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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 74.: Commodore Wiseman and the Turkish Navy [1] 16 JULY, 1867 - The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXVIII The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXVIII - Public and Parliamentary Speeches Part I November 1850 - November 1868

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Subject Area: Political Theory
Collection: The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill

74.: Commodore Wiseman and the Turkish Navy [1] 16 JULY, 1867 - John Stuart Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXVIII The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXVIII - Public and Parliamentary Speeches Part I November 1850 - November 1868 [1850]

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The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXVIII - Public and Parliamentary Speeches Part I November 1850 - November 1868, ed. John M. Robson and Bruce L. Kinzer (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988).

Part of: Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, in 33 vols.

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74.

Commodore Wiseman and the Turkish Navy [1]

16 JULY, 1867

PD, 3rd ser., Vol. 188, cols. 1621, 1622. Reported in The Times, 17 July, p. 6.

mr. j. stuart mill said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is true that Commodore Sir William Wiseman1 has been appointed head of the Naval Council to the Turkish Government, for the purpose of re-organizing the Turkish navy; if so, whether that Officer has previously retired from Her Majesty’s service; and, if not, whether the lending of British Officers to the Porte for such a purpose, in the very crisis of the Cretan insurrection,2 is, in the opinion of Her Majesty’s Government, consistent with their declared principle of non-intervention?3

Lord Stanley: In answer to the Question of the honourable Member I beg to state that when the sanction of Her Majesty’s Government was given to a British officer being employed to assist in the re-organization of the Turkish navy—following a course for which there are various precedents—it was my belief that long before that appointment could take effect this Cretan business would have been settled one way or the other. As that is not the case, I have since that time agreed with my right honourable Friend at the head of the Admiralty and the Turkish Government that this appointment should not be cancelled, but suspended for a time.

Mr. J. Stuart Mill: Am I to understand from the noble Lord’s Answer that Sir William Wiseman will not proceed to Turkey and will not take any charge in this business as long as the hostilities continue?

Lord Stanley: At any rate he will not proceed at present. The appointment has been suspended.

[1 ]William Saltonstall Wiseman (1814–74), K.C.B., had spent his full career in the Royal Navy.

[2 ]In 1866 an insurrection in Crete against the Turkish rulers had broken out over long-standing issues of equality between Christians and Muslims. The Turks were engaged in a prolonged attempt to put down the rebellion, and the Sultan had arrived in England on 12 July, presumably seeking British support.

[3 ]See Stanley, Speech on Turkey and Crete (28 Mar., 1867), PD, 3rd ser., Vol. 186, col. 724.