The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-04 00:00:00

Standard Office, Two o'clock, p.m,

[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]

THE EASTERN QUESTION
DECLARATION OF WAR ! ! !

VIENNA, MONDAY.—Constantinople advices of the 27th
of September, state that the Divan at the Grand Council
held that day, resolved upon a declaration of war against
Russia. Report says that hostilities have already begun.
Last night the -Emperor of Austria left suddenly with
the Prince of Prussia, for Warsaw, where the King of
Prussia will meet them.
The Post cannot be surprised at the probable decision
of the Grand Council, and says it remains to be seen how
readily and energetically the Western Powers will support
their ally.

The Chronicle states that the Turkish Ministers were
instructed by the Grand Council, with the duty of adopt-
ing the measures necessary for giving effect to its decision,
that war was the only alternative.

The Chronicle considers that such a resolution is not
more surprising than the final consummation of any fatal

disorder,

ST. PETERSBURGII, SEPT. 24.—The fleet has been
ordered back to Cronstadt, there to remain at the disposal
of the Government.

(From Me Times.)
The Ministers now in town, constituting a majority of
the Cabinet, met yesterday at the Foreign Office, and held
a long conference on the present anxious position of
Eastern affairs. As the intelligence which had called
them together was in itself of a perfectly distinct and
decisive character and, as in a matter of such moment, it
will be necessary to wait the arrival of the other Minis-
ters, all of whom are hastening to the metropolis, some
days will probably elapse before any thing in the nature
of a fresh decision can be expected.
The news which was the immediate occasion of this
meeting was, that on the 26th ult.—a week later than the
last reported dates—the Grand Council, a body consisting
of about 140 magistrates of the Turkish Empire, had re-
commended the Sultan to make a declaration of war.
The force of that recommendation, and the probability of
the Sultan's acting upon it, as well as the particulars of
the proceeding ascribed to the Grand Council, must re-
main matters of conjecture till the arrival of more exact
information which, according to the same telegraphic des-
patch to which the Times is indebted for all that is known
on the subject, may soon be expected by a courier via
Marseilles. The news, so far as it goes, must be consi-
dered very unfavourable to the hopes of those who have
laboured for peace ; but, at the worst, it must still be some
time before those hopes can be given up, or any change of
policy demanded on the part of our Government. It does
not act at all without France in the matter, and no com-
munication has yet been received from Paris. The decla-
ration of war by the Porte was a contingency contem-
plated in the instructions given to Lord Stratford, who
has thereby the power, even if subsequent instructions did
not give it to the fleet. He will doubtless do whatever he
thinks best for the defence of the Sultan, and will be fully
supported in that policy by the Government at home.
Though, even in the event of an actual declaration of war,
it may still be in our power to save the Porte from the
consequence of that act, without are
have
Stratford is understood, supposed, to
disapproved of the
and would probably do nsive operations.
or rather_
step taken by the Grand Council,
pro-
ceedings.
his best to delay further pro-
The news from Olmutz is in all respects of less impor-
tance. Concessions and assurances have been ostensibly
made by the Emperor, at a time and in a form when they
would be worth very little in the face of the violently-
aggressive policy but too clearly betrayed in Nesseirode's
despatches.

The Times remarks that a time must come when the
Mask will be thrown off on the one side, and forbearance
cease on the other.
.The full disclosure of the Russian policy cannot but
give a new character to the resistance of the chief inde-
pendent powers of Europe.
The Morning Post's Paris correspondent states that
the Sultan had convoked the Grand Council, and there

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