The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-02-27
spcPEr TREATIES BETWEEN RUSSIA AND
TURKEY.

In the course OF yesterday =" teegraphlc mes
sage from Vienna was published In second edi.
ton Of Of contemporaries, to the eec. that
Turkish Ministers had been dismissed and that
their successors we're favorable to compromise with
Russia. The journal which gave TO the world this
startling intelligence, was accused in the Wiener
Ueyd Of the 4,h inst, o, publishing idle reports
current in the coffee and playhouses Of Vienna as
Geographic messages" Possibly the story promul-
gated yesterday by our contemporary may not be of
this class but when the unanimity of all parties as
sembled in the great council at Constantn0pe to &C
cept war rather than submit TO the demands Of Rus
sis--an uDanimty now proved beyond doubt by the
publication Of Lord Stratford's dispatches and
their encosuresis taken into account 1t Is not easy
to imagine where the Sultan could, after the VIC
tories Of Oltenitza and Citate, pick up o set of
ministers disposed to q compromise. The report has
oil the appearance of stock j0bbing hoax Should
il, however, turn out TO be true--in whole or in
part-the cause of 90 sudden and uEAccountabe
change in the Turkish councils will not fail to be in
quired into. II will be asked, has the return of the
combined fleets to Beicos rendered the Porte des-
perafe of sincere and efficient aid from its Western
allies have the patering delays, which have al
lowed the Russian government free scope for its ma
chiDations during whole year, Afforded time and
opportunity for doses Of Russian gold to operate at
Constantinope? The statesmen upon whom has de.
volved the important task OF encountering and
thwarDg the Notorious designs of Russia, may rest
assured that q reckoning will be sternly demanded OF
them, should the incredible story that Turkey has
faered and given way, at the very moment that the
All Europe-the present and many future genera
tions-will have good cause to execrate all who d.
recty indirectly shall have contributed 10 any such
iame and impotent conclusion.
Meanwhile the rumor to which we have alluded
ana others Of a more vague character which had
preceded 1t in the earlier part OF the day, are ex
citing out OF doo,s most painful state OF feeling
which may yet lead to grave embarrassments. There
lack not numbers who frankly avow the opinion that
the courteous postponement Of Lord Clanr!carde's
question on Monday, and the equally courteous &C.
Acknowledgement OF it, with fair promises of speedy
revelations, are nothing more than dexterously
enacted Gross" And undsguised establishment is
expressed at the declaration Of Lord John Russell
respecting the treaty OF UnkiarS keless on Tuesday
that che had communicated with his noble friend
the Foreign Secretary and was informed that there
assertion is passing strange; for we have lively
recollection that in 1885 the Morning Chronicle,
then decidedly the orgsn and protege Of the WING
ministry had, in articles attributed at the time to
the inspiration Of the Foreign Secretary denounced
emphaticay and in detail, the suspicious character
and dangerous tendency Of the treaty in question.
Lord Clarendon has not been long installed in the
Foreign Office, and Lord j. Russell occupied it but
more experienced colleague, Lord Palmerston, be-
fore they gave up searching for the treaty, and in.
snuated Oor that is the natural construction of Lord
Johns reply that the existence Of any such treaty
was doubtful. Its non production Is attributed, by
the before alluded to, alternatively to
luctapce to make public its contents or to desire to
create further delay. Assuredy there could be little
difficulty in laying bands upon copy. One was
published in Mr.. GUMS "VOyage on the Danube;"
another in Murhead's Supplement to Martens Col
lection of Treaties and if such Of informa-
ton not sufficiently dignfed for Ministers Of
State, no doubt NJ Drouyn de Lhuys could furnish
his friends in Downing street with copy.
However Degli gent the English Foreign Office may
be in procuring copies of important treaties affecting
the general interests Of Europe the French Foreign
Office is never remiss in its discharge OF that duty.
Il, orJ hat Ha nntso 81
cabinet Of the Tuileries was early directed to the
clandestine and insdious treaty Of Unkar Skelessi
The treaty bears date the Sth Of July; in the course
Of October, n. De Lagrene, the French Charge
dAfaIes at St Petersburg, intimated to the Russian
cabinet that be had received orders to express the
deep grief (profonde Gbiction) with which his 60
vernment had heard OF the conclusion Of the treaty;
TO protest that if the stpuations of that act should
lead subsequently 70 armed Intervention OF Russia
in the internal affairs Of Turkey, the French govern
ment would hold itself at perfect liberty to adopt
such line of conduct as circumstances should die.
tate to it, acting in that case as If the treaty in ques
ton did net exist; and that analogous declaration
bad been made to the Porte by the French Ambas
sador at COnstantinople."
There was, indeed, good cause for the protest re-
corded by the government of France. The treaty of
Unkisr Skelessi Ia designation derived from the
mntilated name of Chunkiar Iskeessi-i. e., the En-
peror's Landing place, the name Of bay on the
AsAtic side of the Boephorus,) was extorted from
the Porte by the commander of the Russian
troops landed there in 1888, ostensibly t, act
against Ibrahim Pacha. An attempt was made
I, keep the convention strictly secret; but the affair
having got wind. the Porte, which began to have
misgivngs to the prudence of its conduct, commu
nicated copy to the French AMBASSADORS circum.
stance slluded to with some bitterness in Count
Nssselrodes reply to NJ. De Lagrene's protest.
The treaty conists OF six articles, and . secret
additional article" which, like the postscript Of
lady's letter. contains the most important matter OF
the document. The first article binds the contracting
parties to perpetual amity and pledges them for the
common defence Of their States, to lend each
other material succors, and the most efficacous
assistance = the second confirms three previous
treaties the third binds the Gar to afford naval and
military assistance when called upon by the Sultan;
the fourth relates to the question OF expenses; the
fifth that the treaty shall be valid for eight years.
with power to the parties to extend the term at or
before its expaon the sixth declares that the treaty
shall be ratified in the course Of two months. The
essential part Of the "secret article" is:-Inasmuch
the nperor Of All the RussiAs, willing to spare
the Sublime Porte the expense and trouble which
would be occasioned TO it il called upon to afford ma
teral succors, will not demand such succors should
circumstances lay the Sublime Porte under the obi
cation to furnish them, the Sublime Ottoman Porte,
in lieu OF the due by it under the reciprocal
obligation Of the public treaty, Crate patentO
will limit its action in favor OF the imperial court OF
Russia to closing the strait Of the Dardanelles-that
Is 10 say, will not allow any foreign vessel Of war to
enter il under any pretext whatever" The bearing
and consequence Of this stipulation is obvious the
Porte bound itself thereby, whenever Russia went
TO war with any nation, under any pretext, TO
arm likewise for the purpose OF guarding Russia
from naval attacks in the Black eea By this stipu
lation the Sultan was made to declare himself o
vassal of the Gar, holding his domains of that Po
tentate by the tenure Of military service. This hu-
initiating concession was extorted from the Porte
landestiney-without the knowledge Of the other
European Powers-at the moment OF Turkeys
greatest debility, by an armed force which had
landed near the capital under pretext of defending
il against mighty insurgent chief Now let us con
rect this movement of Rus sa in 1888 with the Mems
chikof movement in 1853 Prince Menschikoff in the
latter year attempted TO accomplish what Count Or
loft (mark the nancy had accomplished in the for
mer- TO persuade the Porte to keep their negotia.
tons secret from the European Powers. Prince
Menschko bject further to persuade the Porte
TO acknowledge the Gar as supreme arbiter and
judge OF any disputes, religious secular that might
arse between il and its subjects Of the Greek rite.
treaty recognition Of such jurisdiction vested in the
person Of the Gar, would have given that Potentate
body OF Janissaries ten or fifteen millions strong
enforce the obedience of the vassal bound by the
treaty of Unkar Skelessi to hold his territories of
him by the tenure OF military service. The proposed
- q 49,