CHAPTER XII.

Lord Derby's Administration-Their difficulties - Dissolution of Parliament - Mr. Disraeli's Budget- Defeat of the Government-A Coalition Ministry-Its Members-Lord Aberdeen Premier-Mr. Gladstone's Financial Measures— Disputes between the Greek and Latin Monks respecting the Holy Places-Policy of France and of RussiaPrince Mentschikoff's Mission-Sir Stratford Canning's good offices as Mediator-Their success-Settlement of the Question of the Holy Places-Ulterior designs and demands of Russia-The Russian Embassy leaves Constantinople -Memorandum sent by the Czar to the British Cabinet-His conversations with Sir Hamilton Seymour-Count Nesselrode's Circular-Its mendacious character-The Czar's Manifesto-The Vienna Note-War declared against Russia by the Porte-Views of the four Great Powers-State of opinion in the British Ministry-Feeling of the People The Massacre of Sinope'-Its effect-Lord Palmerston's position-Mistaken notions of the Czar-The Peace Party-War declared by Great Britain and France-Their Treaty with the Porte.

ON the resignation of the Russell Ministry | said, 'the whole increase of the price falls Lord Derby was intrusted by the Queen on the consumer, but that is not the case with the task of forming another Adminis- when the article is partly of foreign and tration. Lord Palmerston declined the offer partly of home supply; and I will not of office on highly advantageous terms made shrink from declaring my opinion, that to him by the new Premier. The followers there is no reason why corn should be the of the late Sir Robert Peel also refused to solitary exception to the rule.' Earl Grey join a Ministry, the head of which talked at once protested against this doctrine, and of Free Trade as only an experiment that the Earl of Aberdeen declared that as the might be set aside if a new election should friend and colleague of Sir Robert Peel he enable him to do so. Lord Derby was would resist the attempt to impose any therefore obliged to form an Administra- duty whatever on corn, whether for revenue tion composed entirely of Protectionists, or protection. Mr. Disraeli, the leader of most of whom had no official training or the Ministry in the House of Commons, experience. Lord Palmerston described it was somewhat more guarded than his chief; as containing two men of merit-the Pre- and in reply to questions put to him on the mier and Mr. Disraeli, who was appointed subject, he stated that the Government did Chancellor of the Exchequer and a num- not intend to propose any return to the ber of ciphers. Lord Derby was a debater of Protective system during the present sesthe highest order, but he was no statesman; sion, nor at any future time, unless at the and at the outset he stated (27th February) new election, which he intimated would that the agriculturists were suffering from take place in autumn, a decided majority unequal taxation, and had a right to expect of members favourable to that policy should remedial measures. 'When the entire be returned to Parliament. supply of an article comes from abroad,' he

*It was termed in derision the 'Who-who Ministry,' in consequence of a question said to have been asked by the Duke of Wellington. Lord Derby was

mentioning to the Duke in the House of Lords the

names of his colleagues, and as each name was given, the Duke, who had clearly never before heard of them,

exclaimed, 'Who?' 'Who?' The conversation was overheard, and the story having gone about procured

for the new Cabinet the soubriquet of the Who-who Ministry. Lord Derby said to a political friend that the Ministry were all in a great mess, but 'Benjamin's mess (Disraeli's) was five times as much as that of his brethren.'

The Free-Trade party took the alarm at the Premier's announcement, and arrangements were at once made to resuscitate the Anti-Corn Law League, and to renew the agitation throughout the country, in case any serious attempt should be made by the new Ministry to reverse the FreeTrade policy which had been adopted by the Legislature.

As Lord Derby was in a minority in the House of Commons and held office merely

on sufferance, he brought forward only such | Government were still in a minority, and measures as were likely to meet with the when the Parliament reassembled in Noapproval of the House. A Militia Bill was vember they were compelled to give their introduced and passed with the assistance assent to a resolution, pledging the House of Lord Palmerston, in spite of the injudi- of Commons to the 'policy of unrestricted cious opposition of Lord John Russell, and competition firmly maintained and prua constitution was granted to the colony of dently extended.' They were only saved, New Zealand. Mr. Disraeli not having had by the interposition of Lord Palmerston, time, as he alleged, to make a complete re- from a kind of censure on those who had examination of the financial affairs of the hitherto failed to recognize its justice and country, a labour which he said he was importance. Mr. Disraeli's budget sealed quite willing to undertake if opportunity their fate. He proposed to make a reducwere afforded him, proposed to continue the tion of the malt tax, and a slight diminution system that was in operation when he of the duty on tea; and in order to supply and his colleagues came into office, and to the deficiency thus created in the revenue continue the income tax for another year. the house duty was to be doubled. The In the beginning of July Parliament was scheme was not satisfactory to either party. prorogued and then dissolved. The farmers, who expected something much more favourable to them, did not care about the reduction of the malt tax, while the project was vigorously opposed by the Liberals and Free Traders. The debate upon the budget, which was exceedingly keen as well as able, lasted four nights, and nearly all the leading members on both sides of the House took part in the discussion. It was understood that Mr. Disraeli, who rose late on the fourth night, was to close the debate; but he attacked so bitterly the leaders of the Opposition, and especially Sir Charles Wood, his predecessor in office, that Mr. Gladstone, who did not intend to take part in the debate, replied. This speech,' he exclaimed, 'must be answered, and answered at the moment. The new elections made no material The character of England is involved in change in the relative strength of the two that of her public men-the character of parties. Lord Palmerston wrote his brother: England is at stake.' After indignantly 'We have lost some good men in this repelling Mr. Disraeli's charges and invecnew Parliament-George Grey, Cardwell, tives, he ended a masterly analysis of the Mahon, Grenfell, and several others; but budget by describing it as based on printhen we have got rid of some bad ones- ciples against which all true Conservatives George Thompson, Urquhart, and the like.' stood pledged. The defeat of the budget, Lord Palmerston omitted to mention that by a majority of 305 to 286, was followed the electors of Edinburgh had spontaneously by the immediate resignation of the returned Macaulay to the seat from which Ministry. they had ejected him in 1847. Mr. Robert Lowe was returned for the first time to the House of Commons at this election. The

The Government were placed in a very awkward position. On the one hand the great body of their supporters confidently expected that they would propose to restore at least some portion of the abolished Protective duties on corn, while it speedily became evident that any such attempt would prove fatal to the existence of the Ministry. They were, therefore, obliged to speak with two voices.' Mr. Disraeli deprecated the idea of returning to an 'exploded policy,' while on the other hand several of his colleagues and leading members of the party expressed their belief that Lord Derby would procure for the agriculturists the restoration of the system of Protection.

In the prospect of this result the leaders of the Liberal party had for some time. been making arrangements for a new Ad

The new Administration set to work vigorously to carry out the various domestic reforms which the Premier announced in the House of Lords when he entered upon the duties of his office. The abatement of the smoke nuisance in the metropolis, the cessation of intramural interments, the extension of the Factory Acts, the institution of the somewhat hazardous ticket-ofleave system, were among the improvements adopted in home affairs; while a bill was passed modifying and improving the

ministration. Lord Palmerston wrote to | Seal; and the Marquis of Lansdowne, who his brother John Russell clings perti- occupied a seat in the Cabinet without naciously to his former position of Prime office. Minister, and will not serve under any other chief. On the other hand, the Whig and Liberal party have greatly lost confidence in his capacity as a leader, and he would find it very difficult to form such a Government as would be strong enough to stand. I do not think the Peelites would join him. I certainly would not serve under him again, though I might serve with him under a third person.' This was the arrangement which was ultimately carried into effect. Lord Aberdeen was charged with the formation of a new government of India, and an important Government. He at once sought the cooperation of Lord Palmerston, and offered him carte blanche as to departments. The ex-Foreign Secretary at first declined the flattering offer, on the ground that he was unwilling to share the responsibility of a The great financial abilities of the new Cabinet of whose foreign policy he might Chancellor of the Exchequer were previprobably disapprove. But he was indis-ously known to his political associates, but pensable. The venerable Marquis of Lansdowne, in whom he had great confidence, urged him strongly to join the Government; and learning that the Foreign Office would be intrusted either to Lord John Russell or to Lord Clarendon, who had both concurred in his policy, he yielded to Lord Lansdowne's advice, and accepted the office of Secretary for Home affairs, which was his own choice.

measure dealing with the clergy reserves of Canada, in accordance with the recommendation of the Colonial Legislature, was carried through both Houses after a keen discussion and contest.

he now for the first time had an opportunity of displaying them before the public. His budget, which was brought forward on the 18th of April, was a masterpiece both for its principles and the lucid manner in which they were expounded and applied. His financial statement - certainly the ablest and most closely reasoned which had ever been laid before the HouseThe new Government combined almost occupied five hours in the delivery, and all the men of talent and experience in the was listened to from its commencement to House of Commons except Disraeli. Glad- its close with marked attention and unstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer; flagging interest. While he and his Lord John Russell, Foreign Secretary; Sir colleagues, he said, had sought to do James Graham, First Lord of the Admir- justice to the great labouring community alty; Mr. Sidney Herbert, Secretary at of the United Kingdom, by furthering War; Sir Charles Wood, President of their relief from indirect taxation, they the Board of Control; and Sir William had not been guided by any desire to Molesworth, First Commissioner of Public Works while in the House of Lords the Ministry was represented by the Premier, Lord Aberdeen; Lord Cranworth, the Lord Chancellor; the Duke of Newcastle, Colonial Secretary; Earl Granville, President of the Council; the Duke of Argyll, Lord Privy

put one class against another; and had felt that they should best maintain their own honour, and meet the views of Parliament, and promote the interests of the country, by declining to draw any invidious distinction between class and class, and by adopting it as a sacred aim

rated in the Legislature was being carried out by his favourite pupil with a bold originality of conception, and a felicity and eloquence of diction which secured its complete success.

The Ministry were strong, both by the great ability and experience of its members and the confidence of the nation. The agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of the country were flourishing in almost every department, the revenue was good and increasing, and the nation seemed to be entering on a period of great prosperity and progress. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was believed to have inaugurated a period of unbroken peace; but this fair prospect was suddenly overcast by a dark cloud which had arisen in the East. At first no bigger than a man's hand, it ultimately covered the whole horizon, and was fated to burst eventually into a fierce and sanguinary war between Russia and Turkey supported by France and Britain.

to diffuse and distribute the burdens with | by a master-hand; and that the Free-Trade equal and impartial hand. In accordance policy which Sir Robert Peel had inauguwith this declaration he brought forward his 'Succession Duty,' which boldly announced and successfully carried out the principle that all classes are henceforth to be regarded as equal in the eye of the law, and that the feudal immunities of the landed proprietors were to be at an end. The abolition of the Corn Laws had declared that no taxes should henceforth be levied for the benefit of a section of the community. The Succession Duty declared the logical converse, that no portion of the community able to contribute should be exempt from taxation. What the Succession Duty declared with respect to classes the extension of the Income Tax to the Irish people ratified with regard to countries, and put an end to the unfair exemption previously enjoyed by the richer classes in Ireland. At the same time the duties on soap were entirely abolished. A uniform penny receipt stamp was substituted for stamps varying according to the sum received. The duty on apprenticeship was lowered from 20s. to 2s. 6d., and on advertisements from 1s. 6d. to 6d. Reductions were made altogether on 133 articles, including tea, horses, dogs, solicitors' certificates, and articles of apprenticeship, on hackney and other carriages, &c.-amounting in the aggregate to £5,384,000.

It arose out of a trumpery squabble between the Latin and the Greek monks respecting the Holy Places in Palestine. The Russian Czar was the protector of the Greek Church, and the kings of France had long been the patrons of the Latin Church, and supported its claims. France had in 1740 obtained from the Sultan certain Mr. Gladstone's elaborate and magnificent Articles or 'Capitulations,' securing to the financial scheme was received with extra- Latin Church in Palestine various privileges ordinary approbation both by the House in connection with the Holy Shrine; but and by the country, and the various parts for a considerable time no pains had been of it were considered and discussed in the taken to assert the rights thus conceded to most painstaking manner. His proposals them by the Porte. Meanwhile the Greeks, were, almost as a matter of course, opposed supported by Russia, had obtained several by the leader of the Protectionists, on the firmans that had been long acquiesced in, plea that they were conceived in a spirit of granting them advantages which infringed injustice to the land, but they were sup- on the Latin Capitulations, and led to ported by a large majority in the House; incessant disputes and the most disgraceful and 'wafted forward by a favourable breeze conflicts between the Latins and Greeks. of popular confidence,' they were carried In 1847 an event occurred which inflamed triumphantly over all opposition. It was still further their mutual animosity. A felt by all classes throughout the country silver star suspended in the sanctuary, and that its financial operations were directed | claimed by the Latins, marked the supposed

the shrine of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Gethsemane; and to have a cupboard and a lamp in her tomb. The cause of the Greek monks was of course zealously supported by Russia, and the Russian Envoy strenuously insisted that the firmans in their favour should remain in force. There is no reason to suppose that the rival Governments cared anything about such a miserable squabble, but it became a test of pre-eminent influence at the Ottoman Court, and both parties felt that they could not

power. The Sultan and his advisers were perfectly indifferent as to the point in dispute, but were afraid to offend either of the powerful rivals. They did what lay in their power to please both, and, as might have been expected, ended by giving satisfaction to neither party. Lord Palmerston tried to throw oil on the troubled waters, and remonstrated, not without some effect, with the French Government respecting the imperious conduct and the violent and menacing language of their ambassador at the Ottoman Court.

spot of the Saviour's birth. On the 1st of November it was secretly removed, as was alleged, by the Greeks. Complaint of the outrage was made to M. de Lavallette, the French ambassador at Constantinople, a man of an intriguing and ambitious character, who availed himself of the opportunity to reopen the whole question concerning the Holy Places, and to demand that the grants to the Latin Church should be strictly executed. This, however, was impossible without annulling some of the privileges which the Greek Church had long enjoyed. yield without a loss of prestige and of Lord John Russell wrote to the British ambassador at Paris, 'that Her Majesty's Government cannot avoid perceiving that the ambassador of France at Constantinople was the first to disturb the status quo in which the matter rested. Not that the disputes of the Latin and Greek Churches were not very active, but without some political action on the part of France these quarrels would never have troubled the relations of friendly powers. If report is to be believed, the French ambassador was the first to speak of having recourse to force, and to threaten the intervention of a French fleet to enforce the demands of his country.' Louis Napoleon, who had just succeeded in obtaining the Imperial dignity, was anxious to divert the attention of Frenchmen from their domestic thraldom to some stroke of foreign policy that might gratify their national vanity; and the controversy between the Latin and the Greek monks in the East seemed to afford him an opportunity of exerting his influence in behalf of the Church of the West without incurring much risk or responsibility.

The main object of dispute was the possession of the key of the great door of the Church at Bethlehem, which was claimed by the Latin monks, along with one of the keys of each of the two doors of the sacred manger. They also contended for the right to replace a silver star, adorned with the arms of France, in the grotto in which it was alleged that the Saviour was born; to worship once a year at

The ulterior designs of the Russian Czar, however, went far beyond any question connected with the Holy Places, and he resolved to avail himself of the opportunity thus afforded him to obtain from the Porte not only a satisfactory settlement of the points in dispute, but to extort from him enlarged authority over the Greek Christians in Turkey. With this view he despatched as his ambassador-extraordinary to Constantinople Prince Mentschikoff, a nobleman of high rank belonging to the old Russian party, fierce and imperious in his character, and rough in his manners, to enforce his demands. At the same time, with a view of striking terror into the Sultan and his Ministers, the Russian fleet was manned and victualled for sea, and a powerful body of troops was collected in Bessarabia.

The ambassador made his entry into Constantinople with great pomp, accompanied by a general officer, an admiral, and