The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

points, even if they wore to be deemed sufficient and satis-
factory in themselves, could not be considered as being se-
cured to Europe, so long as those guarantees for their con-
tinued observaneJ, which might have been provided
tisfactory arrangement on the third poi
pertinaciously declined by Russia. It i
Russia should stipulate that she will no longer seek anti_ _ .
tatively to interfere in the afibire of the Principalities and of
Servia ; it is not enough that she should consent to delegate
by stipulation to a commission composed of representatives
of the several States interested in the navigation of the Da-
nube the task of keeping clear the channels of that river and
its communications with the Black Sea. The interests of Eu-
rope require, over and above these arrangements, that some
valid security should be obtained that Russia should no longer
possess that overwhelming moral and political influence in the
Principalities which her preponderance in the Black Sea has
heretofore enabled her to exercise, and that she should not,
by a constant maritime superiority in that sea, have the
means of supporting by her fleet the march and invasion of
her army, and of thus striking a mortal blow at the heart of
that empire of which the Principalities are only the depen-
dent extremities.
Even, therefore, as regards the first two points, the en-
joyment of any advantages which might be obtained under
those points would be precarious so long as the preponder-
ance of Russia in the Black Sea were allowed to continue.
But when the direct bearing of that preponderance on the
great question on which the war has been undertaken is
considered, the refusal of Russia to consent to any measures
which would effectually put an end to that preponderance, is
a warning which Europe cannot with safety disregard, and
plainly shows that Russia is not prepared to lay aside her
long-cherished views; of aggression on Turkey ; and it affords
a manifest proof that the anxiety felt by the Powers of
Europe for the integrity and independence of the Ottoman
empire has a just and valid foundation.
Russia has asserted that a regard for her dignity precludes
her from acceding to the terms proposed by the Allies on the
third point. But the dignity of Russia cannot require that
she should keep up in time of peace, and on the immediate
threshold of her weaker neighbour, a force wholly unneces-
sary for purposes of self-defence, but enabling her at the
shortest notice to subvert the idependence of that neighbour
and to change the territorial distribution of Europe. Yet
such is the position which Russia has maintained in the Black
Sea, and which she has even now publicly avowed her de-
termination not to renounce.
It is needless to dwell on the absence of any motive of self-
preservation to justify this determination on the part of Rus-
sia. It would be a mockery to pretend that she has anything
to fear from the hostility of Turkey ; and while Turkey is at
peace and free from threatened attack by Russia, and while
the Straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea are
closed except to a small and limited 'limber of ships of war of
the Western Powers, Russia has nothing to fear from the
naval forces of England and France ; while, on the other
hand, the present state of things in the Black Sea demon-
strates that when war exists between Russia and Turkey, and
when the Straits are consequently open to all the naval forces
of the Sultan's allies, England and France, if sufficient time
be afforded them, can collect in the Eusine a naval armament
strong enough to sweep from the waters of that sea every
ship bearing the flag of Russia.
Russia has indeed alleged that the preponderance which
she wishes to maintain in the Black Sea is essential for the
security of the Turkish empire against the aggressions of
ether Powers; but it is not from the hostility of the
Western Powers, but from the traditional and, it is not too
much to say avowed, policy of Russia, that the Turkish em-
pire has danger to apprehend. The present war has been
undertaken to provide securities against those ambitious de •
signs of Russia which menace the safety of Turkey and the
future repose of Europe ; and, in short, to quote the words
of a recent Russian proclamation, to prevent, as far as Tur-
key is concerned, the accomplishment of the wishes and the
views of Peter, of Catherine, of Alexander, and of Nicholas.
The Western Powers, in conjunction with Austria, have
considered that this object would most effectually be secured
by restricting within reasonable bounds the power of Russia
in the Black Sea. They would have preferred, as the most
certain means to this end, that Russia and the Porte should
both renounce the right to maintain in the Black Sea any
naval force beyonl what might be required for the mere pur-
poses of police ; but the Western Powers were willing to ac-
quiesce in the maintenance by Russia of a limited and speci-
fied amount of naval force in the Black Sea, reserving to
themselves the right of maintaining in the aggregate, on their
own part, in that sea a corresponding amount of force ; re-
quiring also, however, as a security for the observance of such
a stipulation, the farther right.to establish consuls in all the
Russia,. ports to the eastward of the Straits. But the West-
ern Powers, who new hold exclusive possession of the Black
Sea, where the Russian flag dares not show itself, had no in-
tention of proposing to Russia conditions derogatory to her
dignity; and they never pretended that Russia should be
bound to accept as consul every individual whom they might
think proper to appoint as such, and that she should be pre-
cluded from exercising the usual discretion as to withholding
the exequatur from any person against whom well-founded
ob,:e Aion could be raised.
Russia, however, has refused to subscribe to these reason-
able proposals ; and in their place she has offered two
schemes of modification of the treaty of. 1841, the practical
effect of which would be that, whichever of the two schemes
the Western Powers might accept, those Powers would be
obliged to keep up perpetually iu the vicinity of the Darda-
nelles a large naval force prepared to act in any contingency
which might occur. For, according to one scheme, Russia
proposed that the Straits between the Mediterranean and the
Black Sea should at all times be open to the ships of war of
all nations, and therefore, of course, to her own Black Sea
and Baltic fleets.
The effect of this scheme would have been that Constanti-
ngple would at all times have been exposed to all the dangers
which might have arisen from the sudden appearance before
that city of an overwhelming Russian armament, while the
tranquillity of the Mediterranean, and all the great interests
in that sea, would have been liable to disturbance by the
action of a powerful Russian fleet, sallying forth at any
moment from the Eusine.
To guard against this double danger, the Governments of
England and of Franco would have been compelled to main-
tain in the Mediterranean-war establishments in the time of
peace, and permanently-to station their armaments at a great
distance from their arsenals and resources; so that a peace
concluded on such conditions would have been nothing more
than an armed truce divested of the security which is the
essence of peace, and unaccompanied by that cessation of
expenditure which ought to follow the termination of a war.
According to the other plan proposed by Russia, by which
the Straits were to be closed, while Russia was to remain at
liberty to maintain an unlimited naval force in the Black
Sea, there might at all times have been in that sea a Russian
force equipped for war, and available for a sudden descent
on the capital of the Turkish empire, keeping alive the ap-
prehensions of the Porte and giving constant anxiety to
Europe. This scheme would have equally imposed upon the
Western Powers the necessity of maintaining in the Mediter-
ranean a force sufficient at all times to hasten to the protec-
tion of the Turkish empire, at any moment when the Porte
might require its assistance.
Her Majesty's Government would appeal to what passed
in the 12th Conference, as recorded in the protocols, as evi-
dence to show how well-founded was the determination of
the Western Powers to insist on the cessation of the prepon-
derance of Russia in the Black Sea, as alone offering any real
security for Turkey and for Europe against any ulterior designs
on the part of that aggressive Power; for in that Conference
the Plenipotentiaries of Russia insisted on substituting, on
the part of Russia, a merely moral for a material guarantee of
the territorial integrity and independence of the Turkish em-
pire, and they refused to be parties to an engagement which
the other Powers were prepared to contract, not only that
they should themselves respect, but also that they should
cause, and, in case of need, by force compel, that indepen-
dence and that territorial integrity to be respected by others.
The refusal of the Russian Plenipotentiaries to acquiesce
in any arrangement by which the objects contemplated by the
third point could be effectually secured necessarily interrupted
the Conferences; and, accordingly, the fourth point did not
come formally under discussion. The interest which Eng-
land and France have uniformly taken in the welfare of the
Christian subjects of the Sultan is, however, a sufficient gua-
rantee as to the spirit in which tho two Powers would have
entered upon the discussion of the fourth point; and, though
circumstances beyond the control of those Powers closed the
door against that discussion, it is with no small satisfaction
they have seen that, since the commencement of the war, and
since the interference of Russia in Turkish affairs has been
made to cease, the Sultan has continued to give effect to his
benevolent intentions in favour of his Christian subjects,
whose condition has of late been materially improved by the
wise and spontaneous action of their own Sovereign.
I cannot, however, wholly pass over an observation which
fell from tho Russian Plenipotentiary, and which is recorded
in the protocol of the eighth Conference, that the question
involved in the fourth point was one of conscience and not
of policy,

Ut, continue t

It would, indeed, have been fortunate for Europe if this
plea of conscience had not been used as an instrument for de-
stroying the political independence of Turkey.
By the Treaty of Kainardji it is provided that the Sultan
shall protect the Christian religion and its churches; and it
was upon a complete misinterpretation of this treaty, but
without even an allegation that its stipulations had been vio-
lated, that Russia claimed a right of interference between the
Sultan and 10,000,04 of the Sultan's Christian subjects. If
the claim had been yielded to, and if a great wrong had thus
been perpetrated, the authority of the Sultan within his own
dominions would, in a great degree, have been transferred to
a foreign Power, and an important step would have been taken
towards the overthrow of the Turkish empire and the estab-
lishment of Russian supremacy on its ruins.
Europe, then, is indebted ho the timely and energetic inter-
ference of the Western Powers for its preservation from the
dirastrous consequences from which such a catastrophe must
inevitably have been followed.
The Conferences of Vienna are now closed, under circum-
stances which preclude all speculation as to the period at
which negotiations for peace may with anyprospect of success
be renewed. But when thatperiod shall happily arrive, her
Majesty's Government will steadily keep in view the princi-
ples which have guided them throughout the past negotiations,
and, while seeking to provide for the security, the welfare,
and the happiness of the people of Wallachia, Moldavia, and
Servia, and to insure the removal of the obstructions which
have rendered the navigation of the Danube difficult and pre-
carious, they will neglect no me ins of obtaining for the Turkish
empire, and for Europe at large, sufficient guarantees against
the recurrence of the danger which, it is the object of the pre-
sent war to avert.

In the meantime, her Majesty's Government have reason to
expect that 'the Sultan will make liberal and effectual provi-
sions for the privileges and interests of all his Christian sub-
jects.

You are authorised to real this despatch to the Minister
for Foreign Affairs of the Court to which you are accredited.
—I am, &c., CLARENDON.

CRYSTAL PALACE.— SHILLING DAY.— JULY 13.
Admission on payment, 9,232 ; ditto by season tickets,
978.—Total, 10,210.
MILITARY DISTURBANCE.—The town of Chatham on
Thursday evening exhibited another scene of military
riot, which turned out more seriously than those of
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The disturbance
arose at the Trumpet public-house, Chatham, between
the marines and sailors against the 27th Regiment.
About 200 men from the barracks arrived in the town
as pickets, under non-commissioned officers. Some of
the pickets aided and assisted in the disturbance by
rushing into the house with their bayonets drawn, ma-
rines as well as the 27th, each party taking the part of
their comrades. The town presented one scene of con-
fusion, and the soldiers appeared highly exasperated one
against the other. Another strong force arrived from
the barracks, headed by superior officers, and owing to
their praiseworthy conduct restored order about 9 o'clock.
The disturbance commenced about 8 o'clock. Several of
the soldiers and sailors were wounded in the affray, and
oo
one man wai so seriously injured that he was taken to
nar.tt vh./eith ni t
the hospital, having received three bayonet wounds. He
belo-ged to the 81st, and got mixed lip in the crowd.
The 27th only arrived in Chatham on Tuesday last from
between Canterbury. It seems that some old animosity existed
marines
arainneds tihne
this 2 affair.7th.The
A6oth
militaryfl
Rifles
inquiry is to take place into the cause of this affray.