The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

" This is a d— bad world;" quoth Sir Peter Teazle,
" and the fewer we praise in it the better." If so, assuredly
the Melbourne Cabinet is not the best possible specimen' of
this " bad world," and the dangerous office of praise-
bestowing eught to be exercised in its favour with more
than ordinary caution. We are led into this train of
thinking by a contrite sense of the infirmity of our own
nature, and of the mischievous indulgence of our habitual
kindness towards a particular member of the Cabinet,
which we have given way to within these few last days. We
have panegyrized Lord Viscount Palmerston as author and
negotiator of the recent Turkish treaty—an offence against
rtuth and justice for which, as it would now appear, we
ought humbly to ask pardon of our countrymen, seeing that
the said treaty wasin no sense of the word Lord Palmerston's,
but brought to maturity in spite of his intrigues, and of
the vicarious resistance of his tool Lord Ponsonby, of the
disinterested obstinacy of a certain President of the Board
of Trade, and of a period of three years of stupid indif-
ference to the public interests, alternating with duplicity
and vaccillation. The letter of " A Levant Merchant" in
this day's Times is one to which we invite the calm atten-
tion of our readers. It comes from a correspondent fa-
miliar with every branch of the subject whereon he addresses
us ; and, if those facts be true of which he challenges the
re:futation, may be ascribed to the active energy of Mr.
Urquhart, to the Turkish patriotism and spirit of Redschid
Pasha, to the noble and paternal solicitude of his late
Majesty William the Fourth for the welfare of his
dominions, but in no degree and under no pretence to
the sagacity, the zeal, the integrity, or statesmanship of
Lord Palmerston, whom we in our innocence believed
until now to have prepared it, and to have decided
on resolutely carrying it into execution before the eyes and
in the teeth of Russia. Of course, when we point to the
source of our present information, we absolve ourselves
from the responsibility incurred by him with whom it ori-
ginates. He is known to us as being master of the whole
question, embracing our relations with Turkey, Russia,
Persia, and Central Asia. He has no apparent motive
for deceiving us, or our readers. He brings forward as
fact that which he must be an irretrievable fool as well as
knave' to fabricate. It is on such grounds that we
recommend his letter. From the statements of the
" Levant Merchant" we collect, that in the year 18:34,
Mr. Urquhart, after consulting many of our countr3-
men domiciled in Turkey and engaged in commerce,
found, what might have been expected, a disposition to
take alarm at the prospect of opening a trade which had
hitherto borne to them all the beneficial fruits of a mono-
poly, but that, in spite of the obstacles thus presented, he
proposed it to the Turkish Government. On the first re-
commendation of the plan to that department of which
Lord Palmerston was, and is still, the head, it was re-
ceived in the accustomed manner—that is, with contemp-
tuous apathy. Being turned over to the Board of Trade,
the treatment it there met with, and the creditable motives
for that treatment, we leave it to the author of the letter
to exhibit. The cordial interest displayed by his gracious
and much-lamented Majesty King William in the promo.
tion of a diplomatic enterprise, which, if honestly followed
up, must prove so conducive to the extension of British
commerce, and to the defeat of Russia in her schemes of
dominion over Turkey, is assigned by our Correspondent as
one main cause to which we stand indebted for the ultimate
adoption of the treaty. As to Lord Palmerston and his official
puppet, the Ambassador at Constantinople—a miserablefai-
want for aught but evil—we must impute the supercilious
derision with which the treaty and its objects wet e spoken
of both here and in the Turkish capital, as a silly dream
and impracticable chimera, until the powerful mind of
Redschid Pasha, in co-operation with circumstances utterly
unforeseen by our Foreign Minister, forced the signature
upon them. It is here remarked that the project was
made known to the Russian Government almost as soon
as it was communicated to that of Turkey. One dis-
astrous fruit, therefore, of the delay in the adoption of the
treaty, was the opportunity thus presented to Nicholas of
gaining a start of two whole years for preparation before
England began to move at all, and of thus providing
means for the timely frustration of its most valuable
objects. But the worst of all remains behind. When
the news arrived, a week ago, that the Grand Seignor,
under intimidation by Russia, had recalled his fleet,
and dissolved its junction with that under Admiral
Stopford, our readers will bear us out in the recol-
lection that we declared the fact to be impossible.
Such indeed would have been the natural exclamation of
any man is ho gave the British Government credit for the
very slightest imaginable portion of integrity or common
sense. Why, is it prima facie conceivable that Lord Pal-
merston would have signed a treaty urging the Sultan to a
course of action in direct defiance of the will" of Russia and
of the treaty of Unkiar 'Skelessi, without taking measures
to maintain by force, if force should be necessary, those
obligations common to both contracting parties, which,
nevertheless, were not only of impracticable execution if
undertaken by Turkey alone, but would be punished as so
many crimes against Russian supremacy, if attempted with-
out the most energetic support by the naval power of Great
Britain ? Is it, we say, conceivable that Lord Palmerston,
or any other human being whose heart and soul had not
abdicated all their better functions, would have laid such a
trap for an unfortunate and dependent ally as to leaveher sub-
ject to thefatal consequences entailed upon her by the deser-
tion of a copartner in the same offence to a formidable and
vindictive oppressor ? Yet so it is, unless the accounts,
not of our correspondent, but of all persons acquainted with
our position relative to Turkey, should prove unfounded.
One and all the advices affirm that the British and
Turkish squadrons have already separated ; that the ships
of the Grand Seignor have returned home, that most dis-
graceful of all, the British Admiral has withdrawn to
Malta ! although it was actually and expressly stipulated,
as the condition on which England should be entitled to call
for the. ratification of the Turkish treaty, that her fleet should
enter the Dardanelles, and thus afford a pledge of her good faith
in the prompt protection of her ally ! Now, it is on the
authority of the " Levant Merchant" that we give coun-
tenance to the above statement. If it be correct, then
must we acknowledge to be true that which, on the mere
analogies and probabilities of human affairs, we charitably,
not long since, pronounced to be " incredible. :" then must
we allow that acts too atrocious and monstrous for belief
in ordinary cases, and in relation to the average of man-
kind, cease to be surprising when affirmed of this ignomi-
nious Cabinet ; and that a herd of quadrupeds would have
discovered more foresight and good faith than Queen Vic-
tone's favourite counsellors, who it appears can pay suc-
cessful court to her Majesty by sacrificing the welfare of
her people and the honour and dignity of the British
Crown.—Times.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, Nov. 22.
ROBERTS V. WILLIAMS.

This was a bill filed by the next friend of a minor against
the executors of a testator, who had by his will given a
sum of 5001. to the infant when he attained the age of
twenty-five, and appointed a Mr. Hughes as his trustee.
The bill prayed that the executors be directed to set apart
the sum of 5001. out of the testator's estate, and that the
interest of that sum might be paid in the mean time to-
wards the support of the infant.
The LORD CHANCELLOR was of opinion that interest
could not be paid, and that the bill must be dismissed with
costs. The minor's friend must for the present pay those
costs, and get them repaid out of the legacy when it be-
came due.