The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-17 00:00:00

Spirit of the Public Journals.

(Front the 31 orriny Herald of this day. )
We have adverted this week to two of the points
in the terms of that agreement which misplaced
courtesy calls a " peace," but which we have re-
peatedly shown to be the ground from whence may
g‘irmina.te complications to involve both the eastern
ithdvresteru races in nue common disaster.

We dealt first with the permission conceded to
Russia to retain a certain number of vessels of war
in the Black Sea, and to form a steam flotilla at
Nicolaieff, against the time when she shall, ac-
cording to her traditional policy, be prepared to
convey to the shores of the Mediterranean those
Eastern hordes who ultimately must look on her
as their protectress and avenger.
We explained next that either Amapa is to be
preserved as a Russian fortress to overawe the
Circassians, or to be destroyed, lest it should give
the Circassians a point d'appui of resistance against
; the Russians, no stipulation for the independence
of Circassia being a possible part of the policy of
her Majesty's present advisers. To-day we have
to say a very few words on the means taken to
produce insurrection in Turkey.
Our readers will have seen accounts of serious
insurrections which have taken place at Mcca, in
Kurdistan, and in other parts of the Ottoman do-
minions. There is no difficulty in tracing these
movements to their primary cause—the hatti
humayoon, by which discontent has been sown
br ,Adcast amongst the Christian and Mussultuan
populations subject to the Porte, as it is a violation
of the rights and privileges of the followers of
both faiths, aLd an interference of the Western
Powers with the integrity and independence of the
Sultan, which they professed to take up arms to
deft-nd.

The particular point to which we wish to direct
attention is the position of the Eastern Christians,
upon whom, under pretence of relieving them from
a burden of which they have not complained, is
imposed a violation both of their civil and religious
rights, which from the time of their original capitu-
lations successive Sultans have always respected,
with which Christians have heretofore been satis-
fied, and which are now destroyed.
First, the Eastern Churches, which have from
time immemorial had the faculty of electing their
spiritual chiefs, are now deprived of that permission,
and are subject to the nomination of the Divan, so
that the Eastern Church has been virtually made
Erastian, and has been reduced to the same state
that the Russian Churches were at the time of
Peter the Great. This is at once a degradation of
the Oriental Christians and a violation of Ma.ho-
mei lan law, which has always recognised as a funda-
mental principle the right of every religious com-
munity to govern itself by its own institutions and
to appoint its own head. _ _

Stondly, the conscription for military service
has been also forced upon the Christian subjects.of
the Porte. A most onerous burden, from which they
have always been exempt, is invented to oppress
them, and Mtissulinans and Christians are com-
pelled to serve in liscriminately and side by side in
the same racks, in direct violation of the *cruples
of each, au arrangement which, by its mere con-
templation, has raised in Christian and Moslem in
tefuecine hatieds against each other, and both
against the Givernment at Constantinople.
By the convention of the Bth of Mty, 1854, the
English and French troops are bound to evacuate
the strongholds of Turkey within forty days after
the ratification of a treaty of peace ; but as this
finnan, <xtorted by the Allies, must bring about a
state of anarchy in that ill-fated country, a pretext
is afforded for its continued occupation by those
armies which we are bound by treaty to withdraw.
Tl peace will, therefore, be a peace with Russ.a
alone ; the state of war will he kept up by thy
various occupiers, by England, by France, by
Austria, as well as by unhappy Turkey. Our war
expenditure will continue, our waste of treasure,
aye, and of life also, will not cease, and we shall
be left to derive what consolation we can from the
knowledge that what spare capital we have is
employed in developing the internal resources of
lir,sia, and upon the rockets to be fired iu Hyde-
park iu honour of the peace.

(Front the Morning Advertiser of this day.)
The fact has become too palpable to be any
longer concealed, that there is a deep and rapidly-
xteriding, feeling of hostility towards this country,
pn the part of the people of France. We allude to
the fact, in the hope t_iat a few explanatory obser-
♦ations may go far to diminish, if not entirely to
remove, this unfriendly feeling. It has its origin
in the assumption that their Ruler is popular in
this country, and that his continuance in the posi-
tion which he occupies is mainly to be ascribed to
the moral support which he derives from his popu-
' larity in England. The whole thing is a miscon-
ception and a mistake. Tho people of France con-
found our Government with the people of England.
They assume that what the Government do is done
with the entire concurrence of the country. There
could not be a greater error. The people of Eng-
land have no more sympathy with many of the
acts of their Government than the people of
France have with the despotism which exists in the
Tuileries.

Take, as an illustration, the case of the Peace
which has just been concluded. Never was any
measure more unpopular with the English nation
than this Treaty of Peace. They are ashamed of
their country, because their Government has come
to terms so ignotuinious and unsafe. There is hardly
a! man in the kingdom who did not feel as if he had
sustained some private calamity, when he heard
That Lord Palmerston had consented to accept con-
ditions of peace, which, after all our expenditure
of blood and treasure, and loss of military prestige,
conceded everything to Russia that she could
desire.

A lid it is with regard to other portions of the
policy of the Palmerston Administration. The na-
tion utterly repudiate some measures which G)-
,6riitrient introduce into 13,u.hament, and, by
;beans of a subser vieut House of Commons, carry
with compai-ative ease.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that a
distinction should be made between the Govern-
ment and the people of Eiigland ; and if the people
of Franca could only be led to inquire into the ac-
tual state of affairs between this couutry and their
oivn, they would find that whatever popularity the
luau who is, pro tern., their chief magistrate, may
possess with the English Government, he is not
popular with the English nation. On the contrary,
our sympathies are with oppressed nationalities ;
and no nationality is more trodden down than the
French, at the moment at which W 9 write.
We may, perhaps, be reminded of the reception
which was given to their Ruler when he visited this
country ten mouthsago,and be asked how we recon-
cile that reception with our statement, that he is
not, properly speaking, popular in this country I
The answer is alike easy and conclusive. It was
riot to him, individually, that we offered the ex-
pression of our homage. It was to the French peo-
ple, presumed to be impersonated in him. We
wished,l too, to proclaim to the world how hearty
was our alliance with France. He himself so un
derstood the matter. And in all his public ad-
dresses he acknowledged the fact in the most ex-
plicit terms. He never ceased to disclaim the idea
of supposing that the ovations with which his foot-
steps, while on our shores, were followed, were
meant for him individually ; but, on the contrary,
declared that he was profoundly impressed with
the conviction, that they were intended for the
people of France, in whose name, and as whose
Sovereign, he had come among us. In accord-
ance with this representation of the real state
of the case, we affirm, in the most confident
manner, that, were a change of dynasty to take
place among our neighbours to-morrow, and the
newly-elected of the people, whether as Sovereign
or President, to visit our shores a few weeks after-
wards, be would not only meet with as enthusias-
tic a reception as that which was accorded last year
to Is ruin Napoleon, but one a great deal more so,
inasmuch as a chief magistrate of France, really
chosen by the people, would be hailed wihth a
heartiness by a nation like the English,
no
representative of Absolutist principles ever u b.
Were, for example, either Cavaignac, or any
other Republican, in the course of tilosa changes
which the wheel of fortune brines round in nations
as well as in the history of individuals, to appear
on the soil of England a few months hence, as Pre-
sident of a French Republic,—his progress through
our land, and our streets, would be one uninter-
rupted sere
• s ^f magnia.ent ovations. Had
Lamartine, during the fee- mouths he was at the
head of affairs in France, in the year 1843, visited
our shores, he would, for the reasons we have
stated, have met wis h a reception far exceeding in
enthusiasm that which was last year accords I to
the present possessor of supreme power in France.
This is no mere assertion. We can confirm it
by a reference to fact. Wrio has yet forgotten—
whoever will forget, the reception with which
KoB'4loll was greeted when he presented himself
among us ? We venture to say that nothing like
that reception was ever given to any Emperor or
Sovereign in ancient or modern times. The recep-
tion accorded to the Ruler of France could not
bear a moment's comparison with that which was
given to the illustrious Hungarian.
,Let then the people of France be undeceived
with regard to the feelings with which the present
system in their country is viewed by us. If any
ulsome compliments are paid to their Chief Ma-
gistrate by our Government that will not be the
act of the people of England. If the French shall
be fortunate e- ough to get a Ruler more in accord-
ance with their own feelings and principles, they
may rely on this, that such a man will be popular

with the English nation. The allianee which we
wish to cherish with France is with the people of
that country. And such an alliance—a real and
cordial alliance between the two peoples—would
not only be pr.)ductive of incalculable advantage to
themselves, but prove the source of unspeakable
good to all the nations of Europe. And, happily,
we feel suisured that things are rapidly tending to
a consummation so devoutly to be wished.