The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-21 00:00:00

'RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

The following dispatch from Count Nesselrode
to Baron Meyendorf, at Vienna, dated Petersburg,
August 26th o.s. (September 7th N.s.), has just
been published
" We have just received, together with your Excel-
lency's reports of the 16.28 th of August, the alterations
which the Ottoman Porte has made in the draft of a note
drawn up at Vienna.
"Count Buol will only require to recal to mind the
expressions of our communication of the 25th of July to
form a clear idea of the impression these alterations
have made on his Majesty the Emperor.
" When I, in His Majesty's name, accepted that draft
of a note which Austria, after having previously pro-
cured it to be approved and accepted by the Courts of
France and England, described to us as an ultimatum,
that she intended to lay before the Porte, and on the ac-
ceptance of which the continuance of her friendly offices
was to depend, I added in a dispatch which you, Baron,
were instructed to communicate to the Austrian Cabi-
net, the following remarks and reservations :
" consider it to be superfluous to remark to your
Excellency that, whilst we, in a spirit of conciliation,
accept the proposal of accommodation agreed to at
Vienna, and of sending a Turkish Ambassador, we as-
sume that we shall not have still further changes and
fresh propositions to examine and to discuss, which may
happen to be contrived at Constantinoople under the
warlike inspiration which seems at_ present to influence
the Sultan and the majority of his Ministers ; and that,
should the Ottoman Government also reject this last ar-
rangement we should no longer hold ourselves by the
consent which we now give to it.'
" Expressions so precise as these could leave the
Austrian Government no doubt as to our present de-
cisions.

" I will not at the present moment enter into the
alteration of the wording which have been made at
Constantinople. 1 have made them the subject of
special remark in another dispatch. I will, for the
moment, confine myself to asking whether the Em-
peror, after having for himself renounced the
power to change even a word in that draft of a note,
which was drawn up without his participation, can
allow the Ottoman Porte alone to reserve to itself that
power, and whether he can suffer Russia to be thus
placed in an inferior position vis-ci-vis Turkey. We hold
this to be inconsistent with the dignity of the Em-
peror. Let us recal the whole series of events, as they
took place. In the place of the Menschikoff note, the ac-
ceptance of which without alteration we had stipulated
as the condition of our resuming our relations with the
Porte, a different note was proposed to us. On this
ground alone we might have refused to take it into con-
sideration. And even after entering upon it we might
have found occasion to raise more than one objection,
to propose more than one alteration in the expressions.
You know, Baron, that from the moment we consented
to give up our ultimatum, no note of any form what-
ever was what we desired—that we should have pre-
ferred another plan, another form of agreement. We
did not insist on this plan ; we have laid it entirely on
one side. Why ? Because, as soon as we should have
made counter propositions, we should have exposed our-
selves to the reproach of protracting matters, of inten-
tionally prolonging the crisis which is disquieting
Europe. Instead of this, as we wished to put an
end to the crisis as soon as possible, we sacrificed our
objections both as regards the contents and the form.
On the receipt of the first draft of a note, without wait-
ing to learn if it had been approved in London or in
Paris, we notified our accession to it by telegraph.
Subsequently the draft was forwarded to us in its final
form, and although it had been altered in a direction
which we could not misunderstand, we did not retract
our consent, nor raise the smallest difficulty. Could
greater readiness or a more conciliatory spirit be shown ?
When we thus acted, we did so as a matter of course,
on the condition that a draft which the Emperor ac-
cepted without discussion, should be accepted by the
Porte in a similar manner. We did so under the convic-
tion that Austria looked on it as an ultimatum, in
which nothing was to be changed, as the last effort of
her friendly mediation, which should it fail in conse-
quence of the pertinacity of the Porte, would thereby of
itself come to an end. We regret that it was not so.
But the Vienna Cabinet will admit, that if we had not
to do with an ultimatum, but with a new draft of a note,
in which either of the parties concerned was at liberty
to make changes, we should thereby recover the right of
which we had our own accord deprived ourselves, of
proposing variations on our part, of taking the pro-
posal of arrangement into consideration, and not only
changing the expression, but also the form.
"Could such a result be intended by Austria ? Could
it be agreeable to the Powers, who, by altering and
accepting her drafts, have made it their common work ?
It is their affair to consider the delays which will result
from this, or to inquire if it is for the interest of Europe
to cut them short. We see only one single means of
putting an end to them. It is for Austria and the
Powers to declare to the Porte, frankly and firmly,
that they, after having in vain opened up to it
the only road that could lead to an immediate
restoration of its relations with us, henceforth leave
the task to itself alone. We believe that as soon
as the Powers unanimously hold this language to the
Porte, the Turks will yield to the advice of Europe,
and, instead of reckoning on her assistance in a struggle
with Russia, will accept the note in its present form,
and cease to compromise their position so seriously for
the childish satisfaction of having altered a few expres-
sion in a idocument which we had accepted without dis-
cussion. For of these two positions only one is pos-
sible ; either the alterations which the Porte requires
are important, in which case it is very simple that we
refuse to accede to them ; or they are unimportant, and
then the question arises, why should the Porte unneces-
sarily make its acceptance dependent on them ?
"To sum up succinctly what we have said : the
ultimatum dra-wn up at Vienna is not ours. It is the
work of Austi is and the Powers, who, after having first
of all agreed to it, then discussed it, and altered its original
text, have recognised it as such as the Porte could
accept, without; its intents or its honour being com-
promised. We on our part have done every thing
that depended (Ton us to shorten unnecessary delays,
inasmuch as w hen the arrangements was laid before us
we renounced all counter-propositions. No one will
refuse to bear this testimony to the loyaute of the
Emperor. After Our having long exhausted the mea-
sure of concessions, without the Porte's having as yet
made a single one, his Majesty can go no further with-
out compromising his own standing, and without expo-
sing himself to a resumption of his relations with Turkey
under unfavourable auspices, which would deprive them
for the future of all stability, and must inevitably
produce a fresh and signal breach. Even now, fur-
ther concessions with regard to the expressions of
the note would be of no use, for we see by your dis-
patch that the Ottoman Government is only waiting for
our consent to the alterations made in the Vienna
note to make its signature, as well as its sending off an
Ambassador• to convey the latter hither, dependent on
fresh conditions, and that it has already made inadmis-
sible propasals with respect to the evacuation of the

Principalities. As regards the latter point we can only
refer to the assurances and declarations contained in
our dispatch of the 10th of August, and repeat, that the
arrival of the Turkish Ambassador, bearing the Austrian
note without alterations, will suffice at St. Petersburg
for the orders to be issued to our troops to retire over
the frontier."

The following is a translation of the Manifesto
of the Porte which has recently appeared, omitting
some Oriental amplifications :
" After the occupation of Wallachia and Moldavia by
the Russians, the Sublime Porte protested before the
four Powers in conformity with its ancient custom.
Some days before the departure of Prince Menschikoff
from Constantinople, the Sublime Porte framed a note,
which, in consequence of its not having been accepted
by the Russian Ambassador, remained unexecuted.
One of the terms of that note was the evacuation of the
Principalities, after which an Ambassador was to re-
pair to St. Petersburg. The four Powers interfered,
with the view of bringing the two parties in dispute to
an amicable arrangement, and with that object they
framed a note which was immediately communicated to
them. That note was accepted by Russia in the same
form in which it was drawn up, and we were informed
of this by the telegraph from Vienna as far as Belgrade,
and thence by an extraordinary courier. By that act
the four great Powers gave proofs of their goodwill and
their friendship for the maintenance of our integrity.
The Vienna note, when examined with attention, showed
some points which could not and which cannot be ad-
mitted either by his Majesty the Sultan, who desires to
maintain the right of his ancestors in this grave question,
or by his Ministers, who are bound by it.
"For some months past the Government of his Ma-
jesty has made great preparations with the object of
maintaining its solidity, and such being the case the
note to which we have referred cannot be accepted ; and
to resolve the pending question. it cannot accept other
than the note modified by the Sublime Porte, and under
the official guarantee of the Four Powers. It is to that
point the sc,lution tends, and of this all its ambassadors
have been informed.

"On the same question we have received a letter
from his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, to which
we have replied after the same manner in which we
now express ourselves.
" Such is the actual state of the question, and as
to the turn which it may take hereafter, intelligence
of a more recent date will inform us.

" Awaiting the results which may take place, the
Sublime Porte will maintain the footing, with respect
to its armaments, which it occupies at this moment—
and such is the decision of all."

A dispatch dated the 20th has arrived from
Vienna. It states that '• the mediating Power
does not adhere fully to the proposition of
the two Western Powers, which give guarantees
to the Porte against the future action of Russia
between the Porte and its subjects. Count Buol
does not think that the projet de note of M. Drouyn
de Lhuys is pressing enough in the sense of accep-
tation. Energetic instructions have been sent to
M. Bruck. Circumstances no longer admit of col-
lective action. Each Power may give assurances .;
especially the acceptation by the Porte must be in-
sisted upon."
News from Constantinople, Sept. 7, says :
" The position of affairs remains unchanged.
15,000 troops from Egypt have been shipped off to
Varna, whence they will proceed to Shumla. The
Turks are still full of enthusiasm."

The following paragraph appears in the Constan-
tinople news of the sth in the Gazette du Midi :
" The Russian subjects and the protégés of that na-
tion who have remained at Constantinople, have
carried on such a propaganda against the Turkish
government either verbally or by the publication of
pamphlets, that Reschid Pacha, th e Minister of
Foreign Affairs, was compelled to request the Rus-
sian Consul General to warn his countrymen and
to put an end to their blameable conduct."
The Smyrna journal of the 2d, says that " seve-
ral arrests have been made within the last few days
of persons suspected of being in connivance with
the brigands in our neighbourhood. Their inter-
rogatories have furnished the police with fresh in-
formation, which it is hoped will enable them to
restore public security. The most important ar-
rest, however, is that of the notorious Andriko,
whom the authorities have been in vain endeavour-
ing to lay hold of for more than two years. As
the companion of Yanni Kattergi there is not a
robbery, an assassination, or an act of cruelty, in
which this wretch has not taken a part. Since the
arrest of Andriko several other persons had been
taken into custody, and are all kept in close and
solitary confinement. The Pacha himself, incognito,
arrested with his own band one young man whose
revelations are very important. As a measure of
public security, Ismail Pacha has ordered the clos-
ing of 120 coffee-houses, where the malefactors
usually unite to concoct their schemes, and it is
stated that several other public establishments are
to be shut up."
Several Turkish caricatures have appeared of late
in Constantinople bearing hard upon England. In
one of these the Emperor of Russia is represented
as feloniously breaking into Buckingham Palace,
Prince Albert rushes to defend his house and
family, but Lord Aberdeen holds him back, declar-
ing the outrage not to be a calms belli. The Eng-
lish names for the vessels of war, &c., are, by a
slight change, made to express the Turkish for any-
thing but what is respectful. Of course these can-
ricatures are not allowed to be publicly exposed.
A letter from Tenedos, of the Bth, states that
the Commander of the Bellerophon had established
an hospital on the side of Mount St. Elie, for the
seamen who had suffered from fever at Besica Bay.
Accounts from the Black Sea of the 3d announce
that the first stone of a Greek church had been laid
with great solemnity at Ismail. The erection of
this church was authorised by an ukase of the
Emperor, and it is to be built at the expense of the
officers of the army of occupation. The ceremony
gave rise to an exhibition of extreme religious
fanaticism.