The Sun.
London, England, 1838-10-30 00:00:00

TLTRKE Y.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
CONSTANTINOPLE, OCT. 3, 1838. When Redschid Pacha was
first appointed to the English mission, it was supposed his
departure was tantamount to his overthrow, but afterwards the
great importance attached to the treaty of commerce with Eng-
land appeared to justify so serious a measure as the absence
from head-quarters of this eminent statesman, who is the very
key-stone of British influence here. There is no man among the
Turks who has so strong an anti- Russian feeling as Redschid
Pacha, nor any who desires more sincerely to strengthen the
alliance between the Porte and our Government. But now
that he is away, Russian Policy and Russian intrigue are again
on the ascendant, and it will soon be seen that the momentary
vigour displayed by the Sultan was of passion, not of strength,
and that all the triumph of our diplomacy was merely to have
fanned the antipathies of the Grand Seignior against the Viceroy
of Egypt, and out of those antipathies to wrest a treaty of com-
merce, to which the Sultan can neither give effect in his own
dominions, nor in those of his dependent, half-dependent, or
wholly independent Paellas. Vast quantities of trash are sent
home to your newspapers as to the regeneration of the Turkish
empire. When ever the good sense of mankind will examine
the real state of things, it will be discovered that the same
elements of ruin, which for the last three centuries have been
dragging the Ottoman empire lower and lower downwards to
peidition, are at work, and never more at work, than when
Turkey is assuming a tone, and taking up a position, utterly
ridiculous with a reference to her means of action and influence.
The same abuses, the same monopolies, the same pillage of
the public treasures, the same exactions, the same oppressions,
the same abandonment of agriculture, the same impoverish_
merit of the people, the same ignorance, the same fanaticism,
which for many generations has been in full play, still continue
their destructive influences; they are become part of the Turkish
nature, and cannot be eradicated. The Russian pressure,
which for a short time was removed—for Russia well knows
how "to bide her time"—begins again to be felt. Her policy
has had a great triumph in the course of European diplomacy__
a diplomacy which dreams of keeping together the Ottoman
empire in its integrity (as it is called)—but which must infal-
libly exhaust, ruin, and overthrow that empire, by engaging it
in struggles for which it is wholly unprepared. Out of its
exhaustion Russia will profit. When its finances were far
more prosperous than now it could not keep the Holy Cities,
nor hold the Pachaliek of Ac,.e against a petty governor, nor
stop the conquests of Mehemet Ali, nor maintain a foot of
ground in Syria, nor put down a small body of insurrectionary
Greeks, nor stop the progress of the Russians in Wallachia
and Moldavia, nor deny to Prince Nlilosch of Servia an here-
ditary sovereignty, nor arrest the conquests of the French at
Algiers, nor put down an Albanian revolt, nor prevent Nicho-
las from marching as a friend, and Ibrahim Pacha as an enemy,
almost to the gates of Constantinople. Yet now it is fancied
that the Sultan is to be set on the ancient throne of the Ca-
liphs—Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Candia, Barbary, Tripoli, Tunis,
are to return to their ancient vassalage. The bowstring is to.
be introduced, as of old, in Bornia and Bulgaria, in Bagdad,
Anatolia, Khurdistan, on the Euxine and the Caspian. How
far more wise would it be to look to the state of things as they
are, instead of as they were! Would statesmen but turn away
from the chimeras which seek to re-establish a dominion which
has passed away, to consider how best the Ottoman empire
might be accommodated to the course of events—how best the
authority of the Sultan might be supported, where the great
interests of commerce and mankind render it desirable it
should be supported—how best the East can be really tran-
quillized by examining the condition of its various component:
parts—the results might correspond to the desires of those who
would fain witness a system of misrule, abuse, and anarchy,
replaced by something at least like good government, or leading
towards it.