The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-21 00:00:00

TURKEY.

C/r1
eeW CONSTANTINOPLE, JAN. 9.
teri . ednesday last, the 7th inst., another con-
glltitt was held in the French Palace on the
to be issued for the convocation of the

Divans ad hoc in the I.)anubian Principalities.
The object of it was the final revision of the whole
document, which had been discrtB'sed point by
point in the former conferences. It was, I under-
stand, the last of its kind. There will be, indeed,
some more conferences in which the Commis.
sioners are to participate, but these will be taken
up rather by giving the necessary explana-
tions on the spirit of the whole document and
hearing any observations which members of the
Commission may think fit to make, than by any
discussion on the tenour of the firman
A short time ago the students of the Polytechnic
School, in one of their walks through the fields,
entered a French burial ground, and amused them-
selves with breaking down the crosses and defacing
the incrintion, which in their own language asked all
passers-by to respect the remains of those who died
in their country's service. This is so much the
more to be regretted, as it is the only case of the
kind which has occurred, the numerous burial

grounds of the allied armies having been always
retigiou&y respected ; it reflects rather a bad light
on the spirit of a military establishment organised
on a European footing. The French Ambassador
made a strong representation on the subject, and
having proved the outrage; asked for the dismissal
of the professor who was accompa vying the
students, and who had been himself educated in
that institution ; he insisted on the officer in
charge of the students being degraded, and on the
whole class being punished, all which demands
were immediately satisfied by the Seraskier Rita
Pasha. This has caused great discontent in the
whole school, not so much on account of the
punishment itself as because the French Ambas•
sador, instead of leaving the punishment in the
hands of the competent authorities, should have
specified the manner of the punishment himself.
The Polytechnic School brings me to the subject
of the army in general, which requires a few
remarks. The last cannon shot was scarcely fired
when the Turkish Government hastened to reduce
the 7aruay. You must know that the Turkish
soldier has to serve 12 years, of which he passes
the first five in the active army, and the remaining
seven in the Eediffs or militia, which is only called
out in time of war. The first step, therefore, was
to send these latter back to their homes. But
besides this, even the greater portion of the active
army had served their time, and had, now that the
war was over, a claim to be dismissed likewise.
The Government. although usually not very para.
cular on the subject, was unanimously so on this
occasion, and sent away almost all those who had
served their time without even waiting for the
recruits who were to replace them to come in.
The result of this is, that most of the regiments are
frightfully reduced, and that it is not at all un.
common to find companies of from six to ten men.
This hasty and inconsiderate reduction tends very
much to destroy whatever organization existed
hitherto in the army; while, if the thing had been
done gradually, the recruits, who are perhaps easier
formed into soldiers than those of any country,
would have had an opporturity to acquire something
of the spirit of the old soldier. We have the effect
of this hurry under our eyes. The 4th Regiment
of Constantinople, which I remember as one of the
crack regiments of Omar Pasha's army, and which
was inferior to no European regiment in drill and
discipline, is now scarcely to be recognised before
the guardhouses of Constantinople.
Besides the breaking up of the old spirit in the
army, this hasty reduction had other drawbacks.
The disturbances in Montenegro made the concen-
tration of a considerable force necessary in Albania,
and the brigandage about Monastir, and in Epirus
and Thessaly, gave occupation enough to the army
of Roumelia, so that scarcely any troops remained
for the whole Danube tine. I can tell you, on the
authority of a well informed English officer, who
lately inspected the whole line, that on the extent
of 400 miles, comprising four first class and six
second class fortresses, the entire number of the
garrison does not amount to more than 1,500 or
1,600 men. Now it is all very well to trust to
the force of treaties, and show childlike confi-
dence, but if there is no danger for the present
nobody can say that the Danube line will not be
required as a line of defence some time or other ;
and if all the means of defence—ramparts, guns,
arms, ammunition, and stores—are left to fall into
decay, all these things will be found wanting at
time of emergency, or will at any rate have to be
replaced at an enormous cost.
You will easily believe that the means of defence
on the whole line will fall into decay if I tell you
that besides the guns which are in store there
are rather more than 900 guns in position, so that
there are not two men to one gun. Indeed in
many cases, there is not one man, for a good part
of the garrison being required in each place to
do the honours to the commander, the rest must
try to get through their duty as best they can. Ho w
is this possible with 500 men at a place like Shumla,
or 200 at Widdiu ? And all these inconveniencies
arise from a wrong principle of economy. The
finances are shattered, it is true, but it is not in this
way that any result can be obtained. The soldier is
nowhere a cheaper article than in Turkey, and the
General officer nowhere a dearer, and at the same
time more abundant commodity. There are
numbers of them who squander the pay of many
a soldier doing nothing in Constantinople. The
reduction ought to he made there, and in general
in all the waste that is going on in the depart-
ments of the Central Government. If all the
useless hangers on with rich sinecures were sent
away, it would, without exaggeration, enable the
Government to maintain twice as large an army.
As far as I can ascertain, no news of positive
acceptance of the bank proposal of the Government
has as yet been received by Messrs. Wilkin from
their directors. In the meantime, the Turkish
Government is endeavouring to bring about a
fusion between the company whose agents have
accepted the proposals and the Ottoman Bank. At
the present moment this is scarcely feasible, as
the conditions proposed are so vague in themselves
that everything must depend on the arrangement
of details. For instance, one of the most essential
points, the amount of notes the Bank will be
allowed to issue in proportion to its capital and to ,
the bullion deposited, is left blank.
Mr. Layard, M.P., left Constantinople on Wed-
nesday last, on his route to England. His railway .
project, connecting the Danube with the Archipe-
lago, which I mentioned in one of my last letters,
may be considered as settled. It has passed all
the series of councils, has the consent of the Grand
Viziers, and the Irade, which is already drawn up,
has only to be signed by the Sultan. It will be
sent after him as soon as this is done. That this
railway excites great hopes you may judge from
the circumstance that 1,000,0001 sterling have been
subscribed in the place. This is a better guarantee
for its paving than the 5 or 6 per cent which the
Turkish 'Government could have been made to
promise.

The only engineering difficulties will he the Bal-
kan road. The two higher passes of the Irnowo and
the Demir Kapn pass are out of the question, for
they would require collossal works. There remain
the third and most direct pass of Karnabad, the
Nadir Derbend pass, and the route by Cape Emineh
to Bourgas on the sea shore. As none of these
passess have ever been surveyed with the view to
a railway, it would be impossible to say anything
certain, but that near the sea shore would appear
at first sight the most practicable, the only
difficulty offered being the promontary to the south
of the Bay of Varna and Cape Emineh, all the rest
being level sea shore to Bourgas, and from there
an easy ascent to the plateau of Roumelia.
The Euphrates Railway is likewise progressing.
It has passed the Ministerial Council and that of
the Tanzimat ; now only the exact terms of the
concession remain to be drawn up. They will
comprise the concession for the whole line down to
.
Bassora, general, and then the concession of the
first section to the Euprates for immediate
execution.