Lord John Russellrose for the purpose of submitting his promised motion relative to the production of a copy of the memorial presented by a native of Parga to the secretary of state. He was perfectly aware, that at the present time of the year, so near the conclusion of the session, and in the present agitated state of the public mind, it was extremely difficult for him to engage that attention which he could wish to circumstances occurring in a distant country, and not at all connected with that one paramount and domestic object which at present entirely occupied the public mind; but at the same time, he felt it his duty to urge this momentous subject, as one well-deserving the attention of parliament; and he thought that they were bound to give to the people of Parga that protection, which was not only a valuable right, and one to be extended, in such a case, of all others, but which could alone be their safeguard from the further continuance of those abuses and that oppression under which they at present laboured. The House would not expect that he should now enter into a detailed view of the question as to the cession of Parga. Would to God that he could enter into it with such effect as to be able to induce the House to commiserate the fate, and to relieve the situation, of a wronged and gallant people! Notwithstanding all the attempts which had been made by an anonymous writer to colour the transactions which had betrayed them, and to gloss over the counsels which had achieved their ruin, he thought the general opinion of mankind would be, that this was a case of as notorious treachery and as grievous injury, as any that had ever yet occurred in the world. And what had been the consequence, as regarded our own reputation? Our enemies always alluded with extreme anxiety to the case of Parga, as an instance of our acquiescence in oppression, and our desertion of the cause of freemen; and they reproached us with this fatal inconsistency—that we, who for ages, and throughout protracted wars, had stood forward as the champions of the rights of nations, were content, when the enemies of the Parguinotes required their submission, and the surrender of their rights, to act in a very different character, and upon principles contrary to those on 107 which we had hitherto unsheathed our 6words.—The noble lord then briefly stated what had been the treatment which Parga had received upon the occasion of the recent cessions; and observed, that although by a former treaty with other powers, in 1800, it was stipulated that she should preserve the free exercise of her religion, that condition was broken in the very first war that ensued between Russia and Turkey. In the treaty of 1815, by which the Ionian Islands were ceded to us, no provision was made for Parga; and therefore it had been said, that the Parguinotes were excluded from the operation of that treaty. But it had been replied, and very justly, that because the treaty of 1815 alluded to that of 1800, therefore Parga was entitled to the benefit of it. The Parguinotes said, "At least let us have some security that our rights, our property, and our religion, are not to be sacrificed to the Turks." The same anonymous writer turned round upon this request, and had endeavoured to show that neither by the treaty, nor in equity, were they entitled even to these. The property which a treaty had intended to secure had been ravished from them—the religion which it had been stipulated to preserve had been violated—and the bulwarks, the safeguards, attempted to be set up, had been swept away. Now, the property of these Parguinotes, which was so given up to the Turks, was estimated, by the writer in the Quarterly Review, at 300,000l. Let the House observe the monstrous injustice which had occurred in this part of the transaction: the buyer was permitted to estimate the property, while the seller was denied that right. The Turks were allowed to make an estimate; that privilege was refused to the Parguinotes. In the first instance, the sum of money at which their property was estimated by the British consul was 277,000l.: the Turks, as matter of course, estimated it at very considerably less; and the estimate subsequently transmitted by sir Thomas Maitland, was of no greater an amount than 150,000l. After the preliminary valuations were completed, and the sum thus diminished, the Parguinotes were obliged to accept payment in the Turkish alloy. This arrangement being concluded, the unhappy people wished for some spot of ground where they might erect a new town; but the place assigned for them was so barren and unpromising, that they were unable to 108 use it. Their chief anxiety had been to be enabled to live in tranquillity under a just government.—The noble lord here introduced a passage from the rev. Mr. Eustace's work, in illustration of the real state of Parga; he afterwards alluded to some parts of sir T. Maitland's dispatches, observing, that that officer, as high commissioner, was placed in a very difficult situation: he possessed great power at the head of what was called the constitutional government, and was furnished with a large foreign force to suppress discontent or rebellion: he was a sovereign, without the usual checks to which even monarchs were subject; and might be considered, in some points of view, a greater man than the king, from whom he received authority. In the exercise of his powers, sir T. Maitland had taxed the people of Santa Maura very heavily, having obtained the consent of the senate, appointed by himself; but the approbation of the House of Commons of the Ionian Islands seemed to be a trifle he had entirely disregarded. The right hon. the chancellor of the exchequer might, perhaps, obtain a useful lesson of finance by listening to the plans adopted by general Maitland. He had taxed not only wine, oxen, and other ordinary commodities, but he had fixed upon one that in no other country, from the earliest times, had been subjected to an impost—water. He had required the payment of a dollar per month for every well or fountain. Even in this much-taxed country of England, such an expedient had never been resorted to. In this way the high commissioner had asserted that there was a larger surplus of revenue this year than at any former period, notwithstanding he had given salaries to some officers never before paid, and had doubled and trebled the emoluments of others. Besides, when he spoke of a surplus, he seemed to have forgotten the large sums he had received from this country, and voted by the British House of Commons, for the maintenance of his authority. His lordship was willing to allow that the government of sir T. Maitland might have been beneficial in some respects. He was an able and efficient officer; but it was very unfit that any man, however qualified, should be erected into a sovereign so despotic. His conduct regarding cern had been perfectly orthodox; he had taken the whole subsistence of the island of Corfu into his own hands. It might be 109 very true that formerly a few merchants monopolized the trade in grain; but it did not follow that on this account it was fit that such an advantage ought to be seized by the executive authorities. Having referred to certain opinions expressed by sir T. Maitland on the subject of reform, and to complaints made against him and transmitted to Petersburg, his lordship concluded by moving for the copy of a memorial presented to the secretary of state for the colonial department, by a native of Parga, and for certain copies of or extracts from the dispatches of sir Thomas Maitland relative to Parga.
Mr. Goulbumcongratulated the House, that after two or three years of misrepresentations, invented with art and circulated with industry, the time was not far distant when the documents to be laid upon the table of parliament would lay the whole case regarding Parga fairly before the country. The House would then be able to judge whether the resignation of this island was, as had been asserted, an act of grievous treachery, or whether, on the contrary, it had not been inevitable, if any regard was to be paid to positive and distinct engagements. The whole of the speech of the noble lord afforded the strongest confirmation that he himself entertained some doubt upon the question. If the case of Parga manifestly and indisputably reflected disgrace on the British government, would the noble lord have thought it necessary to wander about in search of subsidiary matter not really and fairly connected with the point at issue, but relating to the whole government of the Ionian islands? The talents and dexterity of the noble lord would not have been so exerted, had he not been sensible that he must find something or other to bolster up a bad case. The noble lord had alluded to certain anonymous statements recently published regarding Parga but he gave the noble lord credit for being unconnected with other anonymous statements elsewhere printed, which had led to that refutation. He maintained that the British government had not restored Parga to Turkey, without being fully satisfied that the latter had an indisputable right to the island; and he proceeded to prove his assertion by reference to the treaty of Campo Formio, by which it had been first made over to France, and subsequently relinquished to Turkey. The war between France and the Porte broke out in 1798, and the joint fleets of Russia 110 and Turkey soon after took possession of the Ionian islands. The treaty of 1800, which followed, was one of temporary distribution, not of final cession; but not long afterwards, namely, in 1801, the Ionian islands, including Parga, were given in sovereignty to Turkey, with, however, a distinct government of their own. This amounted to a direct transfer, and the contract was as complete as any that had ever occurred between two nations. In 1806, Russia declared war against Turkey, and conquered Parga and the other possessions of the Porte on the Albanian coast; but when peace was subsequently made, the integrity of the Turkish dominions was fully recognised. There was nothing, therefore, to warrant Great Britain in assigning the rights of sovereignty over Parga to any other power than Turkey. It was very true that in the treaty formed at the Congress of Vienna no mention was made of Parga; but this was not an accidental omission, inasmuch as Turkey being no party to the negotiations, it would have been most extraordinary if she or her dependencies had been introduced into the treaty. The very engagement under which the British troops had entered Parga prevented this government from keeping possession of it; and he denied most positively, that there was any understanding that it should remain in the hands of this country. He had searched all the papers in the colonial office, and could find no document relative to any authority given on the part of this government to lead the inhabitants of Parga into a belief that they were to remain under the protection of Great Britain. He had then written to sir James Campbell, the commanding officer on that station, for the purpose of learning whether he had directed any subordinate officer to make such a communication, or to hold forth such a prospect. The answer (which sir James Campbell did not write, for the state of his health disabled him, but which he dictated) was, that he had authorized no person to enter into an engagement or-to give any assurance to that effect. The course which government had to pursue, therefore, was distinctly marked, and could not be mistaken. It was a course of duty and a path prescribed by the letter of an express stipulation with another power. He was sure that, whatever difference of opinion might prevail, on the question of the general policy of our treaties with the Porte, no honourable mem- 111 ber would deny the necessity of our faithfully performing the engagements which we had contracted. With regard to the mode of restoration, and the circumstances under which that proceeding had been conducted, he only begged that, before any gentleman formed an opinion, he would carefully consider what course it was practicable to adopt. As far as the treatment of the Parguinotes by the Turkish government was in question, they had not complained of it, nor had any of those inconveniencies or oppressions, of which so much was said, been experienced during the six years of their dependence on that state. Parga, it must be recollected, stood in absolute need of the protection of some foreign power; she had not within herself the means of support or of self-defence for a single week. It would have been most impolitic in the British government to have embarked in any guarantee which it was not prepared to maintain against Turkey. But at the same time that it was announced to the inhabitants that the island itself was to be transferred to Turkey, a declaration was published, that those who were averse to the new government would be permitted to retire. The only question then was, whether the Parguinotes had received the bonâ fide value of their property, on their accepting the offer of retiring with their effects. Notwithstanding all that had been urged on this point, he was satisfied that, if the documents were attentively perused, no doubt would exist that adequate compensation had been afforded. These would show clearly, and beyond all dispute, that the Parguinotes had received full value for all which they possessed. He well knew that their own estimate amounted to no less than 600,000l.—an immense value, when it was distributed over one town, and divided among 2,700 persons. It was impossible to believe that this general valuation of their property was correct. He would also draw the attention of the House to the circumstance, that the Parguinotes had not been left like other people to the chances of private purchase, but that the government had taken upon itself to pay at a just valuation. The compensation actually afforded exceeded the limit fixed by the individual who had been most anxious to defend their interests. He trusted, therefore, that the House would not be disposed to put any faith in the correctness of the estimate which had been alluded to by the 112 noble lord. So different were the valuations which had been made, that one amounted to 50,000l., and another to 280,000l. The House would recollect, that the value of property could not be measured by any simple rule, but depended not only on the character of the government, but on many other fortuitous circumstances. To swell it in this instance beyond the limit which had been fixed would, he was persuaded, be to err as much as it would be to take the annual produce of an estate in the West Indies, cultivated by the labour of slaves, and assign to it the same number of years purchase as to landed property in England. The Parguinotes had no right to expect the value of their land, when they were informed by the governor of the Ionian islands that a tract of land was to be assigned to them, and means furnished for building churches. The documents on the table presented abundant and conclusive evidence of the fitness of the place to which they had been removed. Exact descriptions had been given in of every species of property; no general or average calculation had been relied on; and although the Parguinotes complained that the sum allotted was unequal to the claims of justice or to their rights, he had not met with a single instance of an individual objecting to the smallness of his own particular share. The noble lord had adverted to another point, touching the supposed harshness of the instructions sent out to sir T. Maitland, and to his harshness in executing them. It had been urged, that the conduct of sir T-Maitland was not to be justified by any circumstances. The substance of the instructions, however, was, that the British government would not agree to support the labouring classes in idleness, and that as soon as they reached their new abodes they must depend on their own resources. What other course, he would ask, was it open to government to pursue, unless it was prepared to support almost the whole population of Parga for an indefinite period? He was not then in a situation to enter upon a defence of the whole administration of sir T. Maitland, but he would say that the taxes he had imposed were fully justified by the exigencies of the case. That officer had abolished the monopoly of corn, which he found in existence on his arrival, and established a free trade. It was not until compelled by necessity that he re-enacted the mono- 113 poly, which he could only do by taking it into the hands of government. At the time when this proceeding was adopted, there were not more than seven days' provisions in the place. As to the other complaints against that distinguished officer, he might safely rest the answer on his general character through a long course of service; and he was sure that the more his conduct was examined, the more it would be found to deserve approbation. He should be ready to enter at any time into this discussion, and was confident that when the whole subject was before them there would be but one opinion respecting it.
§ Sir Robert Wilsonsaid, his opinion bad always been, that it was impossible, considering the situation of Parga, for us to keep possession of it. That possession must be deemed as offensive to Turkey, as Dover in the hands of the French would be to us, or Calais in our possession to the French. What he complained of and lamented was, that England should have charged itself with the odious responsibility of the cession. When that proceeding, however, was adopted, the most scrupulous care should have been taken to secure to the inhabitants the full value of their property. There was at present every reason to believe that the Parguinotes were dissatisfied; that they did not think they had received the protection which had been promised to them; and that our character had suffered in the eyes of Europe.
§ Mr. Humeobserved, that, feeling as he did for the condition of a people who had been compelled to remove from their native homes, he hoped the House would excuse him for offering a few observations on the subject. He admitted that Parga stood in need of some protecting power, and had been for a long time dependent on the Venetian republic. The treaty of Tilsit had, however, as he conceived, distinctly conveyed it by name, with the other Ionian islands, to France. It afterwards fell into our hands by conquest and the treaty of 1815. This at least was the general understanding; and the impression of the Parguinotes themselves certainly was, that they were to share in the fate of the other islands. With respect to the officer alluded to by the hon. gentleman opposite to have raised expectations in the minds of the people of Parga which could not fairly be fulfilled, he must say, that he had the pleasure of being acquaint- 114 ed with colonel de Bosset, the officer alluded to, when he commanded in the island of Cephalonia; that there was not a more honourable or well-deserving officer under the Crown; his plan appeared the fairest, namely, to value the rentals for a certain number of years, and fix the price of each person's property upon that principle. Besides the roads, bridges, and other improvements of the same nature, which colonel de Bosset caused to be made in Cephalonia, it was that officer who had the honour of extirpating the unfortunate practice of homicide, which so generally prevailed in that country previous to his arrival; and he would rest the defence of that officer on the question, whether one out of one hundred of the inhabitants would refuse to bear testimony in his favour? He was well convinced that colonel de Bosset's conduct towards the inhabitants of Parga would reflect as much credit as all his other acts in the Ionian islands. As to the conduct of sir T. Maitland, some further explanation was, he thought, desirable. It could not be denied, whatever might have caused the alteration, that before he went there all was peace and unanimity, and that complaints had since become general. It did not appear to him that the valuation of property at Parga had been made on a just principle; it had been made according to the standard at Corfu, which was as inapplicable as it would be to appreciate property in this country by its value in France. The first estimate which had been founded on annual rental was, in his opinion, the correct one. Another complaint was, that the inhabitants of Parga had been kept in ignorance for a considerable time of the mode in which the estimate was drawn up, and of the principle upon which the valuation was conducted. Two valuations had, he believed, been made, but no decisive information had been given on the subject. Whatever those valuations might have been, general Maitland took no notice of them; but in his proclamation, of the 19th of March, declared that only a sum of 150,000l. was to be distributed amongst the inhabitants. What he wished to know was, whether the valuation was 120,000l., or 150,000l. or 270,000l. Such a proceeding, as the noble mover had said, was rather a harsh one to be employed, when these unfortunate individuals were forced from their homes. But even from this 150,000l. a deduction was made, 115 on the ground that the payment should be in Spanish dollars—in good current money. The payment was, however, made in bad money, but the deduction was not, therefore, relinquished. A few months ago, 48,000l. were deducted from the gross sum of 150,000l., to cover different expenses, and the loss by exchange. Now, though this large deduction was made, instead of being paid in good money, as they had been promised, five-sixths of the whole sum was in reality base money. He understood that general Maitland had since offered to restore this 48,000l., provided the Parguinotes would give up all farther claims. Last year ministers stated the island of Marganese would be given up to the Parguinotes, and this place was described as a fine fruitful territory, where they might easily build a town. He, however, had been there, and it was nothing but a heap of stones, where it would be almost impossible to form a garden. The portion of Corfu which was appropriated to the use of these unfortunate people was, he believed, equally barren. The whole of this transaction he viewed as a stain and disgrace on the character of the British government. It was so considered by foreign nations, and by the great body of the community here. All that could be done then was, to make a proper recompense in a pecuniary way to these people. If the valuation had been too low, or if any impediment had taken place in adjusting the settlement; in the one case, the valuation ought to be revised, in the other, that which was due to those people should be promptly paid.
§ Mr. Goulburndenied that the Parguinotes were not paid the whole sum promised them.
§ Mr. Humesaid, he rested on the proclamation of the governor of the 19th of June, stating that 113,000l. only should be paid.
§ Mr. Goulburnsaid, that that circumstance admitted of an explanation.
Lord J. Russell,in reply, said, that as the inhabitants of Parga had surrendered themselves on the understanding that they should follow the fate of the Ionian isles, he still thought faith had not been kept with them. If the great powers at the congress of Vienna had acted as they professed, on the principle of restitution, he should have been satisfied. Venice would then have been restored, and Parga would have been put under the
||116 protection of Venice. But they had destroyed Venice, they had destroyed Parga; they had divided Saxony and destroyed Genoa. So much was their profession of a return to the ancient state of things attended to.The motion was agreed to.
Mr. Maxwellpresented a petition from Benjamin Wills, honorary secretary to the provisional committee for the encouragement of industry, praying that parliament would take some steps to provide the people with proper employment, and thus prevent them from falling into that state of degradation which must inevitably ensue, if they were not able, by their labour, to support themselves.