The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-17 00:00:00

perfidious foe, the revenues of his provinces publicly es-
treated, and his viceroys prohibited from rendering him
the customary acts of allegiance. If without noticing
these intolerable wrongs, or stipulating in any way for
their reparation, the Ministers of the Sultan shall advise
their master to succumb to the invader by accepting
this much-vaunted note recommended by the Four
Powers, it will only be because they have learned to
despair of that support on which they were taught to
rely by the representatives of England and of France.
To use the words of Mr. Layard, Russia will have ac-
complished all she wanted, and accomplished it in the
way most injurious to Turkey and most humiliating to
Europe. Had Turkey yielded to the diplomatic menaces
of Prince Menschikoff, the Divan and the Foreign Em-
bassies at Constantinople and some few wealthy and in-
telligent persons, would have known of her submission,
and deplored the hardships incident to her anomalous
state. But in the eyes of the mass of her people, the
diadem of her Sovereign would not have been publicly
trampled in the dust ; her resources would not have
been squandered in gigantic preparations for armed
defence ; and, above all, the confidence, faith, and cour-
age of the nation would not have been fanned into flame
and then irremediably quenched. Infinitely better for
Turkey, infinitely more honourable for us, would it have
been had she been told honestly and frankly that she
must fight unaided, or submit betimes to the overpower-
ing and over-reaching might of Russia. As it is, all
that our Ministers are prepared to tell Parliament and
the public amounts to this, that having tried to out-
bluster the Muscovite he laughed in their face, and told
them he did not believe they were in earnest ; where-
upon they quietly turned round and bid Turkey get out
of the scrape as best she may.
Lord John Russell told the House of Commons, it is
true, that the evacuation of the Principalities must be
considered essential to any final settlement ; and Mr.
Layard, as well as other speakers, appeared to share in
his lordship's confident anticipation that that event would
not be long delayed. For ourselves we confess our ina-
bility to see the grounds of such sanguine expectations,
But, assuming the accuracy of the prognostics adverted
to, the serious question still remains—What will the
effect of the entire of these transactions be upon the
fate of Turkey? We cannot concur in any of the views
propounded by Mr. Cobden in the course of his extra-
ordinary speech on this subject. We do not think it
is the duty or the interest of this country to concur
in a crusade to drive the Turks out of Europe,
either because they are Mahomedans, or because
their Sovereign has not the same taste for road
making, or for architecture, that distinguishes the Cos-
sack King. The policy of the Porte has, year after year,
become more liberal in religion and in trade, while that
of St. Petersburg has grown more and more cruel to-
wards every species of dissent, and more and more pro-
hibitive towards every branch of British manufacture.
We profess uo special admiration of the tenets of Islam-
ism, or of the defects which still retard the progress in
material prosperity of the Ottoman race. But be their
faults or errors what they may, they are ancient allies,
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commercial, and religious freedom ; and every province
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she is allowed to annex, every independent state she is
permitted to insult and humble, is a loss and a shame to
the civilised world. Lord Palmerston's reply to Mr.
Cobden was masterly and conclusive. It will be read
with feelings of pleasure and of pride, mingled only with
the unwelcome sense of popular perplexity at finding its
author an assenting party to a policy which, when vindi-
cated by Mr. Cobden on the only grounds of which it is
susceptible of defence, his lordship feels bound to repu-
diate and condemn. From the first, the tone assumed
both by Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston has
created the impression that they reluctantly abet the
course which their colleagues have pursued ; and as-
suredly their speeches ofyesterday will not tend to shake
or to remove that conviction.