the other powers, would sacrifice its honour in the eyes
of its own subjects, and would commit a mental and
moral suicide. Although the refusal of Russia to
accord the modifications required by the Sublime Porte
has been based on a question of honour, it cannot be
denied that the ground of that refusal was simply and
solely its desire not to allow explicit terms to replace
vague expressions, which might at some future time
furnish it with a pretext for intermeddling. Such
conduct, therefore, compels the Sublime Porte to persist
on its part in withholding its adhesion. The reasons
which have determined the Ottoman government to
make its modifications having been appreciated by the
representatives of the Four Powers, it is proved that
the Sublime Porte was right in not purely and simply
adopting the Vienna note. It is not with the view of
criticising a project which obtained the assent of the
great Powers that we enter upon a discussion of the
inconveniences which the Vienna note presents. Their
efforts have always tended to the preservation of peace,
while defending the rights and independence of the
Imperial government. The endeavours made to attain
these objects having been as laudable as can be conceived,
the Sublime Porte cannot sufficiently acknowledge
them. But, as evidently each government must possess,
in consequence of its peculiar knowledge and local
experience, more facilities than any other government
for judging of the points which concerns its own rights,
the examination which the Ottoman government makes
is prompted entirely by its desire to justify the obligatory
situation in which, to its great regret, it finds itself
placed, desiring, as it has done, to continue following
the benevolent counsels offered to it by its allies ever
since the commencement of the differences, and which
until now it has followed. If it is alleged that the haste
with which the Vienna note was drawn up results from
the backwardness of the Sublime Porte to propose an
arrangement, the government of his Majesty the Sultan
must justify itself by stating the following facts:—
Before the entrance of the Russian troops into the two
Principalities, some of the representatives of the Powers,
actuated by the sincere intention of preventing the
occupation of those provinces, urged upon the Sublime
Porte the necessity of framing a draft note occupying a
middle place between the draft note of the Sublime
Porte and that of Prince Menschikoff. More lately,
the representatives of the Powers, confidently communicated
different schemes of arrangement to the Sublime
Porte. None of these latter responded to the views of
the Imperial government; and the Ottoman cabinet
was on the point of entering into negotiations with the
representatives of the Powers on the basis of a project
drawn up by itself in conformity with these suggestions.
It was at this moment that news of the passage of the
Pruth by the Russians arrived, a fact which changed
the face of the whole question. The draught note
proposed by the Sublime Porte was then set aside, and the
cabinets were requested to express their views of this
violation of treaties after the protest of the Sublime
Porte. On the one hand the Ottoman cabinet had to
wait for their replies, and on the other, it drew up, at
the suggestion of the representatives of the Powers, a
project of arrangements, which was sent to Vienna.
As the sole answer to all these active steps, the draft of
our note at Vienna made its appearance. However
that may be, the Ottoman government fearing rightly
everything which might imply a right of interference
in favour of Russia in religious matters, could do no
more than give assurances calculated to dissipate the
doubts which had become the subject of discussion;
and it will not, after so many preparations and
sacrifices, accept propositions which could not be
received at the time of the stay of Prince
Menschikoff at Constantinople. Since the cabinet of
St. Petersburg has not been content with the
assurances and pledges that have been offered, since
the benevolent efforts of the high Powers have
remained fruitless, since, in fine, the Sublime Porte
cannot tolerate or suffer any longer the actual state of
things, or the prolongation of the occupation of the
Molde-Wallachian Principalities, they being integral
portions of its empire—the Ottoman cabinet, with the
firm and praiseworthy intention of defending the sacred
rights of sovereignty and the independence of its government,
will employ just reprisals against a violation of the
treaties which it considers a casus belli. It notifies,
then, officially, that the government of his Majesty the
Sultan finds itself obliged to declare war, that it has
given most precise instructions to his Excellency Omar
Pacha to demand from Prince Gortschakoff the
evacuation of the Principalities, and to commence hostilities
if after a delay of fifteen days from the arrival of his
despatch at the Russian head-quarters an answer in the
negative should be returned. It is distinctly understood that
should the reply of Prince Gortschakoff be negative, the
Russians are to quit the Ottoman States, and that the
commercial relations of the respective subjects of the
two governments shall be broken off. At the same time
the Sublime Porte will not consider it just to lay an
embargo upon Russian merchant vessels, as has been the
practice. Consequently, they will be warned to resort
either to the Black Sea or to the Mediterranean Sea, as
they shall think fit, within a term that shall hereafter
be fixed. Moreover, the Ottoman government being
unwilling to place hindrances in the way of commercial
intercourse between the subjects of friendly powers, will
during the war leave the straits open to their mercantile
marine."

Omar Pacha was instructed to communicate the
resolve of the Sultan to Prince Gortschakoff; and he
did so, in the following note:—"Monsieur le General—
It is by the order of my Government that I have the
honour to address this letter to your Excellency. Whilst
the Sublime Porte has exhausted all means of
conciliation to maintain at once peace and its own independence,
the Court of Russia has not ceased to raise
difficulties in the way of any such settlement, and has
ended with the violation of treaties—invading the two
Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, integral parts
of the Ottoman empire. True to its pacific system, the
Porte, instead of exercising its right to make reprisals,
confined itself even then to protesting, and did not
deviate from the way that might lead to an arrangement.
Russia, on the contrary, far from evincing corresponding
sentiments, has ended by rejecting the proposals
recommended by the august mediating Courts,—proposals
which were alike necessary to the honour and to the
security of the Porte. There only remains for the latter
the indispensible necessity of war. But as the invasion
of the Principalities, and the violation of treaties which
have attended it, are the veritable causes of war, the
Sublime Porte, as a last expression of its pacific sentiments,
proposes to your Excellency, by my intervention,
the evacuation of the two provinces, and grants for your
decision a term of fifteen days, to date from the receipt
of this letter. If within this interval a negative answer
shall reach me from your Excellency, the commencement
of hostilities will be the natural consequence. While
I have the honour to make this intimation to your
Excellency, I embrace the opportunity to offer the
assurances of my high esteem." To this summons
Prince Gortschakoff replied, that "Russia is not at war
with Turkey; that in any season he would be prepared
to evacuate the Principalities as soon as his master had
obtained the moral satisfaction which he demanded;
and that if he were attacked he would defend himself."

The total force of the Turkish army now under arms
is estimated and distributed as follows:—120,000
between the Danube and the Balkan, 15,000 in Bosnia,
6000 near Pristina, on the Servian frontier; 50,000
who will be mustered very shortly at Adrianople; and
from 80,000 to 100,000 on the frontier of Asia. All the
letters from Constantinople are full of accounts of the
military preparations which are going on with unceasing
activity. Patriotic gifts are pouring in from all
quarters: jewels, money, horses, houses, lands—all are
offered for the national service. Exclusive of the
reserves, orders have been issued for the formation of
a corps of 50,000 men, taken from the Redifs who are
still disposable. Of that corps of 50,000 men, 18,101
were to be armed and equipped by the city of
Constantinople. Those 18,101 all answered to the summons,
and crowded to their standard in one day. The arsenals
produced in the course of a single week the cannon,
muskets, and ammunition necessary for the 50,000 men,
and the horses requisite for the cavalry of the same corps