§ MR. MONCKTON MILNESsaid, he 523 wished to put the following question to the noble Lord the Member for the City of London—Whether the Government are informed that diplomatic relations have ceased between the Ottoman Porte and the Government of Greece, in consequence of the refusal of the Government of Greece to accede to demands which they considered derogatory to an independent State?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, that he had stated on a former occasion that there was no proof that the Greek Government were endeavouring to excite insurrection among the Christian subjects of the Sultan. Since that time the Turkish Government had directed their Minister at Athens to make demands to the effect which his hon. Friend had stated; the Greek Government had not given a satisfactory answer to those demands; and the Turkish Minister at Athens had demanded his passport and broken off diplomatic relations with Greece. Without vouching for the particular demands which were made by the representative of Turkey at Athens, and which, he believed, were not made with any sanction from the Ministers of England and France, he must say that he thought Turkey had good reasons to complain of the conduct of Greece. The diplomatic papers which had been received furnished ample proof that the insurrection in the Turkish provinces bordering on Greece was not a spontaneous outburst—that the part taken in it by Greek subjects was not taken by them spontaneously; that there was not in Greece any very strong sympathy upon the subject; but that the whole of the insurrection had been a contrivance of the Court of Greece—that it had been got up for the purpose of weakening the authority of the Sultan, then in alliance with the King of Greece; and that there was numerous proofs that the King and Queen of Greece had undisguisedly given the greatest encouragement to this insurrection in the Turkish provinces. Such being the case, he could not wonder, without vouching for the propriety of any of those demands, that the Turkish Minister should have acted as he had done. However, Her Majesty's Government had been in communication both with the French Government and the Government of Austria upon this subject; they had given such directions as they thought proper on the occasion to Her Majesty's Minister at Athens; and he (Lord J. Russell) could only say again that he thought the Court of Greece was answerable for the outbreaks 524 that had unfortunately occurred in this part of the Sultan's dominions.
§ MR. BRIGHTsaid, the noble Lord had unstated what he had stated on a former occasion with regard to the Greek Government, and had brought serious charges against them. He only wished to say he doubted whether that was quite proper. [Cries of "Order, order!"] He did not want to be obliged to move the adjournment of the House, by doing which he could soon put himself in order; but he objected to a speech being made at a time when it could not be answered, in which very unsound opinions, as he believed, were being propagated among the people of this country. But he wished to take this opportunity of putting a question to the noble Lord (Lord J. Russell), but on a different subject, as to what the Government of Constantinople was doing touching the Christian population of Turkey. Lord Clarendon had stated in the House of Lords—he meant, "in another place," he was not allowed to mention anything so sacred—that a great deal was about to be done by the combined Governments of France and England with regard to the Greeks among the Turkish population. He had since understood the noble Lord the Secretary for the Home Department (Lord Palmerston) to repudiate any proposition of that nature, as being as bad as anything that Russia had done. They were further aware that the newspapers gave the most contradictory statements as to what was being done. He, therefore, wished to ask the noble Lord what was the fact about that matter, and whether he would lay before the House any particular convention with the Turkish Government, or cause any demand to be made upon it to improve the condition of its Christian subjects; if the Grand Mufti had been driven away, and another distinguished Minister deposed, it was right that the House should know what the Government were really doing on this important question. If the noble Lord was not now prepared to answer the question, perhaps he would do so next day, on moving the adjournment of the House.
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, he believed he could give now all the information which it would be in his power to give to-morrow. He had begun his answer to the hon. Gentleman (Mr. M. Mimes), by stating that on a former occasion he had said they had not any proof against the Greek Government of having incited these 525 insurrections; but, since that time, he thought that such proof had been supplied. With regard to the hon. Member's (Mr. Bright's) question, he begged to repeat that there was no convention of any kind between this country and Turkey, with respect to the manner of the government of the Turkish empire. Whether or not there ought to be such a convention, was a question into which he would not now enter. There had, however, been none proposed or signed on that subject. But Lord Stratford, pursuing the course he had pursued for ten or fifteen years past, had urged upon the Turkish Government the necessity of improving the condition of its Christian subjects, and altering those laws which belonged to another period and were incompatible with the fair and equal treatment of all the subjects of the Ottoman Porte. He had found that his representations had from time to time been listened to. Four or five years ago a great improvement was made by a certain edict then issued, and lately there had been a concession proposed with regard to the admission of the evidence of Christians in the courts of justice. In his last despatch our Minister stated that he expected that pleasure would be carried into effect, though it had not been finally adopted by the Ottoman Porte. He thought the hon. Gentleman would not deny that the English Government, in using its privilege of remonstrating with an ally, was right in exercising its influence on a subject so interesting to the inhabitants of this country.