Really, she had neither begun nor continued the negotiation thus far with a wish or real effort for a settlement. Her policy was to keep the dispute open, and when a fair opportunity offered, to seize upon it and the principalities at the same time. She had foreseen that she could never capture Constantinople without the principalities the distance from St. Petersburgh to Constantinople being too great to allow the passage of an immense army, without arousing all Europe. She had then two objects to obtain:

1st. To squat in the principalities.

2d. To do so without driving the allies to an open rupture.

But now that France, and England, and Turkey professed their readiness to bury the past troubles, and had even excited the indignation of their own people by a peaceful and compromising policy, Russia drew Prince Menschikoff, her trump card, from her pack, and played him with her usual diplomatic success.

ment.

The prince was of high rank, thoroughly in the confidence of the czar, and he went to the porte, attended by some of the highest officers of the Russian governHuge military and naval arrangements were made in the south of Russia, ready to follow up the peaceable mission of the prince. His very first act, after his arrival in Constantinople, was an endeavor to stir up the Greek subjects of the portc. His next was to insult the grand vizier, and the minister of foreign affairs, who was compelled to resign. His next was to send special missions to Egypt and Athens to excite a revolt; and he completed the first act in his little dra

ma, by threatening the sultan with the direst consequences if he dared to communicate to the English and French ambassadors any treaties which he, the sultan, might make with Russia.

But the plot had already so far ripened that the porte was compelled to communicate with his allies. The English fleet was called into the Dardanelles, and the prince sent in a preliminary note, which the porte began to consider, aided unofficially by the British embassy, when the ultimatum of the prince was issued, which changed the whole ground of the controversy, The former claims of the prince were of trivial importance compared with the contents of this note.

It had the effect of immediately opening the eyes of the British embassy, who, it must be confessed, had hitherto been thoroughly blinded by the skillful diplomacy of the prince. The news was received by them at a ball given by a distinguished Greek merchant. They of course immediately retired, and the war steamers of the allies departed from Constantinople on the same night.

The porte weakly consented to another conference, and the injury sought to be consummated was accompanied by a gross insult. The time for a conference was appointed, and the ministers of the sultan anxiously awaited the approach of Menschikoff. He passed them by in utter contempt, and proceeding to the palace of the sultan, demanded an audience. In vain he was informed that it was Friday, a day upon which no business could be transacted, and that the recent death of the mother of the sultan would render it in

decent for him, according to the usages

of his country,

to receive a foreign embassy. In vain was he referred to the ministers who were waiting for him; the prince obstinately and insultingly persisted, and the disgraceful transaction was only terminated by the drawing of a curtain before the sultan. This, of course, settled the business of the czar for the present; the ultimatum was rejected, and although the negotiations were resumed by the new ministers of the sultan, for the others had indignantly resigned, no new step of importance was taken until the previously prepared armies of the czar invaded the principalities. Then, of course, one great object of Russia was obtained, and it only remained for her to prevent the allies from acting in

concert against her. Recent events have proved that although her skillful diplomacy for a long time gave her success in this branch of the scheme, she was finally thwarted by the tardy but powerful and concerted action of France and England. The ultima ratio regum is now the only resort of the czar.

It only remains to allude to the ultimatum; its contents are well known. It introduced in the controversy a new and entirely unexpected feature; and the sultan ought not in decency to have ever entertained it. The disposition of the holy places, so long considered the basis of the diplomatic conferences and negotiations, was left out of view. Menschikoff demanded for the czar political privileges over the Greek subjects of the sultan, which must soon have dismembered the Ottoman empire. The Greek clergy, a most rapacious and degraded priesthood, were to be restored to political rights

long obsolete, and which Turkey for centuries had been modifying. The Latin church would have fallen; and the advancing and liberal policy towards foreigners and the different sects of protestants, so long an eye-sore to the contracted vision of the czar, would have been succeeded by a state of things most apparent to those who best know the settled policy of Russia. Turkey, in a word, would have become a part of Russia.*

We have always sided with the Turks against the Russians in this eastern business, and we have endeavored to state our reasons pretty fully in this and a preceding article.

NOW AND THEN.

As the infinite combination of forms in the kaleidoscope sometimes assume a familiar appearance, and the eye is caught by occasional resemblances in the shifting phantasmagoria of colors, although the reflecting surfaces are never twice in the same relative position; or as the old player of the game of chess sometimes sees on the board the same plots, combinations and marshaling of pieces which taxed his ingenuity years ago, although no game ever repeats itself in all its details; so the events of history sometimes reproduce themselves in their general outlines, if not in their lesser

Those who desire to see the foreign relations of England in reference to the eastern affair thoroughly discussed, are referred to an article in the January number of the Wesminster Review. Also to the London Quarterly of the same date.

shades; and the exciting occurrences of the present are foreshadowed and typified by the memorable transactions of the past.

The mind of the intelligent reader of the stirring events now occurring on the continent of Europe, reverts naturally to the grand turmoil of states and nationalities at the commencement of the present century, and especially to the opening scenes in the dramatic campaigns which ended in the ruin of the first empire and the remodeling of the map of Europe. Then, as now, the civilized world was conscious that it was on the eve of great events. Every one felt the premonitory thrill of the coming earthquake which threatened a grand upheaval of the political forces of Europe. Then, as now, parties and governments anticipated that the national disputes which had been gathering force for a dozen years, would be brought to a final and decisive issue. Then, as now, the eyes of Europe were turned upon one man who had risen from obscurity to empire, and had so impressed himself upon the destinies of the leading powers, that no important movement could be made without reference to his attitude and designs. Both the Bonapartes were carried into power on the waves of a popular outbreak, dignifying itself by the name of republicanism; a revolution placed both at the head of the republic, and their individual finesse and popularity afterwards established them as the emperors of the French. As the first emperor was the dread and bugbear of Europe, so the present emperor has been constantly held up as an innovator and a dangerous man; an adventurer, seated