§ Earl Greyrose to move the Second Reading of this Bill. He stated that a Convention had been entered into between the Three Powers who had interfered in the affairs of Greece, and who, by this Convention, had agreed to offer the throne of Greece to a European prince, and to guarantee a loan, which was to be negociated for the purpose of enabling the executive there to carry on the duties of the government. The object of the present Bill was, to enable his Majesty to carry that Convention into effect, so far as his Majesty was concerned. He did not think it necessary for him to enter at any length into the discussion of the circumstances under which this Convention had been made; neither did he feel called on to say anything on the policy of the original interference. That interference had been made, and then the only question was, whether assistance should be given to the Greeks, and in what manner that assistance could be best afforded. He thought no one would deny, that after the part we had already taken in this matter, and after the struggle which the Greeks had made on their own behalf, we were bound to do all we could for them, consistently with our own interests, and the faith we owed to our allies. The negotiations which had been entered into to place 1342 the present king of the Belgians on the throne of Greece had failed. He regretted that it had, because he thought that that prince possessed every qualification for the high station which had been then offered him. Looking at all the circumstances of the case, he was convinced that that was the best arrangement that could have been made, and he believed that all those who had had the best means of judging of that matter were of the same opinion. The same principle of policy which had originally induced the Three Powers to attempt to place Prince Leopold on the throne of Greece, had induced these Powers to establish on the throne of that country, in conformity with the powers with which they had been invested, the Prince Otho of Bavaria. On a former occasion, he had heard that the choice of the person was open to Much objection. He admitted that, it might be objected to the choice of Prince Otho, that it was an undoubted disadvantage that a minor should be placed on the throne of that country. He admitted, that some objection on that account might be urged, although he did not think that any strong objection would be put forward on the score of the prince's religion. If, however, such objections were made, he could only say, that, taking all the circumstances into consideration, and looking round among all the princes of Europe, he believed that this was the only choice left to the Allied Powers; for he did not know among the other princes any one to whom equal if not superior objections might not be urged. Considering these things, he was induced to hope that the arrangement now made would prove beneficial. It was generally known, that from the beginning the king of Bavaria had shown a particular interest in the struggle, by which it was hoped that the Greeks would be rescued from the domination of the Turks, and that feeling became a strong recommendation to place on the throne of the country one of his sons. It was agreed among the Allied Powers to offer the throne to Prince Otho, and that offer had been accepted. For the purpose of rendering effectual what had been done, this Convention was made. The object of this Bill was to enable his Majesty to give the guarantee of this country to a loan to be raised for the government of Greece. Every one must be aware, that a government could not be established in Greece 1343 without such an assistance. The loan was proposed to be recognised on the same terms as had been proposed by the former administration. The loan proposed was 60,000,000 of livres to be equally divided between the Three Powers, each of which was to be liable only for its own quota. This sum was to be advanced by instalments, with securities upon the revenues of the country for the payment of the interest, and for the accumulation of a sinking fund to discharge the principal itself. If the interest on the first instalment was not paid, its amount was to be deducted from the second instalment whenever that should come to be demanded. He believed, that if the government was once settled, there would be no difficulty whatever in its finding a perfect adequacy of funds to meet these engagements. If, however, it should not be able to do so, all that Great Britain would render herself liable to pay would be a sum of 800,000l. They thought that under all the circumstances this country would not hesitate to take upon herself the possibility of such a burthen. By the arrangement now entered into, the Volo and Arta were made the boundaries of the Greek empire, and for that a compensation of 500,000l. was to be given to the Turkish government. That arrangement was, he was happy to say, effected to the complete satisfaction of the Turks. Under these circumstances, he trusted that the House would allow the Bill to be read a second time.
§ The Duke of Wellingtonsaid, that he felt this was not the time for discussing the question of Greece, and of the policy to be pursued with respect to it, though he doubted whether it would be beneficial to the commerce of England; but he could not help expressing his feeling that there were some objections to one part of the arrangement. On a former discussion, a noble friend of his had stated the objections which existed to the choice of Prince Otho, and he believed it would appear from the protocols, that in the course of the negotiations, it was determined that in case the prince selected should not be approved of by this country, we were not to be bound to assist in making the advances; but as soon as the prince selected was approved of by the Government, he admitted that the engagement was binding on us. Under these circumstances he had nothing to say against the present 1344 Bill, now that the selection of the Prince was approved of. One part of the papers to which he wished to call the attention of their Lordships was, what he thought to be an oversight of the noble Earl. By one of the articles of the Convention (the 14th) it was stated, that 'His Majesty, the king of Bavaria, shall lend his assistance to the Prince Otho in raising in Bavaria a body of troops, not exceeding 3,500 men, to be employed in his service, as king of Greece, which corps shall be armed, equipped, and paid by the Greek state, and be sent thither as soon as possible, in order to relieve the troops of the alliance hitherto stationed in Greece. The latter shall remain in that country entirely at the disposal of the government of his majesty the king of Greece, until the arrival of the body of troops above-mentioned. Immediately upon their arrival, the troops of the alliance already referred to shall retire, and altogether evacuate the Greek territory.' A protest had been entered against this article, declaring on behalf of France, that it was conceived in terms in which the true meaning could not be meant to be expressed, for that it never could be meant that French troops were to be at the disposal of a king of Greece, and that it was only the intention of the Allies to sanction arrangements that the king of the French might enter into with the king of Greece on the subject of those troops. From that protest he inferred, that it was the intention of the king of the French to enter into a separate treaty from his Allies with respect to the French troops. The protest was against the terms of the protocol of the 3rd of February, 1830, by which no troops of any foreign power should be allowed to enter the Greek state without the consent of all the other Powers. He was sure that no miserable quibbling would be used as to the word "enter;" and if that was the case, he thought some alteration was required in the arrangements, for noble Lords must see that the protest of the king of the French was opposed to the spirit of the protocols.
§ Earl Greythought that this arrangement and settlement of the new state would be an advantage to the commerce of this country. That objection, however, if made at all, ought to have been made on the question of the separation from Turkey. That separation having taken place, it must be agreed that such a 1345 boundary should be given to the new state, as would prevent future collisions on that subject. The protest of the French Minister was, as it appeared to him, a mere matter of form. By the literal interpretation of one of the articles of the Convention, it appeared that the foreign troops now in Greece, which were, as everybody knew, French troops, were to be at the disposal of the king of Bavaria. Such a right to command French troops, there had been no intention to confer; and the protest was only a saving of the honour of France, that her troops should be under the direction and management of her own lawful authorities. It was intended, in fact, that on the arrival of the Bavarian troops, the French troops should evacuate the country, which he was sure they would do with the most perfect good faith. The substance of the Convention was satisfactory to all parties, and this protest had only been put in to save the French honour.
§ Bill read a second time.