loan to Prince Otho had been guaranteed for a considerable
time, and yet the House had not been called upon to
ratify the treaty; and the reason assigned by the
noble lord for this delay was, that Government wished
first to lay upon the table of the House every protocol
connected with the negotiations. If Ministers
pursued this conduct with respect to the Greek loan,
why did they call upon the House to sanction the proposed
arrangement with respect to Russia, without information?
It might be said that the money was now due, but it
had been due in July, and was not then paid.
No further payment would be due until January, by
which time, in all probability, pending negotiations
would be brought to a close. Why, then, force
the House now to express an opinion? He could
not conceive what answer could be made to this question,
in a parliamentary point of view. Was there ever
an instance in which Parliament had been called upon
to vote public money, arising out of negotiations,
whilst they were yet pending? During the time
these negotiations had been carried on, he and his
friends had abstained from expressing any opinion concerning
them, and had brought forward no motion calculated
to embarrass the Government. And yet, before
the negotiations were concluded, the Government called
upon the House to vote the money. He made no
objection to the amount. He did not deny that
his impression was that there might be good and sufficient
reason for the payment of this money, although it
was not to be found on the face of the treaty; but
he contended that it was contrary to all parliamentary
custom to call upon the House to pronounce an opinion
on the subject before it was put into possession of
any information. The object of the arrangement
professedly was, to induce Russia to unite her policy
with ours, to preserve the balance of power and the
peace of Europe. He asked whether the measures
which Ministers were pursuing were likely to preserve
the peace of Europe? In the second article of
the treaty, now upon the table, Russia engaged, if
the arrangements at present agreed upon should be
endangered, not to enter into other arrangements without
the concurrence of England. The arrangements were
in danger at the present moment. Negotiations,
it might be said, were yet pending; but, if that were
a complete answer against the giving of information,
it was also complete against calling upon the House
to vote the money. Had the ratifications of the
treaties of 1831 been accompanied by any reserve?
If so, ought this important point to be concealed?
In the whole of Europe the English House of Commons
was the only place where no information was to be
obtained on these points. Communications had
been made to the Chambers of Holland and Belgium; every
foreign newspaper had contained authentic copies of
documents which were most important in explaining
the policy pursued at different periods of the negotiations;
the House of Commons, however, possessed not a tittle