THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 924, 11 June 1877, Page 3

THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

The Melbourne Argus thus reviews the war news received by the Suez mail: —

The intelligence brought by the Travancore only comes down to the 13th of April, about ton days earlier than the issue of the manifesto in which the Emperor of Russia announced to the world that the failure of the Conference and the “ proud obstinacy of the Porte” left him no option but to make war on Turkey. Such an event was regarded as inevitable during the early part of that month in England, but as we have since learned by cable message, the Imperial Government refused to acquiesce in the statement made by Prince G-ortschakoff in a circular addressed to the Russian Ambassadors at foreign courts, to the effect that by embarking in this war, the Cz r was furthering the interests of Europe. Of course, a refusal of this kind was tantamount to a declaration on the part of England that she neither approved of, nor regarded as justifiable, the independent action winch had been taken by Russia, and reserved to herself the right of adopting such a line of conduct as subsequent circumstances might seem to demand. This expression of feeling was afterwards embodied in a despatch, in which the Emperor of Russia was charged with having violated the treaties of 1856 and 1861, and was informed that England regarded him as having voluntarily separated himself from the European concert.

We are now in possession of the details of the negotiations which preceded and accompanied the signing of the protocol at the beginning of April last, as also of an abstract of the document itself. This pledged the great powers to invite the Porto to reduce its army to a peace footing, and to execute with the least possible delay the reforms which were considered to be essential for removing the grievances of its Christian subjects. These measures were to be watched by the representatives of the powers at Constantinople ; and if the Sultan failed to give effect to his promises, such proceedings were to bo taken “in common” as the signatories might deem best fitted to secure the end proposed. But when the document came to bo signed, Count Schouvaloff made a declaration that, if its conditions were complied with, and if Turkey woidd make peace with Montenegro, the Czar would be willing to treat with a special envoy from the Porte on the subject of Russian disarmament, but that if other massacres took place the demobilisation would be put a stop to. Lord Derby also delivered to each of the other plenipotentiaries a declaration that England would look upon the protocol as null and void if the reciprocal disarmament should not take place. It is evident that the document in question, by treating Turkey as if the groat powers were absolute masters of its fate, and as if they did not consider she had anything to do but submit to whatever they might choose to dictate, was eminently well calculated to wound the pride and arouse the resentment of the nation which was thus cavalierly dealt with. Turkey was excluded from the compact, and degraded both in her own eyes and in those of the rest of Europe, probably she thought national existence was scarcely worth maintaining under such humiliating conditions, and that if she must bo blotted out of tire map of the world, it would bo better to be crushed on the field of battle, with her face to the foe, than to bo ignominiously extinguished by half a dozen foreign diplomatists assembled round a table in a distant capital. Be this as it may, the Porte finally decided upon peremptorily rejecting Count Schouvaloff’s addition to the protocol, and declining to accept the document generally. It looks, indeed, as if Russia was under an uneasy apprehension that Turkey might possibly submit to the terms proposed by the powers, and that Count Schouvaloff’s supplementary minute was intended as a bar to this. If so, it had the desired effect; and Lord Derby’s saving proviso seems to have sprung from his suspicions of the insincerity or duplicity of Russia in the business, and his determination that England should not be committed to any complicity with the after proceedings of that wily and disingenuous Power.

Since (hen, however, (he matters in dispute have been referred to the bloody arbitrament of the sword, and both Powers have embarked in the war with an energy and with a determination to avail themselves of every auxiliary agency which can be secured, which denote that the conflict will be a ontrance. Russia has persuaded or coerced Roumania into declaring her independence and making common cause with the Czar ; while Turkey seems to have succeeded in arousing the Circassians to insurrection, and is not at all unlikely to endeavor to incite the Poles to make another effort (o emancipate themselves. Some intelligence of a movement of this kind having taken place in Poland reached us the oilier day by way of California, but it awaits confirmation. By the previous mail, however, we learned that Poland was greatly agitated by the prospect of a Russo-Turkish war, and (hat an uprising was expected. But whether any arrangement has been entered into between the two Chancellors in view of such a contingency, remains to be seen. It seems more than probable. At the same time the fidelity of Germany to such an arrangement, supposing it to exist, would entirely depend upon the interests —of Germany.