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

PROJECT OF TREATY.

Their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of
the French, and the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, desirous of securing the independence
and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and being
respectively desirous of carrying into effect the engagement
stipulated in the article of the treaty concluded on

the between have named!as
their Plenipotentiaries, dtc., who having examined
their full powers have agreed upon the following
articles :

Art. 1. The High Contracting Parties engaged, in case of
need, to employ their armies and fleets in order to attain the
object above specified.
Art. 2. If, therefore, one of the Powers which signed the
said treaty of the were to commit an aggression
on the Ottoman Empire of a nature to endanger one or other
of the two principles established in the preamble of the pre-
sent treaty, the high contracting parties, on the appeal of
the Sultan, would proportionally join in defending that Em-
pire in a manner to be mutually determined and agreed
upon.
Art. 3. An excessive increase of the naval forces in Russia
in the Euxine would be considered as an act of aggression,
calling for the application of Articles 1 and 2.
Art. 4. Ratifications.

SECRET ARTICLES.

Article 1. In the event of Russia augmenting the amount
or the strength of her naval forces in the Black Sea so as
to reach its effective amount at the commencement of the
war, according to the statement hereto annexed, and if the
remonstrances addressed in common to Russia, as well as the
presence of the allied fleets in the Black Sea, were to prove
fruitless, the nigh Contracting Powers agree to consider this
fact as giving rise to the application of the third Article
of the Treaty of, this slay. Consequently they would consider
the existence of such effective force as a. casus belli, and
would immediately employ their land and naval forces in
order to compel that Power to conform again to those condi-
tions of equilibrium which are necessary to the interest of
Europe.
Art. 2. Ratifications.

points, even if they were to e deemed sufficient and satis-
factory in themselves, could of be considered as being se-
cured to Europe, so long as hose guarantees for their con=
tinned observance, which millt have been provided by a sa-
tisfactory arrangement on to third point, eontinue to be
pertinaciously declined by bssia. it is not enough that
Russia should stipulate that he will no longer seek authori-
tatively to interfere in the affirs of the Principalities and of
Servia ; it is not enough thathe should consent to delegate
by stipulation to a commissia composed of representatives
of the several States interestd in the navigation of the Da-
nube the task of keeping cler the channels of that river and
its communications with the ',lack Sea. The interests of Eu-

rope require, over and above hese arrangements, that some
valid security should be obtaied that Russia should nolonger
possess that overwhelming mral and political influence in the
Principalities which her prepnderance in the Black Sea has
heretofore enabled her to exerise, and that she should not,
by a constant maritime supciority in that sea, have tho
means of supporting by her Bet the march and invasion of
her army, and of thus strikirt a mortal blow at the heart of
that empire of which the Pricipalities 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 precaious so long as the preponder-
ance of Russia in the Black '.ea were allowed to continue.
But when the direct bearing)f that preponderance on the
great question on which tie war has been undertaken is
considered, the refusal of Rijsia to consent to any measures
which would effectually put n end to that preponderance, is
a warning which Europe calla with safety disregard, and
plainly shows that Russia is tot prepared to lay aside her
long-cherished views of aggrssion 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 Dundation.
Russia has asserted that aregard for her dignity precludes
her from acceding to tie teriis proposed by the Allies on the
third point. But the dignit' of Russia cannot require that
she should keep up in time )f 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 tlx idependence of that neighbour
and to change the territorial distribution of Europe. Yet
such is the position which 'lassia has maintained in tho Black
Sea, and which she has even now publicly avowed her de-
termination not to renounce
It is needless to dwell on she absence of any motive of self-
preservation to justify this 4etermivation on the part of Rus-
sia. It would be a mockeryto 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 smalLand limited number of ships of war of
the Western Powers, Russia has nothing to fear from tho
naval forces of England and France ; while, on the other
ns.ua, tns 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 Euxine a naval armament
strong enough to sweep from the waters of that sea every
ship bearing the flag o uwia.
Russia has indeed ?Riegel that the preponderance which
she wishes to maintain in ;he Black Sea is essential for the
security of the Turkish encpire against the aggressions of
other 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 apprehoid. 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 ; znd, 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 beyond 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
Russian ports to the eastward of the Straits. But the West-
ern Powers, who now 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-
eluded from exercising the usual discretion as to withholding
the exequatur from any person against whom well-founded
oko ;tion 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 in 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-
nople 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 Euxine.

To guard against this double danger, the Governments of
England and of France 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,armeoaltrace divested of the security which is the
ptsos, 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 the 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 the 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.
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
withcatt even an allegation that its stipulations had been vio-
lated, that Russia claimed aright of interference between the
Sultan and 10,000,000 of the Sultan's Christian subjects. If
the claith 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
to wards the overthrow of the Turkish empire and the estab-
lishment of Russian supremacy on its ruins.
Europe, then, is indebted to the timely and energetic inter-
ference of the .Western Tow= 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 that period 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 means 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.
CLAREND ON.
—I am, &e.,

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 ani 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 picket* 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 praimworthyconduct 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
one man was so seriously injured that he was taken to
the hospital, having received three bayonet wounds. He
belonged to the 81st, and got mixed up in the crowd.
The 27th only arrived in Chatham on Tuesday last from
Canterbury. It seems that some old animosity existed
between the marines and the 27th. The 60th Rifles
took part with the marines in this affair. A military
inquiry is to take place into the cause of this affray.

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURLAY EVENING, JULY 14 1855.