The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-08 00:00:00

RUSSIA. AND 7URKEY.

The following is the text of the circular despatch
Prince Gortchacow has addressed to the Russian
representatives abroad, in explanation of the iden-
tical note of France, Russia, Prussia, and Italy to
the Porte :

" St. Petersburg, Oct. 30, 1867.
" You know the policy which the Imperial Cabinet
has followed in the Eastern affair.
" You know that since 1866 it has called the at-
tention of the Porte and of the Great Powers to a
situation which, according to its opinion, was daily
becoming more grave.

" In fact, on the one side, the Christian popula-
tion, seeing that the collective action of the Great
Powers, which constituted their sole guarantee, was
paralysed by the want of concert, gradually lost any
hope of a better condition and their confidence in
the support of Europe.
"On the other hand, their aspirations were
surexcited to the highest point by the doctrines
which triumphed elsewhere and by the facts accom-
plished in neighbouring countries.

" That double current acting on those popula-
tions could but render their situation more painful,
and their resignation more difficult. Partial and
successive explosions in Syria, Lebanon, Servia,
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and finally in
Crete, had confirmed our previsions and asserted
the imminence of a crisis, which became more serious
by spreading itself.
'• Our counsels, however, remained sterile.
" Lately, when the rising in Candia revealed the
progress of that situation, the Imperial Cabinet
reiterated its efforts both at Constantinople and
with the Great Powers.

"It invited the cabinets to concert with it and
exhort the Porte not to let grow that insurrection
which could have its contre-coup in the whole of the
Christian East, and become the first spark of a
general conflagration.
" By preventing an explosion by means of wise
concessions to the claims of the Caudiotes, by means
of an equitable satisfaction to the demands of the
Servians, and lastly, by means of serious reforms,
ensuring to the Christian subjects of the Sultan
tolerable conditions of existence, it was possible to
appease the Christian populations, and to leave to
time, to the progress of ideas, and to the develop-
ment of interest, the pacific solution of the social
and political difficulties of the Eastern question.
"In spite of our instances, the accord of 'the
cabinets remained incomplete, their language did
not produce on the Turkish Government the desired
effect. It pursued the rigour of a repression which
only rendered the conflict more ardent, the passions
more fierce, the transactions more difficult ; and its
partial essays at conciliation, tried at the eleventh
hour, lost both opportunity and efficacy. In those
conjectures the Imperial Cabinet has not deviated
from the path i n which it had entered from the
beginning. That path was traced to it by the views
guiding the policy of our august master, by Russia's
traditions, and her interests of a limitroph power
and of a great European power, co-responsible for
the tranquillity in the East, and for the general
peace.

" The Imperial Cabinet's opinion was that there
is still a chance of preventing the imminent com-
plications by counsels tendered to the Turkish Go-
vernment. Such a task exclusively pertained to
Europe, interposing her collective authority between
the parties at war and holden to them the same
language unanimously and with the same firmness.
" If that chance was lost, and the crisis had be-
come unavoidable, the duty and the interests of all
commanded to limit it by avoiding every interven-
tion, thus preventing the general peaca from being
jeopardised by it.
" It is what the Imperial Cabinet proposed on
November 28, 1866.
" Some of the Great Powers having given their
adhesion to our views, the first part of the pro-
gramme was fulfilled.

" The result is known. The urgent and reite-
rated demand:3 of the Imperial Cabinet and of the
Governments which adopted them have failed before
the resolution of the Porte. The personal efforts
of persuasion tried by our august master during the
mission of Fuad Pacha at Livadia also failed.

" Consequently the Imperial Cabinet came to the
conclusion that it only remained to the Powers to
fulfil the second part of their task.
"Such was the aim of the declaration it proposed;
and it is that declaration which has just been handed
to the Porte by the representative 3 of Russia,
France, Prussia, and Italy at Constantinople, the
original draft having been slightly modified, accord-
ing to suggestions from France.
"In enclosing herewith the text of that docu-
ment, I think it is necessary that I should state the
exact signification we attach to it.

" Our august master is anxious to be no longer

responsible for a situation the dangers of which are
foreseen by his Imperial Majesty, which dangers he
has tried to avoid by all possible means.
"He is anxious to prevent political rivalries from
widening the complications, already so grave, of the
Oriental question by the complications of the actual
state of Europe.

" It is for that purpose that his Imperial Majesty
has proposed the principle of non-intervention,
which he is ready to observe as long as it will be
respected by the other Powers.

" However, that principle could not imply in-
difference. Therefore Russia, like the Powers which
have joined it, could not renounce the generous
mission conscientiously imposed on the Great
Powers on occasions where humanity should im-
periously demand it.

" Finally, it is why the Imperial Cabinet, while
Avoiding every isolated action which would aggra-
vate the actual complications in the East, will be
always ready to take part in a European concert
whose aims would be to solve them. We are con-
vinced that such a concert would only tend to an
equitable end, worthy of the Christian Powers, in
accordance with the general interests of peace and
civilisation, to which political rivalry and exclusive
views must give way.

" It is in that sense that you will express your-
self with the Government at which you are ac-
credited.—Receive, &c.,

(Signed) " GoRTCHAcOW."

EARL GROSVENOR AT CIiESTER.

Earl Grosvenor, M.P., and Mr. W. H. Glad-
stone made interesting speeches at the public
luncheon given after the inauguration on Tuesday
of the new Grosvenor Park, presented to the citizens
of Chester by the Marquis of Westminster.
Among the invited guests also were the noble
Marquis and the Marchioness of Westminster, Lady
Constance Grosvenor, Lord R. Grosvenor, Lady
Theodora Grosvenor, Lord Belgrave, the Right Hon.
W. E. and Mrs. Gladstone, the Bishop of Chester
and Mrs. Graham, the Dean of Chester, the Mayor
and Mrs. Johnson, the Recorder of Chester, Colonel
Call (18th Royal Irish), &c.
The Mayor of CHESTER, in proposing the health
of the noble donor of the park, remarked that the
Marquis of Westminster was not an ordinary noble-
man, and possessed virtues which rendered him the
most deserving and popular landlord known in that
part of the kingdom. (Cheers.)
The Marquis of WESTMINSTER made a feeling re-
ply, expressing a hope that the park might prove a
place where in future ages the public would obtain
healthful recreation.

Mr. Sheriff BowEßs proposed " The Health of the
Members for the City, Earl Grosvenor and Mr. W.
11. Gladstone," a toast that was most enthusiastically
received.

Earl GROSVENOR, M.P., in responding, alluded to
his 20 years' Parliamentary experience, and then
made some remarks on the occasion of their assem-
bling on that day. The noble lord said:—l think you
will agree with me that the guiding principle of my
father's life, which he has endeavoured, and I believe
successfully, to hold before him, has been to do his
duty in as straight a line as possible. (Applause.)
You will agree with me in this—that certainly to
his own tenants, with whom here in Chester we
have most to do, that has been the guiding principle
of his life for the 22 years during which he has held
the large estates he inherited from my grandfather.
(Applause.) Happily, he has not confined his prac-
tice to the welfare and well-being of his own tenants,
but he has looked beyond the circle, and endeavoured
to follow it out in regarding the welfare and well-
being of his nearest neighbours, in his case not alone
confined to Chester, but extending also to the metro-
polis, where a large part of his property is situated,
and to other parts of the country. Fortunately, in
his case, there has been a complete concurrence of
inclination to do these things with ample means to
carry it out—a happy coincidence, which perhaps is
not always obtainable. I know that he has been
for some time very anxious to see a park made and
laid out and given to the citizens of Chester, because
though i❑ a provincial town no doubt the fields
are nearer than they are in such large towns
as London, still you know the difficulty under
which the poorer classes of towns live—that their
duties in their own homes are such that they are
absolutely prevented from going any distance out
of town. (Hear, hear.) This park is situated near
the city, and, in addition, the situation is exceed-
ingly pretty; and its being, as it were, in the very
heart of the city and close to the door of the poorest
of the population, will afford to them the opportu-
nity of enjoying fresh air and sunshine, and the
flowers which will be 'planted in this park, with
great advantage, relief, and recreation to them-
selves. My father has given this park under con-
ditions which I think are very slight and easy in
themselves, and which have been accepted very
generally and with great cordiality by the citizens.
(Applause.) I think one great source of satisfac-
tion to my father will be that this park will be en-
joyed by all classes, rich and poor, for many gene-
rations to come. (Applause.) One little incident
occurred to-day, which may not be known to the
company present. A man named Bebington pre-
sented my father with a carriage panel with the fa-
mily arms painted upon it. It happened to be part
of the carriage which was pitched over the old bridge
in the year 1820—(laughter)—five or six and forty
years ago, belonging to Field Marshal General
Grosvenor. (Applause.) Well, my father with
extraordinary presence of mind and with great good
humour, and without vindictiveness at all, or strict
interpretation of the rights of property, did not
move to the policeman and say, " Take this man up
for having stolen property in his possession," but
handed the panel over to Mr. Allen, with a request
that he would take it to Eaton and put it in the
most prominent place there. I shall ask my father
to give me that panel and put it in my carriage.
(Applause.) One word with regard to the address
presented to my father. It expresses in very touch-
ing and kindly words the hope that the good feeling
which has subsisted for many years between our
house at Eaton and the city of Chester may long
continue. I can only say I think this gift of the
park has been a pledge on the one side that that
good feeling exists in full power. (Applause.) And
the way in which that gift has been received, on the
other hand, proves that the citizens are willing to
keep up that goodwill and friendship towards our
house which has so long subsisted. I hope myself
and the children that come after me will do their
best to keep up that good feeling which already
exists. (Applause.)
Mr. W. H. GLADSTONE, M.P., said—l can assure
you it has been a true pleasure to me to assist at the
ceremony of to-day. If I may congratulate the
citizens of Chester, I may also congratulate Lord
Westminster upon the character of the demonstra-
tion we have seen to-day—a demonstration that
proves how intimate is the alliance that may exist
in this country between the landlord and those who
come under his influence. This fact strikes me the
more forcibly, because I have just returned from a
short tour in Ireland, and I regret to say that in
that country the relation between tenant and land-
lord is so cold that such a scene as we have witnessed
to-day would be there almost impossible. It is in
England only, and not in Ireland, that these scenes
can take place ; and I should not be using too strong
a phrase when I say that Lord Westminster is evi-
dently regarded as little less than a patron saint.
(Applause.) If, as I think I may say without undue
presumption, everything that pleases you pleases
me, I venture on my account to offer to his lordship
a humble tribute of gratitude; and in conclusion I
can only re-echo the wish that has been so eloquently
expressed, that Lord Westminster may be spared
for many years in health and strength, and that our
intimate connections with the house of Eaton may
long continue, and that his lordship's heirs in direct
line may, in generations to come, be Earls of Chester.
I for one, of those who have assisted in the cere-
mony, will look back to the proceedings of this day
with lively pleasure, and I am very certain that
Lord Westminster himself will be no exceptional
case, because if be has known how to present to the
citizens of Chester a noble and friendly gift, lie has
also the satisfaction of seeing that the citizens of
Chester on their part have known bow to evince
their gratitude in a manner worthy the occasion,—
(Load applauo.)