NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ALTHOUGH there is no official announcement of the fact in this coun- try, and although some of the French papers, among which is the Constitutionnel, persist in refusing credit to it, there seems little reason for doubting that peace between Turkey and Russia has been concluded—patched up would perhaps be the correct term. The sig- natures of the parties are said to have been put to the preliminaries at Adrianople on the 14th September, the. last day allowed by General DIEBITSCH for deliberation. We stated last week, that we did not expect quite so much from the moderation of the Emperor NicuoLas as some of our contemporaries ; and the terms of the treaty, as re- ported by the Moniteur and Message- des Chambres of Tuesday and Wednesday, more than bear us out in our anticipations. The Danube is in future to form the boundary of the Turkish empire, and the forts on the left bank are to be dismantled ; Ghiurgevo, the only one occu- pied by the Turks, is to be immediately evacuated. The Pruth is to be the boundary of the Russian empire as formerly. The only formal cessions required are four forts on the Asiatic shore of the Black Sea, which are at present in the hands of Russia,—namely, Anapa, Poti, Akhalzik, and Akhalkalaki. The navigation of the Black Sea, and the free passage of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus, are to be gua- ranteed to all nations not at war with Turkey or Russia. The Greek question is to be made the subject of a separate negotiation ; the treaty of the 6th July, and the protocol of the 22d March on which it was founded, being taken as bases on which to negotiate. The mode of governing Wallachia and the western part of Moldavia by Hospodars is to continue; but the Hospodars are to be chosen by Turkey and Russia conjointly, and they are to hold office for life. Thus far there is no want of moderation ; but NICHOLAS, like all moderate men, while he keeps up the show, deems the reality of virtue some- what too expensive .for a poor country. The Sultan is to pay to Russia a military and commercial indemnity, amounting, in our money, to about 5,5 00,00 0/. Of this sum, half a million is to be paid immedi- ately,—or as soon, we presume, after " immediately," as the Sultan can raise it. One month after the first payment is made, but not before, the Balkan-crosser* will fall baek on the line which he occupied pre- vious to advancing on Adrianople. There he will remain until July next; when, or one month after the second instalment is paid, he will retrograde to the line which he occupied before crossing the Balkan. In six months more, he will evacuate Bulgaria; retaining, however, in Silistria, the means of reoccupying it at pleasure; and provided the several instalments of the remaining 5,000,0001. are punctually paid, somewhere about the end of 1840 or the beginning of 1841, he will pass the Pruth, and leave Wallachia and Moldavia to be ruled by Princes • appointed by his master. Thus, in eleven years from the present time, some months over or under, provided nothing inthe interim intervene to render the contrary expedient, Russia will, with the exception of the Black Sea, take up once more the position which she occupied in respect of Turkey previous to the commencement of the hostilities just terminated. Perhaps, had Russia had only Turkey to deal with, the Emperor Might have insisted on more ; but with the fear of Austria before his eyes, his demands have been quite as large as the least moderate sovereign in Europe, if he were also a prudent one, could well make. That the Rus,sians are now and for ever the lords virtually and ac- tually of Wallachia and Moldavia—that they will retain in Silistria the means of passing over the Danube undisturbed—and that, by the monstrously unjust, although not unprecedented fine to be levied on Turkey as the purchase of her own humiliation and defeat—they have insured for eleven years to come the subserviency and imbecility of that state, must be obvious to the meanest intellect. We at the same time rejoice even in the injustice which substitutes for the brutal and * sabcakaaukot...the kesiorszy title given W Diebit4c11 1,114 AmPerfir ttoiss Ni- barbarous sway of the Sultan the milder and more improvable go- vernment of the Emperor. The inhabitants of the provinces have been treated and talked of as cattle throughout the transaction; but despotic power once broken, is never mended,—the Czar must be con- tent to give more and exact less than the ruler whom he supplants. Ten years hence, in all probability, the Wallachians and Moldavians will compel his attention either by their capacity to withstand or to co-operate in his ulterior designs. It is not unworthy of notice, though not so worthy of credit, that the Journal des Debats asserts that the treaty has been concluded without the concurrence, and in opposition to the wishes, of the Eng- lish and French Ambassadors.
We are by no means sanguine in respect to the satisfactory settle- ment of Greece. The conduct of England, and indeed of France also, towards that country, has been a tissue of contradiction. We still would hope that something may he done to erect the Moreotes and their neighbours into a respectable power. One thing is obvious, if they are to have a nominee of Russia for their ruler, he ought to be ruler for life, if not hereditary. We have no objection to republics merely as such ; but anything approaching to a republic in Modern Greece would be absolutely farcical. The capture of Shumla was formally announced, in a letter from an English naval officer off Tarapia, in the Hampshire Telegraph of Saturday last. The news is not confirmed, and it now matters little whether it be or not.
