The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-02 00:00:00

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THE SUN.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1860,

It would be difficult to praise too highly the
whole tone and manner of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S
reply last evening to Mr. FITZGERALD in regard to
the actual state of affairs in Turkey, and the views
entertained upon that delicate subject at the pre-
sent most critical juncture by her Britannic
MAJESTY'S Government. Nothing could possibly
be more loyal or more temperate than the cburse
pursued in regard to the SULTAN " • Englis,
allies at a moment when such loyalty bdera.
tion have become amongst the allies 1 .e Otto-
man Porte perfectly exceptional. How the difficulty
has again arisen we know. It is the Russian
Government which once more pronounces the sick
man in grievous danger of dissolution. As recently as
the close of April last a'significant intimation was
given by the Muscovite EMPEROR'S Minister for
Foreign Affairs at St. Petersburg to the Tur-
kish Ambassador, informing his Excellency
that the accounts received from the Christian
Provinces of the SULTAN CALIPH were such, evi-
denced so much suffering and so many sources of
exasperation among the Christian population, par-
ticularly of Bosnia, of Bulgaria, and of Roumelia,
that in the event of any insurrectionary outbreak
—in the contingency of any popular rising and con-
sequent massacre—the CZAR could not longer re-
main a tranquil spectator of the catastrophe. The
announcement thus made to the representative of
ABDUL MEDJID by the Foreign Minister of ALEX-
ANDER was quite clearly enough in itself, but
glaringly so when looked at in the light of modern
history—what we have already intimated, namely
sufficiently significant ! It was indirectly but quite
as pointedly a reminder to the SULTAN that
it behoved him to prepare himself for the
-worst, as that other reminder addressed to the
"Commander of the Faithful" himself, and not merely
to his representative, some half-a•dozen years
since by the lips of Prince MENSCHIKOFF. ALEX-
ANDER, however, did not content himself as his
father NICHOLAS had done, with a warning or
threatening intimation addressed to the ruler of
Turkey. His Foreign Minister having unburdened
himself vira voce to the Turkish Ambassador, a few
days later repeats the grave assurance of his Im-
perial master's intentions in a written form, trans-
mitting the account to Paris in the shape of a formal
despatch addressed to the Imperial Government of
France. Eventually, en the sth ult., the diplomatic
representatives of the Five Great Powers—
England, France, Russia, Austria, Prussia—assem-
bled together at the official residence of Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF. His Highness having then and
there reiterated the statements already made orally
to the Turkish Ambassador, and again in writing
to the Imperial French Government—mark ! and
mark well, 0 reader ! what followed. After con-
siderable discussion—three propositions were drawn
up—by the Russian Minister ? by the hand of 1
Prince GORTSCIIAKOFF ?
By no means—by the
French Ambassador ! These three propositions
were drawn up " in the presence of the meeting,"
it is true, as Lord JOHN himself observed yesterday
—but the noble lord added expressly that they were
only agreed to so far as this, that the different
Ambassadors said they would forward them to their
respective Governments. It is important to bear
in mind particularly what these three propositions
were, and afterwards to note how they have been
received (or rather how they have not been ac-
cepted) by Her Britannic Majesty's Government.
We enumerated them in the very words in which
they were enumerated last evening by the noble
lord the Foreign Secretary, who said—" The first

proposition: was that the present state of the
Christian provinces of Turkey had become intole-
rable ; the second proposition was that an inquiry

should be made, and that such inquiry ought to be
made by the officers of the SULTAN, and that they
should be assisted by the consuls of the five Powers;
the third proposition of Prince GORTSCHAKOFF was
that, having failed in securing to the Christian

subjects of the PORTE that security which was sup-
posed to have been obtained, it was necessary to
hare a new organisation of the Government of those
provinces." And Lord JOHN, having thus stated
succinctly what it was that the Russian Minister

had asserted, and what it was thereupon that the
French Ambassador had written out formally in
these three distinct propositions—Lord JOHN, we
say, immediately admitted in so many words that
" nothing could be more important than these pro-

positions."
But for the enormous importance also:of the contin
gencies springing out of these discussions it would
be absolutely amusing to note the delightfully cool
and perfectly lucid replies vouchsafed in regard to
each of these several propositions by her MAJESTY'S
Government. With reference to the first, Lord
JOHN and his colleagues remarked simply that her
MAJESTY'S Government had not received such ac-
counts as entitled them to say that the present state of
the provinces above mentioned (Bosnia, Bulgaria, and
Roumelia) was intolerable! With reference to the
proposition which insists upon the necessity of
forcing upon the Turkish Government—for those
three provinces—a perfectly new administrative
organization, Lord Swim yesterday speaking on
the part of himself end his colleagues declared, in
fact, upon that point the policy and mentions of
the English Government—insisting that " it was
quite impossible with reference to general principles,
or to the terms of the treaty of 1856, to agree to this
new administrative organization." The argument
of the noble lord as applied to the 7th, Bth, and 9th
articles of that Treaty is throughout so im-
portant, to our thinking, and so abso-
lutely conclusive as to its bearing at the
present juncture, that we cannot possibly do
better than give it in its entirety verbatim. " This
House will remember," said Lord JOHN, " that the
7th article in the Treaty of Paris guarantees and
supports the integrity of the Turkish empire, The
Bth article declares that if at any time any dissen-
sion shall arise between the Sublime Porte and any
of the Powers signing the treaty, which may
threaten a disturbance of peaceful relations, then
the former shall not have recourse to arms without
endeavouring, with the aid of the other Powers,
to bring about a peaceful settlement of such dis-
turbance. The 9th article declares the contract-
ing Powers acknowledge the high importance
of this communication, and will give in no
case any of the Powers a right to interfere
in the relations between the SULTAN and his
subjects, or in the internal administration of his
empire." The treaty is, consequently, so explicit,
so decisive, that nothing short of an insurrection,
as Lord JOHN has shown, could in any way justify
the Powers of Europe, whatever their inclinations
might be, in interfering thus directly in the inter-
nal Administration of the Turkish Government.
Our Government has therefore had no alternative
in the matter; they have had simply to reject the
third as they had already rejected the first of the
three propositions. Upon the intermediate or second
proposition, however theyhave intimated—as for that
matter (though in different terms), have the Austrian
and Prussian Governments—that they consider it
might be proper to make an inquiry with respect
to the present state of the Christian provinces of
Turkey, and with regard to the internal adminis-
tration of the SULTAN'S Government. By reason
of the loyalty and moderation of the course thus
pursued by the English Government there is
opened up a fair prospect enough for the improve-
ment of the position of the Christian subjects of the
SULTAN, as well as for the introduction of many
wise and desirable reforms into his Government—
at• the same time that Russia—and for that matter
France too—is each, in turn, denied, for the time
being at least, the eagerly looked-for chance of a
most sinister Opportunity !

On Monday, according to the programme, the
" poor little Bill" should go into Committee. But,
what a bristling frize of amendments dispute its
passage thither, make the attempt when it may.
Not fewer than thirteen notices stand on the paper,
and if honourable members stand to their notices,
may raise endless debate at this Thermopylts of
the contest. Their real meaning obviously is to
defend the little Greece of the present constituency
against the XERXES of Reform with half a million
of new electors. None of the motions indeed say so,
but most of them mean it. No parliamentary
LEONIDAS, to be sure, appears among the band of
obstructers, but a General does not always show
himself; and some professed Liberals are uniting
with the Tories and conveniently doing their work.
Mr. HORSMAN, as might be expected, stands fore-
most in barring the way against his old colleagues
in regard to Reform. He is to move a resolution
similar to that by which Lord J. RUSSELL himself
opened a way for the Conservatives to get rid of their
first unlucky India Bill. He will propose that the
house " should proceed by resolutions to determine
what should be the provisions of any bill for amend.
ing the representation of the people !" A pity
he did not think of this sooner if he
meant business. The proposal seems, however,
somewhat out of place, after two Reform Bills
have been so recently brought in, one by each party,
and when the difference between the two is reduced
to forty shillings, more or less, for a borough qua-
lification—Lord JOIIN RUSSELL proposing to lower
the qualification by £4, Mr. DISRAELI by £2 ;
while both had agreed on the county franchise.
Many of the motions were directly obstruc-
tive. Captain GORDON and Mr. MACKINNON
fancy we hare not sufficient knowledge and
data for the work we would undertake.
They have each a motion pointing to the
Census of 1861. It would be " unsatisfactory,"
"unjust," " inexpedient," to move on, till the re-
sults of the next year's census are before us. Mr.
GORDON, indeed, would give the Government a task
which would defer Parliamentary reform as long
as the successors to Lord ELDON could wish—he
would outvie Lord GREY'S committee in another
place by requiring her MAJESTY'S Government to
" collect the most accurate statistical returns as to
renting and rating in counties and boroughs, and
to institute a searching inquiry into the social, edu-
cational, and moral condition of those now excluded
,from the franchise !.1 " It is truly amusing to
think of the kind of political education which
the honourable member himself must have
enjoyed to put such a dilettanti notice
on the business paper of our practical
House of Commons. Where could he find artists to
execute such pre-Raphaelite pictures of the political
qualifications of the country ? And, if he could, of
what service could they be ? We know all we
want to know. The inquiry needed is rather into
the temper of our present representatives. Could
it conducted by ballot, her MAJESTY'S Government
would barely find the odd fifty desirous of increas-
ing the power of the people. Mr. GRIFFITIIS is
concerned, too, to get an actual census of each

borough whose population fell below 7,000 in 1851;
and Mr. BoVILL says the houso should not be pre-

pared to sanction the subtraction of a member
from any borough, for the simple reason that in
1851 the population fell below the above•mentioned