10 SEPTEMBER 1853, Page 11

FALSE POSITION& TEE

actual position of the dispute between Turkey and Russia, as conducted by the mediating Powers, passes comprehension. We find Turkey declining to acquiesce in what is substantially the same proposition, and for the same reasons which France and England advised her to refuse in May, and which Austria, France, England, and Prussia, invite her in August to grant!

With a public so impatient as our own to be informed, or to think itself so, such an anomaly cannot pass without explanation, although guessing should fill up the void of knowledge; and ac- cordingly we have abundant conjectures to account for the derelic- tion of the French and English Governments. It is not for us to contradict the insinuations that the French Government has been bought by Russian gold ; or that, having gained all he wanted, European recognition, Louis Napoleon backs out. The course taken by our Government, in surrendering that to which it had pledged its ally and protégé and its own honour, more nearly concerns us ; and the attempts to account for the selection of a course, we confess do not at all satisfy our perplexity. Lord Aberdeen, it is alleged, has always been Russian in his sympa- thies, and is now only acquiescing in that which he contemplated from the first. The explanation fails in verisimilitude. From all the published historical data respecting past transactions, it would appear that Lord Aberdeen has mistrusted Russia for many years. If we could ascribe any bias to the Premier, it would be rather that of favouring the routine of diplomatic usage. We can ima- gine a man of his antecedents and age regarding it as impossible to depart from "what is usual" in such matters; unconscious of the opportunity for an English statesman to view the question by the standard of simple honesty and English feeling, and to take his measures accordingly, as a Cromwell would have done. But nobody looks upon Lord Aberdeen as a Cromwell ; and nobody will be- lieve that a single member of the present Cabinet, however re- spected, dictates to the rest.

It would be an idle and perhaps a mischievous delicacy to with- hold the mention of another conjectural explanation. It is evi- dent that a serious disturbance in Europe might be very incon- venient to the minor German Powers; and that fact has perhaps suggested the rough guess, that a Prince bound up with Ger- man interests by family relations has used his position near the British Sovereign for the purpose of inducing England to assist in hushing up the quarrel, with scanty regard to the justice of the case ; in short, that Prince Albert has induced Eng- land to abandon her pledge and her ally-. That Queen. Victoria should turn in moments of perplexity and of confidence to take counsel of her husband, is a circumstance that the English people would presume, and, if the fact were avowed, they would applaud. Into such communings it does not become even con- jecture to penetrate, save with a respectful hope that nothing restricts the fullest interchange of feeling. But that the Prince Consort should interfere in the way supposed with Ministerial affairs, is not only improbable, but inconsistent with his known conduct. It did not want the example of previous Royal persons in this country, with their German relations, to warn Prince Albert from that dangerous ground. He ho abstained, with laudable delicacy, from stepping beyond his province. He has earned distinction amongst us, but it has not been by his intervention in military statesmanship; it has been by his absti- nence from that field—by his exposition of a dignified and practical philosophy ; and if that philosophy has, as it might well have done, taught him a preponderating reliance on peace and its blessings, it has no doubt taught him how far he is precluded from entering into council upon other topics. His province is to afford an arm of support to his wife and sovereign in those social duties which are inseparable from the British Crown, and to employ the situation which he adorns in leading the English people forward in the arts of civilization ; and we do not believe that Prince Albert has so far forgotten his happy and exalted duty, of which he has shown so just an appreciation, by officious meddling with affairs which are not his.

These conjectural efforts to account for the inconsistent position of our Ministry, indeed, do not satisfy the mind, but rather exem- gfy the general sense that the inconsistency is unaccountable. We can better approach a conjectural cause for it in the inherent difficulties of the case. It is difficult not to fall in with negotia- tions for a peaceful solution of the quarrel ; and if there are nego- tiations, -

tiations it must be after the manner of negotiators. It is impos- sible to see how Turkey can be disposed of should England be thrown loose in a general war. It is difficult to discover what could be the independent power to act as a barrier to Russian en- croachment if the dismemberment of Turkey were now precipi- tated. The course, however directed, is full of the greatest difficul- ties. But in a maze so perplexing, in the densest fog of tribula- tion or the blackest midnight of doubt, there is one safe guide— justice ; and he who steers by that pole-star can scarcely go wrong. The English people dislike the idea of war. ; least of all would they be inclined to "go to war for Turkey," a state and people so remote from English understanding or Christiamsympathy : but in these days of expediency there is one thing that still exercises a confessed sway over the English mind, and that is justice—one thing which Englishmen would be eager to sustain, and that is a straightfor- ward Minister. By patching up the Turkish controversy with a surrender of the very point contested, English statesmen may stave off their difficulty ; but if they abandon their pledge and their straightforward course, while they really conquer no difficulties abroad, they lose the surest of rehances at home, the sympathy of Englishmen and their confidence in a straightforward " Eng-

lish" policy. On that policy they were understood* stand in May : their course was clear; they had acquired sortie lower of dictating terms ; any sequel save a peaceful reconctlemerot would have entailed responsibilities, not on them, but on those asilaqrr.. trigued or resisted ; and they were supported by entire confidelee at home. It was in all respects a better position than the present appears to be.