The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-18 00:00:00

FRANCE.

IMPORTANT CIRCULAR DISPATCH.
M. Drouyn de l'Huys has lost no time in re-
plying to the second note of Count de Nesselrode.
This morning's Moniteur contains the Minister's
answer, dated only the 15th. The promptitude of
the publication in this instance is accounted for by
the breach of etiquette committed by the Russian
Government in giving a diplomatic circular to the
Petcrsburgh Journal before it had been dispatched
to the parties for whose instruction it was intended.
Having accomplished this act of retaliation, the
French Minister, with moderation but with perfect
firmness, proceeds to convict the Russian Minister
of having misled the other powers, by an admis-
sion that the Sultan had satisfied the demands
made by Prince Menschikoff, and of then raising a
fresh question. He next convicts him of misrepre-
sentation of matters of fact regarding the pretended
provocation to pass the Pruth, by the anchorage of
the fleet in Besika Bay. In fine, he makes the
Russian Government cut a sorry figure, as will be
seen by the following translation of this well-
written state paper, in the shape of a circular to
the diplomatic agents of the French Government
at the various Courts of Europe.

" Paris, July 15, 1853.
" Monsieur,—The new dispatch of Count de Nessel-
rode, which the Journal de St. Petersburgh published
the day after it had been sent to all the Russian lega-
tions, has produced an impression upon the Emperor's
Government which his Imperial Majesty has ordered me

to convey to you without circumlocution ( detour).
"We cannot but deplore seeing Russia at the very
moment when the efforts of all the cabinets to bring
about a satisfactory solution of existing difficulties, bear
such striking testimony to their moderation, assume
an attitude which renders the success of their negotia-
ations more uncertain, and imposes upon some among
them the duty of repudiating a responsibility which it
would be vain to attempt to fasten upon their policy.
" Ido not desire, sir, to return to an exhausted dis-
cussion ; but since Count do Nesselrode continues to
allege, in support of the pretensions of St. Petersburgh,
the offence said to have been committed by the Porte in
not regarding the promises made to the Russian Lega-
tion at the period of the first settlement of the Holy
Places in 1852, I am forced to repeat that the firmans
issued by the Sultan after Prince Menschikoff's mission
took away all foundation for this single grievance, and
that, if any Government be authorised to prefer legiti-
mate complaints, it is not the Government of his Ma-
jesty the Emperor Nicholas.
"In fact, on the 10th of May last, Count de Nessel-
rode, who had just then received dispatches from the
Russian ambassador at Constantidople, congratulated
himself with General de Castelbajac upon a result which
he regarded as a happy termination of the affair of the
Holy Places. M. Kisselef, in Paris, made a similar
declaration, and the agents of the Cabinet at Petersburgh
everywhere used the same language. The demands
subsequently made by Prince Menschikoff, when the
principal object of his mission was attained, and when
his return was already announced, were not therefore
in any way connected with those which he had prevailed
upon the Porte to accept, and it was really a new ques-
tion, a more grave difficulty that arose at Constanti-
nople, at the very moment when Europe, an instant
alarmed, was invited by Russia herself to be completely
reassured.

" Taken, in some sort, by surprise, by demands which
they had no grounds for suspecting, the representatives
of France, Austria, Great Britain, and Prussia, at Con-
stantinople, loyally employed their efforts to hinder a
rupture, the consequences of which might be so fatal.
They did not advise the Porte to make any resistance of
such a nature as to expose itself to more serious dangers,
and, unanimously agreeing that the demands of Russia
touched the liberty of action and sovereignty of the Sul-
tan too nearly to allow them to offer an opinion, they
left to the Ministers of his Highness alone the responsi-
bility of the course to be taken. There was, therefore,
on their part, no pressure of any kind, no interference
whatever; and if the Ottoman Government, left to itself,
would not subscribe to the conditions that were desired
to be imposed upon it, the reason must assuredly have
been that it considered those conditions entirely incom-
patible with its independence and dignity.
" It was at such a conjuncture, sir, that Prince Mens-
chikoff quitted Constantinople, breaking off all diploma-
tic relations with the Porte, and that it devolved upon
the Powers bound by their traditions and their interests
to maintain the integrity of Turkey, to trace out for
themselves a line of conduct.

" His Imperial Majesty's Government, in accord with
that of her Britannic Majesty, thought the situation too
menacing not to be narrowly watched, and the French
and English squadrons speedily received orders to anchor
in Besika Bay, where they arrived in the middle of the
month of June.

"This measure, one entirely of precaution, had no
character of hostility towards Russia. It was impera-
tively called for by the gravity of the circumstances, and
amply justified by the preparations for war which for
several months past had been making in Bessarabia and
the harbour of Sebastopol.
" The motive for the rupture between the Cabinet of
St. Petersburgh and the Porte had, so to speak, disap-
peared. The question which might have been raised on
the sudden at Constantinople was that of the very .2E
istence of the Ottoman empire, and his Imperial.
Majesty's Government will never admit such vast in-
terests to be mooted ("se trouver en jeu") without in-
stantly claiming that share of influence and action which
properly belongs to its power and its rank in the world.
To the presence of a Russian army upon the land fron-
tier of Turkey, the French Government had the right
and the duty to reply by the presence of its naval forces
at Besika, in a bay freely open to the ships of all nations,
and situated within those limits which treaties prohibit
the passing in time of peace.

" For the rest, the Russian Government was soon
about to take upon itself to explain the necessity for the
movement of the two squadrons. For on the 31st of
May, when it was impossible to know at St. Peters-
burgh, where the news only arrived on the 17th of June,
the resolution that might be adopted by France and
England, Count Nesselrode sent to the Porte, in the
form of a letter to Reschid Pacha, a final ultimatum,
with a brief delay, and which contained a very clearly
expressed threat of an approaching occupation of the
Danubian Principalities.
" When this decison had been come to with a solem-
nity which no longer permitted a Government jealous of
its dignity to modify it ; when, by a circular dated June
11, his Majesty the Emperor Nicholas caused his resolu-
tion to be announced to Europe as if to render its execu-
tion more irrevocable, our squadron was yet at Salamis,
and that of England had not left the port of Malta.
"This simple comparison of dates suffices, sir, to show
from what quarter proceeded that initiative now sought
to be denied, while the responsibility of it is thrown
upon France and England ; it is also sufficient to prove
that between the communication made to Paris and
London of the proposition made directly to Constanti-
nople by Count Nesselrode, and the rejection of that ul-
timatum, time was materially wanting for the Govern-
ments of his Imperial Majesty and her Britannic Ma-

jesty to exercise their influence at Constantinople one
way or the other. No, sir, I say it with all the force
of conviction, the French Government in this grave de-
bate has nothing to reproach itself with ; it repudiates
from the depths of its conscience no less than before Eu-
rope the responsibility imputed to it, and strong in its
moderation appeals in its turn to the judgment of the
cabinet. Setting aside the so different objects of the two
demonstrations, there was perhaps a sort of analogy be-
tween the respective situations when the Russian army
was on the left bank of the Pruth and the English and
French fleets cast their anchors at Besika. The analogy has
disappeared since the passage of the river, which forms the
limits of the Russian and the Ottoman empires. Count
Nesselrode seems to admit this when he supposes the
squadron to be already within sight of Constantinople
itself, and represents the military position taken up by
the Russian troops on the banks of the Danube, as a
compensation for what he calls, our maritime occupa-
tion.'
" The English and French forces do not by their
presence outside the Dardanelles infringe existing
treaties. The occupation of Wallachia and Moldavia, on
the contrary, constitutes a manifest violation of these
very treaties. That of Adrianople, w,l4ich determines
the condition of the Russian protectorate, implicitly
states the case in which that power was to be permitted
to interfere in the principalities; it was in case their
privileges should be disregarded by the Turks.
" In 1848, when these provinces were occupied by
the Russians, they were a prey to a revolutionary agita-
tion, which equally threatened their own security, that
of their sovereign, and that of the protecting power.
The convention of Balta-Liman established that, if
similar events should recur within a period of seven
years, Russia and Turkey would jointly take measures
to restore order.

" Are the privileges of Wallachia and Moldavia me-
naced ? Have revolutionary troubles broken out in
their territories ? The facts themselves answer that at
present no cause has arisen for the application either of
the treaty of Adrianople or the convention of Balta-
Liman. By what right did the Russian troops pass the
Pruth if not by the right of war ?—a war, I admit, the
true name of which they will not pronounce, but a war
derived from a new principle fraught with disastrous
consequences, which one is astonished to see practised
for the first time by a power so eminently conservative
of European order as Russia—a principle leading to
nothing less than the oppression in time of peace of
weak States by their powerful neighbours.
"The general interest of the world is opposed to the
admission of such a doctrine, and the Porte in particular
has the incontestable right to see an act of war in the
invasion of two provinces which, whatever may be their
special organisation, form an integral part of her empire.
Neither the Porte, therefore, nor the powers that might
come to her aid, would violate the treaty of July 13,
1841, if she were to declare the straits of the Dardanelles
and Bosphorus open to the French and English squa-
drons. The opinion of his Imperial Majesty's Govern-
ment is formal upon this point ; and although it does
not think this opinion excludes the 'attempt to find an
efficacious means of conciliation between Russia and
Turkey, I have requested General de Castelbajac to '
make known to Count de Nesselrode the way in which
we view the subject, and to communicate this dispatch
to him. I also authorise you to transmit a copy to •
M-. . ,

"Accept, sir, the assurance of my high consideration.
"DEOUYN-DE-LHUYS.

A letter received from Vienna, by a Paris mer-
cantile house of eminence, represents as almost

certain the acceptance by Russia of the last proposi-
tion of the intervening Powers.
The announcement on Friday of a rise in the
price of bread of five centimes occasioned a sort of
agitation in the Rue Rambuteau, in the neighbour-
hood of the markets, which the police succeeded in
quelling before it grew to anything formidable. The
price, 40 centimes the kilogramme, first quality,
makes the Paris loaf dearer by about 30 per cent.
than it is in London ; this; with the enormous ad-
vance in the rent of apartments, would soon cause
discontent, only that, happily, the harvest prospects,
despite the unfavourable aspect of the weather,
are good, and building speculation having become
almost a mania, there will be houses enough before
a year, to meet the wants of the population. The
reports of the prefects confirm the promising ap-
pearance of the crops. A rumour of a second
attempt on the Emperor was current yesterday,
but it seemed to be without ground. The trial
which is to take place on Wednesday of parties im-
plicated in what is called the COMMUM revolution-
naire, has nothing to do with the late attempt at
the Opera Comique. Indeed, it is said, and gene-
rally believed, that the persons arrested with arms
upon them on the night in question have been all
packed off to Cayenne by virtue of an existing de-
cree, which gives the Government power of sum-
mary transportation of recognised members of
secret societies. .

A favourable reaction took place on Saturday at
the Bourse, business generally being active, and a
rise of about 4- per Cent. in nearly every description
of stock having occurred at its termination, the pre-
cise amounts being 55c. in the Three per Cents. for
cash, and the Three and Four-and-a-Half per Cents.
for the account, and 20c. in the Four-and-a-Half
per Cents. for cash. In the Bank of France shares
there was an improvement of sf. The final quota-
tions were :-For money : Three per Cents., 77f. 45c.;
Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 102 f. 10c. For the
end of the month-Three per Cents., 77f. 35c.;
Four-and-a-half per Cents., 102 f. sc. • Bank Stock,
2660 f. An advance of sf. occurred in thortgage Bank
shares, which closed at 665 f. ; and there was a
similar rise in those of the Societe Mobiliere, which
were last quoted at 760 f. The railway market was
active, with a general improvement in prices. Paris
and Orleans shares rose 20f. ; Paris and Lyons,
12f. 50c. ; Paris and Strasbourg, 7f. 50c. ; Nor-
therns, 6f. 25c. ; whilst the remaining lines ad-
vanced from 3f. to sf. each. Closing L.rices :-Nor-
them, 860 f. ; Paris and Orleans, I,llof. ; Paris
and Strasbourg, 910 f. ; Paris and Lyons, 910 f. ;
Paris and. Roueu 1,055 f. ; Lyons to the Mediter-
ranean, 730 f. ; Western of France, 725 f. ; Rouen
and Havre, 495 f.; Bordeaux and Cette, 618 f. 75e. ;
Caen and Cherbourg, 610 f.