The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-01 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 1, 1853.

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

(From the Morning Chronicle.)

That portion of the press which has from the first)
openly or covertly, supported the interests of Rus-
sia, perseveres in the attempt to mislead public
opinion, as to the successive formswhich the Eastern
question assumes, by fictions and fallacies which it
may be worth while to notice. The Greek Empire,
which was proclaimed by Anglo-Russian writers
shortly before Prince Menschikoff's mission, has
already been consigned to oblivion. The imaginary
Christian State, which was to exist on the south of
the Danube, has too visibly assumed the form of a
Russian government or province to be any longer
presentable to readers still imbued with a remnant
of English prejudice. Accordingly, the other side
of the picture is steadily held before the public
gaze, and the ferocious Turk, accurately copied

from the Saracen's Head, which formed the bug-
bear of our ancestors, is, day after day, held up to
odium and contempt. The Christians of Constan-
tinople are, it seems, to be massacred ; and it is evi-
dently a disappointment that the feast of Beiram
has passed over without the perpetration of the
threatened atrocities. It is remarkable that the
outbreak of Mussulman fanaticism has, from the
first, been foreseen and invited exclusively by the
devoted partisans of Russia. While every imagin-
able insult and injury has been heaped on Turkey
by the aggressor, the victims are, day after day,
taunted with the crimes which they have not been
tempted to commit. Tha Cabinet of St. Peters-
bugrkpus French and English -7statesmeirthe
compliment of supposing them so gullible as to do
the work of Russia, by taking the anti-national
side in any civil dissension which Muscovite in-
trigue may produce at Constantinople ; and the
people of England share in this civility when they
are asked to sympathise with the unprovoked vio-
lence of the aggressor, on the ground that the forth-
coming bloodshed will have been caused by a so-
called Christian Power.

With the same insolent disregard of the true
issue, the Russian organs insinuate that the Pro-
tectorate claimed over twelve millions of the Sul-
tan's subjects is not without a foundation in reason.
Turkey, it is said, is an anomalous country. Europe
cannot sympathise with Mahometan supremacy
over Christians. The Imperial claims, it is asserted,
would, after all, not be so inadmissible, if only they
were unconnected with political objects. It must,
indeed, be admitted, say the apologists of the in-
vader, that Russian ambition is not altogether a
fable. It is possible that the religious Protectorate
might lead to territorial aggrk.ndisement, and
therefore England may be justified in protesting
and negotiating, and, above all, in forcing an act
of submission down the throat of the Ottoman
Government, and in cannonading Constantinople
if the Turks are so unreasonable as to object. But
yet it must be remembered, say the Philippisers,
again and again, that the Emperor has some reason
for his claims, and that the Turks are not orthodox
According to the European standard. In plainer
words, if the reason and sound feeling of England
are too determined to be directly set at defiance—if
Russia must, in some way, be resisted—if the exist-
ence of Turkey is, even for a short time, to be main-
tained—let our diplomacy be half-hearted, let our
warlike demonstrations be double-faced. In oppos-
ing an enemy, let us distrust our cause and suspect
our allies—anything rather than act with vigour
and decision so as to paralyse the insolent aggressor,
and give confidence to the many nations who are
ready to welcome and accept our leadership. Cui
bono ? To whom is this policy profitable ? Whatever
may be the course adopted by England, success is
impossible if we are to palter and falter at every step
over quibbling comparisons between the wrong per-
petrated by Russia and the alleged demerits of the
Turks. If the profession of lahometanisna dis-
qualifies a State from receiving the services due to
an ally, let the new doctrine be at once avowed,
and let a useless dispute be terminated. Ottoman
barbarism may possibly be a reason for abandoning
the Turkish cause ; but it can never be an excuse
for betraying it bit by bit. The Sultan would have
been as much a Mussulman had he signed the
Vienna Note, as he was when his Minister pro-
posed the modifications which Count Nesselrode

has since justified as indispensable. It is time for
the Western Cabinets to determine whether Russia
is, or is not, to exercise the disputed Protectorate
—or rather to decide whether the solution is to
depend on a war in which Turkey would be com-
pelled to rely on her own unassisted strength. It
is consistent with all that has gone before, that the
sentimental sympathisers with the oppressed Chris-
tians of Roumelia and Bulgaria uniformly recom-
mend a course of action which would give the
utmost provocation to Mahometan fanaticism and
cruelty, while it would, at the same time, deprive
the late allies of the Porte of any power to influence
or control the Government which they had
deserted.

The traditional language of English statesmen
not only recognised the Porte as an ally, but
adopted, as an axiom, the principle that Russia
must be checked in her advances towards the south.
Againand again, English influence has been exerted
to prevent the Ottoman Government from furnishing
its formidable neighbour with any plausible pretext
for aggression. In such a case, it has been urged on
Turkey, England might, however unwillingly, be
,3ompelled, by respect for public law, to acquiesce in
acts of hostility which, however dangerous to the
balance of power, could not, strictly speaking, be
taxed with injustice. Against wanton aggression, the
Porte was always assured of support ; and yet it was
notorious that the Sultan was a ussul man, and
that the Emperor of Russia called himself a Chris-
tian. But it was remembered, though Russian
agents may now slur over so vital a consideration,
that Turkey was a certain and useful friend, and

that a Northern conqueror at Constantinople
might prove a dangerous enemy. It was foreseen
that, after a triumphant Russian invasion, war
would be inevitable ; and it was that, if the con-
flict must come, it was better not to wait till a
sure ally was destroyed, and the power of the ad-
versary was doubled. It would be easy to show,
notwithstanding its Mahometanism and its back-
ward condition, that the Turkish Government is at
least as fully entitled as that of Russia to the sym-
pathy of civilised men. It is not, however, on
fanciful grounds of this kind that the policy of
England has been based, but on an enlightened re-
gard to her own interest, as involved in the main-
tenance of peace and in the independence of Eu-
rope. A Government which could be influenced,
in the pursuit of an established policy, by a sudden
discovery that an ally continues to profess the re-
ligion of his nation, or by the suggestion that the
mob of a capital might possibly be goaded to an
outbreak, would be taxable, not so much with dis-
honesty, as with childish levity.
It is a transparent fraud to represent Turkey as
solely interested in the struggle of which she must
bear the brunt. It is for the sake of England and
France, and still more directly for the interest of
Germany, but, above all, from a regard to the main-
tenance of that international law which is the sole
security for peace, that the Western Powers are
prepared to resist the unprovoked aggression of
Russia. The barbarous Turks have kept their en-
gagements faithfully—the fanatical Mussulmans
have not molested the Christian population—no
offence, or pretended offence, has been given • and
Russia is avowedly and deliberately marching to
the conquest of new territories. Unless the whole
European system is obsolete, England and France
are bound to interfere. A great State has an in-
terest
Eedsut
faith,
tainincgouarage. The minor Powers
o
character, not only for
npe
m would
ballint for
supply England with irresistible
force if it was once understood that they could
good
depend on her protection. There are too many
instances, in our former history, of the abandon-
Ment of allies by weak Ministries ; and none re-
mained unpunished. From the end of the seven
years' war to the day of his death, Frederick the
Great never forgave the neglect of his interests
and safety shown by George 111. and Lord Bute,
when they patched up their hasty peace in 1763.
The treaty of Tilsit was promoted by the neglect
of the English Ministry to support Russia during
the campaign of 1807 ; and the passing of the Bal-
kan,distinctly by Diebitsch, may be
traced to the
murderous blunder of Navarino.
The repetition
of similar misconduct would not
be excused by
dishonest tirades against the Mahoroetanism or
barbarism of an ally whom we are bound to
protect.

ELOQUENCE.—" Feller-citizens," said a candidate for
the legislative honours of the American republic :—" I
am a candidate for the Legislator, and as all good Re-
publicans should do, I will give my view of matters and
things in gineral. The ginerality of mankind in gine-
ral, ginerally speaking, ar most ginerally in favour of
Republicanism, and so am I. lam also in favour of a
liberal expropriation of the public funds for building
bridges. lam also in favour of a most liberal expro-
priation of the funds for the profane assilum. lam in
favour of expropriating money for the gineral scattering
of the Scripters. Yes, feller-citizens, these is my con-
victions, and, if there is no chick-a-ree (chicanery) used
in the election, I am bound to be elected to the Legis-
lator.'

THE CORK BANQUET TO THE LORDS
OF TBE ADMIRALTY.

(From the Times.)
There was a scene the other day at Cork neither
the first, nor probably the last of its kind. The
occasion was a civic banquet to the Lords of the
Admiralty and the officers of the fleet, attended, as
we aro told, by all the leading personages of the
I city and county of Cork; and the principal feature
of the day was a gentle hint that the harbour of
Cork was worthy the notice of the Admiralty, and
a courteous but guarded reply by the First Lord,
urging Irish gentlemen to trust more to themselves
th in to Government, and promising, in very gene-
ral terms, that everything should he done for Cork
that was required for the interests of the empire
at large. This is so much the duty of a ruler under
all circumstances, and, indeed, it would be so
great a crime to omit it, that the promise sounds
very like a truism, or, at any rate, comes to no-
thing at all. If Lords of the Admiralty, however,
are exposed to such trials, as they can hardly fail
to be wherever they go, they have no alternative
but to reply with the simplest possible statement
of their duties and their powers. It is to be hoped
that the time is going by—gone by we cannot quite
say—when the public money is to be scattered
broadcast in, this or that city or port, from some
notion of favour or some motive of interest, or
some ime.gin* rifilit•which the place may be sup-
posed to havato benevolence. Seriously,
whattiber this sort of clainrcome to, and where
is it to stop ? Two or three hundred thousand
pounds...we name a moderate sum—are to be spent
on a place because nature has made it the finest
harbour in the world, or because it just wants
something to make it the finest harbour, or be-
cause there is no harbour whatever on that coast,
or because there is a harbour without defences, or
defences without a harbour, or because the French
can land there, or because they cannot land there,
or because merchantmen go there, or because they
never go there. These, among many other reasons,
as well as the reasons which are the contrary of
these reasons, have all been alleged in favour of pub-
lic grants, and, under the influence of packed com-
mittees, paid engineers, and a vigorous canvas by
the people of the locality, many such grants have
been voted which have yielded no return—that is,
no public advantage at all commensurate with the

cost. We do hope that the time is going by for
this sort of folly, and that the next time a good
slice out of a million is asked for a harbour of re-
fuge, a pier, a breakwater, or a new battery, some
sober calculation will be made of its probable value
to the nation, divested of all purely romantic con-
siderations. Sir James Graham appears to be very
much of this mind, and we believe has really no
such fond affection for his office as to rob the Trea-
sury for its sake, or put Mr. Gladstone under an
unpleasant pressure.
So, Sir James turned off the force of the hint by
referring to the marvellous results of private en-
terprise lately witnessed in both islands. He
pointed to the Exhibitions in London and in Dub-
lin, as proving what may be done without the
smallest help from Government, and to certain
recent improvements in the staple productions of
Ireland. He came not, indeed, to preach a ser-
mon, but, being called on to speak, and having his
text given him, he could not but preach in a rather
moral strain, and the subject of his discourse was
the necessity of self-dependence. It is a point on
which we have written so often, that we really have
not much to say which we have not said before.
Besides, it is rather ungracious to go on telling
people to depend on themselves when they are
really beginning to do so. It is proverbial that an
*lrishman can shift for himself on the edge of a
forest better than the Englishman of the same
class, inasmuch as he has not to get over the un-
comfortable discovery that he has no farmer to
employ him, no rates to fall upon, no grocer's shop
where he can satisfy all his manifold wants. The
Irish would not have multiplied so prodigiously,
and thriven so well, not to speak of maintaining
many thousand gentry and clergy in and out of
Ireland, had they not a good deal in them ; and it
certainly is rather hard that they should be con-
tinually abused for their dependence by the very
classes which depend upon them, by landlords who
carry away their rents, and by clergymen who live
on their tithes or rentcharges. What the Irishman
really wants is faith in himself ; such a belief of his
own powers as shall make him take proper care of
himself, not only when starved, turned out, driven
away, and expatriated altogether, but also when he
sees a Chancellor of the Exchequer, or a Lord of
the Admiralty, or any other fairy godmother of
political romance. That is the Irishman's weak
point. He is too apt to dream of buried treasures,
of pots of gold, of short cuts to wealth, of places,
of grants, of friends in place, and all sorts of luck.
Imagination has a good deal to do with it ; and the
effect of imagination is very often seen in this
country when an industrious honest man is spoilt
by the expectation, well grounded or otherwise,
that he is entitled to some considerable property,
hanging over him like the grapes of Tantalus all his
life, yet never coming within his grasp.
Nobody knows what he can do till he has tried,
and few people try their best till they have been
forced to do it. The Irish are very little aware how
much this is the case in this wealthier island. Take
those of this nation who have been the most suc-
cessful, the most energetic, and the most famous,
and it will be found that they are men who have
risen not so much by the favour of circumstances
as in spite of them. The man who was obliged to
seek a home for himself ; the man who found no
opening in his parish, his town, or his profession; the
man who was early compelled to make friends of his
own; the man who was reduced to look out for a new
branch of industry, or whose tastes led him to do so,
is the great engineer, or contractor, ormanufacturer,
who plays so important a part in the social annals
of the age: Take any one of them at random, and
ten to one we shall find that he has had a hard
battle with fortune, from the time when he was
beaten by clever boys at school, and by big boys
out of it, to the maturer days when he stood alone
in the world, friendless, penniless, and all but hope-
less, yet resolved to do what he could, and try con-
clusions with fortune before lie quite succumbed.
This is the case in England everywhere, every day,
so great and so violent is the seething and bubbling
Ho f
etrhei s
whe huge cauldrone
no ft
oh uamn
da n
fro, suffering n
banished
ad
from toil.
village to town, and from town to village, from one
nattoasiyeisi they had been dropped from the
are another,
forgotten, from oanned
thprovinceousand
ato s an-
other,tandalmost as destitute of human sym-
pathyaa ia employmentol a ttillitself,ed
moon. The Irishman who thinks his case desperate
if he has not fifty strong and zealous friends, be-
sides a good interest in the Administration, little
knows how friendless, how unknown in high places
are many who nevertheless jog on, and even get on
respectably, comfortably, anetriumphantly. Per-
haps there is no country in the whole world where
people are more cast on their own resources than
here. Irishmen learn this when they come here,
and do here as Englishmen do—that is, they take
to the hardest work, live well, yet economically,
put by money, turn it to some profitable account,
and end by rising over the heads of the English
labouring classes. What is most to be hoped, and
what indeed may now be hoped, is that Irishmen
will do this in their own country, and rely on their
own exertions, even without having the sting of
desperation to goad them, or the example of Eng-
lish regularity and industry always before their
eyes.

THE LARGEST HOTEL IN THE WORLD.—At a moment
when the existing hotel accommodation on the other
side (*the Atlantic is being contrasted in a fashion so
little complimentary to what is being provided of a like
kind at home, it may be interesting to know that our
countrymen in the colonies are determined to sustain
the repute of old English supremacy in creature comforts
against all comers, American or otherwise ; for we learn
that the proprietors of the Clifton-house Hotel, on the
Canadian shore of the Niagara Falls, are about so to
enlarge its capacity as to provide for the perfect accom-
modation of no less than one thousand visitors, it being
already capable of ministering, in the most complete
manner, to the requirements of four hundred.—• Live-
rpool Albion.

THE PORT OF LONDON.—The great and progressive
increase in the business of the port of London is stated
to be such as to require the most serious consideration
of the Treasury, with reference to the insufficient ac-
commodation afforded by the Customs for the discharge
of ships and the delivery of their cargoes. For some
time it has been a matter of general complaint that the
supply of landing officers is inadequate to the increased
duties of their department, and it is said that, although
there are at present nearly 60 inferior officers employed
in assisting them, the business on many of the wharfs
and quays is actually brought to a stand. At the docks
also vessels have to wait some days before they can pro-
ceed with their discharge. The greatest inconvenience
is consequently sustained, and it is contended that
with an increasing revenue the expense attending the
appointment of an adequate number of properly-quali-
fied persons to attend to its protection should not weigh
an instant in comparison with the loses inflicted upon
the mercantile community through the obstacle to which
their trade ie pow expend.