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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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PRUSSIA DEFINES HER OWN POSITION . With the assurance that the Czar desires no territorial aggrandizement or new footing in Turkey , the Circular Note of Count Nesselrode , ( whose re-appearance at this stage of the negotiations is worth remarking , ) to the Russian ministers and diplomatic agents couples a confession singular in its unconscious candour , and its self-refutation ; The whole of the note is intended t o show , that the matter in dispute between the Emperor of Russia and the Sultan has been the custody of the Holy Places , and
especially the key of th e principal church of Bethlehem , which had been delivered to the Latin patriarch , and respecting which the Emperor professes the most lively solicitude . That Btreet-door key , in fact , is professedly a key to the whole question , and that fact alone might serve as a comment on the trifling nature of the pretext for which the Czar Nicholas is about to disturb the peaceful relations of Europe . The Emperor's own story is this . The rights of the Greek clergy in the East , existing " antiquo , " had been violated by the transfer of
that valuable key and some other privileges unappreeiable to the frigid sense of British Protestantism , to the Latin patriarchs , who are under the protection of France . Complaints upon the subject were made in Constantinople , and the French Government , disavowing the gasconades of the over-zealous Lavalette , concurred in a restitution of the privileges which had been abridged , or withheld from the Greek clergy- The Sultan issued a firman , and it was conveyed to " 4 tae h ° ly ° ity " by " a Turkish , commissary . " ' The Russian
Consul there insisted upon its formal promulgation and registration , but the Turkish commissary " audaciously declared that he had no knowledge of the act , and that no mention of it was in his instructions . " On the score of these omissions by a Turkish subordinate , reported to St . Petersburg by a Russian subordinate , the Chancellorof thelJmperor , speaking in the name of his master , does not hesitate to charge the Turkish Government with " tergiversation and duplicity . " The whole affair was brought back to
Constantinople , and it had been adjusted apparently to the satisfaction of the Emperor . On the strength of this temporary impediment to the action of the Turkish Government , however , the Emperor now insists upon " an authentic act , " which must serve at the same time as " a reparation for the past , and a guarantee for the future . " Let us suppose for a moment , that the Emperor of the French had succeeded in obtaining Borne better terms for the Roman Catholics in England ; that the new arrangements were temporaril y impeded by a subordinate officer charged with their execution ; that the whole matter was ul timately arranged to the satisfaction of the Eraporor ; and , that after that Bolution , ho insisted upon Queen Victoria ' s placing herself under a bond to him , separately from the other powers of Europe : such a case would bo exactly parallol to the present position of tho Turkish aflair ; and wo in England should all feel , not only that tho demand was an insult to our Sovereign , but that compliance with it would surrender tho independence of our State . We may take the description of tho new demand and itB motives from Count Neseelrode ' sown N K W S I ^ I ^ itf *> d i 11 the name of his Imperial master . S ^ C ^ l x '—TT 2- ^ fh \* 4 fo is to be not only a guarantee for the A » ^ -,- ¦¦ ^ J £$$$ } * && reparation for tho past "—a guaran-[> , [* [ if ) ? ffi ^^ fj ^ ^ * Emperor attaches bo much y ¦ i . ; : ^ , *^ W ^ g ^ Vaportance , as it constituted the only \~ <\ ' ' ' t ^?^^/^ l * ° tno outrage offered to his dignity ~ i Sl ^ SSJ ? Of f ftith on the part of tho Ottok ^ ^ v ^^ vi ~ 5 ™ J ~*~' eil lP eoi || < Uy after the circumstances k - - A U v ' Tty wn ™«« 4 toi * yet more notorious "
Count Nesselrode claims as a precedent the example of immunities secured to Protestants in Catholic States under treaty at the time of the Reformation ; but no such treaty made the contracting protector a party to the domestic execution within the dominions for whioh the _ immunity was granted . The Emperor claims , indeed , something more : he speaks as if such , a precedent applied , a fortiori , to " a Mussulman empire whose Christian subjects have suffered , and suffer still , so often , not only in their immunities ,
but in their properties and in their existence ; as if a Mussulman were more bound than a Christian to submit his independence . Indeed , the Emperor claims " the right of surveillance and remonstrance" over Turkeyi and thus placing Turkey in an inferior position , he takes the hesitation to execute his will within Turkish dominions as a personal insult to himself , and requires a bond as a reparation for the outrage offered to his dignity . The spirit of his proceeding is thus betrayed in the words of his own accredited servant .
The Note , indeed , is full of scarcely covert threats to other powers . The Chancellor reminds a certain Government , that during the disturbances of 1848-9 , he might " have left the Governments alone to fight among themselves , or with their rebellious subjects , and , " he continu es , " profiting by the embarrassments of their position , we could have attained , without any difficulty , that point which persons persist in designating as the ffoal of our encroachine policy . " He now insists
upon the power and simple acceptance of his dictation . " Kussia , " he says , " has pressed against the extremest limits of moderation , and cannot yield another step , unless it be at the cost of her political importance . " "We still desire to untie the knot ( so dexterously fastened by the Ultimatum ) in a peaceable manner ; but it appears that we are to be compelled forcibly to break it . " Thus if he be thwarted in his will , he will " break the knot , " and the blood of Europe must be the salve to assuage the pain of his irritated "
importance . We have taken the Emperor at his word ; we have supposed that he is sincere , and that nothing more is meant than appears upon the surface of his own document ; and in that view we find him bullying a weaker power , taunting it with its inferiority , levelling insinuations at those " whose suspicions are incurable , " and declaring that , his " importance" injured by a Turkish commissary , and the want of a key to the big door of an apocryphal sanctuary , shall assuage its rancours in a European war . Can anything more foolish or more wicked be avowed P
But we do not believe the Russian document . This plan of bullying to obtain a footing in advance , and then to surcease the bullying as a concession while the advance is retained , is an old trick of Russia ; one that she has pursued in former times ; one that has gained her step after step too distinctly traced on the map of Europe ; one that she has been pursuing without hindrance of late years , and one that she is pursuing at this moment . For the suspicions of Europe are " incurable : " and if tho " importance" of the
Emperor is only to be soothed by a European war , we on the other hand must accept a war as the means of teaching his " importance" the lesson which it still needs .
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RUSSIAN ATTEMPTS ON AMEHICAN VIRTUE . In the very restlesa community of tho United Slates , if wo may interpret outward proceedings from so great distance , two conspiracies appear to bo going on , of rather a strange kind . One is / the movement of Russian agents to promote a feeling of hostility against Great Britain . Wo havo heard tho names of persons thus engaged , and one gentleman has already been publicly designated in the'journals as the author of some articles that havo appeared in tho Union of
Washington , endeavouring to represent the Czar as the object of admiration , and us a suitable alliance for tho Republic of tho West . Apart from any question of British intoreet , our American roadera will trust us for regarding any such proposition with a feeling of revulsion on tho score of American sympathies alone . The endeavour to represent that there is any similarity whatsoever between the institutions of Russia and those of the United States , could enter tho head only of a dishonost intriguer , or of BQme crazy Abolitionist . Wo do not know whether the persona who have been named to
us are actually in the pay of Bubs a or not . It may be a matter of speculation ; it » Wg ? even that , with some strangely "JJ ^ " ^ it may be a matter of taste . But that the ij ^ laxly appointed agents of Russia «•¦!«« £££ ! every quarter oftle globe is a fact often asserted wiJh confidence , an ! confirmed to our own knowledge by remarkable mcld ? » t % ^ * V ea ^ of society , in no town , in no political V ^ y ^ cni we be sure of not encountering some one serving the purposes of the autocrat . e ' i . ^ , The possibility of a retribution m kind , however , already appears . By her last act m th ? East , Russia has thrown off the mask which she has so long worn , and appears , not only as tne head of tSeAbsolutist party ^ Europe , but doctrine tnat
as the upholder of the nau ^ , « *» all their interests , material and moral , then ^ integrity and their peace , are to be saennced to soothe the " dignity or importance of one man . In these respects Russia is the exact opposite ot the United States , —the very contrast ; proud of all that America hates , hating all that America prizes . The conflict which is gradually coming on in Europe is one in which the vital principle of Russia will be contending with the vital principle of America ; and looking to the expansion which the love of freedom has received in modern times , we cannot but anticipate that , With , all
the development of war and military organisation , the tyrannical principle will lose , the American will triumph . No respectable number of the citizens in the United States , then , can be so far traitors to their country , or traitors to their own understanding , as to take side with that power which they are destined to despise and to conquer . Russia is proud on account of her great means and magnitude ; but there is such a possibility as that a State , especially one which hangs upon for its
a single centre , may become too large own- integrity . It is a mistake to imagine that the Russians are altogether so subservient to the one man ; or that 50 , 000 , 000 of human beings do pray for the extension of that life with every rising and setting sun . It is true that the * Russian officer in the uniform of authority is a tyrant wherever he goes , as the officers of a purely military and centralized government usually are , whether the country is Christian or Mussulman . ' But it is not possible to possess with a military police so vast a territory as that of Russia : and the one fact that the Russian
can traverse the dominions of his Sovereign without a passport would suffice to prove that there is a degree of personal liberty in Russia far beyond that of many European countries . The Russian is becoming conscious of his own energies and importance in Europe , independently of his sovereign . He travels , and finds that he is as clever , as powerful bodily , as courageous , as apt at seizing ideas , as any other European . Siberia has been peopled by exiles ; it is a country lar g e in extent , varied in climate and character ; but there is this peculiarity about it—that it is a true colony . The descendants of the exiles often lose their desire to
return to their old Russia , and Siberia is beginning to have a consciousness of itself . Siberia is continually extending eastward , as America is extending westward ; and the time is not altogether out of eight when the Anglo-Saxon colonist will meet the Russian . Small respect for Emperors is likely to bo felt , when the piquets of those two democracies hold conversations on tho mutual boundary ! The opinion of freedom , indeed , has a power of expansion
necessarily denied to the dogma of centralized authority ; and instead of supposing that America is to go to Europe to play the condottiere in tho army of tho Tyrant on the bonks of the Neva , wo may expect that somo day , the Anglo-Saxon and the Russian may go down , arm-in-arm , cross the eastern territory , to teach the old Russians how to manago their affairs in their own way . That is the true Russo-American alliance , which to our prophetic vision looms in the remoter future .
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THREAT OF A NEW MEXICAN WAR . The other conspiracy , conducted by we know not whom , appears to bo one to disparage General Pierce ; and the evidences of it we desery in the columns of a paper which at first affected to ignoro that distinguished man , was then obliged to recognise him in tho fulness of his popularity , and now profeaiea to ditJOpv ^ r 8 om » popular mistrust * Toe profwoed cauJWf of
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There is nothing so r evolutionary , because there as nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain , to Veen things fixed when all the world is by the very law of ite creation in eternal progress . —Db . Abkolb .
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T SATURDAY , JUNE 25 , 1853 .
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612 ' _ ,,., . .. ^
THE L E ADER . [ Saturday , ¦ . i - — == ^^^^^^ Stmm ^ mm
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 25, 1853, page 612, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1992/page/12/
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