BRITISH ADMINISTRATION IN TURKEY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 302, 22 September 1855, Page 5

BRITISH ADMINISTRATION IN TURKEY.

Should the Conference at Vienna proceed, the settlement would be slow work ; and the hinderance in that final settlement will come not from Russia but from Turkey. We write under the supposition that the published paper of instructions given by the Ottoman Government to its representative at Vienna is authentic. The Porte claims the right to understand and to discuss with the Allied Powers the plan of settlement which those Powers propose in order to arrive at a common resolution, before the plan shall be proposed to Kussia for accept-

ance. This is not altogether to be regretted. We are not displeased to see Turkey making a stand for her own independence, against possible encroachments even by friends. It is the interest of the friends that she should be independent. There are other encroachments possible in the East besides those of Russia. The temptations to encroach are many: and sometimes they assume an appearance of plausibility exceedingly seductive. We have examples of what self-righteous-ness may do in Russia. The treaties with her which were signed by the Porte contain stipulations which amounted to assurances that the mode of government 'established in the Principalities would be maintained, with certain guarantees for the fulfilment of that promise : such for example, as that Turkey as well as Russia should be debarred from marching an army into the Principalities, unless the other Government did the like, or consented. Under cover of these guarantees, Russia intruded her own influence, procured the appointment of her own creatures, and became a local authority. She attempted the same thing in Constantinople, and was prepared to demand such a veto on proceedings where Christian "subjects were in question as would have handed over many administrative and judicial functions to agents of Russia. We see that these advances fed the voracious ambition of Russia : but we have no right to assume that their immorality was equally naked to the view of the Czar. His conduct amounted to lawless , appropriation ; but it does not follow that he said to himself, as the thief does, " I will appropriate the propertj of my neighbour." On the contrary, the purpose of ambition was clothed in pious uses, and the encroachments for Russsia were made to wear the garb of encroachments on behalf of humanity. We have seen the consequences, and have been deeply impressed by them ; and the sijrht of those encroachments has unquestionably tended to provoke counter-encroach-ments on the other side. It is not long since Lord Stratford de Redcliffe showed Mr. Godolphin Osborne a large mass of papers which he bad to read, containing a plan for putting down extortion in Turkey. The Daily Neivs reprints a circular addressed by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to the British Cousnlar authorities'in the Levant, enjoining them to exercise their vigi. lance and influence to carry out certain firmans for the improvement of the judicial administration in the empire, authorizing them to '' remonstrate," and instructing them to make representations both to their own Government and to the Embassy at Constantinople. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, therefore, besides exercising the functions of a Privy Councillor to the Sultan, is employing the Consul or Consular agent wherever we have such an officer, to act as a species of assessor on behalf of justice and of the oppressed—that is of the Christian. Thus it appears that we have been creeping into something very like an extensive, lamified, and minute interference with £the administration of the Turkish empire,jlocally as well as imperially. Lord Stratford may be able to draw the line between advice and interference in his own conduct; but are the consuls or consular agents equally qualified ? Prince Menschikoff on his first mission appeared in Constantinople to advise; the warning ought not to be lost upon us. The " four points," respecting which the Porte enjoins its representative at Vienna to be so jealously cautions, involved to a certain extent questions of administration. The organization of a Government in the Principalities might be accompanied by stipulations of a material guarantee and a superintendence similar to that of Russia, and with the same hazards. Interference to [secure the free navigation of the Danube is still more probable; but the object ismore specific, and the hazards are less. The third point is least open to the difficulties that we are now traoing; but the fourth, involving guarantees for the bona fide security of immunities to the Greek subjects, is the point that might drag us, through Lord Stratford and his Consuls, into ecclesiastical as well as civil and judicial administration. The Turkish people merit every respect for the better qualities which they display. Their soldiers were understood to disgrace themselves at Balaklava ; but they showed at Citate and Silistria, and since that at Eupatoria, that they have all the bravery of their forefathers, if they be well officered: what a temptation to officer them! Bulgaria has proved that she is open to the most profitable improvements of the land,

if the industrial armies of that region be well officered: how the philanthropist pants to take a commission ! In short, there is no part of the Ottoman empire or of its administration that cannot be improved, and seems likely enough to be improved. But the Turks do not do things as we do them in Europe ; they are still semibarbarous, they are still very corrupt; and we cannot meddle by detail even in their'improved methods, without entangling ourselves in their corruptions. We should subject ourselves to just criticism from other states, while we should probably incur the enmity of our proteges. The tendency to this philanthropic meddling is already too obvious not to demand a distinct warning ; and the settlement at Vienna might involve us in more interference of the same kind. It will be best for ourselves as well as for Turkey if we leave for her the conduct of her internal administration—deal with her en bloc, and carry on relations as much as possible through the Central Government, and locally through the agents of that Government, not our own. British Consuls are appointed to protect the British interests and British subjects : they will find plenty to do under both heads; and in doing it they will set an example which the Turks, whether Christian or Mussulman, can follow, if they are capable of-being led to liberty and independence. Let Lord Stratford or his successor, advise as much as he likes—aid in planning—remonstrate even, if remonstrance be wholesome; but do not let us undertake the responsibility, in however slight a degree, of administering Turkish affairs. At least, let us abstain from doing so, until, by carrying out administrative reforms amongst ourselves, we show that we can begin that charity at home.— Spectator.