The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-02 00:00:00

{ PRICE SD.

AFFAIRS OF THE EAST.

(Front the Times.)

The Journal des Debate of yesterday publishes a nar-
rative of the negotiations carried on by Prince Men-
schikoff at Constantinople, and an abridgment of the
notes and draught convention which have led to the in-
terruption of diplomatic relations between the Russian
Envoy and the Porte. This statement, published by
the most important political journal of France, is so en-
tirely conceived in the Russian interest that we must be
permitted to doubt whether the materials of which it is
composed were all derived from Constantinople. The
principal documents quoted or described in it are, how-
ever, authentic and correct, for they correspond with the
version of the same papers forwarded to ourselves ; and
it is for this reason especially that we lay them at once
before our readers, since they throw more light than
anything that has yet been made public on this trans-
action.
It will be recollected that on sth May Prince Menscbi-
koff obtained from the Porte the two firmans which satis-
fied his demands with reference to the Holy Places. But
no sooner was that affair brought to a satisfactory
conclusion, than the Russian Envoy proceeded, in
a note of the same date, to lay great stress on a
third demand which had hitherto been left in the back-
ground. This demand was for a convention to guarantee
the privileges of the Greek Church in the Ottoman Em-
pire ; it was then represented as the most important
object of the mission ; and an answer was required
within five days, "inasmuch as the Ambassador could
only consider a longer delay as a want of respect to his
Government, which would impose on him the most pain-
ful necessities." Such was the conclusion of the note.
The convention annexed to it consisted 9f,six
the first of which-is theemito of VI tat 'hai 'aims oe-.
curred. It provided " that no change whatsoever'
should be introduced in the rights, privileges, and im-

munities which have been enjoyed and are flow pos-
sessed ab anliquo by the churches, the religious
institutions, and the orthodox clergy of the Eastern
Church, in the whole extent of the dominions of the

Ottoman Porte, which is pleased to secure to them all
such rights, privileges, and immunities on the strict basis
of the statue quo now existing." Such is the tenour,
if not the exact text, of this celebrated proposition,
which comprises the essential portion of the Russian
demand. The other articles of the convention stipulated
that the Greek Church should constantly be placed on
the footing of the most favoured Christian nation, and
should participate in all favours and privileges granted
to other Churches : that at Jerusalem the relation of
Greeks and Latins should remain unchanged ; that the
two last firmans granted to Russia on the Holy Places
should be confirmed by the Sultan, and placed under
the sanction of this treaty ; and that leave should be
granted to erect a Greek church and hospital at Jerusa-
lem, to be served by Russian priests. These proposi-
tions were acceded to by the Porte, with the exception
of the first. The rejection of that article was the express
ground of Prince Menschikoff's departure.
It will be seen that, as we have more than once ob-
served, the Russian demand did not include any change
in the nomination of the Patriarch, nor any overt autho-
rity over the clergy, nor any interference with the tem-
poral allegiance of the Greek population to the Porte.
On all these points there has been a good deal of exag-
geration, which of course places the case against Russia
on a false and insecure foundation. The phraseology of
the objectionable article is, in fact, so mild and guarded,
that, without the experience we have of the Russian mode
of proceeding in the East, its effects would not be
at once apparent. Turkey is called upon to promise
that no change is to take place adverse to the rights,
privileges, and immunities of the Greek Church in her
dominions. She would probably not hesitate to give
that assurance to the whole world ; and the policy which
can alone prolong her existence as a government is to
extend those rights, and to raise her Christian popula-
tion to be the servants and supporters of the Empire.
But, when that promise is demanded by Russia alone,
when it is accompanied by threats, and converted from
a free gift of toleration into a diplomatic contract, the
Turkish Ministers recoil from the snare. However
mild in form, Russia knows that this article, if conceded,
would suffice for her purpose ' • and the argument derived
from the seeming innocence of the proposal is lost in the
vehemence and the threats by which it was supported.
If it were true that such a concession were too slight a
matter for Turkey resolutely to refuse, it would also 'he
true that such a demand is an absurd and untenable
ground of a diplomatic rupture, which has brought two
empires to the brink of hostilities. We differ, there-
fore, from the inference which the Journal des Debats
draws from those papers, when it argues that the differ-
ence is too slight to lead to serious consequences.
But the French journal makes a further allegation,
which materially affects the case, and would even throw
a doubt on the consistency of the British Government.
An attempt is made to show that this proposal was
originally put forward on the 22d of March, (
including
the draught of a treaty, and that its existence must,
therefore, have been known to Lord Clarendon when he
stated in the House of Lords, on the 25th of April, that
the British Government was still disposed to rely on the i
assurances that had been given to all Europe, and espe- I
cially to our Ministers, upon the word of honour of the
Emperor Nicholas. This part of the case requires some
further explanation, and it will be found not to
support the innuendo which the Journal des _Debate
rests upon it. It is true that at an earlier
period of his mission Prince Menschikoff did
put forward a scheme of a convention ; and
that one of his first acts was to endeavour to prevent
the Porte, by intimidation, from communicating the
pending negotiations to the ministers of France and
England. In this, however, he failed, and on the arri-
val of Lord Stratford and M. De la Cour they found
that something had been said of such a convention,
which extended even further than that subsequently
proposed on the sth of May, and included, we believe,
the nomination or investiture of the Patriarch of Con-
stantinople. But no sooner was this fact known to the
British ambassador than he remonstrated against such a
project, as inconsistent with the promises given at St.
Petersburgh, and with the independence of Turkey.
The consequence was that Prince Menschikoff with-
drew his first demand, and led his diplomatic
colleagues to believe that he had abandoned
it, as, in fact, he had in that form ; and it must
have been under the impression that such a project had
never been seriously entertained, and was at once aban-
doned on their remonstrances, that the British Govern-
ment repeated its declaration of confidence in the assur-
ance of Russia. Taking into account the time which
elapsed between the withdrawal of the first convention,
proposed on the 22d of March, and the arrival of the
courier who reached Constantinople on the 4th of May,
there is strong ground to conjecture that Prince Men-
schikoff wrote to St. Petersburgh for ulterior instructions
after his first check, and received them at the later date
in the form of the last convention. The note which
accompanied it expressly declared that "it had under-
gone alterations, in compliance with the objections urged
by Rifaat Pasha," and added that the new draught was
annexed, in the hope that " the expectations of the
Emperor would not this time be deceived." If these
alterations had been those of Menschikoff himself, he
would not have required nearly six weeks to revise his
proposition ; but the delay considerably augments
the presumption that a reference was made to St. Peters-
burgh. While, therefore, the foreign Ambassadors were
lulled by the belief that the demand which had been
made and withdrawn was definitively abandoned, the
Russian Envoy was only preparing to return to the
charge. It is entirely erroneous to assert or to insinuate
that the scheme, if known to the British Government
or Ambassador, excited anything but its strong repro
bation ; and the fact that the first scheme was modified
and abandoned may have been regarded as an additional
proof, at that time, of the sincerity of the Russian Go-
vernment.

We confine ourselves, on the present occasion, to a
statement of these communications as we believe them
to have been made, and we shall only remark that the
delay which took place between the first and second
Russian propositions seems to exclude the possibility of
Prince Mensehikoff's having acted without full instruc-
tions and authority on the sth of May, and it also
renders it more improbable that the Emperor Nicholas
will desist from pretensions which he thought fit to ad-
vance in such a form and after full deliberation.

THE AUSTRIAN MODE OF TREATING POETS.—The Aus-
trian officer in command of the garrison at Perugia
(Papal States) was lately irritated at a satire, the pro-
duct of an unknown pen, which made its appearance on
the walls of the town directing its iambics against the
imperial army. Unable to discover the author, the
officer requested the Papal governor to furnish him
with a list of all the poets of Perugia, a somewhat em-
barrassing commission to execute in a country where
rhyming seems the natural language. However, the
magistrate, after due criticism, produced five indivi-
duals, whom he considered to have drunk of the Hype-
rean springs sufficiently deeply to be entitled poets.
The Austrian had them all stripped in the presence of
a medical officer, whom he ordered to examine them,
awl report upon the physical capacity of each of them
for receiving blows with a stick. Naturally belonging
to a genus irritabile, and of excitable nervous confor-
mation, the unfortunate poets were set down by the
surgeon at a charitably low number of bastinadoes, and
were still more gratified when the officer, instead of
actually carrying into execution his " cutting up," an
operation even snore galling than that of hostile re- '
viewers, contented himself with addressing them in the
following terms :—" Gentlemen, you have just heard the
number of stripes which the doctor considers each of
you capable of supporting—they will assuredly be 1,3_
ministered to you upon the reappearance of any anony-
mous satire. You now know the price of
wish you a very good morning • ee "-- kiyour y
New verses.
s cold Chronicle.
RIVAL BROTHERS.—By RH unusual • •
vsfuorrr
successful competitors for the respective prize
surgeon.
sons
has s o f
nAo
tdrhe.
er Esti ehs ayeta
ooff StokeExoter Newington,t)llege, o
the two universities are brothers,
just
gained
kll'
the scholarewdegate prize for the English poeTmheo
sub-
ject of the " Ruins of Egyptian
is a scholar of King's Co'll (ran Thebes." The younger
been adjudged the ChancellorseeCambridge, to whom has
glish
poem
in
,lero. medal for the best En-
! lc verse, the
Castle."subject being " Walmer