The Press. — London, England, 1853-09-17 00:00:00

6 - k A /., -orazie'fidyg-t j i : -y larie-7- , , , } ■ ~. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1853. No. 20.—VoL. I. PRICE SIXPENCE. t4t Vress. LOWDON, sArmar. BitrlinfßLß lt, 18M. Tax sumer of the Czar to the recommenda tion of the Vienna Conference that he should accept the mo►lifications of the note proposed by the Porte has at length been received. He positively refuses to concede thiwe conditions which the Sultan has positively stated he cannot and will not dispense with. The la bours of the Conference have therefore come to nothing, and the prospect of a pacific so lution of the difficulty is more distant now than at any time since the crisis began. We are assured that our Ministers are not discouraged. " Nothing has occurred to affect " the substantial limits of the ►case * * the '• question remains precisely as before," writes one of their organs of yesterday ; " the only " fresh intelligence is favourable to peace," says another ; while a third insinuates that " there is no new reason to prevent Russia " from acquiescing in a peaceful settlement of " the quarrel." We are told that " the dis " pute has already been reduced to a question " of forin," though the facts before the writer's eyes compel him to admit that "if the " Porte insisted on supplementmy conditions " when it was less able to enforce its will, and " less deeply committed to a policy of resist " ance, there can be less expectation of its " dispensing with these conditions at a mo " went when the war party Is clearly iu the " ascendant." As Russia will not yield to the reasonable conditions of Turkey, it is now assumed that Turkey must yield to the unreasonable condi tions of Russia. The Conference, on receipt of the Emperor's refusal, sent proposals to the Sultan that he should recal his words—that he should sign the note he had refused to sign, and be content with an assurance that the Con ference would put any interpretation on the note agreeable to the Sultan himself. Our Government conceives that he should ac cede to this request; that, as he is the weakest party in the quarrel, it is only reason able he should give way to the stronger ; and that, discarding all considerations of right and honour, and all respect for the opinion of his people, he should humble himself at the feet of the haughty enemy who has wantonly invaded his dominions, and whose troops, encamped on Turkish territory, are savagely clamouring for the extermination of himself, his nation, and his faith. "It will be well if the Sultan sign the note." "We trust that the Turkish " Government may be induced to defer to " those representations which the mediating " Conference will be called on to renew. * * " It is hard to expect that they (the mediating " Powers) should support Turkey in a declara " tion of war." We lay the more stress on these sentiments, as it is notorious that they proceed from leading members of the Govern ment. They are not light words heedlessly [LATEST EDITION.] written, but the deliberate opinions of men who now hold the reins of empire. In the same papers in which these counsels • are given, the intelligence from Turkey empha tically states that " the Sultan would lose his " life if he were to accel►t of dishonourable eon " ditions." Can any one doubt what his answer will be, —what, in fact, it maxi be.? The publication of Lord CLARENDON'ai answer to the Russian manifesto► shows what language our Foreign Minister held only two months back. tin tie 16th of July last Lord (Iwo:Noes: wrote to Count NEssia.tionE—" If ancient rights exist, " and are observed by Turkey, Russia has no " eause of eumpluiutt against Turkey. But if she " seeks to extend those rights, then is Turkey " justified in closely examining the nature of such " fresh dsro► u lndh, and IN REFUNINO THOSE FROM " MAI INDTPIENDENcE ANI► DIGNITY Wilma) " sLE•F•ER." In this sentence is contained a full justification of the course the Sultan has hitherto pursued ; and when he is requested to abandon those modifications of the note which he conceived essential to the dignity and independenee of his Government, what other reply need he make than to lay his finger on this part of Lord CLAIIENI►ON'a des patch, and say,—You have my answer there ! Will England dare to withdraw from the side of her old ally, should he ►ersist in acting on those principles of policy which she has taught him are essential to the ulaint.euunee of his kingdom as a sovereign and independent State ? No art of sophistry—no verbal jug gling—am get over those recorded words of our Foreign Minister. There they stand, shaming the dastardly counsels which are now urged on the Sultan and justifying him in adhering to► the views he has already firmly expressed. He has► not taken exception to any merely verbal formality ; it is to the substamee of cer tain conditions in the Vienna note, affecting his rights of sovereignty over large bodies of his m übjeets, th at he reasonably and consistently objects. The proposal of the Conference is, that those conditions should be read in a " non-natural " sense ; that they should not be taken to imply what the words do imply : that the Porte should give up the point now, and trust to the moderation of his formidable foe, and the protection of the mediating Powers, for an interpretation if the clauses in a sense essentially different from their plain and ob vious meaning. Is it likely that this insulting sophistry will be favourably listened to? It is to the armies on the banks of the Danube that attention must now be directed, rather than to the Conference at Vienna. The wisdom of our Government has brought the belligerent Powers face to face. On one side the success of unprovoked aggression has intoxicated the troops with confideno" in the might of their anus, and maddened them with desire for conflict and victory. and on the other a sense of insult and wrong has aroused a storm of indignation which the efforts of diplomacy will scarcely be able to repress. While we have been deluded by expeeting peace from negotiation. Russia and the Porte have been actively preparing fur the last and desperate issue of battle. At the moment when we were assured that orders were Mend to be given for the evacuation of the Prineipa lities the Russians were actively engaged in fortifying themselves in their "conquests;" and. as we learn by the latest telegraphic despatches, were concentrating a vast body of troops on the line of the Danube. The Suhot reviewing his levies at Unkiar Skelessi, and with a manifesto of war, urgently appealing to the counts and fanatieisnt of his people, ready for publication, is not less °minima Hum the military parade of Ooarsetuxorr and his savage Proclamation, exhorting his soldiers to annihilate Paganism, and those who would oppose Russia in the sacred mission , with its blasphemous rallying cry—" Long life to the " Clod of the Russians !" The meeting appointed between the Czar NIVIIOLAS and the young Emperor Fit&NUM on the 2:lrd inst., at Ohniitz, indicates the contempt with which the former is disposed to regard the proceedings of the Conferenee. Eng land is the party most interested in thwarting his ambitious schemes ; but what can he care for the representations of a Power which sinee the commeneement of the ejitunTel has not dared even to be consistent rn timidity, but has manifested the extremes of weakness by continual vacillation ? When for the hundredth time we are puta tively assured that terms of settlement have been agreed on, and that peace has been secured, we shall lee startled from our dream of repose by the announcement that a great battle has effectually cut short the subtleties of diplomatic negotiation. From the hour that the Russian armies crossed the Pruth, war had virtually commenced. Had England, iu the conscioutmess of her magnificent strength. forbade Hie aggression, and dared, even though she stood alone, all consequenees of her righteous act in a righteous cause, the peril which now threatens the peace of Europe. would have been checked in its origin. Tho right moment for of mediation was lost, and our Government, now trembling at the magnitude of the danger which it hoped to escape by concession, is solely intent On tutoring Turkey into an attitude of submits. Rion, while the eagle of the North is preparing to pounce upon his prey. LORD BROUGHAM'S LAW REFORMS. Arrea a public career of more than half a century, and upwards of forty years of stormy parliamentary life, Lord BaorunAu finds him• self, by the universal consent of hie most distinguished contemporal•ies, entrusted with the duty of carrying out a class of reforms touching more closely than any others the welfare of his countrymen. A republica tion by Rinuw,ty of two speeches by Lord Baneothot in the House of Lords in July last reminds us forcibly of his set Ylees as a Law Reformer•. A q uarter of a century ago he zemt , hi., memorable speech on the abuses in the administration of the law : he now finds adopted nearly all the suggestions he then made, and most of them he has had the crowning satisfaction of passing into law. To Lord BROUGHAM we owe the awakening of the public mind to evils the existence of which had been detected by phil o sophers, though they had not then been exposed by publicists. Still more are we indebted to him for the mar venous energy and perseverance of his efforts to eradicate those evils. hits war with the abuses of Chaneery ; his changes ill the law and practice of bankruptcy ; and generally his successful efli►rts to simplify legal procedure, —these, although they have produced results as universal as they are beneficial. yield iu