The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-21 00:00:00

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No. 38.—VoL. IL

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1854.

01 pus,

" That all this was very well understood
at Paris, and very well understood by Lord
ABERDEEN, who had acted throughout this
business without moral courage.
" The Emperor said that, since 1848, the
religious element had become predominant
in politics ; that the emancipation of the
Roman Catholic Church in Germany which
then occurred had greatly promoted this ;
that the state of the Greek Church rendered
his interposition in Turkey a necessity.
"He added, that the religious relations
of the subjects of the Porte with various
foreign powers had always been recognised
by European statesmen ; that they had
been encouraged, and by no one more than
by Lord ABERDEEN in former days, who
perceived in these circumstances the solu-
tion of many difficulties.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1854.

"PRESS" OFFICE.
Friday Night, Jan. 20.

AUTHENTIC NEWS FROM
ST. PETERSBURG.

WE lay before our readers the note of a
conversation very recently held at Gartschina
between his Imp Pl-id Majesty the Emperor
of RUSSIA and an individual of distinction,
whose character is not only a guarantee for
the authenticity of the memorandum, but
for the absence of any exaggeration or false
colouring in its expressions. We give it
simply as an important historical document,
without identifying ourselves with the views
which it conveys.

" The writer, in reply to an inquiry,
understood the Emperor distinctly to state
that the Ultimatum of MENSCHIKOFF had
not been disapproved of in London, but
that the English Ministry, having been in-
formed that it would probably be accepted
by the Porte, had recognised it as a satis-
factory settlement.

" The Emperor dwelt upon the incon-
sistency both of the English and the French
Governments. England, he said, had her-
self devised the terms of settlement at
Vienna, and, when he cordially gave his
adhesion to them, receded from her own
propositions The plea founded on the
Nesselrode interpretation he treated with
great contempt. He said it was placing
the plea of an advocate in equilibre with the
decision of a Court.

's The Emperor said that England ap-
peared to have two Governments. Things
were agreed to in London or Vienna, and
the same things objected to at Constanti-
nople. Lord WESTMORELAND signs a note
at Vienna sent out from St. James s ; Lord
REDCLIFFE recommends the Porte to disavow
the same document !

" The Emperor spoke of the victory of
Sinope, and of the absurdity, when the Porte
had declared war against him, of his not
acting upon the aggressive. He treated the
statement that he had offered to act only on
the defensive with derision ; and with reference
to a passage in a private letter from Paris,
that such an assurance had been given by his
Mrkjesty to the French Minister at the Court
of St. Petersburg—viz., General CASTELBEJAC,
his Majesty observed hat, when the news of
the victory of Sinope arrived, this same
General CASTELBEJAC had addressed him a
letter beginning something in this vein—' As
a Christian and a soldier, permit me, sire, to
congratulate your Imperial Majesty on the
glorious victory obtained by your Majesty's
fleet.' The Emperor was so pleased with this•
letter from the French Minister that he in-
vited the general to Gartschina, and held
much conversation with him, and the en-

PRICE SIXPENCE.

thusiasm of the French general suffered no
diminution. The Emperor entered into some
details on this head which the writer of this
note is not at liberty to mention ; all that is
here stated ho asked, and obtained, permis-
sion to make public. 'So much for my con-
tract with General Casteblejac,' added the
Emperor, one of the numerous romances in-
vented to cloak the imbecility of Govern-
ments.'*

" The Emperor then recurred to the aspect
of war at some length. He said that, far from
desiring war a year ago, he was not even pre-
pared for it. He was now prepared, and would
act as became his personal honour, and the
greatness of Russia. It was tho war, he fre-
quently repeated, of incapacities, brought on
by men who were timid, and, accusing others
freely of duplicity, were themselves deficient
in everything that was straightforward. He
did not believe that England, with a " bour-
geois " Parliament, could carry on a war with
glory. France, ho frequently repeated, had
been drawn into a mess which she did not de-
sire. The Russians had beaten all with whom
they had been pitted—FREDERICK the GREAT—
NAPOLEON.

" The manner of his Imperial Majesty
throughout this interview was temperate,
rational, and frank ; affable with becoming
dignity, and free from any of that excitement
or wilfulness imputed to him in many
journals."

The progress of events is instructive as to
the capacity of a Coalition Cabinet for foreign
affairs, and its ten dency in domestic politics
will shortly be made apparent to the most
tolerant or incredulous. Either of the classes
to whom this description applies may have
assumed that au equivalent was due to them
for danger and disgrace abroad. If they ex-
pected to obtain it in the shape of a Conser-
vative influence at home, it is time that they
were undeceived by events which are passing.

The last week afforded some intimations of
what Conservatives may expect in the example
of the Whig and Peelite landholders of Glou-
cestershire ; and now we have leisure to ob-
serve the circumstances of the contest waged
in South Staffordshire. Coalition,—no longer
concealed,—avowed Coalition with the enemies
of the existing balance of power in the coun-
try ; the most lavish expenditure of motley,
as it is stated, by Lord WARD ; the corruption
of venal, the coercion of timid and unwilling,
voters ; every means, in fine, which the ex-
perience of the notorious COPPOCK can sug-
gest ;—such are the actual proceedings by
which the adherents of this, in major part,
professed " Conservative " Ministry are en-
deavouring to procure the rejection of the
Conservative candidate. And this is not all.
It is asserted by those who should be in-
formed upon the subject, that a conference
between Lord WARD and the " Conservative "
Premier himself has resulted in the promise
of an earldom to the former, as the price of
Radical triumph and of Conservative defeat.
To us this illustrates Coalition morality,—to
others it may reveal its nature. How are
those gentlemen affected whose partial sup-

• Whe►► this conversation took place the circular of
M. Drouyn de L'lluys had not reached St. Petersburg.-...
ED. Of PRES*.