Washington sentinel., 1853-10-09
Austrian cabinet the following remarks and

cancellation, accept the proposal of accommoda-
! ton agreed to at Vienna and Of sending a
| Turkish ambassador, we assume that we shall
not have still further changes and fresh propo
sitions TO examine and to discuss, which may
happen TO be contriyed at Constantinople under
the warlike inspiration which seems ut present
to influence the Sultan and the majority of his
ministry, and that, should the Ottoman govern
ment alsoreject this last arrangement, we should
no longer hold ourselves by the consent which
we now give to it.
! Expressions so precise as these could leave
the Austrian government no doubt as to our
present decisions.
| i will not at the present moment enter into
the alterations Of the workings which have been
made at Constantinople | have made them the
subject of special remark in another despatch.
/ / will for the moment, coniine myself to ask
ing whether the emperor, after having for him
selfrenounced the power to change even word
i'll that draught OF "a note, which was drawn up
without his participation, can allow the Otto
man Port alone to reserve to itself that power,
and whether he can suffer Russia to be thus
placed III an inferior position ris a ris Turkey.
| We hold this tobe inconsistent with the dignity
of the emperor. Let us recall the whole series
of events, as they took place. In the place of
the Menschkof note, the acceptance of which,
without alteration, we had stipulated as the con-
dition of our resuming our relations with the
| Porte, different note was proposed to us. On
this ground alone we might have refused to take
it into consideration. And even after entering
upon it we might have found occasion to raise
more than one objection, to propose more than
one alteration i'll the expressions. You know,
Baron, that from the moment we consented to
give up our ultimatum, no note of any form
whatever was what we desired, that we should
have preferred another plan, another form of
agreement. We did not insist on this plan we
have laid it entirely on one side Why? Be
cause, as soon as we should have made counter
propositions, we should have exposed ourselves
to the reproach of protracting matters of in
tentionally prolonging the crisis which is dis
quieting Europe. Instead of this, as we wished
to put an end to the crisis as soon as possible
we sacrificed our objections, both as regards the
contents and the form.
On the receipt Of the first draft Of a note,
without waiting to learn if it had been approx
ed in London or in Paris, we notified our ac-
cession to it by telegraph. Subsequently, the
draft was forwarded to us in its final form !;
and although it had been altered in direction
which we could not misunderstood, we did not
retract our consent nor raise the smallest diff
fculty. Could greater readiness or more
conciliatory spirit be shown? When we thus
acted we did so, as n matter of course, on the
condition that draft which the emperor ac
cepted without discussion should be accepted
by the Porte in similar manner We did so
under the conviction that Austria looked on it
as an ultimatum, in which nothing was to be
changed--as the last effort Of her friendly me-
diation, which, should it fail in consequence of
the pertinacity Of the Porte, would thereby of
itself come to an end. We regret that it was
not so. But the Vienna cabinet will admit that
if we had not to do with an ultimatum, but with
a new draft of note, in which either of the
parties concerned was at liberty to make
changes, we should thereby recover the right,
of which we had, Of our own accord, deprived
ourselves, Of proposing variations on our part,
of taking the proposal of arrangement into
consideration, and not only changing the ex-
pressions, but also the form.
Could such result be intended by Austria?
Could it be agreeable to the powers, who, by al
tering and accepting her draft, have made it
their common work? 1t is their affair to con-
slider the delays which will result from this, or
to inquire if it is for the interest Of Europe to
cut them short. We see only one single
means Of putting an end to them. 1t is for
Austria and the powers to declare to the Porte,
| frankly and firmly, that they, after having in
vain opened up to it the only road that could
lead 10 an immediate restoration of its rea
tons with us, henceforth leave the task to itself
alone. We believe that as soon as the Powers
unanimously hold this language to the Porte
the Turks will yield to the advice of Europe,
and, instead of reckoning on her assistance in
a struggle with Rnssa, will accept the note
in its present form, and cease to compromise
their position so seriously for the childish sat
tisfacton Of having altered few expressions
in document which we had accepted without
discussion. For Of these two positions only one
is possible-either the alterations which the
Porte requires are important, in which case it
is very simple that we refuse to accede TO them;
or they are unimportant, and then the question
arises, why should the Porte unnecessarily
make its acceptance dependent on them.
To sum up succintly what we have said, the
ultimatum drawn up at Vienna is not ours. 1t
is the work of Austria and the Powers, who,
after having first of all agreed to it, then dis
cussed it, and altered its original text, have re-
cognized it as such as the Porte could accept
without its interests or its honor being compro-
missed. We, on our part, have done everything
that depended upon us to shorten unnecessary
delays, inasmuch as, when the arrangement was
laid before us, we rcnounccd all counter propo-
sitions. No one will refuse to bear this testi-
mony to the toyaute Of the emperor. After our
having long exhausted the measure of conces-
sions, without the Porte's having as yet made a
single one, his Majesty can 90 no further with
out compromising his own standing, and with
out exposing himself to resumption of his re-
lations with Turkey, under unfavorable auspices,
which would deprive them for the future of all
stability, and must inevitably produce a fresh
and signal breach. Even now, further conces
sons with regard to the expressions Of the noc
would be of no use, for we see by your dispatch
that the Ottoman government is only waiting
for our consent to the alterations made in the
Vienna note, to make its signature, as well rs
its sending off an ambassador to convey the
latter hither, dependent on fresh conditions,
and that it has already made inadmissable pro-
posals with respect to the evacuation Of the
Principalities As regards the latter point we
can only refer to the assurances and declara-
tons contained in our despatch Of the 10th Of
August, and repeat, that the arrival Of the Turk
ish ambassador, bearing the Austrian note with
out alterations, will suffice, at st. Petersburg,