The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-26 00:00:00

fipirit of the Publig Journals.

. , (From the Times of this day.)
The 'intelligence which we communicated some
days s inde, to the effect that the Pot to had refused
to sanction in some pullet:liar§ the proceedings of
I the -'.'aria conferences, is now confirmed. The
Couneeil of Constantinople, , it is now known, has
direitted Aali Pasha not to coneent to tho insertion
of tt.e Sultan's late degree among the articles of
pea ce, as such a concession would bind the Porte
to a, certain form of administiation in its own inde-
pev.dent territories. •The Plenipotentiary has been
also formally ordered to oppose any arrangement
akaaut the Principalities which: should be in any
\s ay prejudicial' to the sovereign rights of the Porte
in those provinces. Of the former question we
have already spoken. The institutions which are
to give the Rayali subject's of the Sultan new rights
I and a new career must be the care of the Western
Towers for many years to come. It will be some
time before England and France will be able to
relax their hold upon Turkey.. The matters to be
determined are important and complicated, and
even the most enlightened statesman must confess
that he sees but a little way
.before him, in this
Medley of hostle races, deeprooted prejudices, de-
caying yet tenacious creeds, intrigue, misrepresen-
tation, and venality. WO may be content, there-
fore, in some degree to wait, and see how gradual
and-teadative reforms work in a land where every-
thing has been prescription and immobility fur .
ages. But the question of the Principalities de-
mands a speedy decision. These provinces aro the
most exposed and coveted part of the Turkish em-
pire. Theyare even now occupied by foreign armies.
They have been for several generations under the
influence, and at last under the recognised pro-
tection, of Russia. Within a few years they have
been twice invaded by Russian troops,. and at the
outset of the war were almost formally confiscated
by the Czar. They are, through a large part of
their extent, fertile beyond the average produc-
tiveziesS of Europe'; they command the great
river of Europe, and the rectification of frontier
proposed by the new treaty will add to their terri-
tory the delta and fortresses of the Lower Danube.
The race which inhabits them is strangely situated.
A part is under Russian sway, in Bessarabia and
that part of Moldavia which was appropriated by
Alexander in 1812. A part is subject to the
dominion of the Austrian Emperor. Each of these
potentates can place large armies on the frontier of
that part of Roumania which is still in a manner
independent, and each may be tempted to violate
treaties by the natural desire to extend his empire,
and the equally natural fear that his rival may
anticipate him. The seizure of • the Principalities
was the cause of this war, and must be the first
step in any new aggression of Russia. It is, there-
fore, the duty of the Allies to settle the question
on a sure basis, and build up a -political fabric
which will give content to the inhabitan's, preserve
las far as possible the rights of the Porte, and with-
out giving cause of offence to any powerful neigh
bour, insure peace and tranquillity to Europe.
It is singular how differently the question has
been regarded by the Western Powers, by'the
people of the Provinces, and by the Turks. - It is
almost needless to say, that the -first notion of
English statesmen was to give the Roumanians a
young hereditary Sovereign, with a constitution of
the regulation pattern. This plan seems now defi-
nitively abandoned. The Moldo-Wallachians them-
selves are rather vague in their aspirations. Tba
free Boyards, clergy, and people of Moldavia have
presented to their Hospodar, Prince Ghika, a pro-
test against the proceedings of the Ambassa hors
at the Porte. They express a wish to see the Prin-
cipalities united into one nation ; declare that Der-
vish Pasha, the Turkish Commissioner, had held
out hopes that their wishes would be regarded;
and regret that the Porte, the Ambassadors, and
the Paris Plenipotentiaries should proceed to re-
duce them to the level of a Turkish Pachalic. They
talk of themselves as " Rournains," and of their
Hospodar as a Christian Prince, but do not recom-
mend any definite measure. Sa far, however, as
the protest represents the feelings of the people, it
seems that a desire exists to enjoy even greater in-
dependence of Turkey than before, without sub-
jecting the country to any general protectorate of
Europe.

The Porte holds very different opinions. The
manner iu which the Council has roused itself of
late to assert its independence of foreign control is
well described by our correspondent at Constanti-
nople. It seems that the Turkey whose armies
were ordered to and fro by the allied Generals, and
whose assent to diplomatic arrangements it was
hardly thought necessary to ask for, is resolved
once more to assert a will of its own. Whether
the Porte will have the courage to persevere we
know not, but at present its policy seems to be to
uphold the independence and integrity for which
the allies have declared that they fought. At the
preliminary Conferences of Constantinople the
question of the PrincipalitieS was debated, but no-
thing was settled. The want of full instructions
was pleaded by the Ambassadors of France and
Austria, and the matter was referred to the Confer-
ences at Paris. Shortly after the telegraph in-
formed the Porte that L )rd Clarendon, Count Or-
loff, and their associates were debating on the
union of the two provinces. This idea had not
been brough forward at the Constantinople Confer-
ence. The receipt of the news threw the Council
into much excitement. Meetings of the high dig-
nitaries of the empire were daily held, and the re-
sult was a formal protest by telegraph against the
discussion even of the union of the two Princi-
palities, as an interference with the internal affairs
of Turkey, and a violation of the sovereign rights
of the Porte in those provinces. In spite of long
interviews between the French and Austrian Am-
bassadors and the Ministers at the Porte, this pro-
test was sent.

Such is the actual state of affairs. Into the ad-
vantages of the different plans proposed we shall
not enter. Whether the Moldo-Wallachians would
be better under one Hospodar than two, or under
an hereditary than an elected chief, are questions
which it would be useless to discuss bore. No doubt,
an infinity of different constitutions might be con-
structed for these States ; it is also nearly as certain
that no constitution will succeed unless it subjects
the country to a good and strong, although enlight-
ened and patriotic, Government. The matter must
soon be decided, and probably with a little energy
difficulties will vanish. But these events are
chiefly worthy of note as showing that Turkey is
by no means so acquiescent as was supposed. The
old Tartar obstinacy yet lives, and the West must
prepare itself for resistance and evasion when it
asks for the accomplishment of the changes which
have been so often promised.

(From the Morning Post of this day.)
In England there is a judgment of the People to
deal with soberer, stronger, and more steady than
that which has hitherto growled, and thundered,
and at times shaken everything to rain in France.
We use the term, judgment of the People, in both
cases, though the position and character of the two
has been widely different in the moment of revolu-
tion. In our case the wealth, and much of the birth
and standing of the country joined with the mal-
contents to a great degree, restrained the license of
their worst classes, and succeeded in securing to us
the benefits of the constitution which we now en-
joy. Yet we have no great King since the day when
Cromwell shattered the rule of England, and once
more bound it together again. William the Third,
a foreigner with all the disadvantages entailed on
him by his want of sympathy with the land in which
he lived, and by his unfortunate temper, had, at
least, the reputation of ruling as a successful ad-
venturer. He was accepted by the Parliament as a
means of carrying out the reforms on which they
were determined ; and to this feeling, to these
conditions, no less than to his undoubted powers
of mind, he owed the success which be enjoyed.
In France a very different state of things has pre-
vailed. Richelieu broke the power of the nobles,
and created none in its stead. When they fell they
fell utterly, and their place was taken, not by the
people, but by the mob, and that mob the worst
that the world could produce—clever, educated,
and entirely unscrupulous. From that strange
domination under which all France groaned and
laboured, from that possession of evil spirits which
tore and disfigured her she was rescued by the first
Napoleon. He fell—from what errors we need
net now inquire or discuss—but he did not fall
until he had carried France to the height of her
glory and her greatness, until he had made for him-
self the name, as a Public Man, as the Head of a
great Nation, that will always stand in the fore-
most page, not only of the history of war, but of
the history of the internal regulation of a great
empire. It is natural that Napoleon the Third,
chosen by the people as he has been to succeed
this great example of his family, shoulitiollow him
in those parts of hie character whiolvmogattooted