NEWS OF THE WEEK.
This note, bearing the signature of the four Ambassadors at Con- stantinople, proposes that negotiations for a settlement between Russia and Turkey, to be conducted in a neutral city, shall pro- ceed on three bases,—the evacuation of the Principalities as promptly as possible; the renewal of the old treaties ; and the com- munication of the firmans relative to the spiritual immunities granted by the Sublime Porte to all its Christian subjects. In other words, this note would establish the exact status quo ante helium ; and it is only by great nicety that one can detect any dif- ferences between the present document and the original note of Vienna which the Czar so greedily accepted and the Porte so per- emptorily rejected. The difference consists principally in the per- fect equality of rights and immunities granted to Christian com- munities, without any monopoly for the "orthodox Greek Chris- tians," who are specially favoured by Russia ; and in the fact that these " communications" would be made in the presence of the Four Powers, who would supply assurances to sustain the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire. We have come round, then, almost to the old starting-point; and if there is agreement it must be, to weary out the contending parties by the sheer force of monotony.
Except in the stoppage of violence at a remote quarter of Eu- rope, for a time, it is difficult to perceive what advantages could be secured by this arrangement. If Russia should be brought to give her signature, how would that bind her, any more than the signa- ture has bound her to the observance of previous compacts? If the Four Powers are now in concert to continue the "assurances" of their own "concert," after the pattern of 1841, what guarantee do the Western Powers derive from that formal assertion, that Aus- tria and certain other European Powers may not sever themselves from the common council at any convenient opportunity ? Diplo- macy has been reflected in the comment of public writing in our own capital; where the same facts incessantly stated over and over again, with the same conclusions, and the same hints, suggest a fear that the Western Powers really have no purpose of doing any- thing at all, except to hush up the quarrel between Russia and Turkey for the passing day : no lesson to be taught to the lawless invader--no compensation exacted for the aggression which he has made, not more upon Turkey than the order of Europe, and upon that concert which is to be reassured. A contemporary goes so far as to say that the compensation to Turkey consists in the occa- sion for drawing forth her national spirit ;—the trespasser is per- mitted to compensate the injured party by merely going away ; the insulted Turk. is "compensated" for the kick by the opportunity for showing his spirit! This is a new reading of the old statutes ; and it confirms our belief, that the profoundest students of inter-
national law cannot establish for it any authority or any fa- culty of peremptory enforcement. If Russia should accept the proffered negotiations as frankly as Turkey, she will still have gained by the blow to the stability of the Ottoman empire ; and will, by experiment, have proved, without injury to herself, her power of making invasions and of attempting new divisions in Europe. It will only remain for her to lie in wait for a fresh opportunity. Apart from justice to Turkey,—which a public meeting here and there, as at Sheffield or Chester, is urging our Government to vindicate,—it becomes very important to know by what prin- ciples our Ministers have been guided in the conduct of these transactions ; what is the final object at which they aim ; and by what means they propose to effect it. No doubt, the documents will be laid before Parliament, and it may be expected that our representatives will not show either less honesty or less ability than the diplomatists of other states. When the note in reply to Count Nesselrode from the pen of M. Drouyn de Lhuys appeared, the public was greatly impressed by the ability of the French statesman, and almost blamed Lord Clarendon, on presumption, for falling short in the comparison : but when Lord Clarendon's parallel appeared, it was found to be at least as spirited and able as its counterpart. But Ministers will be expected to show some- thing more than diplomatic skill or the due fulfilment of official routine in the interchange of notes. The complete set of the cor- respondence will give us the chart for the course of these proceed- ings, and will probably supply the specific reasons for each parti- cular change in the direction of that course; • but something more will still be needed to make us understand the spirit and bearing of the whole. There is a future to be explained as well as a past.
