Prince Gortschakoff has addressed a letter to Count Schouvaloff, dated
November 19, and published in the Journal of St. Peters- burg, in which he repeats the ideas expressed by the Czar to Lord A. Loftus. He asks why, if Russia wished to carry out a policy of annexation, she did not do it in 1848, or 1870, when Europe was engaged. The English, were they Russians, would not take Constantinople, and why deny to the Russians the practical sense they themselves have ? The best solution for Turkey is to leave the keys of the Black Sea in hands too feeble to menace Russia, and Turkey answers to that programme. The two great States, if only agreed, " might together regulate European questions, for their own benefit and the benefit of all," but their antagonism, 4' founded on prejudice or misunderstanding," prevents them. The results are obvious, and "impose on the Emperor duties from which he cannot shrink," but in which all civilised Europe, in- cluding England, ought to share. " We have invited England, by inviting the presence of her squadron, in the Straits."
