The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.-(THIS DAY.)

LONDON, Sept. 6.—Wind this day at Noon, N.E., light
pleasant breeze, and fine weather.
DEAL, Sept. 6 (9 a.m.)—Wind, N.E. by E., strong, and
clear. Passed—Pacific, from London, to Havre Eleven,
from London, to Odessa ; Tarnio Third, from Bahia, to
London, at 1 p.m. yesterday. Sailed—The Lord Petre,
for the Mauritius. Remain—hilly and Rachel, for Ma-
deira.

PORTSMOUTH, Sept. s.—Wind, N.E. Arrived—Tronba-
dour, from Shields, for Barcelona, leaky, in tow of a
steamer, for Southampton. Sailed—Prince of Wales,
Calcutta ; Blenheim, do.

PLYMOUTH, Sept. 5.—Wind, E.N.E. Sailed—America,
Melbourne.

SCARBOROUGH, Sept. 4.—The Joseph, of Antwerp, ap-
parently abandoned, came on shore yesterday during a
N.B. gale, and has gone to pieces.
DOVER, Sept. s.—The crew of the Joseph, of and from
Antwerp, have been landed here.
YARMOUTH, Sept. s.—The E. A. Cochrane (American
barque), Trinidad do Cuba to Cowes, is on shore, but ex-
pected off.

- WHITSTABLE, Sept. s.—The Juniata, Shields to Boston,
struk on tho Long Sand on the 3d inst., filled, was aban-
doned, and crew landed here.
GLOUCESTER, Sept. s.—Sailed—Bacchus, Quebec.
MILFORD, Sept. s.—Wind, N.B. Arrived—Renovation,
Quebec.

LIVERPOOL, Sept. 6 (10.30 a.m.)—Wind, S.S.E., mode-
rate and cloady. Arrived—Teneriffe (a), from the Lev ant
(lallillo, Odessa ; Maria von Commenger, Archangel. Off
Port—Star of the West, from New York.
FLEETWOOD, Sept. 5. -Sailed—Grenville Bay, Dal-
housie ; Maranham, Quebec.
SUNDERLAND, Sept. s.—Wind, E.N.E. Arrived—
Magna Charts, Quebec.
HULL, Sept. s.—Wind, N.E. Arrived—Ocean% St.
John's, N.B. ; Kepler, do. ; Carl, Richlbucto ; Elise, do. ;
Familiar, Miramichi.
JERSEY, Sept. 4.—Wind, N.E.
Sandwich Islands.

Sailed—Empress,

NEW YORK, Aug. 24. —The Camillus, New York to
London, was towed back to the S.W. Pass on the 13th of
August, after being at sea three weeks, with loss of the
master and six of the crew.—The Sir John Falstaff, Vera
Cruz to London, with loss of master, two mates, and six
of crew, by sickness, was spoken on the 6th of Augumt,
in
lat. 24 N.,
.long. 81 W.

NEW -I
ORK MOJEY MARKET.—The account; this
week describe a steady continuance of the improve-
ment in the money market, which, it was forte:seen,
would take place as soon as the first operation of the
new banking law could be got over. Stocks of all de-
scriptions were firm, and the speculative kinds had ex-
perienced a further average advance of 2 or 3 per cent.
At the same time the rate of exchange was again becom-
ing more favourable for this country, and, althoulzh the
present packet has brought no specie, there wild be a
prospect of remittances being forthwith resumed, unless
the late accounts from the London corn-market tshould
lead to a great increase in the shipments of grain to
England. With regard to the accumulation of bullion
in the Sub-treasury, a deputation from New York had
applied to the Secretary of the Treasury at Wash ington
to suggest that means should be taken for its disburse-
ment, so as to accelerate the removal of the existing
pressure, but the answer was that no other steps could
be taken than those already adopted. Since the publi-
cation of the offer to purchase 1,000,0001. of lanited
States SixeS of 1868 at 121, and which had been thus
far met only by the tender of 125,0001., the Secretary
had given notice that he would be willing to take
400,0001. of the Sixes of 1856 and 1862 at the respective
prices of 1084 and 116. The receipt of later and
satisfactory advices from California was calculated to
strengthen the return of confidence. Upon the present
occasion the voyage from San Francisco to New- York
had been performed, via Nicaragua, in the unprecedented
space of 22 days and three hours, the transit from the
Pacific to the Atlant'c, across the lake and down the
river San Juan, although the number of passengeirs was
520, having occupied only 48 hours. A great in)prove-
ment in the management of the route had takers place,
and large sums of gold were consequently begin; ling to
be transmitted by it, the amount in this instance having
been 225,0001., exclusive of the quantity carried by
passengers.

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

(Front the Times.)

It is perfectly true that since the Turkish Govern-
ment has made its acceptance of the Note proposed by
the Conference at Vienna to depend on the adoption of
certain changes in the text of that document, the ques-
tion which has kept Europe in suspense for so many
months, and which appeared to be approaching a termi-
nation, is still a matter of serious doubt and unabated
apprehension. But is not true that the subject is at
this time enveloped in great mystery and reserve, for,
on the contrary, the game is being played, as the French
say, cartes sur table. The Note of the Conference, and
the alterations required by the Divan, are before the
world, and have been variously discussed by the organs
of public opinion, as well as by statesmen and cabinets,
in every part of Europe. Everybody knows what those
terms are which have been transmitted to St. Peters-
burg, and that the Four Courts have strongly urged the
Emperor Nicholas to finish this tedious and dangerous
negotiation by accepting them. Whether he will accept
them or not is entirely a matter of opinion, and the
reasons on both sides are so nearly balanced that we do
not suppose any politician, be he Minister or journalist,
would undertake to express a confident expectation on
the one side or on the other. But on that decision,
whatever it be, rests the whole question, the fate of
Turkey, and possibly the peace of Europe. Although,
therefore, we are now in possession of the materials for
this discussion, we must be content to wait for the
positive result ; and in the meantime the question con-
tinues to excite as much anxiety and uncertainty as it
has ever done since the month of April. Under these
circumstances the leading members of the Cabinet who
are concerned in the direction of our foreign relations
have not left town for a single day, and there cannot be
a stronger proof of the entire unanimity prevailing in
the Ministry on these questions than the fact, that at
this important conjuncture Lord John Russell and Lord
Palmerston have returned to London to hold closer com-
munication with Lord Clarendon and Lord Aberdeen.
Attempts to sow division in the Ministry and to shake
the confidence of the country were never, in fact, more
entirely out of place.
From the moment that the alterations and additional
conditions required by the Turkish Government became
known, we deplored the delay and the danger which
those changes were likely to occasion. For, even if it
were demonstrated that the alterations are unobjection-
able, and even desirable in themselves, we should hold
that the value of these modified expressions is incom-
parably below that of a prompt settlement of the dis-
pute. It is notorious that these changes were put for-
ward by a party in the Divan who are not favourable to
any diplomatic settlement, but are still eager for an ap-
peal to arms ; and, if the opposition they have offered
to the terms of agreement should lead to its rejection by
the other side, the violent faction at the Porte will pre-
vail over the more prudent and judicious advisers of the
Sultan. The Porte itself, which began by throwing its
cause into the hands of its allies, when it had taken the
firm resolution to reject Prince Menschikoff's demands,
and which obtained for several months the united sup-
port of Europe on these conditions, will have destroyed
the union of its own policy with that of the mediating 1
powers ; and we have reason to believe that the French
Cabinet has already signified to the Sultan that the ulte-
terior steps he may adopt contrary to the advice of his
allies must be taken at his own peril.
Upon the immediate subject of the greatest interest
at the present moment—the acceptance or rejection
of the alterations by the Emperor of Russia—we are
reduced to mere conjecture, and each of our readers will
form his own judgment whether, under all the cir-
cumstances of the case, the Emperor will be mos',,
actuated on this oceasien by motives of ambition
and passion, or by the rules of policy and the desire
of peace. We cannot conceal from ourselves that the
policy which has been rashly pursued at Constantinople
has a tendency to lead to fresh and very serious dan-
gers. The note adopted by the Conference was intended
to meet, as far as possible, the double difficulties of
the present situation of affairs. It was not more than
Turkey could honourably concede—it was not less than
Russia could fairly accept ; though, if any one will
take the trouble of comparing it with Prince Menschi-
koff's demands, it will be seen that all the most objec-
tionable expressions and articles of the Russian Note
have been carefully r-. eluded. Such as it is this draught
was not willingly accepted by the Emperor Nicholas,
though he submitted to it out of deference to the opi-
nion of the allies, and from an apparent desire to
escape from the embam rassments of his isolated and ag-
gressive position. It will be remembered that the in-
telligence that the Note had been accepted at St. Pe-
tersburg vas received throughout Europe with univer-
sal satisfaction, as a thing more to be desired than ex-
pected. After all this, which cei tainly amounted to an
abatement if not a surrender of the Russian pretensions,
the Note is sent back with further alterations ; and with
alterations not originating with the Conference at Vi-
enna, but with the Turkish Government. To yield a
second time to this sort of appeal, especially after the
inflated and menacing language the Emperor had as-
sumed a few weeks before, is a defeat amounting to a
humiliation ; and although the Russian Government
has brought these evils upon itself, it is by no means
clear that a sovereign in the position of the Emperor
Nicholas is prepared to endure such a result. Grave

doubts may therefore be entertained as to the accep-
tance of these terms at St. Petersburgh in their altered
form ; though we trust that a more mature considera-
tion of the whole quesLion has, ere this, brought the
Emperor of Russia to a just sense of what is due, if not
to Turkey, to the general interests of Europe.
On the other hand, there are some strong practical
arguments in favour of the acceptance of the terms and
the restoration of peace. The season is already too far
advanced for the Russian army to undertake any opera-
tions beyond the Danube with the least prospect of de-
cisive success ; and the position of the Turkish forces,
under Omar Pasha, is such as to render any advance
whatever an undertaking of great risk and danger.
But the prospect of a prolonged Russian occupation of
the Principalities, even if Europe could submit to it,
is not much less unfavourable. The troops have
already suffered to a prodigious extent from the cli-
mate. The price of provisions in Bucharest has
quintupled, and the military hospitals are encumbered
with the sick. In a few weeks the rains will have con-
verted the country for the most part into a pathless
swamp, and it will become equally difficult to withdraw
the army and to keep up the necessary supplies, for the
stores of the country are already exhausted. At this
time of year, and with the Danube between the two
camps, neither the Russian nor the Turkish army could
attack its antagonist with effect. It may be doubted
whether there is any military advantage in the occupa-
tion of such a position, and the Russian Generals are
said to have given evident indications of a desire to with-
draw from their miserable cantonments. The occupa-
tion of the Principalities has failed to subdue the resist-
ance of Turkey ; it has, on the contrary, roused her to
more energetic efforts. It has irritated Europe, by a
breach of treaty, and it has placed Russia in a position
which she cannot hold without immense sacrifices of
every kind. The acceptance of the note is the only way
by which the Emperor Nicholas can extricate himself
from this position, for the events of the last three
months have given him no additional claim to dictate
conditions beyond his frontier. The evacuation of the
Principalities ought to be the first step in the arrange-
ment, and that alone can relieve the combined fleets
from the necessity of passing the winter near the scene
of these occurrences. The rejection of the terms and
the refusal to evacuate would, on the contrary, probably
be followed by a declaration of war or some violent ebul-
lition at Constantinople ; and, as the war party in the
Divan would then gain the upper hand, having already
frustrated the conditions of peace tendered to the Sultan
by Europe, they must be prepared to abide by the con-
sequences of their violence, while the Governments
which have hitherto -,upported them would be entirely
at liberty to deal as they might think fit with this altered
state of affairs.

( Front the Morning Herald.)
It is no longer attempted to conceal the fact to which
yesterday we directed public attention. On Thursday
last a special message was sent to Scotland to summon
Lord John Russell to town. He instantly obeyed that
summons, travelling all day on Friday, and reaching
London late that night. Saturday was occupied in a
protracted consultation with the Premier and two other
members of the Cabinet, and yesterday morning, we
are told, the noble lord returned to his retirement in
the north.
The summons was, beyond all question, sent to the
noble lord after long and frequent interviews between
Lord Palmerston, the Premier, and the Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, and no other member of the Cabinet
was present either at the deliberations which caused the
summons, or at those which followed the arrival of the
noble lord.
Here, then, we have, in the first place, protracted
and, we may presume, earnest deliberations, in which
three members of the Cabinet meet apart from their col-
leagues ; and we have, next, another member of the
Cabinet summoned from a distance to take part in a
renewed consultation, from which every other member
of the Cabinet is still excluded.

That these deliberations had reference to the Turkish
question no one doubts ; that their necessity was pro-
duced by the refusal of the Sultan to sign the Vienna
note without alteration is, we apprehend, equally plain ;
and possibly it is not too much to infer that the question
to be decided was the part to be taken by England on
the subject.

Baron Brunow is, before this, in possession of the re-
sults of that conference. We hope that the Russian
ambassador now understands that it will not be safe to
calculate on the consent of the English Cabinet in sup-
porting the Emperor of Russia in a refusal to accept the
altered note. It is not, however, the less incumbent on
us to call the most serious attention of all the friends of
constitutional government to this last and most daring
outrage upon its principles.
Our language, we will satisfy every Englishman, is
not too strong. The facts justify it, and the occasion
demands it. If this great nation calmly submits to the
treatment we have received on this Eastern question
the sooner we discard the hypocrisy of public spirit and
the practice of representative government the better.
We say that the conduct of Lord Aberdeen, in selecting
two members of the Cabinet to join in deliberation with
himself and the Foreign Secretary, amounts practically
to a subversion of our system of Parliamentary and
Ministerial government. It is, in effect, the arbitrary
exclusion of the Queen's Cabinet from their constitutional
office of advising the Queen. It is the degradation of
the place of a Cabinet Minister— it is the conversion of
our Ministerial Government into that by " mayors of
the palace," under the disguise of premiers.
It is of pressing moment to the true liberties of Eng-
land that this should be practically felt and undertoods
Let us first call attention to this, that since the
intelli-
gence has reached us of the suggestion of alterations in
the Vienna note no Cabinet Council has been held. It

is impossible to over-rate the importance or the signi
cance of this, It cannot be said that this intelligence
was not of gravity or importance. It is enough to say
that it demanded a decision as to the course that Eng-
land should take. By whom has that decision been
made ? Our constitutional practice since the revolution
pointed out one, and only one, course. It should be
made by the Sovereign, upon the advice of that select
committee of her Privy Council called the Cabinet, to
which the duty of advising the Sovereign upon matters
' of state policy as they arise is assigned. No man who
has read the history of England can be ignorant that in
government by a cabinet lies, in fact, the essence of our
constitutional system. Government by departments is
and must be despotism with all its evils, and without
the advantages of either its unity or its strength. The
practical working of our monarchy since the revolution
has been this, that upon all great questions of policy,
foreign or domestic, the Sovereign should be advised by
a council of men holding different of the great offices of
state—sometimes including men, as is now the case with
Lord John Russell, holding none—and that these men
should offer their collective advice to the Sovereign upon
all subjects affecting the well-being of her realm, no
matter in what department of its administration those
questions might immediately arise.
We are almost ashamed to repeat maxims that are the
very elements of our political system, but they have been
discarded. News is brought to our Foreign Office that
the Sultan demands modifications in the note suggested
by the conference at Vienna. It becomes necessary for
the Queen's Ministers to consult—but instead of the
summoning of a Cabinet Council the Premier is called
in by the Foreign Secretary to settle the matter. The
Premier thinks it prudent to associate with them the
Home Secretary. The result is that they send for Lord
John Russell to the most distant extremity of the island.
The noble lord runs up as fast as express engines can
whirl him to town, he meets the three already admitted
to the divan—he spends a whole day with them in deli-
beration, and he then starts off again—it never having
been so much as thought of that it would be decent to
recognise the existence of such a body as the Cabinet.
Neither can it be said that the exigency was such that
there was not time to convene the members of the Ca-
binet. The intelligence had reached the Foreign-office
days before Lord John Russell was sent for—and then
the member of the Cabinet was summoned who was at
about the greatest distance. Some members of the Ca-
binet were in town, others within an easy distance, who
were not invited when Lord John Russell was brought
from Roseneath. It is perfectly plain that the meeting
was intentionally a selected one—equally plain that it
was convened for the practical determination of the
question whatever it was that arose. This is manifest
upon the face of the transaction itself. An old gentle-
man beyond 60is not to be dragged up even in a rail-
way-carriage from the city of Edinburgh to London for
one day, unless that day is to have some practical effect.
Next we have the dispatch of a messenger to the Queen
as soon as the conference is over. In the circumstances
themselves we have further this plain and palpable
proof. The matter was one that required a decision,
and no Cabinet Council to decide on it has been held,
We will not be guilty of the hypocrisy of affecting
not to understand the real object of summoning both
Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell to this secret
conclave. They were invited, not for the purpose of
taking their advice, but of ascertaining whether it were
apossible
tht
to cajole 00l ef
Ethrei
tmi s
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etroe
stthsa, t
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the Cabinet—upon the rest the Premier might safely
reckon as his accomplices or his tools.
This suggestion brings into stronger light the evil and
danger of the proceeding we denounce—it cannot alter
or affect the constitutional principle we maintain. Yes-
terday we demonstrated the importance and materiality
of the changes in the note suggested by the Porte.
Those alerations raised, in fact, the question whether
Russia had a right to a protectorate over the Greek
Church in the dominions of a Mussulman Sovereign.
We can conceive no question involving considerations
of more interest or more moment. We cannot now
dwell upon the topics which invest it with so momen-
tous and difficult an importance. But surely this was
a question upon which the Queen of England had a
right to the advice of her whole Cabinet ; it was due to
Christendom ; it was due to the liberties of Europe ; it
was due to the parties principally involved, that our de-
cision should be one attended by every constitutional
deliberation. It was above all due to the people of
England that it should be decided according to the con-
stitution.

As for the excluded members of the Cabinet, we do
not presume to defend their honour. We will not
adopt the rather coarse illustration of a morning jour-
nal ; but after all they best know themselves whether
they are fit to perform the menial office in carrying for
a bear, which Lord Aberdeen plainly wishes to monopo-
lise. They must judge for themselves whether they are
fit to continue Ministers in a Cabinet in which they
are not permitted to intermeddle with the matters that
most vitally affect the honour and the welfare of Eng-
land and Europe.

This is not for us to decide. It is for us to point out
the degradation of their position, if not of themselves.
It is emphatically for us to point'out that there is a deep-
laid conspiracy at work to withdraw our foreign politica
from the sphere and influence of constitutional go-
vernment.

The whole Turkish question has been managed in a
secret Divan. The opinion of the British Parliament has
not influenced a single protocol or been thought of in a
negotiation. The people of England know nothing of
the steps that have been adopted by any party except
what they hear from the communications from the Go-

(vernmeni of France. The proceedings of Saturday are
an attempt to cashier cabinets as well as parliament, and
to establish the demesne of foreign politics as th• exclu-
sive possession of the "mayors of the palace."
Dead as they imagine the spirit of England to be, we
warn Lord Aberdeen and his accomplices that this will
not be tolerated. Upon all that concerns the foreign as well
as the domestic politics of England, the advisers of our
Sovereign must be those whom the constitution points
out. The noble earl has very frequently thought proper
to assume an insolence of demeanour which perhaps
most emphatically denotes the servility of the tenure by
which he holds his place. Even that insolence, perhaps,
will not make him insensible to the warning which tells
him that the people of England will have constitu-
tional and responsible government at any price—and,
perhaps, he may deign to listen to the counsel which
hints to him, that when he next wishes to convey to her
Majesty the advice of her Ministers common prudence
may suggest that the advice should be the result of th•
deliberations of the whole Cabinet regularly convened.
Meantime let Englishmen ponder upon this. A deci-
sion has been come to upon a question that vitally affects
us and our children. We boast of living under consti-
tutional and responsible government—but no one can
tell us either what is that decision, nor yet by whom it
has been made.