The Flanders mail present...
The Flanders mail presents u8 with intelligence of a peculiai nature. It is statetd that the Russians, observing that the.inundation of St. Petersburgh has taken place on the a niv.eiaary of the death of the Empress CATI*ERINE, are filled vwith. hortor at their own impiety, or ratber that of their govarnors, in having quitted the policy of the Rtn- press, and refrainied fronS driving the Turks out of Europe. They consider the destruction of their capital as an infli:- tion of Divine vengeaiice for .suffTring the Infidel Turks to tyrannize over the Christian Greeks; and they are willing wafds by carnal weaponi, If the facts be as atated, t.he moat important conseqiences may spring from them. There is certainly no general remason why the same poliey should prevail with re.pect to the Turkish power in Eu- rope during the reign of ALRXANMBl, As *5a adopte in the ieign of C4tHERIjsN: for exanplei it was in the conl- tenIplation of hENRY IV. of France, at the momrent when wp!.s assassinated, to secure the tranqjuillity of the world by paralyzing the strength of th bSpanish Monarchy: but few statedmen iould pursue the samne system now for trim- ming the balance of power in tilrope. The Spanish and the Turkish Monarchies may be about equally strong at present, and we will add, about equaUv enlightened; yet the Spalanrds do not, like the Tarks, retain in Europe the possession of a state foreign to thwemselves. They occupy their qwn tetritory, and that is all; they do not, -professing a strange faith, and speaking a separate language, hold one of the European and Christian famlnies in bondage. Though there may benoreason, therefore, except to superstitious minds, for imitating the conduct of the Ermpress CATHERSINE with respect to Turkey, there still may be other cAuses for removing the Turkish yoke from the necks of the Greeks; and if siinply- removing the yalce could make the people free on whom it is ime- posed,-if the mind could accept freedom as thebody geceives food, and be sleek and happy with it, we should say to the Russians, " Beptow the boon." But we fear uuch'tbat liberty must ..be won by those very people ;vho seek it, before the capacity to enjoy it like meR shall be attain- ed. The liberty of re-acting upon the Turks is not that liberty which we would giife the Greeks, if we had the power. However, in eace of the dissolation of tlhe Turkish Mo- narchy by extrsneous force, we hope it will 'not be forgot- ten thit Egypt belongs to us. The French took it from the Turks: we wrested it from the French, and restored it to its rightful owners. Those owners, we suppose, are extinct as a substantive power: the posesion in question, therefore, reverts to those who held it last.