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

TURKEY.

The following is a translation of the " Notes"
that passed between the Russian Ambassador,
Prince Menschikoff, and the Porte, on the subject
of the Eastern dispute. The first paper is entitled
" The Verbal Note communicated by the Ambas-
sador of Russia to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Porte :"

" PERA, APRIL 19, 1853.
" His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in
taking cognisance, at his accession to office, of the nego-
tiations which have taken place, has seen the duplicity
of his predecessors ; he must be persuaded how little re-
gard has been paid to the respect due to the Emperor of
Russia, and how great is his magnanimity in offering to
the Porte the means of getting out of the embarrassment
which the bad faith of its Ministers has placed it in.
They (the Ministers) have abused the good faith of their
Sovereign in placing him in opposition to his own words,
and placing him, as respects his ally and his friend, in a
position which neither high decorum nor the Sovereign
dignity can admit.
" While wishing to be forgetful of the past, and though
' not demanding by way of reparation anything but the
dismissal of a deceitful Minister and the open execution
of solemn promises, the Emperor found himself obliged
to require solid guarantees for the future. He requires
them formal, positive' and securing the inviolability of
the worship professed by the majority of the Christian
subjects, as well of the Sublime Porte as of Russia, and,
in fine, by the Emperor himself. He cannot desire
others than those.which he shall find henceforth in an in-
strument equivalent to a treaty, or a treaty, and inde-
pendent of the interpretations of an ill-advised and un-
scrupulous delegate ( d'un mandataire mal arise et peu
consciencioux).
"The delays which have been occasioned hitherto in
adopting a final decision on the propositions of the Am-
bassador of Russia oblige him to demand from the Porte
a categorical reply, which he cannot await any longer.
He demands consequently :-1. An explicative Firman,
the form of which is to be agreed to, concerning the key
of the Church of Bethlehem, and the silver star placed
on the Altar of the Nativity in the subterranean part of
the same Sanctuary ; the possession of the grotto of
Gethsemane by the Greeks, with the admission of the
Latins to exercise therein their worship, but yet main-
taining the precedency of the orthodox, and their priority
for the celebration of divine service in this Sanctuary ;
and, in fine, in what relates to the common possession
of the Greeks with the Latins of the gardens of Bethle-
hem, and the whole according to the basis discussed be-
tween his Excellency Rifaat Pasha and the Ambassador.
" 2. A supreme order for the immediate repair by the
Ottoman Government of the cupola of the Temple of the
Holy Sepulchre, with the participation of the Greek
Patriarch, without the intermeddling of a delegate of any
other worship, for the walling up (cloture muree) of the
harems having a view on the. Sanctuary, and for the de-
molition of the harems contiguous to the cupola, if the
possibility of that demolition be proved.
"The Ambassador is charged with obtaining on these
points a formal assurance and notification.
"3. A Sened, or Convention, for the guarantee of the
strict status quo of the privileges of the Catholic Greco-
Russian worship, of the Church of the East, and of the
Sanctuaries which are found in possession of that wor-
ship exclusively, or in participation with other rites at
Jerusalem.
" The Ambassador must repeat, is this place, to the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, that which he has already
had occasion to express to him many times,—that
Russia does not demand from the Porte political con-
cessions ; her desire is to tranquillize the consciences of the
devout by the certainty of the maintenance of that
which is, and of that which has always been practised
up to our times.
"It is, then, in pursuance of the hostile tendencies
which have been manifested for some years past to all
which touches Russia that she requires, in the interest
of the religious communities of the orthodox worship,
an explicative and positive act of the guarantees—an act
which would not affect in any degree either the other
religions or the relations of the Porte with other Powers.
" The Ottoman Cabinet will also please to weigh well
in its wisdom the gravity of the offence committed, in
comparing it with the moderation of the demands of
reparation, and of the guarantees which the sentiment
of legitimate defence might have placed in a sense more
extensive and more peremptory.
" The reply of the Minister of Foreign Affairs will
indicate to the Ambassador the ulterior duties which he
will have to fulfil, and which will not be otherwise than
conformable to the maintenance of the dignity of the
Government which he represents, and of the religion
which he professes."
The second is a " Note raddressed by the Am-
bassador of Russia to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Sublime Porte :"
",PERA, MAY 5.
" The under-signed Ambassador of Russia had the
honour to address to his Excellency the Minister of Fe.
reign Affairs of the Sublime Porte a confidential commu-
nication of the draught of an instrument calculated to
offer to the Government of his Majesty the Emperor
solid and inviolable guarantees for the future in the inte-
rest of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
"The Ambassador thought that he might expect to
meet, on the part of the Government of the Sublime
Porte, an anxious desire to renew, on that basis, rela-
tions of good and cordial amity with Russia. He must
confess, with deep regret, that he was shaken in that
conviction, with which he had been inspired from the
beginning by the gracious reception of his Majesty the
Sultan.
" Animated, nevertheless, with that spirit of concilia-
tion and kindness which distinguishes the policy of his
august master, the Ambassador did not reject the pre-
vious observations made to him by Rifaat Pasha, both
as respects the form of the above-mentioned act and the
tenor of some of the articles which were to be introduced
into it.
" With regard to the form, the Ambassador maintains
the declaration, that a long and painful experience of the
past requires, in order to prevent hereafter all coolness
sni ts
t havinge
d o n a thep re fvoi
or cues oufnad
et
rr
se
taat
ny
d. n g
eng,agheetnine
and distrust between the two Governments, a solemn
act" As to the contents and wording of the articles of that
and seeing
withprofound '
pain the procrastination of the Ottoman
lCabinet, and its evident desire to elude the discussion,
he
considered himself obliged by his verbal note o f the
recapitulate 7th (19th) of April, to and
to
embody them in the most pressing his demands,
manner.
"It is only to-day that e note of His Excellency the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, accompanying the copies of
the two sovereign orders, relative to the sanctuaries of
Jerusalem and the cupola of the Holy pSe lchre, has
reached the Ambassador. He considers that-. Sepulchre,
communi-
cation to imply a continuation of negotiation as to the first