Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1854-02-25
RICHMOND wHIc
SPEECH OF LORD CLARENDON. sECRErIRy rnp
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS
JANUARY 3Ist

nv
nooie irend the noble marquis tho lust SAT dov
s' perhaps have acted more fairly towards the Govern
men'' ,nongh notas conveniently to himself u he had
waited Tor the production of those paper, which Her NJ
J"Sy bss assured the House there shall be no Iel,v IN L.
g oeo'e yo"r 'ordships, aud Which a future evening
@ snal MAKE point Of laying before you Hear, hear
must say tnk my noble friend would have acted ,o,a
larry To Us he had waited Tor this nl,n,a,ion h, mn,
Only ahoher proof OF that OF which have seen so man,
IN the course OF the last few monthsI mean Nh, inco
'en'nce "h,eh has arisen from having had tho
opportunity oi laying perfect information before th
county. tiiear, hear) Nobody more have r.pr,t
ted than myself that such information should no,
been produced. Nobody can be more a,ars thar ,s,s
that many misrepresentation might have been pr.
or certainly Corrected by the production greater infor
mauon out we thought it right depart from tho
established practice oi this country The toyerrnon,
mere Is amensbe to Parliament alone for it's conduct 10
"ame,t alone could 10 give full and complete informs.
uon ana ne therefore thought right to absain from
'ooNbg he example which has been held out 10 us for
our The example OF Other countries who have
10 10 account to- We thought s better to
IN our possessiln although it might have satisfied The
pubc anxiety, and to certain degree been lust to opr
.eys, lhear, hear IL might, however the same
hme nave been dissdvantageous the cause of peace
and, although fear may by the confession stand ali
lower in my noble friends estimation than now snne.r
TO do, am not either afraid or ashamed To ssy b,, h
mainehance o peace has been the great object 10 which
our abours have been directed. tCheers NV noble
friend seems TO think that have shown an abi.ct d.
termination TO avoid My lords We have not don.
that but have felt it duty to stop short of No
rhces except that OF national honour and Of rot l6n
our engagements to maintain peace. We fet il du,9
We owed TO humanity, We felt il duty owed a. nro
fessor of Christianity, felt a duty to those numer
less social political and commercial thar hsy.
grown up and have been extended every Dart of m,
woild during peace OF uncxamped ton ". have
felt It duty to other countries, Who like oura.Iva.
turning to account The blessings peace have ue,h.n.
more than ourselves to dread from The dangers Of war
loud cries OF i'llear, hear For, my lords IL must b
remembered that IL this peace, which is of une.,mn.d
duration, be once broken, il may be followed Ly war
alike without parallel in modern history Besides the
ta.r tf,fl.F NJ hrs l,nIa ,f
~hch now bind the different countries OF Europe az one
amy, il must be remembered that those ,Ioctriues .na
opinions which convused Europe in ls4s are sti cher
shed by millions, that they have lost nothing OF their in
ensty 10y their orcbe repression in that year OF struv
gle, aud that they ready explode again il the
opportunity be gwen them. (Hear, he.r.) war now
lords, would be ordinary war attend ed IA, M
ordinary consequences (tiear, bear) Europe would
.iield alone Of conepdiup armies hnt Of
contending opinions and We felt that should have
shown ourselves utterly unundfu the claims both of
humanity and Of religion, and OF all those mighty interests
involved in social ord. while in the OF war should
have disqualified ourselves from the support of the Para
and of the people OF this country If could NOT
have shown that had both exertej aud exhausted
ry effort to mai tain peace-the bess gs Of which we
may perhaps learn to estimate still highly after tho
calamity which threatened its maintenance has passed
away IL, however, We not destined be spared this
calamy- it is appointed that embark in war
must say that the tranquility of the world
more wantony disturbed (cheersj-neyer there mo.
when the duty Of England France to stand
forth firmly oppose aggression aud 10 supuort tho
(kenew e
Ny lords my noble friend has said that have placed
most undue confidence in the Russia upon
this question. admit that did place cunhdrpce in
those assurances, because they only more than
akcd but all that could desire. Nv noble friend
that whenever he got from Russia il WAS
always Of direct character and always one upon which
he could rely. Such answers received from Russia
would beg to observe, that, in my humble opinion a
policy OF suspicion is neither system wise one nor
was it eXpedent in the present instance. (Hear) On
this sion however there was no ground for ,.pcon
he of has n
offered abundant proofs that he desei peace. am not
inqung by what he obtained it. and for VI az
purposes desired it, but the policy of the Emperor WAS
eminenty calculated to maintain the peace Europe
Over and over again he has affirmed that the Ottoman
empire fundamental principle Of European policy
and certainly If the Emperor bad up his mind TO
overthrow the Ottoman empire and to aggrandze Russ,
the expense Of Turkey, it might have been suppose
that he would have avaied himself Of the oppo tunes
bad in lSIS The past, therefore, offered some gnarani
for the future and gave additional 10 thos
assurances which, during the rt mouths that ha
the honor of holding the seas Of the Foreign oice Lea,
your lOrdships frequent solemn and CON-,
pee. (lcar) say my lords that have taken any pr.
cautonary measures against given would
have partaken Of the character OF prenedated nsult
OF wan'on provucaton the very conduct
which II sought to prevent eau assure your lord
ships that whatever my noble friend may think up IN
the end OF April last bad To beey,
thar there existed other OF difference bctxpen
Russia and the Porte except that with the HOLY
Paces-a question which closely concerned France and
which the Porte by endeayorng please both powers
lP mr.
only Indirectly affecting England, Her A.jestys ainbassa
dor COBstantnopls directed to oier his good Off
ces in order settle the existing difficulty Those good
Offices accepted they successful and settle.
Of the matter made apparently the satisfac
ton of every Power IL only after that settlement
that we for the first time became that other and
uteror ot ects had been insisted 10y Prince Mep,chi
ko. IL is perfectly that during time of his no.
goiion OF various kinds reached us that eaes
had been proposed under menace; that large Rn..
sian armameuts preparing that more than one
ruy n N ~ Wafia thaS
Russia determined to have the appointments OF the
pariarch but persons who oil the great So
cresy which observed in Russia with regard 70 public
affairs aud Of the rumois which from time time obtain
currency in Constantnope respecting the be aware
also II the caution with which all such runors shoud be
received. The act indeed, Of the small force that has
vet been in the pfncpaities sganst Omar Pashs
and Of the great length Of time which has been occupied
bringing up reinoTcements proves how great must
have been the exaggeraon OF those reports that even In
the month OF May last these mighty were collected
the frontier. But, my lords, these rumors-true or
false probable improbablc-vere all made known "a
they reached to the Russian Government and
asked for categorical answer. We received plain
and distinct We met with qualified denial
Of all the and reports, We were Agan assured
the mission Of Prince Menschkon had reference 10
nothing but the Holy Places and that great latitude had
given to him in his instructions Tor settling that quts
ton amounting IN fact 10 his-that he might settle IL in
any way he thought most proper say that subss
uent circumstances proved 10 great extent tho correct.
Of that answer, because, although Prince Menscko
the head Of the great orthodox Russan party and
have 10 believe no was 80 considered In his
TO extract undue concessions from
the fears the weakness Of the Porte yet most OF his
earlier demands he abandoned Thus he abandoned his
proposals for separate treaty upon the representation Of
Lord Siratford de Redclfe lie abandoned after the w.
nai1n he had handed in. and at last consented to se
cept note in which his terms greatly reduced b,t
which yet could not be accepted by the Porte Prince
Menschko then quilted Constanuople under circumsan
menacug 10 the safety Of the Porte and was inn
possible for US to tell whether Of those az.
mics which we heard we're collecting the fron.
at Ttrto tutl haya a.
tiers and marched upon CoustantinOple. We
heard of the of Prince MenschkOns departure by
the telegraph waited not for official details but
Immediately ordered the 1eet to proceed from Malta
Beska bay, where Il joined by the Prench feet Your
ordshps aware that Count Nesaelrode after Prince
NenshkoH bad Withdrawn, sent back to COnstaninopia
terms for the acceptance Of which only eight days
alou ed under threat that otherwise the prinoipalies
should be occupied Ths Sultan refused 20 comply uh
the demand which had thus been rendered degrading
than IL was before and hereupon the threat carried
out Ny noble friend seems TO think that " At that tme
the fleets had been ordered up TO Consantnople uhen the
rst Russian soldier crossed the Pruh the invading army
would have been withdraWn. Ny lords shall