The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-08-04

news Of the day; full compilations OF domes-
tic intelligence; correspondenoe-and the
Richmond markets carefully and accurately
reported.
Price THREE CENTS single copy. One
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THE DEMANDS OF RUSSIA-THE
EASTERN QUESTION.
The history of this question by bisnop
Southgate, to which we referred few Gays
ago, gives q brief but lucid sketch OF the con-
troversy respecting the Holy Places in Jeru-
salem-the guardianship of which, from tine
time when Helena and her son, Constantine
the great, built the Church of the Holy Sep
ulchre at Jerusalem, and that Of the Nativity
at Bethlehem, has been fercely contested De-
tween the Greeks and Latins. :" At one time
the Latins held possession of them for a long
interval At another, by treaty between
Francis land Salieman the Magnificent they
were placed under the protection OF Frances
and at another, by capitulations between the
Sultan and Louis XIV, they were restored
to that protection. This seems to have been
in 1878. In 1857 they were brought back to
the Greeks and cannot discover that any
change has been made from that time till the
year 1850. There can be no reasonable ques-
ton that they belong of right to the Eastern
Church, both because their original founda-
ton was Oriental, and because they fall with
in the Dioceses OF Oriental Bishops
In 1850, Turkey had granted to Russia q
GpTu0n dofo or1d Aonraoino fhof fha
Greeks should remain in possession of the
Holy Places which they then held. In the
same year, Louis Napoleon, then President of
France, commissioned the Marquis de Lava
lette to proceed to Constantinople via Rome
and demand the restoration of the Holy
Places to the Latins. By violence, denuncia-
ton and threats he succeeded in carrying his
point, and in obtaining from the Porte a fir
man transferring to the Latins the guardian
ship of the most important ofthe Holy Places.
Russia now appeared upon the field as the
champion of the Greek Church, and insisted
upon the execution of the frman previously
granted to her. The Porte, fearing the an
ger of Russia more than that of France,
acceded to her demand and sent orders to
Syria that the frman granted to France should
not be executed. The Marquis de Lavalette,
who had gone home to enjoy his iaurels,
was obliged to hasten back and insist upon
his former demands The timid and impress.
sible Sultan once more changed his orders,
and again decreed that the Holy Places
should be restored to the Latins.
At this point, Menschikof, special envoy
of the Gear, as was Lavalette of France, ap-
pears upon the scene. Escorted by the cler-
gy of the Greek Church, he demanded full
restoration of the Holy Places to the Greeks
Here France yielded, Louis Napoleon re-
nounced the acts of his ambassador, and con-
scented to the condition of things which exist
ed before this diplomatic contest began.
Menschikoff, however, remained at Con-
stantinople. He had another demand. He
asked Of Turkey the Protector0te of the
Greek Christians. Bishop Southgate pro-
duces facts and arguments to show that this
was just demand, and ought to have been
granted. In another number, we shall give
condensed view of these facts and reasons.
The extraordinary conduct of the Turkish
Government in regard to the demands for
the custody of the Holy Places, is explained
by its habitual policy towards the European
Powers, whichpolicy was thus stated on an in
teresting occasion to Bishop Southgate, by an
eminent official of the Ottoman Government,
himself Christian IF you would have,,
he said, "a thread to guide you through all
the labyrinth of Turkish policy, you must
take this single fact: The invariable rule Of
the Porte, in all its dealings with the Euro.
pean Powers, and even in its protested re.
forms at home, is to stand well with Europe.
1t has no other principle of action. Depend.
emit as it is on these powers for its preserya
ton, for its very life, it sacrifices everything
to its European reputation. Hence those un-
measured efforts, paid for. by the Porte itself,
TO give it good name in the European press.
You have no true statement of things in your
newspapers. The facts are created, or at
least put into shape here, according to the
pleasure of the Turkish Government. Hence
they are poured into the French and English
gasettes, and thence they percolate into your
American journals. tits all made up for the
W octotu makk6A, au0 III ILLS way you seldom
learn the real condition of things Bishop
Southgats adds, that his own experience and
observation during residence of fourteen
years in Turkey, confirms this statement, and
remarks that there are no homogeneous prin.
ciples running through the Turkish system
of government. It patches up it's vexatious
questions with European Powers as best it
may; now retracting; now throwing the
blame upon its ministers; using every expe-
dent, in short. which win obviate its present
oiihculties, and trusting to good luck for the
IuIure Hence its shutting and vaciIlatine
conduct With Russia and France, in regard 70
me molly Places and hence its policy from
the beginning. has sometimes y;sld.d - -. ~
European influence, and sometimas - -.
other. - :"
Im UnoH on Tln GsErrowx AyvA,, ~.
washington Union defepds the destrre.io, -
Greyiown, and says-svhea IL the circsma..cs.