The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-14 00:00:00

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

The following is a copy of the letter addressed by
Prince Stirbey to the Extraordinary Council of Ad-
ministration :
" The present state of things requires us to absent
ourselves temporarily from our principality. We
confide, until new orders, the government of the
country to a special council of administration. H. E.
the Busch Boyard, George Philippesko, president of
the Council and Minister of the Interior, will come
to an understanding with the states of the depart-
ments, to prevent the interruption of business and to
keep up activity. The most important affairs shall
be submitted to the Council of Administration for
its opinion. " 13ARBO DIXITRI STIRBEY.
" Joust NIANo, Secretary of State."
From the detailed accounts which have been re-
ceived from the Principalities, it appears to have been
the intention of the Russian General to humiliate the
Ilospodar of Wallachia to the last degree. Nothing
could be more hostile to the interests of the country
than the proclamation of martial law, yet to the
oppressive measures necessary to its execution,
Prince Stirbey and his ministers were com-
pelled to set their hands. For instance, by
one deeree it was enacted that the Walla-
chian landowners and farmers shall ' continue
to deliver to the Russian authorities the objects ne-
cessary for the consumption of the Russian army, at
the price fixed in the month of June. In case of re-
fusal the Russians are anthoriscd to employ force.
Already, some days before the publication of these
decrees, imposed on the Wallachian authorities at
their last extremity, all dealers in corn inhabiting
towns or villages on the banks of the Da-
nube had been enjoined to remove with their
stock on hand to a distance of at least six leagues into
the interior of the country, under pain of having
their property confiscated. This decision led to
another not less oppressive. The peasants possessing
carts and waggons were required to effect the con-
veyance of such property. But that was not all—it
was necessary to find warehouses to receive the pro-
perty thus conveyed, and accordingly orders were
given to the peasants to give up their houses, every
two families being ordered to lodge in one house,
while the other is used as a store. As has been seen,
Prince Stirbey has found himself obliged to resign
his authority; all his acts of compliance could not
save him; they were requited with ingratitude. In
leaving Bucharest he transmitted his shadow of
power to an administrative council, charged to govern
under the good pleasure of Prince Cortschalcoff. No-
thing can be more disdainful, and at the same time
more menacing, than the attitude assumed by the
commander-in-chief of the Russian army, In thus
definitively substituting himself for the absent
Hospodar. The members of the Administrative
Council, having proceeded in uniform to Prince Gort-
schakoff's immediately after the departure of Prince
Stirbey, a most haughty and cutting address was de-
livered to them. The general declared that they
must give proof of additional zeal if they wished to
avoid incurring the displeasure of the protecting
court; and he dismissed them with the assurance
that whoever should venture to speak politics or to
disseminate reports unfavourable to Russia and to
the present order of things, "should be hanged
without trial, from the highest boyard to the lowest
clerk." There is every reason to believe that these
are not mere menaces, but that they apply to private
individuals as well as to functionaries. It is certain,
at least, that every day young men disappear from
the bosom of their families. without any one know-
ing what has become of them, whether they have
been imprisoned, or have incurred a more severe
penalty. Such is the protectorate in all its reality.
Private letters state that the English squadron, on
entering the Bosphorus, was to anchor at Therapia,
a large and commodious port on the European coast,
and the French squadron at Bayuckdere, also on
the European side, where the vessels would be shel-
tered from the north wind, and find excellent an-

chorage.
A letter from Berlin says that M. de Menzebach
and the other consuls and agents of Prussia in Mol-
davia and Wallachia have received order to maintain
the same relations with the new authorities as with
the Hospodars Stirbey and Ohika.
Letters from Bucharest of the 4th, state that the
Russians have as completely mimed the sovereignty
of the Principalities, as if Gortachakoff had been
named their governor. The administrative council
is only allowed to act oa the servile instrument of the
Russian military officers. The Vienna Wanderer
says that the latter have been instructed to make use
of the formulary " I order," instead of " I request,"
whenever they communicate with the local authori-
ties.
The Debate publishes a summary of the new
Neaselrode note, which will be found in our French
news. A letter from Paris states further that the
Czar has the impudence to " recommend" the Powers
not to aggravate the state of affairs by an interven-
tion which would produce general embarrassment,
but to leave to the war its local character. The note
concludes with the declaration that the Emperor of
Russia will regulate his future condatt by that of
England and of France.
The Journal de St. Pekrebourg says:
Some foreign journals having given an inexact version of
the speech which the blinister of Finance lately ad-
dressed to the English merchants at St. Petersburg,
we hasten to publish the exact text of it: M. de
Brock expressed himself in the following terms—" We
have just learned that all the letters from London re-
ceived during the last eight days are filled with rumours of
war, and that the English commercial world exhibit great
alarm. Ws know not to what these rumours and alarms
are to be attributed. The Russian government, en its side,
is conscious of having done nothing to justify them. It is
still animated with the most pacific and the most friendly
dispositions towards England. It cannot, therefore, admit
the possibility of a rupture. But if, nevertheless, it should
take place, I am charged to declare to you, in the name of
the Emperor, that even in that case the English merchants
have nothing to fear, either for their persons or their pro-
perty, and that they may rely upon the same protection
that they have hitherto enjoyed. I beg you to make known
this communication to all the English merchants." On the
succeeding day the minister completed this explanation by
the following words No obstacle will be placed on our
part to the departure of English vessels loading in our
pone, on condition that England does not detain ours."