§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITH, in rising to ask whether the Danubian Provinces of Roumania would be allowed to arrange their own institutions without interference from either the protecting Powers or the Porte, said, that those Provinces had, by the simple expedient of electing the same Prince, defeated the arrangement to keep them separate. Since the election of Prince Couza the Provinces had gone through the various difficulties attending young and rising States, and at length, a revolution taking place, Prince Couza was obliged to resign. It was to be presumed that the parties who were originally opposed to the union of the Provinces remained of the same opinion still, and that the Turkish Government would willingly upset any arrangement by which they might be united. Now the Provisional Government had issued an address to the Diet, and one of the arrangements come to was the election of a foreign Prince, who, however, declined to place himself in the difficult position to which he had been chosen; but the desire of the people to maintain the choice of a foreign Prince remained the same. The presidency of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer over the councils of this country inaugurated a new policy; and it was to be hoped that in respect to this matter what in diplomatic language was called the necessity of protecting the integrity of Turkey would not be urged, because as regards those Provinces the sovereignty of Turkey was a mere name and myth. He trusted that, considering the declarations of the right hon. Gentleman in 1858, the Government would see their way to allow the people of the Danubian Provinces of Roumania to make their own arrangements. He was also anxious that the Government should consider the state of the neighbouring Province of Servia. There hostile fortresses, dominating over the country, were preserved, and three years ago there occurred a bombardment which was condemned and stigmatized by the united voice of Europe. Such a circumstance was likely to occur again at any time while a suzerain Power like Turkey kept possession of these fortresses without having any hold on the country. If Servia were placed in the same position as the Danubian Provinces, where the fortresses had been demolished, a 1519 source of irritation would be removed. The existing arrangement was not of the slightest value to the Porte, while it involved an annual expenditure on the part of that Power of half a million sterling. The answer of the right hon. Gentleman on this subject might now be more reserved than the declarations he formerly made when occupying a different seat, but Members of Parliament could not with safety change their opinions according to the locality in which they might happen to be placed. It was not creditable that Members of that House should come forward as champions of the freedom of populations, and then, when in an official position, adopt a different style of language. The right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer made a speech in 1858 which powerfully contributed to the settlement of the condition of those Provinces, and he (Mr. Darby Griffith) had the honour of recording his vote in favour of the Motion which he then made. There was quite as good a chance now as then that they would be able to arrange their own affairs, and much better than if they were again divided into two Provinces. He would therefore beg to ask, Whether the Danubian Provinces of Roumania will be allowed to arrange their own institutions without interference from the protecting Powers, or the Porte; and whether the Government of Servia has lately applied to the Porte for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the fortress in Servia, and with what probable result?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERThis is a question of foreign policy, and as misapprehensions might arise if I made no reply to the questions of the hon. Gentleman I must say a few words, although I will not enter into a general discussion of the two important subjects which have been combined in a single Question. I remember very well the occasion in 1858 to which the hon. Member has referred, when I had the pleasure of voting with him—a pleasure which I hope I may enjoy hereafter. I think on that occasion the head of the present Government was also in the same lobby. Nevertheless, I am not here to declare any departure from the policy which the British Government has heretofore pursued with regard to the Eastern question. With respect to the present position of the Provinces of Roumania, the hon. Member will at once perceive that circumstances are not in a state which would admit of any definite 1520 declaration on our part on that subject. Our relation to those Provinces we hold in common with the other Powers, parties to the Treaty of 1856, and the measure which has been adopted is the one which propriety evidently dictated—namely, that those Powers should meet in Congress for the purpose of considering the circumstances which have lately occurred, and their bearing on the future of the Provinces. It would not be conducive to sound policy, and would hardly be consistent with propriety, if any declaration were made by us in our separate capacity when that Conference is about to meet. We should resent, or, at least, disapprove, any such course on the part of another Power. We shall enter the Conference with respect to the Danubian Provinces, holding it to be our main duty to keep in view, not only the precise words of the stipulations, but also the general scope and purpose of the Treaty of 1856. Subject to the provisions and policy of that treaty, it must be the desire of every British Government to see the local institutions of that country developed in accordance with the well ascertained opinions of the inhabitants. I am not able to give a pledge with regard to the particular matters to which the hon. Gentleman has referred, nor with respect to the point whether these Principalities are in future to be ruled by a foreign Prince—a question which has been connected with great difficulties in the discussions of former times. As regards the latter part of the Question, which relates to the Government of Servia, we have not been apprised of any recent application by that Government to the Porte for the withdrawal of Turkish troops. It would, therefore, be out of place for me to enter upon that subject.