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Leader (1850-1860), 17th September 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page unpag.

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      Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      RUSSIA has rejected the Turkish modifications of the Vienna Note , and offered to sign the original draft ; has promised to evacuate the Principalities ; and has marched a new division into them . These two couples of facts tolerably represent the actual state of the Russo-Turkish affair . Turkey is still making ready , with a zealous soldiery , impatient for conflict , and fortifications almost too extensive to be defended ; and therefore by some suspected as Russian traps , prepared through the instrumentality of the renegade leaders whom Turkey employs . The Four Powers have committed a fatal blunder : they have

      undertaken to mediate between two disputants , where one was the aggressor and the other the aggrieved , and they have so managed as to raise objections on the part of the weaker Power too reasonable to be gainsaid j while the very proposition to ameud the course of proceeding is rejected by the unreasonable Power ; too powerful to be arrested . Thus stands the matter between Turkey and Russia . The Emperor Nicholas appears to be resorting to another action , besides that of his ordinary

      agents and his armies . He has made an engagenient to meet thp Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria at Olmiitz , on the 23 rd of this month ; 'ind when the meeting is arranged by the aged and craft y Nicholas with the young and ambitious Francis Joseph , it is naturally expected that the ° ld Emperor means to teach the young one how to bull y and be bullied—how to employ agents a spies—how to oppress nations and to extend

      his territories—to war upon the weak , and bow to the strong . Hitherto , Francis Joseph has proved a capable student ; and if he can be seduced « om the Conference at Vienna , he may make him-8 once more the instrument for coercing nations , * iid compressing them into that precarious Austrian ¦ jMnpire which Russia already regards as u Russian Empire half converted .

      A he Four Powers , who still hang together in co nference , have hit upon a kind of device to get ° » t of the difficulty— -it is to persuade Turkey to SI the Note which' Russia will not have modified , Htl to make nn independent declaration on their ow part , interpreting the Note to mean what J urkcy wishes to make it say by the modifications . y this means the Four Powers would evade uiRsiu , and would secure to Turkey the assurance ° » independence ; while they have already nailed

      the acceptance of Russia to the Vienna text . The device is not very dignified , but it is possible that it may be accepted , if Turkey can be made to feel any confidence irilt guai'antee of her independence offered by the Four Powers , who dare not enforce their mediation upon Russia , dare not stand by their own inclination to accept the dictation of the Northern Power ; and teach Turkey a special meaning to their own text .

      The position of our own Government is not yet known to the public , if it is to Ministers themselves . There appears to be no inconsiderable perplexity in high quarters as to the right course to be taken . The supposition is , that Downing-street has not improved upon the suggestion of the Four Powers , that Turkey should sign the Note with the explanation from the Four Powers , and should thus , in fact , secure to itself a

      " guarantee ' - which it does not yet possess against the pretensions of Russia . There is some truth in this representation . But it appears to be totally inconsistent with the views set forth in Lord Clarendon ' s Note , authenticated this week by the Times , a French version of it having been surreptitiously published in the Observateur d' Atlibies . In that Note , he showed

      that the claims of Russia , so far as they were just , respecting the privileges of the Greek Christians and the custody of the Holy Places , had been conceded by Turkey ; that the invasion of the Principalities was an unwarrantable violation of Turkish territory , that the pretext of making it in consequence of the advance of the c ombined fleets was false , and that England only took up her position by the side of Turkey as the defender of that Power , on grounds

      of justice and public law . . Nothing could be clearer as a statement of national policy than Lord Clarendon ' s letter ; but how is it reconcileable with the total sacrifice of this pure right on the side of Turkey , in order to conciliate the peremptory caprice of the invader of her territory and the violator of public layv ? The device resorted to by the Four Powers , if it be adopted us nn expedient

      by England , is a sacrifice of her national honour to that which England professes to despise—a dishonest expediency . Nothing is made of the natural and just pride of the Turk , because apparently English statesmen , like the English people , have lost all pride of their own . The warlike rumours from the East are the most evident cause of the decline in the public funds , which have tliis week reached as low n quotation us % for money . The late Government

      used to boast , that during its administration the funds continued to rise , and that they stood above par . If the House of Commons were sitting , and Mr . Disraeli had the opportunity of doing it with more effect "than-he could amongst the Royal Bucks , he would no doubt point to a quotation of 95 as a reproach , not more to Mr . Gladstone , the Finance Minister , than to Lord Clarendon , the

      Foreign Minister , and Lord Aberdeen , the Premier . And there would be real grounds for the reproach . So long as we were maintaining a firm and even threatening attitude towards Russia , our policy was successful ; Russia was forced to give way , and notwithstanding the rumours of imminent war , the quotations of Consols remained firm . There is no doubt that since we fell to

      compromising in conjunction with Austria , the public confidence has diminished . It would , however , be unjust to Government , and misleading to our readers , if we pointed to the state of the pxiblic funds as caused alone by the political aspect of affairs . The true and most efficient cause is—that already more than once

      explained—the strain upon the capital of the country in providing for all the demands of a vastly extended commerce . Commerce , indeed , is as prosperous as ever . Those who are now busily circulating predictions of " a crash , " if they are justified at all , are justified only in so far as there is an admitted difficulty to make both ends meet . The business is ns sound as ever : the profit

      on most transactions is as substantial , but the long circuit which some operations of our trade have to make , even to the antipodes ; the allowances oi time which we give for payments , without taking it ourselves ; the number of entcrprizes contributing to make the speculator require the money faster than he can get it to spin round ; and hence

      he is for the moment ns if he were poorer . I he pressure on the money market from political causes increases his difficulty . There arc , indeed , also substantial difficulties in some of our commercial relations—that of speculations which rest in part upon commercial connexions with France

      —upon a rotten foundation , must be admitted . And the absurd action of the French Government , in its ' endeavouring to find , means for feeding and amusing the people , while the Emperor and his satellites are pursuing their own game , threatens with Bankruptcy the traders of his own capital , and may thus inflict upon us some share of the evil . Even in our own country there are difficulties . Some of the working-classes—it would bo in-

      Untitled Article

      VOL . IV . No . 182 . ] SATTJEDAY , SEPTEMBER 17 , 1853 . [ Price Sixpence .

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      Untitled Article

      . civc nF THE WEEK— PAGE Curiosities of Justice . 896 The Two Emperors ; or , Wars PORTFOLIOSr ^ t ^ r ::::::::: Z £ S ^ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: S ? s ^ S ^ . •^!^ .::::::::::: Z *»—* - - srr ^ r ...::::::::::::::::::::: sS pu J"f . ™ RS- tB , 898 owhoooho , ^ Tu " ™*^ « . Continental Notes ... 892 England ' s True Answer to Russia .... 898 English and American Cutlery 903 India and China 894 Essentials of a New Keform Bill 898 Holyrood Palace 903 Australian Romance 894 Advance of America , in Europe ...... 899 Healthof London during the Week ... 910 Country Parties 894 Analysis of a Murderer ... 899 LITERATURE Births , Marriages , and Deaths 910 The Barnstaple Briberies 891 The Way to Live a Thousand Years 900 " *" The Cholera in England 895 What on Earth is to be Done ? 900 Books on our Table 9 O , COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS-• Pallinff Houses 895 Personal Manliness 900 Euskin m Venice .... 905 _ ,.. _ . „ . ' . . ., Se ^ WorSciases 895 The Governing Clas 3 es .-No . III . Christie Johnstone , and Charles Del- City Intelligence , Markets , Adver-Sto ^ ofa Will .. I ....... 895 The Earl of Clarendon 901 mer . 907 tisements , &c . 910-912

      Untitled Article

      " The one Idea which History exhibits as evermore developing itself into greater distinctness is the Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down all the barriers erected between men by prejudice and one-sided views ; and by setting aside the distinctions or Religion , Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human race as one "brotherhood , having one great object—the free development of our spiritual nature . " — Sumboldt ' 8 Cosmos ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1853, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2004/page/1/