Earl Grosvenorrose to ask a question of great importance, to which he hoped the noble earl opposite would favour him with a reply. The information which he wished to obtain related to the war between the Greeks and Turks. A letter had been published in the newspapers respecting the result of the siege of Missolonghi, from which it appeared that that place had fallen. The heroic defence made by that place must be looked at with admiration by every one. It had sustained no less than seventy-three attacks in the course of eighteen months, and greater gallantry had never been displayed. The defenders of Missolonghi had shown themselves worthy descendants of the heroes of Thermopylae. He wished to know whether ministers 385 had received any information respecting the fall of Missolonghi, and whether there was any hope of the Greek cause being at last taken up. That cause, if not entirely desperate, appeared to be almost so; but he was anxious to be informed if there yet remained any hope that the unfortunate Greeks would not be entirely abandoned. It was understood that there was a disposition on the part of Russia to come to rupture with the Porte, but he hoped and trusted that the annihilation of the Greeks was not to be made the price of the independence of Wallachia and Moldavia.
The Earl of Liverpoolsaid, he could not give any other answer to the noble earl as to the report of Missolonghi being taken, than that he believed it was not taken at the date of the letter to which the noble earl had alluded. Whether the place was taken or not he could not say; but as it was not taken at the date of the letter, the fact contained in it could not be true. With respect to the other question put by the noble earl, as to whether the Greek cause was now desperate or not, he should only say, that the contest being one with respect to which this country was perfectly neutral, he did not consider it a subject for discussion in that House. The policy of his majesty's government had been that of strict neutrality, and that policy, whether right or wrong, was before the House and the country.