The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-07-16

wi,h be- announced TO the Russian nation ant
70 foreign States BY q manifesto, ia which the
Enpssor would reiieraie bic strange declare
ton. that this aggression 10 not an act OF war
and that he 10 ready TO stop the march OF hit
troops whenever the Turkish government Gig
nifes i,s intentions TO comply with bis dc
mands. II such be the language Of this official
document, which has not yet reached us, il
viiI only be a repetition OF the confused and
Inconsistent propositions already put before
,be world in that Russian circular, which has
excited unqualified Reproduction wherever u
has been read. But, after placing all that con-
fdence in the language OF the Russian govern,
ment to which the Emperor Nicholas iaid
Claim, az a man of honor and frince soilci-
ton. 70 preserye the tranquility Of Europe, we
have for some time past been compelled to look
70 the acts of that court only; and on the pre-
sent occasion the articles Of language to which
il may resort have ceased altogether 10 disguise
;ts Intentions. In our judgment Russia has
rained absolutely nothing by her attempt TO
;mnose upou Europe. Long before soldier
con,d cross the Pruth the fleets oil the Western
mowers we're assembled at the entrance OF the
Dardanelles; Turkey is as wei prepared as
she can expect TO be ano all Europe mas
formed a inst opinion of the conduct OF the En-
ne,or Nicholas. The language of Russia,
when she saws that the advance OF her troops
il not 10 be regarded as az act of war, but
onl, as a means of extorting submission. is in
limitation of one of the tricks to which Napo.
leon had recourse TO conceal some OF his most
indefensible actions. When his armies entered
,he Peninsula in 1908, il was not, it was said,
an act Of war-it was merely friendly occus
patton of the kingdom. BY the same rule the
French might advance to Brussels or to Turin,
aad all the laws Of territorial independence
would be suspended. But in this case there
- of Tka
entry of the Russians into the principalities is
meant as an act of coercion applied to the
Porte to compel il to accept certain terms
which il has repeatedly rejected, and which all
Europe holds to be inconsistent with its soy
ereign power. The ordinary operations Of war
have no other purpose or meaning. Their
avowed and only object is to compel an inde-
pendent State, by the use of force, to do what
il otherwise refuses TO do A contest ensues,
If that State is in a condition to offer resistance
and to oppose force by force. But the mere
attempt to dictate terms by military power in a
foreign country, and against the consent OF the
sovereign, is an act deserving the strongest
Teprobation, unless it can be justified by such
provocation or necessity as leaves no other
means of obtaining redress.
In this case ii is scarcely necessary TO repeat
that the Emperor has adduced no such char
ges. Indeed, the authors of the Russian circu-
lars and the writers in the Gazette of ST. Pc.
tersburg are put to such shifts to cover the ex-
treme poverty of their case that they have
Taked up an old French protocol Of 1880, on
the affairs CT Greece, TO prove that France at
that time claimed and had exercised species
of protectorate over the Roman, Catholic sab.
jects of the Porte, which she relinquished in
favor Of the Greek kingdom. If any such right
existed in 1850, why did not Russia cfsim the
equiv alent then? Why did she wait till April,
1853. to bring forward claim which she now
asserts to be founded in the nature of her spir-
itual supremacy, and borne out by previous
concessions TO other States I These are ez
post facto arguments. They are attempts to
make up case from such materials as can be
found, but they are too paltry aRd absurd to
be the real motives of the Emperor Nicholas
policy.