The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-01 00:00:00

JULY 1, 1854. 21th, with the view of overtaking the Russian squadron in the Japan waters. Her Majesty's ships Sybille, Lily, and Rapid, were at Singapore on the 15th of May for the protection of the place. THE WAR ON THE DANUBE. The siege of Silistria, which was " suspended " on the 16th, when the Turkish garrison drove the Rus sian army from their entrenchments, was raised " by superior order " on the 22nd ult. The besieging troops retired to Kusgar, but speedily evacuated that place also, in accordance with the general retrograde movement made by the whole Russian army in the principalities. A last incident of the siege of Silis tria is reported from Constantinople. Three thou sand Bashi-Bazouks, who had taken a Russian out post, had been attacked by a Russian force triple their number. After a desperate struggle, 1,500 of them were killed, Asham Bey among them. The Russians lost 1,400. From Kalarasch on the 20th ult. it is stated that a violent storm destroyed the poutcon bridge while 500 Russian artillerymen, with their guns and ammuni tion, were on it. They were all lost. The Russian General Schilders, who was wounded before Silistria, died on the 27th, after undergoing two amputations. The fact that the Russians are rapidly retreating ou all sides from their advanced posts towards the Turkish frontier is fully confirmed. All the Danu• bian islands have been already abandoned, and Wal lachia almost, if not completely, evacuated. Nor does the retreat from that principality seem considered a temporary measure. "By superior order," the archives, the public treasury, the Wallachian Officials and militia, will have to follow the movement. The Russians also take with them the horses, oxen, wheat, and everything moveable on which they can lay their hands, leaving behind nothing but their wretched paper money. The Dobrudscha is also to be abandoned. Mehmed Pacha, at the head of 20,000 men, advanced from Berchtikoi to Trajan's Wall, in the direction of Karassu, in order to relieve Bassowa. The Russians had already begun to transport their heavy artillery from the right to the left bank of the Danube. The division of General Liprandi, which was on the frontiers of Transylvania, was retreating towards Fokschs.ni. The headquarters of General Luders' division has been removed to Czernawoda. When this retrograde movement is to occur appears a mat ter of much doubt. Some accounts state that the Russians will withdraw within their own frontiers. From Vienna it is reported that, although Marshal Paskiewitsch has abandoned all idea of being able to retain possession of a single inch of Wallachia, he still hopes to maintain himself on the line of the Lower Danube, adjoining Bessarabia, and behind the Pruth towards Moldavia. The German papers ap pear to doubt if the Russians, in evacuating Walla chia, will evacuate Moldavia also ; but, if the active hostilities of Austria are to depend on the immediate evacuation of both provinces, it is almost certain that the Czar, in pursuance of his usual policy, will abandon oldavia, to show his respect for the wishes of Austria. The following appears in the Mopiteur :—" Frontiers of Galicia, June 18.—It can no longer be doubted that Russia is sending considerable masses of troops towards the Austrian frontiers. There is no town in the government of Kiew which has not a garrison. Three regiments of Guards, just arrived at Kiew, have received orders to march towards the frontier of Galicia. A camp is in course of formation near Dubner." The accounts in the Patrie from the Baltic and Black Sea affirm that the hospitals ate full of Russian sailors suffering from physical fatigue and mental depression—the former arising from having been kept incessantly on the watch for the enemy—the latter at not being allowed to come out of their hiding-places to face the foe. A conspiracy has been discovered in the Russian garrison of Caraberg, and a number of officers have been sent to Siberia. CIRCASSIA AND ASIA. Schstmyl Bey is again about to attack the Russians. He has seized the Caucasus road, and is said to meditate an attack on Tiflis with a force of 20,000 men. The expedition of Sir E. Lyons to the coast has had a great moral effect, and the inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Black Sea are looking forward to great changes from the war in which their oppressors are engaged. The Russians in Asia are purely on the defensive. Letters from Kars, bearing date of the :10th of May, state that a Circassian army corps, chiefly composed of Russian deserters, had completely routed a Russian division, from 14,000 to 15,000 strong, near a place called Kiresch. 2,000 Russians were slain on the field of battle, and three guns captured. Emur Emin, the leader of the victorious troops, closely pursued the fugitive Russians, and few of them arc said to have escaped the general massacre. THE PRESS. THE TREATY OF ADRIANOPLE. k COPY of Lord Aberdeen's despatch to Count Nessel rode on the definitive treaty of peace between Russia and Turkey concluded at Adrianople ou the 14th of Sept., 1829, has been laid before Parliament. The despatch is dated 31st Oct., 1829, Lord Aberdeen being then Forcign Secretary in the Duke of Welling ton's Government. The document is chiefly of im portance just now as showing that twenty-five years ago the aggressive policy of the Russian Government, and the falsehood of its professions, were thoroughly well understood by Lord Aberdeen. The despatch first notices the receipt of a copy of the treaty, with a manifesto of the Russian Cabinet, and a circular despatch from Count Nesselrode, dated October 4. These papers, it is said, have engaged the serious attention of his Majesty's Government, and, as th4 k consequences of the transaction to which they refer are various and important, it is necessary that his Majesty should with frankness and sincerity communicate his sentiments on the treaty of Adrian ople. At the commencement of the war the British Government, it is stated, "without pronouncing any opinion respecting the justice of the war, expressed their conviction that the most com plete success in the justest cause would not entitle the stronger party to demand from the weaker sacrifices which would affect its political existence, or would infringe upon that state of territorial possession upon which the general peace had rested." On the part of Russia, his Imperial Majesty " renounced all projects of conquest and ambition. His Im perial Majesty frequently repeated that, so far from desiring the destruction of the Turkish empire, he was most anxious for its preservation. He promised that no amount of indem nity should be exacted which could affect its political ex istence ; and he declared that this policy was not the result of romantic notions of generosity, or of the vain desire of glory, but that it originated in the true interests of the Russian empire, in which interests, well understood, and in his own solemn yruntiees, would be found the best pledges of his moderation." Even if Divine Providence decreed the termination of the Ottoman power, " his Imperial Majesty was still determined not to extend the limits of his own dominions, and he only demanded from his allies the same absence of all selfish and ambitious views, of which he would himself give the first example." The despatch asks : " Does the treaty of Adrianople place the Porte in • situation corresponding with the expectations raised by these assurances ? The answer must be left to the judg ment of Europe ; it might be left to the dispassionate judg ment of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg." In the opinion of the British Government, the treaty in question, certainly not in conformity with the expectations held out by preceding declarations and as surances, appears vitally to affect the interests, the strength, the dignity, the present safety, and future independence of the Ottoman empire." The conditions of the treaty are then examined point by point to establish this view of their character. Russia bad acquired most important territorial acquisitions : " Under the present treaty the territorial acquisitions of Russia are small, it must be admitted, in extent, although most important in their character. They are commanding positions, far more valuable than the posses- sion of barren provinces and depopulated towns, and better calculated to rivet the fetters by which the Sultan is bound. " The cession of the Asiatic fortresses, with their neigh bouring districts, not only secures to Russia the uninter rupted occupation of the eastern coast of the Black Sea, but places her in a situation so commanding as to control at pleasure the destiny of Asia Minor. Prominently advanced into the centre of Armenia, in the midst of a Christian population, Russia holds the keys both of the Persian and the Turkish provinces ; and, whether she may be disposed to extend her conquests to the east or to the west, to Teheran or to Consi.tultinople, no serious obstacle can arrest her progress." Turkey was greatly weakened by the virtual aliena tion of a considerable portion of her territory : " In Europe the principalities of Wallachia and Molds. via are rendered virtually independent of the Porte. • A tribute is, indeed, to be paid to the Sultan, which he has no means of enforcing except by the permission and even the assistance of Russia herself; and a prince, elected for life, is to demand investiture which cannot be withheld. The Mussulman inhabitants are to be forcibly expelled from the territory. The ancient right of pre-emption is abolished ; and the supplies indispensable for Constantinople, for the Turkish arsenals, and for the fortresses are entirely cut off. The most important fortresses upon the Danube are to be razed, and the frontier left exposed and unprotected against incursions which at any future time may be at tempted " With regard to the Danube : " It is sufficient to observe of the stipulations respecting the islands of the Danube that their effect must be to place the control of the navigation and commerce of that river exclusively in the hands of Russia." By the independence of Servia, Turkey would be surrounded with a circle of hostile States : " Servia, by the incorporation of the six districts referred to in the treaty, is erected into an independent and power• ful State ; and, when the allied powers shall have finally 609 decided upon the character of the government, and the limits to be assigned to Greece, the circle will be com pleted of territories nominally dependent or tributary, but which must be animated with the most hostile spirit ; and the recognition of which by the powers of Europe is scarcely compatible with the security, perhaps not with the existence, of the Turkish empire." The privileges secured to Russian subjects would be inconsistent with the independent sovereignty of the Porte : " The commercial privileges and personal immunities which are secured by the treaty to the subjects of Russia appear to be at variance with any notion we are able to form of the authority of a sovereign and independent prince. . . . What reasonable prospect of ' eternal peace, friendship, and good understanding' can be afforded by an instrument which contains a special provision, making the calamities of war almost dependent upon the capricious extortion of a Turkish °dicer, or the unautho rised arrogance of a Russian trader? " The seventh article of the treaty, relating to the navigation of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, is described as utterly subversive of the independence of tl e Ottoman power : " This article stipulates that merchant vessels of all nations, without any restriction of size or tonnage, shall be admitted to pass freely through the Straits of the Dard anelles end the Bosphorus. The right of visit on the part of the Turkish Government is expressly excluded. This provision not only deprives the Porte of the exercise of a right in its own waters, inherent in the very nature of in dependent sovereignty, but it also destroys a neceskary protection against the effects of foreign hostility or domes tic treachery. The power of marching a Russian army, at any moment, through any part of the Turkish territory, without the permission of the Government, could not be more degrading or more dangerous." The stipulations of this article are examined in detail, the conclusion from them being that they " are inconsistent with the desire of his Imperial Ma jesty to preserve the independence of the l'urkish empire." On the proposed " pecuniary burden upon the Ottoman Porte, as a com pensation and au indemnity for the expenses of the war," an appeal is made to the generosity of the Emperor to diminish the amount stipulated, as to exact it might prove the ruin of the Turkish power : " The real situation of the Turkish power is too obvious to escape the most common observation. The Sultan is surrounded by independent States formed out of his own territories, and with the great mass of the European popu lation of his empire anxiously waiting for the moment when they may profit by this example, and shake off his do minion altogether. Defeated and reduced to the lowest degree of humiliation, he has retained his throne and po litical existence by the mercy of his conqueror. The disaf fection of his Mahomedan subjects of all ranks, whether produced by repeated disgrace or the effect of a gradual change, long since in operation, has become general. In this cuudition, with a broken authority and exhausted re sources, he is called upon to provide for the indemnity which is exacted from him. In what manner is the Sultan to relieve himself from this burden, and by whom must the sacrifices principally be made ? if the Turkish Government be still permitted to act at all as an independent power, it is clear that the necessary sinus must be raised by fresh impositions upon the people, and by such means as are authorised by the law and customs of the empire. It is equally certain that the Christian subjects of the Porte must largely contribute to furnish these supplies. Com pliance with the demands of the Government will be diffi cult, but the urgency of the case will justify severity. Re sistance may be attempted ; if successful, leadiug to gene ral confusion and revolt ; if otherwise, spoliation and oppression will follow. At all events new scenes of cala mity will be opened calculated to frustrate the admitted objects of his Imperial Majesty, and fatally destructive both to the independence of the Porte and to the happiness and prosperity of the Christian subjects of the empire." This gloomy representation of the state of the Turkish empire is sufficient to justify, it is said, " some anxiety on the part of these powers, who have always felt a deep interest in the preservation of the system of the European balance established by the treaty of Paris and at the Congress of Vienna. This anxiety must be greatly increased when, in addition to the unavoidable weakness and prostration of the Turkish power, it is found that fresh causes are brought into action which are ob viously calculated to hasteu and ensure its utter dissolu• tion." The practical conclusion drawn from this exami nation of the treaty, and from the alarm which it must excite, is, that " it is only by a frank and cordial desire on the part of his Imperial Majesty to remove all reasonable grounds of sus picion and apprehension—it is only by a sincere endeavour in conjunction with his allies to confirm and perpetuate the repose which has hitherto been enjoyed, and by making this the main object of European policy, that we shall be enabled to avert the threatened dangers." The despatch closes with a statement that " the sentiments of his Majesty are expressed without reserve, hut with cordial and friendly feelings. They are expressed, too, without previous concert or communication with any other power whatsoever." THE DUCHESS OF 1, the Marchioness of Ailesbury, the Countess of Jersey, and a large, num • ber of peeresses, were present in the gallery of the House of Lords on Monday evening to hear Lord Aberdeen's self-exculpation. -`~~..