The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-14 00:00:00

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, JAN. 2.
On Tuesday, 30th ult., the third conference on
the firman regarding the convocation of the Divans
ad hoc in the two Danubian Principrlities was held
in the apartments of the Grand Vizier at the Porte

Matters, I am told, went even smoother in it than
in the conference before, so that if none of those
unforeseen obstacles present themselves to which
diplomatic affairs seem to be more subject than any
others, in three more conferences the firman will
be settled in its chief points.
The subject of discussion was the fifth point of
the original firman, containing the representation
of the small freeholders You know when the
French Ambassador brought forward his amend-
ments in the first conference they were favourably
received, and they served as a basis to all the
modifications introduced since then in the original
document. Thus the project of the Porte makes
out five classes which are to be represented, viz ,
the clergy, great Boyards, little Boyards, free
proprietors not Boyards, and the towns. In
the French modification this division, although
in reality the same, has been generalised
under three he Ads, the clergy, the repre-
sentation of landed property, and the repre-
sentation of the towns. The representation of
landed property is again divided into three heads,
the great property, the small freehold property,
and the representation of peasants who are not
free proprietors.

In the discussion of the small freehold property,
it was the amount of property qualification required,
and the principle of election in two degrees—that
is, indirect election by delegates—which occupied
the attention of the last Conference. The latter
principle was, after some discussion, adopted. About
the property qualification there was rather e
greater diffierence of opinion, some members of the
Conference being inclined to extend the franchise
and adopt a lower rate than the ten falshes of land,
which both the project of the Porte and the amend-

ment of the French Ambassador recommend. O❑

this point I hear no decision has been come to,
but no difficulty is apprehended, nor indeed on
any other subject in connexion with the Firman.
It seems as if all parties, freed as they are
from the irritation which the complication of the
Bolgrad affair had produced, were anxious to appear
in a conciliatory disposition, and thus to hasten
the settlement of an affair which has been already
too long delayed.
If this conciliatory disposition last, and if it is,
as may be hoped, transferred with Commission to
Bucharest, it will do more for the successful
organisation of the Principalities than any decision
which may be taken on the exact composition of
the Divans, or the proportion in which the different
classes are to be represented.
Indeed, in a country which never had anything
worth the name of representation, and in assem-
blies which, moreover, will only have to give an
opinion, but are not to possess a decisive vote, the
forms in which those assemblies are to act is only
a secondary consideration, and everything depends
on the spirit which will preside over the discus-
sions of the Divans.

It is above all Redschid Pasha's merit that this
satisfactory change in the dispositions of the
Hoptarchy has taken place, and that the spirit of
discord which began to show its head in this
question has been allayed- The short-sighted
policy of the late Government had compromised
the soluticn of this subject as much as that of
Bolgrad. Instead of accepting what had become
inevitable, and entering fairly into the obligations
imposed upon the Porte by the treaty of Paris, it
tried all kinds of subterfuges to defeat the meaning
of the treaty, and to prevent the free expression of
the opinion of Moldavia and Wallachia on the
question of union. Redschid Pasha, as soon as he
assumed power, reversed this. policy, and gave
assurances that his Government never intended to
bar the rights, nor had any desire to interfere with
the free expression of the wishes of the Prineipali
ties, for all he wanted was to give to M oldavia
and Wallachia an organisation capable of resist-
ing foreign influences; and to effect this the
wishes of the population ought to be as much con-
sulted as the rights and interests of the empire.
This fair view taken in the matter by the present
Turkish Government has done a great deal to dis-
sipate the clouds which were gathering, and instead
of the angry disputes which were anticipated in
the Conferences about the firman we see now only
amicable discussions, which are promising for the
future settlement of this difficult question.
The happy solution of the Bolgrad and Serpent's
Island affair came just in time to strengthen this
conciliatory disposition which all parties begin to
show. Although Redsebid Pasha can claim no
direct merit in this solution, yet the frank and
dignified attitude take by the Grand Vizier can-
not have been without its influence. If lam cor-
rectly informed, he took up the ground that his
weakness was his strength, and placed his case in
the hands of the Allied Powers, who had fought
and recognised the independence of Turkey, and
who could not but adopt the resolution which was
best calculated to ensure this end.