DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16612#0009
Ininhtdnm.
VOLUME XXV.-JULY TO DECEMBER, 1853.
THE ABERDEEN CABINET.—1853.
First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Chancellor
Chancellor of the Exchequer .
President of the Council
Lord Privy Seal
Home Office ....
Foreign Office ....
Colonial Office ,
Admiralty ....
Board of Control.
Secretary at War
First Commissioner of Works, &e.
Without Office
Without Office ....
Earl of Aberdeen.
Lord Cranworth.
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Earl Granville.
Duke of Argyll.
Viscount Palmerston.
Earl of Clarendon.
Duke of Newcastle.
Right Hon. J. R. G. Graham, Bart.
Right Hon. Sir C. Wood, Bart.
Right Hon. Sidney Herbert.
Right Hon. Sir W. Molesworth, Bart.
Lord John Russell.
Marquess of Lansdowne.
POLITICAL
PAGE
rpHE unjust demands of the Emperor, of Russia on the
Ottoman Porte, and his subsequent occupation of the
Danubian Principalities, occupied the earnest attention of the
Parliament and the people throughout the year, and was the
occasion of much inquiry and discussion.
We cannot do better than add a summary of Lord John
Russell’s Speech, towards the close of the Session, in expla-
nation of the position of affairs :—
“ When he entered office, he said, his attention was called
to the question of the Holy Places; and he instructed Lord
Cowley, at Paris, to give the subject his earnest attention.
Soon after he, Lord John Russell, learned that a special
Russian Minister would be sent to the Sultan, to put an end,
by some solemn act, to the differences that existed with regard
to the Holy Places. He did not object to that; and Prince
Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople on the 2nd of March.
From this point, Lord John Russell went over the subse-
quent events—the resignation of Fuad Effendi ; the message
of Colonel Rose to Admiral Dundas, sent at the request of
the Grand Vizier, and subsequently retracted ; and the noti-
fication by the Turkish Ministers to Lord Stratford, in April,
that certain propositions had been made to them to which they
were unwilling to accede. ‘ I should say,’ continued he,
‘ that up to this time the Government of Her Majesty at
home, and Her Majesty’s Minister at St. Petersburg, had
always understood that the demands to be made by Russia had
reference to the Holy Places; and were all comprised, in one
form or another, in the desire to render certain and permanent
the advantages to which Russia thought herself entitled in favour
of persons professing the Greek religion. Lord Stratford
SUMMARY.
TAGB
understood from the Turkish Ministers, that it had been
much desired by the Russian Ambassador that the requests
which were made on the part of Russia should be withheld
from the knowledge of the representatives of the other Powers
of Europe ; and these fresh demands were as new to the
Government of France as they were to the Government of Her
Majesty.’ The propositions were changed from time to time,
until Prince Menschikoff gave in his ultimatum, and left
Constantinople. ‘ I consider that this circumstance was one
very greatly to he regretted. It has always appeared to me,
that, on the one side and the other, there were statements that
would be admitted, while there were others that might be tire
subject of compromise and arrangement. The Russian Minister
maintained that Russia had, by certain treaties (especially by
the treaties of Kainardji and Adrianople) the right to expect that
the Christians in the Turkish territory would he protected; and
he declared at the same time, that Russia did not wish in any
manner to injure the independence or integrity of the Turkish
Empire. The Sultan’s Ministers, on their part, maintained
that it was their duty, above all things, to uphold the inde-
pendence of the Sultan, and to require that nothing should be
acceded to which would be injurious to his dignity or would
derogate from his rights ; but at the same time, they declared
that it was the intention of the Sultan to protect his Christian
subjects, and to maintain them in the rights and 'privileges
which they had enjoyed under the edicts of former Sultans.
Such being the statements on the two sides, I own it appears
to me that the withdrawal of the Russian mission from Con-
stantinople, accompanied as that measure was by the prepa-
ration of a large Russian force, both military and naval, on
VOLUME XXV.-JULY TO DECEMBER, 1853.
THE ABERDEEN CABINET.—1853.
First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Chancellor
Chancellor of the Exchequer .
President of the Council
Lord Privy Seal
Home Office ....
Foreign Office ....
Colonial Office ,
Admiralty ....
Board of Control.
Secretary at War
First Commissioner of Works, &e.
Without Office
Without Office ....
Earl of Aberdeen.
Lord Cranworth.
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Earl Granville.
Duke of Argyll.
Viscount Palmerston.
Earl of Clarendon.
Duke of Newcastle.
Right Hon. J. R. G. Graham, Bart.
Right Hon. Sir C. Wood, Bart.
Right Hon. Sidney Herbert.
Right Hon. Sir W. Molesworth, Bart.
Lord John Russell.
Marquess of Lansdowne.
POLITICAL
PAGE
rpHE unjust demands of the Emperor, of Russia on the
Ottoman Porte, and his subsequent occupation of the
Danubian Principalities, occupied the earnest attention of the
Parliament and the people throughout the year, and was the
occasion of much inquiry and discussion.
We cannot do better than add a summary of Lord John
Russell’s Speech, towards the close of the Session, in expla-
nation of the position of affairs :—
“ When he entered office, he said, his attention was called
to the question of the Holy Places; and he instructed Lord
Cowley, at Paris, to give the subject his earnest attention.
Soon after he, Lord John Russell, learned that a special
Russian Minister would be sent to the Sultan, to put an end,
by some solemn act, to the differences that existed with regard
to the Holy Places. He did not object to that; and Prince
Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople on the 2nd of March.
From this point, Lord John Russell went over the subse-
quent events—the resignation of Fuad Effendi ; the message
of Colonel Rose to Admiral Dundas, sent at the request of
the Grand Vizier, and subsequently retracted ; and the noti-
fication by the Turkish Ministers to Lord Stratford, in April,
that certain propositions had been made to them to which they
were unwilling to accede. ‘ I should say,’ continued he,
‘ that up to this time the Government of Her Majesty at
home, and Her Majesty’s Minister at St. Petersburg, had
always understood that the demands to be made by Russia had
reference to the Holy Places; and were all comprised, in one
form or another, in the desire to render certain and permanent
the advantages to which Russia thought herself entitled in favour
of persons professing the Greek religion. Lord Stratford
SUMMARY.
TAGB
understood from the Turkish Ministers, that it had been
much desired by the Russian Ambassador that the requests
which were made on the part of Russia should be withheld
from the knowledge of the representatives of the other Powers
of Europe ; and these fresh demands were as new to the
Government of France as they were to the Government of Her
Majesty.’ The propositions were changed from time to time,
until Prince Menschikoff gave in his ultimatum, and left
Constantinople. ‘ I consider that this circumstance was one
very greatly to he regretted. It has always appeared to me,
that, on the one side and the other, there were statements that
would be admitted, while there were others that might be tire
subject of compromise and arrangement. The Russian Minister
maintained that Russia had, by certain treaties (especially by
the treaties of Kainardji and Adrianople) the right to expect that
the Christians in the Turkish territory would he protected; and
he declared at the same time, that Russia did not wish in any
manner to injure the independence or integrity of the Turkish
Empire. The Sultan’s Ministers, on their part, maintained
that it was their duty, above all things, to uphold the inde-
pendence of the Sultan, and to require that nothing should be
acceded to which would be injurious to his dignity or would
derogate from his rights ; but at the same time, they declared
that it was the intention of the Sultan to protect his Christian
subjects, and to maintain them in the rights and 'privileges
which they had enjoyed under the edicts of former Sultans.
Such being the statements on the two sides, I own it appears
to me that the withdrawal of the Russian mission from Con-
stantinople, accompanied as that measure was by the prepa-
ration of a large Russian force, both military and naval, on