The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

(Front the Times.)
It is perfectly true that since the Turkish Govern-
ment has made its acceptance of the Note proposed by
the Conference at Vienna to depend on the adoption of
certain changes in the text of that document, the ques-
tion which has kept Europe in suspense for so many
months, and which appeared to be approaching a termi-
nation, is still a matter of serious doubt and unabated
apprehension. But is not true that the subject is at
this time enveloped in great mystery and reserve, for,
on the contrary, the game is being played. as the French
say, cartes 31(2* table. The Note of the Conference, and
the alterations required by the Divan, are before the
world, and have been variously discussed by the organs
of public opinion, as well as by statesmen and cabinets,
iu every part of Europe. Everybody knows what those
terms are which have been transmitted to St. Peters-
burg, and that the Four Courts have strongly urged the
Emperor Nicholas to finish this tedious and dangerous
negotiation by accepting them. Whether he will accept
them or not is entirely a matter of opinion, and the
reasons on both sides are so nearly balanced that we do
not suppose any politician, be he Minister or journalist,
would undertake to express a confident expectation on
the one side or on the other. But on that decision,
whatever it be, rests the whole question, the fate of
Turkey, and possibly the peace of Europe. Although,
therefore, we are now in possession of the materials fur
this discussion, we must be content to wait for the
positive result ; and in the meantime the question con-
tinues to excite as much anxiety and uncertainty as it
has ever done since the month of April. Under these
ci: cumstances the leading members of the Cabinet who
are concerned in the direction of our foreign relations
have not left town for a single day, and there cannot be
a stronger proof of the entire unanimity prevailing in
the Ministry on these questions than the fact, that at
this important conjuncture Lord John Russell and Lord
Palmerston have returned to London to hold closer com-
munication with Lord Clarendon and Lord Aberdeen.
Attempts to sow division in the Ministry and to shake
the confidence of the country were never, in fact, more
entirely out of place.
From the moment that the alterations and additional
conditions required by the Turkish Government became
known, we deplored the delay and the danger which
those changes were likely to occasion. For, even if it
were demonstrated that the alterations are unobjection-
able, and even desirable in themselves, we should hold
that the value of these modified expressions is incom-
parably below that of a prompt settlement of the dis-
pute. It is notorious that these changes were put for-
ward by a party in the Divan who are not favourable to
any diplomatic settlement, but are still eager for an ap-
peal to arms ; and, if the opposition they have offered
to the terms of agreement should lead to its rejection by
the other side, the violent faction at the Porte will pre-
vail over the more prudent and judicious advisers of the
Sultan. The Porte itself, which began by throwing its
cause into the hands of its allies, when it had taken the
firm resolution to reject Prince Menschzkoff's demands,
1 and which obtained for several months the united sup-
port of Europe on these conditions, will have destroyed
the union of its own policy with that of the mediating
powers ; and we have reason to believe that the French
Cabinet has already signified to the Sultan that the ulte-
terior steps he may adopt contrary to the advice of his
allies must be taken at his own peril.
Upon the immediate subject of the greatest interest
at the present moment—the acceptance or rejection
of the alterations by the Emperor of Russia—we are
reduced to mere conjecture, and each of our readers will
form his own judgment whether, under all the cir-
cumstances of the case, the Emperor will be most
actuated on this occasion by motives of ambition
and passion, or by the rules of policy and the desire
of peace. We cannot conceal from ourselves that the
policy which has been rashly pursued at Constantinople
has a tendency to lead to fresh and very serious dan-
gers. The note adopted by the Conference was intended
to meet, as far as possible, the double difficulties of
the present situation of affairs. It was not more than
Turkey could honourably concede—it was not less than
Russia could fairly /accept ; though, if any one will
take the trouble of comparing it with Prince Menschi-
koff's demands, it will be seen that all the most objec-
tionable expressions and articles of the Russian Note
have been carefully excluded. Such as it is this draught
was not willingly accepted by the Emperor Nicholas,
though ho submitted to it out of deference to the opi-
nion of the allies, and from an apparent desire to
escape from the embarrassments of his isolated and ag-
gressive position. It will be remembered that the in-
telligence that the Note had been accepted at St. Pe-
tersburg was received throughout Europe with univer-
sal satisfaction, as a thing more to be desired than ex-
pected. After all this, which certainly amounted to an
abatement if not a surrender of the Russian pretensions,
the Note is sent back with further alterations ; and with
alterations not originating with the Conference at Vi-
enna, but with the Turkish Government. To yield a
second time to this sort of appeal, especially after the
inflated and menacing language the Emperor had as-
sumed a few weeks before, is a defeat amounting to a
humiliation ; and although the Russian Government
has brought these evils upon itself, it is by no means
clear that a sovereign in the position of the Emperor
Nicholas is prepared to endure such a result. Grave
doubts may therefore be entertained as to the accep-
tance of these terms at St. Petersburgh in their altered
form ; though we trust that a more mature considera-
tion of the whole question has, ere this, brought the
Emperor of Russia to a just sense of what is due, if not
to Turkey, to the general interests of Europe.
On the other hand, there are some strong practical
arguments in favour of the acceptance of the, terms and
the restoration of peace. The season is already too far
advanced for the Russian army to undertake any opera-
tions beyond the Danube with the least prospect of de-
cisive success ; and the position of the Turkish forces,
under Omar Pasha, is such as to render any advance
whatever an undertaking of great risk and danger.
But the prospect of a prolonged Russian occupation of
the Principalities, even if Europe could submit to it,
is not much less unfavourable. The troops have
already suffered to a prodigious extent from the cli-
mate. The price of provisions in Bucharest has
quintupled, and the military hospitals are encumbered
with the sick. In a few weeks the rains will have con-
verted the country for the most part into a pathless
swamp, and it will become equally difficult to withdraw
the army and to keep up the necessary supplies, for the
stores of the country are already exhausted. At this
time of year, and with the Danube between the two
camps, neither the Russian nor the Turkish army could
attack its antagonist with effect. It may be doubted
whether there is any military advantage in the occupa-
tion of such a position, and the Russian Generals are
said to have given evident indications of a desire to with-
draw from their miserable cantonments. The occupa-
tion of the Principalities has failed to subdue the resist-
ance of Turkey ; it has, on the contrary, roused her to
more energetic efforts. It has irritated Europe, by a
breach of treaty, and it has placed Russia in a position
which she cannot hold without immense sacrifices of
every kind. The acceptance of the note is the only way
by which the Emperor Nicholas can extricate himself
from this position, for the events of the last three
months have given him no additional claim to dictate
conditions beyond his frontier. The evacuation of the
Principalities ought to be the first step in the arrange-
ment, and that alone can relieve the combined fleets
from the necessity of passing the winter near the scene
of these occurrences. The rejection of the terms and
the refusal to evacuate would, on the contrary, probably
be followed by a declaration of war or some violent ebul-
lition at Constantinople ; and, as the war party in the
Divan would then gain the upper hand, having already
frustrated the conditions of peace tendered to the Sultan
by Europe, they must be prepared to abide by the con-
sequences of their violence, while the Governments
which have hitherto supported them would be entirely
at liberty to deal as they might think fit with this altered
state of affairs.

( Front the Morning Herald.)
It is no longer attempted to conceal the fact to which
yesterday we directed public attention. On Thursday
last a special message was sent to Scotland to summon
Lerd John Russell to town. He instantly obeyed that
summons, travelling all day on Friday, and reaching
London late that night. Saturday was occupied in a
protracted consultation with the Premier and two other
members of the Cabinet, and yesterday morning, we
are told, the noble lord returned to his retirement in
the north.
The summons was, beyond all question, sent to the
noble lord after long and frequent interviews between
Lord Palmerston, the Premier, and the Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, and no other member of the Cabinet
was present either at the deliberations which caused the
summons, or at those which followed the arrival of the
noble lord. . _ .

Here, then, we have, in the first place, protracted
and, we may presume, earnest deliberations, in which
three members of the Cabinet meet apart from their col-
leagues ; and we have, next, another member of the
Cabinet summoned from a distance to take part in a
renewed consultation, from which every other member
of the Cabinet is still excluded.

That these deliberations had reference to the Turkish
question no one doubts ; that their necessity was pro-
duced by the refusal of the Sultan to sign the Vienna
note without alteration is, we apprehend, equally plain ;
and possibly it is not too much to infer that the question
to be decided was the part to be taken by England on
the subject.
Baron Brunow is, before this, in possession of the re-
sults of that conference. We hope that the Russian
ambassador now understands that it will not be safe to
calculate on the consent of the English Cabinet in sup-
porting the Emperor of Russia in a refusal to accept the
altered note. It is not, however, the less incumbent on
us to call the most serious attention of all the friends of
constitutional government to this last and most daring
outrage upon its principles.
Our language, we will satisfy every Englishman, is
not too strong. The facts justify it, and the occasion
demands it. If this great nation calmly submits to the
treatment we have received on this Eastern question
the sooner we discard the hypocrisy of public spirit and
the practice of representative government the better.
We say that the conduct of Lord Aberdeen, in selecting
two members of the Cabinet to joie in deliberation with
himself and the Foreign Secretary, amounts practically
to a subversion of our system of Parliamentary and
Ministerial government. It is, in effect, the arbitrary
exclusion of the Queen's Cabinet from their constitutional
office of advising the Queen. It is the degradation of
the place of a Cabinet Minister.— it is the conversion of
our Ministerial Government into that by " mayors of
the palace," under the disguise of premiers.
It is of pressing moment to the true liberties of Eng-
land that this should be practically felt and understood'
Let us first call attention to this, that since the intelli-
gence has reached us of the suggestion of alterations
in
the Vienna note no Cabinet Council has boon held, It