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State, of taking the Queen's pleasure directly on the affairs of his own department; and there is no reason for supposing that, for the next four months at any rate, he did not loyally adhere to the arrangement which had thus been forced on him.

But the recess had hardly commenced when a fresh crisis. occurred. The Hungarian rebellion was suppressed by the joint arms of Russia and Austria. Some of the Hungarian leaders fled to Turkey, and the two Emperors applied to the Porte for the extradition of the fugitives. Lord Palmerston drafted a despatch in which Sir Stratford Canning, the Minister at the Porte, was directed to urge the Sultan 'not to give these people up, and if their surrender were insisted on to say that the refusal was in consequence of our remonstrance.' Prince Albert stated to Lord Grey, who was in attendance at Balmoral, his strong objections to this language. Lord Grey supported them in a letter to Lord John: and the despatch was ultimately modified, the Porte being simply advised to resist the demand. The Porte's compliance with this advice led to an ultimatum on the part of Russia; and Lord Palmerston at once wrote

Brocket: September 28, 1849.

My dear John Russell,- It seems to me that, unless we mean to abandon all idea of maintaining Turkey, and are prepared to let her fall at once into the grasp of Russia, we ought to invite France to join with us in supporting the Sultan in the honourable decision which he has taken; and I can have no doubt that if England and France take a firm attitude in this matter Austria and Russia will acquiesce and abstain from any violence, and in that case a great step will have been taken towards placing Turkey in that position of political independence which it is so much the interest of Western Europe, and especially of England, that she should occupy. If France enters into our views, the course which I should recommend would be that

It will be new to most persons, but there is high authority for saying that, during the course of Sir R. Peel's Administration, the Queen, in a most courteous letter, expressed to Lord Aberdeen her wish that the rule that all drafts not mere matters of course should be sent to her before the despatches had left the office, should be observed; and that Lord Aberdeen undertook that this should be done in all cases in which the exigencies of the situation did not require another course. It was one of the misfortunes of Lord Palmerston's tenure of the Foreign Office, that his conduct impelled, or perhaps forced, the sovereign to make the same demand without conceding the same reservation.

strong representations should be made by the two Governments, at Petersburg and at Vienna, with a view to urge upon the consideration of Russia and Austria the injustice of endeavouring to force the Sultan to comply with a demand which as an independent sovereign he has a perfect right to decline to accede to ; and to guard against accidents and to give weight to our representations I would propose that the English and French squadrons in the Mediterranean should be ordered up to the Dardanelles with instructions to go up to Constantinople if they should be invited so to do by the Sultan-either to assist in defending Constantinople from actual or threatened attack, or for the purpose of giving him that moral support which their presence in the Bosphorus would afford.

It might also be expedient that our admirals should offer to rid the Turkish Government of the cause of dispute, by bringing away the Hungarian and Polish refugees. Yours sincerely,

PALMERSTON.

The Cabinet adopted the first part of this advice. They decided on supporting the Porte, though they declined to allow the fleet to enter the Dardanelles.

Downing Street: October 2, 1849.

My dear Lord Minto,-. . . The Cabinet were unanimous in their opinion that the Porte must be supported; that remonstrances should go to Vienna and Petersburg; and that Parker should be desired to approach the Dardanelles to help the Sultan in case of need.

This is right, and the determination would have done your heart good.

I fear the business with the Czar will be stormy.-Yours affectionately,

J. RUSSELL.

The policy of the Cabinet was successful. Russia and Austria withdrew a demand which they found was not merely resisted at Constantinople, but withstood by Western Europe; and the Ministers had the satisfaction of knowing that they had maintained the independence of an ally, and defeated an unjustifiable demand made by two strong powers on a weak nation.

In this country most persons approved what the Ministers had thus done. Even those who in secret sympathised with the autocratic powers of Eastern Europe were disposed to

think with Lord Clarendon that it was more dignified to be 'squaring at Russia, than sticking pins into Naples ;' and Lord Palmerston gained more in public estimation from this single action than from his whole previous policy. Unfortunately the presence of the fleet in the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles suggested to him a much more questionable proceeding. Some British subjects, among whom were Mr. Finlay, who is famous from his history, and Don Pacifico, who is famous from his claims, had long complained that they had been unable to obtain redress from the Greek Government. Lord Palmerston thought that Sir W. Parker might be instructed on his return from the Dardanelles to call with the squadron at Athens and demand reparation. If the Greek Government does not strike'-so he expressed himself in a private letter to Mr. Wyse, the British Minister at Athens'Parker must do so.' The claim at the outset attracted very little attention either in the Cabinet or among the public, though Lord John apparently doubted the expediency of strong measures.

Woburn Abbey: January 12, 1850.

My dear Palmerston,-I send you back this correspondence, as I think the complaint is hardly worth the interposition of the British Lion.

Baring somewhat remonstrates against the constant employment of our ships to support our diplomatic agents, and I was lately told by one of these last that he wished his interference was only ordered on large occasions and not on every case of a debt of 20%. I think that this is a case in point.-Yours truly,

J. RUSSELL.

Lord Palmerston, however, clung to a policy to which, in fact, he had already committed himself in private to Mr. Wyse; and when Lord John compelled him to alter his public despatch he protested against the alteration in the following

note :

C[arlton] G[ardens]: January 26, 1850. My dear John Russell,-I have altered the draft to which your note relates, to meet your objection.

But upon the general principle in question, I would beg to askFirst, what is to be done in cases in which all diplomatic persuasion has been exhausted in vain to obtain from one of these small States

just redress for a wrong done to a British subject are we to sit down contented and tell the complainant that he must bear the injury as well as he can?

Secondly, I would ask, if that is to be our course, what is the purpose for which in time of peace we keep ships of war in foreign stations, and why we should not agree to Cobden's motions for reducing a useless force, and thus save an unnecessary expense.

If these cases have multiplied during the last two or three years beyond all former example, it is in consequence of the prevalence of the notion that British subjects may be wronged with impunity, and that the British Government will not stir hand or foot to help them. It is not so with French or North American citizens, and no State ventures to ill-use a Russian.-Yours sincerely,

PALMERSTON.

In the meanwhile Sir W. Parker, acting on Lord Palmerston's private instructions, had commenced to strike, and had already seized various vessels, the property not only of the Greek Government but of Greek citizens. When the news of these reprisals reached London they excited considerable consternation. The Russian Ambassador called at the Foreign Office to remonstrate; the French Minister tendered the good offices of France; and the Cabinet, for the first time fully aware of the policy to which Lord Palmerston had committed it, readily grasped, though against Lord Palmerston's opinion, at the offer of French mediation. The Cabinet intended that Mr. Wyse should be instructed to lend every assistance to Baron Gros, the French mediator. But Lord Palmerston, in his despatch, carefully told Mr. Wyse to take no part in the negotiation unless expressly invited to do so, and then only if it should appear expedient. The Cabinet intended that Mr. Wyse should have some discretion in compromising the claim of Don Pacifico. No power of compromising it was inserted in Lord Palmerston's despatch. The Queen was the first to observe what Lord Palmerston had done, or rather had omitted to do.

February 18, 1850.

My dear Palmerston,--The Queen asked me yesterday about the despatch to Wyse, and said she had not seen it again. I told her what had happened, and she expressed great displeasure that the despatch had been sent off without inserting the discretionary power

to Wyse and Parker which I had recommended. You saw that the Cabinet all approved of such discretion being left to our Minister and Admiral. Here, then, is a despatch gone on an important subject which is not in conformity with the Queen's opinion, or mine, or that of the Cabinet. This is a serious deviation from the usual and right course on such subjects. It can only be, in part, repaired, by your preparing a draft immediately to go by the earliest opportunity. I remain, yours truly,

J. RUSSELL.

It is due to Lord Palmerston to add his answer :

C. G. February 18, 1850.

My dear John Russell,—I have received your letter of to-day, and I send you a memorandum which I received from the Queen yesterday, in which she says that you had told her that I had sent off, unaltered, the despatch of which, on Friday, she sent me the draft, accompanied by a memorandum from you suggesting two alterations, in which she said that she herself also concurred. I have sent the Queen the draft itself with the alteration which I did make in it, and I also sent her your note stating that such alteration was 'very good,' and I leave it to you to explain to the Queen how you can reconcile with the facts of the case your assertion to her that I had sent off that draft unaltered.

The second point to which your Memorandum related was a discretionary power to Wyse as to entertaining any proposition that might be made to him. That point was discussed in the Cabinet on Saturday. The only claim to which that question could possibly apply is that of Pacifico; and, in deference to the opinion of the Cabinet, I sent off a despatch to Wyse by the overland Mediterranean mail of Saturday, giving him a discretionary authority to entertain any reasonable proposition as to the detailed amount of Pacifico's claim.

The despatch of Friday was sent off by the messenger, whom it was very important not to delay longer than that day.

I should have sent you the draft of Saturday before I sent it off; but, when I went back to my room from the Cabinet, I found Drouyn de Lhuys waiting to see me, and he kept me so long that I had barely time to write my despatch and have it copied out for signature before the moment when the messenger who was to take it had to start by the railway train to Dover.

I was not made aware on Friday that there would be an opportunity of writing to Greece on the next day, or the Friday's despatch might have been kept for Saturday.

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