§ Sir Richard Vyvyanrose to call the attention of the noble Viscount (Palmerston) to a subject connected with the present state of Belgium, and to ask a question concerning it. The House was aware that the affairs of Belgium had now arrived at that state at which they might congratulate his Majesty's Government on having obtained that which he had no doubt they would obtain by a firm perseverance—on having obtained from those at the head of the government of France a promise that the whole of the French troops should be withdrawn from Belgium. This was, in his opinion, a most important point gained, and he congratulated Ministers upon it. But he had been given to understand, that an arrangement had lately been entered into between the governments of France and Belgium, by which officers of high rank and great reputation in the French armies were to be allowed to enter the Belgian service, and to take the chief command of her armies under the King, and to be placed at the head of the several divisions of the army in different parts of the kingdom. Now it was well known, that the troops of one country, officered by the subjects of another, were, generally speaking, under the control of that country to which the officers belonged. This was the case with the native troops in India, which were all officered by British officers.
§ Lord Althorprose to order. He would beg to remind the hon. Baronet, that there was no question before the House, and that it certainly was, to say the least of it, an inconvenient course to enter into discussions, as the hon. Baronet was now doing, on putting a question to a member of his Majesty's Government. As there was no question before the House, he would venture to suggest to the hon. Baronet, that any questions he had to put, he ought to put with convenient brevity.
§ Sir Richard Vyvyanclaimed the indulgence of the House, while he put the questions he was about to ask, in that way 675 which appeared to him the best to have his object understood. He repeated, that it must be obvious, that an army so officered as that he had mentioned, must be under the control of that country to which the officers belonged. The question which he wished to put to the noble Lord was, whether it was correct that such an arrangement as he had mentioned had been made between France and Belgium, and whether that arrangement had become the subject of any communications between the governments of France and of this country? Another question which he wished to ask related to the present condition of Greece. He understood that disturbances had recently broken out in several parts of that country, which made its internal condition as unsettled as when the war was carried on there between the Turks and the Greeks. What he wished to know was, whether the three Powers who had taken an active part in settling the affairs of that country, had made any arrangement as to the future government of Greece, or as to who should be placed at the head of its government?
§ Viscount Palmerstonwould not then enter into any discussion on a subject which the hon. Baronet had himself voluntarily postponed yesterday. As to the first question which the hon. Baronet had put, he must again throw himself on the indulgence of the House, when he stated, that he ought not to be called upon to answer questions as to the arrangements which an independent sovereign, whom we had acknowledged, might think proper to adopt with respect to his own army, or to the defence of his country. He must, therefore, decline answering the hon. Baronet's first question. As to the second question, respecting the state of Greece, he would admit that accounts had reached this country of the occurrence of some unfortunate events in Greece; but he trusted that they were only temporary derangements, and that by this time they were at an end. The conference of the three Powers was still continued, for the purpose of making arrangements by which the tranquillity of that country might be restored and placed on a permanent basis.