The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-09 00:00:00

alleged readiness of the CZAE to listen to the fair
proposals of the four Powers has assuredly
been none the less prompt for the displ..y of
armed union on the part of England and France.
This humour of the Autocrat must bo improved
upon. We must have the guarantees we ask. We must
not be led into sham negotiations for wasting time.
The winds of autumn will soon render insecure the
anchorage in Besika Bay, and if Russia agrees to
evacuate the Principalities there, can be no harm in
the friendly presence of the combined fleets in the
Sea of Marmora until that military evolution is com-
plete. The Cossacks must retire within their own
frontiers, and their retreat will be none the less
re.dy for the exhibition of a little friendly pressure
from without. Once let the Muscovites recross the
Prnth without the concession of any unsafe terms on
the part of the SULTAN, and the cheerful hopes of
yesterday will be amply justified. A permanent
tranquillitywill then replace those mischievous doubts
and gloomy uncertainties of peace or war begotten of
tho dishonest aggressions of Russia.

exportation at Havre at the very time when
large quantities brought from abroad were being en-
tered for home consumption at Marseilles ; yet the
hungry people of Provence were compelled to pay a
considerable duty on the latter, while the hungry
people of Yorkshire and Middlesex were by our own
sliding scale obliged to pay a heavy tax on the
former. Happily both nations are growing wiser ;
and while we refused to exclude French flour when
it was superabundant in 18J0, so now we do not
grudge the purchase of corn by French merchants in
our markets in 1833, though the breadth of wheat
sown is said to have been less in England than usual,
and though the yield may in some degree fall below
the average. For we have faith in Free Trade, and
believe that when legislative quacks will let us alone
the instincts of industry will always find food
enough in the world for us all.

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

VIENNA, AUGUST 8.

The reply of Count Nesselrode to the Austrian
note informing the St. Petersburg cabinet of the
nature of the arrangement agreed to at the Vienna
conferences has just reached the capital. The good
offices of the Austrian government arc accepted, and
no objection is raised by the Czar to the main proposi-
tions. As no formal demand was made, however,
for the immediate withdrawal of his troops from the
Danubian Principalities, he enters on no specific en-
gagement in that respect. He is willing to receive
an embassy from the Sultan, and protests that he is
animated by the desire to effect a pacific and amicable
arrangement.

Tee temperate and discriminating tone in which
the policy of Free Trade has been discussed of late
in several of the leading French journals is calculated
to awaken feelings of no little interest and satisfac-
tion in every country where the worth of that policy
is being tried. The very essence of the philosophy
of free competition consists in the mutuality
of benefits. If Free Trade be true, no na-
tion can thoroughly benefit itself without at
the same time, and by the same process,
benefiting its neighbours. In the confraternity,
therefore, of civilised states every step that is made
towards the uuiversality of unrestricted intercourse
in say particular quarter is directly and necessarily
a subject of gratulation for all ; and as England orl
America could not lower the duties on French silks
or gloves without benefiting the workmen and capi-1
talists of hlullhouse and Lyons, so France cannot re-
lax her sliding scale of duties on corn, or her fixed
duties by weight on iron without stimulating
agricultural production in Ohio, and mining activity
in Staffordshire and Wales. But let us be frank and
confess, unreservedly, that in our own commercial
changes the governing motive was simply and solely
that of self-interest. Reciprocity treaties accom-
plish comparatively little. Diplomatic dissertations
on the moral and political benefits of Free Trade were,
no doubt, very amusing and edifying at the time;
but for the most part they may be said to have
ended just where they began. However protracted.
they seldom amounted to more than a formal flirta-
tion in which each party suspected the other, and
from which there could come no fruit. It was only,
in short, when nations had pretty well abandoned
the task of trying to persuade one another to do by
concert that which, if worth doing at all, it was the
interest of each to do at once, and unconditionally,
that the huge and cumbrous systems of protective
tariffs really began to give way. These antiquated
defences of native industry resembled in this respect
the obsolete masonry of high turreted fortifications,
which, if a neighbour or stranger suggested the wis-
dom of pulling down, national pride and suspicion
would have kept standing for ever, but whose mani-
fest uselessness became apparent as soon as all in-
trusive advice regarding it ceased.
France appears to be now arriving at the safe and
wholesome state of self-taught conviction regarding
commercial policy which England and the United
States, Holland and Belgium, Piedmont and Switzer-
land, have successively attained. As long as we
continued to bore the Cabinet of the Tuileries
about projects of reciprocity treaties, Fringe
wrapped closer around her the timo - worn
folds of her exclusive and preventive code.
But now, when we have practically abandoned that
mode of proceeding, and by abrogating nearly all
protective duties which limited the import of French
products into the United Kingdom have proved the
sincerity of our faith in unconditional Free Trade
I —now France, left to herself, begins to believe that
she also might do herself more good by doing what
would be good for her neighbours, than by trying to
owe herself at their expense. We unaffectedly
*sin at the development of such a condition of
public sentiment amongst our neighbours, because
we know that in it alone can be laid the solid
foundations of a free commercial system.
A decree appeared some days ago in the Mondesir
suspending altogether, until further notice, the
French Corn-law, which, like that abolished
in England in 1846, consists of a curious array,-
meat of progressive duties depending on the average
of prices fora certain number of weeks preceding.
This law, like our own, was devised for the purpose
of stimulating agriculture to provide sufficient food
for the nation. and at the same time to secure to the
cultivators of the soil a steadily remunerative price for
their produce. But, like our own, it has signally
Yid in both these objects. In 1847, the French
government were obliged not only to suspend its
operation, but to resort to the most mostly and
gigantic expedients, in order to procure from abroad
something like adequate supplies of food for the
people. There is nothing which the governments of
France, whatever their origin or form, have such an
instinctive dread of as popular hunger; and that of
Louts PHILIPPE spared neither pains nor money to
mitigate the pressure of scarcity during that terrible
year. Bat to a great extent it was found impos-
sible to accomplish the benevolent and prudeotial
purpose in view. The ORLEANS dynasty, like that of
the elder BOURBONS, had debarred the industry and
invention of France from buying corn, in ordinary
years, in the open market of the world, and
when unexpected dearth suddenly came upon
them they found that market scantily sup-
Iliad. Throughout the panio-stricken winter of
1647 hunger and discontent were brooding
smog the half-employed populations of the
great cities. The Government tried to exonerate
itself by pointing to the opened ports, but the
despairing artisan gazed upon his perishing family
and muttered to himself the ominous words, " It is
too late r' Ere the spring returned these accents
were destined to become memorable when applied to
concessions of another kind, likewise delayed too
long. The present ruler of France seems to
be resolved not to neglect the warning ;
and, upon the first symptom of uneasiness
respecting the harvest, he has wisely exercised the
power which he possesses by enabling speculation of
all kinds to go free as far as human food is con-
cerned, thus relieving himself and his Government,
long before an exigency can arise, of the fearful re-
sponsibility which would otherwise attach to it. Thanks
to the establishment of Free Trade in corn on this
side of the Channel as well as in the Netherlands,
there arc now great etstrep4ta of cereal food regu-
larly filled by Transatlantic and Levantine TURKEY.
enterprise, from which hundreds of thousands
happen murdeit:ous.
of quarters of wheat may be obtained for the use of A letter in tae Lalepentlance Beige says that a
attack was made upon the Proicess Del-
any district of France which may casually ha
to want it, without materially or permanently affect- I,l"s° 'Y
she was igttehz,e,aer,ll2: hoof pgl;
I ing the price of bread amongst ourselves. It is well .1.
aulligrerCiuta her ownahatind tows friend in France. The
known that from the absence of cheap and t5-pid Princess went to travel in the Ottoman empire from
inland carriage for goods the prices of corn v, diffe- Malta, where she was lately on a visit.
rent portions of France have been constan', ly liable
to present the most striking contrasts. So much,
indeed, is this the case, that under the French
Corn Law of 1826 the kingdom was divided
into fiscal zones, and the averages were
taken within their respective limits. It fre•
quently occurred that surplus wheat lay for

The statement of the Moniteur that "the Czar has
accepted the note forwarded to him from Vienna,"
partially corroborated as it is by the explanations
so beirudgiogly doled out last night in parliament, is
still the latest leading item of Eastern intelligence.
A general sense of relief was the first effect of this an-
nouncement. It was felt that the power of free and
civilised opinion had been acknowledged in the
centre of despotism and barbaric force, and that the
ostensible pretext for war had been got rid of.
Under tho influence of these feelings, perhaps few
have cared to scan minutely the four lines which
make up the announcement of the Moniteur, to ascer-
tain the exact worth of its assurances. The Emperor
of Russia, we are told, has "adhered" to
' a certain note which we have a right to assume
(although the fact has not been explicitly
stated) is the proposition emanating from the Vienna
conference. Moreover, "if that note is accepted by
the Porte without change, " the Emperor Nicholas
will receive the ambassador of the Sultan." Of the
Sultan's acceptance it would appear that little doubt
could be entertained. It is hardly probable that the
four Powers would make propositions to the Em-
peror of Russia without first being assured that they
would be accepted by the Sultan ; and it may be
said that, even if they have neglected to ascertain
the decision of the Sultan beforehand, any hesita-
tion on his part must be of short duration, for he
is completely in the hands of the four Powers,
and must conform to their advice or sub-
mit to their dication. On the other hand,
it is not possible to forget that absolute as is the
form of government in Turkey, the will of the
Sultan acknowledges a law higher than itself. The
Czar has quarrelled with Turkey on a religious ques-
tion, and in its settlement the spiritual guides of the
"faithful" must have somewhat to say. The,Ottoman
empire is still more a church than a state, and in a
crisis where the religious prejudices of the nation
come into play, the Sheik ul Islam may exercise
more real power than the Sultan and his divan.
This latter body again is not united. The wise
and able Reschtd Pachs is surrounded by enemies,
who gain easy access to the ear of the Sultan, and
whotnight fancy that their interest lay in misrepre-
seating the character of his moderate counsels, and
in discrediting him with his master. But although
these considerations present themselves in the course
of a survey of the situation, it would be most unjust
to Turkey and its people to forget that all the fanati-
cism has been found hitherto entirely on the side of
their adversary, and most ungracious to anti-
cipate that those who throughout the course of a
provoking •aggression have maintained an attitude
of dignified self-possession will, now that an ar-
rangement is in prospect, abandon themselves to an
intemperate and reckless passion. The danger,
whatever of it remains, is elsewhere.

Supposing, then, that the first condition of further
negotiations is fulfilled, the Czar " adherer" to the
note of the four Powers, and will " receive the Sul-
tan's ambassador," apparently to adjust the points
not settled in the Vienna note. Is the immediate and

unconditional evacuation of the Danubian Principali-
ties one of the points provided for in the proposals
now accepted, or is M. de Nesselrode to chap and
chaffer on the question with a Turkish envoy at St.
Petersburg? There is reason for this interrogation;
and, until it is satisfactorily answered, it will be im-
possible not to consider one of the greatest obstacles
to the re-establishment of tranquillity as unremoved.
The motive of the Czar in desiring to transfer the
settlement of all that concerns his relations with
Europe to St. Petersburg is sufficiently obvious, and
it must be equally clear to the western Powers that
they must insist upon the fall reintegration
el the Ottoman territory before they can
madder that the work is done. On one
question, the greatest of all, we are left almost
entirely in the dark. The movements of bri-
gades, the coercion of bospodars, and the solutions of
diplomatists, have lately so engrossed the foreground,
that the cause of all this action has been fora time
nearly forgotten. Reflecting observers, who look
beyond the exigencies of the passing hour, ask with
IMllle concern whether the note, tuned, convention,
Only, or whatever may be the name of
lir isms nt which the Sultan is to sign,
will Wm Turkey more or less exposed to
Russian aggression than before. The permanent
interests of peace are concerned in the answer to
this question. It was to preserve Turkey from en-
tangling and dangerous engagements that France
and England planed themselves by her side. The
fuss of negotiators and the practical aggressions of
the Czar have not made this a subject of secondary
concern. It has been stated by the French press,
and is repeated, that large concessions have been
made to Russia, that a power of interference in
matters connected with the government of the Greek
Christians has been offered to the Czar. Should this
statement be confirmed it may yet be a question how
far the most conciliatory minister of the Sultan can
advise compliance, and how far the conduct of the
French and English negotiators at Vienna deserves
approval.
Letters from Ealisch state that a portion of the
sixth Russian infantry corps is taking up a concen-
trated position at Moscow. Field-Marshal Puke-
witch maintains from Warsaw active communica-
tions with all the mobile troops. " Whatever may
be the prospects of peace," says a correspondent,
" the military preparations of Runde, are carried
forward upon a most extensive scale, and
we are positively assured that to guard
against all contingencies, they will be until a treaty
or convention is actually signed. The report that
the Emperor has lately given assurances of peaoe, in
an audience of military officers at St. Petersburg, is
at variance with the well-known character of
Nicolas. He is not accustomed to make gratuitous
statements to anyone, and when he gives pacific
pledges, it will be to merchants and bankers and not
to the eons of Mare."

,
DENMARK.—COPENHAGEN, Aria. I.—To-night's
Berlinqski contains the following paragraph:—" Tnx SVC-
CESSION.—In the Cabinet Council, held yesterday at the
Hermitage, we understand that his Majesty signed the
State Act, which calls his Royal Highness Prince Christian
of Olucksborg to the Danish throne, when the male line of
Frederick 111. is extinct. Ilia highness lies received the
title of Prince of Denmark."