The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-24 00:00:00

THE TAM= (Mgl76lf.

The Tines renkalts: ' that P'rince• Gartseholtoff's reply to
Lord Granville's despatcii has' not yet been reteiveri, and
although there is some ground ftvt_ believing that it wig
prove •to De conciliatory, there is I:ittle reason for
expecting . a retraction of the claim assumed kit hie,
first note. We could scarcely anticipate obi ink...-
mediate. retreat of the Imperial Chancellor from
his false positions and it is not material that
he should absolutely recant his assumption of. power to
throw aside the obligations of the treaty of 1856, or such
Of theni as he resents. The point is whether the Russian
Emperor Is prepared to take any practical step to
assert the supposed abrogation of the treaty. As long
as he is content to make a claim on paper it if"
sufficient to reply to it that we most treat any tincli
claim as a nullity. The Emperor may hold himself freed,
but we must hold him bound. This was the essence of
Lord Granville's reply to Prince Gortschakoff's Nott,,
it was enough for the moment. A man may hold and
publish very eccentric views on the limits of the rights
of property; he mar advocate the institution
of a community of goods '; but such action alone
would not justify his arrpst by the police on a
charge of robbery. If he carried his theory into practice,
and, entering the nearest shop, appropriated the first
object that struck hielancy; we should be bound to stop
him, unless we were prepared to assent to the legitimacy
of his opinions. The supposed case- illustrates the present'
situation of the Russian question. We have disallowed
the claim of the Chancellor, and shall be Weil eonteno
if we are not forced to do anything more ; but if th&
Russian GoVernment pass from words to deeds—if, hi
derogation of the settlement of 1856, it attempt to launch
ships of war in the Black Sea, or to erect an arsenal on its
shores, we, on our ride, shall be driven into action also
to repress any violation of the obligations of the
Treaty.

In alvrticle on the attitude of Engirt towards Euroo-'
pean complications and disputes, the Daily News ob..'
serves : Russia seems to have fallen into the old error of
thinking that we cared for nothing but our iron anal
our cotton, our ships and our colonies, our tel
and our commerce, and that she might
tear up a treaty and fling the pieces in our face
without tile least notice on our parts Yet it is worth
notice that it is our philosophers rather than our
politicians, and our thinkers rather than our traders, who
advise that we should put up with the aggression aiicA
pocket the affront. There is, indeed, a party whieLi
Strongly counsels immediate war. An ultimatum to
Prussia demanding her adhesion to her obligations, and
the immediate mare') of an army to the relief of Paris if it
is refused; another ultimatum to Russia with the imme-,
diate entry of a fleet into the Black Sea if Russia does
not at once tai' back her words ; are counsels which hare
a certain force in the,-au.dconsequptly a certain number
of supporters. • But if Russia wants to estimate English
public opinion aright, she must pvtt the on. class over
against the other. They neither- of them re-
present English opinion, nor realV' , influence
English policy. We shall neither surummi•
to go down on her knees, 'nor meekly tell her that she
May do as sire pleases. What we have to say to her is
that what she wants done is not altogether unreasonable,,
but she wants to do it in an unreasonable fashion.
She must either get it done legally or not do it at all.
We are quite willing, under Certain conditions, to give
her the key to her house, bul7- .zve will not
let her batter in the door. It is nonsense to
talk of this being a mere question of manner`: Pjannee
is everything.. You grant a man a favour when he asko
it, but you knock him down when he seizes you by the"
throat togioree it from you. England has perhaps little
interest in keeping Russia out of the Black Sea, but all
the world has an interest in the faithful discharge of
Treaty obligations, and we must hold to them till we
have Mewed ourselves from them.

The Telegraph says i Jf Russia is really anxious to COSI;
vince the nations of Europe of her good faith and piteifi
intentions, there is only one way in which the can do so,
She must abandon her lawless attitude, and take heir
place again within the pale of the law of nations. She
cannot at one and the same moment enjoy
the rights of a civilized and of a savage State.:
She must snake her choice between the two,
and until she does so she will assuredly find herself '
regarded. as an object of suspicion and dislike by her
neighbours. She has given a shock to their confidence
which nothing short of the most explicit renunciation of
the immoral doctrine propounded in Prince Gortschakoff's
circular will suffice to allay. We shall not scrutiniser
too closely any explanation she may offer, pro-
vided only she repudiates the intention of
withdrawing from her Treaty obligations without the'
consent of her partners in the engagement. Having no
interests to serve beyond the discharge of Ler duty and the
vindication of public right, England will only be too glad
to receive a satisfactory_ assurance that she has misinter--;
pretedPrinceGortschakoff's circular, She has neither motive
uor wish to thwart the development of Russia's influence,
provided that development be regulated by the rules of.
international morality. In the East the two Powers have
a noble field for a rivalry in good works among their
subject tribes; let us trust that the wisdom of their
rulers will succeed in warding off ail danger of rivalry
as foes.

The Treaty of Paris, the • Stenclard remarks, pledges,
England to maintain the independence and integrity of
Turkey. A treaty signed a few days later, and well
known to the Russian Government, pledges her to
treat any infraction of the articles of that treaty as a
Carus kW. The stipulation for the neutralisation of
the Black Sea is the kernel of the treaty—the one
guarantee taken. If Russia can build arsenals in
the ports of the Black Sea, and put upon its waters a'
powerful fleet, the best safeguard of the independence and
integrity of the Turkish Empire is gone. It is said,
indeed, and by the Duke of Cleveland, that Russia does'
not menace the independence of Turkey. Perhaps
she does not propose now, when her preparations have
not been mad; to attack Turkey, but what security
have we that when the Black Sea becomes a
Russian lake she will not do so? Ths plain truth is that
Russia has always been labouring to destroy,if she has not
formally menaced it, the independence and integrity of
the Ottoman Empire. It is but two years ago since she
put all the pressure she possibly could upon Turkey to'
make her cede „Crete to Greece, and persistently
she has endeavoured, by stirring up dissensions
among the subjects of the Sultan, and making
those disturbances a pretext for calling the atten•
tion of the Powers to the state of Turkey, to so alter the
relations between the Sultan and his -people as to
serously affect the integrity of his empire. Con-
sistently with their opinions in 1853, the Duke of
Cleveland and his friends may say, " England has no
interest in propping up the Turkish• power and ought to
leave European Turkey to anarchy or Russian annexation."
But were this contention as sound as it is mischievous,
had the Duke been right sixteen years ago and the English
• people wrong, the argument that England ought not to
uphold the Treaty would be worthless because England
is not in a position to freely determine that question.
We have engaged, wisely or unwisely, to protect Turkey;
. and we cannot shuffle off the obligation because it may
be convenient to us to do so.

The Manchester Examiner, referring to the Eastern
question, says : To go to war in defence of an arrangement
that we admit to be indefensible would be an act of
national folly greater even than the Crimean war, and the
matter is not the least mended by placing our
conduct under the protection of groat names
and high - sounding generalities. We cannot afford—
nor does true honour require it—to waste
another hundred millions of money and another hundred

thousand lives in winning a barren triumph on the inhospit-
able shores of the Black Sea.

The Manchester Courier thinks we have before us about
the very gravest question which couldjit raised with re-
gard to England's position. She is mat-ced with war on
grounds utterly unsatisfactory to any reasonable man.
Such a state of things cannot be considered satisfactory.
We, therefore, ask that Parliament should be summoned
without delay, and that steps should be taken towards
the establishment of a more constitutional system of deal.
ing with the present serious :Ante of things.

Count Andrassy says that no change is contemplated
in the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office.

------- -
Signor Visconti-Venosta has proceeded to Turin to be
present at the expected confinement of the Duchess of

Aosta.
Six Uhians have entered St. Quentin and peaceably
took possession of the town. The requisitions will corn-

mence again•

- -
The Church Herald hears that in the Maelconoebie
case the Lord Chancellor wished to give judgment in
favour of Mr. Mackonochie directly after hearing the
case, but the Archbishop of York would not consent.
Hence the delay, in order that Lord Chelmsford may give
liis opinion.

It is now 128 days since the weekly health re
turns from Berlin, and 63 days since those from Faris,
were discontinued on account of the war. From New
'cork, however, a return has been received for the week
ending October 29, when the annual rate of mortality in
that city was 24 per 17000,