The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-14 00:00:00

Paid.'

E SUN, LONDON, WE!DJNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 14, 1853

THE EASTERN QUE,STION.

REJECTION OF THE TURKISH MODIFI-
CATIONS BY RUSSIA.
(From the Times.)
The electric telegraph has brought us by way of
Berlin the news for which all Europe was impa-
tiently waiting. The Emperor of Russia has re-
jected the Turkish modifications of the Note which
he had accepted at the suggestion of the Four
Powers. An answer in this sense had been dis-
patched from St. Petersburg to Vienna on the 7th
inst., but we are told nothing of that answer,
whether the rejection was " pure and simple," or
whether reasons for the rejection were stated which
would necessarily lead to further negotiation. The
Emperor himself was to proceed at once to War-
saw, where we shall probably very soon hear of his
arrival ; and on the 23d of this month he is to meet
the Emperor of Austria at Olmutz.
Considerable importance is attached by the
statesmen of Russia and of Germany to this Im-
perial progress, and the Emperor Nicholas has even
postponed his intended visit to Odessa and Sebas-
topol, the scene of his warlike preparations, in order
to approach nearer to the Austrian dominions, the
scene of the diplomatic conferences which have up
to this moment held in check the schemes of his am-
bition. It is easyto discover the causes of this move,
and it may turn out to be an important incident in
the course of events. The resistance of the Turkish
Ministers to Prince Menschikoff's Note and to the
last proposition of the Conference of Vienna was
probably less surprising to the Emperor Nicholas
than the firm and independent language he has
heard in the last few months from the Cabinet of
Vienna. Prince Felix Schwarzenberg, on whom the
recollection of past obligations to Russia sat like
a painful and uneasy burden, was often heard to
exclaim, " I will one day astonish the world by
my huge ingratitude ;" and had he lived to
carry on the affairs of the empire in the proud and
resolute spirit he manifested during his brief ad-
ministration, he would soon have shaken off all
subserviency. to Russia, and taken the lead in the
policy of. Central Europe. His successors are men
ofinferior energy, but they have shown through-
out this crisis of the Eastern question that they
are resolved. and prepared to support the inde-
pendent policy of their country without any com-
promise to foreign influences, and they have
accordinglyincurred an amount of displeasure
from the Emperor Nicholas which is, after all,
one of the best compliments a Minister can
earn from a foreign Sovereign. The barrier
which has most powerfully contributed up to
this time to arrest the policy of Russia has been
the close union of the four other great powers.
The Emperor of Russia has so entirely failed in
deluding Austria and Prussia as to the nature of
his operations, or in winning their assent to his
aggressions, that one of the very last communica-
tions made to him by M. de Buol, the Austrian
minister, was the request that he would name a
day for the evacuation of the principalities ; and,
although it has sometimes been said that the price
of the Russian intervention in Hungary in 1849
was a secret treaty which made Austria dependent
on the will of her powerful neighbour, nothing in
the recent conduct or relations of the two powers
seems to confirm that assertion, and we hope that
Austria will still have the spirit to show that it is
wholly unfounded.
Under these circumstances, the Emperor Nicho-
las rests the influence he hopes to exercise over
the policy of the Austrian Cabinet on one point—
namely, his personal ascendancy over the young
Emperor Francis Joseph ; and it is evident that the
approaching visit to Olmutz is intended to detach
the head of the Austrian monarchy from the tradi-
tional policy of his empire, and from the counsels of
his western allies. These imperial interviews have
constantly been a favourite diplomatic resource of
successive Russian sovereignsfrom Tilsit downwards,
and the Emperor Nicholas is perfectly qualified to
play his part in them with consummate ability. No
man ever knew better how to give to an unscrupu-
lous policy an air of chivalrous disinterestedness, or
to justify actions that admit of no earthly excuse by
an appeal to the transcendental rights of irrespon-
sible power. Such language and such artifices come
with additional weight when they are employed by
a Sovereign who has occupied one of the loftiest
thrones of Europe for more than a quarter of a
century, and are addressed to a Prince who is still
on the threshold of his life and his reign. The in-
terview, therefore, which the Emperor of Austria
will shortly be called upon to hold is one of no
commom moment to himself and to his peo-
ple. He will find himself face to face with
the traditional policy of Russia, which has
been dissembled or suspended for the last
few years from other causes. Perhaps
the gravity of this conjuncture in the
affairs of Europe will be increased by the ardour
for war which has been manifested by a party in
the Turkish Councils and the Turkish army ; and
the necessity of taking part decidedly with one
side or the other in this impending conflict will be
urged upon the youthful Sovereign. Territorial
advantages have ere this been held out by Russia
to foreign States on similar occasions, and nothing
will be omitted that may stimulate cupidity or
ambition. The Emperor of Austria enters upon
this passage of his life almost untried. But he has
' firmness, capacity, and a life before him ; and the
result of this conference may to a great extent
decide his fate for independence or for dishonour.
The geographical position of Austria gives her
an influence and an interest which no other Power
can possess in the regions of the Lower Danube
and the provinces south of that stream. As long
as she remains determined to prevent the inroads
of northern armies beyond that barrier the Turkish
Empire cannot be overrun, for she takes in flank
the whole power of the invader. But if Austria,
faithless to her traditional policy and her per-
manent interests, ever allows herself to participate
in projects hostile to the independence of those
countries, she removes the barrier of the East,
and no direct interference of other States could
rescue those countries from invasion by the two
greatest military monarchies of the continent.
She might gain Bosnia and the Herzegowina—a
slender compensation for the extension Russia
would acquire ; but by the same rule her posses-
sions in Italy would be exposed to the utmost
danger, and the peace of Europe would be at an
end. The decision of Austria may ward off the
impending catastrophe, and accelerate the restora-
tion of peace, it it be disturbed, provided she re- '
mains firm to the principles of the other Powers ;
but, if any cause whatever should induce her to
swerve from the course she has hitherto followed,
the joint resolutions of Europe would have lost their
authority, and the questions which have hitherto
occupied us would assume a far wider importance.
We trust, therefore, that with this great responsi-
bility before him, the Emperor Francis Joseph
will prove to Europe that, whatever his personal
relations with the Emperor Nicholas may be, the
chief Sovereign of Germany is the head of a race
and of a nation whose independence is the first law
of his political existence. Germany is fond of as-
serting her unity and her strength—now is the
time to prove them. The rule of duty for an Em-
peror of Austria is not to be gathered from the
dread of France or from the favours of Russia, or
from the example of England, but from the inte-
rests of that nation through which the Danube
flows. That nation would have to bear all the
burdens and horrors of war in a hundred shapes.
That nation has power enough to throw a decided
weight into the scale of peace ; and the most popu-
lar and powerful Sovereign of our time will be the
Prince who shall convince the people of Germany
that he is proof against the temptations and the
erils of a Russian alliance.

(From the Morning Chronicle.)

The Eastern difficulty has assumed a fresh
aspect. The Emperor of Russia absolutely refuses
to accept the Turkish modifications of the Vienna
Note. This result had, however, been anticipated;
and the meaning of the refusal cannot be ascer-
tained until the accompanying communications to
the Great Powers are known. It is possible that
the Imperial rejection of the demands of the Porte
will furnish occasion for assurances on which the
European Cabinets may found a guarantee which
Turkey may accept as satisfactory. No judgment
ought to be formed on questions so delicate, until
all the circumstances are fully before the world.
The facts already ascertained are, however,
sufficiently grave. The Court of St. Peters-
burg rejects demands which, without some equi-
valent, the Ottoman Government is, by its own
act, precluded from waiving. The strong lan-
guage used by Redschid. Paella, in speaking of
the dignity of the Sultan, may probably have been
necessary to calm the irritation of his countrymen;
but it renders a simple retractation impossible.
Ingenious theorists in diplomacy have, from the
first, been too ready to assume the unlimited plia-
bility of the weaker State; but the last intelligence
from Constantinople shows that the Ottoman Mi-
nistry have at all events no immediate intention
of submitting to the terms which they have already
rejected. By this time, an address to the nation
has been issued, which will undoubtedly have laid
stress on the patriotism of the Sultan in demanding
a voice in the adjustment of the terms on which
the security of his power depends. It is not un-
likely that the importance of the modifications has.
been exaggerated rather than explained away ; and_
language which might have been softened downtbhye
diplomacy has probably been adopted with
earnestness of national conviction.
Thus, then, Russia and Turkey stai4 once more
faze to face, the pretext for aggression dill re-