The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-07-11

dressed Oy the Cabinet Of st. Petersburg to the
ministers and dRlematc sapnts Of the Eapsror.
1t is published in the GsssAs de 81. PetersSosy< on
the 18th ultimo: gAf
SIN: As the mission of Prince Mensehikofr h
Turkey has already given rise TO the most sxag-
gerated rumOrs-rumors to which his deparfure.
and the interruption Of relations consequent uuon
it, will no doubt give additional force-I think it
my duty to transmit to you upon the subject some
general information, which may serve TO rectify
the false data which may have been spread about
in the country in which you reside. 11M
think it superfiuous to- infbrm you that there
is not word Of truth in the prstansion which has
been fastened upon US by the newspapers Of aim
ing either at fresh territorial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT or
more advantageous regulation Of our Asiatic from
tier, or at the right Of nomination or revocation
with regard to the Patriarch of Constantinople,
or, in short, at any religious Protectorate which
would have a tendency to exceed that which we
exercise, in point of fact and additionally in Tur
key, by virtue of previous treaties. You are suf.
fciently aware of the policy Of the Emperor to
know that his Majesty does not aim at the ruin
and destruction Of the Ottoman Empire, which he
himselfon two occasions hassaved from dissolution
but that, on the contrary, he has always regard
cd the existing statu quo as the best possible com
binaton to interpOse between all the European in
terests, which would necessarily clash in the East
if void were actually declared; and that, us far
regards the protection of the Russo Greek reli-
gion in Turkey, we have no necessity, in order to
secure its interests, of any other rights than those
which are already secured to us by our treaties
our position, and the religious sympathy which
exists between SO, 900, 900 Russians Of the Greek
persuasion and the great majority of the Christian
subjects of the Saltan--influence immemorial and
inevitable, because it exists in facts, and not in
words nfuence which the Emperor found exist
ing in full force when he assembled the throne, and
which he cannot-out Of Difference to the unjust
suspicious which it awakens-renounce without
giving up the glorious inheritance of his august
predecessors. Hasnfaa is8
This u.s. in point of fact, to inform YOU how
little founded the reports which have been
spread abroad of the mission of Prince oMenschi-
kof, which never had any other object than the
arrangement Of the affair Of the Holy Places.
1t would be too long, sir, to recapitulate to you
in detail the history Of all the phases through
which this affair has passed since the year 1850.
We are satisfied in our own consciences that we
are not the first to raise the question. We knew
too well all the consequences it involved as far
as the peace Of the East was concemed-perhaps
the peace of the world We have never ceased,
since it's commencement, to call the attention Of
the great Cabinets to tho position in which it
would involve us, and to the grave eventualities
which must arise from it; and the successive de-
velopments which it has assumed, until it finally
produced the existing crisis, have but too well
justified our sad representations 1t will be suf-
NClcnC 1Or lie moment 10 recall TO your rOcOlleC-
ton, that after tho first concessions which had
been obtained by France in favor of the Latins at
JERUSALEM, to the, detriment of the immemorial
privileges WIZ had been conceded to the Greeks,
the Empercr+seeing, every day, the evident par
TALLY of the Porte for the Latins, leading it to
concessions of graver and still graver nature
with regard to the rights and interests of the East
ern worship--found himself under the obligation
of addressing the Sultan upon this point, in a Sc
rious yet friendly letter. The results of this step
were the convocation of commission composed
exclusively of Turkish Ulemas, which occupied
itself with the task of reconciling the reciprocal
pretensions; then, after long negotiations, letter.
in reply, from the Sultan to the Emperor, which
announced the defnitive solution of the question,
and containing the most solemn promises of the
maintenance of the ancient rights which had been
conceded by the Porte to the Greek communities.
A firman, which contained the details of this ar
rangement, was at the same time communicated
to us. At the top of this frman, Haiti Sheriff,
in autograph of the Sultan, acknowledged and
consecrAted in the most formal manner the an
terror acts which had been conceded to the
Greeks, at different epochs, had been renewed by
the Sultan Mahmoud, and had been confirmed by
the reignng Sultan.
= Although this letter and this frrnan were con-
ceived in a spirit which departed in some measure
from the strict statM quo, which we had always en-
deavored to maintain, nevertheless, as these docu-
ments appeared to the Emperor to satisfy, up to a
certain point, his Just solctude for the interests
and immunities of the Greek Church at Jer,lsa-
lem, desire of Cancellation induced his majesty
to accept them. He took official record of them,
SO as to give them solemn and defnitve value.
In the presence Of these categorical documents,
officially communicated at the end Of long and
painful negotiation, the imperial government had
certainly q right to consider that discussion,
from which it's moderation had succeeded in re-
moving danger, and which left the Latins in pos
session of advantages, was forever closed.
" A1,ck L. L
the case. tnsAA5h, ne $3.50 b,ea Htth
should be carried too far if related here all the
acts of weakness, of tergiversation and duplicity
which have signalized the conduct Of the Ottoman
authorities when it became question of fulfilling
the engagements~which they had undertaken to-
wards us, and of proceeding, according to usage
at jerusalem, to the PRONUNCIATION, the registration,
and the execution of the firman. When the
Turkish Commssary, who had been sent to the
Holy City, according to the explicit assurance
which our mission at Constantinople had received,
arrived at his destination, he had the audacity to
declare to our Consul, who insisted upon the read
ing and registration Of the firman, that he had no
knowledge Of the net, and that there was no men
ton of it in his instructions. Although later, upon
our circumstances, the frman was finally read and
registered Mt Jerusalem, this was only done with
injurious to the Eastern form of wor-
ship But as far as concerns the act itself, with
the exception OF the accomplishment OF these SIM
pie formalties, its principal provisions have been
openly transgressed. The most fragrant violation
Of it has been the delivery to the Latin Patriarch
of the key Of the principal church at Bethlehem.
This delivery was contrary to the express terms of
the irman. 1t wounded deeply the clergy, and
all the population of the Greco-R faith, be-
cause, according to tho ideas which are current in
PALESTINE the possession of the key seems to imply
by itself alone that Of the temple in its entirety
The Turkish Government, then, against its own
proper interests established in the eyes of all men
The supremacy which it accorded to another form
Of worship than the one to which the majority Of
ts subjects submit themselves.
Such forgetfulness of the most positive promi-
'es which had been solemnly made in, the letter of
The Sultan to the Emperor, 80 patent a breach Of
faith, aggravated still more by the proceedings
md hv the dersive words of the councillora Of his