§ Sir R. H. Inglis, seeing the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs in his place, would take that opportunity of presenting a petition to which he would beg to call the noble Lord's attention, as he wished to put a question to him respecting its prayer. The petition was from the vicar and clergy of the parish of Sheffield. The petition related to the condition of Christians in the Levant. The House was aware that for a long period the Emperor of Russia was regarded as, and in fact was, the protector of the Christians of the Greek church residing in the Levant. In the same way, as was also well known, France had claimed the right of protecting the Christians of the church of Rome resident in Syria. Under those circumstances he would urge that the Sovereign of England should be regarded as the protector of Protestantism in that country. Considering, as he should always consider, that Protestantism was the brightest jewel in the British Crown, he felt that as Russia protected the Greek Christians, and France those of the church of Rome, Protestants in Syria should be considered under the special care and protection of the Sovereign of England. The petitioners, indeed, did not pray for this; but he did urge that such steps should be taken by our Government as would place the Christians in Syria—he alluded more particularly to Protestants—in at least no Worse condition than they were before the late events in that quarter. He was aware, and he spoke in the hearing of some noble and hon. Friends who had still more recently visited those regions, that before those events the Christians did enjoy protection in the exercise of 143 their religious rites, as well as a more general security under the Turks, and certainly an unrestricted access to the holy places. What he was anxious about was, lest by any results of the late events they might be placed in a worse condition than before. The petitioners felt grateful to Almighty God for the successful termination of our late efforts in Syria, and they hoped for full protection to Christian worship. They were aware that matters of this kind were in general better left to the executive Government; but they hoped that the expression of opinion in that House might influence the executive in favour of the Christians resident, in Syria and the Holy Land. They also prayed that protection might be extended to the Jews in the exercise of their worship. On this he would not say any thing, but one circumstance he would mention as he had heard it—that the first use which the Jews of Damascus and other places made of their liberty was to persecute the Christians. He said he would not trespass longer on the House, but, thanking it for the kind indulgence extended to him, he would beg to ask the noble Lord whether her Majesty's Government had done every thing in their power to make the condition of the Christians in Syria better, or at least to prevent its being worse, than it had been before the late events in that quarter?
§ Viscount Palmerstoncould assure the House and the hon. Baronet that the matters to which the petitioners referred had not escaped the attention of her Majesty's Government; they were too interesting on every account to have been neglected. Without stating the particular steps that had been taken, he was happy to be able to inform the House that a course had been adopted in order to urge the Porte to do what the petitioners so earnestly recommended, namely, that the Christians in Syria should not only not be in a worse position than before the late changes, but, if possible, that their condition should be improved as regarded the exercise of their religion. As to what was called the right of protection, he might observe that the protection of the Greek religion by the Emperor of Russia arose out of distinct treaties with the Porte: every body was probably aware of the circumstances under which these treaties had been signed, and they stood on peculiar grounds. The sort of acknowledged right of the French Government to intercede for Roman Catholics was of very ancient date, and arose out 144 of circumstances, as well as out of times, very different from the present. It was not, therefore, easy for the British Government to obtain an analogous privilege as regarded the Protestants; but care would be taken to employ all the influence which the British Government might have acquired at Constantinople to effect such an object. With regard to the Jewish population also, her Majesty's Government had taken steps to obtain from the Porte full security for that portion of the subjects of the Sultan; indeed, if the hatti scheriff were fully enforced it would secure, both to Christians and Jews, the objects which the hon. Baronet had in view.