The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-20 00:00:00

ted6.tila jiliv. tE ihd Confidstitial Intim' of which I bet 14
enclose a copy to your Lordship.—Fhave,
G. H. SEY3tOrF

(Enclosure in No. 8.)
SIR G. R. SEYMOUR. TO COUNT NESSELRODT•
(Private and confidential.)

St. Petersburg, Feb. '24 (March 8), /853.
My dear Count Nesselrode,--Therc is an observation re•
specting the very important memorandum placed YesterdaY
by your Excellency in my hands which 'I feel obliged to
make.

•
I. am most anxious to observe that this paper must have
been drawn up under the impression of English policy at Con-
stantinople having been very different from what iu reality it
has been.

I can aOrm, conscientiously and distinctly, that the object
proposed to themselves, as well by the late as by her Majeety's
present Government, has been to act as a common friend in
the contests between the allied Governments ; and that, far
from having inclined, as has been stated, to France in the
course of the late critical transactions, it has been the desire,
of the Queen's advisers (to the full extent permitted to a Go-
vernment compelled to observe a neutral attitude) that ample
satisfaction should be given to the demands which his Impe-
rial Majesty's Government were justified in making.
This assertion I should have no difficulty iu substantiating
by written evidence; and I will acid that, in any just demand
which England may have to make upon a foreign Cabinet,
only desire that the conduct of a friendly Power towards us
may be that which quietly and unostentatiously the English
Government has pursued in the complicated question of the
Holy Places with regard to the claims of Russia.

I request your Excellency's good offices for causing this, the
real state of the case, to be rightly understood ; at all events,
for preventing a contrary belief from being adopted until it
shall be clearly ascertained whether or not my statement iA
correct,—l have, ke,,

No. 9.

H. Smoorm.

SIR G. SEYMOUR TO THE EARL OF CLARENDON.
(Received March D.)
(Secret and confidential.)

St. Petersburg, March 10, 185 g.
My Lord,-1 have just had a very amicable and satisfactory
conversation with the Chancellor, who, under the impression
of my letter of the fith inst. having originated in a misconcep-
tion with regard to the Emperor's memorandum, had desired
to see me.
We read over the memorandum together, and Count Nes-
selrode observed that all that was desired here was, that,
while appealing to the Emperor's magnanimity and feelings of
justice, her Majesty's Government should employ some effort
towards opening the eyes of the French Ministers as to the
false course into which they have been led by M. de Iravalette.
To this I replied that such had been the conduct pursued
by her Majesty's Government, not on one occasion, but on
various occasions; and that, as a specimen of the language
held by your lordship's predecessor to the French Govern-
ment, I would beg to read to him an extract from one of
Lord John Russell's despatches.

I read accordingly the five or six lines of Lord John Bus.
sell's despatch to Lord Cowley of January 25, beg.innin
" But her Majesty's Government cannot avoid perceiving,"
and concluding with "the relations of friendly p0wer,,,,,,
which passage I had copied out and taken with me.

Count Nesselrode expressed his warn satisfaction at finding
that her Majesty's Government had given such excellent ad-
vice to the French Government ; and only regretted that he
had not long ago been put in possession of evidence so Nu,
elusive as to the part. taken upon the question of the Holy
Places by her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.
In conclusion, the Chancellor requested that I would con-
sider the passage in the Imperial memorandum commencing
with the words, " Que PAngleterre s'emploie done," as ex-
pressing a hope, and not as implying a reproach—as refer-
able to the course which it was desired should be taken by
her Majesty's Government, and not as alluding to that which
had been pursued.—l have, &e., G. H. SEYIIOIM.

VIEWS OF THE CABINET.
No. 10.

THE EARL OF CLARENDON TO SIR G. 11. SEYMOUR.
(Secret and Confidential.)
Foreign-office, March 23, 1853.
Sir,—Your dispatches of the 21st and 22d ultimo have been
laid before the Queen, and I am commanded to express her
Majesty's entire approval of the discretion and judgment dis-
played by you in the conversations which you had the honour
to hold with the Emperor. 1 need not assure you that the
opinions of his Imperial Majesty have received from her Ma-
jesty's Government the anxious and deliberate consideration
that their importance demands ; and although her Majesty's
Government feel compelled to adhere to the principles and
the policy laid down in Lord John Russell's despatch of the
9th of February, yet they gladly comply with the Emperor's
wish that the subject should be further and frankly discussed.
The generous confidence exhibited by the Emperor entitles
his Imperial Majesty to the most cordial declaration of
opinion ou the part of her Majesty's Government, who
are fully aware that, in the event of any understanding
with reference to future contingencies being expedient., or
indeed possible, the word of his Imperial Majesty would
be preferable to any convention that could be framed.
Her Majesty's Government persevere in the belief that
Turkey still possesses the elements of existence, and
they consider that recent events have proved the correct-
! ness of the opinion expressed in the despatch of my prede-
cessor, that there was no sufficient cause for intimating to the
Sultan that he cannot keep peace at home, or preserve friendly
relations with his neighbours. Her Majesty's Government
have accordingly learnt with sincere satisfaction that the Em.
peror considers himself even more interested than England in
preventing a Turkish catastrophe; because they are convinced
that upon the policy pursued by his Imperial Majesty towards
Turkey will mainly depend. the hastening or the indefinite
postponement of an event Which every Power in Europe is
concerned in averting. Aler Majesty's Government are con-
vinced that nothing is more calculated to precipitate that
event than the constant prediction of its being near at hand;
that nothing can be More fatal to the vitality of Turkey than
the assumption of its rapid and inevitable decay; and that if
the opinion of the Emperor, that the days of the Turkish em-
pire were numbered, became notorious, its downfall must oc-
cur even sooner than his Imperial Majesty now appears to ex-
pect. But on the supposition that, from unavoidable causes,
the catastrophe did take place, her Majesty's Government en-
tirely share the opinion of the Emperor, that the occupation
• of Constantinople by either of the Great Powers would be in-
compatible with the present balance of power and the mainte-
nance of peace in Europe, and must at once be regarded as
impossible ; that, there are no.elements for the reconstruction
of a Byzantine empire ; that the systematic misgovernment of
Greece offers no encouragement to extend its territorial domi-
nion ; awl that as there arc no materials for provisional or
communal government, anarchy would be the result of leaving
the provinces of Turkey to them-selves, or permitting them to
form separate republics. The Emperor has announced that,
sooner than permit a settlement of the question by any one of
these methods, he will be prepared for war at every hazard;
and however much her Majesty's Government may be disposed
to agree in the soundness of the views taken by his Imperial
Majesty, yet they consider that the simple predermivation of
what shall not be toltrated, doeS little towards solving the real
difficulties, or settling in what manner it would be practi-
cable, or even desirable, to deal with the heterogeneous mate-
rials of which the Turkish Empire is composed. England
desires no territorial aggrandisement, and could be no party
to a previous arrangement from which she was to derive any
such benefit. England could be no party to any understand-
ing, however general, that was to be kept secret from other
powers ; but her Majesty's Government believe that no arrange
meats could control events, and that no understanding could
be kept secret. They would, in the opinion of her Majesty's
Government, be the signal for preparation for intrigues of
-every description, and for revolts among the Christian sub-
jects of the Porte. Each power and each party would endea-
, your to secure its future interests, and the dissolution of the
Turkish Empire would be prteeded by a state of anarchy
which must, aggravate every difficulty, if it did not render a ,
peaceful solution of the question impossible. The only mode
by which such a solution could be attempted would be that
of an European Congress, hut that only affords au additional.
reason for desiring that the present order of things in Turkey
should be maintained, as her Majesty's Government Cannot
without alarm reflect on the jealousies that would then be
evoked, the impossibility of reconciling the different ambitions
and the divergent interests that would be called into play,
and the certainty that the treaties of 1815 must then be open
to revision, when France might be prepared to risk the chances
of an European war to get rid of the obligations which she
considers injurious to her national honour, and which, having
been imposed by victorious enemies, are a constant source
of irritation to her. The main object of her Majesty's
Government, that to which their efforts have been and
always will be directed, is the preservation of peace ; and
they desire to uphold. the Turkish empire, from their conviction
that no great question can be agitated. in the East without
becoming a source of discord in the West, and that every
great question in the West will assume a revolutionary cha-
racter, and embrace a revision of the entire social system, for
which the continental governments are certainly in no state
of preparation. The Emperor is fully cognisaut of the mate:
lea's that are in constant fermentation beneath the surface of
society, and their readiness to burst forth even in times of
peace ; and his Imperial Majesty will probably, therefore, not.r
dissent from the opinion that the first cannon-shot may he the
signal for a state of things more disastrous ereu than those
calamities that war inevitably brings in its train.
But such
a war would be the result of the dissolution and dismember-
ment of the Turkish empire ; and hence the anxiety of her
Majesty's Government to avert the catastrophe. Nor can
they admit that the signs of Turkish decay arc now either
i
more evident or more rapid than of late years ~there is still
great energy and great wealth in 'turkey : a disposition to
improve the system of government is not wanting ; Corrup-
tion, though unfortunately ereat, ig still not of a character,
nor carried to au extent, that tj
" reatcns the existence of the
.
state ; the treatment of Christ iaes is not harsh, and the tole-
ration exhibited by the Porte towards this portion of its sub-
jects, might serve as an example to sense Governments who
look with contempt upon Turkey as a barbarous power. Her
Majesty's Government believe that Turkey only requires for-
bearance on the part of its allies, and a determination not to
press their claims in a manner humiliatingtfr
to the dignity and
independence of the Sultan
with tendly sn,,„„srt,in
short, that, with States astiloindividuals, the rwrveak
are
entitled to expect from the strong order not only
to prolong its existence,to remove all cause of alarm
dissolution. It
in this work of
respecting its
benevolence and of sound European policy that her Majesty"
Government arc desirous of co-operating with the Emperor;
they feel entire confidence in the rectitude of his Ins-
, perial Majesty's intentions, and as they hare the satis-
faction of thinking that the interest.: of Russia and England
in the East are completely identical
they entertain au earnest,
hope that a similar policy there will prevail, and tend to
strengthen the alliance between the two countries, which it
is alike the object of her Majesty and her Majesty's Govern-
ment to promote. You
will give a copy of this despatch to
the Chancellor or to the Emperor, in the event of your again
haying the honour to be received by his Imperial Majesty.
I am, tite... '(giOO) CLARB2.II7.ON.

No. 11.
Silt G. u
—saMMOUR. TO THE EART, OF CLARENPON.
(Received. March 26.)
(Secret and eonfidential.)
St. Petersburg, March 12, 1853.
My Lord,---The Chancellor sent for me this morning, when
he placed in my hands a copy of the memorandum which was
brought to your lordship's knowledge by my despatch of the,
9th inst.
Upon this copy the Emperor had written in pencil that he
was sorry to find that Sir Hamilton Seymour had considered ai
passage in the paper as reflecting upon the conduct of her Ma-
jesty's Government ; that no reproach had been intended, and
that the Chancellor would do well to see me and to state that
if it should be my wish, the paper might be taken back and
altered.
After a few moments' reflection it occurred to me that the
explanations which I had received were sufficient, so that a
record could be obtained of the Emperor's amicable intentions,
and that the paper, it' taken hack, might be altered in more
than one of its passages ; I therefore stated that, instead of
changing the memorandum, I would suggest that his Exeelw
leney should write me a few lines explanatory of the purport
of the passage which l lad considered objectionable.
To this the Chancellor at once acceded, and it only rein.ined
, fvr met? request that hie Ezolleacy \mid kind euough
. .