The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 11, 1861

Englishman went deliberately into a wood between
Sandomir and the Galician frontier and slept there.
When he was asked why he did so, he replied that
he wished to see whether the life of an insurgent
would suit him. His decision has not yet been
made known.

The Turkish Government and the Suez

Canal.

The Courser du Dimanche publishes a despatch
from the Turkish Government upon the subject of
the Isthmus of Suez Canal, which it has received
from Constantinople. The following is a translation
of this highly important document :--
The Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Represen-
tatives of the Sublime Porte at Paris and London.

Monsieur l'Ambassadeur,—When some years ago the
Sublime Porto was first called upon to consider the question
of the Suez Canal, it reserved to itself the right to meke
conditions regarding certain parts of the proposed contract
which was laid before it, and declared that it would desire
to see a preliminary understanding established b.tween the
two principal maritime powers as to the guarantees which
the opening of a channel of this importance demanded. No
such underst -sliding has yet been come to, and the new Go-
vernor-General of Egypt, his Highness Ismail Pacha, hav-
ing addressed to the Sultan's Government an official demand
by a letter to the Grand Vizier, to regularise his position in
this respect, and to give him clear and precise instructions
as to what he is to say and do, we feel it a duty to inform
him of all the conditions to which the authorisation of the
Sublime Porte has been always subordinate, and which
conditions, by order of our august master, we submit to the
equitable and friendly appreciation of his Imperial Majesty's
august allies. We feel ourselves all the more obliged to
Pronounce our opinion without further delay, because, to
our great regret, we see the works rapidly going on without
there having been any previcus solution of the important
questions connected with them. We are therefore com-
pelled frankly to state what must be done, having regard to
the interests of the empire, before this undertaking can be
considered as realisable with the authorisation of the sove-
reign of the country. It does not enter into the ideas of
tho Porto to prevent the realisation of an enterprise which
may be of general utility, but it can only consent to it-
1. On being assured of international stipulations which
will guarantee the complete neutrality of the
canal in a manner analogous to the existing guarantees for
the neutrality of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus; and
2. On such conditions as will secure the important interests
which it is the duty of the Porte to protect. Now the pre-
sent scheme offers none of these indispensable guarantees.
There are, in particul,r, two facts which from the begin-
ning attracted our most serious attention, namely :-1. That
notwithstanding the abolition in the empire of forced la-
bour, and notwithstanding the recent decree of the Viceroy
establishing the same prohibition, the preparatory works
are being carried on by forced labour alone. The Egyptian
administration forces 20,000 men per month to abandon
their families and their callings to work at this canal. These
'men at the end of their term of labour are left to return to
their families at their own cost, and most of them have very
long distances to go, to say nothing of the loss which they
suffer from the compulsory neglect of their interests. The
number of hands thus diverted from agriculture, manufac-
tures, and commerce is not limited to 20,000. While 20,000
are at work, as many as 40,000 are always on the road, or
preparing to set out, so that 60,000 men are permanently
abstracted from their homes and business. I think it super-
fluous to enlarge upon the necessary results of such a sys-
tern. The inconveniences of it are manifest, The Sublime
Porte cannot possibly sanction such practices in Egypt while

it does not permit the n in any other part of its empire. The
second fact to which I above allude is, that together with
the fresh water canals, the adjoining territory is ceded to
the company. According to the proposed contract the com-
pany is to have a right to claim all the land bordering upon
the canals in question, wherever they may be carried. Thus
the towns of Suez Timsah, and Port Said, as well as the
entire frontier of Syria, would necessarily and naturally
pass into the hands of a joint stock company, composed in
great part of foreigners, subjected to the jurisdiction of the
authorities of their respective countries. The company
might, therefore, at its pleasure create on important points
of the Ottoman empire colonies almost independent of the
empire. We are sure there is no Government in the world
possessing any proper feeling of independence and duty
which would subscribe to a transaction of this nature. Con-
sequently the Sublime Porte would lie wanting iu all its
duties, would lose the esteem of all its friends, and would
allow the establishment of a state of things destined to lead
to continual conflicts if it were not to declare that this
clause will never receive its sanction. To resume : the con-
sent of the Sublime Porte is and must be indissolubly de-
pendent upon the solution of the three following questions,
namely : the neutrality of the canal, the abolition of forced
labour, and the abandonment by the company of the clause
concerning the fresh water canals and the cession of the ad-
joining territory. When once these three points shall be
settled, the Sultan, in accord with his Highness Ismail
Pacha, will readily take into his serious consideration every
clause of the contract. As to the enseinbl6 of the contract
in question, it exists only as a project. You know that it
has never been approved by the Porte. The company itself
cannot say it was ignorant of the necessity of obtaining the
previous sanction of the Sublime Porte, since the proposed
contract itself makes that consent a fundamental condition
of the concession. It is, moreover, known that when, at a
subsequent period, M. de Letseps asked new favours from
the late Viceroy on behalf of the company, ho undertook
to obtain that consent within eighteen months, and he
did not fulfil the engagement. The Sublime Porte now
addresses itself, in the fullest confidence, to its two most
sincere allies, to ask them what they would have done
under similar circumstances. Could we have allowed a
joint-stock company to establish itself in the territory of
the erepiro, to arrogate to itself rights which the Sublime
Porte could not recognise, and that on the plea of a con-
cession promised by the high personage who governs that
territory under the sovereignty of the Sultan, and on the
express condition that the confirmation of the territorial
sovereign should be obtained ?

All that remained for us to do in order to give a fresh
proof of the good will by which our august master is ani..
mated, is to repeat once more that, in spite of the infractions
of which we have to complain, when once the inadmissible
clauses I have indicate.' above are withdrawn, we shall be
prepared to examine the othsr dispositions of the contract
without the slightest prejudice (prevention), In the strictest
equity the company will have no right to say that it has
already incurred expense.

It knew that one of the principal conditions of the con

tract not being fulfilled, it would incur that expense at its
own risk and peril. Nevertheless, being willing to take
into consideration the private interests involved in this
enterprise, the Sublime Porte will endeavour, in conjunc-
tion with his Highness Ismail Pacha, to take the necessary
measures for returning the money the company may have
spent, in the event of its not wishing to continue the works
without advantages which cannot be conceded to it, and in
that case the said company will of coarse surrender the
works it has already commenced, and all the land it holds
as property.

We may add also that, in the event just alluded to, of the
company renouncing the continuance of the projected work,
the Sublime Porte being sincerely desirous of doing all in

its power to facilitate communication will, in concert with
the Viceroy, adopt such measures as may be most approp-
riate for realising the execution of that work.
We are certain, M. l'Ambassadeur, that the above frank
and straightforward explanations will not fail to meet with
the entire approbation of his Majesty the Emperor. I beg
of you, consequently, to read this despatch to the Minister
of Foreign Affrirs, and to leave a copy of it with him.—
Accept, &c.. AALI.
The above heavy blow and great discouragement
to M. de Lesseps' scht me, inflicted by the Turkish
despatch upon the Suez Canal, published by the
Courrier du Dimanche, will certainly produce a
great sensation in France, and may perhaps lead to
serious consequences.

RUMOURED DISSENSIONS IN THE FRENCH CABI-
NET.—" The attitude of the minister of the Interior at the
approach of the electoral struggle and the restrictive mea-
sures which have been only too frequent lately." says the
Independence Beige, " appear to have occasioned some
rather serious dissensions in the Council of Ministers. It
is asserted that a very warm discussion upon this subject
occurred at the last council in presence of the the Emperor,
Count Walewski and M. Drouyu de Lhuys having taken
M. do Pcrsigny to task for the pressure he brings to bear
upon the electors before even the day of voting is fixed.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of State
are said to have been mainly induced to offer this Opposition
to the colleague by his exclusion of certain members of the
present chamber and by various fresh selections he has made,
the tendencies of which do not meet with their approval."
THE GREEK DEPUTATION AT COPENHAGEN.—
We read in the .Dagbladet of the sth inst. :—" The
Greek deputation which arrived in Copenhagen on the
25th of April has not yet succeeded in fulfilling its mission
of presenting its homage to the young king elected by the
National Assembly of Greece. The negotiotions respect.
ing the conditions attached to the acceptance of this
selection are still proceeding, and it is impossible to form
an idea when they
will be concluded ; meanwhile the
members of the deputation were present yesterday at a
grand dinner given by his Majesty, where, for the first
time, they found themselves in the presence of their
future king, Prince William of Denmark, who, by the way, '
has been suffering for some little time from the fracture of a
bone of the wrist."

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