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

Note," addressed by RESCHID PACHA to the Aus-
trian, Prussian, French, and British Representa-
tives. The document, it must be remarked, is
couched in language the most respectful to the
allies of the Sultan ABD-UL-MEDJID. It is, how-
ever, at the same time, most dignified in tone in
all that concerns the integrity of the Ottoman
Empire, the honour of the Turkish Sovereign, or
the inalienable rights of his subject population.
It announces candidly, in its very preamble, that
his Imperial Majesty the Sultan is " greatly
grieved," that, instead of the original draft trans-
mitted from Constantinople, another proposal of
a different character has been taken by the Four
Powers into their consideration. It recognises
the frequent testimonies of friendship received by
the Sublime Porte from its " august allies," and
even acknowledges that the Turkish Government
is " particularly grateful" for many " efforts,
abounding in good will,"
which have been
made by the respective Cabinets
since the
commencement of the still pending negotia-
tions. But—while avowing this recognition
and making this acknowledgment— the "Offi-
cial Note" of the Turkish Minister for Foreign
Affairs distinctly, and in so many words, declares
that the Divan finds in the proposal of the Four
Powers, recently transmitted to it from Vienna,
" certain paragraphs superfluous and incompatible
with the sacred rights of the Government of his
Majesty the Sultan." That being the case, of
course, the exception made to those paragraphs
cannot be regarded by any man of common sense
as unimportant—and the changes required by the
Sublime Porte cannot, therefore, be considered
insignificant. Nay, RESCHID PASHA, after re-
ferring more directly to these particular
paragraphs, goes on to remark that " the
Imperial Government (meaning the Government
of his Majesty the Sultan), therefore, attaches the
greatest importance to these points," requiring
either, for example, that a certain paragraph in
the Proposal made by the Four Powers shall be
altogether suppressed, or that its meaning shall
be rendered more readily apparent. Observe—
here is the very expression—the Divan regards
these points as of the " greatest importance."
And yet we are told, with the coolest effrontery
possible, that the alterations demanded by the
Divan are really quite " unimportant." So ab-
solutely is this proved to be not the case, so im-
portant is the chief objection raised against the
Proposal of the Four Powers by the Turkish Go-
vernment, that the Foreign Minister of the Sul-
tan, as we have seen, goes so far as to declare
" It is therefore totally impossible for the Govern-
ment of his Majesty the Sultan to assent to such a
proposition without being forced." Than this, no
Cabinet could possibly give utterance to more re
solute language in the way of rejection.
Further on, after having stated his case with
the utmost lucidity, RESCHID PACHA observes--
" Such being the points which present inconveni-
ence to the Sublime Porte, it cannot, notwith-
standing the greatest respect for the advice of the
high Powers its allies, and its sincere desire to
renew its relations with the Imperial Government of
Russia its friend and neighbour, it cannot, I say,
resist trusting to the equity and the justice of the
great Powers the consideration relative to its rights of
sovereignty and independence." Language worthy
by its dignity, courage, candour, and magnani- ,
mous independence of a great and civilised Go-
vernment. After this let us hear no more about

the alterations required by Turkey being merely
technical and unimportant ! They are, on the
aontrary, of an importance so extreme as to in-
volve at this moment the question of war or peace
among the great nations of Christendom.

Public attention is at length turned towards
Ireland. Its state, condition, and future pro-
spects are closely canvassed, and the mists of pre-
judice, which prevented accurate observations, are
beginning, albeit slowly, to be dispersed. The
recent visit of Queen VICTORIA to her Western
Kingdom has induced many of her English sub-
jects to follow in the same direction--to explore
the romantic scenery of the Sister Island, and
judge with their own eyes of its neglected capabi-
lities and almost miraculous natural resources.
The question is at length seriously asked whether
the holiday trip may not be as agreeably and pro-
fitably spent in beholding the wild grandeur of
Killarney, or the tamer beauties of the County
Wicklow, as in wandering from town to town on
the European Continent. As a matter of amuse-
ment, the mere pleasure-seeker, who wishes to
have his mind diverted for a time from the cares
of business, and to gather fresh health and strength
for the performance of his ordinary avocations,
will find the Irish tour second in enjoyment to
none that he has ever taken, or that be could
take. His curiosity will be as strongly excited by
the manners and customs of men who owe the
same allegiance and speak the same language as
himself as by those of the French or German
peasantry, and we venture to add that his gratifi-
cation will be as complete at the termination
of his trip as if he had gone through va-
rious foreign countries, could contribute his quota
to the accounts of the annoyances and vexations
incidental to the passport system, and inscribe his
name on the long roll of the victims of the police
regulations of the different nations of the Conti-
nent. If such a person will turn his footsteps
westward to the Irish metropolis, and thence in
any direction, east, west, north, or south, he will
find himself abundantly repaid for the time and
money expended among his, in some respects
eccentric, but thoroughly kind and warm-hearted,
fellow-subjects.
But there are other travellers of a different
calibre, men who, desiring to combine the useful
with the agreeable, become close observers, with
the view of being enabled to profit by the infor-
mation thus obtained on some future occasion.
Such persons will feel that the distinctions so long
perceptible between England and Ireland can no
longer be maintained, that the interests of both
countries are one and indivisible, and that it is
utterly impossible reasonably to anticipate the
existence of prosperity and happiness at one side
of St. George's Channel while misery and destitu-
tion are to be found on the other. Visitors of this
description will look to the causes that have
hitherto retarded the full development of the
national resources of the Sister Kingdom—that
have permitted vast mineral wealth to remain un-
disturbed and unsought for in the bowels of
the earth—that have induced men not de-
ficient in activity or intelligence to endure
formidable privations when plenty and abund-
ance were within their reach that have
allowed more than three-and-a-half millions
of acres of land to remain waste and unproduc-
tive, when it was established on the most conclu-
sive and satisfactory testimony that a return of
ten per cent. at the very lowest might be obtained
in the money expended in their reclamation, and
a still more remunerative percentage on the out-
jat,efor improving and bringing to the highest
quad-
rupled 12333.1:
fertility lands already nominally in cul-
tie,ti:
ment, where•
produce of which might be quad-
legitimate re amore judicious system of manage-
legitimate was certain of obtaining its
selves cr their fara2 and
hinged occupiers sure that them-
their labours—that
Ps
" provincialised" and /)!eyei,
Would reap the fruits of
in a word, given a
capable of far better aspect to a country
miserable nations of
play to be amongst the happgise—stwanting only fair
and most pros-
irseseosrtsendtital
of Englandf
porous, in place of the most
the earth. For the sake, then,
position
for no further or higher motive—it
that everything practicable should be
in order to elevate Ireland to her proper
in the scale of nations—to promote the Welfare
and happiness of her people.

It will not be necessary for the inquiring tra-
veller to land on Irish ground to discover indica-

tions of the carelessness and apathy as to what

are erroneously supposed to be merely Irish

interests, of which, if his tour be prolonged, he
will find so many additional proofs before his
return. Before he starts from London he will

find that the journey to Dublin, which might
easily be accomplished in eleven hours, Will

require fourteen or fifteen hours under the

most favourable circumstances. Here, then, is the
.first case for inquiry. It is manifest that there
is a fault somewhere. The evil is too glaring to