V
The contents of the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi were published in the Morning Herald of August 21, 1833. On August 24, Sir Robert Inglis asked Lord Palmerston, in the House of Commons,
"whether there really had been concluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, between Russia and Turkey? He hoped that the noble lord would be prepared, before the prorogation of Parliament, to lay before the House, not only the treaties that had been made, but all communications connected with the formation of those treaties between Turkey and Russia." Lord Palmerston answered that "when they were sure that such a treaty as that alluded to really did exist, and when they were in possession of that treaty, it would then be for them to determine what was the course of policy they ought to pursue. … It could be no blame to him if the newspapers were sometimes beforehand with the Government."—(House of Commons, August 24, 1833.)
Seven months afterwards, he assures the House that
"it was perfectly impossible that the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, not to be ratified at Constantinople until the month of September, should have been officially known to him in August."—(House of Commons, March 17, 1834.)
He did know the treaty, in August, but not officially.
"The British Government was surprised to find that when the Russian troops quitted the Bosphorus, they carried that treaty with them."—(Lord Palmerston, House of Commons, March 1,1848.)
Yes, the noble lord was in possession of the treaty before it had been concluded.
