South Wales Daily News

SPIRIT OF THE DAILY PRESS. SURRENDER OF RUSSIAN DEMANDS. Snoh terms of agreement are indicated by the latest news, tays the Timet, are difficult to reconcile with the pretentions which were put forth some time since, nob only by Russia, but even by her allies, the other two Imperial Powers. The ultimate demands upon Turkey will fall short even of the original programme of the three Imperial Governments some fifteen months ago, when only Herzegovina was disturbed, when there had been no Bulgarian massacres, no Servian, or Montenegrin war. The Andrassy note did not represent the final purposes of the three Powers, for the Berlin memo- randum went farther; but even the Andrassy note, as most of us remember, had a style and con- tents which threatened something very different from the arrangements indicated by present reports. When we come to the epoch of the Servian war we find all that had beon done by the Imperial alliance transcended by the acts of Russia herself. The Russians declared that thev took the quarrel on themselves, the Government connived at or encouraged the volunteering for the Servian army, the Emperor declared that unless he received satisfaction he would act inaependentJyof the other Powers. To act in-1 dependently meant to invade the Turkish Empire,and smce: then immense forces have been mobilized ij1 liussia, and war expenses incurred which the country in its present condition can ill bear. If such terms as are now reported be offered to the Turks after all that has passed, it will shew, first, that a notabl# change has passed over th» policy of Austria and Germany; and, next, that the Russian Govern m«nt does not think it convenient or feasible to redeem the pledge which it gave to its people and the world by the mouth of the Czar two months ago. On the other hand, if, at some may think, the Russian .Ambassador content* to a reduction of his demands in the confidence that the Turks, ih their present atnto of ex- citement, will refuse everything, and place themselves hopelessly in the wrong, he may be acting with ti. good knowledge of the people he deals with. We must wait until Monday next to know anything more, for Thursday's sitting was taken up with tll- Turkish objections to the! proposals of the Conference in their present- state, and with the representations of the Plenipotentiaries who in- vited the Turkish dulegates to a further discussion. "THE PATH OF CONCESSION IS OPEN." But if the Grand Vizier does not quake before General Ignatieff, says the Mwninn Poet, why should he tieinble before Lord Salisbury? That impetuous statesman, has attempted to revive the strong language ef Stratford Canning to enforce a policy which Mr. Gladstone would approve. In tbs enterprise the British Plenipotentiary has allowed himself, we fear, to excetd not only the bounds of politeness, but also of his instructions and of these r' errors the astute Eastern diplomatists cannot fail to be aware. They know for a matter of cer- tallltythAt the Indian Minister was not sent to Constantinople to coerce the Sultan. They have repeat- edly heard that England will not go to war for the Turks, bat they are also aware that she will not go to war against them. They only ask her to stand by and see fair play, and they are not prepared to believe even from Lord Salisbury's mouth that the Cabinet of St. James is ready to follow the lead of General Ignatieff in the practice of violent bluster and empty menace. That the Grand Vizier And his colleagues are correct in their estimate is proved by the fact, that the Plenipotentiaries are abandoning their resolutions, reducing their terms, and listening to the voice of reason, and, singularly enough, or Turkey. They absolutely surrender the whole project of foreign intervention,- whether open or disguised. If we hear no more of a foreign police of course we can hear no more of a visible authority exercised over the tribunals and their jurisdiction and the monstrous proposals that the mili- tary forces of the Sultan were to be confined to the occu- pation of towns and fortresses must also vanish. Such propositions a3 these, which would have secured the cer- tain disintegration and ruin of Turkey, and have won for Kussia more than she could hope to grasp in a campaign, having now positively fallen through, the path of conces. ia open, and mors may probably follow. ALLEGBE TBIUMPH OF TURKISH FIRMNESS. Tnrki^h firmness, says the Standard, has triumphed, if ^he latest telegrams are to be credited. The plenipoten- t»riM of the Powers are said to have consented to modify their demands, giving up altogether the proposal of an occupation in every shape and form. Those amongst us who during the past six months have been engaged in the ▼sry Christian task of stirring up Christian fueling against the Turks will, doubtless, regard this result as unaccountable and lamentable. But to persons n°k blinded by partisanship it will be hailed affording-, for the first time, a reasonable hope of peace. From the first foresaw that the Porte would never agree veluntarily to an occupation, however it might be.dingujggd^ and that seems to have proved tp be the case. Whether the raodified propopiols will prove more acceptable remains to be seen. We know too little of them yet to hazard any opinion on the subiect. But it is to be hoped that the diplomatic victory won by the Porto will not en- courage it to offer a bli&d resistance to the reasonable de- mands of the Conference. In the meantime, however, the victory appears to rest with the Porte. What will our Sclavophile friends say to this decisive refutation of their predietiong ? They have been affirming with the utmost confidence that if England would join with Russia the Porte must give way. But now it-teems that, even with the support of all the Great Powers, it is Russia instead which^ has given wav. What has induced Russia to yield we need" not aow stop to inquire, •there ara ttiany and strorig reasons why Bhe should pursue a cantiolls- policy. But we trust the conces- sion now made will afford a basis for an amicable settle- ment. It is clearly to be borne in mind, however, that the step laia to have been taken by the Powers does not necessarily insure the maintenance of peace. It may be i;Jt -o • r .° reject the new proposals. It may be- ueve Kiiseia too weak to fisht at present, and may compel. ih^ Q?HWer j1?1: Co cS?ht or to confess itself beaten. Or nhi»nt; n*a Grand Vizier may have insuperable ?. inIrT ? t°m? of the proposals retained. Still it continued^ true, that negociations are to be DEFENCES OF CONSTANTINOPLE. ^hieh Mahomat's ambition reached and upon Which his wishes centred, says the Daily Telegraph, about to fall a prey to the infidel, would attract to its defence the most desperate and fanatical tribes of Asia. On a narrow neck of land, nou more than sixteen miles wide, half ot which is naturally impregnable, they, with the disciplined troops of Turkey, would await the attack of the enemy. They may not have spent long years in camp, may not he hut imperfectly acquainted with the drill which inaken good soldiers, but the experience of the last war shows how tenaciously they will fiht, and whafc a heavy tributio of blood tl=, wilLeatot from, those wlia attempt to attack them Iv;- would the Turkish fleet be idle in bringing to this centn l position all the aid it could gather. Anchored in the Bay of Buyuk Chekmege, it would be at hand with stores of ammunition and reinforce- ments of men, while it would prevent, both on the side of the Sea of Marmora and the Black Sea ehores, any attempt on the part of the Russians to attack the defenders in the rear. It is, of course, possible that the Muscovite commanders, have thought^ of all tliig, that they have calculated the strength of their armies, and are confident of success in the endeavour to force the last stronghold of the Turk. If so, they will do their utmost to reach it and to begin the attack. But to them the experiences of the terrible fight in front of Alexinatz during tho last days of September upon thfe hill which Hsifiz Pash\ so gallantly held should not be without its value. Then they were supported by a hundred guns, which from strong redoubis played incessantly upon tha gallant defenders then, tbo, they outnumbered by two to one the men who stood in that entrenched hill. Yet,as their columns came across the open plain, and pushed up the slope on which the Moslem stood, they found that to advance on the strong position held by a resolute enemy was no oasy 'task and as they fell back discomfited, and more than decimated, their first conviction was amply canfirmed. Perhaps they think that much of the terrible defeat which on that day befel them was due to the fact that with them were banded cowardly Servians, who were afraid to face their hereditary masters. But history will have to contradict itself if the vanquished at Inkel-man, or the victors at Tchataldcha, or the defeated at Alezinata succeeded in.storming the bights of Baba-na- Katch. They ignore the events of the past twenty years, during which the Turks bfv,,i been drilled and converted into the finest soldiery of K irope, who think that Russian stolicli y can readily overcome Moslem fanaticism. And Sbmboul will long rcimain the- heritage of the Prophet's followers, unless the Russians can bring to the onslaught ttuch myriads of men that the batteries which havo lately been constructed ma) be safely disregarded. EOUMANIA AND THE NEW CONSTITUTION; No sooner had the new Constitution been published,says the Daily News, than it was perceived that some of ite ar- tides were utterly inconsistent with the political privileges enjoyed by the Roumanian people, and guaranteed to them by the public law of Europe.. What the Sultan may be advised to proclaim as to the rights of any class of his subjects is not of the slightest consequence to anybody, cer- tainly not to the Roumanians, who are beyond the reach of his power. This sober view, however, was not the one tsken at Bucharest, where some' too eager mem- bers of the Chamber asked the Government on Tues- day whether the firtt, seventh, and eighth articles of the new Turkish Constitution applied to Roumania. The Minister unadvisedly replied that he did not know, but he would telegraph an inquiry to Constantinople. The first article of the Constitution expressly declares the Ottoman Empire to form an indivisible whole, of which the semi-dependent States are inalien- able parts. In the seventh article it is declared that the Sultan makes and cancels the appointment of Ministers, bestows offices, concludes treaties, and executes and administers the laws. The eighth article announces that all subjects of the Empire are called Ottomans, without distinction, whatever faith they profess. Asked by the Roumanian Government to state whether these provisions were intended to apply to the united principalities, Safvet Pasha replied that the first and seventh articles certainly were. This unwise reply shews the folly of the original question. The application of two of the cited afticles and the non-application of the other would be perfectly arbitrary if it were possible. Were the principalities to fall under the power of the Porte, their inhabitants would soon find that the Constitution was neither the guarantee nor the measure of their rights; bnt lmtil then it is not worth their while to object to the Sultan calling them "Ottomans," a name by which no European is likely to J efer to them. The Roumanian Chamber, however, on recei, 7,ig the Turkish reply, commenced a debate upon it; a resolution was passed unanimously supporting the Government, and directing it toproteBt energetically against the pretensions ofthe Porte.