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to the English Cabinet ^ The same day came a note from London , announcing to Bonaparte that England , before finally resolving to proceed to action was anxious to , await the result of the last attempts at conciliation . For it seems that the two Governments sent a collective noteto the Czar Nicholas , in reply to the former ^ nanifiesiq from St . Petersburgti . At Constantinople , -meanwhile , the two ambassadors had assumed a . similar . position . . They had obtained a promise . from the Sultan ndt to demand the immediate
succour jof- the combined fleets : whereupon they drew ^ P a jqimt declaration for Turkey to sign , and which Atafcria y ^ ould present to the Czar . If the Czar expresses assent to this document , Turkey will sign , and all will blow over . This news from Constantinople dates July 4 th . At the Tuileries , however , slight is the faith in the pacific dispositions of Russia . It is even said aloud , that " we should not be sorry to be released from all hesitations by the positive refusal of Nicholas . "
In the meanwhile , the Czar is acting in Moldavia and Wallachia quite as if he were at home . The Russians have seized the post-office , and allow no letters to pass but those in his favour . In spite of their solemn protests , that they are not come to change the form of ' government , they have , in feet , forced the two Hospodars to delegate their powers to eighteen agents in Moldavia , and fifty-four in Wallachia . These delegates accompany the Russian authorities on all occasions ; and it is Russia that rules—pulling the strings of a few dozen puppets ! It is something more than an occupation : it is a veritable incorporation . ¦ ¦ ' - .. - ' : ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ . ¦ ' . '¦ ' ¦ ¦'¦ ' ¦ - ¦' . ¦ S .-
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . Important as is the present position of the Turkish question , little light has been thrown upon it by the news < M the week from Constantinople . We look to St . Petersburg , to Paris , to Vienna , for intelligence rather thanto the banks of the Bosphorus . Accordingly we reprint textuaJly the last note of Count Nessehrode , by far the most insulting and mendacious of Russian diplomatic documents : — - ' St . Petersburg , June 20 , 1853 . " Sir , —My circular despatch of the ' 30 th May last informed you of the rupture of our diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Government . It charged you to bring to the knowledge of the Cabinet to which you are accredited the grievances which we ^ have suffered from the Porte , our
fruitless efforts to obtain satisfaction , and the successive concessions which we made from a sincere desire to maintain good and friendly relations with the Turkish Government . You know that , after having renounced one after the other the idea of a guarantee obtained , under the form of a convention , sened , or other synaUagmatic act , we reduced our demand to the signing of a' simple note , such as that the text of which we transmitted , to you . You will have seen that that note , independently of the more particular dispositions' relative to the holy places , contains in reality nothing " else , as regards the general guarantee claimed in favour of the worship , than a simple
confirmation of that wh ich we for a long time possess . I pointed out to you that the signing of that document constituted in the eyes of the Emperor the only and real reparation that he can accept for the insult committed against him by the violation of the finnan of the year 1862 , as also of the personal promises which the Sultan had added . I added that such an act was moreover indispensable , because tho granting of now firmans susceptible of being disregarded , as was the first , could not nlono offer us a sufficient guarantee for the future . Finally , I did not dissimulate that if , after eight days reflection , the Ottoman Porto refused to accede to our demands , the Emperor would feel himself placed in the necessity of having recourse to obtain satisfaction to more decisive measures than a simple interruption of relations . " In putting that ultimatum to the Porto , we had more particularly informed the great Cabinets of our intentions . We had notably solicited ( finqagi ) Franco and Great Britain not to assume on attitude- that would comp licate tho difficulties of the situation ; not to take too soon measures which on the one hand would have tho effect of encournginir the opposition of tho Porto , and on tho other would implicate Btill more than they woro already tho honour and dignity of the Emperor . " I Wo tho regret to announce to you to-day that that double endeavo ur has unhappily been in vain . " Tho Porte , as you will see by tho subjoined Jotter ot Besohid Pacha , has made a negative , or at least an ovaaivo , reply to the ono which I addressed to it . " On the other hand , tho two maritime Powers have not thought fit to defer to tho considerations which wo recommended to their serious attention . Taking tho initiative before us , they have judged it indispensable to anticipate immediately , by an effective measure , those which we had announced to them as simply eventual as wo mado tho exeoution thoreof subordinate to tho final resolutions of the Porto and at tho very moment I vrrito , tho execution of them ' has not yet ; commenced ; they at once sent their Hoots to tho Constantinople waters ; they already occupy tho waters and ports of the Ottoman domination , within re ^ oh of tho Dardanelles . By this advanced attitude the two powers have placed us under tho weig ht of a comminatory demonstration , which , as wo foretold them , must add new complications to tho cri » ifl . , ^« In presence of the refusal of tho Porte , supported by the manifestation of Franco and Eng land , it becomes more impSlo than ever for us to modif y the roBolutionfl whjch tHo Emperor mwlo dcponilont upon %
" In consequence , his Imperial Majesty has just issued an order to the division of our troops stationed at the present moment in Bessarabia to cross the frontier , and occupy the principalities . " They enter them , not to wage an offensive war against the Porte , which on the contrary we shall endeavour to avoid as long as we are not forced into it , but because the Porte , in persisting to refuse the moral guarantee which we bad * tKe right to expect , obliges us to substitute in its place provisionally a material guarantee j because the V ° 81 ' tion which the two powers have taken in the ports : an ° waters of his empire , in very si g ht of hia capital , cannot be regarded by us , under actual circumstances , in any other light than a maritime occupation , gives us , moreover , a reason for re-establishing the equilibrium of the reciprocal
situations by taking up a military position . We _ have not , however , any intention of keeping that position any longer than our honour or our safetymay demand . It will be purely temporary ; it will serve us solely as a pledge until better counsels shall have prevailed in the minds of the Sultan ' s ministers . Whilst occupying the principalities for a period , we disavow beforehand all idea of conquest . We do not pretend to obtain an accession of territory . With knowledge and will , we shall not seek to arouse any excitement among the Christian p opulation of Turkey . As soon &s the latter shall have accorded us the satisfaction which is our due , and when at the same time
the pressure laid upon us by the attitude assumed by the two powers shall have been removed , our troops will return that moment within the Russian frontier . As regards the inhabitants of the principalities , the presence of our troops will not impose upon them any charges or additional contributions . The provisions they will furnish shall be paid for'from our military chest , at an opportune moment , at a rate fixed beforehand with their Government .- Theprinci p les and rules of conduct which we have prescribed in this respect you will find detailed in the annexed proclamation of General Prince Gortechakoff , in command of the troops of occupation , and which he was instructed to make public on his entrance
into the two provinces . " We in no respect dissimulate the great importance of the attitude which we take > and what the ulterior consequences thereof may be if the Turkish Government obliges us to make it leave the narrow and limited circle in which we wish to keep it . But the position in which it places us , by pushing matters to extremes , by refusing us every legitimate satisfaction , by not granting any concession whatever in return for all those which Prince Menschikoff gave successively on the form as well as on the original substance of our propositions , leaves us no alternative . There is more : the principles so peremptorily asserted , notwithstanding the moderation of the language in the
responsive letter of Reschid Pacha , as well as in his note of the 26 th of May last to the representatives of the four powers at Constantinople , would tend to nothing less , if taken at the letter , than to place in question all our acquired rights , to annul all our anterior transactions . " In fact , if the Ottoman Government judges contrary to its independence and sovereign rights all diplomatic engagements ^ whatsoever , even under the form of a simple note , in which , it would be a question to stipulate with a foreign Government for religion and the churches , what becomes of the engagement which , it contracted with us formerly under a for more binding form to protect our religion and its churches in its states P le would be to tear
" To admit so absolute a princip up with our own hand the . treaty of Itoinardji , and all those that confirm it ; to abandon , voluntarily , the right they conferred upon us to see that the Greek faith is efficiently protected in Turkey . " Is it this that the Porte seeks ? Does it seek to throw off all its anterior obligations , and to obtain from tho present crisis . the abolition for ever of a whole order of relations consecrated by time ? " Impartial Europe will understand that if tho question is put in theso terms , notwithstanding tho most conciliating intentions , a peaceful solution would be impossible for Russia . For our treaties , our secular influence , our moral credit , our . dearest sontimonts both national and
religious would bo at stake . " Let us bo allowed to say it ; tho present dispute , and all tho clamour given to it by tho public pross outside tho Cabinets , rest upon a simple misunderstanding , or a wont of attention to all our political antecedents . " People seem ignorant , or it is lost sight of , that Russia virtually enjoys by position and by treaty the ancient right of surveillance for an efficacious protection of its worship in tho East ; and tho maintenance of that ancient right which it cannot abandon is represented as implying a now pretension of a protectorate , religious as well as political , with an exaggerated idea of its bearing and con-Boquences for tho future .
" It is on this sad miscomprehension that tho wliolo present crisis turns . " Tho bearing and consequences of our pretended now political protectorate havo no real existence . Wo only demand ( for our co-religionists in the Euat tho strict statti quo , tho conservation of the privileged which they possess ab antiquo under tho shield of thoir Sovereign . Wo do not deny that thoro would result for Rusnia what may bo justly called a religious patronage . It is that which wo liavo at all times exorcised in tho JKast . And if hitherto tho indopondonco and sovereignty of Turkey havo found
tho moans to reconeilo themselves to tho . exorcise ot that patronage , why should they , not both suffer them in future from tho moment that our pretensions aro reduced to what is really but a simple confirmation of them ? " Wo havo said it , and wo ropeat it—it is no more tho wish of tho Emperor to-day than it was his wish in the past to overthrow tho Ottoman Empire or to aggrandise liimaolf at its exponso . After tho very moderato uso ho mado in 1820 of hjs , victory of Adrianop lo , when that victory and its consequences plaood tho Porto at its moroy ; after having , alorio in Eurapq , saved Turkey in 1833 from Inevitable diswomberment ; after having in 1830 tftkou tho
initiative with the other powers in the propositions which , executed in common against , prev ^^ ed the Sultan from beholding his throne make place to a new Arabian empire —it becomesi almost fastidious to give proof of that truth . On the contrary , the fundamental principle of the policy of our august master has always been to maintain as long as possible the actual statu quo of the east . He wished it , and still desires it , because such is definitively the best interest of Russia , already too vast to need an extension . of territory ; because , prosperous , peaceful , inoffensive , placed as a useful mediator between powerful , states , the Ottoman Empire arrests the shock of rivalries which , if it fell , would clash to fight for its fragments ; because human foresight vainly endeavours to discover the combinations best calcuthe ot tnat
lated to fill the vacuum which disappearance great body would leave in the political balance . But if such are the real , avowed , sincere views of the Emperor , that he may remain faithful to them it is also necessary that Turkey should act towards us in a manner to offer us the possibility of co-existing with it . Let it respect our private treaties , and the consequences derived from them ; let not acts of bad faith , secret persecutions , perpetual vexations against our worship , create a situation which , intolerable at last , would obbge us to trust the remedy to the blind chances of hazard . " Such are , sir , the considerations which you are charged to point out to the attention of the Government to which you are accredited , by communicating the present despatch and the resolutions and intentions of his Majesty the Emperor . ( Signed ) " Nesseibode . "
In spite of this portentous epistle , the question of peace or war remains in abeyance . Rumours flit about to the effect that Austria , France , and England will present or have presented a joint note to Russia , offering such terms as both Russia and the Porte may accept with honour . We have no incontestable authority for this statement . It seems quite certain that the combined fleets have not yat passed the Dardanelles ; but the Turks continue their preparations . Prince Gortschakoff has announced the intentions of his master to the people of Moldavia and Wallachia . Here are some important passages in his proclamation : — "We come among you neither with projects of conquest ; nor with the intention to modify the institutions under
which you live , or the political position which solemn treaties have guaranteed to you . The provisional occupation of the Principalities which I am ordered to effect is for no other purpose than that of an immediate and efficacious protection in grave and unforeseen circumstances , when the Ottoman Government , distrusting the numerous proofs of a sincere alliance which the Imperial Court has never ceased to give it since the conclusion of the treaty of Adrianople , replies to our most equitable-proposals with refusals , and opposes the most offensive suspicions- to our disinterested advice . " In his magnanimity , in his constant desire to maintain peace in the East as well as in Europe , the Emperor will avoid an aggressive war against Turkey , so long as his dignity and the interests of his empire , shall permit him to do so . On the day on which he obtains the reparation
which ia . due to him , and tho guarantees which he has a rig ht to claim for the future , hia troops shall return within , the frontiers of Russia . " Inhabitants of Moldavia and Wallachia ' . I also execute an order of His Imperial Majesty in declaring to you that the presence of His Majesty ' s troops in your country shall not impose on jfpu any freah charges or contributions ; that the forage and rations for the troops shall in due time , and at a rate appointed and agreed on in advance by your Governments , be paid for from our military treasury . The famous Imperial manifesto has produced a great effect on the Russian people . When it became generally known , St . Petersburg illuminated ; the mob danced madly before tho carriage of the Emperor , and on their knees implored tho blessing of heaven on tho defender of their faith .
It still remains doubtful what course Austria and Prussia will take . The former power has garrisoned Peterwardcin , and M . do Bruck is said to bo making extravagant demands on tho Sultan ; and an incident has occurred at Smyrna throwing great suspicion on her . It is thus relatod : — " Martin Eossta , a Hungarian refugee , and ono of those exiles who accompanied Koasuth to America , had lately returned to Smyrna , whore ho had been sojourning , I beliove , only a few days . Last Wednesday evening this man was seated in a cafe , close to the waterside , quietly smoking his narguilch , when just about sunset ho found himself surroumlcd by an armed body of ruffians , who immediately laid hold of him . By a violent effort ho flung two or throe of theso raon into the water , and , finding no
other moans of oscapo , ho himself sprang into tho sea and swam .. towarda a vessel , closely followed by his armed pursuerH , who , quickly overtaking him , forced him , on pain of instant death , to surrender himself . Ho was then dragged into a boat , severely handled , and taken on board an Austrian brig-of-war ( tho Hussar ) , lying in tho port , whore ho wua heavily ironed . It was observed that about six of his captors remained on board tho Austrian , brig ; tho rest returned on shore . On the following morning the affair became generally known , and tho American Consul waitod on tho Consul of Austria , saying that ho -understood that a native of Hungary , who had become an
American citizen , hod boon taken by force on board tho Austrian man-of-war , and ho wished to see tho man , and to auk for explanations . Tho Austrian Consul denied all knowlodgo of tho fact . Tho American Consul then proceeded to tho Austrian man-of-war , and requested tut interview with tho prisoner , which waa refuaed ; meantime tho vessel was preparing to depart . Jixat at that moment an American corvetto , commanded by Captain Strinirbam sailed into tho harbour . Tho CodbuI lost no time va acu quainting the captain with , tho a 0 feir , when they both proceeded to the Auatrian Consul and demanded « ui inter view with tho prisoner , Tb , e oaptajn . of the Iforig ; ww © rel
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Joey 16 , 1853 . ] ' THE LEADER . 679
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Leader (1850-1860), July 16, 1853, page 679, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1995/page/7/
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