The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-13 00:00:00

PIRIT OF' THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have but few (or no) incidents to add to
, the account published in the Gazette of Satur-
day, of the great naval action, in the harbour of
Navarin. It was really honourable so far as
courage goes, to all the parties engaged, to the
defeated as well as to the conquerors. In naval
skill there was no doubt a great inequality.
The justice.and propriety of the measure will
be subjected to a severe criticism by future as well
as present civiliansand writers on public law. On
the supposition that the battle sprung from acci-
dental causes, originating in the too great proxi-
mity of the Allied and the 'Turkish fleets, the
Governments on neither side are implicated;
the act is that of the commanders. We are in-
clined to think that the fact agrees with our sup-
, position ; for it will be observed, that both the
French and English Commanders, in writing to
. their
,respective Governments, coincide in the
same statement, that . the first provocation
sprang from the Turks ; and that not in the
-way in which naval battles are generally com-
menced, by a, discharge of cannon or a
broadside, but a fatal discharge of musketry
from a Turkish fire-vessel ; next by the kill-
ing of the pilot of the Asia, sent by the Com-
mander-in-Chief to express his desire to avoid
bloodshed ; and, lastly, by a cannon-shot, fired
first by the enemy, but, as Sir Edward Codring-
ton states, " whether with or without orders he
knows not." We are inclined to think that all
these ; acts proceeded from the Turksh crews;
. prepared, for. mischief', and inflamed with hatred
against the Christian name, but without the ex-
press orders of their Commanders. They were
acts, however,. which could only be repressed in
one way—the.fatal way that was adopted. Had
they been suffered for a moment, greater out-
rages would. have. followed; . and perhaps the
means of finally repressing, them would have
been impaired. The next subjects of inquiry are
what right we had in. the port of Navarin.?—
And what right had we to take up an hostile or
menacing position there ? In answer to these
questions, it is apprehended that if the port were
a Greek port, that people being considered either
as at war with Turkey, or as tributary to Turkey,
•we had a right to admission as the friends of
Greece. If the port of Navarin • belonged, to
the Sultan, the. Allies were, up to the moment
of entry, in amity with him ; their Am-
bassadors being still at his Court, and
negotiating. Upon that ground, therefore,
their entrance is defensible. 'I he hostile
position, if it were otherwise than defensively
hostile, constitutes a different and more ambi-
guous case. The Adnirals thus speak in that
joint instrument which bean all their signatures,
and in which they .specify the ,various possible
modes of acting ; of. which mode's this, which
they chose, is the last.;—" The proceeding to
take a position with the. squadrons in Navarin,
in order to renew to -Ibrahim propositions which,
entering into the spirit of the treaty, were evi- •
dently to the advantage of the Porte itself,"
These latter expressions turn our attention to the
treaty which was formed between the three con-
tracting Powers—France, Russia, and Eng-
land—for the purpose of effecting a reconcilia-
tion between Greece and Turkey. That treaty
was signed on the 6th of . July. last, and was,
as its terms express, to be immediately com-
municated to the Sublime Porte. Its tenour
cannot have been mistaken. In the preamble,
it is stated, "that the Contracting 'Powers,
penetrated 'by the necessity of putting an
end to the sanguinary contest, have resolved
to unite their efforts, with a view of re-esta-
blishing-imam between the contending parties,
by m can s .of an aisaulatice,.. which: is-caned for as
much by humanity :wilily thilinterosvaf Europe:'
The first article of the treaty '‘‘ demands from
both the parties an immediate armistice, as a
preliminary condition, indispensable to the open
mg of a negotiation ;" and the secret article
which, as it imports, was to be communicated to,
the Turkish Government in case of its declining
the mediation of the 'high contracting Powers,
will have informed that., Groverm' nent that in-
structions would thereupon be sent out to the
Admirals of France, Russia, and England, " in
the seas of the Levant, to prevent all collision
between the contending parties." An unavail-
ing armistice takes place and terminates; yet
nothing is effected towards - the conclusion of a
peace between the Greeks •and Turks. , The
Admirals of the contracting Powers are alarmed
and affected by 'the accounts which - they 01s-
cially receive of the 'horrible..war waging even
against their unarmed 'Christian brethren—
against women and children: They meet with
the fleet which has conveyed the barbarians
to the scene Of their devastation and cruel-
ties, and protects them there. After repeated
remonstrances on the -one side, and evasions
on the other, a battle, in which the Turks
are. the aggressors, entues." • Can the''Turkiah
Government be astonished at such a result? and
was it not. sufficiently apprised of the measures
that would be adopted if it rejected all media-
tion,—if it resumed and- protracted a contest,
" which produces daily fresh-impediments to the
commerce of European States, and gaVe occasion
to piracies, which not only exposed the subjects
of the high contracting parties to considerable
losses, but besides rendered necessary burdensome
measures of protection and repression ?"
Preamble to reaty,—We' are, however of opi-
nion,.that the battle may beconsidered as having
sprung.out of accidental causes, and to the want
of strict discipline in the Ottoman fleet; in
-which case, aftera:severe but useful lessen given
and received, the. Governments may still carry on
the work of negotiation. Perhaps,. also; the loss
sustained by the Egyptian part of the conquered
fleet, may in some degree console the Sublime
Porte for the injury inflicted on the rest.---Times.

Were a man in private life, encumbered with
debts, and a large family to maintain, instead of
diminishing the one or taking care of the other,
to set about repairing and adding a wing to his
neighbour's house, and quarrelling with the friend
whose estate has hitherto proved a barrier and
protection to his own, the world would be apt
to set such a man down as little better either
than a simpleton, or something worse. This,
nevertheless, is, we apprehend, very much the
parallel case with this country in its recent con-
duct relative to Portugal and Turkey : and while
a few persons are subscribing to raise a monu-
ment to the author of these ill-judged measures,
the greater part of the country looks with fearful
anxiety to results which. bid fair to involve us in
new difficulties, without, in either case, any the
most remote chance of advantage. The interest
relative to the former seems now almost lost and
absorbed in • the - recent and mdre vital conse-
quences attached 'to the latter. Whatever may
be our 'opinion of the •
recent Action in the tte!cy which has led to the
iTanean, it is impos-
bible for the most phlegmatic spirit to view the
recent operations there with other feelings than
those of national pride and satisfaction The con-
duct 0f Sir E. Codrinedon in th •
0 2 Veeuliarly trying

and difficult situation- in which he was placed, is
beyond all praise ; nor are the French and Rus-
sian Admirals entitled to less applause for the
cordial alacrity with which they placed them-
selves and their forces, without a shadow of jea-
lousy or rivalry, under his sole command, while
they contributed by their judgment and prowess,
and those of their crews, to the splendid triumph's
of the day. A victory gained by the combined
squadrons of England, France, and Russia, will
be an entirely new theme for the historian, who
only a few years—we might almost say months
ago, would have ridiculed the very idea of such
a combination. But proud as the country
doubtless is, and may justly be, of this additional
wreath to her Naval
.glory, she will still be in-
duced to ask what the cause is in which so
much glory has been acquired, and her best
blood shed ? That the conduct of the cOmbi-
' Ded fleets was alike unavoidable and splendid, in
the situation in which they were placed, cannot for
' a moment be doubted ; but there are those who will
' doubt—and we profess ourselves to be among
the number—both the justice and the policy of
• England especially having recourse to the strong
measures which her Government has adopted to-
wards an old ally, whose friendship has become
• more than ever valuable, just at the period when
we hav9 chosen to bring about so violent and
uncalled-for an abniption of it. It is almost in
• vain, at this early season, to speculate on what
the result of this victory may be. Judging from
past experience, the Turk is not certain of being
cowed into subjection by defeat ; though, con-
sidering the overwhelming power of his present
assailants, and relying on their unanimity, we see
no probable chance of his gaining any thing by
holding out. His policy was to temporise.
The English Admiral and his colleagues have
judged more wisely. The promptitude and
energy of their decision cannot be too highly ex-
tolled ; but that, after twelve years of peace, the
first shot fired in auger by Great Britain should
be against a Power with whose subjects she had
no right to interfere, and whose friendship had
become more and more valuable, we cannot help
thinking is an illustration of one of those posi-
tions in private life to which we at first alluded.
At any rate, we trust that, now so decisive a
blow has been struck against the oppressors of
Greece, Greece herself will not be allowed to
reward hen deliverers with a continuance of the
open and flagitious piracy, by means of which,
instead of claiming the sympathy, she has, in
fact, declared war against the peaceful subjects of
every mercantile state.—Morning Herald.
The intense anxiety of the country is at this
moment directed towards Constantinople, and
hope and fear alternately prevail as to the manner
in which the Porte may have received the intel-
ligence of the destruction of the Turkish fleet.
It is impossible to reflect without profound soli-
citude on what may be the first impulses of irre-
gular vengeance in the mind of a Barbarian
Power goaded to desperation. We hope and
trust that the apprehensions so naturally enter-
tained upon this subject will be speedily dissi-
pated by the arrival of intelligence that the
Sultan has so far subdued and regulated his just
feelings of indignation upon an aggression, as '
new in the annals of nations as it is unprincipled,
as not to confound the innocent with the
and visit the crimes of Governments upon the
heads of unoffending individuals. Without
hazarding any conjectures as to the probable
conduct and decision of the Ottoman Govern-
'', ment, in the new circumstances in which the
disastrous occurrence in the Port of Nayarit'
has placed it, we may be permitted to state
what appease to us to be the necessary con-
sequences upon the interests of our country
of this. sanguinary and dearly bought-triumph
of its arms, in each of tba various cos,-
tingencies dependent upon the conduct and
resolutions of the Porte. If the Porte should
be so infatuated as to wreak a savage and barba-
rous vengeance upon the Franks at Constanti-
nople,R iis.sia will acquire what she has long wanted
a plausible pretext at least—perhaps even just
ground—of insisting upon the entire extinction
of the Ottoman Einpare, Will England, or
France, or 'Austria, in these circumstances, if
unfortunately they should arise, conqir in this
sentence which Russia will be prompt to pro-
nounce ;. and if they do not concur in it, will
they • permit or impede its . execution ? If they
permit its execution, Russia will be aggrandized,
end the • Ottoman Empire abolished without a
strugole, to. the permanent and manifest danger
and injury. of each of them. If any of them
attempt to impede its execution, they
come-the effective allies of Turkey ; and Eng-
land 'and France, if they should, as their perma-
nent interests imperiously dictate, become parties
to the attempt, will have the honour and satisfac,-
tion of .reflecting that they had just before been
wasting the blood of their subjects to no other
effect,- than that of weakening both morally
and physically the cause in which they will then
have embarked. Upon another supposition,
which' we trust is a more probable one than the
former, of the Porte abstaining from all acts of
vengeance which the laws or feelings of civilised
nations would denounce, but still resting upon
its rights of independent sovereignty, and refus-
ing to treat with the Allies ; what way reason-
ably be expected to ensue ? Or how far in this
case will the true interest or glory of England be.
promoted by the recent success of her arms ? It
is absurd to suppose that the war between the
Turks and the Greeks can be forcibly terminated
merely by naval operations. If the Allies do no
more than they have done, and the Porte should
remain inflexible in its determination, the only .
effect of the treaty pc mediation will have been to
place the two conflicting parties more upon an
equality in respect to strength than they were
before--,or, in other words, to prolong the con-
test instead of terminating it. Having mediated
ineffectually by means of a fleet, the next mode
of " friend]‘y mediation for the advantage of
the 'Turks themselves," must necessarily be by
means of an army. We entertain no doubt •
• whatever that such a decision on the part of the
Porte as we are now supposing, would be the
signal for the immediate advance of the powerful
Russian army which has been collected
and held in readiness for the purpose.—
Ttie signal to advance, given from Con-
stantinople, will be gladly and promptly obeyed.
But when the work is done which the treaty
prescribes, will the signal to retreat, given from
London or Paris, be obeyed with equal promps
titude ? We pity sincerely the folly of those
who can believe' so. What, then, will be the
probable consequenceswhat, but that after hav-
ing expended our blood and our treasure for the
destruction of the Ottoman Empire, we shall
have to expend more treasure and more blood
to create that Empire anew. If the'affair should
take either of the two courses we have men-
tioned, it appears inevitable, that before its final
conclusion England will be the Ally. of the
Porte, and will then have reason deeply to re-
gret the recent destruction of its maritime force
--to regret it not the less deeply because it was

accomplished mainly by English valour and at
the cost of English blood. The only supposi-
tion which remains to be considered is, that the
Porte may now be intimidated into compliance
with the terms proposed by the Allies. In this
way peace may perhaps for some time longer be
secured—the dismemberment of the Turkish
Empire and the creation of a tributary Govern-
ment in Greece accomplished—Russian ambi-
tion deprived for the moment of its pretexts,
and foiled in its devices, and England spared
for a brief season. the necessary consequences
of her wayward, unsettled, timid, and un-
just policy. But these . advantages and escapes
are, even upon this the most favourable an-
ticipation, as uncertain as they would he
transitory. The fixed purposes of Russia may
rby this means be postponed ; but they will not
be abandoned. The 'policy which raised the
vexatious questions respecting Wallachia and
Moldavia, which excited the Greek insurrection,
and which occasioned the Treaty of Intervention
—a policy which has been hitherto not foiled by
resistance, but eluded by indulgence—which has
been disappointed solely by the wilful blindness
of other nations to its machinations, and their
interference with the Porte to obtain compliance
with all its demands—this is a policy which will
not be thus eluded and disappointed much longer.
New claims, and new pretexts, and new machin-
ations will arise in succession, until Russia and
Turkey are at war : Russia, eager and insatiable
in its desire of conquest—Turkey struggling,
and if unaided, struggling vainly in self-defence.
This is a crisis of which Russia has shown her-
self most desirous. It is one which all the
tameness of compliance, and all the evasions
and procrastinations of diplomacy, will be un-
able to avert. And when this crisis shall arrive,
what course will the interest and duty of Eng-
land prescribe to her ?—To stand -quietly by and
patiently witness the annexation of the provinces
of Turkey to the already overgrown and truly
formidable dominions of Russia? The States-
men who have now been employing the force of
England to annihilate the Turkish navy, must,
to preserve a consistency of conduct, however
iniquitous and unjust, be prepared to answer this
question in the affirmative. A wise and honest
English Statesman would answer it at once with
an indignant negative, which would be applauded
and re-echoed by the unanimous voice of the
British people.—Mori zing Post.

In the absence of additional official intelli-
gence, the consequences of the important blow
struck at Navarin must remain -matter of specu-
lation, as far as the determination of the Porte is
concerned. It will be influenced by so many
considerations, that it is hardly possible to anti-
cipate its nature. The Sultan, if, as it has been
stated, he had ordered hostilities to continue,
must have calculated on the chances of defeat,
and will besides find it sweetened by the destruc-
tion of the alarming power of his overgrown vas-
sal, the Pacha of Egypt. In his heart, there-
fore, he will not repine deeply at the catastrophe
which has relieved him from one of his principal
sources of future fear. , But the- Sultan will,
in this instance, not be able to follow his own
wishes and convictions. He must and will be
guided by the feelings of the people, and those
feelings will probably break out with too large
a portion of their accustomed violence to allow
of their being restrained even by the descend-
ant of the Prophet. Did the Janissaries still
exist, the question would have been instantly
settled. The Seraglio would have been storm-
ed, the reigning Monarch sacrificed, and the
son's throne erected on the bleeding body of his
father. Fortunately for Mahmoild he has de-
stroyed the destroyers of Sultans, and the troops
whom he has raised in their stead. have imbibed
xiegitfe.-ole *bloc -tree taught them, to
a certain extent, the passiveness of Christian
soldiers. From them he needs therefore, to ap-
prehend no danger. But it will not be the same
from the people, Here all his sternness and all ,
his power will not be able to repress exaspera-
tion or to disarm fury, and though his life and
his diadem may be secure, yet, to obtain inter-
nal peace and submission, he must obey the
public voice, and not make those concessions to
his conquerors which policy would demand,
which his own judgment may think necessary,
but which the peculiarities of his position to-
wards his own subjects forbid. We are there-
fore
far from imagining that the first blow, how-
ever decisive and tremendous, is also the last, or
that the contest is terminated because it is begun.
The chief advantage, (leaving the important.
questions of Greek rescue and independence out
of view) is, that it will force a disclosure of the
real state of the relations of the Porte with
other Powers, That Austria has supplied
her with ;deice in her negotiations, with
encouragement in her despondency—with
officers to marshal her troops, and with
transports .to convey them—is already well and
generally known, it must now be seen, whether
she has gone beyond this—whether she has
bound herself to defend and to avenge, as well
as to advise and to cherish—and whether,having
abetted for years, by her policy, the cause of a
barbarian and infidel Power, she will now take
part with him openly, and stand forth in arms
by his side, a bold and unblushing renegade.—
If the battle of Navarin, instead of restoring the
certainty of peace, has thrown open all the
chances of ~`!P extensive European war, its effects
may be .considered most decisive and salutary
with respect to the salvation of Greece. There
its results are not doubtful. Ibrahim Pacha may
rage, anti for a short time burn, rend, and de-
stroy ; but his hour is fixed and he cannot escape.
c
The very numbers whom he,
aeb
satsr.ce4 With
he himan will
hasten his ruin. His fleet
re-
ceive no supplies to feed his troops, and the de-
solation which he has spread around him will
bring retaliatory famine to his camp and to his.
garrisons, till the proud Egyptian perishes in the
desert he has made, or, after weeks of wasting
Starvation, sues for life, and obtains mercy by
an unconditional and humiliating surrender.—
New Times.

The late rage for building small houses and
tenements begins to be severely felt in Southampton, the
applications for family mansions and roomy establishments
this week are unprecedented, which is to be attributed to
the fact of numerous families having lately felt desirous to
make this town their residence for the winter season.
Hants Advertiser.

The whole of the cargo of the sloop Happy
Return, of Penzance, the ill-fated vessel in which the la-
mented Mr. WAVELL lost his life, has been saved. It con-
sisted of blocks and casks of tin, hides, &c., in weight
about 57 tons, and valued at 5,0001. Great credit is due
to Mr. DAVIS, of the firm of WIENTIOLT, DAVIS, and Co.,
of Cowes, for the skill and perseverance which he has so
successfully displayed in the charge committed to him.—
The vessel sunk in 31 fathoms of water, and at that depth
many of the blocks of tin were raised by means of a screw,
an ingenious contrivance of Mr. DAVIS. The casks were
got out by means of tongs ; each block and cask averaging
Si to 4 cwt. Some lighters from Portsmouth Dock-yard
were brought down some days after the vessel sunk, and
ul-
timately raised by two vessels belonging to Cowes, on Sa-
turday her nearer the shore ;but she was ul-
aken there between them on Sunday morn-
in a Succeeded
wherelastinshg and getting
to w
Hants Telegraph.