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Leader (1850-1860), 13th August 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 7

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      Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...

      to him confidentially by his own ambassador at Vienna , the Baron de Meyendorff . This first proposition was almost a transcript of the ultimatum addressed to the Porte by Prince Menschikoff . Now , the propositions that followed are the necessary correctives to this ^ first ; kihce on the one hand , they prescribed limits to'the usage which the Czar should make of the concessions accorded to him , and , on the other , to the Chmtian communions in general extended the rights and advantages which the Czar intended to be conceded to the Greek Church in particular .

      Besides , the Conference of Vienna committed the signal error of not stipulating the instant evacuation of the Danubian provinces . Many persons , then , are still so obstinate as to persuade themselves that the aftair is not yet settled : that even if the Emperor of Russia has accepted the first proposition , he may still very well not accept the other and less acceptable proposition : that , moreover , he may yet very easily ^ find ^ a way to prolong indefinitely the military and admimstrative occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia . As to thinking and serious people , they have observed with pain the immense abasement of public spirit , the immense degradation of public men in of the bour

      Europe . We are living under the reign - geoisie , but of the bourgeoisie in full decadence , of the bourgeoisie in complete dissolution . After the events of these last two months , it is difficult to doubt that society in Europe is little better than a corpse . The eagles and the vultures of the north may swoop upon their easy prey when they will ; they will find us . nothing but a huge can-ion . How long shall the punishment be delayed ? The religious journal , JJTTnivers , organ of the ultramontane and priestly party , has experienced the same impression , and has ; expressed it in an article that has created a sensation . For the first time , perhaps , in my life , 1 find myself agreeing with the Univers . I cannot forbear citing one or two

      passages from this remarkable article : — "If the latest news be exact , the affair between Russia and Turkey , or- rather between Russia and Europe , is concluded , as it was but too evident it would be concluded . Russia triumphs . The Sultan is no longer but the lessee of the Czar , and for a very brief term . The kingdom of Greece becomes the Monaco of the East : Austria falls into the rank of

      protegee . The other great nations having been unable to prevent this result , learn now that a Power which seemed to be as yet a rival only , is already , and knows herself to be , preponderant . Russia advances with the strides of a giant on a path which the faults of Europe have smoothed for her . She will only halt for a moment to march again , with no long delay . She is not afraid of her forces being weighed , and her projects discussed . What matters it to her that they be

      ignored ? Constantinople was her end yesterday ; it is becoming her means . Russia obtains all the advantages of war , because Europe is too anxious for peace . Russia is self-possessed . She has a head that commands , members that obey . She is a monarchy . In the rest of the world there are only republics , under different titles : aristocratic republics , and republics of shopkeepers . Russia depends neither on shopkeepers , nor on penmen , nor on stockjobbers . Her ministers ,

      her ambassadors , her generals , havo no interests at stako in foreign funds—do not fear lest their firmness create a fall in public stocks at home . This is why Russia advances , and all the rest of Europe recedes . He is getting to Constantinople without firing a cartridge , in spite of Europe , full of soldiers , rich in ships , in Bcienco , in tactics , but alarmed at the prospect of making cartridges out of tho Grand Livre ( of the public debt ) .

      Such a conquest , thus accomplished , permits Russia to accept no restraints upon her ambition , and to place none upon her hopes . An old nnd prudent people , long Bated with glory , would indulge in tho passive intoxication of past success . It is perilous to inflame tho pride of tho Russ , who but yesterday was but an interloper in tho European family , and a barbariantho last in Hcicnce , in letters , and in military Sclat , —and who now feels himself tho ( strongest . Assuredly Europe may need tho oxerciso of virtues . Hut this new comer , thin barbarian , is tho pupil of tho politics and civilization of tho epoch : they havo left him all his own vicofl , and ho has taken theirs . Behold him great , indeed , and his education m complete . Modern politics and civilization will soon tanto tho fruits .

      " And now Russia appears to us , with her unbelieving iioblcsHo nnd her fanatical populace— . with her ncicntiilc genorala and her barbarous soldiery—with her Emperor , who in tho high priest and tho visible god of sixty millions of beliovcro , whom he calls his saints , and to whom he fipealcH tho language of tho crusaders , and whom he fanaticisea by promising to havo mass sung in tho Church of St . Sophia . Thero is your now Kalifat Brutal m Potor tho Groat ; obeyed like Mahomot ;

      —able , in a word , to command and to seduce at once ; to crush and to corrupt , having at his disposal tortures , sophisms , and gold ! He regards Europe , and beholds her divided and distracted by insensate antipathies and unnatural alliances . . We have reached a-time when man is , as . it were , uprooted ( deracine ) .. Yes , alas ! uprooted is tlieword : torn from the soil ; holding no more by any thread to his double nationality of religion and country ; as a brother , following the opinion which be has formed for himself by following the interest which engages him , whether of the Englishman , the Italian , or the Russian ; but also .. ' willingly- ' the enemy of his own brother by language , blood , and baptism ; citizen of the world , if you will , but no longer citizen of his natal soil ; adorer

      in one place of force , in another of revolt , almost everywhere of success ; but here , there , and everywhere , unfaithful to God . Such is the man of the nineteenth century throughout all Europe . He floats from doctrine to doctrine , he runs from pleasure to pleasure , craven and inconstant even when he is not bad . He asks himself whether , after all , if he have no other God but himself ; he has any country but the world . He has no tie to the past—before him he sees no future ; he is rooted up . Is it this dust that shall stand before the hurricane of fire and steel which is rushing on compact from the East , hurried » onwards by the fanaticism of conquest ? Ah ! if God shall not , by some sudden stroke of his own will , call up a man for this exhausted Europe , we are nearing the hour of disgrace , and it will have struck for long . "

      Meanwhile , Bonaparte is quite proud of the results obtained . He has just created M . Drouyn de I'Huys Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour , as a recompence for the signal triumph which that Minister has gained on the Eastern question . Will you not , for your part , also get up a subscription to present a civic crown to Lord Clarendon ? I doubt not the Czar will head the list . Lord Clarendon and his colleagues have deserved well—of Russia .

      We are busily preparing , just now , for the coming Fete of Monday , the 15 th of August , the fete of Napoleon , the fete of the Emperor , as the functionaries say . A Te Deum will be sung ^ in the churches ; a grand review of the National Guards and the troops in the Champs Elysee , the Place de la Concorde , and the Tuileries , held by Bonaparte . " His Majesty" will enter into Paris by the Arc de l'Etoile , and betake himself to the Tuileries through a double line of troops , composed on the one side of the purged and picked national guards , on the other of troops of the line .

      All the cavalry regiments from the neighbouring ; departments are ordered to assist on this occasion . Tho Cuirassiers from Versailles , from Melun , Meaux , Beauvais , nnd Amiens ; the Dragoons from Rambouillet ; and the Lancers from Provins . A decoration , in Mauresquo style , has been constructed for the illuminations in the Champs Elysees : four hundred and fifty thousand lamps , jets of gas , and electric lights will compose the ensemble . The Court ( official style ) will proceed to hoar the Te Deum in Notre Dame , in great pomp . All the Imperial carriages have been re-decorated for the day .

      Finally , wo are promised a surprise , in the Monileur for the 14 th inst . : some say it is to bo an announcement of the coronation , others of tho " interesting situation" of tho Empress , others an official notification of peace . At present , however , Bonaparte goes on imprisoning his people as usual . A professor of philosophy , M . Morin , has been thrown into prison for having refused to take tho oaths of allegiance . Ho was arrested on Saturday last at the Hotel Corncille .

      At tho request of Jasmin , tho perruquier poet of Agen , Bonaparte hna granted to M . Baze , sometime-Qucstor of tho National Assembly , authorization to return to Franco unconditionally . M . Bazo has addressed to tho journals a protest of a rather sharp flavour , requesting M . Jasmin to attend to his own business of wig making , and not to beg pardons for people who havo given him no authority to do no . Yesterday ( Wednesday ) commonced tho trial of tho affair called tho Complot de Vincennes . About four months ago I told you of a Legitimist secret society , having a military organization . This in the society in

      question . Tho police has been utterly unable to get nt tho society itself ; it has only seized certain indivividuals . From evidence already given in court , it appears that two formidable organizations exist , one Legitimist , tho other Orleanist , ready to act as noon as tho moment arrives . In a letter seized at the residence of Jeanne , the stationer of tho Passage Choisoul , tho following passage- relating to tho Legitimist conspiracy appears : —" The Orleans family havo an immense organization , in which may bo found very high functionarios nnd influential personages . They are ready to attack noon . The enmity of tho Orleajw family is

      so much the more to be apprehended Jihntjt . grows daily in the heart of young men , of whom some are brave and determined soldiers , it must be confessed . " As to the intentions of Henry V ., the following passage occurs : "It is above all absolutely necessary to establish frequent communications with Vincennes , therefore faint not and fail not— everything depends on it . The patroA ( Henry V : ) is resolved to begin ( debuter ) by Paris en maitre . No one must know the intentions

      of the patron . He has shaken off his apparent indifference , and now he speaks as a master and a king , disposed to emulate Henry IV ., and that too very soon . " Here , then , for any one who can reckon accurately , are four secret organizations ,, including that of the Decembrists of Bonaparte who are still in existence . Out of the Decembrists came the Empire—what shall come out of the other three ? S .

      Anarst 13, 1853.] T H E L E A D E R. 775

      AnarsT 13 , 1853 . ] T H E L E A D E R . 775

      Continental Notes. We Are Told That The ...

      CONTINENTAL NOTES . We are told that the Turkish difficulty is overcome , and that war is now improbable ; but we are absolutely without authentic intelligence respecting the mode of settlement . The best authority throughout this transaction has been the Morning Post , and from that journal , therefore , we extract the only regular statement before the public ..:- — "We have every reason to believo that the event will prove our prediction correct , when we say that the evacuation of the Danubian Principalities "will be effected by Prince Gortsehakoff during the first week in September . It was on the 19 th ultimo that we were enabled to inform the public that one of the projects for the settlement of the Eastern question had been favourably received at St .

      Petersburg , and it was on the 27 th of July that we announced exclusively that , on the 24 th , a project of settlement had been agreed on by the representatives of the four great Powers at Vienna . Later , we foretold that before the 10 th of this month we should know the answer which the C zar would g ive to the proposition laid before him . We calculated on this because , on the 26 th of July , M . de Mayendorff transmitted to his imperial master , not indeed the formal propositions , but an account of what had passed at the Conference of the 24 th . To this despatch , of the Russian ambassador , an answer , as we have already informed the public , has been returned , dated St . Petersburg , the 3 rd of August , conveying the Czar ' s- approbation of the project about to be laid before him , which , by this time , has probably received a more formal assent .

      " We have thus far been correct ; and we think we shall be found not less accurate , when we affirm that the definitive ~ project of settlement was sent from Vienna to Constantinople on the same day that it was sent to St . Petersburg , that is , on the 2 nd inst . The acceptance of the Czar will be received at Vienna about the 14 th . This will , of course , at once be despatched to Constantinople , where it will arrive about the 20 th . A Turkish ambassador will be ready then to start for St . Petersburg ; and , we understand , that aa soon as the telegraph informs the Russian Cabinet of the fact of the ambassador being on his road , the Emperor will telegraph his orders to Prince Gortsehakoff to evacuate the Danubian provinces . These telegraphs , being for tho most part old semaphores , will , of course , not work with the same speed as the electric ; but they and the course of events will be sufficiently rapid to warrant us in expecting that by the 10 th of September the last Russian soldier will havo re-crossed tho Pruth . " And tho journal adds an account of tho probablo settloment : — " Wo believe wo shall bo found not to bo far wrong when we confidently affirm that tho affair is settled in such a manner as to preserve intact the independence and integrity of tho Ottoman empire . This mode of settlement will bo thus : —lledschid Pacha will address to Count Nesselrode a noto , in which ho will inclose tho Firmans in which aro accorded to tho Grcok Christians , subjects o £ tho Sultan , more privileges thnn even ltussia hfcid asked for thcm > Ho will say many civil things to tho Czar , and assuro him of the excellent disposition of tho Sultan towards his own subjects , to whom ho has accorded such and such rights . This noto will bo presented by a Turkish ambassadorand tho affair will be at an end . "

      , This is all that is known on tho subject , except such bnro revelations aa havo been mado in tho IIouso of Lords . But a correspondent of tho Morning Chronicle furnishes an interesting glimpso of Oraor Pasha ' s army . Tho letter is of an old aato—July 11—but its contents aro now : — " I write to you from tho head-quarters of tho Ottoman army , and hasten to give you all tho particulars tlmt I havo boon nblo to gather , and tho result of my personal inspection of tho actual state of tlio Sultan ' s army . -1 J > 3 Excellency . Omor Pacha , commander-in chief of tho armv . lins established a military cordon of 70 , 000 men , thoro

      which extends from Bnbadah to Schumlft , and joins tho entrenched camp formed there , composed of 18 batteries , each numbering from 40 to 50 guns , heavy artillery , and defended by 60 , 000 men , forming the centre of tho army . Tho rierhfc wing of thin army lias ifn quarters at , bilwtrin , ami is composed of 30 , 000 mon ; while tho roar-guanl is formed of a similar numbor of men , and is nt Altos . Schumla has beon rendered next to nnprognablo . llns stronghold , which is well situated as a strategical point , and on account of tho climate , which is good , contains already provisions for 100 , 000 men and 40 , 0 ( X ) horses for the term of two yearn . Oinor Pacha has had 160 ovens

      and as many mills constructed , m winch tho bread for tho troops is baked . Ho obliges tho officers of every rank to loavo their baggago thoro , and to carry with them but ono change of clothes , and ono camp kottlo for every ton mon . All theso things prove that tho fortress of Schumla nnd the ontronohea camp aro destined in Omer Pacha ' s piano

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13081853/page/7/