cessary to make known, directly and immediately, to the court of Russia, its latest intentions with regard to the matters in question-intentions which are founded in justice and integrity. In consequence of which, his highness the Grand Vizir has written at length to his excellency the minister of state of the court of Russia, on the 27th of the Ramazan; and the answer fixed to be given by the Sublime Porte to that court, in the course of eight days, has already preceded by from 15 to 20 days the demands expressed in the ambassador's note. But since the ambassador has presented an official note, expressly for the purpose of requiring an answer, we set forth an abridged statement of facts, according to the truth.

"The Greek nation (the cause of so much disorder, confusion, and dispute) perceives at the first, that it has been from father to son subject and tributary to the Sublime Porte, which has even to this day favoured it to a degree which is incompatible with the condition of a subject. The ecclesiastics particularly, who are the heads of the nation, and the Greeks of Fanal, have enjoyed great privileges with respect to the choice of their food, dress, and habitation. The government has not at any time interfered in matters concerning their religion; it has not restrained the free exercise of their worship, nor meddled with their churches; and, moreover, when any of the churches were consumed by fire, or had fallen into ruins, on their request, permission was given to repair or rebuild them according to the allowance of the Mahometan law.

"Nevertheless, forgetful of this heavenly favour, they have yielded to the suggestions of a diabolical spirit, in raising the standard of revolution against the authority of the Sublime Porte, their merciful protectress, notwithstanding the Sublime Porte, always observant of the magnanimity and clemency which are natural to it, preferred having recourse to measures dictated by compassion, and hastened to dispatch Bouyourouldis to the patriarchate with salutary advice. These instructions being made known to the ambassador, and approved by him, he took a copy of them. The real end which the Porte had in view in addressing those instructions to the Patriarch, was, to persuade him (the Patriarch being the head of the Greek nation, and having influence sufficient to induce obedience) to circulate anathemas in every direction, exhorting to submission, to save his own nation, by stifling without any clamour the germ of rebellion cherished by the deceived Rayas, as well in the capital as in other parts of the empire. But, on the contrary, the Patriarch, the visible head of his nation, was at the same time the secret leader in the conspiracy. The greater part of the rayas resident in the places where he published his anathemas, far from remaining faithful subjects, preceded the other Greeks in the rebellion.

Thus, amongst others, at Callaritha, a town in the Morea, which is the birth-place of that Patriarch, the rayas were the first in the insurrection; they killed a number of Mussulmans, and committed numberless excesses and cruelties. The Sublime Porte ascertained that the

Patriarch took an active part in the conspiracy, and that the insurrection of the rayas of Callaritha was his work, in conjunction with other instigators-at first by writing, which fell into their hands, and afterwards by the declarations of certain subjects of the Greek nation, who continued faithful to their duty.

"Now, every government has a right to arrest and punish, without mercy, such malefactors, in order to preserve tranquillity in its dominions and amongst its people. In sedition and rebellion especially, no distinction of religion, sect, or rank, whether high or low, should be made; where fore the Sublime Porte, immediately after having discovered the guilt of the Patriarch and his partisans, deposed the former, and that his station might not remain vacant, it appointed a successor. Having thus deprived the Patriarch of his dignity, and reduced him to the condition of an ordinary priest, a capital punishment was inflicted on him without attaching any particular intent to the time and moment of his execution. The supposition declared by the ambassador, that the time and place of the execution were to be considered as a premeditated insult to religion, is entirely gratuitous: the Porte never had such a purpose in its contemplation; this construction, which is altogether a false one, has never been put upon it by any friendly power; such an idea never entered the imagination of any person in the empire, or out of the empire. Finally, the Sublime Porte in this present note declares and repeats, as it has already notified at several times,

officially, and with a strict adherence to truth, both to the ambassador and to the ministers of the friendly powers who have discussed the question, that it entertained no intention of vilifying or insulting religion.

"The treaty of Kainardje stipulates, in effect, that the Christian religion is to be protected; but religion and guilt are very different things. Even though the protection of the unoffending Christian subjects of the Porte had not been stipulated in that treaty, it would have been always extended to them, in pursuance of the ancient prescriptions of the holy law of Mahomet: the proof is, that the Greeks who have not taken part in the revolution enjoy the most perfect tranquillity and security.

"The annals of the Ottoman empire also present other examples of patriarchs upon whom a capital punishment has been inflicted, according to the statutes of the empire, and it would not be necessary to seek for them in the history of other countries. However, it will not be improper to remark, that the Sublime Porte is not ignorant, that under the reign of Peter I., Czar of Russia, the Russian Patriarch was put to death for crimes of which he was guilty, and that even upon that occasion the patriarchal dignity was totally suppressed in that empire. This fact being on record in the history of Russia, it is surprising that a minister such as the ambassador, from whom nothing escapes, can be ignorant of it. Such an instance being found in the Russian empire, it is obvious that henceforward so much clamour will not be made

on that head. The assertion that the Sublime Porte caused the churches to be demolished, is totally destitute of foundation. The number of old churches at Constantinople and in the Ottoman empire, not only is undiminished, and its particular mode of worship exercised by each nation without molestation, but also if any church fall in ruins, on the request of the rayas, the government, consulting the Mahometan law, and acting according to the good dispositions and paternal intentions with which it is constantly animated towards its faithful subjects, grants them permission, as is well known, to repair or rebuild it on the same plan.

"The Porte is, contrary to its inclination, obliged to have recourse to rigorous measures to chastise and subdue the perverse subjects who have risen in rebellion by land and sea throughout the whole extent of the Ottoman empire. And whilst that rebellion and perverse spirit, which have already made such progress, continue to be propagated and augmented from day to day, how can the Porte contemplate any relaxation in the severity of its measures, or change in the system it is pursuing?

"The Sublime Porte is aware that the course marked out by the Greeks tends to organize a general revolution. Nevertheless, it has not divested itself of that compassion which it has always entertained towards its subjects. It has not renounced the measure of mildness and moderation; finally, it has not ceased to extend its protection to those who have not manifested evil intentions, and it has confined itself

to the punishment of those who have raised the standard of rebellion.

It has not said the revolution of the Greeks being general, my conduct should be the same towards all of them without exception.' This, however, is certain-that if a similar event had happened in another empire, far from acting with so much moderation and clemency, the sword of vengeance would have fallen upon all.

"It is again declared, that each of the affairs in question is really what they were represented to be by the Sublime Porte in its official communications from the beginning to the present hour; and that the ambassador has viewed them in a false light. In the interviews and communications which took place upon these affairs with the ministers of some friendly powers, explanations were openly supplied regarding the different objects in dispute, and every one of the ministers, animated by a spirit of moderation, declared, that, on this occasion, reason was on the side of the Sublime Porte. None of them used the same offensive expressions which our friend the ambassador employed; namely, that the conduct of Turkey attacked the Christian religion and the nation of the Messiah; acknowledging, on the contrary, that the Sublime Porte was compelled to act as it did, and that it conducted itself with integrity. They thus gave a new proof of the constant good will, rectitude, and good faith of their respective courts.

"Nevertheless, although the ambassador made use of such expressions and held such conduct, the Sublime Porte, considering the court of Russia its

neighbour, as a sincere and kind friend whose sentiments admitted of no doubt, flatters itself that the good understanding existing between his highness and his imperial majesty of all the Russias will be of eternal duration, and that Russia will lend a favourable ear to the official explanations and disclosures, repeated several times on the above subjects. As to the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, the desires of the Sublime Porte are limited to a deliverance of them from the brigands who oppress them, in order that repose and tranquillity may be re-established in them; and although the Ottoman troops dispatched into those provinces have, thank God, chastised the rebels that infested them, these countries are not yet entirely cleared. In virtue of treaties the Sublime Porte has demanded that the former prince of Moldavia, the perfidious Michael, his partisans and the persons belonging to him, who have all fled, should be restored and delivered up to the Government; but the ambassador has signified in one of his notes previously presented, to which he has not yet received an answer, that the court of Russia, by an act of generosity, has taken these fugitives under her protection. But among political states the treaties and stipulations which affect either government are one thing, and personal generosity another. No one is ignorant that a government cannot, in order to exercise what it is pleased to call an act of generosity, violate the stipulations of a treaty which it has concluded with another government. The best act of generosity which contracting powers

can perform, is, to fulfil their treaties; and a punctual observance of them is the highest renown which they can acquire. The delivery of the fugitive is considered by the Sublime Porte as an essential point towards the re-establishment of that order and tranquillity which are the object of all its efforts. The troubles which agitate the mind of the victorious Mussulman race are solely caused by the flight and the non-surrender of these individuals. The same reasons increase the disgust which the Sublime Porte justly entertains towards the Greek nation. On the other hand, these refugees being delivered up and restored, in virtue of treaties, the act would serve as an example to the princes whom the Sublime Porte will immediately nominate and install, as soon as it is at ease upon this point. But so long as the refugees remain in their actual position, and its distrust continues to be the same, the Sublime Porte will be obliged to postpone the nomination and installation of the princes; causing the principalities to be governed by the Caimacans, whom it has already nominated; and to secure the protection of the inhabitants and the people by the proper officers.

"If the court of Russia, choosing rather to calm the distrust and disquietude of a great nation than to continue its protection to five or six individuals, proves by delivering them up to the Sublime Porte in the view of the whole of Europe its zeal and its good faith in fulfilling treaties, its glory will acquire a new lustre among the powers as a faithful observer of conventions; and it will thus prove the sincerity of

the sentiments of peace and amity which it professes. The Sublime Porte then, placing perfect reliance on the conduct of the waywodes, will proceed immediately to their nomination and installation. Finally, if, in presence of the universe, the just demands and legitimate complaints of the Sublime Porte on one hand, as concerns the refugees, and the line of conduct pursued for some time past by Strogonoff, were

thrown into the balance of recti tude and justice; and, on the other, the ill-founded complaints which this minister has put forward, it is clear that nothing would be found as a reproach upon the Sublime Porte, and that all the wrong would fall upon the ambassador. It is therefore to represent once more the real state of things to the ambassador, our friend, that the present note is sent him.

Washington City, Dec. 5.

At 12 o'clock this day, the President of the United States transmitted to both Houses of Congress, by Mr. S. L. Gouverneur, the following message :"Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: The progress of our affairs since the last session has been such as may justly be claimed and expected, under a government deriving all its powers from an enlightened people, and under laws formed by their representatives, on great consideration, for the sole purpose of promoting the welfare and happiness of their constituents. In the execution of those laws, and of the powers vested by the constitution in the executive, unremitted attention has been paid to the great objects to which they extend. In the concerns which are exclusively internal, there is good cause to be satisfied with the result. The laws have had their due operation and effect. In those relating to foreign powers, I am happy to state, that peace and amity are preserved with all, by a strict observance on

both sides of the rights of each. In matters touching our commercial intercourse, where a difference of opinion has existed in any case, as to the conditions on which it should be placed, each party has pursued its own policy, without giving just cause of offence to the other. In this annual communication, especially when it is addressed to a new Congress, the whole scope of our political concerns naturally comes into view; that errors, if such have been committed, may be corrected; that defects, which have become manifest, may be remedied; and, on the other hand, that measures which were adopted on due deliberation, and which experience has shown are just in themselves, and essential to the public welfare, should be persevered in and supported. In performing this necessary and very important duty, I shall endeavour to place before you, on its merits, every subject that is thought to be entitled to your particular attention in as distinct and clear a light as I may be able.

"By an act of the 3rd of March, 1815, so much of the several acts