Association has done its work and passed away. Its
memory may be unhonoured, its members reviled; they
care not; they have done their work—a great and heroic
work; they have raised to themselves a noble monument
—they have laid the foundations of a great and
happy people."

          NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

The chief object of interest connected with foreign
affairs, is the question between Russia and Turkey.
The Russian ultimatum was sent in by Prince
Menschikoff on the 5th of May. He demanded that
the protectorate of the Greek Christians in Turkey be
conceded to the Emperor of Russia; and that the
Russo–Greek Church should have accorded to it,
specifically and by solemn treaty, all the rights and
privileges, both in regard to the Holy Places and on
other matters, that it had ever claimed. The second
demand was, that the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople
should be irremovable unless guilty of proved
high treason or gross misconduct, and then only by the
consent of the Czar. Hitherto the Patriarch has
been removable at the pleasure of the Porte. After
many deliberations, and by advice of Lord Stratford
and M. de la Cour, the English and French ministers,
the Sultan, on the 13th, sent a reply refusing to
comply with the demands, and Prince Menschikoff
immediately left Constantinople. This rupture of
diplomatic relations was followed by a manifesto
addressed by the Czar to the Russian people. This
remarkable document is as follows;—

"By the grace of God, we, Nicholas I., Emperor and
Autocrat of All the Russias, &c. &c.,

"Make known to our faithful and well–beloved
subjects, that from time immemorial our glorious
predecessors took the vow to defend the orthodox faith.

"From the moment that it pleased Divine Providence
to transmit to us the hereditary throne, the observation
of those sacred duties which are inseparable from it has
constantly been the object of our cares and solicitude.
Based on the glorious treaty of Kainardje, confirmed by
the solemn transactions concluded afterwards with the
Ottoman Porte, those cares and solicitude have always
had for object to guarantee the rights of the Orthodox
Church.

"But, to our profound affliction, notwithstanding all
our efforts to defend the integrity of the rights and
privileges of our Orthodox Church, latterly numerous
arbitrary acts of the Ottoman Governnrent attacked
those rights, and threatened finally to destroy entirely
the whole order of things sanctioned by centuries, and
so dear to the Orthodox faith.

"Our efforts to dissuade the Porte from such acts
have been fruitless, and even the solemn word which
the Sultan had given to us on the occasion has been
violated.

"Having exhausted all the means of persuasion, and
all the means of obtaining in a friendly manner the
satisfaction due to our just reclamations, we have
deemed it indispensable to order our troops to enter the
Danubian Principalities, to show the Porte to how far
its obstinacy may lead it. Nevertheless, even now, it is
not our intention to commence war: by the occupation
of the Principalities we wish to have in our heart a
pledge which will guarantee to us in every respect the
re–establishment of our rights.

"We do not seek conquests; Russia does not need
them. We demand satisfaction for a legitimate right
openly infringed. We are ready even now to stop the
movement of our troops, if the Ottoman Porte engages
to observe religiously the intrgrity of tbe privileges of
the Orthodox Church. But if obstruction and blindness
obstinately desire the contrary, then, invoking God
to our aid, we will leave to His care to decide our
difference; and, placing our full hope in His all–
powerful hand, we will march to the defence of the
Orthodox faith.

"Given at Peterhoff, the 14th (26th) of the month of
June, 1853, in the twenty–eighth year of our reign.
— (Signed) NICHOLAS."

The intention thus announced was immediately put
in execution; a large body of Russian troops passed the
Pruth, and occupied the Turkish provinces of Moldavia
and Wallachia. This hostile movement was made
on the 2nd and 3rd ult.; the troops having passed the river
in two divisions, one at Skeova, the other at Leova.
The next step on the part of the Czar was to attempt to
justify this step in the eyes of Europe. With this view
the Russian minister. Count Nesselrode, addressed a
circular note to the Russian envoys at foreign courts.
This document, which is dated June 20 (July 2),
contains a prolix review of the state of the question;
but its principal object is to describe the passage of
the Pruth as a consequence of the attitude taken by
France and England. This is done in the following
passages:—

"In placing our ultimatum before the Porte, we had
given to the great cabinets particular explanations
respecting our intentions. In particular, we had
requested of France and England not to complicate the
difficulties of the situation by their attitude—not
prematurely to take measures the effect of which would be,
on the one hand, to encourage the Porte in opposition,
and on the other, to engage more than was already the
case, the honour and dignity of the Emperor.

"I regret to have to announce to you to–day that this
twofold attempt has unhappily been in vain.

"The Porte, as you will see by the subjoined letter of
Redschid Pasha, has just returned, in answer to that
which I addressed to it, a negative, or at least an evasive
response.

"On the other hand, the two maritime Powers have not
thought tit to defer the considerations we recommended
to their serious attention. Taking the initiative before
us, they have considered it indispensable to precede
immediately by an effective measure those which we had
only announced to them as purely eventual, since we
made them depend on the final resolutions of the Porte;
and their execution has not commenced at the moment
at which I write. They at once sent their fleets into
the waters of Constantinople. They occupy already the
seas and ports of the Ottoman empire at the entrance of
the Dardanelles. By that advanced attitude, the two
Powers have placed us under the weight of a threatening
demonstration, which, as we forewarned them, has
added new complications to the crisis.

"After the refusal of the Porte, supported by the
manifestation of France and England, it became more
than ever impossible to modify tbe resolutions which
the Emperor bad made contingent on that act.

"In consequence, his Imperial Majesty has just sent
two corps of our troops stationed at Bessarabia orders to
pass the frontier and enter the Principalities.

"They enter these not to make an offensive war on
the Porte, which, on the contrary, we shall avoid with all
our power, as long as the Porte shall not force us to this
step; but because the Porte, in persisting to refuse us
the moral guarantee which we had a right to expect,
obliges us to substitute for it a material guarantee;
because the position which the two powers have taken
up in the ports and waters of Turkey, and even within
sight of its capital, being such as, under present
circumstances, we cannot regard in any other light than that
of maritime occupation, gives us an additional reason
for re–estabIishing the equilibrium of the reciprocal
situations by taking a military position. But further
than this we have no intention of holding this position
longer than our honour and security require. It will
be altogether temporary; it will only serve us for a
pledge until better counsels prevail in the minds of the
Sultan's ministers."

Count Nesselrode's circular note received a prompt
answer from the French government, also in the form
of a circular note, by M. Drouin de Lhuys, the