The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-18 00:00:00

foreigners in general. The British Court established this
maxim with great strength of evidence on occasion of
the Prussian vessels seized and declared lawful prizes
during the late war." _ _

gotiation for three weeks, making that the most
difficult which at the first moment would have been
the easiest mode of settling the qaestion at once.
The Noble Marquis declared, in strong terms, that
our relations with Russia are as friendly as ever they
were ; and if that be to, it was perhaps the freedom
of friendship that was indulged in by the terms of that
dispatch which has been already quoted to-night; other-
wise it might be inferred that the person who dictated
that dispatch was actuated by any feeling than that cf a
friendly character. (Tbe Noble Lord lowered his voice at
this part of his speech and was very indistinctly heard.) We
understood him to express his hope that all this would
pass harmlessly away; but it was clear that these trans-
actions could not have occurred without more or less
injuring that good understanding that had hitherto pre-
vailed. He expressed his dissatisfaction at the state of
foreign relations generally, and said it was impossible
to regard our position with France and Russia without
uneasiness. But four short years ago this country was
honoured, loved, and respected in every state in Europe;
maintaining an intimate and cordial understanding
with France, and without the slightest interruptions
of intimacy and friendship with all other powers;
but he could not regard with any satisfaction
the new species of friendship in which the
Noble Marquis had discovered we existed with our
allies. The Noble Lard then referred to our relations
with Austria, whose feelings, he said, had been deeply
injured by that abominable transaction, to which he
had more then once referred, in which we had exhibited
to
at
Europe,
e most falsely, the policy of Austria nub re-
spect
atleyrl endeavouring to spread the belief that
Austria entertained views of conquest in that country.
We been a cause, and a great cause of a portion of
% ehad
misfortunes and difficulties into which Austria had
fallen. We might have stopped the Piedrnontese war,
not by the advice that had been given to the King of
Sardinia, that he had better not go to war with Austria,
because if ho did he would have a good chance of being
beaten, but if we had told him that he would have
broken a solemn engagement he had entered into with
Great Britain, and that if he persevered we would pro-
test against his course in the face of all Europe, and re-
call our Minister from his Court, there would have been
no insurrection, and no Russians in Hungary. He re-
garded the entrance of the Russians into Hungary as a
great misfortune, not only to Austria, but to Europe.
He had observed the symptoms of hate to-
wards England, and notwithstanding all that had been
said, he could not persuade hiugiself that the state of
(sure oreign relations could long continue as they were.
He had only
condition. It was, however, satisfactory to reflect that
cited a few instances of this unsatisfactory
the people of foreign countries would do justice to
England by separatine., in their estimate, the conduct of
our Government and the conduct of our people. He
would support the motion of his Noble Friend, who had
presented every part of the subject to their Lordships;
and he doubted if nay reflecting man, either in or out of
that House, could icy his band upon his heart and say
that every word of that statement of his Noble Friend
was not literally true and just.—(Hear, hear.)
The Earl of CARDIGAN, who was very imperfectly
heard, was understood to say that, although it was not
the ordinary practice to discuss matters of foreign
policy in Parliament, he thought that the preseat state
of our foreign relations fully justified their Lordships in
expressing their feelings and opinions on the subject. It
appeared that we had unfortunately succeeded in raising
against us, if not open hostility, at least a hostile feeling
us two of the most powerful nations of the world ; and
those, too, directly opposed to each other in the form
of their national institutions the one being
founded on democratic principles, and the other upon
the principle of arbitrary or despotic power.--(Hear.)
He thought that the general foreign policy of the Go-
vernment, when viewed in connexion with their own
measures, presented the most extraordinary anomaly
ever heard of. There was a Manchester school of re-
formers, by whose advice the Government acted, and
who wanted to cut down our military and naval estab-
lishments to so low a point as to render it almost impos-
sible for the country even to defend her own shores; and
yet while all this Was going on the Government were un-
ceasingly quarrelling with foreign countries.—(Hear,
hear.) Was it necessary for the national honour and
the permanent interests of the country that by our inter-
ference we should have acted in Sicily against our old and
faithful ally, Naples? or that we should have given direct
encouragement to Sardinia when in an act of direct ag-
gression against the Austrian empire? Or was it requisite
to the national honour and the interests of the country
that we should send a British fleet in hostile array
to the very confines of the Russian empire? He had
not taken notice of all these differences, but when he
added the recent case of Spain—(Hear, hear)—he had
gone over nearly all Europe in endeavouring to recall
to their Lordships' minds the follies, abuses, and falla-
cies into which the Government in its foreign policy
had fallen. And he now confidently asked their Lard-
ships whether it would not, in this case, have been
wiser and more prudent on the part of our Govern-
ment to enaeavour to obtain a settlement of these
claims, and redress for these injuries, in conjunction
with the Ministers of France and Russia, than to have
made these reprisals?—(Hear, hear.) He assured the
House, that in giving this opinion, he spoke without
any personal or hostile feeling whatever to the Noble
Lord at the head of her Majesty's Foreign-office; but
that, on the contrary, he felt the highest respect for his
high courage and character; but he was in a dangerous
position, and the foreign policy of this country ought to
be conducted upon principles that were permanently
conciliatory.—( Hear.)
Lord WARD, who spoke with his back turned di-

The British Government had established this principle
during the last war. But here justice had not been re-
fused—the means of redress in the courts had not been
sought for, and no odious distinction was made between
the subjects of England and the subjects of Greece. The
paper to which Vattel referred in this extract was
the celebrated case of the Silesian. That was the pre-
cedent which had settled the law on this subject to the
satisfaction of all Europe. It had become the standard
authority upon all such subjects from that day to this.
That was drawn up by Lord Mansfield specially,
though he had united with him Sir F. Ryder, the Jud.;e
of the Prerogative Court, and the King's Advocate of
that day. The Lord Chief Justice (Lord Campbell),
then sitting on the Woolsack, had recorded his opinion
of that procedure:—

" Having often been employed in drawing up papers
of a similar nature, I have never perused this but with
mingled sensations of admiration and of despair ; as
it may be looked upon as combining wisdom and
truth Unit."

Let the House, then, hear what it was that was so de-
scribed:—

" The law of nations, founded upon justice, equity,
convenience, and the reason of the thing, and confirmed
by long usage, dons not allow of reprisals, except in case
of violent injuries directed or supported by the stete,
and justice absolutely denied in re minime dubici by all
the tribunals, and afterwards by the Prince. Where the
judges are left free, and give sentence according to
their conscience, though it should be erroneous, that
would be no ground for reprisals. Upon doubtful ques-
tions different men think and judge differently; and all
a friend can desire is, that justice should be impartially
administered to him, as it is to the subjects of that Prince
in whose courts the matter is tried."

Did not, he would ask, this judgment appear to have
been written for the case of M. Pacifico? The Noble Mar-
quis had dwelt a great deal upon one point—th at of show-
ing that all sovereign states had power to redress their
own injuries without seeking the consent of any other state.
There could be no doubt that such was the fact; and under
ordinary circumstances they never would ask the per-
mission or consent of Russia or France to redress any
injury done to a subject. But the Noble Marquis ought
to recollect that Greece was particularly situated. Three
powers had united to found this very state. They had
guaranteed the integrity of its territory and its independ-
ence as a state; and a blow struck in this manner, by
one of those powers, was a blow struck at the existence
of the State in the maintenance of which all were inte-
rested. He could hardly account for no communications
being made'until he found the reason stated in the pa-
pers of M. Drouyn de Ilium who, when the first letter
arrived announcing these events, was not in England.
When the news arrived in France it caused there a
great sensation, and M. Drouyn de l'Huys was sent to
England to obtain an explanation. He, accordingly,
the very first day ho arrived, which was the sth of Fe.
bruary, said—
"l laid before Lord Palmersston a very animated
pictare of the bad impression which the news from
Athens had produed upon the President, the Council,
the diplomatic body, the whole assembly, and upon pub-
lic opinion. I dwelt upon all that was ,ffensive for us in
these sudden and violent resolutions, taken without our
knowledge and against an allied nation, all that was ex-
treme in the means of execution, all that was strange
and contradictory in the new situation which these events
were about to create in the East. • • • •

Lord Palmerston, diminishing the importance of what
had passed at Athens, replied that this affair appeared
to him so simple, and of so little consequence, that he
had not thought it necessary to speak to the French Go-
vernment about it
That was treating the matter in a light which he
(Lord Aberdeen) could hardly have believed to be pos-
sible, knowing the position in which France and Russia
stood with respect to Greece.—(Hear, hear). But this
was an answer that did not apply when the claims in-
cluded a portion of the territory of Greece—France and
Russia being with England guarantees for the territory
of.Grcece. No doubt there should in common courtesy
have been a communication made to the co-
guarantees before executing such a project. In an early
stage of these transactions the Noble Marquis had with
offensive triumph stated that the demand for the islands
formed no part of the demand of Mr. Wyse; but the
Noble Marquis had not with his usual candour admitted
that the islands might have been occupied, and therefore
there was good reason for saying that these islands did
not form a part of the claims sent in by Mr. Wyse.—
(Hear.) Now he (Lord Aberdeen) considered it a very
important part of the question—(Hear)—because they
were thus obliged to abandon the grounds on which
they had insisted, and they had now to settle with other
powers after having asserted their determination to take
the whole settlement into their own hands.—.(Hear.)
The whole of the question as to those islands, not of one
or two, but of 20 more, turned upon this consideration,
that they formed part of the Venetian territory before
the French revolution. Now, it was mot easy to ascer-
tain to whom uninhabited islands belonged, and these,
for the most part, perfectly waste rocks. He thought
that the reason given by the Greek Government was not
a bad one, that there was no proof to the contrary__
where there was no proof of ownership, those
nearest to the mainland might be taken to belong to
Greece, and those nearest to the islands to belong to the
lonian Lland.—(Hear.) But the whole grounds on
which the Secretary of State rested assumed that these
islands indisputably belonged to the lonian Republic in
the month of January, 1804. Now, he (Lord Aberdeen)
happened to be in Corfu, in January, 1804, and at that
very time was present at the discussion in the Legis'a-
tive Assembly, although he did not profess to recollect
with certainty One word of that discussion. This, how.
ever, he did recollect, that there was no Turkish autho•
rity present, and the assembly might have allotted what
islands they pleased, and Turkey then was the owner of
Greece. fie utterly denied that the treaty between
Russia and the Porte of 1600 had anything to do
with this question, and still less did the treaty
of 1815 recognise in the slightest degree the posses-
sion of these islands. It only referred to islands belotig-
ing to Venice, and that was the whole question.—
(Hear, hear.) He admitted that it was a doubtful
question—a question very properly to be discussed—but
discussed with those powers that had guaranteed the in-
tegrity of Greece.—(Hear.) It was not only in Greece
they had to lament the employment of the British flee
they had to lament it ever since the departure of that
fleet from the shores of England. The fleet made its
first appearance in the Tagus. It was seen at Lisbon,
and what did it do there? It excited the suspicious of
the Government, at the same time that the opposite
party remonstrated against the use made of it.—(Hear.)
Again, it appeared at Naples to threaten, to control,
and to thwart the operations of the King, and where
they had encouraged, deserted, abandoned, and betrayed
the engagements they made with both parties.—(Cheers.)
They then made their appearance at the lonian Islands
—he believed after the suppression of the revolt—and
therefore they could take no part in the events that oc-
curred. The British fleet only appeared to furnish Sir
Henry Ward with implements of punishment. But
then he might be told that this fleet had appeared in
the Dardanelles, and that it did wonders there;
that it had brought the Emperor of Russia to his ten-
ses; that it had effected miracles for the Polish refugees.
—(Hear, hear.) He believed that the fleet had entered
the Dardanelles on the sth November, and in the middle
of October the Emperor of Austria had made a demand
for the delivery of the refugees. Well, what had they
done? They had apologised for entering the Darda-
nelles—they had disavowed the admiral, and they hal
promised to do so no more.—(Cheers.) Nay, they had
even brought themselves to declare that they had been
driven into the Dardanelles by stress of weather.—
(Hear.) Now, he said that was a deception—it was
" the thing that is not."—(Laughter, and " Hear.")
They had appalled the Emperor—they had entered
the Dardanelles, and they had promised to do so no more.
He had now very little to say on the latter part of this
subject, on which his Noble Friend had addressed the
Howe. He really did not know in what state were
the transactions with France at this moment with re •
spect to this astonishing negotiation. They were going
on for three weeks on the same subject. He could only
say that the proposal of the French Government was ex-
ceedingly simple, and ought to have been acceded to at
once. At all events, seeing the undoubted good faith
of France, and that their desire was only to be of use to
the English Government, he did not understand why
any objection was made to the proposal of France, for
the instructions of General de Lahitte were quite a model
in their way they told M. Gros—" be as unjust as
you decently can, but there is a limit beyond which
you must not go;" and it was quite clear that M. Gros
was acting on those instructions, for he did his best to
fulfil the desires of his Government.—(Hear, hear.) It
would appear that M. Drouyn de l'Huys was almost
the only French agent with whom you were mot dissatis-
fied. He (Lord Aberdeen) thought that the misun-
destanding originated in this :—When the French
offered themselves as mediators, we, of course, in the
odious position in which we stood in the face of the
world, found it impossible to refuse the office. We,
therefore, employed M. Gros to execute our demands.
We said, in the diplomatic language genereally used
on such occasions, "It will give us satisfaction to
receive justice by means of the French intervention
rather than by force." The Secretary of State, in say-
ing that, said that they would do something like what
respectwas t
tcoase in h
the
au
lt
p he
umediationa
nb edt wi
ne e
tnh
ona Naplesed ia at
inodh utsh in
t
took place between
a bonaenyoua fide
ndMexmieeediatTiohne, French
as hadnchth
then
took this to mean
been in the two cases already stated. And it was un•
doubtedly the fact that in both of those cases the me-
diation became finally arbitration—(Hear, hear)—as all
mediations must become if the parties have any common
sense, because it was intended thereby to prevent the
continuation of a quarrel between the two parties. Now
that was the case with us; and he (Lord Aberdeen)
himself, had taken an active part as mediator in the case
of France and Mexico, and to conclude that dispute
which had not been finally settled when he came into
office in 1841. The French Minister naturally thought
that he was authorised to exercise similar powers in the
way of mediation as had been exercised in both of those
cases to which he had referred. But it appeared that
that was not the intention of the British Government in
this matter, and hence the misunderstanding.L-(Hear.)
They thought, in fact, that they were to exercise some
discretion in suggesting, but we, it appears, bound them
to that which might be called the useful. [So we under-
stood the Noble Lord, who became frequently inaudible
in the latter part of his address.] The Noble Lord
continued—But I think we ought to have instantly said,
"We accept your mediation. Take the case, and mike
out of it whatever you please ; and whatever you think
fair and just we shall be satisfied with." That would
have been the spirit in which we should have dealt with
the French ; but instead of that, we make a breach of
engagement with them ; and, although proceedings are
going on likely to be followed by the worst conse-
quences, still we go on haggling with a miserable ne-

reetly to the reporters' gallery, and was iu consequence
scarcely heard at all, we understood to defend the policy
the Government had pursued upon the question now
before the House. The papers to enable their Lordships
to form a proper judgment upon that question had wily
been a few days before the House; and when the Noble
Lord brought forward his resolution with all the weight
of his determined character, he (Lord Ward) felt that
there was no one in the House in a position to answer,
point by point, all the statements in the speech of that
Noble Lord. The prose edings in this matter had not
been sudden, for several successive Governments had
pressed these claims upon the Greek Government with-
out receiving any satisfactios, and he appealed to their
Lordships whether it was probable that the Government
would have resorted to the ultimatum of twenty-four hours
without sufficient previous negotiation. The Government
had felt that the time had come when we must make our-
selves heaid, and bring the matter to an issue. Although
Greece had a constitutional form of Government, he
believed that King Otho was as much a despot as the
Emperor of Russia. The mission of Baron Gros to
Greece was not, as had been asserted to-night, to act the
part of sheriff's officer to England. But, after a time,
Baron Gros ceased to hold the scales fairly between the
two parties, and the hostilities had commenced because
he refused to put one of those six original claims which
had been prefer!, d by the Noble Lord at the head of the
Foreign-office. The negotiator had done wrong at that
moment to retire from his post, and he (Lord Ward)
thought the British Government had acted properly in
using the force at their disposal. For these reasons he
could not support the motion of the Noble Lord.
Lord BEAUMONT, is opposing the resolutions of
the Noble Lord, was also anxious to enter his protest
against some of the doctrines he had put forward.
While that Noble Lord was speaking, he (Lord Beau-
mont) confessed he had some difficulty in keeping in
mind the fact that the Noble Lord was a member of their
Lordships' House, discussing a question of policy.
He could hardly refrain from thinking the Noble Lord
was some advocate engaged by a foreign enemy,
anxiously trying to cripple the operations of the
place impediments on the action of
reduce it to the level of a second-rate
the
eitish nation,Government,
and
power. If the doctrine of the Noble Lord with respect
t e international law were correct, it was high time to
recall our ambassadors in foreign countries; for there
would be no further reason to employ our fleets f)r the
protection of Our trade, and our merchants abroad
must go unprotected. The Noble Lord went the length
of saying that whenever a wrong was done to a British
subject abroad lie must rely on the tribunals which ad-
ministered the law in the country in which he resided,
and must abandon all right to protection from his own
country. Another doctrine of the Noble Lord was,
that we were bound to consult the other great powers
of Europe in case of such disagreements. That pro-
position he (Lord Beaumont) denied to be good cr
correct in any respect whatever. From the moment we
guaranteed the independence of Greece, she was
placed on the footing of every independent country.
But the fact was, the Greek Government know the
Noble Lord the Minister for Foreign Affairs was in
office, and that they could not trifle with him. Coletti,
however, had assumed a power which that Noble Lord's
predecessor could not shake off,—(4 laugh.) He (Lord
Beaumont) remembered questioning the Noble Earl (the
Earl of Aberdeen) when in office,
with regard to some
of these claims, and when the Noble Earl asked him
whether he would have him employ force in exacting
the demands he had made, ho had replied he should be
sorry to employ force against the Government of Greece.
Was he correct in his statement?
The Earl of ABERDEEN
explained, that with the
exception of the interest on the Greek loan, he had left
no claims unsettled when he left office. Mr. Finlay's
claim had only just commenced, and he (the Earl of
Aberdeen) had been requested to use his good offices,
which certainly, if they meant anything, did not mean
force.—(Hear, bear.) Many individual claims had been
brought before him, the whole of which had been satis-
fied by the Greek Government.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord BEAUMONT continued, addressing himself to
the case of Mr. Finlay. That gentleman's land had
been taken from him without any notice, and without
compensation; and in a dispatch the Noble Earl himself
spoke of it as an act of injustice. Mr. Finlay might
have put in an exorbitant claim, but he had not done so.
From what was stated in the dispatches before them,
the House would perceive that in Mr. Finlay's case, as
in others, the spirit of the Greek constitution was vio-
lated, in as much as the seizure of the lands had taken
place before the fixing of the indemnity, and that the
legal arbitration to which the claimant had offered to
submit, had been refused by the Government. The ap-
plication in respect to arbitration was the last which
bad been made, and it had been declined. It was then, not
until the law had been actually violated—it was not un-
til Mr. Finlay had found himself at the mercy of one of
the Greek Ministers, that ho had applied for protection
to his own Government.—(Hear, hear.) Then came the
case of M. Pacifico—laying character and magni-
tude of claim altogether aside, how did the
matter stand ? A fanatical mob, encouraged by
certain members of the Government, destroyed M.
Pacitico's house, and in doing so committed an outrage
upon the law. How had that individual proceeded ?
He had first gone to the Procureur du Roi, but that
functionary, after satisfying himself as to the authors of
the outrage, refused to take any steps against them, or
to take any measure towards the obtaining of an indem-
nity for the mischief done. On this M. Pacifico applied
to Sir Edmund Lyons, who urged him again to appeal
to the Proeureur du Roi, and in the meantime, in Writing
home relative to the matter, kept hoping for six months

TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 18, 1850.

that the Greek Government would act according to
Greek law in the matter, and would ultimately see jus-
tice done. He (Lord Beaumont) did not mean to defend
the amount of the claim; but the letter of Glarakis, al-
though most ingenuously written, was a perfect denial
of all justice, of any claim whatever. Besides,
the Greek Government refused altogether even
to investigate the mast- —so that, in fact,
in both cases—in that of M. Pacifico ns well
as in that of Mr. Finlay—the law ef the land
was violated and denied; and therefore, es he contended,
the English Government had acquired a right to interfere.
With respect to the next case—that of the seizure of
the boat of the Fantome—he thought that the Noble
Lord bad treated far too lightly the insult offered to the
offieer and the crew of that boat, and the still greater in.
suit offered to Lieutenant Meedonald of the Spitfire. In
the first instance, the officer and crew were seized before
the English consul's door, and the local authorities ab-
solutely refused to give any reparation for the outrage.
If such doings were permitted to go unpu-
nished, our officers, in a country like Greece,
would be insulted in every direction. What he com-
plained of in reference to the matter was, that the de-
mand for reparation had beer. too lone delayed. He
would fain have seen a question of this kind righted on
the moment; and he might add, that all the French
naval officers upon the station were most anxious, for
the sake of the precedent, that fall reparation should be
made for the insult. But after all the primary outrage
was not the worst. A❑ inquiry had been instituted
into the condect of the English officer, and in
an investigation of this kind the word of honour of Bri-
tish officers ought to have been enough, and the Greek
Government ought to have admitted that under
such circumstances the probability was that their
agents had been mistaken, and that the Nomarch of Pa-
teas was in the wrong. Such a matter ought to have
been cut short at once. Then came the case of the plun-
dering of the lonian boats at the Custom-house of the
Salcina. He was given to understand that in this instance
the brigands were actually in alliance with the Custom-
house officers.—(oh, oh.) This was the statement made
in several Greek newspapers, at all events. Let that how-
ever be as it might, this at least was evident, that we
had tried every means to settle those claims. They were
known to Russia, Austria, and France. We had used,
he repeated, every possible means to obtain a settle-
ment. Sometimes we received no answer to our repre-
sentations—sometimes we received such unsatisfactory
replies, that we could not adopt them. At last it .be-
came evident that something decided must be done. A
final claim was put in, and this also not having been
attended to, there was nothing left for it but force.
Under these circumstances, he thought that her Ma-
jesty's Government were justified in what they had
done, and that the Noble Lord opposite had made out
no case against them, an.' he had tailed in showing that
they had acted precipitately, harshly, or in oppo-
sition to the law of nations, or to that of Greece itself,
in at last employing violent means to enforce their
claims. He believed that there was no deceit on either
side in respect of the transactions which had taken place
between the representatives of France and England on
the subject of Greece. In his opinion the conduct of
France, as represented by that honourable and distin-
guished man, M. Drouyn de Lhuys, was candid and
straightforward, and that of Lord Palmerston equally
so. Lord Palmerston laid it down as a principle,
from which he would not recede, that the amount of the
claims might be disputed, but not the existence of the
claims. Ho believed it was understood that Baro❑
Gros went to Athens not to dispute the existence of
these claims, but to get them settled as soon as possible.
Lord Palmerston also laid it down distinctly That the
action of the squadron was to be suspended while the
negotiation was going on, and that it should rest with the
French negotiator to declare when he would retire
from the negotiation. The question, therefore,
resolved itself into one of fact, whether Baron
Gros withdrew or not, and it appeared to him
to be indisputable that he had done so.— (Hear.)
He could not understand, however, why a great nation
should make a quarrel about the failure of a convention,
which if carried into effect would have borne more
hardly upon Greece than what had actually taken place.
It was absolutely necessary for us to use force under
the circumstances, or else to establish a precedent by
which people might be tortured, robbed, and have their
houses burned; and that, too, in the Levant, where it
was mere then ordinarily necessary to resent any injury
done to British subjects, whether it came from a great
or a small power. If, therefore, instead of adopting a
I straightforward course in our negotiations, and instead
of taking our stand on the law of nations, we adopted
the new law laid down by the Noble Lord opposite,
there would be no use in future in having either an am-
bassador or a consul abroad, and we should sink at once
to the rank of a second-rate nation. If the threats of
Austria and Russia were to be carried out, an English -
man travelling in those countries would lose the pro-
tection which was thrown around him by the law of
nations. He would say, therefore, that if the resolutio❑
of the Noble Lord were carried, it would operate most
injuriously. It was an un-English and hostile motion,
originating with foreign influence, and such a motion
as that he trusted the [louse would never sanction.
Viscount CANNING admitted that the conduct of the
Greek Government bad been most reprehensible; but,
unfortunately, it did not follow from the fact that the
Greek Government had done wrong that the English
Government had dune right; and he confessed he saw
in these transactions many matters which called loudly
for the reprehension of Parliament and the country.—
(Hear, hear.) He had heard nothing in the course of
this discussion which shook his confidence in the maxim
quoted from Lord Mansfield by the Noble Earl near him
I (the Earl of Aberdeen), the terms of which applied
strictly, accurately, and with curious minuteness to the
present case. " The law of nations, founded on justice
and equity, convenience, and the reason of the thing,
and confirmed by long usage, does not allow repri-
sals, :except in cases of violent injuries supported
or directed by the State, and all justice absolut,ly
II denied in re minims dubia by all the tribu-
nals, and afterwards by the Prince." He would take
in the first place Mr. Finlay's claim. He did not say
that that gentleman had no claim at all; but he did
maintain that it was not put forward in the only proper
and seemly mode in which it could have been advanced.
What would their Lordships say if the subjects of any
foreign state were to come before the Government of this
country with a peremptory order from the Minister of
his country, asking for indemnity because law was ex-
pensive, and because the judges were removable on
political and party grounds? He was sure their Lord-
ships would scout such a claim, and justly; and as
justly did the Greek Government scout the demand
which was made on the part of Mr. Finlay. But if
the course which Mr. Finlay had pursued was
open to objection, much more so was that of M.
Pacifico. He did not mean to deny that there was a foun-
dation in justice for his claims, as well as in the case of
Mr. Finlay. But there was this difference beta eon
them, that in Mr. Finlay's case there was at least a
corpus delicte—his property was real and tangible; while
in the case of M. Pacifico there was nothing certain ex-
cept the fact that his house had been assaulted. The
estimate of his losses stood only on his own assertion,
and the Greek Government had good reason for dis-
' trusting his claim. How then did the Greek Govern-
ment act? They justly and properly required that such
alleged losses, before they could be compensated out of
the Greek treasury, should be verified before a court of
justice. The Noble Marquis professed to show that
Pacifico's claim in its integrity formed no part of the
demand of the British Government on Greece
at the moment Baron Gros was sent out, and
he quoted a dispatch, previous to that period,
to show that it was the intention of the Noble Lord
that M. Pacifico's claims, if they were deserving of exa-
mination at all, should receive consideration. But, in
' the first place, Sir Edmund Lyons did not act upon that
dispatch. In the next place, the question was not what
were the demands made in previous years, but what
were the demands made by the Greek Government at
the moment Sir W. Parker's guns were pointed at the
Piraeus. There were several other points, but he would
pass on to the question of compensation for the lonian
boats. This was a different claim from the others—it
was a question of principle—the others were questions
of facts. It appeared that a band of robbers had over-
powered the Custom-house at Achelous, and had
also plundered some lonian boats moored in the
river. But these robbers were oppressors of the
Greeks as well as of the lonians. They had plundered
two Greek vessels, as well as the six lonian boats. They
had carried off several Greek subjects into captivity.
To be sure, that was no compensation to the lonians;
but it served to show that the Greek Government were
not responsible. Lord Palmerston, in his dispatch on the
subject, stated that as the Greek Government were
either unable or unwilling to repress these depredators,
that therefore they ought to be held responsible for the
depredations. He would ask their Lordships whether
there was either justice or common sense in this? All
cases of depredation took place either from the inability
or unwillingness of the Government to repress them;
but if a claim were made for compensation on that
ground to the British Government, he was sure it would
be rejected with ridicule and scorn. If his (Viscount
Canning'e) Noble Friend the Under Secretary ofState was
able to give a satisfactory answer as to the way in which
this question had been put before the law advisers of the
Crown he should still be a little sceptical, and still feel
rather disposed to abide by the opinion of Lord Mans-
field, who laid down the maxim that a foreigner should
receive the same treatment as a native of the state in
which he resided, and no better. It was notorious that
certain claims hand been preferred on the part of the
British Government against the Governments of Naples
and Tuscany fur what certain British subjects had euf-
fered in the course of the lamentable events which took
place there in the course of last year. He knew not
how these claims had been received, but he believed they
had been regarded not unfavourably by our Govern-
ment. He believed the Governments of Naples and
Tuscany had refused compensation to their own subjects,
and that would be a bar to their giving compensation to
our subjects. Their Lordships might remember seeing
in the police reports that an unfortunate British sub-
ject, a negro sailor, had been brought up for some
claim as to wages.—(Hear, hear.) The vessel in
which this negro was a seaman arrived at Charleston,
and immediately on her arrival a police officer took that
negro sailor into custody, and he was kept in prison until
the vessel sailed from Charleston. Now that was a
case which he (Viscount Canning) would venture to say
was ono of intolerable hardship.—(Hear, hear.) If the
Noble Lord was prepared to substantiate and enforce
his maxim that justice was to be done to every British
subject in whatever country he might live, irrespective
of the laws of that country, he could not have a better
or a more honourable case than this for his interference.
—(Hear, hear.) He (Viscount Canning) contended that
in the result of the negotiations in the cases of M. Paci-
fico and Mr. Finlay, a recognised principle of national
law had been overridden and set aside. He should be
doing injustice to the Noble Lord at the head of the
Foreign-office if he said he was alone responsible for
this correspondence; never• was he more ably seconded
than by Sir Edmund Lyons, for he had become moat

thoroughly imbued with the spirit in which the
dispatches were couched, He had been accus-
tomed to regard the doings of the Noble Lord
as characterised by dexterity and skill, but the Noble
Lord showed no signs of those qualities in this corre-
spondence; and the only way in which he (Viscount
Canning) could account for their absence was, that the
Noble Lord was conscious of the rottenness of those
claims. Those were the considerations which induced
him to give his most cordial support in favour of the re-
solution of his Noble Friend, which was not only most
justly, but most temperately expressed; and he felt him-
self justified in earnestly entreating their Lordships to
consider it well, and above all to weigh well the value
of the decision which they were called on to make. He
hoped at least they would have the satisfaction of
knowing that they had done what they could to vindicate
their honour. Let them at least have the satisfaction of
knowing than if that fatal page in our history bore re-
cord that it was begun in injustic-, and carried on in ar-
rogance, it was at least closed with dignity, and that
the same page should bear witness that that policy re.-
ceived at the earliest opportunity which circumstances
would admit, the direct, deliberate, and unqualified con-
demnation and censure of the House of Lords.

Lerd EDDISBURY said every one must be aware
that in a c tninercial couetry like this—with interests
spread over every part of the globe, with our fellow•
subjects in every port and our ship., on every sea—it was
of the utmost importance that nowhere should injustice
be permitted towards those who rightly claimed the pro-
tection of the British Government.—(Hear, hear.). It
was a!ainst •superfluous to enter into a detail of the
claims which had been urged upon the Greek Govern-
ment; but there were one or t:vo points to which he
would venture to call their attention. When parties re-
ceived injury in a foreign country, it was no doubt in-
cumbent on them to apply for redress—first, to the Go-
vernment of the country in which they had suffered
wrong, before they sought justice from their own coun-
try. This course was undoubtedly followed by Mr. Fin-
lay, whose claims he would, first of all, advert to; in that
case the Greek Government a ent against the first princi-
ple of their own code by taking away land from Mr.
Finlay and refusing to allow him remuneration. Whet
in such circumstances was the claimant to do but to apply
to his own Government for that redress which he was
refused by the Government of Greece.—(l-lear.) The
case of Pacifism had been ridiculed as one too con-
temptible to be treated seriously, and yet nobody could
deny that his was a case of hardship and oppression.—
(Hear.) When a man's house was assailed at mid-day,
and plundered by those who were known to be in the
service of the Greek Government, and when due com-
pensation was refused, it was monstrous ,to contend
that we were not hound to demand redress, provided the
individual had claims on the protection of the British
Government. The Greek Government did make a
show of prosecution against the parties engaged in this
outrage, and their statement was that there was not
sufficient evidence; but it was to be remarked that the
sons of the Minister at War, who were present at the
plunder, were never examined. After quoting one or
two passages from Vette!, illustrative of the law of na-
tions on the subject of compensation, the Noble Lord
said it had be?n asked what would have been done ha
this country if a case like those under conside-
ration had recurred here to foreigners ? Now, he bad no
hesitation in saying that if a man's house was plundered,
or his boat seized unwarrantably by Custom-
house officere, and all belonging to him taken away, full
justice would have been done him, to whatever country
he might belong.—(Hear, hear.) Thsn, there was the
case of the .Stebio Sumachi, who was seized and treated
with great cruelty and indignity; and also that of the
Fathom°. Now, he denied that the arbitrary seizure of
a man's land, the plundering of a house, the unwarrant-
able seizure of boats and their contents, and the illegal
carrying away and torturing an individual, as in the
case of Sumachi, were matters that should be treated
with contempt.—(Hear, hear.) The Government was
bound to urge its claims on behalf of tho sufferers, but
he was compelled to say that the way in which those
claims were met by Greece was just of a piece with the
spirit in which Greece had treated all the demands of
England.—(Hear, hear.) A good deal had been said
of the manner in which the present Foreign Se-
cretary had addressed the Greek Government ; but
he begged to say that the Noble Earl opposite
(the Earl of Aberdeen) had not himself always spoken
very respectfully to the Government of Greece. He
then proceeded to read extracts from a dispatch of the
Earl of Aberdeen, dated December 2, 1844, respecting
the dismissal of General Church, and also extracts from
his 'Lordship's dispatches relating to the payment of
the Greek loan, and the necessity of economy with a
view to that payment, dwelling upon the passages
which contained strong language addressed to the
Greek Government. The grounds of cernplaint being
accumulated, what were we to do at last?—(Hear )
'rt. Noble Earl (the Earl o Aberdeen) talked of a Mi-
nister with whom we were never safe from war; why,
during the last 30 years peace between England and
France was never in such danger as under the Noble
Earl's pacific administration.—(Cheers from the Minis-
terial benches.) He stated that Sir H. Ward had ac-
cused the King of Greece of assisting the insurgents.
Sir H. Ward did not; what he said was, that there
were parties in Cephalonia who assumed it.—(Hear.)
As to what the Noble Earl said of the British navy,
there was no reason to be ashamed of its conduct.
Its going to the Dardanelles was an act approved
by the people of this country. As for the charge
that the English Admiral bad " said the thing that
was not," he (Lord Eddisbury) would not believe it.
When the Noble Earl expressed his regret that his
(Lord Eddisbury's) Noble Friend the Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs did not at once accept the offer of
the good offices of the French Government, and leave it
entirely to them to Fettle the question, he (Lord Eddis-
bury) denied that that would have been the proper
course, and that if that mode had been adopted, it might
have appeared that the British Government had made
demands on the Greek Government which they did not
believe to be just. He contended that those demands
were just demands under national law ; and it was the
duty of the Minister who was iutrusted with the seals
of the Foreign-office of this great mercantile country to
see that injustice was not done to the meanest of its
eitizms—(L'iud cheers)---he cared not under what cir-
cumstances they were injured—by another country in-
variably refusing to do justice to us. But this the
Greek nation had done ; it was, therefore, the im-
perative duty of his Noble Friend at the head of
Foreign Affairs to insist that redress be given to parties
so injured.
The Earl of HARDWICKE explained that the fleet
under the command of Admiral Parker entered the
Dardanelles through stress of weather, and from no other
cause.

Lord BROUGHAM had listened most attentively to
the whole ot this very interesting, and in his opinion
very important discussion, and he had made up his mind
upon the able statement which had been made on both
sides oi the House. It was commonly observed that he
would be a person fitter for Bethlehem Hospital thou
any other part of the world, who should go into the
Court of Chancery for a sum so little as 1001.; but how
much fitter for that retreat were they who rushed into
the Court of Chancery for a thing not worth one
farthing? This was the most insignificant cause of
quarrel that he had ever heard of, and
yet it was such a quarrel that was to embroil
Russia, France, and, indeed, half Europe. He thought we
should yet do well and wisely, and do justice to our own
character as a nation, if that-House by vote rescued itself
from being supposed to be parties to the negotiations,
and to the proceedings which had taken place. He utterly
dissented from the doctrine in point of law—he utterly
denied that any nation had the right to go to war with
another power merely to enforce the claims of its sub-
jects. He utterly denied that if at the riot at Naples
any French subjects had been injured, that would give
a title whatever to the French Government to demand
satisfaction of the Government of Naples. He denied
that a mere injury done to property, aye or to persons
residing in a foreign country and voluntarily residing there,
gave any right to thenations to which those individuals be-
longed to call for redress, unless it should actually appear
that the law had been violated by the Government ot the
country in which these individuals resided, or if the Go-
vernment had wilfully connived at the wrong. There
might be a very good right of remonstrance, but a na-
tion could not proceed to reprisals, which stood on a very
different footing, until the right was not only clear, but
such as to fix the Government against whom they pro-
ceeded with being compromised in the wrong. He
knew that his Noble Friend (Lord Palmerston, as we
understood) had been assailed elsewhere, and more es-
pecially abroad, in a manner that was wholly unjusti-
fiable. To his (Lord Brougham's) knowledge, his
Nob!e Friend had the strongest desire for the preserva-
tion of peace. He had with indignation heard it stated
in France that his Noble Friend was an enemy to peace
between the two countries, but he knew that no man in
England was more desirous of maintaining peace. He
could give a positive contradiction to every word of the
reports that had been spread respecting the feelings of his
Noble Friend towards France; and, in saying this; he
was only feebly repeating what he had stated in France.
It was not simply to qualify the vote ho was about to
give that he made this statement, but as an act of justice
towards his Noble Friend, whose ability in debate and
la the conduct of business was well known. He begged
pardon of their Lordships for detaining them so long at
that late hour; and under the circumstances he must re-
luctantly give his vote, conscientiously and deliberately,
in favour of the resolution.

After a f,,,,w words in support of the resolution from the
Marquis of LONDONDERRY,
The House divided, when there appeared—
For the resolution—Contents, present ... 113
7,7, Proxies ... 56-169
Against the resolution—Non-contents, present 77
72 • „ Proxies ... 55-132

Majority against the Government ... ... 37
The House adjourned at a Quarter past Three o'clock.

EADVERTISEMENT.]—An Extraordinary Case of an
Abscess in the Arm cured by Holloway's Ointment and Pills.
—Mrs. Howden, the wife of a carpenter, residing at Kineton,
noticed about two years a swelling in the up per part of her
arm, which, though not painful at first, ultimately caused her
intense suffering. Whilst under medical treatment a wound
appeared, which it was found impossible to heal, and she was
advised to ge to the infirmary, without any other hope of cure
than by amputation ; declining to consent, she determined on
giving Holloway's Ointment and Pills a trial, and these had the
happy effect of soundly curing her in a month. Sold by all
Druggists and at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244,
Strand, London.
COUNTY COURT EXTENSION.—The amended Bill
to extend the jurisdiction of the County Courts was yester-
day printed. When originally brought forward it contained
14 sections. It was then " amended" in Committee, and re-
duced to seven sections. Again it was amended, and it now
contains 18 sections. It is to be further considered this
evening (Tuesday), and it is anticipated that in the Lords
the question of appeal will be brought forward.
THE TEA TRADE, JUNE 17.—The deiveries in
London increased a little last week, being f,64,2421b5.