The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-22 00:00:00

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

(From the Times)

The perplexity thrown over the present state of
affairs in the East by the confused and exaggerated
statements of several foreign journals is now partly
dispelled ; and when the occurrences which have
actually taken place are reduced to their real di-
mensions they will be found to have lost much of
the imposing and alarming character ascribed to
them. It appears to be true that some days after
Prince Menschikoff had his audience of the Grand
Vizier, Colonel Rose, the British Charge d'Affaires
at Constantinople, thought fit, either upon the so-
licitation of the Turkish Gov-eminent, or of his own
mere motion, to send a steamer to Malta with a
request addressed to Admiral Dundas, that he
would bring her Majesty's fleet in the Mediter-
ranean to Besika-bay, or some point near the
mouth of the Dardanelles. We use the term " re-
quest," because we believe that Colonel Rose had
not, and could not suppose that he had, the power
to order the Admiral to take so momentous a step ;
and although the present emergency had been fore-
seen for several weeks, and indeed a similar one

had recently (occurred 'at the time of Count Lein.

ingen's mission, no such power had been sent out
to him. It is due to the French Charge d'Affaires
at Constantinople to state that, on being consulted
by his, colleague, he did not concur in the measure
proposed by Colonel Rose. That measure was, in
fact, as we think, a great error of judgment, and
it demonstrates more strongly than anything that
has yet occurred that Lord Stratford's long delay
in proceeding to his post is very highly reprehen-
sible.

Fortunately; ;upon the arrival of the Wasp
steamer at Malta- with this request from Colonel
Roie, Adiniral Dundas waa.of opinion that his in-
structions did not enable him to comply with it un-
der the circumstances alleged to.have occurred.
The fleet, therefore, remains in harbour, and there
is no reason to suppose that the decision taken by
Admiral Dundas has been disapproved by her Ma-
jesty's Government. It may also be hoped that
before any more such communications can be
dispatched by the Charge d'Affaires Lord Stratford
will have reached. Constantinople with full know-
ledge of the views of theßritish Government. It •
certainly does little credit to the foresight of Cabi-
nets that at the moment of the arrival of Prince
Menschikoff, with a degree of pomp and solemnity
which no Russian Ambassador had displayed since
Potemkin, the three Courts of England, Austria,
and France should be represented by simple Charges
d'Affaires, whose personal abilities are not above
their professional rank.
Upon the receipt of the intelligence that Colonel
Rose had sent for the British fleet, the French
Government appear to have taken an instantaneous
resolution to send their fleet to the Greek waters,
without waiting to be informed or deigning to in-
quire what had been the result of Colonel Rose's
application. The decision might, however, be
the effect of the dispatches received in Paris
from their own Chargé d'Affaires, or of the re-
presentations made by the Turkish Ambassador.
Probably it will turn out that the French squad-
ron will remain for a time at Athens or Smyrna to
watch the course of events. But although we
regret the haughty and exclusive tone which the
Russian Envoy Extraordinary has been suffered
to assume at Constantinople, and it is impossible
for the great Powers to recognise in Russia any
claim whatsoever to dispose arbitrarily and at her
own pleasure of the fate of an Empire whose ex-
istence has so long been the peril and the problem
of Europe, we are by no means satisfied that the
views of the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh extend as
far, at this mfiement, as some of our contemporaries
suppose. If they did, it is not the presence of
half a dozen French line-of-battle ships off the
Dardanelles that would stop the course of events.
In discuSsing this subject, however, on which
several of the principal English journals appear
to labour • under extraordinary misconceptions
both of fact and principle, it must .be borne
in mind that the prime aggressor of whom
Turkey has reason to complain is France and it
may be demonstrated that, without the extraor-
dinary concessions exacted by M. de Lavalette
last autumn,, the cause which has led to this for-
midable Russian embassy would not - have existed.
That cause is not the attack on Montenegro, as
ono journal supposes, or a modification of the
Treaty of Adrianople, as another conjectures. It
is the necessity which the Emperor of Russia
professes to feel for the maintenance of the rights
of the Eastern Church, which everywhere involve
his authority. We have not forgotten that in the
latter part of last summer, when Louis Napoleon
was making his selection of Imperial titles, that of
" Protector of the Holy Shrines" was credibly
assigned to him. It was obvious that neither Tur-
key nor Russia would ever acknowledge such a pre-
tension, but M. de Lavalette was instructed and
authorised to use every means known to diplomacy
to strengthen the influence of France in the Holy
Land, especially by extending the'rights and juris-
diction of the Latin convents. A firman wasgranted,
revoked, and granted again to these Franks, and the
persecution which the Divan had to endure on this
subject was one of the chief causes that led to the
fall of Redschid and the dissolution of the Adminis-
tration. of Ali Pasha. Russia declared that she
could not submit to changes thus introduced into
the existing state of things, which were so humili-
ating to the Greeks and favourable to the Roman
Catholics. A 'negotiation was proposed at St.
Petersburgh, but the instructions of M. de Castel-
bajao, the French Minister, were not of a nature
to facilitate a settlement. The French Govern-
ment seemed to have made itself, on this question,
the very tool of the ultra-Catholic party, doubtless
for political objects of its own ; and at the point
the question has now reached she must either sur-
render the preferential rights she has extorted from
the Porte, or defend them by other means. Such
is strictly the history of this complicated affair and
it is certain that Russia has taken no active part in
it until she found it politic to defend her supremacy
in the Greek Church from the direct attacks of the
late French Ambassador.
But what have we to do in such an affair ? Will
any one contend that this country is to pay the
penalty of M. de Lavalette's folly ? That we are to
interpose, for the purpose of strengthening the in-
fluence of France in the East, as the protectress of
the Latin Churches ? Or that we have the defence
of the Roman Catholic Clergy so much at heart that
we are to uphold their claims of precedency over
Greek Popes ? Such notions will not support a
moment's investigation, and, accordingly, the mo-
tives and origin of this dispute have been dressed
up in every way but the true one to engage English
sympathies on behalf of French interests in the Le-
vant. The French are no doubt in an awkward po-
sition there, but it is the result of their own policy,
and the first blows struck in the last few months at
the independence of the Porte came from Paris,
and were destined to gratify the vanity of Louis
Napoleon. It is, therefore, a mockery to suppose
that this country can be made the catspaw of the
French Government, by lending itself to the sup-
port of demands which ought never to have been
made, and which might be employed at no distant
period to warrant a French occupation of Egypt.
It is true that this unhappy and scandalous
transaction, disclosing as it does the impotence of
Turkey and the divisions of Christendom around
the very sepulchre of Christ, may also serve as the
pretext and the occasion to execute other and more
deeply laid_ schemes of policy. That was a conse-
quence which the French Government ought to
have foreseen when it thrust the Sultan into so
embarrassing a position. But we must deal with
those dangers as they arise, and though we hold
that it is at present our duty and our interest to
stand aloof, we shall never cease to contend that
the true policy of this country is to restore the
concert of all the great Powers in the affairs of the
East, and by our example of moderation to pre-
serve peace, and to check that cupidity which may
threaten at any moment to tear the Turkish Empire
with violence asunder.

THE JEWELLER'S SHOP ROBBERY IN MANCHESTER.
—On Saturday the two prisoners, Mayne and Robinson,
who had been remanded on a charge of being concerned
in the plunder of Mr. Howard's jewellery-shop, Market-
street, in this town, between one and two o'clock p.m.,
on the 7th inst., were brought up for further examina-
tion. Chief Superintendent Beswick conducted the pro-
secution ; and Mr. Rigg, appeared for one of the pri-
'goners. William Priestley, a letter carrier, and Miss
Wilka, a young lady, identified Robinson as the person
who was engaged driving the public away from Mr.
Howard's door at the time the robbery was being perpe-
trated by his confederates inside ; and Thomas Conroy
proved having seen both prisoners together several
times during the day of the robbery, and particularly
at the outside of Mr. Howard's shop. Mr. Beswick
applied for a further remand, in order to procure addi-
tional evidence ; and they were accordingly remanded
until next Saturday. _ _

Slurs' SToms.---The Board of Customs have approved
of a new form of bond to be entered into on the removal
of warehoused goods from one port to another for imme-
diate and direct shipment as stores, which is to 'Le
adopted in future at the several puts in the United
Kingdom,

THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF LONDON.

A festival was held last evening at the Freemasons'
Tavern, Great Queen-street, under the auspices of this
ancient society, in commemoration of the victory of
Alexandria, gained under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who
fell mortally wounded in the battle. His Grace the
Duke of Argyll presided, and the company, who num-
bered about 150, included Sir John Campbell, Sir Charles
Forbes, Colonel Brandiing; Captain Macdonald, General
Delamotte, Captain Miller, Dr. S. Chisholm, Messrs,.
A. and G. Mackenzie, Dr Soden, Captain Jay, Mr. J
Beaumont, Dr. Cumming, and many other gentlemen
connected by birth and association with the Highlands.
The Highland Society, it may be mentioned, was
established in 1778, for preserving the martial spirit,
dress, music, and language, encouraging a kindly feeling
between Highlanders in all parts of the world, and pro
rooting the general welfare of the northern part of the
kingdom.
During the dinner Angus Mackay, the Queen's piper.
and Donald Mackenzie, the piper of the Duke of Suther-

. . .
land, marched round the room and aroused the enthu-
siasm of their compatriots by their stirring performance
on the bagpipes, and in the course of the evening a
selection of Scottish airs was most creditably played by
the juvenile band of the Caledonian Asylum, under the
direction of the band-master, Mr. Edwards.
The noble CHAIRMAN, in giving the health of " The
Queen," referred to the frequent visits paid by her Ma-
jesty to the Highlands, and the happiness enjoyed by her
in the seclusion of her Highland home.
The other loyal toasts followed, after which
Sir CHARLES FORBES proposed, in cordial and compli-
mentary terms, "The Health of the President of the
Highland Society," the respected nobleman, he said,
who had consented to take the chair on that occasion.

The noble DracE, in acknowleding the toast, said it
was unnecessary to assure them that nothing could give
him greater pleasure than to promote to the best of his
power the objects of the society, which objects were, he
considered, mainly to encourage union and good fellow-
ship among those who by birth, family, and feelings
were connected with the Highlands of Scotland. He
then alluded to the strong local and hereditary attach-
ments by which Highlanders were characterised, and
which, notwithstanding the lapse of time, was dis-
played in undiminished force in their love for their
native land. In this respect Highlanders were perhaps
of all races the most remarkable ; and the more so be-
cause their habits were not sedentary, for they were to be
found in all parts of the world, from the snows of Canada
to the palms of India, and under all climes and circum-
stances displaying an energy and perseverance which
gave the lie to the accusations of idleness sometimes
brought against them. However distant they might be,
and after long years had passed, they invariably re-
turned, if they were fortunate enough to return at all,
with all their early memories and the associations which
gather round the Highlands of Scotland, bringing on
their tongue unmistakeable marks of their origin, and
coming back with accents which, to his thinking, were
a great improvement on the "Queen's English" (laugh-
ter), and breathing still of the heather and the bourn.
(Cheers.) He never liked to see a Scotchman trying to
conceal his origin by his tongue, a practice which re-
minded him of the anecdote related in the life of Lord
Jeffrey of a certain Scottish personage, of whom it was
said that he had lost his broad Scotch, but only in find-
ing his narrow English. After some remarks in defence
of the Highland character from the charges of idleness
and ignorance, and ascribing its defects to the want of
education, the Chairman, in conclusion, expressed a
hope, now that so great a rumier of English flocked to
the Highlands, that they would unite, heart and soul
in improving the moral and social condition of their
population. (Enthusiastic applause greeted the noble
duke at the conclusion of his speech on resuming his
seat.)

The CHAIRMAN then gave "The Memory of those
heroes who fell with Abercrombie at the battle of Alex-
andria," which was drank in solemn silence.

The CHAIRMAN next gave "The Army and Navy," and
in a brief, but forcible address, expressed his dissent
from the singular doctrines which had been propounded
on the subject of peace and war under the authority of
an eminent member of the House of Commons, who,
because a war might be unjust in its origin, though he
wholly disagreed with him on that point, thought it
right to visit with his censure the exploits of our gallant
army, on the ground of the mistakes, or assumed mis-
takes, of our statesmen.
Captain JAI and General DELAMOTTE, of the Indian
service, severally returned thanks.
Sir C. FORBES then proposed ." Chiefs and Clans,"
which was drank with Highland honours, as were most
of the toasts of the evoning.
The CHAIRMAN, in giving the " Caledonian Asylum,"
warmly commended its management, and described it as
one of the best conducted institutions in London.
Sir C. FORBES, in responding to the toast, said the
asylum had been declining the last five or six years, and
observed that if Scotchmen in London and elsewhere
did not rally round it and save the .institution, it would
be a subject of lasting regret and disgrace to the society.
"The Visitors," the "Ladies," "Sword and Plaid,"
and other toasts followed, and were enthusiastically re-
ceived, and the company broke up at a late hour, after
passing a most agreeable evening.