The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

368 Spanish Government to see that their subordinates, and particularly their Captains-General, carry out their enactments with some regard to good faith. Lord Howden has addressed a note to the Spanish Government requiring that it shall close its ports against Russian privateers, if Russia issues letters of marque. The Queen has amnestied the soldiers of the Regiment of Cordova who took part in the revolt at Saragossa. THE PRESS. The price of victuals and fodder have risen enor mously, with every prospect of a further rise. Horses are increasing in value with every day which passes : money will not buy them in five or six weeks when the officers and staffs of the auxiliary armies have to be mounted. The most striking anecdotes are cur rent of the success of amateur horsedealers. A merchant in Pera was offered a horse at a certain rrice : he took it out to try it, and on his ride sold it at an advance of 2,800 piastres on the price he had to pay. Another merchant bought ten horses in Stamboul and sold them on the same day with a profit of 30,000 piastres ; and this is actually the case while horses may be had for a mere trifle in Tunis and Tripoli. A circular of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to the British Consuls has been published. It inveighs against the proceedings of the Greeks and of the Hellenic Government, and declares that the move ments of the insurgents are not spontaneous, but prompted by Russia. As some belief, it is alleged, exists among the population that England and France are determined to protect the Hellenic subjects after the suspension of relations with the Porte, the Consuls are directed to give immediate contradiction to such rumours, and to declare that the two powers look with indignation and reprobation on the move• ment against the authority of the Porte. The tidings that war had been actually declared by England and France reached Constantinople on the sth inst., and occasioned great excitement. The Turks seem to have rejoiced especially at the news, for some doubts have till now been hidden in the depths of their heats as to the sincerity of their de fenders—doubts, perhaps, stregthened by the plain speaking of Parliament and the press as to Christian wrongs and Ottoman misgovernment. The elder and stancher of the Osmanlis have not been slow to express their distrust in words and looks, and the opinions they express to those more closely in their confidence have shown that some overt act of hos tility to the common enemy was necessary to gain credit for the sincerity of an alliance which they look upon as unnatural. " The Franks are here," says one, "to sot the rayahs over our heads." " They will dethrone the I'adischah and divide the empire," says another. As to the French, it has been agreed that if they establish themselves in the country they will never leave it- Not a few have reasoned that the provinces have been long virtually independent, that their subjection to Russia would be no material loss to the Ottoman State, and that if the empty and unproductive sovereignty over these regions is to be bought by the overthrow of all that the Mussulman holds dear—the domination of his race, the sanctity of his faith, and the supremacy of his Sultan—it would be better to leave them to their fate, and acquiesce in the loss of a part in order to retain the rest in its old integrity. The protection of the Greeks, asked for by Prince Menschikoff, would be nothing to the absolute equality of the rayah, which they fear the allies are determined to demand. On this subject they have made a fable. "Menschi koff," say they, " came to Constantinople and asked for the Koran. He looked at the book, marked several passages, and said, Erase these.' The Eng lish and French then came and asked also for the Koran. After reading, they said, ' Throw this book into the Bosphorus.'" Something of this kind has been the feeling throughout among the great body of the Turks, but the declaration of war has somewhat increased their confidence, and disarmed their suspicions. General Canrobert, aide-de-camp of the Emperor, and commander of the first division of the French corps encamped at Gallipoli, arrived at Constanti nople on the 3rd inst. with the intention of remaining a few days. He visited the Grand Vizir Seraskier and other great functionaries, and had an audience with the Sultan at the palace of Tcheraghan, accom panied by a numerous and brilliant staff. The Porte attaches all corn cargoes from the Danube and Odessa. Baron Bruck, the Austrian envoy, protests against it. A misunderstanding between Lord Redcliffe and Baron Bruck is said to have arisen at Constanti nople. Omer Pacha is at Bardschik, which is now his head-quarters. The Cossacks show themselves at Trojan's Wall, hut no regulars are seen. The bazi-bazouks (irregulars) are misbehaving themselves in the Dobrudseha. Kostendje, a village on the coast of the Black Sea, has been set on fire by them. At Matschin the combat was sanguinary : three Russian and three Egyptian battalions remained dead upon the field. The Sulina mouths of the Danube are still blocked up. Three Russian men-of-war have been seen in the Black Sea, off Batoum, and the same number at Ineboli. Varna, which was only defended by 6,000 men, has asked for reinforcements from the combined fleets. The English and French troops which have arrived at Gallipoli will, it is said, be ordered there. That ITALY. The Sardinian Government has issued an order prohibiting any privateers under the Russian flag from being armed, provisioned, or harboured, with their prizes, in Sardinian ports. Serious disturbances broke out at Arezzo, in Tuscany, on the 7th, on account of the rise in the price of corn. It seems that, it being market day, some wholesale dealers offered to buy up all the corn on sale, in order to retail it afterwards at a much higher rate. This caused discontent among the peasants, which ended in a tumult, in which the dealers were severely maltreated. The gendarmerie were obliged to have recourse to their swords to restore order, and many persons were wounded. Six carriages full of persons arrested on the occasion arrived at Florence on the 12th. Carlo Poerio, who is still a prisoner in irons, has been sentenced to pay the sum of 6,000 ducats (or 1,2001.) to the public Treasury, cn account of a debt alleged to be due to the Crown estates in Calabria, by his property of La Sila. TURKEY. THE STATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The great event in the Turkish capital is the de parture of the Greek envoy, and the resolution of the Porte to expel all subjects of Greece from the Sul tan's dominions. Fifteen days' time had been given them to depart. This measure is by many viewed as impolitic, as the bulk of these men will, it may be presumed, join the standard of revolt as soon as they put their foot out of the Ottoman territory. It is, however, impossible to foresee the turn of events ; and, after all, the presence of from 20,000 to 25,000 known enemies at the capital could not be considered an agreeable circumstance for the Turks. A letter of the Bth from Constantinople says : " The measure of expulsion has been carried out with unexampled severity. Every steamer for Syra is crowded with human beings, so thickly wedged together that to walk the decks is impossible. At least 400 are said to have taken their departure in one vessel. Most of them have been reduced to the depths of poverty, and when thrown ashore, friend less and destitute, at the Pirieus, three-fourths of the men will probably go to swell the ranks of the Thessalian insurgents, or to take to their old trade of piracy in the Agean. The deep and well-wooded inlets of the Lycian coast and islands may probably again swarm with corsairs as they did in the time of Lambro and Conrade, though war-steamers are rather different enemies to those which were encountered by the grandfathers of the present race. Numbers of the shops in Pera will be shut up by the expul sion of their owners. More than thirty medical men, the most skilful in the capital, are about to leave. Hotel-keepers, dragomans, domestic servants, both male and female, are all comprised in this sweeping edict. Of the 13,000 Greeks who reside in Constantinople alone, but a small number possess the means of transporting themselves to Athens and seeking another occupation. They are selling everything to obtain the passage money for their families, and, when disgorged by the steamers on the shores of Greece, they will be as destitute as if thrown on the beach of a desert island." A commission has since been named to superin tend the departure of the Greeks, and the Porte has, to a certain extent, modified the order of expulsion. A large number of the subjects of King Otho, who have acknowledged allegiance to the Sultan, will be allowed to remain in Turkey. It is also stated that the order of expulsion is not to include the Latin Greeks. Great fears have been entertained that something may be attempted by the Greeks before they left Constantinople. Several incendiaries were arrested on the 7th, and a regular conspiracy is said to have been discovered. It were an easy matter to burn down this vast wooden city, and, once lit in several places, it could not be put out, but would soon crackle up into one huge blaze, and there would be an end to Stamboul. Meanwhile Constantinople may be said to be in a state of siege. The strictest police regulations are being enforced. Everybody has to be at home by eleven o'clock at night. If any one be out after that time, he is taken to the guardhouse, and kept a prisoner for the night. After dark everybody must have a lantern. These measures are strictly neces sary. The place is full of villains and thieves. For the last three months the houses at Pera have been broken into by the dozen. Trade at Constantinople is exceedingly dull. The merchants of Galatz had undergone a panic of future failures among themselves, and none would do busi ness except for cash, each mistreating his neighbour SATURDAY, fortress has always been considered as one of the strongholds of the Turkish empire. The lines of defence are very extensive, and would require a garrison of many thousands of men. It is not more than a year since the ramparts were in many places broken down, and left almost without either guns, men, or commander. Since the war broke out great exertions have been made to put the place in a good state of defence. Considerably more than 200 guns, and some of them of large size, have been mounted, and the garrison now numbers thousands instead of hundreds. Letters of the 10th ult. from Kars state that Schamyl, with a band of 2,000 mountaineers, had effected a valuable capture of 500 camels, laden with ammunition and other supplies, on its way from Tiflis to the garrison of Akiska. The Constitutionnel announces that a number of Polish deserters from the Russian forces had arrived at Kars, who declared that upwards of 12,000 of their countrymen would abandon the ranks of the Czar directly they should see a Polish flag unfurled in the Turkish army. Bulgaria has been almost eaten up by the Ottoman armies. For a space of ten months provisions of all kinds have been taken from the peasantry, who have not received one piastre in exchange. On this sub ject misconception prevails in England, and has penetrated even into the House of Commons. It has been asserted that the Turks have paid for all they have received. It is true that acknowledgments have been given, and that the Bulgarian peasant has a claim on the Treasury of Constantinople ; but what has taken place a hundred times will probably occur again. The unfortunate creditors, sick with deferred hope, will be glad to part with their securi ties at a tenth of their value. Then the Armenians will go among them, buy up the paper, and offer it to the Porte at perhaps 25 per cent. of its nominal worth. The Pacbas in power will be induced to accede to the arrangement by an offer of half the Armenians' profits, and every one will be contented, except the unhappy peasant who sees the little earn ings of years swept away, and knows that rich men are growing richer by his own misfortunes. RUSSIA. The Journal de St. Petersbourg of the 12th inst. contains a semi official article, in which it is said that the substance and tenor of the secret cor respondence published in London by the British Government was long before communicated to the Sovereigns of Prussia and Austria by order of the Emperor. A supplement to the St. Petersburg Gazette of the 13th contains a declaration to the following effect " That after the summons by which England and France have left their system of disguised hostility to. wards Russia, and in presence of the pretension by which they demand the evacuation of the Danubian provinces without exacting anything from the other belligerent power, silence was the only reply compatible with the dignity of the Emperor, and that it only remains for him to accept the situation that has been made him, and to defend himself with energy and determination. " The Imperial Goverillient deems it, moreover, super fluous to renew a discussion relative to the motives alleged before Parliament by the English Government to justify their taking up arms. It refers to its recent memorandum of the 18th February, which suffices to demonstrate that the initiative of the provocations belongs to the two powers.' The declaration concludes by stating that the real motive of the war is to destroy the influence of Russia, and that the responsibility of the evils that may result therefrom must fall upon those who declare war, and not upon him who was compelled to accept it. The Grand Duke Constantine has personally assumed the command of the Russian fleet at Hel singfors. He hoisted his flag on the Ist instant. Incessant activity in completing the war prepare• tions prevails in the Russian ports. The Emperor has had a heavy 60-gun frigate placed at different ranges off Cronstadt, to ascertain the effect of shot and shell upon the forts at the greatest distance. Several thousand rounds have been fired. The whole line of road from St. Petersburg to Helsingfors is black with every kind of vehicle trans porting an endless military materiel. Cannon, esta• fettes, hay.waggons, powder-tumbrils, &c., pass each other perpetually. Guns and troops continue to be transported from the Aland Isles. The Czar has also ordered that all the pilots and the greater part of the male popula tion shall be carried away to the Finnish mainland. The least opposition is punished with the knout., or with Siberia. Before leaving Aland the Russians were guilty of the greatest barbarities. They seized one man in a hundred for the Russian army, and burned all the ships, boats, and barques existing in the islands. Hereby the inhabitants are entirely ruined, for they subsisted by fishing and the coast trade. The Czar has addressed an autograph letter to Rakatowsky, the Governor of Finland, full of cora-