RUSSIA AND TURKEY. (Hansard, 27 March 1839)

§ Sir E. Codrington

begged to avail himself of that opportunity to make some observations in reply to what had been stated the other night by the hon. Member for Birmingham, with reference to his conduct while commanding the Mediterranean squadron at the battle of Navarino. He was sorry now to be obliged to trespass on the attention of the House; but the hon. Member's motion not having been seconded, he was prevented at the time from making those remarks which, in justice to his own character and the position he had occupied, he thought it but fair to offer. The hon. Member stated, that he had on the occasion alluded to an order in his pocket to pass the Dardanelles; if he had possessed any such order, his conduct must have appeared very inconsistent; but he had no such authority, although certainly it would have been the means of avoiding many of the difficulties which had since occurred. The hon. Member had also made some observations on the conduct of Russia, which, knowing the facts of the case, he felt himself bound to contradict. It had been said, that the present state of affairs in the Mediterranean was mainly attributable to the Whigs; in his opinion, the Tories were more to blame than the Whigs, but both in fact were implicated. He had stated in the Mediterranean, and he repeated now, that if Mr. Canning had lived to carry out the view he originally took of the treaty of Akerman, no difficulty would have occurred, and Russia never would have gone to war with the Porte. It was the different view taken of that treaty by Mr. Canning's successor in office—it was the use of that fatal word "untoward," which gave rise to all the difficulty. That word "untoward" led Turkey to believe that the alliance was at an end, that France and England were of different opinions, and that Russia would be left to take her own course. The consequence was, the Turks, to insure the execution of the treaty of Akerman, forced Russia into a war, that led to her aggrandizement, for when she did go to war, of course she had a right to do the best for herself she could. When Turkey looked to England for assistance against Mehemet Ali, what was our situation? He was then in command of the squadron, and he would say this—had they had five more 1230 sail of the line, Mehemet Ali would have been stopped, and Turkey would not have been thrown into the arms of Russia. He deeply regretted, that from false economy the navy had been reduced to so low a state; at the same time he could not but think, that for the discussion which had lately taken place upon that subject, they were more indebted to the influence of party motives, than to any general desire to promote the efficiency of the service.

§ Sir R. Peel

said, that as the gallant officer had thought it necessary to introduce this subject, he might also take occasion to observe, that in the speech by which the hon. Member for Birmingham prefaced his unseconded motion, not a few hard words had been applied to him; but even if that motion had been seconded, he did not know that he should have felt called on to give any reply. There was throughout an utter oblivion of dates, a total confusion and misstatement of facts. He was charged, for instance, with being a party reponsible for the proceedings of a Government with which he had not acted; so that if he had been called on, he really did not know how he should have been able to reply to such a speech. In fact, the only construction he could put on it was, not that any real alarm existed, even in the mind of the hon. Gentleman, with respect to the state of our national defence, but that so great was his attachment to irredeemable paper, so urgent his anxiety for an issue of one pound notes, that he was perfectly ready to risk all the consequences of any war, however detrimental to the interests of the country, provided only it might lead to the adoption of his favourite monetary panacea.