The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

THE PRINCIPALITIES.

The Nord of Brussels, the acknowledged organ
of Russian interests, contains the following remarks
on the question of the Principalities, directed espe-
cially against the conduct of Austria :
" If ever an international contract was sapped
at its foundation, on the very day after its conclu-
sion ; if ever a solemn treaty has been the object
of intrigues, it is assuredly the treaty of Paris.
No one can have forgotten the false cry of alarm
uttered by tke Austrian Gazette on the subject of
the pretended complications, which must necessi-
tate the armed intervention of the Porte in the
Principalities. The snot d'ordre has been faith-
fully observed by all the organs of the Cabinet of
Vienna, both in Germany and abroad. This word
consists in pronosticating in the Moldo-Wallachian
provinces a revolutionary movement, having for its
object the organisation of a provisional government,
and consequenly the inevitable armed occupation
of those provinces by Austria and Turkey, a plan
to which, care is taken to add, England would make
no opposition. As might have been expected, this
plot, which was hatched at Constantinople and at
Vienna, and which we were the first to unmask,
produced a deep sensation in political regions. Our
letters from Paris pointed out the painful senti-
ments there manifested, and refuted one by one
the lying allegations, by the aid of which thoughts
were, for a moment, entertained at Vienna of being
able to triumph by subterfuge over the formal pre-
scriptions of the treaty, and to influence the future
decision of the conference by an attempt at intimi-
dation. It proves, in fact, that even if the facts
advanced by the Austrian Gazette were true, neither
Austria nor Turkey would have a right of interfer-
ing isolatedly, as art. 27 of the treaty formally says
that no armed intervention can take place with-
out a previous accord between the powers.' It is not
moreover difficult to see that the Porte—which is not
changed in character, notwithstandingits entry into
toe European coacert—only plays the pent of an in-
strument in this intrigue. In order to be convinced
that it is at Vienna that the wires of this intrigue
are set in motion, it is only necessary to read the
Austrian journals, which never were made to ma-
noeuvre with so much accord and with equal feverish
activity. The Austrian Gazette persists in denying
the rights of the conference, forgetting that, in
signing the treaty of Paris, each of the powers en-
gaged to relinquish a part of its sovereign and in-
dependent action for the benefit of a common and
bona fide sovereign one. Certainly, the congress
of Paris, which had for its object to place the policy
of Europe on new bases, has not understood that it
depended on one refractory power to throw the
common work into confusion."

According to accounts from Jassy, the unionists
of Moldavia are not satisfied with advocating their
views in the divans—they even bring them forward
in the pulpit. Thus, the priest Scriban, preaching
in the cathedral before two of the European com-
missioners, declared that it was preferable to perish
with arms in the hand than to renounce the idea of
the Union.

HOLLAND.
In the discussion on the budget, two days
back, in the States General of Holland, M. Old-
buis begged of the Government to endeavour to
obtain te suppression of the Stade duties ; also,
to take advantage of the presence of the Siamese
princes at Loudon to endeavour to establish rela-
tions with their country. The Minister of Foreign
Affairs on the first point said that Holland was, with
the exception of Hamburg, treated more favourably
than any other country in the Stade dues ; and that,
on the second, it demanded nothing batter than to
conclude a treaty with Siam. The various articles
of the budget of Foreign Affairs were then voted ;
but the vote on the whole budget was postponed.
The Madrid journals of the 15th have reached us.
It is now said that the recently discovered conspir-
acy at Barcelona is of less importance than at first
supposed—the persons implicated in it being of no
political note, and the ramifications in Aragon and
Valencia being insignificant. Extensive reforms
and important savings in the war department are
being projected by the present minister. Complaints
continue to be made of the dearness of provisions.
The authorities of Seville intended asking permis-
sion to import sheep iu considerable numbers, in
order to reduce the price of meat.