POSTSCRIPT.
SATURDAY.
The news of the morning is, that the first formal step towards a peace, to which the Allies are parties, has been taken at Vienna. A telegraphic message states that, yesterday at noon, "a protocol, recording the ac- ceptance of the Austrian proposals as a basis of peace, was signed at Vienna by the Ministers of Russia, France, England, Austria, and Turkey."
The mode in which this was to be accomplished, according to the journal des Debats, in an article anticipating this transaction, was as follows. At a meeting of the representatives of the Five Pow- ers, called by Count Buol, the Austrian Minister would read a note containing the Austrian conditions. Then Prince Gortschakoff would read the despatch of Count Nesselrode ; and then the representatives of the Five Powers would sign a protocol recording the transaction. The Daats describes this as the "first of the preliminaries."
The Morning Post has "reason to believe that an armistice will be shortly concluded for a limited period. The exact terms of the armistice have yet to be defined. It may very probably be confined to land opera- tions, as there is no possibility of any collision at sea ; and the continu- ance of the blockade, supposing peace not to be concluded by the time the Baltic is free from ice, would be necessary to our position as negotia- tors, and in conformity with general precedent."
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