RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 802, 21 December 1853, Page 3

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

(From the Correspondent of the Straits Times.) London, September Stb, 1833. Instead of being settled, ns it seemed 10 !>e when Parliament broke uj>. th ■ Eastern question looks worse than ever. '1 he Sultan refuses to accept the note drawn up by the Four Powers, unless it be greatly mo iifi-d, end he Ims intimated to the Vienna Conn fence that Ins sending: an Ambassador to St. Petersburg is conditional upon evacuation of ihe Principalities Ku-sia. This leaves the matter in a more complicated condition than > ver, and the Cabinet appears accordingly to he in a very awkward dilemma. All the Mjnis'ers had let London exp pt the Earl of Aberdeen, and he was just about to lollow them, when the news of the Sultan’s refusal was received. Lord Palmerston was immedia ely summoned to town, and, on '1 intraday evening last, a telegraphic niesagejwas dispatched insenrthef Lord John Ku-sell. It found his lordship at Kozeneaih, the seat of the l)uko of Argyll, and he was obliged to burry off 1 1 London on Friday morning, Sev ral cenf.ren n s w or

‘ 11 — l ---—ft held af the Foreign Office on Saturday, but nothing lift transpired as to wlnu decision lias been cotne to. T hose whn profess to know best about what is doing* in Down-irig-street, declare tlwt the intention of the Ministers is to support Turkey in bsr reasonable demands. should France and England act cordially together, it is clear that Ru«si i inu-t give way in spile of all her blustering. All the accounts from Tmkev represent the prep- rations for war as being on a far large 1 sc .Je than any would h*v • believed a few months ago. The Sultan is said to have an srmy of 200,D0t) men under tines, on the frontier*, while the Russian forces in the I’linrrpulitea are suffering greatly from disease and want of provisions now that the rainy season has begun. The latest accounts speak of the cholera having committed great ravages among the Russian troops. (From the Atlas of Bth September.) Foreign Aff ins. — Discouraged as he was by the hide tuiye attitude of the repr-sentalives of toe allied oowers. I lie Sultan fas accepted the prono.-itiotts from Vienna, wi hj some modifications. On tie recript oi the (repositions at Constantinople, the Council of the Porte was much inclined 'o reject them, but tlie 1 dvice of tlie foreign representatives 111 their favuvr prevailed, and so they wen* agreed to with the alterations. Should the Czar accede to them, the details will nave to be sett 1 (1 by the Ambassador to be sent to &t. Petersburg!). Turkey is thus bund hand and foot at the mercy of Ni< bo'as the Great, and the influence ol Knglatid and bailee receives a blow from which it may not recover. Tlie exoneration of the people at Constant n pi Is very g-, at ; and w ell it might be. But we augur well of ibis system of nationality. The state ot affairs to Serviu and the presence of Austrian troops on tn-j frontier, tinv«- been occupying niii-di att-nti-oi at the Porte already distracted hv the more important difference wall Russia. It lias been d-cided tt a* an attempt 011 the part of Austria, to occupy any portion -f th- Arrian territory should he n pel ed by force; a body oi Turkish tro is lias been sent to Bosnia. Tlie War Question.— We have at last made an advance 11 wards a solu'ion of tlie Eastern ditl culfy, #l* though from the variety of opinions to which the new aspect ot the negotiation has given rise, it is by no means ce'tain that we have ar ived at a d finite point.

In another column, under th** bead of foreign Intelligence, read* rs will find a translation of the no e agreed moil In tlie Four Powers to be submitted to th 1 * t aoinets of St, I - tershurgb mid C'otisian i ople, us offering a means of bridging over the gulf heiwe-n them, Iha note, in pff, ct, recognises substantially the original demaii. 's of Russia, hot is shaped in such a form as to throw open an escape for the honor of lurk.y. Upon the expected stipulation respecting the evacuation of 1 e Danubian movir.ces, this not**of mediation is silent. We presume that in drawing it up, the powers took the withdrawal o( the Russian troops for granted, and desieil to avoid any needless comjdi ation of toe terms by i troducing a condition which must follow as a mat er of cou se. Jn whatever point of view we regard the nropn-ed arrangement, it is clear that Russia has got the be'ter of her opponent. file reception of this ultimatum in Constantinople cannot surprise any one who is acquainted wi a the st.t“ of pubic feeling in th a <Jty. The Tints, who ! ave hern all along eager to assert uie indepeud nee <)£ ihe enij.ii e, are outraged beyond all reasonable boundsThe army, finding a 1 its 00 tly prepara tons, and harassing marches, l;k lv to ter . inate in a butnil: ting coni' remise. express their fur ; in undisguised reproaches; the mob exhibit a sp it of resistance that menaces ibe domestic *re-urity oi the Governinenr, and he ulemas hound on bull to a still mere fanatic >! displ y of a fi cling, in which the whole 1 urki hj population unites. The meetings of the council have been held amidst there alarming indic tioiis of ratio: al fee - ing, end th tr first de.iberat on terminated in th* rejectkn of the ultimatum, by a la-ge majority of the iur party. The minisTrs of Austiia, France, and lv gl ttd,"however, determined not to abandon the last In.nee of preserving the peace ol Europe, and pi'ch’ng np th? balance of power, again remonstrated with he Su'iiin, and urged upon hTn t! c absolute neces- t v ot revising tteir decision. These remonstrance; h..d tl.iir effect. At a second meet rg certain ntodificat ons were agreed u-or. Rot how far even these modification* can be considered final r mains to be seen. Another g- neral meeting was to be- he : 1 r.\ a •“* d.ys, -.lid if Tie tumour may he credited which ascribes to be Tor e the intention of in isting on the evacuation of the Principalities as a sine qua nun. we may he as fir off as ever from a s:t’i-fhetnry settlement. I.) this state the question rests at 1 resent. We m y p’ob- hly be n receipt of Id’er intelligence before our paper goes to press.—The modifications proposed are five in mini ■ her. The first reltiscs to (is*, iare that the Emncrors of Russia luv j shown an aciiio solicitude for the maintenance of the Greek Church in the Ottoman empire, and proposes >0 substitute that he Sultans have never ceased to winch over its maintenance, &c. The second designs cs Prince 'lenrehikofTs insolent notes “communications ’ nslead of “ representations.’’ The third refuses to bud the Porte to remain faithful to the letter and spirit of 'lie treaties ot Kuscuikji Kainaniji and Adrianople, and requires that the declaration should be confined to such provisions ol the former treaty only as were confirmed hy tlie latter, and as relates to the protec ion ot Cotistiauity by the Porte. The fourth refure* to “ declare,” but proposis to make known” his .Majesty’s intention to maintain the spiritual privileges, &c., a distinction without a difference. The fi-th, ai.d 1a- r, refuses to concede” to the Greek worship any particular advantages conceded to other Christians by convention or special agreement, and proposes to “ arc rd” io it the same advantages that may he acceded to other Christian communities, Ottoman subjects. Tine modifications have already led to an animated controversy in the Europe, n journals, and have, no doubt, occupied the serious conshleration of the courts muter whose sanction the ultimatum was drawn up. It is contended, on the one side, that these nmdifictsums are substantially unimportant; and on the other, tl-at they re-open the whole question which the mediation of the kieiidly pow- rs was desgtied to set at rest for ever. These opposite opinions are so confidently expressed as to create a gr ve dou: t as to the reception the alterations are likely 'o meet at S . Petersburg, If the Emperor of Russia should be of the latter opinion.

t is evuient th.it there is no alternative between * declaration of war, and a renewal of negotiations under circumstan'ca more nnpropttious to I'm k y than any she lias been hither o placed in. That the changes suggested by the Saltan's advisers are changes that fundamentally nfiact die spirit of the proposed u'fi'ixitu ii appear to us undeniable. They assert a broad [trine | le which at once repudiates the right of one state to interfere in the internal affairs of another s'aic. Mow the whole tenor of the proceedings of Russia has been directed, not only to introduce, bet 10 establish the piineiple of intcr'crence ; and the refusal oi Turkey to ndmii this principle- seems to bring back the negotiation to tbe very po.nt from which it starlet). That Turkey is justified in resisting the terms attempted to be imposed is ob>inus enough. Her honour and independence are equally concerned in that resistance. 1 lie issue it involves is another consideration. If, hy her refusal to accept the terms proposed she should herself -ender war inevitable, it may become a question with France, fvngland, and Austria how far they are called upon t<> protect her against the con eqneiices. One tiling is evident, that the fnrkish hordes desire n ahmg so much as that these modifications s ould be refused hyUussit. They look *ith avidi y to that result, and are i npatient, at all ri.-ks, for the first excuse to plunge into ho-til.tie.s against a Power who in her traditions, as in her recent acts, lies shown herself their implacable enemy.— Home Kews, B th Septemb. r.