The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

-- I.' - ' /di‘l47% ' 7:140." 74 r _ VrkrrotrV" (10 b t 1 4, N rtls, No. 29.—VoL. I. tt Vrtss. LONDON, SAT URD.4I', NOVEMBER 19, 1863. IT is more than five months ago (June 11) that • we felt it our duty to warn our readers not to fall into " the convenient toils of the Stock " Exchange, and of the ABEUDEEN prints," then daily asserting that the troubles in the East would be speedily and satisfactorily arranged, and " believe that the present state of affairs " in Turkey was a mere diplomatic imbroglio." We told them on that occasion that the situa tion became daily more dangerous, and, follow ing up this statement, we warned them shortly after (June 18) that "we were on the eve of " great events." Not wishing to take refuge in vague assertion, we then expressed the opinion that, after three or four months of commercial and financial paralysis, war would probably occur in the autunm.. We formed that opinion upon two grounds -Ist, on some knowledge of the polities and po liticians of Russia ; 2ndly, on some knowledge of the character and conduct of the Prime Minister of England. Russia has apolitical system long matured and minutely digested. It is vast in its de sign, but it is not, therefore, less finished in its details. Its action is sometimes suspended, but never relinquished. This scheme is to bring an inland race, with unknown, perhaps illimitable, certainly undeveloped. resources, to the shores of either ocean. The design was conceived by PETER; it was prosecuted with energy by CATII EItINE ; throughout the sub sequent awful vicissitudes of Europe it has never for a moment been absent from the consciousness of Russian statesmen. ALEX ANDER tempted NAPOLEON with the undisputed empire of the West, provided the French ruler would sanction the Muscovite equivalent. Already in possession of France, Italy, Ger many, and the Low Countries, NAPOLEON, though, we have reason to believe, not without hesitation, had the courage to resist the offer. CHARLES X., King only of France, was less in exorable, and, had it not been for the " three glorious days," in all probability the Rhine would now have been the boundary of France, and the great mosque of Stamboul would again hive become a Greek Cathedral. Not withstanding many difficulties, many tempta tions, some backslidings, King Louis PutureE was resolved to establish his dy nasty by favour of the English alliance, and the condition of that alliance was—Peaee For nearly twenty years the Russian system was, comparatively speaking, inert. The fall of the house of Orleans roused it to instant activity. The revolt of Hungary only post poned the invasion of the Ottoman dominions. and Lord PA LMERSTON being at length dislodged by the " foreign conspirators," the most dis tinguished of whom were the agents of Russia, Prince MENSCHIKOFF would have appeared at Constantinople in 1452 instead of 1453, had not an unexpected obstacle to the designs of Russia arisen in the Government of Lord LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1853. PRICE SIXPENCE. DERBY. Hence the systematic attacks of the journals under Russian influence on Lord MALMESBURY, whose prudence, skill, and cou rage maintained our cordial relations with France under as great difficulties as a British Minister ever had to encounter. _ The moment that Mr. CANNING died, Russia commenced those harassing manuiuvres against Turkey which invariably end by forcing the Porte into a declaration of war. The English Minister for Foreign Affairs at that time was Lord ABERDEEN. In what spirit ho acted, and what disasters ho consummated, are recorded in the secret despatches of the Russian Court, which a revolution levealcd. It is a record that should have consigned the principal agent, if not to Siberia, at least to private life. Though Lord ABERDEEN eventually prevailed upon the Duke of Wl:Luxor" then Prime Minister, not to arrest the progress of the Russian armies, an attempt on his part sur reptitiously to tamper with the law of blockade in favour of the Russians led to such a violent misunderstanding between him and the Duke, that the disgraceful retirement of Lord ABER DEEN from the Cabinet in 1828-9 was at one moment in contemplation. The" three glorious days," as we have before stated, changed all this. The expulsion of the elder Bourbons baffled long-matured ar rangements. The world was governed by a cordial alliance between the two chief Western Powers. The return of the Tories to office in 1811, with Lord ABERDEEN as Foreign Seere tiny, revived all the hopes of Russia. Sir ROBERT PEEL, however, soon fell under the in fluence of the King of the FRENCH, whose throne he thought represented the spirit of the age, and who was the monarch of the middle classes The Emperor of RessiA, a mall whose qualities are equal to his position, unable to trust. any one in such an emergency, himself visited England during the Administration of Sir ROBERT PEEL, in order that he might person ally confer with Lord ABERDEEN. It has been stated, within this month, by the most brilliant of the " foreign conspirators " whom Lord .101 IN RUSSELL denounced in I NiO.7 as the confede rates of his present chief, the Primo Minister, that, after what oceurred in those interviews between the Czar and the English Secretary, it was impossible that Lord A minims could ever sanction war with Russia, so far as re garded Turkey. Thus we See Lord ABERDEEN in 1828-9 the searcely-disguised partisan of Russia, and the real author of the treaty of Adrianople, while, until the fall of Sir Roimity PEEL, we find him pursuing a course which would reconcile an understanding with the house of Orleans with the undisturbed development of Russian pro jects in Turkey. What was his conduct after the double fall of Sir ROBERT PEEL and of the house of Orleans? He entered into an active conspi racy with Russia, and the satellites of Russia, to prevent the maintenance or renewal of the united action of England and France. For this object there is no art to which he has not had recourse, and no machination which he has not practised. He has corresponded with foreign agents in every important country and Court of Europe. He at length succeeded, by a Court intrigue, which he devised and pri vately promoted, in expelling Lord PALMERSTON from power. He failed in obtaining it him self; but he would have supported Lord MALMESBURT, if Lord MALMRSIIVRY would have relinquished the French connection ; and the Government of Lord DERBY really fell because they were firm in their adhesion to that sound policy. At length, to crown all, amid a blase of invectives against the French Emperor and the French people, the author of the treaty of Adrianople, the private correspondent of Czars and Calsars, becomes, " not the Minister " of Russia, not the Minister of Austria," but the Minister of Great l3ritain 'Who could suppose that the designs of Russia could receive any real cheek from a man of such antecedents" Prince MENSCHIKOPI went to Constantinople because Lord AnEa- DNEN was Minister. So long as Lord ABKRDEEN remained Minister, whatever might be the phrases of diplomacy, it was certain that the Russian system would develop... lord ARSR• DERN has, in fact, been counselling Turkey for the last six months to surrender at discretion, intending, at the same time, to advance the Russian policy, and yet avoid war. Tho management of this "safe" Minister has ended in the disgraceful, even if temporary, dis comfiture of his ally, and in a prospect of gene ral and enduring convulsion. For let us not MiseolleCiVO what has occurred. if anything could have rendered inevitable one of those great struggles which may hereafter rank with the thirty years' war, or the campaigns of the revolution, it would be the defeat of the. Russian arms by the Otto mans. An old race and an ancient civilisa tion might disappear in such a eontemt, but danger develops the energies and multiplies the resources of new communities. The elesars would have fallen before tin' battle of (*moue : it made the Conscript fall•l's the masters of the world. The policy 111 Russia will be precipitated ; she will embark in an enterprise which she had intended to post pone ; she will stake her national eXiatellet , on the die. Lord AUK...WEN, who told Us, when he took office, that he had one fo o t in the grave, will not probably live to see the triumph of the Power in whose progress he has 11(4'11 MO interested, but he may have at least the satis faction of passing his few remaining years amid the roar of cannon occasioned lay the blundering catastrophe of his own selfish and malignant intrigues. THE CITY CORPORATION. Hurons the Norman conquest, of a sum of 80,000/. levied on the whole of England, more than an eighth (11,0001.) was contributed by the city of London alone. Had these sums been assessed with reference to population only, and were the same proportions now pre served, the country would derive between seven and eight millions of its revenue from the Mille city, of which the population now would be about tlu•ce millions. It is singular that in the latter respect the present popula tion of the metropolis should bear out this calculation with substantial exactness, for it is certainly nearer three millions than two, while the City, which once contained its population entirely, now includes no greater portion of it than 200,000. The City, indeed, is now to the L►►ndon of common parlance what the city of the Isle of Paris is to the Paris of the Place de la Concorde and the Boulevards—the rotten little acorn whence has spread the magnificent tree. ~4 0,_ ii. 54.6 1 ,,