The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

'0 AUSTRIA,

THE RUSSIA

The Ga7.:3t-le do i'Veser publishes the text of the
tk3pl.teli ont by Count Nes:ktlrotle in reply to the
Austian note supporting the four guarantees re-
quired by the Western Powers. We published the
reply to Russia on Thursday :

"TO PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF AT VIENNA.

" St Petersburg, August 14 (26).
" I have received and submitted to his Majesty the
Emperor the communications which the Austrian Cabi-
net addressed to us on the 10th of August (new style).
"In acceding to the desire which Austria has ex-
pressed to us, not to press further our military opera-
tions in Turkey, and to recall our troops from the prin-
cipalities of the Danube, we had exclusively in view
Austrian and German interests, in the name of which
this desire was addressed to us. The concession required
entailed the most important consequences upon us. As
we have already remarked to the Austrian Government, it
took away from us the only military point by which
could be established in our favour an equilibrium of
positions upon the immense theatre of operations in this
war. More than this, it exposed us, irremediably, to
the danger of seeing thrown, en masse, upon our coasts
in Asia and Europe, in the Black Sea, the military forces
of England, France, and Turkey.
" Notwithstanding these inconveniences, and notwith-
, standing these evident dangers, we, keeping in view the
interests of Austria and Germany, declared ourselves
ready to retire voluntarily and completely from the
principalities of the Danube. We even renounced every
condition of reciprocity on the part of our adversaries.
We demanded absolutely nothing from them. We con-
fined ourselves to expressing to Austria a desire to be
informed by her what were the guarantees of security
which she was individually in a condition to offer to us;
and, in fact, foreseeing that it was not in her power to
assure to us an armistice, we desired to know if at least,
after the evacuation should be completed, and that con-
sequently the engagements contracted by her with the
Western Powers would be fulfilled, we might reckon
upon Austria ceasing to make common cause with those
Powers with the object, publicly avowed, of bringing
about the moral and material abasement of Russia.

" At the same time, and in order to afford proof of
our pacific intentionß, we declared ourselves ready to ad-
here beforehand to the princip7es laid down in the pro-
tocol of the 9th April.

" In the place of replying directly to these questions,
which were addressed to her directly, Austria thought
it her duty forthwith to submit the business to the
Western Powers, and to make her subsequent resolu-
tions dependent upon them—resolutions which we ex-
pected from her alone.
"It was evident that the sacrifice which we were
ready to make, keeping in view her particular interests,
and the interests of the whole of Germany, could not
have any value in the eyes of France and England ; and
that those two Courts, whose object it is to humiliate
and enfeeble Russia by prolonging the war, would not
show themselves disposed to enter upon a conciliatory
course.

" This, unhappily, is proved by the communication
which Count Esterhazy has made to us.
" In point of fact, the Austrian Cabinet now transmits
to us, as the result of its conferences with the Courts of
Paris and London, new bases for peace, which, so far
as form is concerned, have been prepared in a manner
the least likely to secure an honourable adoption.
And as to the meaning of them, we cannot be
deceived, seeing that, according to the avowal of the
French Government, as it was unreservedly made by
the official publication of its reply to the Cabinet of
Vienna, the interest of the European equilibrium' is made
to signify nothing less than the abrogation of all our
anterior treaties, and the destruction of all our maritime
establishments, which, it is said, by reason of the absence
of all counterpoise, are a perpetual menace against the
Ottoman empire, and the restriction of Russian power
in the Black Sea.

" Such are, however, the bases which the Austrian
Government recommends to us, and though it exhorts
us to accept them without reserve, it believes itself not
the loss bound to inform us, who are most• concerned,
that the maritime Powers do not consider them as defini-
tively settled, and that they reserve the right to modify
them at the proper time, according to the chances of the
war. According to this, our acceptation of these bases
would not suffice to afford any very certain prospect of
the cessation of hostilities. The Austrian Government
goes still further. It declares to us that, in its opinion,
these bases result from the principles of the protocol,
and that they are the necessary conditions of a solid and
durable peace ; and consequently, that it completely
unites itself to, and has even entered into formal en-
gagements with, the Western Powers, not to treat with
us upon any other base.
" Under these circumstances, it is useless for us to
examine conditions which, while they are laid before
us, are declared to be elastic and variable—conditions
which, if they were to remain as they have been
actually submitted to us, suppose Rtissia to be already
enfeebled by the exhaustion of a long war, and which,
if the force of temporary circumstances forced us
ever to submit to them, so far from assuring to Europe
a solid and especially a durable peace, such as the
Austrian Government appears to expect, would only ex-
pose that peace to complications without end. In ac-
ceding as he has done to the principles laid down in the
protocol, the Emperor certainly had not any intention of
attributing to them the signification which has been
here claimed.

"The immense sacrifices which we were ready to make
to the private interests of Austria and Germany, with-
' out receiving any compensation on the part of Austria,
while the latter, instead of perceiving in this the
means of disengaging itself from obligations incurred by
it, halbert° having, on the contrary, felt it due to herself
to unite with the Powers our eneinies by yet stronger
and more extensive engagements, we deeply regret that
we are not able to give effect to her last communica-
tions. We consider that, in our present position, we
have exhausted every measure of concession compatible
with our honour; and our sincerely pacific intentions
not having been regarded, it only remains for us to fol-
low, energetically, the course which has been traced out
for us by our adversaries themselves—that is to say, to
leave, like them, the chances of war to determine a defi-
nitive base for negotiation.
The Austrian Government is already informed that
motives arising solely from strategic necessities have en-
gaged the Emperor to order his troops to withdraw behind
the Pruth. Having thus retired within our own frontier,
and standing now upon the defensive, we expect, from this
position, that equitable overtures will permit us to concur
in the desire for the re-establishment of peace, on terms con-
sistent with our dignity and political interests, by de-
liberate proposals avoiding all provocation to an increase
of complications ; but at the same time we are deter-
mined to defend, with resolution, our territory against
all foreign attacks, from whatever quarter they may
proceed.
" Your Excellency will have the goodness to bring
this despatch to the knowledge of Count Buol.—Accept,
&c.,

(Signed)

" NESSELRODE."