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 difficultips which
it would have to encounter, and the enormous
cost of success if it should be successful, but
2tli,
on a more laudable motive—the desire avoid-
ing - the sltanie and infamy-whig . tach
to the nation which should, without--th 68 - le-
gitimate catigeT draw the sword, and by a . war
destroy atl 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 Debats :—" Some new details
from Constantinople to the 16th have been cm- '
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
went to Bujukdere, from whence ho sent ,word that
he would not continue his route till the 20th,
and that he would wait till that day for the last
resolutions of the Sultan. Thus after having ac-
corded a first delay to the 14th,he granted a
second to the 20th, which announces a certain
hesitation in his mind and conduct. The Russian
ultimatum which was presented on the sth contains
seven articles : only one, it is said, is really of im-
portance. It is that by which Russia, after having
declared that she only wishes for the
maintenance
of the privileges, franchises, and immunities, which
the Greeks enjoy in virtue of hatti-scherifs, firmans,
and 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-
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 en
Govern-
ment, and can always be modifiedage the
by it ; that it
a
was thus that concessions made to the Greeks had
been modified by recent &mans/
which have 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-
lagmatic act. The representative of the Emperor
of Russia said, moreover, that the treaty which he
demands would be an act of the same nature as the
capitulations which have
assured the privileges,
franchises, and immunities enjoyed by the Latins.
The Porte has energetically rejected this latter
consideration. It has said with reason that the
capitulations in favour of the Latins apply only to
a scanty population of two
or three hundred 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
d
dissimulate the gravity of the dissension ; never-
theless the friends of
impossible."
ossible "
friendly arrangement is not at all Gov
eprn t.l
Government las re-
ceived The Ilioniteur says :- ' The
peace should be re-assured—a
dnot then left. He
19th. Prince Menschikoff had
..
r in official relations with the
was not any longer
d to accept his propositions
intelligence from Constantinople to the
Porte, which had refuse
hat the course of
It was, however, thought_t ,
nego-
tiations was not yet clo d
aseof the 11th of May in the
in the terms in which they were brought forward.
A letter from Smy
._
"The disturbance which
Augsburg Gazette, says .
order declaring' that
The Governor published an or
...
der 18 years of age using violence to-
wardsany Greek under took place here has now been completely put down.
the soles of his feet, and
any- man above that age,
50 strokes. This punishment having
been rigo-
rously a Jew should receive 25 blows of a stick on
e are still in agitation,
tranquillity. was soon
for they are convinced that the
Russians will soon
restored. But
plEieudtintheeverpyeocpalse,,,,,