The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

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I interests of the Porte as if a similar act of aggression were
I committed against those parts of the empire directly admi-
nistered by this Government. It may be added that, in a
military point of view, resistance could not be offered to
Russia in that quarter, under present circumstances, with
any prospect of success. Reasoning from the above dis-
tinction, the Porte, I conceive, may defer the commence-
ment of actual and reciprocal hostilities without discredit
or increase of risk."—(p. 317.)
The interval, however, was of course to be turned to
advantage, and while the Turks were unobtrusively
making defensive preperations, and providing for the
security and good-will of the Christian population by
special edicts, the chances of negotiation were to be
earnestly tried. Accordingly the Russians crossed the
Pruth, the boundary of their proper territory, and in-
vaded the principalities ; the Turks made no resistance,
and the European powers betook themselves to the work
of negotiation. At an early stage of the proceedings it,
was discerned that Austria, from her less antagonistic
position,
might prove a favourable mediator, inasmuch
as though she admitted the indefensibility of the Men.
schikoff demands, she had not assumed any offensive
attitude towards the Court of St. Petersburg. At first,
however, almost every Court and every Ambassador
had projects of their own founded on the hopes of re-
reeonei ling the if/times/a delivered, by Prince Menschi-
koff with the offers made by Redschid Pasha. These
schemes will be found discussed between pages 350-370
of the Parliamentary papers ; but it will be unnecessary
to notice them, particularly as they all subsided into a
single and more formal proposition. On the 25th of
July Lord Westmoreland, (our Ambassador at Vienna) in-
formed Lord Clarendon that Count Buol, the Austrian
Minister, had called upon the representatives of the
great powers at Vienna, "to consult together with
the view of arriving at the adoption of some proposal
which could be submitted to the Porte with the sanction
of all Governments," This suggestion produced a recog-
nised "Conference of Vienna," and here the work of
negotiation was conducted while the Russians occupied
the Turkish dependencies without let or hindrance. Lord
Stratford, indeed, in a remarkable despatch of July 4th,
had already spoken of stronger measures as among pro-
bable contingencies ; but Lord Clarendon, in a reply of
July 28th, communicated the anxiety of the British Go-
vernment for peace, "not because we have any doubt
that the policy of Russia has been unjust and ungenerous
and is indefensible—not alone because we think that war
would be an additional danger to Turkey." The same
Minister, however, in writing a few days before to Lord
Westmoreland (p. 354), impressed upon the Austrian
Government that this forbearance had its limits, and
that "it would be impossible for the Porte much longer
to remain at peace while a portion of its territory was in
the occupation of a Russian army."
We conclude this article with the celebrated Note
which has given rise to such protracted negotiation, and
the persistence in which threatens to break the longest
peace Europe has ever enjoyed :

(Translation.)
" Pera, April 23 (May 5), 1853.
"The undersigned, Ambassador of Russia, had the honour
of forwarding to his Excellency the Minister for Foreign
Affairs of the Sublime Porte on March 10 (22) a confiden-
tial communication which accompanied the draught of an
act purporting to afford to the Government of his Majesty
the Emperor solid and inviolable pledges for the future in
favour of the Orthodox Eastern Church.

" The Ambassador considered that he might rely on
meeting with an earnest desire on the part of the Sublime
Porte to re-establish upon that basis relations of frank and
cordial amity with Russia. He is obliged to confess, with
deep regret, that he has been disappointed in this convic-
tion, which the gracious reception of his Majesty the Sultan
had from the very first led him to indulge.
" Animated, nevertheless, by the spirit of conciliation
and of goodwill which forms the basis of his august mas-
ter's policy, the Ambassador does not reject the prelimi-
nary observations which were made to him by his Excel-
lency Rifaat Pasha, both as regards the form of the above-
mentioned act, and as regards the tenor of some of the
articles which were to form part of it.
" As regards the form the Ambassador abides by his de-
claration that a long and painful experience of the past
requires, in order to avoid all coldness or mistrust between
the two Governments for the future, a solemn engagement
having the force of a treaty.
" In order to settle the contents and the terms of that
act, he required that there should he a previous under-
standing; and seeing, with great pain, the delays of the
Ottoman Government in the matter, and its evident wish
to evade the discussion, he found himself compelled, in his
verbal note of April 7 (19), to recapitulate his demands,
and to put them forward with the utmost urgency.
"The note of his Excellency the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, dated the 26th Redjib (April 23—May 5), accom-
panying the certified copies of the two sovereign orders as
to the sanctuaries and the cupola of the Holy Sepulchre,
only reached the Ambassador to-day. Ho considers that
communication as a compliance with the first two demands
made in his note of April 7 (19), and he will make it his
duty to place those documents before his Government.

"-But-not having, up to the present time, obtained any
answer upon the third and most important point, which
requires guarantees for the future, and having very re-
cently received orders to redouble his exertions for the im-
mediate settlement of the question which forms the prin-
cipal object of the solicitude of his Majesty the Emperor,
the Ambassador finds himself constrained now to address
his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs, strictly
confining his demands on this occasion to the orders which
he has received from his superiors:
" The bases of the arrangement which he is instructed
to obtain are substantially the same.
" The orthodox Eastern religion, its clergy and its pos-
sessions, shall enjoy for the future, without any projudioo,
under the protection of his Majesty the Sultan, the privi-
leges and immunities which are assured to them ab antiquo,
and, upon a principle of perfect equity, shall participate
in the advantages accorded to the other Christian sects.

" The new explanatory firman respecting the Holy
Places of Jerusalem shall have the force of a formal en-
gagement made with the Imperial Government.
" At Jerusalem Russian monks and pilgrims shall enjoy
similar privileges to those enjoyed by other foreign nations.
" These points, here briefly stated, shall be th object of
a sened, which shall attest the reciprocal confidence of the
two Governments.

"In this act the objections and difficulties expressed on
different occasions by his Excellency Rifaat Pasha and
some of his colleagues have been taken into consideration,
as his Excellency will see by the draught of a senod which
the Ambassador bas the honour to annex to the present
note.

" The Ambassador flatters himself with the hope that
the just expectations of his august master will not be dis-
appointed, and that, laying asi :e all hesitation and all
mistrust, by which his dignity and his generous sentiment
would be aggrieved, the Sublime Porte will no longer de-
lay to communicate to the Imperial Ambassador the so-
vereign decision of his Majesty the Sultan in reply to tit*
present notification.
"In the hope that this will be the case, the Ambassa-
dor begs his Excellency Rifaat Pasha to be good enough to
let him have that answer by Tuesday next (April 28—
May 10). He cannot consider a longer delay in any other
light that as a want of respect towards his Government,
which would impose upon him the most painful duty.
" The Ambassador offers to his Excellency the assurance,
Scc."