mr. Wyse, but to the Greek Govern-
ment. I repeat he withdrew voluntarily and formally.
—(" Hear, hear," and cries of " No.") I say he withdrew
formally.—(No, no.) Yes, he was willing to retract his
letter,' anti on the 24th he sent back the note of Mr. Wyse,
saying " I cannot do that, but I have another proposal to
make—a proposal which I have made before and which I
om authorised to make. You ask me to refer to England.
I will do -so, but in the meantime to keep those Greek vessels
in custody for a whole month, whilst the reference is being
made, would be rather hard—it would inflict a great hard-
ship on the Greeks and subject them to apprehensions of fur-
ther violence. I propose, therefore, that if the Greek Go-
vernment will send me 180,000 drachmas, which is the sum
I require, with a letter stating that that amount is in
satisfaction of all our claims, except that claim of Don
Pacifico with regard to Portugal, I will"—do what? Con-
tinue the status quo?—No, but said Mr. Wyse, "I will at
once release all the Greek merchant vessels—l will only de-
tain two or three Government vessels as a pledge that some
settlement will be made of Pacifico's claims." The effect of
that arrangement would be that the discussion and
adjustment of Pacifico's claims would be left to the future,
the points 'upon which Mr. Wyse and Baron Gros dif-
fered would be allowed to stand over, the convention would
have arrived in time, and the only final difference would be
that whereas the convention fixed upon 220,000
drachmas, Mr. Wyse was content with 180,000 drachmas.
—(Loud cheers.) But what was Baron Gros's answer to
that ? Why it was this :—" I have withdrawn from the
negotiation.' So that, not merely did Baron Gros announce
his withdrawal on the 22d or 23d, but he repeated that state-
ment, and he refused to act officially, or, as the organ of
France, to make any representation to the Greek Govern.
ment. Baron Gros would, had he done so, have kept
matters open for investigation and for convention. But
Baron Gros, although he said he had officially withdrawn,
and therefore could not assent to the proposal of Mr. Wyse,
in a private letter, intimated that he had made
• Wyse's offer to the Government of
knownGre
ee
and
r
that by five on the following after-
noon he had recommended that the money and
the letter asked for by Mr. Wyse should be sent by the
Greek Government. But was Mr. Wyse in a great hurry
to resume aggressive meamres? Did lie seize upon the first
moment, as he might have done, after non-compliance with
the demand, to direct Sir W. Parker to renew his opera-
tions? Far from it; he waited from the 23d to the 24th,
from the °4th to the 25th, and did not in any way manifest
the slightest impatience, but, on the contrary, the greatest
reluctance to act upon the offensive.—(hear, hear.) Why,
Sir, after Baron Gros had withdrawn, Mr. Wyse still offered
to accept of the same terms as before, and to acquiesce in
the private suggestions of Baron Gros. The negotiations
which have since then taken place between the Governments
of England and France have at length brought those mat-
-ters to a satisfactory conclusi(Cheers.) We are, and
were, perfectly ready to accept of such parts of the proposed
convention as were applicable to the matters which as yet
remain unadjusted—to accept of the arrangement proposed
by the convention instead of the corresponding arrangement
of the 27th of April, which was drawn up on the spot. We do
not of course, having received 190,000 drachmas and distri-
buted them, insist on the difference between that sum and
that proposed in the convention. The arrangement made
in Athens will not be carried into execution as regards
the claims of Don Pacifico on Portugal and the destruction of
such papers cf his as refer to that claim. A pledge has been given
that the matters will be adjusted. Of course, as M. Londos
has written a letter pledging the Greek Government to a
certain course, it would be preposterous to ask him to take
back that letter and sign instead a much better one,
written bp M. Drouyn de l'Huys, written here for his signa-
ture.—(Cheers.) Among the questions which remain to be
settled is this one regarding Pacifico. , Baron Gros's ar-
rangement was the exchange of notes, but the exchange of
notes binds only the Minister by whom the notes were ex-
changed, and might be disowned by his successor. Mr.
Wyse, therefore, required substantial security, to consist of
the lodgment of a deposit of a certain sum of money, and the
investigation was to be made by the Governments of France
and England. The convention of which I drew up the de-
tails in concert with M. Drouyn de Lhuys contained a di-
plomatic guarantee, because the convention was concluded
by plenipotentiaries, and was to be ratified by the two So-
vereigns, who were to provide commissioners of arbitratian—
those commissioners to be named by the two Governments,
for the purpose of investigating those claims. We are
perfectly ready to substitute that of the Greek Go-
vernment if they wish that we should do so, and we have
prepared, and are sending out, the draft of a convention
which substitutes an arrangement respecting those claims.
Of course, if we get a diplomatic guarantee, a substantial
guarantee is no longer necessary. Mr. Wyse acted, I
think, judiciously, having heard that the Greek. Government
was collecting and beating up for claims against the English
Government for damages occasioned by our interference in
providing against the concession or preferment of any such