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Leader (1850-1860), 24th December 1853, Edition 2 of 2, Page 6, 1230 Til LEABEE, [Sati jtoa^

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    • 1230 Til LEABEE, [Sati jtoa^

      1230 Til LEABEE, [Sati jtoa^

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      Continental Notes. The Journal Des Dcbat...

      of its states the Christian religion and its churches . The Court of Russia has added , that in demanding from the Ottoman Government a testimony of its fidelity to its anterior engagements * it had in no respect intended to attenuate the authority of the Sultan over its Christian subjects , and that its only object was to obtain exp lanations bf a nature to prevent every motive of doubt and every reason for misunderstanding with a . frieridjy and . neighbouring jpower * The sentiments manifested by the S ublime Porte during the last negotiations prove , on the other hand , that that power was ready to recognise all its contracted obligations and to pay full attention , in the measure of its sovereign rights , to the interest entertained by the Emperor tJie

      of Russia for a religion which is his own and that or majority of his people . In that state of things , the undersigned are convinced that the surest and most ready means of attaining the object desired by their Courts , is to make a communication in common to the Sublime Porte , to explain to it the wish of the Powers to contribute by their friendly intervention to the re-establishment of peace , and to give it an opportunity of stating the conditions on which it would be disposed to treat . Such is the object of the collective note adjoined , addressed to the Minister of F oreign Affairs of the Sultan , and of the identical instructions transmitted at the same time by the Courts of Austria , France , Great Britain , and Prussia , to their representatives at Constantinople . "

      The following is the collective note , or , more probably , an abridgement of it ;—" The undersigned , representatives of Austria , France , Great Britain , and Prussia , assembled at a conference at Vienna , have received instructions to declare that their respective Governments behold with a profound regret the commencement of hostilities between Russia and the Porte , and desire exceedingly , by intervening between the belligerent powers , to' prevent any fresh effusion of blood , and to put an end to a state of things which menaces seriously the peace of Europe . Russia having given an assurance that she was disposed to treat , aud the undersigned not doubting that ' the Porte is animated with the same spirit , they request , in the name of ; their respective Governments , to be informed on what conditions the Ottoman Empire would consent to negotiate a treaty cf peace . " The Debate gives the following despatch as that by which the Ambassadors of the Four Powers have been instructed

      to act in execution of the protocol of December 5 : — ' Monsieur , —The Governments of their Majesties the Emperor of Austria , the Emperor of the French , the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , and the King of Prussia , have seen with great regret the outbreak of war between Russia and Turkey ; and , with the object of abridging hostilities as much as possible , and of effecting a rapprochement between the belligerent parties , so important for the interests of Europe , they have thought ii necessary to give a conecuve iunn lo mtu - cuorts .

      " The note which the representatives of the Four Powers at Vienna have received orders to address directly to his Excellency Redschid Pasha , and of which they have had to transmit a copy to you , is a new and complete evidence of the identity of the views of their Courts , and of their warm desire to contribute by their union to the rc-establishment of peace . I rely upon you , Monsieur , to second this conciliatory endeavour by your exertions , and have only further to indicate to you the counsels which you , with your colleagues , will have to give to the Ministers of his Majesty the Sultan . . . . _ from the

      " The various documents which have emanated Sublimo Porte , and the character of moderation with which they are marked , authorise us to hope that you will find Redschid Pasha disposed to admit that the propositions of the Four Courts are as much conformed to the interests as they are to the dignity of the Ottoman empire . We place candidly before the Sublime Court a question to which it will respond in the same spirit . We are convinced that it will circumscribe the contest which is now pending botween itself and the Cabinet of St . Petersburg within its true limits , and that all its cares will tend to resolve it without importing foreign elements into the actual war .

      " In this hope , and acknowledging that it belongs to tho Turkish Government to reply to tho communication which is made to it in such a manner as its wisdom shall suggest , wo at the same time consider that wo may bo permitted to call its attention to the points on which it will bo sure to lind us in agreement with it . " The Governments of tho Four Powers would be glad should the Sublime Porto declare , in the first place , that Austria , France , Great Britain , and Prussia have not too much presumed on its conciliatory intentions in believing it terminate favour

      to bo still animated with tho desire to on - able conditions tho difference which 1 ms arison between it and Russia , and still ready to come to an understanding for this purpose with tho other Powers . That , recognising tho assurance which Russia has on several occasions given , that it demands no new conces . sions Hor rights infi i » ging upon the sovereignty of the Sultan , tho Divan is roady to renew its ofl ' t-ra nnd to discuss tho form in which peace shall bo re-established , subject to tho condition of not being called to accede to nny of tho demands which have been already refused , nnd to conclude an arrangement for tho evacuation of tho Principalities .

      "This discussion would naturally tnko placo between an Ottoman nnd Kuasian negotiator , each furnished with plenipotentiary powers' , but , in order to facilitate tho agreement of tho two pnrtieu , the plenipotentiaries bo designated would not treat apart , but in pretence of representatives of AuBtrin , France , Great Britain , and Pruuuin . "Wo can understand the reasons which doubtless would not permit tho Sublimo Porto to negotiate with Itussui in a part of itu territory occupied by tuo arms of this Power . Itu 8 nm , on its wide , would havo objections to negoti / ito in any town of Turkey . It would bo propor . tlu : n to lenvo tho two parties to make choice of a neutral territory , and we abstain therefore from designating any particular placo . " Tho object which tho Four Courts propoHo would not bo completely obtained if the opening of tlio preliminary

      pourparlers'of peace were not at the same time the signal for the cessation of hostilities ; but we believe that the Sublime Porte will have no good reason to oppose the conclusion of an armistice , the conditions of which might be afterwards debated , if it obtained from us the assurance that the terms in which it should declare itself disposed to treat would be equally accepted by-Russia . It is , in any case , a demand which it might address to us ; and , on the hypothesis that the terms proposed by tho Ottoman Government should not bs such as Russia sllould at first consent to , we would yet advise the " sending of a Turkish plenipotentiary , and the appointment of a town where the plenipotentiaries of Russia aud Turkey might meet the representatives of the Four Courts .

      " The various points which I havo just passed under review , and the observations by which they are accompanied , have the complete consent of Austria , France , and Prussia ; and it is therefore to be desired that Redschid Pasha will look at them in this light , and make them the groundw & rk of the communication which we all expect from him . You will inform us of tho reception which may be given to . this communication ; but we can hardly think that the " Sublime Porte , weighing the advantages which such a combination offers to the Ottoman empire with the risks which always wait on war , will hesitate to enter into the path opened for it by an amicable intervention . . " I ask you , Monsieur , to repair with your colleagues to Redschid Pasha , to read this despatch to him , and fortify it with the authority of your advice . "

      The Moniteur adds , "We have nothing to explain as to the authenticity of the documents thus given to the public . If they are false , it is a culpable manoeuvre ; if they are authentic , it is an unpardonable indiscretion . The Government has taken measures to prevent the recurrence of such events . " . This ebullition of the Moniteur shows that the French Government is annoyed at the publicity given by the partisans of Russia to documents which were intended to be private , and which afford abundant evidence of the tardiness with which'the Powers treat the invader of Turkey , and the roughness with which the Sultan is called uponby his allies

      and protectors to do thair behests . It seems strange that , with such an opinion of the publication in question , the Moniteur should have lent its aid to the spread of the evil . If ( to use its own words ) the documents thus made public are false , why does it assist , in a culpable manoeuvre , by circulating them ? If they be correct , why does it contribute its part to a publicatien which it qualifies as " an unpardonable indiscretion" ? However , it appears that M . Persigny sent for the chief editor of the Debuts , questioned him as to the sources of his information , and concluded by threatening him with a " warning" in the event of any future indiscretion .

      The so-called Russian victory at Sinope is proved to have been sheer butchery , even according to the official Russian despatches , published in the Journal de St . Petersburg and the circumstantial accounts , compiled from the statements of persons present at the engagement , and published in the Invalide Riisse ( the official naval and military Russian journal ) of tho 11 th inst . We abridge slightly the condensed abstract of this Russian report from the Times of yesterday : — " Admiral Nacbimoffwas cruising on the coast of Anatolia , when he perceived a squadron of Turkish ships in tho roads of Sinope . He must have seen that the Turkish flotilla was already inferior in strength to his own squadron , for he had then with him three two-deckers , and

      six frigates ; but , not content with this advantage , he sent the steamer Bessarabia back to Scbastopol to fetch three linc-of-buttle ships of 120 guns each ; and it was not till these ships—the Villa de Paris , the Grand Dzike Constantine , and the TriSviatitelia—had joined his own fleet that ho proceedod to reconnoitre tho position of tho enomy . These three-deckers joined in the niglit of tho 27 th of November , —they must have been sent for some three or four days before , —and tho battle was not fought till tho 30 th . So that the whole operation was planned aud executed with the utmost deliberation , and there was ample timo for the Turkish authorities in Sinopo to have received reinforcements if they Lad sent for them . On tho 80 th , between 9 and 10 a . m ., with a favournblo north-east breeze , tho

      Russians entered tho roads in two divisions , under cover of fog nnd rain , which concoaled their approach until they wore within 500 yards of the Turkish frigates . Tho Russian Admiral ' s ship , tho Empress Maria , and tho Villa da Paris , leading tho port division , drooped their anchors , nnd tho Tunes opened their fire . Tho heavy three-deckers did terrific execution , and several of tho Turkish ships wore blown up by shells from tho Rust-ian L'aixhans guna . At two o clock the fit ing ceased ; thrpo Turkish frigates were in flames , and the transports altogether sunk . The , Turkish portion of tho town of Sinopo was on firo , but , by ono of those portents which only occur ill these Bacrcd contests , wo aro informed by tho bulletin that tho conflagration respected tho quarter inhabited by tho Greeks . It doea not appear that any portion of tho crewa or trensuro on board had been landed . On tho following morning wo

      aro further told that nothing remained of tho twelve vcaaola composing tho Turkish squadron except a hIood ami n corvotto run ashore , and tho DamiaUa Egyptian frigate , all . of which wore then ordered to be burnt . In theso . small vessels wore found Osman Pasha , tho admiral , wounded in tho leg , a fow oiliccra , und about eighty men . These appear to bo tho solo Kurvivora of an arintunenb which must have numbered tho day before several thousand souls . In this manner , tin wo nre informed by Prince Menschikoff jn lii . i despatch , ' the orders of his Imperial Majesty havo been most brilliantl y cxecuUd . ' it ia impossible to havo further proof that thia catastropho wan not tho result of u casual encounter , but a deliberate assault on tho vessels of Turkey und tho town of Siiiopu , which ware supposed to bo under tho protection of tho French and Engliah floats . Tho Russians remained in tho roadstead of Sinopo until tho 2 nd of December , and it was not till tho 4 th that they returned to tho port of Sebaatopol . From these dates it may bo inferred that , when the intelligence of tho buttle readied Conatuutinoplo on tho

      evening of the 2 nd , it , was not too late to give effect to AA miral Duudas' bold and seamanlike proposal of immed ^ f " pursuit . To make Sebastopol with a breeze from the iiorM east , the Russian fleet must have sailed considerably to ' fl !" west of the Crimea ; and , had the operation proposed be executed as rapidly as it was conceived , we might ha heard by the same courier of the outrage and of the tmniQfc ment it merited . " ' , ruuis > n" This Russian account" ( says the Daily News ') «' professedly founded upon that viva vote information wliief Menschikoff ' s despatch , published yesterday , stated Lieutp nant-Colonel Skolkoff , a spectator of the action was t furnish at St . Petersburg . They were thus even of W value as evidence than would be the formal report of Ailn '* i

      ,, Nachimoff himself . Such as they are , however , they are published by the Russian Government , and we learn that they form the subject of boundless rejoicings at St . Peters burg . It will be noticed that the number of Russian ships brought into action is carefully concealed . But when it is considered the squadron by which the Turkish ships at Sinope was first discovered was large enough to have for its commander Admiral Nachimoff , the commander-in-chief of the Black Sea fleet , before it was reinforced by the three 120-gun ships and the three steamers from Sebastopol it / will be perceived that the Russian force must havi >

      been as superior in numbers as in weight of metal Osman Pacha , when taken , was found lying on the deck of his frigate , with his leg broken and his head terribly wounded . Letters from Odessa of the 8 th state that the gallant admiral was a prisoner in the arsenal at Sebastopol . The other prisoners He on the casemates , and are all wounded or burnt . Since the affair at Sinope , the Russians appear to have fancied that their own ports were in greater danger of attack , for both at Odessa and Sebastopol land batteries have been provided in great haste , and command the sea for a considerable distance . " ¦

      Prince MenschikofFs bulletin of this battle thus affixes the responsibility of the aggression upon the Emperor of Russia . It commences as follows : — " Yesterday , on the 28 th of November , his Majesty the Czar received the following report from his adjutant , Prince Menschikoff : — ¦ ¦ ¦ " ' The orders of your Imperial Majesty have been most brilliantly executed by the fleet of the Black Sea . The first Turkish squadron which ventured to enter into a contest with your ships has—on . the 18 th instant—been annihilated by Vice-Admiral Nachimoff . We had one officer and 35 sailors killed , and 230 wounded . '"

      The intelligence of these victories was received , we are told , with enthusiasm at St . Petersburg . On the 8 th there was a Te Dewn of thanksgiving for the success of the Russian arms , in the chapel of the Winter Palace , at which the Emperor and Empress , the different members of the Imperial family , the members of the Council of the Empire , tho senators , the Ministers , the high dignitaries of the Court , the generals of the army , and the admirals of St . Petersburg were present . On the same day a Te Dewn was sung in all the churches of the capital ,-and a salute was fired by the fur tresses of St . Petersburg . In the evening the city was illuminated .

      " The Czar ordered that those who had admission at Court sliould repair to the Winter Palace fora general thanksgiving . The ladies apprared in the Russian nationa . dress , and the gentlemen iu grand gala . In all other churches of the capital public prayers of thanksgiving were offered , and tho population came in crowds to join the service The most pious Czar thanked the Lord oj'Lor us for the success of the victorious Russian arms wycli triumphed in the sacred combat for the orthodox faith . Authentic intelligence from Erzeroum to tho 17 th of November confirms all tho reports of Turkish successes at tno cutset of tho camnaian in Asia . Up to that date , wo now tnan

      kuow for certain that Selim Pasha had carried more ono fo ' vt on tho Black Soa ; that Abdi Pasha and his Jieutnantahad defeated tho Russians in several encounters at Valdi , Doozee , at Bayazcd , twice at Gumri ( tho Russian Aloxandropol ); and that the main nriny , numbering upwards of 80 , 000 men , under Abdi Pasha , had left Kara , ana crossed tho Georgian frontier , leaving a force of 10 , 000 men to keep in check the important fortress of Gumri . oo «« all is clear ; but from the confusion of dates in tho use « . the old and new stylo , wo aro unable to rely on any wteiugenco since received . Wo know for certain that tho »« S !) 1 " {" t ^ UJIVU » 3 HIIjU XC ^ tlTLU . || V UlJUir JV 1 vvy ^ n * " - . flirt i

      claim three victories which , it is certain , were won oy « Turks—ono nt Aznr , ono at Bayonder , and one at W "" It would appear that the Turks havo oxtended tUoir aiuij over a largo spaco of territory , and it is probable tMU i great victories announced by the Russians on their own have been gained , if gained at all , over isolated dotaclimen . of tho Turkish army . The Ru . ssian despatchi states u Abdi Pasha was defeated at Ahal-Tsicko hy . OenenU ^ dronchofl ; Governor of Trebizondo . But this is hardly i hablo , because Ahal-Tsicko lies out of tho mam lino or Turkish operations . T , ; , iu 0 Wo subjoin a specimen of a Russian bulletin . " " « , to tho invHntivnniws oFOonoral Andronilioff , and our row iim

      will agree with u « , throws thofoats of Alonchnuson » shade . It is the climax of the despatch relating tt «> w of Ahal-Tsickc . The combat ended ut sunset ; tho onony entirely disappeared . - ,. j n most " I cannot help considering this combat as 0 "" ° v ' far , ns . extraordinary , and , I might say , unprecedented wot »» f A Btrong cannonade of five hours' duration , a vioieni- ^ gmponnd musketry , laming two hourtf , aiid tinaliy » suit with sword und bavonet , for four houw , and dunnfe » i , ) fl on tho mountains , and over broken ground , couii . ,, | a HUHtniucd with honour , but by tho valour and mauw ^ jW intrepidity of Russian troops , and prove that tlioio « ^ Jjft obstaclo for warriors animated by tho Oithoiiox ^ * " ' folat tho voice of tho august monarch havo taiwn . t | lOiC 3 religion , Hoveroign , and country . Nor cnn there u » - ^ for an army which repeat » tho words of its monarti , Domiuu gperavi , - non confundar in leternmii / . g ; v 0 cl " " If there btill romainod any doubt of tho » ff ™ ftOin racter given to tho war by Russia , tho latest «« ; CM » jj Bucharest of an action at Matschin ( opposite 1 W «« ' )

      1230 Til Leabee, [Sati Jtoa^

      1230 Til LEABEE , [ Sati jtoa ^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1853, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121853/page/6/