§ THE MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDE rose pursuant to notice to ask whether Her Majesty's Government will lay upon the Table of the House, before the rising of Parliament, any Papers to show the steps that might have been taken in pursuance of the Promises and Views of the great European Powers, recorded in the Protocol No. 9 of the Conferences of Paris in 1856, and relating to the Danubian Provinces of Turkey; and calculated to 1525 explain the course adopted in these matters by Her Majesty's Government. The noble Marquess said that, at that time of the evening he would not trouble the House by making a long speech, but would content himself with putting his question. There was the less reason why he should detain their Lordships, because since he had put his notice on the Minutes a similar question had been asked in the other House, the answer to which was extremely satisfactory, inasmuch as it gave the assurance that, however disagreeable and threatening some of the differences which had arisen at Constantinople with regard to the settlement of the affairs of the Danubian Principalities, in pursuance of the treaty of Paris last year, there was no danger that these differences would change or affect the character of our alliance with France, which was a matter of much more importance to us than any details of the settlement of affairs in the Principalities. But, although, matters had thus changed since he had placed the notice on the paper, still he thought it would be well that, before the rising of Parliament, such official documents should be laid on the table as would show the part taken by Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople and by Her Majesty's Government in the recent transactions. It was matter of notoriety that very great delay had taken place in carrying into effect the provisions of the treaty of Paris, as regarded the affairs of the Principalities. It was said, he knew not with what truth, that the interference of the Turkish functionary, the Kaimaikan, in the elections of Moldavia, had been of such a character as to render those elections absurd and futile as a fair representation of the people. It appeared that the representatives of four Powers at Constantinople had thought it necessary in consequence to discontinue diplomatic relations with the Porte. This was a grave matter for this country, since England was a party to the Treaty of Paris, and the foundation upon which that treaty was based was that there should be a fair and free expression of opinion by the representatives of the people of the Danubian provinces. The question, it was well known, was whether in the knew Government there should be a union or separation of Moldavia and Wallachia. Into that question he would not now enter—it was not the right time to discuss it. In the last Session of the last Parliament a noble and learned Lord (Lord Lyndhurst) made a 1526 speech on the subject of these provinces, to which his noble Friend (the Earl of Clarendon) declined at that moment to make any reply. He hoped that before Her Majesty's Government pronounced any opinion on the union of the Provinces—whatever that opinion might be—they would wait until the real opinion of the people of the country could be ascertained. A great deal was said about Russian influence and Russian intrigue; but call it by what name they pleased, this he had always observed, that when Russia entertained designs on any country, she invariably took care to be as much as possible on the side of the people. Now it especially behaved the Government of this country to pursue that course, and to respect the feelings of the people of any country in whose concerns they were called upon to take part. He hoped that Her Majesty's Government would refrain from making any declaration upon the question whether there should be union or separation of the two Provinces until there had been a fair and free expression of opinion by the inhabitants; for it was with that object that they had appointed Commissioners, and he did not know what those Commissioners could have been about, if it were not to use their influence to obtain that fair and free expression of opinion. He hoped that Her Majesty's Government would give Parliament all the information in their power. The honour and credit of the country were pledged in this matter, and Parliament was anxious to know how far the course taken by the Government was in unison with the opinions of the people of this country. The noble Marquess concluded by putting his question.
§ THE EARL OF CLARENDONMy Lords, it is perfectly true, as my noble Friend has stated, that very great delay has taken place in coming to any definite conclusion with respect to the Principalities. But my noble Friend must bear in mind that one of the principal causes of that delay was the difficulty which arose in the settlement of the Bessarabian frontier, and the determination which was properly come to, that until the Austrians troops ceased their occupation of the Provinces, which they had retained in consequence of the Bessarabian frontier not being settled, no proceedings should take place in regard to the elections,—the supposition being that they could not fairly be conducted in the presence of a foreign army. That 1527 difficulty was arranged at the beginning of this year; but, on account of the season, neither the Austrian troops could evacuate the Provinces, nor could the Commissioners proceed to their post until rather late in the spring; and I believe that they did not begin business before the month of May. Your Lordships are aware that, before the Commissioners left Constantinople, a firman was settled there—in the first place conferring the elective franchise, and next regulating the mode in which the elections should be conducted and the divans convoked. This was done by the Ministers of the Porte in conjunction with the representatives of the four Powers who were parties to the Treaty of Paris. My Lords, this firman appears to have been differently interpreted in the two Provinces, nor was it looked at precisely in the same light by the Commissioners. It was differently interpreted by the Kaimaikan and by the different parties into which the Principalities were unfortunately divided. Moreover, it appears that the firman, which was applicable to Wallachia, was not strictly applicable to Moldavia, on account of the different laws of that Principality. These events led to great delay, to long discussions, and to repeated references to Constantinople, where unhappily there was not much greater unanimity than in the Principalities. My Lords, with reference to the part which Her Majesty's Government have taken in this matter, I need only say that I think my noble Friend will find, when the protocols are laid upon your Lordships' table, that the conduct of Sir Henry Bulwer, Her Majesty's Commissioner at Bucharest, has been characterized by the utmost moderation, and that the advice which he has deemed it to be his duty to afford his colleagues has been strictly confined within the limits of the instructions which were issued to the Commission by the Congress of Paris. My Lords, I do not think that we should be justified in laying upon the table of the House at the present moment any of the protocols of those meetings in which six different Powers were concerned, inasmuch as they have been as yet only confidentially communicated to Her Majesty's Government, and cannot therefore be regarded as sufficiently our property to be submitted to your Lordships. Various documents have been laid before the Commission, printed copies of some of which have been transmitted to us; but we can in no way undertake to answer for their 1528 correctness, inasmuch as that is a point in dispute between the different parties themselves. The main point of difference between the members of the Commission has been the interpretation to be put upon the firman as applied to Moldavia. That point was referred for consideration to Constantinople, where, by the unanimous decision of the representatives of the several Powers there and the Minister of the Porte, it was determined that the same construction should be put upon the firman in Moldavia as was the case in Wallachia, with the exception of certain distinctions which would be rendered necessary by the difference prevailing between certain laws of the two Principalities. Whether there was a timely communication of this decision to the Kaimaikan upon the part of the President of the Commission, who was also the Turkish Commissioner, or whether he misunderstood or neglected it, I cannot undertake to say, because charges and countercharges have been made with respect to the matter. The fact, at all events, is, that the Kaimaikan proceeded to complete the elections in accordance with an electoral list which he himself had prepared. The representatives of France, Russia, Prussia, and Sardinia, however, acting upon instructions which they had received from their several Governments, protested against a divan so constituted, which they declared could not be looked upon as a faithful reflex of the opinions of the people. The consequence was, that the representatives of those four Powers at Constantinople demanded that the elections should; be annulled, and that fresh elections should take place. The Porte, however, was of opinion that it would not be consistent with the independence of the Sultan to yield to that demand, inasmuch as it had reference to the faithful execution of the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, with regard to the carrying into effect of which it was deemed by the Porte that any request which might be made should emanate from all the Powers which were concerned in the treaty, and not from four only of the Powers. A misunderstanding followed, which was not removed by those telegraphic despatches upon which different interpretations were put; and we received the intelligence of the interruption of diplomatic relations between the four Powers which I have mentioned and the Porte just at the moment when the Emperor of the French, accompanied by his Minister for Foreign affairs, arrived at 1529 Osborne. An opportunity was thus afforded to us of reviewing ft state of things which had suddenly assumed a very complicated aspect, and which might have led to events of a magnitude altogether disproportioned to the cause to which they owed their origin. Having considered that state of things, we came to the conclusion that, although there had been no scrutiny at the elections in Moldavia, and although no evidence had been obtained which in England would have been deemed sufficiently strong to justify us in declaring such elections to be void, yet that there was primâ facie proof of their irregularity, of a nature which would warrant us in recommending that they should be annulled. We felt that it was for the interest of the Porte that there should be no doubt thrown upon those elections, which would lead to the conclusion that they could not result in procuring a faithful representation of the people. We were, moreover, of opinion that the intentions of those powers who were parties to the Treaty of Paris would not be fulfilled if such a representation was not secured, and that no English Government could support elections the questionable character of which we could not altogether deny. We felt, therefore, that we should be fully justified in recommending the Sultan to annul those elections and to revise the electoral list. In taking that course we did not fail to bear in mind that the Sultan had sufficiently vindicated his own independence, by adopting the line of conduct to which I have adverted, and that he might, without derogating in the slightest degree from the dignity of his position, comply with a request which the whole of the Powers concerned in the question had concurred in making. That request embraces the simple proposal that the Treaty of Paris should be more faithfully complied with—a proposal which, as far as we can see, there will be no difficulty in agreeing to, and which, if adopted, will at once remove all those doubts which certainly do hang over the late elections in Moldavia, and which, if not dissipated, would deprive the divan of that authority which it is desirable it should possess.