The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-03 00:00:00

TURKEY.

The non-official part of the Moniteur contains
the following letter from Constantinople, of the
19th of May :

" The Ottoman Council, which met on the 17th inst.,
resolved to address to Prince Menschikoff a note ex-
pressive of the conciliatory spirit of the Divan, and of
its regret at being unable to give its full adhesion to the
clause contained in the project of Sened, as remitted by
the Russian Ambassador.

" On the 18th Reschid Pasha paid a visit to Prince
Menschikoff to acquaiit him with the terms of the said
note, in which it was said that the Government of the
Sultan was disposed to conclude a special convention for
the construction of a Russian church, hospital, and con-
vent at Jerusalem, and that the said Government was
also willing to assure to the Russian monks and pilgrims
all the privileges enjoyed by other nations. Respecting
the status quo in Palestine, the Divan added, that a note
might be addressed to the two Embassies of Russia and
France, in which the Porte engaged to take no fresh re-
solutions in future without the preliminary advice of
those two Powers. The Ottoman note contained, more-
over, the declaration that the Government of the Sultan,
far from a desire to curtail the immunities granted to
the Greek Church, as the Russian Ambassador seemed
to suspect, proposed to extend them if necessary.
" All the efforts of Redschid Pasha to explain these
matters to the satisfaction of Prince Menschikoff re-
mained without result.

" The Russian Ambassador, without waiting for the
notification of the Divan, addressed to the Sultan's
Minister of Foreign Affairs another note, in which he
declared that his mission was terminated, and that he
was obliged to leave Constantinople, and to remove all
the persons belonging to the Russian Embassy in that
capital. He declared, moreover, that any infraction of
the status quo of the Oriental Church would be consi-
dered as an infraction of the stipulations which exist
between the two Governments, and that such infraction
would compel the Emperor Nicholas to have recourse to
means which he at all times desired not to employ.
" In this communication, too, Prince Menschikoff in-
forms the Porte that the Chancellor of the Russian Lega-
tion will continue to conduct the current business of
trade and navigation, and protect the interests of the
Russian subjects.
"In spite of this note, Reschid Pasha sent to Prince
Menschikoff, privately and confidentially, the note which
had been resolved upon by the Ottoman Council. This
note provoked a reply from the Russian Ambassador.
This reply, communicated in the same form as the Otto-
man note—that is to say, privately and confidentially—
deplores the resolution arrived at by the Porte, and re-
grets that on so serious a question the Divan had yielded
to the suggestions of foreigners. In conclusion, the
Prince expresses a hope that the Ottoman Government
will ultimately come to a wiser resolution, and one which
is more agreeable to the benevolent intentions of the
Emperor Nicholas.
" Lord Redcliffe has had frequent conferences with
the advisers of the Sultan, and from this circumstance it
was thought that he is not a stranger to the decisions of
the Divan."

The following is also from the Moniteur :
" The definition of the Protectorate in matters of re-
ligion which France exercises in the East has become on
the part of the journals, both foreign and French, the
subject of a controversy in which we do not feel called
upon to engage.
" Nevertheless, we have thought that an opinion
which a long time ago was expressed by a man whose
authority to pronounce on such matters is incontestible,
might at this juncture be reproduced, and have the
more weight since it is altogether independent of the
present complication.
" In 1785, when M. le Comte de St. Priest returned
from Constantinople, where he had been Ambassador
since 1768, he submitted to the King, Louis XVI., ac-
cording to the excellent custom of ancient diplomacy,
certain memoirs, in which were united the various la-
bours of his mission, and, especially, a report on the
protection of the Christian religion in the East.
" Let us see how the Count of St. Priest, after a
practical experience of seventeen years, characterises,
and that, too, in the first lines of his report, the protec-
torate of the Kings of France over the Catholics in the
East. •
" The zeal ofour kings has been styled by the name
a "protection of the Catholic religion in the Levant,"
but this name is delusive, and apt to mislead those who
do not enter deeply into the matter. The Sultans have
never at any time entertained even the idea that the
French Monarchs thought themselves authorised to
meddle with the religion of the subjects of the Porte.
"No Prince," says one of my predecessors, the Marquis
de Bonnat, in a memoir on this same question, " how-
ever closely he may be allied with another Sovereign,
would allow that Sovereign, to meddle with the religion
on power.
of his subjects. On this point the Turks have as much
delicacy of feeling as other nations."
" It is easy to understand that France, having always
been on amicable relations with the Porte, should not
have imposed any
odious
And the first paragraph of obligations
my instructionsthat warned me
to avoid everything which might tend to awaken the
suspicions of the Porte by giving two extensive an inter-
pretation to religious treaties.'
"We need make no comment on this important quo-
tation, and we have only to add, that the facts are in
harmony with the doctrine enunciated by the Count of
St. Priest, and that in the treaties between France and
Turkey there is not a single article which treats of the
protection of the subjects of the Porte."
The Journal des Debats contains the following
"We have received letters from Constantinople of
the date of the 19th May, consequently four days' later
than those brought by the Osiris, but still not so recent
by three days as the telegraphic dispatches of the 22d,
which announced the departure of Prince Menschikoff.
"These letters could not, therefore, bring any
im-
portant news, but they contain interesting details on
what has already taken place, and explain many points
which the telegraphic dispatches previously received left
in doubt.
" If, on the one hand, it is true that the conduct of
Prince Menschikoff has been during the last days of
his sojourn at Constantinople much more moderated
than was reported, it is not, on the other, less true that
the Turks have shown the greatest desire to prove that
they were animated by a sincere spirit of conciliation—
thatin person, who de-
though they persisted in a refusal, they wished to
eitlawstadselßayescahcicdordPeadellba; Prince Mer sabikoff,
convey it in the form least hurtful to Russia. It was
was looked upon as hesitation on his part. It
known that it was not so, and that he was as
resolved to break off diplomatic relations in case
l with his demands as the Turks were deter-
timfiaoshnfriendano de-
manded
ui Divan,ctshha
deter-
mined not to give in.
" During the whole time Cabinet Councils were held
daily, all with the same result—to resist the demands of
Russia. The Grand Council met on the 16th ; on the
17th all the former grand viziers, all the pachas present
at Constantinople, even those out of office, were con.