treaty that existed between Russia and Turkey.  Turkey had given up Batoum, she had given up Kars and Ardahan, she had given up Bayazid.  In an examination of the question, then, we must remember that Russia at this moment, so far as Europe is concerned, has acquired in Europe nothing but a very small portion of territory, occupied by 130,000 inhabitants.  Well, she naturally expected to find some reward in her conquests in Armenia for the sacrifices which she had made.  Well, my Lords, consider what those conquests are.  There was the strong fort of Kars.  We might have gone to war with Russia in order to prevent her acquiring Kars and Batoum, and other places of less importance.  The war would not have been, probably, a very short war.  It would have been a very expensive war—­and, like most wars, it would probably have ended in some compromise, and we should have got only half what we had struggled for.  Let us look these two considerable points fairly in the face.  Let us first of all take the great stronghold of Kars.  Three times has Russia captured Kars.  Three times, either by our influence or by other influences, it has been restored to Turkey.  Were we to go to war for Kars and restore it to Turkey, and then to wait till the next misunderstanding between Russia and Turkey, when Kars should have been taken again?  Was that an occasion of a casus belli?  I do not think your Lordships would ever sanction a war carried on for such an object and under such circumstances.

Then, my Lords, look at the case of Batoum, of which your Lordships have heard so much.  I should have been very glad if Batoum had remained in the possession of the Turks, on the general principle that the less we had reduced its territory in that particular portion of the globe, the better it would be as regards the prestige on which the influence of the Ottoman Porte much depends there.  But let us see what is this Batoum of which you have heard so much?  It is generally spoken of in society and in the world as if it were a sort of Portsmouth—­whereas, in reality, it should rather be compared with Cowes.  It will hold three considerable ships, and if it were packed like the London Docks, it might hold six; but in that case the danger, if the wind blew from the north, would be immense.  You cannot increase the port seaward; for though the water touching the shore is not absolutely fathomless, it is extremely deep, and you cannot make any artificial harbour or breakwater.  Unquestionably, in the interior the port might be increased, but it can only be increased by first-rate engineers, and by the expenditure of millions of capital; and if we were to calculate the completion of the port by the precedents which exist in many countries, and certainly in the Black Sea, it would not be completed under half a century.  Now is that a question for which England would be justified in going to war with Russia?  My Lords, we have, therefore, thought it advisable not to grudge Russia those conquests that have been made—­especially after obtaining the restoration of the town of Bayazid and its important district.