The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-19 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 1853.

Nothing positive is yet learnt as to the settle-
ment of the Eastern Question by mutual accord
between the Cabinets of St. Petersburg and Con-
stantinople. That, at least, is the one fact clearly
deducible from Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S explanation.
It is manifest that the difficulties said to have
been cleared away by the potent breath of diplo-
macy are even now littering the frontiers of
Russia and Turkey—those frontiers which are,
unhappily for the peace of Europe, conterminous!
Whatoier may be said by those veteran statesmen
who have participated in recent negotiations—the
peril, even supposing it to be no longer imminent,
has only been postponed. It has not been effec-
tually removed. It remains yet to be dissipated.
The proposal of the Four Powers may be acceded
to by the CZAR ; the SULTAN may yield entirely
to the suggestions of this quadruple intermedia-
tion ; the AUTOCRAT may be conciliated by the
Divan from the circumstance of the latter grant-
ing more concessions to the Greek Christians than
were ever demanded in their behalf by their
spiritual sovereign ; nay, the Russian troops
may consent to evacuate the Moldavian
and Wallachian provinces without scorching a
single nip of cartridge ; but the problem about
which there has been all this to do will yet re-
main to be solved, the Eastern question will yet
remain to be examined, the Oriental difficulty
will yet remain to be elucidated : the problem,
the question, the difficulty upon which the tran-
quillity of the Asiatic and European Continents
may be said to be dependent.

In simple words, it may be asked—What is,
after all, this Eastern Question ? And the in-
quiry may be answered in terms of corresponding
simplicity. The Eastern Question, " not to put
too fine a point upon it," as our good friend Mr.
SNAGSBY would say, is, plainly speaking, this—
ow are the Oriental races (constitutin 0- Turkey)
henceforth to be governed ? "That is the ques-
tion." It is a question branching off into a
multiplicity of others, these others, embodying,
of course, certain hypothetical notions di-
rected.
towards the elucidation of the parent-
inquiry. Turkey is known to be a gigantic
agglomeration of
different states massed together
originally
by the
despotism. Theauthority brute-force of a conquering
haveority of that despotism is
known, moreover, to
rably diminished. Add alon tog since very conside-
this, we are all
familiar with the fact, that
Turkey has been decreasing,that while
the power of
of her formidable
neighbour, Russia, has been
more vast, until it not only overshadows
more and
gzs, the world
adjacent state, but, literally, cc best ;:irows every
like a Colossus." Therefore intelli
a observers
have long accustomed themselves to
must be the inevitable result of this phenomenon? What
Where will the increase of Russia and the diraii
tion of Turkey terminate ? Neither movementiL;
been interrupted by any obstacle however formida-
ble. It was not stopped in 1792 by the Treaty of
Jassy. It was not impeded in 1829 by the Treaty
of Adrianople. It was not retarded in 1833 by
the Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi. On the contrary,
we can note the steady advance of Muscovite
power during the whole interval towards the
coveted battlements of Constantinople. In testi-
mony of this it may be remarked that, whereas
during th-e reign of PETER the GREAT the south-
western frontier of Russia was marked by the
river Dneiper, in 1774 it was advanced to the
banks of the Bug, in 1792 to those of the Dneis-
ter, in 1812 to those of the Pruth, and in 1829
extended so far as to embrace the delta of the
Danube, and to threaten the barrier of the Balkan
mountains, by approaching the limits of Bulga-
ria ! This progressive ovement of Russian
Power towards the Bosphorus is as indisputable as
we cannot but deem. it, likewise, significant. Remem-
ber, we are here
facts culled frornsirly enumerating two or three
facts which tend rather
Pages
of
modern history—
surprisingly to illustrate
the known policy Cabinetl of St. Petersburg.
of theer
European Turkey
least acquainted so fax' Inwiotsht
circumstances
everybody is at
bearing upon the rise of that trheem a r
kable po
b—European Turkey is formed u
of the Empire of the East, as thatot moiety of the debris
ancient dominion of Imperial Rome waede of the
that vast empire having its capital on the shoresa of the
Bosphorus at Byzantium, or Constantinople. Euro-
pean Turkey was formed, we say, out of the ruins

of the Byzantine Empire—nay, not merely Euro-
pean Turkey, but the principal portion likewise of
the SULTAN'S Asiatic possessions. For the old
Byzantine Empire included not only the Thracian
and Grecian provinces, but the whole of Asia
Minor, Syria, Egypt, and the Archipelago. It is
a curious coincidence enough, and one sufficiently
noteworthy under present circumstances, that while
the Turk follows that insignia of the Crescent
which in remote centuries glittered as nowadays
over the waters of the Golden Horn, the Russian
reveres as the emblem of his national pride the
two-headed eagle, which, centuries back, was em-
broidered upon the Imperial banners of Byzantium.
It is consequently believed by the Muscovite popu-
lation, that their Chieftain the CZAR, as the poli-
tical heir to the eastern half of the Roman domi-
nions, and as the spiritual head of the vast bulk
of the Greek religion will only be claiming his
own, will only be vindicating his inalienable right,
will only be seizing that which has hitherto been
unjustly retained from his possession—in driving
the crescent to the Asiatic shores of the Sea of
Marmora, in planting the standard of the two-
headed eagle upon the dome of St. SOPHIA, in
making the Euxine a Russian lake, and organising
a new empire of the east at Constantinople.
Towards these objects the fanaticism of the Musco-
vites may be said to have been directed during
several generations. Towards the accomplish-
ment of these magnificent designs the ambition of
the CZA.RS have been tending ever since the dreams
of PETER and the deeds of CATHERINE. M. DE
LAMARTINE was inaccurate in pronouncing the
slope of Russia to be towards the east exclusively
—seeing, as the world has beheld during the cen-
tury last past, that that slope has been rather in
a western and in a southern direction, across the
Dneiper, across the Bug, across the Dneister,
across the Pruth, across the Danube ! And
with these formidable truths glaring upon their
recognition, the statesmen of Western Europe, the
statesmen of England and of France, have united
the rulers of Austria and of Prussia—in tolerating,
the invasion of Moldavia and Wallachia—in grati-
fying yet more the covetous arrogance of the
AUTOCRAT—in humbling Turkey before Russia in
the presence of the whole world, tarnishing the
glory of her escutcheon, and breaking the talisman
of her independence.

Nothing is more surprising to the philosopher
than the tenacity with which Governments and
communities abide by acknowledged abuses. That
a system exists, no matter how faulty and imper-
fect it may be, seems to some minds an abun-
dantly sufficient reason for its continuance. It
would almost seem as if the disciples of PANGLOSS
constituted a clear majority in every legislative
body, and that the doctrines of optimism, or
" whatever is, is best," was almost universally re-
cognised, more especially in Cabinets the members
of which, in place of being in advance of public
opinion, being the leaders and directors of popular
intelligence, lagged behind until awakened from
these pleasing slumbers by the " pressure from
without," when it became sufficiently powerful to
disturb the vis inertia of the so-called statesmen !
Hence it is that obtuseness of intellect and stub-
born obstinacy have been frequently regarded as
important qualities for a minister, and that we
have seen men selected for high and important
offices, who possessed scarcely any other qualifica-
tion for situations to which they had the audacity
to aspire, our astonishment at the daring aspiration
being only exceeded by its unexpected fulfilment.
It was reported of a well-known Irish Judge (ap•
pointed before the Union), that during convivial
meetings with his register he was accustomed to feli-
citate himself on the good fortune which prevented
any discovery of his total ignorance of the com-
monest principles of law, until after his promo-
tion to a seat on the bench. The Ministers above
referred to, were, however, even more fortunate,
inasmuch as after their ignorance and incapacity
had been universally detected, and become mat-
ter of general notoriety, they were still selected
for positions the duties of which would have re-
quired considerable talent for their satisfactory
discharge.
We have recently had many striking examples
of this rooted antipathy to any comprehensive
measures of reform, anything that would strike
at the root of the existing evils—that would re-
move unsightly structures, and erect on their ruins
more suitable edifices. A petty spirit was mani-
fested that would prefer the most paltry alterations
to the total removal of the defective building,
and the substitution of another better calculated
for the purposes for which it was required ;
and that although the tinkering repairs could
only render the condemned tenement habit-
able for a brief period, and would eventually
prove far more expensive than a thorough
reformation. The Government of India Bill con-
stituted one striking illustration of this impolitic
practice. Where Sir CHARLES WOOD admitted
in his introductory speech that " no man, if he
were called upon to sit down to the task of con-
structing a Government for India, would desire
to construct a Government for so mighty an em-
pire on such a system 1" and yet, being entrusted
with that vitally important duty, he retained all
the objectionable portion of the system merely
because it existed, and effaced the features essen-
tial to its beneficial operation, thus practically pre-
venting the possibility of improvement. We say
this because we believe the nominee system is
calculated to avert the chance of any benefit aris-
ing from the Double Government, in the event of
a judicious selection of Directors, which was pos-
sible—albeit, rather a remote contingency.
What would have been thought if, when
borough-mongering was rampant, when Gatton
and old Sarum, and a score of other constituencies
equally independent, of which the venerable
"dead wall, or the ancient mound afforded a type,"
the Ministry of Reform had proposed the improve-
ment of the representation (!) by taking away one-
half of the six hundred and fifty-eight Members
selected by chance, and in which the West Riding
of Yorkshire, or the city of London, stood an
equal chance of disfranchisement with any of the
ancient and time-honoured constituencies that
subsequently figured in schedule A, and that the
wholesale destruction should be repaired by the
appointment of two hundred and twenty nominees
of the Crown ? All the members of the Cabinet,
and the chief employees of the Government re-
siding in the vicinity of London, who would thus
always be in readiness to make a house, cheer a
minister, and vote in accordance with the instruc-
tions of the whipper-in, the dispenser of the
"loaves and fishes" to the hungry multitude.
Such a proposition would naturally be " laughed
to scorn." The sanity of the man who proposed
it would be impugned, and the mere suggestion
would be regarded as an unpardonable insult to
the intelligence of Parliament, which no degree
of subservience on the part of one House, or
apathy and insouceance in the other, could par-
don or overlook. And yet this is precisely what
has beer, done b
Legislature. c
been ac by
accepted Sir CHARLES WOOD, and which
If the by both branches of the
Court
responsibility,
the shield against
ministerial
action, was goodthe drag upon efficient
ought to have been forairtYtth.ing2 its independence
ought not to have been influenced
deliberations
by the presence,
or its decisions biassed by theenveoetd
hand, it
Government
possessed not
could
benefit
nominees. If, on the other
abolished •
a single redeeming feature—if no' 1
either to England or to India arise from its
existence—it should have been totally
and, inasmuch as there was no possible claim for
a continuance of the East India Charter---„ the
political and commercial characters of the corn_
pany had been virtually abrogated, and the period
iong since fixed for its dissolution—there could
have been no difficulty or impediment in the way
of making the required alterations. The vis
inertiff of Sir CHARLES Woon, however, prevailed.
He persuaded the discordant elements of the Coa-
lition Ministry to acquiesce in thatwas
which
palpably a compromise, a "halting between good
and evil," and to stamp the hybrid monster he
It
has produced with a character of permanency.
requires no extraordinary degree of prescience to
foresee the inevitable result—no pretence of vati-
ciliation to announce that the measure, alike dis-
tasteful to the inhabitants of the United Kingdom

and of the Anglo-Indian empire, must speedily be
repealed, and a system of government introduced
better calculated to promote the interests of all
parties, and to supply the urgent wants and press-
ing exigencies of the Hindoos, and to render them
better satisfied with the rule which has been sub-
stitute 3.for that of their " Native Princes." An
agitation for that purpose must now be com-
menced, which can never terminate save with the
total removal of their grievance, the complete
abatement of the monster nuisance.