Washington telegraph., 1854-04-19
WASHINGTON, ARKANSAS WEDNESDAY APRIL 49, 1854.

! COnSlU-
cred by Austria and Prussia Unfortunate
", IN the interval, a part of the Anglo.
French fleet had already entered the Oar.
danelles, under the pretext of there protect.
ing the lives and properties of English and
French subjects; and in order to allow the
whole to enter, without violating the treaty
of 1871, it was necessary that the Ottoman
Government should declare war against us.
+! My opinion is. that if France and Eng
land had desired peace as much as / thew
would at any cost have prevented that de-
! claratlon of war, or, when war was once de-
ciared. taken care that it should have been
restrained within the narrow limits within
which wished to confne it on the Danube.
so that l might not be compelled by force to
abandon the purely defensive system which
wished to adopt. But from the moment
when the Turks were allowed to attack our
Asiatlc territory, to carry away one of our
| frontier posts (even before the term fixed
for the commencement of hostilites.) to
blockade Akaittzik, and to ravage the pro.
vince of Armenia-from the moment when
the Turkish feet were allowed to transport
troops, arms. and munitions of war, to our
coasts, could it be reasonably hoped that VIC
should wait patiently the result of such an
attempt? Was it not to be supposed that
we should do all We could to prevent it -
The affair Of Sinopc was the result of it.
That affair was the forced consequence of
the attitude adopted by the two Powers, and
the result certainly could not have been un-
expected had declared my wish to re-
main upon the defensive, before the war
broke out, as far as my honor and my inter-
ests would permit me to do so, and so long
as the war was restrained within certain
limits @ ac
Has all been done which ought to have
been done, to prevent these limits being ex-
ceeded? If the character of spectator or
even that of mediator, was not sufficient for
your Majesty; and if your Majesty wished
to become the armed auxiliary of my ene-
mics, then, Sire. it would have been more
honorable, more worthy of you to have told
me so frankly beforehand, by declaring war
against me. Each of us would then have
known the part he had to play But is it
an equitable proceeding for those to make
crime of that, even after it has happened
which they did nothing to prevent? If the
cannon-shot of Slnope reverberated painful
| ly on the hearts of all those who in France
and in England appreciate the national digni-
ty, does your Majesty think the mcnacinc
prescnce, at the entrance of the Bosphorus, of
the 5000 pieces of cannon, of which YOU
speak, and the report of their entrance into
the Black Sea, remain without echo in the
hearts of the nation whose honor have to
defend.
| learn from your Majesty for the FIRST
time (for the verbal declarations made to
me UP TO this period have made no such al
lusion.) that while protecting the reinforce
ments of Turkish troops upon their own
territory, the two Powers have resolved to
prohibit to us the navigation Of the Black
Sea, that is to say, apparently. to take from
us the right of strengthening our own coasts
leave it to your Majesty to consider if that
be, as you say, the way to facilitate the con-
clusion of peace, and if. in the alternative
which is placed before me, am permitted
to discuss, or even to examine for moment
your proposals for an armistice, the imme-
diate evacuation of the Principalitics, and
the negotiation with the Porte of conven-
| ton to be submitted to the four Powers
Would you, yourself, Sire, if you were in
my place. accept such a position! Would
your national feeling allow you to do so p
boldly answer, no. Allow me, then. in
my turn, the right of thinking as you would
/ think yourself. '"'i
Whatever your Majesty may decide, men,
| ; ces will not induce me to recel le My
confidence is in God, and in my right, and
Russia. as I can guarantee, will prove her.
self in 1854, what she was in 1872 If,
however, your Majesty, less Indifferent to
my honor should frankly return to our pro-
gramme-if you should proffer me cordial
! hand as now offer it to you at this last mo-
ment-I will willingly forget whatever has
wounded my feelings in the past. Then,
Sire, but then only, we may discuss, and
perhaps we may come to an understanding
Let your feet limit itself to preventing the
Turks from sending additional forces to the
theatre of war. l willingly promise that
they shall have nothing to fear from my at
tempts Let them send a negotiator.
will receive him in suitable manner. My
/ conditions are known at Vienna. That is
the only basis upon which l can allow dis
cussion.
1 beg your Majesty to believe in the sim
cerity of the sentiments with which l am
Sire, your Majesty's good friend.
7a NICHOLAS.
4 The tabling of AIr. Peters resolution, in
the New York Legislature. calling for the as
,hl;nr of n council of freedom in a lbany