New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-12
1opD StIJSBTRY'S CONFESSION.


OF q truth. England has cried her 'pcccavL
i'm the Turkish business. as scarcely another
Power has ever done. She has cried it In an
omen. straightforward fashion, too. with no eX-
cusc and DO exceptions. There was Fremont
ZION of il some weeks ago. when lord SallSonTE
at tho Lord MAYORS dinner declared that Eng
lish anagOnSm 10 Russia was ohIE the ou'-
worn suuerstition of an antiquated diplomacy.
The full confession came IN MS diScuSSloh "i
tho Oucen's Speech at the recent rcopenng Of
Parliament Replying to Lord himperl"y' WHO
had criticised the Turkish policy OF Lord lea
consiied he said that policy was not Beacolis
Geld's own. but was accepted by him win some
misgivngS rs legacy from preceding ADMIN
isratons. and especially from Clarendon ana
PalmcrSton and the era of the Crimean War
Then followed this extraordinary declaration:
There is no doubt that Lord Beaconsheid
adopted a policy which Is exposed to this crit
clam that the hopes he entertained were not
fulfilled But II was not his policy from
the first, which bound up our hopes ana eX-
pectations in the regenration OF the IuiklSh
Empire. Others in Europe felt the sceptcls'h
which is tOlerably general now. and doubted the
expedency Of making the success OF ottoman
institutions the cardinal principle OF our poilcy
and aims Among those was the Emperor MICH
olas l. He made proposals Whch, imagine II
they were made now, would be gladly accepted.
lie made proposals in lSIl. | do not
venture TO Censure the decision to when Lord
Clarendon came when he refused to accept the
| proposals Of the Emperor Nicholas for defining
l the influence which the Great Powers should eX-
ercise on the Turkish Empire. Rut am
bound to say that if you call upon me to look
back and T. interpret the present by the past 10
Law on this shoulder on that the respOns blity
for the difficulties i'm which we find ourselves
now the parting of the ways was in lSD3, when
/ the Emperor NichOlas's proposals were rejected.
/ Of kppDlN
the nature Of the mistake that was made when
l say that we put all our money upon the wrong
horse. All that Lord Beaconshed did
/ was to carry out the policy which his prede-
cessors had laid down. He not free from
misgiving but h still entertained hopes
which did not entertain in quite the same de-
! gree. But those hopes have not been justified
Now that was in Il sense Il party speech and
IA personal cXculpation, or an attempt at il.
The speaker said in effect that he had not
| thought as well of the policy rs BcaconSfield
/ bad that Bcacons6cld had had his doubts about
/ it. and that the real author of it, who imposed
/ il upon England and who was responsible for It.
was Lord Clarendon. who was not n Tory but Il
| Wing. That however, is a partial view. In
/ It's broadcst sense the uterancc was confcs-
sion that the Russian Emperor Nicholas was
right IN 1851. and that England was wrong. and
has been wrong ever since That is the cOnfcs-
sion made by the statesman who. above all
others is officially authorized 10 speak for the
English Government and for the English p"o-
Die. We have called II extraordinary. II would
be difficult 10 find its parallel in the history Of
governments.
/ What. then. were the proposals Of Nicholas.
which England Went 10 war rather than accept.
but which England through her Prime Minister
now declares 10 have been right: There had
been n dispute between the Latin and Greek
Christian churches in Palestine An impartial
/ Commission had decided il in favor Of the
Greeks The Turkish Government refused 10
obey the verdict. and persisted in doing injuS-
pcror put himself forward as the protector Of
all Greek Christians in Turkey. and proposed
that England and the other Great Powers
should unite with him in exercising joint con
troll over Turkey. In reforming abuses, and IN
taking Steps for the ultimate winding mp Of
the affairs and equitable partition of ia" terri
tory OF that then apparently moribund Empire.
That was what England largely, we may be
licNc M the instigatIon of Louis Napoleon, re-
fused to agree 10. That was what provoked
England TO enter upon the CrimeGn War. an
enterprise which. for unrepaid cost in treasure,
limb and life for wanton inhumanity. suffering.
and utter desOlatiOn. has scarcely parallel In
modern history. And now, as Lord Salisbury
confesses, not only is the English kolicy Of
nearly half Il century to be aoandaIai and re-