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fleets into the Black Sea . Prom that time to the establishment of peace , the island remained unoccupied , except by a few Turkish soldiers , and the keepers of a new lighthouse built by- the Ottoman Government . Upon the ratiacation of the Treaty of March , however , and upon the formal cession by Russia of the territories which had locked the entrance of the river , the Turks construed the concession clauses so as to include the Isle of Serpents , and placed sixty men , in charge of an officer , to guard the lighthouse , which has to the
already proved of considerable value traders between the Danube and Odessa . But the Russian Government denying that the surrender of the Isle of Serpents was implied by the Treaty , sent a detachment to take military possession of it . The island was literally invaded by armed men , and the Turkish officer , not choosing to become responsible for a conflict , simply protested against the intrusion , applied to the Porte for instructions , and took up a position not far from the new Russian quarters . Thus a joint but rival occupation has been established on the Isle of Serpents .
The negotiators of the Paris Treaty are responsible for leaving this question in doubt . They but half performed their duty when they left the cession or retention of any territorial point to be implied , instead of incorporating in a declaratory clause the name of every place to be evacuated hy Russia . Doubtful interpretations result from incapable diplomacy . Still , it is impossible to believe that it was the intention of the
Western Powers , while rescuing the mam stream of the Danube from Russian control , to leave her in possession of a fortified island at the mouth . The terms of the article are vague , but their very generality is inferential evidence in favour of the Turkish claim . All territories within a certain line being abdicated , under the stipulations of the Treaty , it is certainly a strange proceeding on the part of the Russian Government to assert that a particular exception is implied , when no exception at all is suggested . Collateral circumstances render this
discussion -one of considerable importance . No alacrity has been exhibited by the Russian Government in fulfilling the conditions of the Paris Treaty . Not only is Kars still unevacuated , its garrison has been reinforced by a corps of twelve thousand men . The demolition of Ismail and the border fortresses , carried on after the conclusion of peace , was an act of offence and hostility , and clearly showed in what temper Russia was preparing to renew her relations with Turkey . Not that the destruction of those works is of
import to the Ottoman Empire . Once in possession of the ground , the Turks may fortify it as powerfully as they desire , and create a line of Silistrias along their extended frontier . " We should be glad to learn , however , what reply has been returned to the representations of the Porte on this Bubject . That such representations have been addressed to the French and British Governments we are in a condition to know ; we believe it may bo stated , moreover , that communications have passed between the . Cabinets , but wo are
anxious to be assured that they aro of a satisfactory nature . We are bound by moral obligations and by political necessities to assert to tho full the few advantages that were gained from tho Russian war . It ia no secret that the Ottoman Government considers the attempt to regain possession of tho Isle of Serpents in the light of a scheme to break through the regulations of tho recent Treaty , and it is no exaggeration to say that , unless tho Turkish claim be enforced , the liberty of tho Danube become s a fiction , and tho Convention of Paris an act of hypocrisy .
Russia is not the only Power that desires to retard the settlement of the questions pending between Turkey and the rest of Europe . The Turkish Government itself betrays a suspicious reluctance to elicit the opinions of the Roumanian inhabitants , of the Principalities . Having dismissed the Hospodars and appointed the Kaimakans , who are to hold temporary authority in Wallachia and Moldavia , however , there can be little further pretence for delaying the assemblv of the International Commission .
The first point proposed for deliberation will be the separate or united government of the Principalities . The amalgamation is virulently opposed by Austria and by Turkey , neither of which Powers is likely to refuse any means , however corrupt , of giving effect to its policy . Austria opposes the amalgamation on the ground , virtually , that it would create a ha " r against future aggressions and intrigues ; Turkey opposes it , because it forces the growth of a vigorous state , developing itself towards independence , on the borders of a
decaying empire . To Russia the project is not so obnoxious . By England it is regarded with favour . Prussia and Sardinia are believed to share , in this respect , the opinion of England . But all the Powers are under an obligation to consult the wishes of the population through their representatives , convoked in full Divan . It is true that various political sections exist , that Turkish corruption has found a Turkish party in the Principalities , that Austria by similar methods has obtained similar results ,
and that therefore the local assemblies cannot be expected to express a unanimous assent to the idea of the governmental union of Moldavia and Wallachia . Local jealousies , also , prevail to some extent , tbe people of Jassy hesitating to accord pre-eminence to Bucharest by acknowledging it as the capital of the United Provinces . Nevertheless , in both those cities the resolutions of the existing assemblies have been unequivocal , and almost unanimous in favour of union .
The British Government has , we think , a clear duty to perform . The Treaty of Paris is now public law , and in the interest of commercial liberty , as well as of the future peace of Europe , Russia must be prohibited from creating , in the Black Sea , new sources of jealousy and dissension . In the Principalities , the inhabitants have a right to be consulted whether or not they coincide with the views of the Austrian and Ottoman Governments .
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IA TRAVIATA . AND THE TIMES . There has been a sudden explosion in the press of diatribes against divers theatres , and Her Majesty ' particular , for producing pieces which turn upon certain vices supposed to bo prevalent at the present day , or at least against a particular shape of those vices . The grand point of attack is the performance of Vkhdi ' s opera of La Traviata , with attacks also upon the original story by AiiEXandiie Dumas the younger , La Dame aux Camelias , and vipon Mademoiselle Piccoloa . t . ¦ 1 if mini for to tho of
** consenting perform part Violctta . Several papers have joined in this assault . One suggestion has been made that thcro should be a committco of lady patronesses to act as a censorship on tho pieces to bo performed , aided probably by " a dowager Bishop or two . " Tho proposal looks extremely like a sarcasm , ns it the writer of that particular paper designed to take in its great contemporary tho Times ; and veritably it has dragged out that journal aa an organ of tho old fosail " Society for the Suppression of Vice . " The Times , however , cannot handle questions of this kind entirely without ability , or
without some responsibility on the score of its own power : it must remember good sense . In attacking La Traviata it is obliged to let the reader know , lest he should suspect it of imbecility from whatsoever cause , that it does recal certain works more illustrious than La Traviata where the aberrations of the passion of love are especially the subjects of the dramatic art . We have Aleieri , several
of whose plays more or less turn upon the subject ; Goethe , in his Wilhelm Meister as well as his Fatist ; Shakspbabu , Caxderon , Cobneiii : le , are also mentioned by the Times with the more ancient writers of tragedies . But " there is a wide step from these representations to the impersonation of all that is most foul and hideous in human nature , and its exhibition upon the stage with all the alluring additions of scenery and song . " La Traviata—" The Strayed One , "—is a girl belonging to the class of Paris loreftes j she
forms a genuine passion , and dies for love ; and "ifc is for her , " says the scandalized Times , " that pity is asked , it is to her that pity is given . " This , ifc seems , is , morally speaking , " most hideous and abominable . " There is something hideous in the style of literature which has lately crept upon the capitals of the civilized world ; but it appears to us that our contemporaries do not grapple with the real evil , either in its origin or its nature . Others besides the Times object to La Traviata because it is " prurient : " the
epithet is a total misconception . It would be more correct to say that t he whole state of things represented is depraved ; and there might be some truth in that . The Times , indeed , thinks that it is harmless to perform Lucrezia Borgia , or Don Juan , because neither "the Messalina of Mediaeval Italy , " nor " the heartless seducer , " is likely to invite imitation . But as little likelihood is there that any of the characters in La Traviata would be " imitated . " The Times carries its
censure " deep and unmitigated , ' not onry to the novelist , the composer , the manager , or the actors , but also to the audience . It appears to us he might have carried his deep and unmitigated censure further back—probably to the homes of the audience—to the body of society which furnishes that audience ; and then , indeed , any writer possessing the power and opportunity of the Times might assist us in eradicating the evil .
There is one redeeming point in La Traviata , and in some other works of its kind , though not in all of them . The Times has marked it , but has marked it as the climax of the wrong-. Violetta belongs to a particular class : " it is for her that pity is asked , it is to her that pity is given ; "
here is the abominable portion of the wrongdoing . The Times repudiates pity for a Violetta , and is offended at its being aaked . To us it appears not a tenth part so wrong to say that such creatures exist , that they may be unfortunate , that they ask our pity , as to staffer the existence of such creatures at all . To create them .
We may question tho taste of an artist who selects subjects which are neither powerful nor beautiful ; but after all tho stage lias generally been recognized as " the mirror of society "—as that mirror in which society , looking-, will see its own defects as well as its beauties . The Times desires the mirror in which tho distortions and deformities of over-civilized life , tho haggard look of city depravity , shall be erased ; a beautifying mirror , whore society shall soo itself as if it were still living in the woods and the fields with nil ita rustic freshness . This iB an effeminate
morality—like official treatment of sanitary reform—which shuts its eyes to tho disease , and hopes to get n cure by assuming health . Wi ) know tho valetudinarian -weakness well .
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• AiKHT-r-9 . 1886 . ] THE LBAP-BB . 767
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 9, 1856, page 757, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2153/page/13/
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