The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-28 00:00:00

TURKEY.

The Pays and the Assemblee Nationale have both
articles on the Eastern Question. These journals
agree in thinking that there is no real ground for
fearing that a war will arise out of the Eastern
question. It is impossible to say to what extent
disappointment may carry the Emperor of Russia,
but the probability that he will see the necessity
of accepting a great deal less than he has asked for,
or awaiting for a better occasion to renew his claim,
is very great, whether we consider the proverbial
prudence of his character, or the particular circum-
stances which oppose the realisation of his pro-
jects. There is a general dread of war in Europe.
This dread is not founded merely on the convic-
tion that each power has of the difficulties which
it would have to encounter, and the enormous
cost of success if it should be successful, but
on a more laudable motive—the desire of avoid-
ing the shame and infamy which would attach
to the nation which should, without tho most le-
gitimate cause, draw the sword, and by a war
destroy all the institutions of peace, all the great
works of commerce and industry, and substitute
for a constantly-improving civilisation the state of
things which existed in the days of our compara-
tively barbarous ancestors. There is, besides,
another consideration in favour of peace which
must exist strongly in the minds of sovereigns and
their councillors. War in the present day would
little resemble what it was forty years ago, when
the means were so much less efficient. There were
great battles and great slaughter then, but it re-
quired many reverses to exhaust completely the
means of the unsuccessful combatant. If an army
of 50,000 men came into the field, and was de-
feated, some 40,000 remained for future efforts ;
but now if two armies of 50,000 each were to be on
the field, the probability is that the victor would
lose two-thirds, and the conquered party four-fifths
of its force. Even victory, therefore, would be
too expensive for nations to plunge into war as
they did formerly.
Such is the tenor of the articles which appear in
the Paris journals referred to.

We read in the _Wats :—" Some new details
from Constantinople to the 16th have been com-
municated to us. Prince Menschikoff has, in fact,
quitted Constantinople, leaving a part of the per-
sonnel of his embassy to conduct business ; but he
arhenesdo wouldltulitaih low' of
ot
u thelcdo ntsi
un waitlut.st
went to Bujukdore, from whence he sent word that
e
s
c-
corded a first delay to the 14th,
illitshTahtudas routea
after
tteifrlol
for the
tahtio2g.ol
aat
he granted a
second to the 20th, which announces a certain
hesitation in his mind and conduct. The Russian
seven
is: only one, ultimatum which was presented on the sth contains
. It
the privileges,
ifura virtue of
n
obnye N' V sßaiudLiias,rafeatlelyr having
declared declared that she only wishes for the maintenance
-
porn articlesooand vizirial letters which have been successively
granted to them, demands that to guarantee the
maintenance of these privileges, franchises, and
immunities, the Porte shall sign with her a conven-
ahadttiim-smchullerifits immunities,
firmans,
which
the h
conven-
tion or international treaty which shall render
these conventions irrevocable,
and shall put them
out of the reach of the caprice or ill will of the
Turkish Government. It is on that point especially
that the refusal of the Sultan is based. To justify
this demand Prince Menschikoff stated that here-
tofore the privileges of the Greeks have only been
founded on acts emanating from the authority of
the Ottoman Government, which acts, being
unilateral, do not definitively engage the Govern-
ment, and can always be modified by it ; that it
was thusmodtilfied that concessionshy recent
firmans,
rmraaadnes,which have been to the Greeks had
been
modified in their turn by subsequent firmans ; that
these changes authorise the Cabinet of St.
Petersburgh not to rely entirely on the Divan,
and it is on that account that Russia requires
a reciprocal convention—that is to say, a synal-
lagmatie act. The representative of the Emperor
of Russia said, moreover, that the treaty which ho
demands would be an act of the same nature as the
capitulations which have assured the privileges,
hundred ye only to
franchises, and immunities enjoyed by the Latins.
The Porte has energetically rejected this latter
consideration. It has said with reason that the
acapitulationsscanty
population i n favour
of two
ot the
three LatinLatin
s
thou-
sand souls, whilst the international treaty demanded
by Russia refers to a population of more than
eleven millions of its subjects with respect to whom
she would be disarmed—and that she cannot consent
to such a thing. Assuredly, we do not attempt to
dissimulate the gravity of the dissension ; never-
theless the friends of peace should be re-assured_a
friendly arrangement is not at all impossible."
The Moniteur says :—" The Government has re-
ceived intelligence from Constantinople to the
19th. Prince Menschikoff had not then left. He
was not any longer in official relations with the
Porte, which had refused to accept his propositions
in the terms in which they were brought forward.
It was, however, thought that the course of nego-
tiations was not yet closed."
A letter from Smyrna of the 11th of May in the
Augsburg Gazette, says :—"The disturbance which
took place here has now been completely put down.
The Governor published an order declaring that
any Greek under 18 years of acre using violence to-
wards a Jew should receive eblows of a stick on
the soles of his feet, and any man above that age,
50 strokes. This punishment having been rigo-
rously applied in every case, tranquillity was soon
restored. But the people are still in agitation,
for they are convinced that the Russians will soon