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

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 th4kconsequences 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.

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