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Jpty 3(V 1853.] THE L E A D E B. 727
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CONTINENTAL NOTES. The followingis the P...
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Letters From Paris. [Fbom Otjr Own Cobbe...
have been arrested at Melun , and three , viz . one doctor and two lawyers , at Lille . AH these persons were broug ht to Paris by the railway , and lodged in the prison of Mazas . The Government indeed sees nothing but conspirators , secret societies , daggers , bombs , pistols , and infernal machines in every quarter . Three Working men , who were walking quietly in the Bois de Boulogne , in a retired alley , were arrested ; the terrified imagination of the Bonapartists transmogrified them into three conspirators armed to the teeth . These gentlemen tremble so painfully for the safety of their hero , that it has been decided that Bonaparte shall not go to the South , where the secret societies are more powerful , more formidable , more menacing than ever . As I am on this topic , let me
mention that it is pretty well ascertained that the prince de Joinville lately disclosed to the Government the existence of a plot to assassinate the Emperor . Only , this revelation Was not made in the form of a romantic letter to the Empress , as our sportive imaginations described . The Prince simply , and quite prosaically , wrote to Lord Palmerston , who communicated the letter to the French government . This would only corroborate what I have always assured you , that the republicans had nothing to do with the matter . The Orleans family are now reconciled to the Comte de Chambordj it can only have been in their interest that the plot was laid . This reconciliation is as yet only known to a very select number of persons , but the fact is not the less asserted .
The Due de Nemours is about to start fbr Germany , and there he Will pay a visit to his cousin the Comte de Chambord , at Frohsdorf : on the other hand the latter has positively announced his intention to come to England to visit the ex-queen Amelie , at Claremont . This fusion , so often announced and so often contradicted , will change the face of things in France . The men who for fear of the republic had rallied to Bonaparte , will now turn round and rally to the cause of the " legitimate monarchy . " The officers of the army are already being plied in this direction , as you will perceive next month , on the trial-called the Frocks de
Vincennes ; bnt now they will be far more vigorously worked upon than ever . Perhaps we may live to see a military conspiracy pull down the very regime which a military conspiracy elected . ' For the . present , however , this regime flourishes more luxuriantly than ever It is a flaming despotism . The trinl of the Commune revolutionnaire has revealed a curious fact , which throws full light on our Government . You know , that on the pretext of his accession to the Imperial Throne , Bonaparte , on the 2 nd December last , decreed an amnesty for offences of the press . It seems there were a certain number of refugees in London included in
that category . Allured by the rose-pink decree , they attempted to return into France , and were repulsed by the gendarmerie , who wrote on their passports , as I hear from actual eyewitnesses , the picturesque word , Hefoules ! ( repulsed ) . I will cite another fact in illustration of the dominant system . Persigny lately sent again for the chief editors of the journals . " You are aware , gentlemen / ' he said , " that the Government has granted you authority to speak more freely ( plus largement ) than before : you are at liberty to discuss
every question , with the exception of two : — the Russian question , and the crops ( la question des subsistances ) . Don't be too Russian , and tako care not to spread any alarm about the harvest . " The Paris papers have been cautious enough since this warning about opening their lips ; but in the provinces the Burno circumspection has not been observed . Not having been advised of the interdict laid upon discussion of tlie weather , they have exposed themselves to the " warnings" of the Prefects .
Just now wo are in full swing of elections . Who would believe it ? They arc only municipal elections , to ho sure ; but it is a remarkable fact about them that nobod y votes ! I told you in a former letter that a gentleman had hcon arrested for ttible-moviiig , aa a political oflenco . ¦ The Biahop of Rennes was consulted on the subje ' et ° f tlieao table-inovingsa , which are now an exploded folly hero . The Bishop condemns them as contrary to the faitJt , and an invention of the Devil . The Enstorn question hns entered upon a now phase "ore . Bonaparte hnfl lost all patience at last . Ho logins to understand that Russia only wants to gain '"• He , nnd ho has sent to your Government the project ° * Hn ultimatum to bo addressed to Russia .
J'his ultimatum imposes upon Russia the obligation ° » uvneuuting the Danubiu ' n provinces immediately "Her the nccoptanco by Turkey of the Russian con-. ns ; sine qud , Franco nnd Englund would mnko it , without more ndo , a question of war with Russia her-3 e'J- Your Cabinet ( so Hays my informant ) lems logicul luu ° « rs , has refused to subucribo to this ultimatum 011 tll ° terms I have dcacribod , and proposes the
following contradictory nonsense — to represent to the Czar that if he does riot evacuate Moldo-Wallachia withou t delay , France arid England will' be obliged to ——take further measures ( aviser ) . This does not satisfy Bonaparte by any means , you may . well believe . The Bourse , on the other hand , has just closed with a rise . It is really the old story of Jean qui pleure , et Jean qui rit . ¦ " - ¦ ' . ¦ ¦; ;¦¦ ' ; . - ¦ ¦ . ' / ' ¦;¦ .: : ,., ¦ ¦' . ' ' - ¦ ' By this time the actual reply of the Czar to the proposals of arrangement addressed to him in common by France and England is known . The Czar replies that he never desired , and never intended , nor does he desire
or intend , to settle the dispute with any other Power but Turkey , and that he does not recognise in France or England any right to intervene in the question . In fact it was the insolence of this reply which suggested to Bonaparte the project of his 'ultimatum . Let me add , that the Russians resident in Paris dissemble neither their pride nor their pretensions . " Turkey has been our vassal / ' say they , " for the last sixty years j she is only kept alive by the breath of the life we vouchsafe to spare to her ; if it is our good pleasure to diminish that portion of vitality which we allow her , no power in the world has the right or the might to prevent us . "
Consider ! consider ! great Powers ! ( avisez ! avisez /) While you are considering , the enemy acts ; he takes , and he keeps . Russia is intriguing enormously in the Danubian Provinces . She has succeeded in stirring up a revolution in Servia . The reigning prince has been forced to abdicate in favour of his nephew , who was educated in Russia . The first act of the new government has been to suspend the levy of Servian troops which Turkey was summoning to her aid .
The British steamer Caradoc has just brought to Marseilles the note of the Turkish Government addressed to the other Governments of Europe . The telegraph assures us ( to the rejoicing of the Bourse ) that Turkey yields on every point . S .
Jpty 3(V 1853.] The L E A D E B. 727
Jpty 3 ( V 1853 . ] THE L E A D E B . 727
Continental Notes. The Followingis The P...
CONTINENTAL NOTES . The followingis the Protest of the Turkish Government to which our Paris correspondent alludes . It is addressed to all the European Governments . " The Sublime Porte has just been officially informed that the Russian army has crossed the Pruth , and that it has entered Moldavia , with , the intention of also occupying Wallachia . This movement , effected without ita co-operation upon an integral part of its empire , has occasioned it as much sorrow as surprise . It is painful for it to behold the inhabitants of those loyal and peaceful provinces exposed to all the chances of a military occupation . It is difficult for it to reconcile such an act of aggression with the pacific declarations and amicable assurances so often reiterated by the Cabinet of St . Petersburg . It is still more difficult for it not to be astonished at an operation which is an infringement of the principles established in the treaty of 1841 . " The Sublime Porte , in expressing the sentiments which this event has caused it , cannot dispense with setting in their true light some circumstances to which the Ministers of his Imperial Majesty have in vain endeavoured to give a conclusion such as their love of justice and tranquillity made them desiro . " The negotiations which were opened in concert with Prince Menschikoff were restricted at first to the points which offered difficulties relative to the question of tho Holy Places , and the differences which were the principal object thereof speedily received a solution of a nature to satisfy all parties interested . " We have consented , moreover , to the construction of a church and hospital at Jerusalem for the special use of the Russians , so that the concessions demanded in favour of the priests and pilgr ims of tho same nation have not been refused to either . . ' ¦
" After tho happy conclusion of the part of the negotiations which related to the solo ostensible object of tho extraordinary mission of Prince Menschikotf , that ambassador hastened to press another demand , which , if it had boen admitted by tho Government of his Majosty tho Sultan , could not have failed being a grave attack on the interests of the empire , and of compromising the sovereign rights which are its ornaments ana its supports . " It has boon seen by tho official communications which tho Sublime Porto has at various times made to tho Groat Powers , that it doos not hesitato to give sufficient assurances cnpablo of dissipating tho doubts which led to tho discussions relative to the rights , spiritual privileges , and other immunities attached thereto , and which tho Grcok churches and Greek priosts possosn , on tho part of his Majesty tho Sultan . Far from wishing to withdraw any
portion of those privileges , or oven of restricting tho onjoymont consecrated by their utilit y , his Imperial Majosty makes a glory to confirm them publicly , and , faithful to tlio maxims of justico and morcy , of placing thorn safe from all projudieo , by tho moans of a nolomn act bearing his hatti-chorif , and which wan made known to all friondly Govornraenta . Such boing tho caeo , it would bo an act of supererogation to encumber thin quontion with a heap of details . It suffices hero to demonstrate that , on tho ono hand , the demand of tho Russian ambassador , notwithstanding certain modifications , either in tho torniH or in tho form , remained inodmiseiblo / in consequence of what has just been explained ; wlrilat , on tho othor hand , it had no real object , in consoquonco of tho Bolornn guarantees given spontaneously b y tho Sovereign hirriHolt , in face of tho wholo world . Thoflo incontestable foots Buffico to reliovo
the Sublime Porte from all obligation to excuse itself further on the subject of the religious privileges . It is incontestably evident that the independence of a sovereign State is null , if among its attributes it does not possess that of refusing without offence a demand unauthorized by treaties , end the acceptance of -which would at ^ same time be superfluous as regards its ostensible object , and no less humiliating than hurtful to the High Party declining it . ' " Nevertheless , the Sublime Porte in no way desists from its amicable and profoundly sincere desire not only to fulfil all its engagements towards Russia with the most scrupulous exactitude , but , moreover , to give it any newproof of its cordial dispositions compatible with the sacred rights of its sovereignty , and with the honour and
fundamental interests of its empire . " It is always ready to reiterate the assurances promised in the letter dated 4 th ( 16 th ) June , written in reply to that of his Excellency Count Nesselrode , bearing date 19 th May ; and it is still disposed , if an arrangement of s nature to satisfy Russia can be arrived at without prejudice to the sacred rights of the Sultan , to send an ambassador extraordinary to St . Petersburg to seek in concert ¦ with the Russian Cabinet the means of arriving at that end . > ' . . ¦ " As regards the passage in the letter of his Excellency Count Nesselrode relative to the eventual invasion of the Ottoman territory , the Sublime Porte has already declared that it cannot accept it ; and as that letter , as well as the reply of the Ottoman Ministry , was at once communicated to the Powers that signed the treaty of 1841 , it evidently becomes needless to enter into details on so painful a
question . " In consequence of these circumstances , and in . virtue of these considerations , the Government of his Majesty had ' reason to hope that the founded motives which he never censed to allege to justify the refusal of hia consent , the impossibility in which he finds himself of according it , and the sincere desire which at different times he has expressed to see a renewal of the cordial relations between the two High Parties , would be finally appreciated , and that the Court of Russia would return to more equitable sentiments
towards it , the Sublime Porte feels the more sorrow in findi ng 1 itself deceived in this hope , as the eminent qualities of the Emperor of Russia , his known justice and moderation , did not allow it to suppose that his Majesty would be capable of wishing to ground his demands upon other bases than those of reason and common right , as he had but recently given , both to the Sultan himself and to the European towers , positive assurances of his desire to respect the dignity and maintain the independence of the Ottoman Empire .
" And it is in this state of things that the Sublime Porte has just received the official notice that the Russian troops have crossed the frontier . ' " If the Court of Russia persists in founding the demand to consecrate , by a document obligatory towards it , the religious privileges of which it is question on the treaty of Kainardje " , it must be observed that the promise contained in the first port of Art . 7 of that treaty , relative to the protection of the Christian religion and its churches , is a generality ; and that degree of importance attributed to it by Russia can scarcely be found in it , still less a speciality in favour of tho Greek religion .
" However this may be , if the Sublime Porte omitted to protect the Christian religion and churches , it is then only that it would be time to remind it of its promise by quoting that treaty ; and it is no less clear that this new proposition cannot be founded upon that treaty , inasmuch as the privileges and immunities of the Greek religion have been granted ( octroyS ) by the Sublime Porto without the demand or intervention of any ono whomsoever . It is , in fact , a point of honour for it to maintain them at present and in the future , and a duty imposed upon it by its system , full of solicitude for its subjects . The firmans which havo rocontly been promulgated , and which confirm tho privileges and the immunities of all religions , publicly testify to the firm intentions of the Sublime Porte in this re » spect , in such manner that without tho slightest doubt ft
foreign intervention is not at all required for the purpose . Only , whereas tho Court of Russia , whatever may be tho motive , has conceived suspicions with regard to those religious privileges , and as the Greek religion is that of tho august Emperor , and of a great portion of his subjects , tho Sublime Porte , moved by theso considerations , and also from deference to the amicable relations which still exist botweon the two Powers , does not retire before the resolution of giving sufficient assurances to his nubjects . But , if a government contracts , on tho righto and pr ivileges which from its own movement it has accorded to tho churches and priests of a nation of so many millions of eouls submitted to its authority , exclusive obligations with another Government , it would be to sharo its authority with that Government ; it would bo nothing less than tho annihilation of its own independence .
" Tho treaties concluded between tho Sublime Porte and tho Court of Russia , concerning tho two principalities , do not authorize in any manner tho sending of troops by Russia into thoso two countries ; and tho article relating 1 thereto , which is in tho Soned of Balta-Liman , is eubordin a to to tho easo of tho breaking out of internal' disturbances ; which is by no moans tho case in tho present instance . " Tho fact is that this aggressive proceeding on tho part
of JaiH » ia cannot in principle bo considered in any other light than a declaration of war , giving tho . Sublimo Porto tho incontostiblo right of pmploying military forc o in re * turn . But tho Sublime Porto is fur from wishing to push its rights to tho extreme . Strong in tho justice which rogulutos its policy towards tho Powers , it prefors reservT ing thorn in tho expectation of a spontaneous roturn of Russia to a lino of action moro conformablo to its declarations . It ia with a viow to remove every obstacle- to that roturn that it restricts itwolf at present to protest against tho aggression of which it has such just right to complain . It thinka thereby to offer to tho whole world on additional
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30071853/page/7/
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