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

much injured in consequence of damage done to
the mulberry. trees. Up to the present there seems
no prospect of a change for the better.
It would appear that the annexation of Parma
and Modena to the Austro-Prussian commercial
league has been resolved upon; indeed, the treaty
is stated to have been already signed. The con-
vention with these two States is, however, only
stipulated for four years and a half, not for twelve ;
and this because the treaty that annexes the duchies
of Modena and Parma to the Customs union of
Austria is only stipulated for that period, though
it obliges the duchies to join any commercial league
Austria may contract.
Accounts from Rome of the 24th state that his
Holiness made an excursion in the French corvette
Meteore, to visit San Felice, a small place situated
on the coast.

AFFAIRS OF THE EAST.

(Front the Times.)

The accounts which have reached us down to the
present time from the East do not amount to
positive or direct evidence that hostilities have be-
stun or that measures have been taken to ren-
ders. ,
them inevitable ; but, on the other hand, we
learn from St. Petersburgh that the refusal of
Prince Menschikoff's ultimatum had produced consider-
able irritation, and there is reason to apprehend that the
Emperor of Russia had expressed his determination to
insist on the immediate and unconditional acceptance
by the Porte of the terms which Prince Menschikoff had
been instructed to demand. It was stated, and generally
believed in Warsaw, that orders have been given to the
4th corps of the Russian army to proceed by rapid
marches to the frontier of Moldavia, so as to reach that
position on the 9th of this month, but nothing certain
is yet known on this subject. Meanwhile, we cannot
doubt that the British Government has been moved by
the menacing attitude of Russia, and the evasion of her
recent assurances, to take effectual measures, in con-
junction with the other Powers of Europe, to prevent a
violation of the rights of Turkey by the Russian forces,
and that the British Ambassador has been empowered'
to summon the fleet from Malta, in case of necessity, to
the Dardanelles. It is also stated that the squadron
under Admiral Corry will at once reinforce Admiral
Dundas ; and that, however reluctant her Majesty's
Government has been to enage in a demonstration of so
&mportant a nature, the course pursued by the Cabinet
of St. Petersburgh compels us to assume that defensive
position which the interests of this country and of
Europe prescribe.
If the Court of Russia should actually resolve to take
up arms on the very insufficient grounds which have
been made known to the world, conjecture points
strongly to the probability of an invasion of the Danu-
bian principalities, and in the first instance of Moldavia,
from which the Russian province of Bessarabia is sepa-
rated only by the channel of the Pruth. But, although
Russia has ever since the peace of Tilsit openly expressed
her desire to possess these provinces, and has re-
peatedly occupied them, as she did under the conven-
tion of Balta Liman from 1848 to 1851, neither her
protectorate over them nor the present state of those
countries at all justifies such an invasion.
The nomination of the Hospodars and the internal
privileges of these principalities are undoubtedly a
matter of compact between Russia and Turkey,
and a convention for the sole purpose of defining
and establishing their form of government was
concluded at Ackerman in 1826, and renewed by a
further agreement at Adrianople immediately after
the general treaty of peace in 1829. But itis not alleged
that the articles of this or any other treaty have been
violated by the Porte, and the conditions established on
that occasion, and since held inviolate by Turkey, cer-
tainly furnish no ground for any fresh aggression. On
the contrary, the spirit of that convention was the semi-
independence of the Hospodars and of their administra-
tion and "the inviolability of the Moldavian and Wal-
lachian territory," which was specially provided for, so
as to throw the Turks entirely on the right bank of the
Danube. An invasion of these principalities would
therefore simply be the overthrow of the system estab-
lished by Russia herself for their government ; and
it would still be open to the Porte to treat it or
not as an act of hostility against the Turkish do-
minions. In reality, the provinces north of the
Danube have been so effectually wrested from the
Porte by the treaties of 1826 and 1829, and by the
reiterated Russian occupations, that a fresh invasion
of them is of less consequence to Turkey than it is to the
general policy of Europe. A movement that should
establish the Russian frontier along the Danube from
Orsova to the Black Sea is an event of the utmost con-
sequence to the Austrian Empire ; it would directly
affect the commercial interests of all Germany, and our
own commercial rights as determined by the treaty be-
tween this country and Austria in 1838. When first
we drew attention to the affairs of the East, some three
or four months ago, before the public had discovered
the alarming aspect they were about to assume, we
pointed to the fact that by far the largest portion
of our own supplies of foreign wheat are shipped
in the ports of Turkey and of the Danubian principalities,
and are consigned to the Greek houses in this country.
On that ground especially the political independence
and commercial freedom of those countries are of in-
terest to ourselves, and Great Britain cannot see
them with indifference become part and parcel of the
Russian dominions. Still less can Austria allow the
entire control of that river, which is the main artery of
her empire, to pass into the hands of Russia, who might
either intercept the whole Danube navigation, or avail
herself of the stream to menace all Southern Hungary.
Bo the relations of Austria to Russia what they may.
that is a surrender and a sacrifice which oho cannot
make without the loss not only of all dignity, but of all
security ; and, if there be still a statesman in the coun-
cils of the young Emperor, he will resist, at all hazards,
such a danger. This strong determination to uphold
the principles with reference to the Ottoman empire
which Russia seems now for the first time openly
to set at nought would command the assent of
England, Prussia, and France ; and, if ever there
was a time when it was urgent for four Powers to
set bounds, as in 1840, to the separate policy of
the fifth, that occasion has been brought forth by
the late pretensions of the Emperor Nicholas. It is an
essential condition of such a combination that the
German States should take a prominent share in it, and
they are deeply interested in identifying the policy of
the French Cabinet, as well as the moderating influence
of England, with their own ; because, if they suffer
themselves to connive at the aggressions of Russia, they
will find their own territories on the Rhine or in Italy
called upon to supply such compensation as the future
policy or ambition of Louis Napoleon may exact. On
the other hand, if the Emperor of the French be soli-
citous, as we believe he is, to obtain something more of
the confidence of foreign Powers, he has an admirable
opportunity of entering into closer relations with them,
and giving them some additional pledges of the attach- '
ment to peace he has hitherto professed. To a ruler in
his position, a quadruple alliance of the first States
in Europe, with a good cause and a definite object, is
of more value than a successful campaign, for it might
enable him to shake off the isolation to which he at
present stands, which is mortifying to his dignity, and
fatal to his power abroad. The arguments in favour
of such a combination are so strong, that if Russia ad-
vances another step in the career she seems to be pur-
suing, it will become the last bulwark of general peace.
Already we have reason to believe that the representa-
tives of the three courts in this country have expressed
sentiments in entire accordance with each other, and
with those of the British Government ; and those senti-
ments can only increase in intensity with the danger
that has excited them. The same concert prevailed at
Constantinople between the four Powers, and, while the
Porte showed its readiness to accede to any terms not in-
consistent with its honour, the Ministers of the Four
Courts unanimously 'approved its decision on Prince
Menschikofrs proposal, and M. de Klezel, the Austrian
Charge d'Affaires, was deputed by his colleagues to make
a last attempt at an amicable arrangement.
The separate interposition of one or even two Powers
in the capacity of allies of Turkey would not have by
any means the same result, and might become the signal
of a more alarming rupture, but the joint action of Eu-
rope is the true sanction of public law and of peace ; and
this would not be the first occasion on which its influ-
ence has been successfully tried. Before the Emperor
of Russia takes a decision entirely at variance with his
solemn engagements to Turkey, with his positive assur-
ances and declarations to every European State, and
with the principles which have guided him in the best
years of his life, he will do well to consider that lie has
not a single legitimate ground of complaint, much less
of war. No treaty has been violated, no vessels have
been seized, no subjects maltreated, no claims refused
redress, no privileges of the Christian Church infringed.
We defy all the arts of the Russian Chancery to
extract materials for a tenable manifesto and decla-
ration of war from the events which have lately oc-
curred between the two empires, for the question
of the Holy Places is, by Prince Menschikoff's own
admission, already settled. Yet on such frivolous pre-
texts as these we are to suppose that the Emperor
Nicholas is prepared to sacrifice every tie which unites
him to the rest of Europe, to let loose not only war, but
those revolutionary passions which follow in the track
of war, and to commit an action which will render his
name odious in history ! Judgment, good faith, reason,
and policy plead against such deeds, and unless the.
affairs of the world are ruled by ungovernable passion or
rapacity, these principles must still prevail.
We see no reason to regret the extreme forbearance
and moderation hitherto displayed on this question by
Great Britain, nor have we shown any disposition
hastily to impute the worst motives to one of the
greatest Powers of Europe. But it is time to provide
against every contingency that may arise, and to show
that we are neither deceived nor intimidated by the
course which the Russian Government may dare to
pursue.

Two SUSPECTED SUICIDES.— Yesterday information
was forwarded to the various metropolitan police sta-
tions of a man and woman that were found on Saturday
last—male found in the river Thames, off Woolwich,
aged 30 years, 5 feet 6 inches in height, middle stature,
sandy bushy whiskers, black silk waistcoat, blue striped
trousers, Wellington boots, now lying at the dead-
house at Woolwich. The second case is that of a female
who was found in Gravel-lane Dock, Wapping, about 20
years of age, 5 feet 2 inches in height, dark brown hair,
scar on the right side of the neck, C. W. in blue ink on
the right arm, dressed in a blue cotton gown, with dark
flowers, brown cotton stockings, side lace-up boots.
The body was removed in a shell, and conveyed to
St. George's dead-house to be owned and an inquest
held.