The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-24 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY. MAY 24, 1850.

A more triumphant vindication of the foreign
policy of her MAJESTY'S Government in reference to
the Greek Question and the French mediation could
not by any possibility have been given than that
which was yesterday afforded in the masterly speech
addressed to the House of Commons by Viscount
PALMERSTON. Our expectations have been more than
realised ; for the candour and explicitness with
which the Foreign Secretary last evening explained
the whole of his conduct throughout those misrepre-
sented transactions conquered the hostile sentiments
instilled into a large proportion of his auditors
by the most slanderous personalities and
most rancorous vituperations. Insomuch, that on the
close of his remarks the Noble Lord was greeted from
all sides of a crowded House with prolonged accla-
mations. Even the Hon. Member for Canterbury,
one of the most inveterate, but, at the same time, one
of the most gifted of his opponents, was compelled to
acknowledge that the statement of the Foreign Mi-
nister was deserving of all eulogium. This he did,
moreover, while bantering Lord PALMERSTON on
having, " with the aid of a leviathan fleet, harpooned
his miserable minnow, the infinitesimal monarchy of
Greece." Another circumstance in the discussion which
ensued upon the Foreign Secretary's explanation is
especially deserving of notice before taking into ac-
count the purport of his arguments ; and this was a
circumstance which, while calling to mind the days
when Lord JOHN was conspicuous for the
moral audacity of his temperament, reflects the
highest honour upon him as the head of a Liberal
Government. We refer to the bold avowal of the
Prime Minister that he not only assumed to himself a
share of the responsibility incurred by these trans-
actions, but that he desired that in all fu-
ture debates upon the subject he might be
looked upon as " mainly respoesible," as the chief of
the Administration. A gallant and spontaneous avowal
like this is assuredly the most significant denial of
those miserable insinuations by which the assailants
of the Foreign Secretary have endeavoured to inti-
mate the existence, or, at any rate, the possible ap-
proach of an estrangement between himself and his
Ministerial colleagues. The other members of the
Cabinet, from the Premier downwards, are too sa-
gacious not to recognise that the principal share of
their popularity is attributable to their association
with Viscount PALMERSTON.

Nothing we maintain could be more lucid or more
logical than the explanatory statement made last
evening in the Commons House of Parliament by the
]Foreign Secretary. At its outset he condescended
to vindicate himself from the charge of having on
Thursday last uttered assertions at variance with
truth. "I stated, as far as I recollect" (these are
the words uttered by him yesterday) " that the
French Ambassador had left London the day before
—that he had been charged by her MAJESTY'S Qt.o-
vernment with explanations to be given to the Go-
vernment of France—that one of the objects of his
return wag, that he might give those explanations
himself; and I stated, also, that I hoped, as he went
armed with our views and feelings on the subject,
that nothing would arise to disturb the friendly rela-
tions which now existed." Nothing, he insisted more-
over, could authorise him then at all to
anticipate any such extraordinary proceeding
as the one which was then simultaneously
transpiring—the perusal by General LAIIITTR to
the Legislative Assembly of the letter in which he
had ordered the return of M. DaourN DE eIIUYS,
the Ambassador. Calculating most rationally that
the conciliatory and explanatory response with which
that diplomatist bad returned to Paris would prove
effectual in dissipating all the differences which bad
arisen between the two countries, the Noble Lord
persisted that it would have been most mischievous,
most rash, most culpable on his part to have given
any other answer than the one he did to the inquiries
addressed to him on Thursday—any answer which
must " have mailed and fastened" upon the
French Ministry the feeling of dissatisfaction. As to
the more formidable accusation levelled against him
by the Republican Government, and reiterated with
such eager spitefulness by his personal enemies in
this country, the explanations of Lord PALMERSTON
were precisely what might have been anticipated—
clear, ready, and conclusive. We are proud to think
that we are fully justified in asserting that our argu-
ments upon this point coincide precisely with the ex-
planations of Lord PALMERSTON. He insists, for
example, upon the fact upon which we ourselves
have all along insisted, that " the functions of Baron
Gatos were not suspended by any act of Mr. WYSE,
but by the act of Baron Gatos himself." He in-
sists, as we have already insisted, that the mission of the
French Plenipotentiary was dependent upon the
conduct of his good offices of mediator upon the
several claims,lthe recognition of which bad all along
been undisputed, and the maintenance of which con-
stituted the very basis of the_ negotiation. He insists,
as we have already insisted, that exceptions having
been suddenly made by M. Gatos to one of the most
important of those claims, the claim of Don
PACIFICO for compensation on the destruction
of documents proving him a creditor upon
the Portuguese Government, and M. Gatos hav-
ing thereby on his own responsibility altered
.the
original basis of the negotiation, his mission had ipso
facto terminated, his-functions were ipso facto sus-
pended. Here are the six articles constituting the
basis of our demands upon Greece; and it will be ob-
served that among them is expressly enumerated the
claim suddenly objected to by the French Pimp-

tentiary :
" The apology for the conduct in the'case of the Phan-
tom. Theo fixed amount of cotnpensation for the four
lonians an g
a who had been maltreated at Patras and Pyr os
The fixed amount of compensation for the lonian boat-
men
Custom plundered in the house at Salcina. Tho
Claim for the value of Mr. Finlay's land. Compensation
for m. p
]oases
seihfie may have
at Athens, and compensation for
any
his documents."
Seeing that M.
sustained by the destruction of
Gaos had perversely interfered
with the last-mentionedsti
that
p ulati
o then,,
offices
dc
erecognizing
o fFnre e h
in that circumstance the
i facte
mediation by h
had not own act, but by the act of
the French Plenipotentiarymshe Britigk elf, been brought
to an abrupt termination, hi
Am-
bassador, after making ever t
gestion and every possible
reasonabledelay, sug-
to prevent, if practicable, the recurrence soas
so
sucht
extremities, had at length reluctantly but decisively
resumed coercive measures against the Greekr
Government. In proceeding thus, Mr. my
had only acted (according to the Express
declaration made by Lord PALMERSTON
last evening in the House of Commons) in obedience
to the instructions addressed to him on the 25th of
March from the Foreign-office of the British Go-
vernment. Hence, after this explicit and conclusive
vindication of his policy, it is anything
but matter of surprise to find Lord PAL-
MERSTON protesting that the French Ministry in
this affair has arrived at most erroneous conclusions,
and •has, altogether mistaken the feeling and the con- 1
dud of,PreAt Pritain in those transactions. In' testi-

mony of the truth of such an assertion we have
already referred to the documents laid upon the
table of the Legislative Assembly by General
LARITTE j and in perfect corroboration of the
whole we can now direct attention to the
enormous blue-book just published, being papers
presented to both Houses of Parliament by
command of her MAJESTY, extending over 384
folio pages, and comprising the whole of
the correspondence between the 22d of February and
the 17th of May, respecting the demands made
upon the Greek Government. This important
blue-book, now lying under our elbow as we write,
contains in almost every page unanswerable argu-
ments against the assailants of Lord PALMERSTON.

One word or so in reference to the peroration
of the masterly speech delivered last evening
in the House of Commons by the Foreign Secretary.
That remarkable oration was thus earnestly brought
to its close, the illustrious orator exclaiming :—" Sir, I
should be sorry that anything I should say
should throw any difficulty in the way of such
an arrangement [meaning an amicable settlement of
the present misunderstanding between France and
England], and I am sure if these things are discussed
in this House before it can be known how that dis-
cussion may terminate, I hope no Honourable Mem-
ber, whatever his opinions may be, will express them
in a manner that would have a prejudicial
effect upon the course which her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment is taking. It is the anxious desire
of her MAJESTY'S Government to cultivate the
most friendly relations with the Government of
France. It is no matter to us of what men the
Government is composed. It was no business of ours
to inquire. We respect the Government that is, and
it is with that Government we carry on our nego-
tiations and communications. And I cannot but
hope and trust that whatever the Government of
France may ultimately feel in regard to the issue
of this affair, it will at least do us the jus-
tice of thinking that whatever ground of complaint
they may fancy they have, they have none upon the
want of good intentions upon our part, or • upon the
deficiency of those friendly and good feelings which
it is the duty of her MAJESTY'S Government—as it
will be the duty of every Government that may suc-
ceed them—to feel towards the Govermnent and the
nation of France." This, be it remembered, is the man
who is accused of being the firebrand among European
diplomatists ! One good has happily resulted from
the recent aspersions on Lord PALMERSTON, they
having elicited his permanent vindication before Eng-
land and before the world from all such frivolous and
paltry accusations.

The discussion of the Naval Estimates last night
gave occasion for a new and most virulent attack upon
Sir JAMES Bitooxe for his energetic exertions for the
repression of the buccaneering system and the extir-
pation of piracy in the Indian Archipelago—exer-
tions which should have entitled the Honourable and
Gallant Gentleman to the marked and grateful thanks
of the community in general. We should scarcely
have supposed that any man or body of men engaged in
commercial pursuits, and professing to be the friends
of peace and tranquillity, would endeavour to justify
an organized band of robbers and murderers, whose
nefarious conduct must have proved deeply injurious
to the extension of our trade, and to the civilization of
the innocent inhabitants of the numerous islands
scattered through that ocean. But, so it is, gratuitous
and unsupported assertions are put forward in oppo-
sition to legal proofs—the opinions of men far re-
moved from the scene of strife against those of
persons residing in the very vicinity, who
have had innumerable opportunities of knowing that
the accounts of the daily atrocities perpetrated by the
pirates were but too well founded ; and even against
the deliberate judgment of a competent tribunal, pre-
sided over by an English gentleman of high attain-
ments and unimpeachable character. It is not simply
the weight of evidence that is in favour of Sir dAsaxs
Baooxe. It would be impossible to conceive clearer
or more distinct testimony than has been recorded—
testimony that must force conviction upon any un-
prejudiced mind, anxious to arrive at an honest con-
clu6ion upon the premises.

So far as the business part of the transaction was
concerned, the question lay in a nutshell. A Tote of
the house of Commons was asked in order to satisfy
an obligation for which the national faith was pledged
by a distinct and solemn Act of the British Legisla-
ture. The proposition could no more be rejected than
the dividends on the public debt be refused. There
was no more ground for questioning the propriety and
policy of the Act which granted a certain bounty
or head•money for the capture or destruction of

pirates on the occasion, than there was for impeach-
ing the goodness of the bargains made by former
Chancellors of the Exchequer with persons about to
advance their money for the exigencies of the na-
tion. The former Act may, and we hope will,
speedily be repealed. We do not believe that such a
law was required to induce British sailors to dis-
charge the duties of their station ; but so long as it
is permitted to remain on our statute-book--so long
as it is one of the recognized laws of the land we live

in, its provisions must be strictly and literally
obeyed, and any breach thereof would entail the
deepest reproach on the nation.

The Attorney-General in a few words placed the
question in the clearest light. The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman said " they had really no discretion in the
case; there was a positive and imperative Act of Par-
liament, which said, after it had been adjudged that
pirates had been destroyed a certain payment was to
be made. Sir CHRISTOPHER ILAWLINSON had decided
that these persons were pirates. There was thus
a judgment in rem, which was final and
binding to all intents and purposes. It was
therefore a waste of time to pursue this discussion."
We can scarcely conceive how any gentlemen holding
the honourable position of representatives of impor-
tant constituencies could have continued their oppo-
sition after such a statement. But a division was
nevertheless taken, and the vote carried by a majority
of 125, the numbers being in favour of the grant
145, against it 20.

It signified but little whether the pirates,
thus destroyed had habitually attacked ves-
sels sailing under the British flag, or whether
they had confined their depredations to others
who might fall easier victims. Pirates are
general enemies to every civilized state, and if per-
mitted to carry on their atrocities against helpless
individuals with impunity, they will speedily acquire
strength sufficient to extend their system, and to
sacrifice in turn the traders of the nation that for-
merly connived at their ex iater:e. But, unfortu-
nately, it was shown that the British flag 'was not
always respected, that whenever a favourable oppor-
tunity arose Blithat vessels were also attacked. It
should not be forgotten that we could hear nothing
of cases where the aggression was successful.
These innocent and much-injured individuals took
good care, in such cases, to prevent any living wit.
nesses from coming forward ; every vestige of the
crime was destroyed. The captured ships, after
,being completely plundered, plunderedl were sunk, and the
crews barbarously
murdered in cold
blood, after being but too frequently mutilated and
subjected to the most inhuman cruelties. It was only
when they failed that the transaction was heard
when the gallant defenders of their lives and property
succeeded in repelling their bloodthirsty assailants.
Who can say that ships, which sailed under the most
favourable and auspicious circumstances, but were
never afterwards heard of, did not fall into the hand,
of these miscreants ? It is proved beyond the possi.
bility of doubt that they have attacked some of our
vessels. Why should it be supposed that they would
spare others if the opportunity arose ?
Most sincerely do we hope that these unwarrant-
able attacks on one of the most gallant and
enterprising Englishmen that ever conferred honour
on the national name may no longer be
continued. Mr. COBDEN should recollect that an un-
founded accusation recoils with double force upon
those by whom it is put forward, more especially if it
be preferred on light or trivial grounds. If he can
establish a direct and tangible charge, proving that
Sir JAstes BitooKs is really deserving of censure, let
him do so, and we promise him that be shall receive
an attentive hearing, and that full justice shall be
rendered. But if unable to do so, if he can only rely
on vague insinuations or unwarranted suspicions, let
him abstain from persevering in a course which can
only damage himself and those by whom he is sup-
ported and encouraged in such unworthy conduct.