FALL OF TURKEY—TREATY OF ADRIANOPLE.
THE PRESS.
TIMES—The supplementary and separate articles of that treaty, which has fixed he expectation and attention of Europe for some weeks past, as it may affect her r'Pose directly or indirectly for a much longer period, throw a lurid colouring
over the policy of the Government by which they were dictated. We do not now attempt to raise, much less to pronounce upon, the question, whether the virtual transfer of Turkey in Europe to Russia be a sufficient cause of slants for the rest of Europe, to justify measures of combined hostility against that all-grasping Government; but this we assert without fear of contradiction, that by the articles of the treaty, original and supplemental, explaining and enforcing each other, Turkey in Europe no longer exists, but as bath in ferns and essence a province,
or mass of provinces, under the immediate gripe and sway of Russia. ,$ * A suns of more than 5450,0001. is on the face of it, unless the whole world be de- ceived as to the financial means of the Turkish Government, far beyond the power of Turkey, whoever may be Sultan, to liquidate within ten years. That the amount has been raised, deliberately, to a level which the resources of the Sultan could never be supposed to reach, there seems, we apprehend, some reason for conjecturing, from certain other stipulations of the same treaty. It was formerly observed in this journal, that the only sovereignty left throughout Turkey, if Rus- sian subjects were to enjoy in the full extent the immunities provided for them by the 7th article, would be that of the Russian Minister and Consuls. Such privi- leges enjoyed by foreign sovereigns within territories which do not own their formal sway, have ever beers regarded as badges of the worst kind of servitude. Suppose a Russian subject should behave with provoking insolence and turbulence to the Turkish authorities,—suppose (since such things are at Last conceivable) that, for political purposes, he should be secretly instigated by Russian function- aries to get up a scene of bad example to the Turks, and dangerous to the influence of the native magistrates,—is Turkey Sc, have no means of dealing at once with the offender, except through the medium of his associates or tutors in guilt ? Would the Emperor Nicholas permit French or British—least of all, would he suffer Turkish subjects. to enjoy within the Russian territory an entire exemption from the penalties of Russian law 1) So, with respect to Russian shipping, a merchantman under that flag may be loaded with merchandise contraband of peace or war, and within the Turkish waters she is to brave the authorities of Turkey, and outrage every principle of the law of nations with impunity ! Then comes another and highly illustrative condition of this treaty which, taken in conjunc- tion with the military occupancy of the empire, viol with the extraordinary rights conferred on Russian subjects, ilIords what the lawyers call "cumulative evi- deuce " of the design to ingraft a Russian sovereignty upon—or rather, indeed, to incorporate it with—the whole frame and existence of Turkey. At the chaise of the 11111 article are these words :—" Until the complete evacuation of the territories occupied by the Russian troops, the administration and the order of things there established at the present time,. under the influence of the Imperial Court of Russia, shall be maintained, and the Sublime Ottoman Porte shall not interfere With them in any manner." Here, then, is not only a military occupation, but a direct and complete ;tdministration of the civil govern- ment by Russia. Her Commander-in-Chief, it is known, lets put arms into the hands uf all the most disaffected Turks; he hai fostered the faction of the broken
Janissaries,—the irreconcilable Is.lahmoud ; he has given that faction the administrative power throughout the whole country which his troops have overrun and conquered. Coupling, therefore, this system with the arrangements made for keeping military possession of the Turkish soil, is it too much to say that the manifest policy has been to overthrow all those associations and institu- tions which led the inhabitants of Turkey in Europe to consider the Sultan as their lawful ruler, and to instil the notion of 3.1uscoaite supremacy as the habit and principle of the national mind of Turkey ? The revenues, moreover, collected according " te the present order of things, and under the influence of the Imperial Court of Russia," must go indubitably into the pocket of that Imperial Court. So that by this singular adjunct of iiscal and civil government to military occupation, the means of the Sultan to get rid of both must be stilt further ha- paired and exhausted, and the military tenure will thus become the dexterous in-
strument of its own unlimited prolongation. Now we do not say that this Russian imperium in imperio may not be a benefit to the Turks : on the contrary, we are sure that their condition will be much happier, and the progress of their civilization more sensible, by virtue of their transfer to the dominion of the Czar. We beg most distinctly to deny,—and we do so because of the gross mirepresen- talons which our sentiments have often begn exposed to on this subject,—we do most gravely, and in terms, disclaim every Niish for the preservation of the Turkish Government in any part of Europe. Its religion is a fraud, its essence is fero- cious tyranny, its sceptre is the axe, its people are barbarians. No Christian or civilized being can desire the continuance of such a monarchy, as a thing to be valued for itself. Our only subject of regret or apprehension, or both, is that the downfal of such a brutal power should he qualified by the establishment of another species of monster in the place of it. We do not mean to use the word "monster" offensively in its application to Russia,: we would signify merely an unnatural
and highly formidable power. It is said that there exists no danger of another universal monarchy ; and that we believe. It is said that there exists no chance of the revival of any power which shall threaten seriously to disturb the
equilibrium of Europe. Doubtless, that proposition likewise we believe, with the proviso that fit means are taken to arrest the growth of such a power. The chance does not, or did not exist, because there is, or was, a greater chance that such an event would be seasonably and effectually frustrated. If nothing in tile shape of resistance to the overgrowth of an immoderate power be attempted, the maxim is a silly one which denies the possibility of such a power. Upon the whole, we consider the state of athtirs consequent upon the signature of the treaty in question, as one which may be termed critical hi the extreme. Wisdom and firmness are mighty defensive agents against calamities which threaten the general welfare ; but they must animate the councils of more states than one, or those who betray the common interest will, unfortunately, not suffer alone.
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