The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 14, 1853.

of all this has deplorably justified the gloomiest
of our anticipations. Russia, recognising on the
instant in this shameless proposal of the Four
Powers the advantages certain to accrue to herself
from its acceptance, at once consents to the Vienna
suggestions promptly and unconditionally. Tur-
key, on the other hand, perceiving at a glance the
faithlessness revealed by her allies in this dis-
graceful proposition—perceiving that the ac-
ceptance of that proposition by the Divan
would involve the degradation of the autho-
rity of their Imperial master the SUL-
TAN, and the virtual relinquishment of his
independence—at once refuse to receive the Note
from Vienna, until it has been rendered palatable
to them by a series of what they assert forthwith
to be imperatively essential modifications. Directly
news to this effect arrives from the Golden Horn,
we are assured that the preliminary changes re-
quired by the Divan are altogether unimportant in
their character, that they are, to all intents and pur-
poses, really quite insignificant. Yet, on turning
to the official despatches of REDSCHID PACHA, the
Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, a communica-
tion addressed by him as recently as the 19th ult.,
to the British, Austrian, French, and Prussian
representatives, we find that these wholly " unim-
portant" modifications are, nevertheless, deemed so
absolutely requisite by the Divan, that his Highness
upon one point declares, "It is therefore totally im-
possible for the Government of his Majesty the
SULTAN to assent to such a proposition without
being forced !" Anxiously, therefore, after this, but
still with an affectation of regarding the matter
as really insignificant, the allie i Plenipotentiaries
forward to the Councils of the CZAR intelligence
of the modifications insisted upon by the Turkish
Government. Then follows an interval of timo-
rous solicitude. Everybody, sympathising with
the policy of the ABERDEEN Cabinet, awaits the
decision of the Emperor NICHOLAS tremblingly
and ou the tiptoe of expectation, That decision is
at last received via Berlin through the Electric

Telegraph a peremptory rejection of the

Turkish modifications ! Can that rejection,
we ask any man of common sense and im-
partiality, can that rejection by the CZAR be
any matter of surprise under the circumstances ?
The Russian Government receives certain pro-
posals from the Four Powers, and accepts them
at once, unconditionally. Shortly afterwards it
is asked to consent to certain changes and modi-

fications in the Note as originally accepted.
Naturally, inevitably, it refuses to consent to those
modifications. It argues of course—No, we have
already assented to it as it stands : it is not ours, it
is your own•proposition. The onus, consequently,
of this new complication devolves upon the
Turkish Government. Can that Government
withdraw its modifications ? Scarcely. It has
already declared them to be imperatively essential
as a preliminary. His Highness the Foreign
Minister of the SULTAN, as recently as the
19th ultimo, as already observed, has dis-
tinctly asserted—" It is, therefore, totally im-
possible for the Government of his Majesty to
submit to such a proposition, WITHOUT BEING
FORCED." How, consequently, from this la-
mentable complication of difficulties, can
our rulers discover any means of honourable ex-
trication ? If the modifications .be insisted on by
the Four Powers, they will have dealt falsely with
the CZAR, for he has already, as we have seen,
accepted their own proposition promptly and
unconditionally. If, on the contrary, those
modifications be rejected by the Pour Powers as
superfluous and unnecessary, the EIVLTAN, yet
more than the AUTOCRAT, will have been odiously
deceived and monstrously abandoned. Here,
for the present, is our dilemma. For the dis-
grace of having fallen into it, for the in-
famy resulting from it, for the odium that
must inevitably attach to us from the remem-
brance of these mast lamentable negotiations, we
have to thank the shuffling, timid, and changeful
foreign policy of the Earl of ABERDEEN'S pusilla-
nimous Government.

The Bears are still carrying on their operations
with extraordinary vigour and energy, and
hitherto with marked success. Stocks and shares
of every description have been greatly depressed,
chiefly from the doubt and uncertainty still
hanging over the solution of the Eastern difficulty,
and in some respects from the fears entertained
as to a deficient harvest, and an insufficient sup-
ply of food for the people. Further measures on
the part of the Bank Directors to enhance the
rate of interest are more than hinted at, and
nothing that can increase the feeling of alarm in
the public mind, or deepen the existing gloom, is
left undone by the bold and not.- very. scrupulous
speculators for a fall. It must be admitted that these
persons are wise in their generation, and that they
turn to the best advantage not only any circum-
stance, however trivial, but even any rumour, no
matter how improbable, that may add to the
panic which they have excited. The proceedings
of the ursa major of the Great Northern Despots,
whose unwarranted and unwarrantable invasion of
the territories of a friendly power led to all these
evils, were complete godsends to his minor
brethren, and the vacillating and temporising policy
of the " excellent ABERDEEN," and his supporters
in the Joint-Stock Administration, consummated
the mischief.
If an English Minister had held the seals of the
Foreign-office when the Russian troops first crossed
the Pruth, and thereby created a casus belli which
threatened to disturb the peace of Europe, the
matter would now rest upon a very different basis,
and that most important element would no longer
require to be taken into the calculation. But, un-
fortunately, the England of 1853 did not maintain
the position to which she had been elevated when a
more decisive and manly policy prevailed in her
councils, and when the Minister who suggested a
Quaker-like submission to insult and contumely
would speedily be hurled from place and power,
and when a British Parliament would not abdicate

its functions in favour of any man or body of men,
however well merited the confidence that might
be reposed in his or their ability, and discretion,
and energy. But, ?lOUS mous changee, tout cela,
the favourite doctrine now appears to be, that we
should endure patiently any outrage—that we
hit varia. bly bear our snubbings with equanimity,
being
ever
the first became unpleasantly warm
g " the other cheek to the smiter" when
waapadtoreeita:d r
will
ohrowleeavaertoPr:oncussions. What is the use of
from the
for war," if no
co
-claiLlialcer the
best
of
provocation,
from
its
high
estaltveliawnneei,em"r
must
tt
produce remonstrances,
once " a first-rate Lured resistance by what was
henceforth which has h i
dfallen
s
(~thing requiring in-
diminished head
fluence and respect is on the'oenndae
mu the Admi
But, although we may
tration whose vacillating
we muusettne,doto this de-
plorable state of affairs,
it, and the questions to be
con-
nexion with the subject on which in Ive started-_
namely the ursine operations, and the
depressed
quotations on the Stock Exchange, are the follow_
ing, viz.—Will hostilities be commenced in which
England must necessarily be involved ? And, if so,
are they likely to he so serious as to lead to any
prolonged pressure on the national resources ?
Now, before we respond to these interrogatories, we
must remind our readers that we stood almost
alone in declaring that matters were not as yet
conclusively or satisfactorily arranged, when other
journals were singing peeans in honour of the
moderation (?) of the CZAR--of his ready conces-

sion to the remonstrances of the other Powers,

and. willing acceptance of their conjoint propo-
sitions. We entertained a wholesome distrust
of Ruskau diplomacy, alid believed that he

would not, without a struggle, relinquish
the advantageous position he had attained,
with his troops quartered in the dominions, and
devouring the resources of the enemy. The ques-
tion of " teeth money" had not been settled, or
the amount of compensation which might be
claimed by NICHOLAS, for the expenses of his
occupation. That his demand would be extrava-
;ant, such as could not possibly be submitted to,
was by no means improbable, and that they would
still further entangle matters which previously
had been more than sufficiently complicated, was
to be expected. But that any serious hostilities
would arise, in which the Western Powers would
participate, we never anticipated. The EMPEROR
will go as far as he can with impunity, but he
will know when and where to stop. He is too
well aware of the dangers and inconvenience of a
direct collision with the combined navies of Eng-
land and France to plunge into the contest.
Clouds may low over the political horizon, but
the storm will be averted ; the aspect of affairs
may be threatening for a time, but that is all.
We are firmly convinced that there will be no pro-
clamation of war—no battle in which England may
be engaged. The solution of the problem will be ar-
rived at more speedily than has been anticipated, and
the rapid improvement of quotations of every
kind of stock will heap ample retribution on
those who are endeavouring to increase the alarm
or foment the panic at the present moment.
There is no better foundation for the fears re-
specting the deficiency of the harvest, or the
supposed famine that is said to be impending.
That prices have risen very materially within the
last few months is certain ; but these additions
are ascribable more to the improved condition of
the working population than to any probable
scarcity. The general employment has created
an additional demand for comforts and luxuries
utterly unknown under less favourable circum-
stances. The holders of stocks of every kind are
making the most of the change, but there is no
danger of a deficiency. The table of imports and
exports will prove that fact beyond the possibi-
lity of doubt.
Let persons, then, refuse to sacrifice their pro-
perty at the present prices ; let them decline to
play the game of speculation by casting it on
the market. They may be well assured that there
will be a speedy reaction, if they are only true to
themselves and abstain from increasing the panic
by yielding to the fears excited by unconscientious
and interested persons.

The very sensible remarks on Convocation, by
the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, which appeared
in our paper of Saturday, deserve a brief notice.
His Grace availed himself of the opportunity of
meeting the clergy resident in the vicinity of
Ashford and Sittingbourne, to expound delibe-
rately his reasons for objecting to a revival of the
activity of Convocation. Though much might
be said which his Grace wisely abstained from
saying, yet what he did say is weighty enough.
The Convocationists well know that the country
has plenty of reasons of its own, in addition to
those which the Archbishop appropriately urged
upon ministers of religion, which will always be
fatal to their object. We have furnished them
with some of them—if, indeed, they see fit to
honour us with their attention. We will not re-
cal them just now, but we strongly advise them
to make a " Vienna note" of their Metropoli-
tan's charge, to sign it with all possible dispatch,
and to withdraw at once from a contest in which
they are sure to be thoroughly beaten.
Dr. SUMNER pointed out, with perfect truth,
the utter inutility of a Convocation, even sup-
posing it were a real representation of every part
of the country, in promoting the efficiency of the
clergy situated in districts of a most diverse
character. The real work of the Church has to
be done by individual clergymen. Local con-
ferences of ministers in the same district, all un-
derstanding its peculiarities more or less, and all
having a common object, might, of course, be
helpful by mutual experience and suggestions.
A body like Convocation could do nothing of the
kind. It could not increase the efficiency of a
single parish clergyman. "It could not enable
him to bring one additional soul to vital and
serious religion." We fear, however, that this
just observation, so appropriate from one minister
of religion to another, will have little weight with
the Convocationists. They, the noisiest of them
at least, are men to whom their parish is but a
prison, and whose chief longing is to make them-
selves notorious beyond it, or to gain the power
belonging to chief clerical debaters in a clerical
assembly. The sober part of the public will en-
tirely concur with the Primate.
In respect to other important general objects
for which a living Convocation is desired, his
Grace shows that all of them can be best
accomplished by the existing voluntary so-
cieties• and organisations connected wich the
Church. For education they have the Na-
tional Society, and the Diocesan Boards of Educa-
tion. For " the extension of the means of grace
in proportion to the population," they have a
society which has been at work successfully for 40
years. For the " propagation of the gospel in
foreign parts" (whether amongst our colonists, or
among the vast numbers of heathen beneath our
rule), they have the society which, for 140 years,
has borne that name. Were they to undertake
in Convocation the work of this society, what
could it do but use the very means--Bibles,
books, and missionaries—which the Society now
employs ? Now, all this is well said. The Arch-
bishop has hit the right nail on the head. " If,
gentlemen, your object be not ecclesiastical noto-
riety and power, if it be simply to forward that
solemn and supremely important work for which
the nation supports you, first attend to your work
quietly and vigorously in your respective parishes
and districts. Secondly, if you contemplate home
or foreign usefulness of a religious kind, why, no-
thing prevents you from aiding old societies, or
forming new ones, if you will ; you are free to
contribute your money, to choose your own com-
mittees, to elect your own officers, and to extend
the Church at home and abroad as much as you
please."

Though not in so many words, the Archbishop
yet plainly tells the clergy of this day that it is
to the voluntary principle they must look for
Church Extension. Before the time of the Re-
form Bill, the Duke of WELLINGTON himself, in
his place in the House of Lords, told them expli-
citly the same truth. To a large extent his ad-
vice has been acted on since with great success,
and the Church must continue to act upon it.
Even the present reformed Parliament showed
pretty plainly last session that the time for eccle-

siastical jobs is gone by. The census returns, too,
have made it impossible for any Government to do

. .
more than preserve the present endowments of
the Established Church for the use of its mem-
bers, and Churchmen will be wise not to provoke
comparisons of their claims to increased legislative

protection with those of other sects.
_ .

As Lord

STANLEY has justly observed, " the principle on

which the present generation inclines to act, is
that of strict religious equality." Other sects have

shown, every now and then, some impatience of
_ . _

, .
the legislative powers of bishops. What would be
the resistance should any Government seriously

propose to give the Church of England a convoca-

tion—not a mere voluntary association of active.

minded Churchmen—but a convocation having a

'egal status and powers, and a rank ecclesiastically

parallel with that of our Houses of Parliament

politically?
element will always predominate
ocationist3 the
any Cabinet to perl.nit to Cony
country is
We feel pretty con'ddent that thetee statesman
ainn
chance of Governmental support ; the . .
augfaeillastgatizetm.the
excellent service, in ihowing that religious reasons
Sntillill,satnl?ee Aarchhabvisinhgop
are as weighty as pc,litical reasons against indulg-
liberty of action. Mr. S. G. OSBORNE)
ing their demands.. We do think, however, that
tohapsetditeionne
in another direction the Church does need more
revelations of G) Mr.
vice and degradation, has
shown that we, do need means of communicating
religious instr in his
uction, to the most &prayed Portion
of the comet unity, of a humbler kind and less
formal chara 43ter than those which now exist ;
and we cord * vir,conour with those who urge the

legislative removal of every restriction which
hinders active Church men, whether lay or clerical,
from providing and giving such instruction. There
is not a Church in Christendom which fetters the
action of its parish clergymen so much as our own.
Strike off those fetters. Emancipate curates from
slavery to the bishops. Give scope to all the
zeal there is for doing good. But let us hear no
more of reviving a defunct scheme for clerical
strife and ambition.

LATEST FO illk;1

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

REJECTION OF THE TURKISH MODIFI

CATIONS.

The Prussian Minister at Paris, M. de Hatzfeld,
received yesterday a telegraphic message from
Berlin, announcing that the Emperor of Russia
has rejected the modifications which were made
by the Porte to the Vienna note.

The news from Constantinople, Aug. 31, re-
ceived by electric telegraph, is as follows :
"All regular communication with the Russian
ports is interrupted."

" The last mail steamer which went to Odessa
has not returned."

" The remainder of the Egyptian fleet has
arrived."

It is said that Omer Pasha addressed to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army a letter,
stating that the Russian gun-boats approached too
near the fortifications on the right bank of the
Danube, and recommending that orders should be
given to prevent this, lest the Tur,,s were com-
pelled to fire on them. Prince Gortschakoff wrote
en the back of the letter—" it des coups des canons
on reponda par des coups des canons.
All the merchants of Ibrail and Galatz are
ruined. In consequence of the news from England
in the early spring they had bought vast quantities
of the standing crops in the interior. Since there
are no vessels to ship off the corn which is daily
arriving, and no granaries in which to deposit it,
immense heaps are lying in the streets uncovered
and wasting.

The Russian forces in the Principalities and in
Bessarabia amount to 110,000 infantry, and
25,000 cavalry.
The rostampt Gazette of Frankfort has the fol-
lowing from Constantinople, 30th ult. :—" Omer
Pacha is placed in a very disagreeable position ;
his troops have declared to him that they wish to
come to blows with the Russians. He cannot op-
pose this feeling, and, on the other hand, he fears
that the enthusiasm of his soldiers will derange
existing diplomatic combinations. The position of
Redschid Pacha is not less unpleasant ; every day
hundred of persons assemble before his palace, and
exclaim that war is the only means of safety for
Turkey."

The same journal states from Brailow in Wal-
lachia, that the troops under General Luders which
hitherto had been stationary in Bessarabia, crossed
the Russian frontier into Moldavia on the 28th of
August. On that day one regiment marched in
and two more followed on the 29th, and entered
Brailow. Other troops are to follow.
It is stated that the navigation of the Sulina
mouth is getting more difficult from day to day.
The water is so low that sailing ships cannot pass
at all. The steamer which was to remove the sand
does not work ; it only pretends to work.
From Vienna we learn that the departure of the
Consuls of France and England from Jassy, had
produced great alarm throughout the whole of
Moldavia.

The Postampt Gazelle of Frankfort states from
Vienna that the Emperor of Russia and the King
of Prussia will arrive at the camp of Olmutz on
the 21st inst.
M. Nogues, chief editor of the Journal de Con-
stantinople, has, says a letter from that capital, re-
ceived a warning from the Ottoman Porte not to
publish any articles hostile to Russia, on pain of
the suppression of the joftrnal.
The Wanderer of Vienna, under date of Con-
stantinople 29th, says :—" A Greek soci ty has re-
cently been formed in London, at the head of
which is Prince Mavrocodato. It is principally
composed of merchants. Its object is to raise the
necessary funds for forming a confederation of
Albanians and Bulgarians. it is easy to conceive
what the destination of this confederation is—it
certainly is not in favour of Turkey. This society
was discovered by a Turkish agent of police. We
do not yet know what measures the Ottoman Go-
vernment will adopt against this association, but it
may occasion great embarrassment to it, as the ma-
jority of the members are foreigners placed under
the protection of their consuls."

Almost all the English sailors who were suffer-
ing from fever, and who were sent to Malta to be
cured, have returned to the Bay of Besika. Their
health is completely restored.