The Press. — London, England, 1853-09-10 00:00:00

- wiwri b t 1 1 4 / t No. 19.—VoL. I. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1853. PRICE SIXPENCE. eluded from testing by the officious restraint of their sympathetic cautions. It is the diffi culty of a man not only cheated and bullied, but bounetted by the friends who have ad vised him in his game. He is rifled without option, or the opportunity of striking a blow. The detriment which the Sultan would be forced to sustain is completely shown iu the explanation given of the first and third of his five requisitions. He does not distinguish the fifth as explicitly, because it applies to a fur ther phase of the same grievance ; and for this he is taunted by the Ministerial organ as con tenting himself with a weaker statement of his ease than has been made in his behalf by our selves and our contemporaries. The Ministerial bungler at the same time admits that the Sultan's statement is likely to preclude a pa cific solution : that is to say, though falling short of what it might have been, it discovers too large an instalment of his wrongs for Rus sia's pretended equity to meet, or for our own faltering, treacherous policy to vindicate. Since the grave intelligence that Turkey re quires as an indispensable security that cor tarn modifications should be made in the Vienna note, so Cabinet Council has been called. The fate of Europe has been left to the tea table discussions of a party of four gentlemen, touieui!ly discordant. Mr. G LAI:4I'O2M and the of NEWCASTLE being left to their diver sions, their particular organ very natuplly employs itself in endeavouring to Bathe. the destiny of Enfland from the casual eitpres sions of Russian tourists. And, while the English Divan, with less than half its comple ment, is holding its conversaziones on a crisis eminently perilous, the season is advancing with all its physical incidents. Russia must either abandon her pretensions or advance, and the English and French fleets must retire from Besika Bay, or, for their own protection, enter the Dardanelles. While a drivelling cre dulity is thumbing its almanac, the elements themselves propel the issue—whether peace or war ? In the meantime we are amazed at the hope less obloquy with *hi& the conduct of BR nisters is surfeit* even their panders and pirasiteg among the nempaper interest of Lon don. What has become of the statements of only last week? Have the four Powers " afforded their strongest support to the Turk " ish modifications in their communications " with the Russian Government? " and is the organ which announced this fact now enjoined to say that, if these modifi cations are rejected, and the occupa tion of the provinces is thereupon re sisted, the defenders of their own territories " must abide by the consequences of their " violence," while our Government " would be " entirely at liberty to deal as they might " think fit with this altered state of affairs"? The first was the lain s udge of the Times last week, and the second is the language of the Times of Tuesday. The " strongest support " which we are offering to Turkey resolves itself into a determination candidly announced for the benefit not only of Turkey, but of Russia — that if the modifications are refused, and she dares to defend herself, we may very strenuouftly and consistently abandon her. We can hay without affectation (and our juvenile pretenAions may need such a dis claimer) that we are above a controversy with the Times, if an opportunity were offered us. There are big as well as little flies on the wheel tip Vrtss. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 18153. THE letter of the Turkish Government to the 'four Powers justifying its modifications of the Vienna note /14 now published, and may be said to throw one more ray of light on the complicated disgrace of our Eastern policy, and to prepare us for its climax of imminent confusion. While we await with decorous and approved terror the final fiat of the Russian Emperor, we may estimate our position and the steps by which we have reached it. The authors of the Vienna note, as the Sultan complains, have not chosen to con sider his own proposal to put an end to existing differences. They did not consult his Ambassador at Vienna with respect to the proposals which they did adopt, and they ascertained that these would be accepted by the Czar before they obtained information of the views of the Porte. It would, moreover, re quire a keener discrimination than we possess to decide in what the terms they offered dif fered from those required by Prince MINEICRI xont ; but the Sultan does not avail himself of these injuries and indignities, but confines his explanation to his guarantees for the future. He is grateful, of course, to the pro. tating Powers, and it is repugnant to him to hesitate where they are agreed ; but as his Government " had been declared at the coin " meueement of the affair the only competsgst " judge of questions touching its rights and " independence," from the circumstances we have stated, as he considerately expresses it, he " finds himself placed in a difficult position." His difficulty is that which we explained last week, that the Vienna note was so care lessly &tuned as to surrender to Russia the very objects it contended for—that it recog nised her right to concern herself with his sub jects, and assigned to its exercise no other limits than the conventions and agreements which he may have made with other powers for the protection of their subjects when resi dent in his territories. This difficulty is summarily and clearly stated in the following paragraph of the Sultan's letter To afford the Government of Russia grounds for pre tending to exercise a right of surveillance and interven tion in such matters, by strengthening by new engage ments the religious identity already subsisting between a great community of the subjects of the Sublime Porte and a foreign power, would be in some measure to share the Sovereign's rights and endanger the independence of the empire. It is. therefore, utterly impossible for the Go vernment of his Majesty the Sultan to give its consent thereto, unless compelled to do so." (Sans y furci.) The difficulty is precisely the difficulty of surrendering, at the request of certain by • standees, professedly sympathetic , the rights of which a ruffian is seeking to rob you, but whose ability to rob you you have been pre of fortune, and they whirl by us with an undis puted title, as far as we are concerned, to their full share of the incidental dust. It is not to a journal which has espoused every side, advo cated every measure, and alternately de. nouneed and apologised for ever) , turn in the scale of events, that we would offer au excuse for a pretended condescension. But, attri buting to the real actors in this disgraceful drama the declarations they have inspired, we reeal the vauntings that " England will never permit such wanton aggression "—" The people of England will never suffer such unprinci pled infringement on the rights of our ancient ally ;" and we read these delusive eneourage ments of Turkey by the light of a deception all but admitted, and a pusillanimity which trem bles at the issue it has provoked. Beyond the press, and beyond even the Ministry, there is a power which is answerable for this climax of poltroonery—the power of a jealous but incapable democracy. it may or may not be true that Lord ASISDEIN solic i ted from Mr. COBDICN the support of a " peace mi• tation" in favour of his policy ; but it is true that he and almost all his colleagues have not the courage to take one patriotic resolve in defiance both of the platform and the Atoek Exchange. It is now that the generous sec tion of the Democrats themselves feel the want of that high spirit of the gentlemen of England which they combined to outclamour, and lampoon, and sequester. " The whirligig of Time," as the clown has it, " brings in its revenges." But theip , are melancholy and humiliating to them and to all of us. We behold the peace of Europe and the balance of Empire at the mercy of demi-savage and fanatical hordes. We see the tracing of the first hostile parallel as against our Indian do. minion ; and, waiting while Asaanass is sup ping his candle, our only compensation is the interruption of his plans for aggrandising the power of that very democracy which has made us so weak and him so contemptible. MR. GLADSTONE AS A FINANCIER. Ws have no means of ascertaining whether there be any truth in the following paragraph printed in the money article of the non on Wednesday last : " Notwithstanding the dossession in the Stook Market, Ezeheivier Ms mesh' at Is. &smut to la. pagssa, but an impress's. is isinerisimail that the Chamsdler of the F:schequar.ia order to sustain the Moe. sasses dim to be pishi am GOVlChaffllt assoust, in ths abssess of any funds ismodiately available kr that by the proceeds of asks of Three per Cent 8 OD account al wimp banks." The commercial intelligence of the tunas Is, we are bound to say, generally correct, and the above statement does undoubtedly receive some confirmation from the fact that Exche quer Bills remain unaltered in price, while many securities of other descriptions are drooping. But we nevertheless think it quite impossible that any Finance Minister would venture on much an operation as is hero attri• buted to Mr. 0 IMMTONE, as it would evidently result in serious loss to the Exchequer, and might probably endanger public credit. The present interest on Exchequer Bills is little more than one and shalt* per cent., and therefore to convert Three per Cent. Stook into those securities would involve a loss of just one half the ineome which the stock at prevent produces. 'nitre would, besides, ki