The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-04 00:00:00

TURKEY.

A letter from Constantinople of the 22d ult., in
the Gazette du Midi, says :—" Some changes have
just taken place amongst functionaries of the high-
est rank ; but the only ones which need be men-
tioned are the nomination of Kyami Pacha, ex-
President of the Superior Council, to the post of
Minister without a portfolio, but with a seat in the
Council—and the dismissal of the governor of Tre-
bizond, for, it is said, not having shown sufficient
zeal in executing the orders of the Porte for the
despatch of supplies to the army of Asia. It is
confidently asserted that the Prince Callimaki is
to be appointed ambassador of the Porte at Vienna;
still Arif Effendi, who has been for some time on
leave here, is making preparations to return to
that city. It has been already related that the
Sultan gave 80,000 piastres (20,000 f.) to the Sisters
of Charity for the enlargement of the asylum for
female orphans at Bebek, but the circumstances
under which the donation was made, and which
are rather curious, are not generally known :
The sisters, being in want of funds for their useful
enterprise, conceived the idea of applying to the
Sultan. They accordingly drew up a petition,
and charged one of their body, who knew a little
Turkish, to find means of having it presented. This
sister one day placed herself in the way of the Sul-
tan, as he was going to the mosque, and on her
holding up her paper, his Majesty ordered an aide-
do-camp to receive it. Several days having passed
without any reply, the sisters feared that their re-
quest was neglected ; and they charged the same
sister to go and seek for an answer. She deter-
mined on placing herself on the passage of the Sul-
tan, as before, but found that he had that day gone
to a mosque on the Bosphorus by water. She ac-
cordingly hired a small boat, and ordered the boat-
man to wait in the vicinity of the palace until the
Sultan should return. When the Imperial caique
appeared, the boatman of the sister, as is usual,
prepared to row off to a respectful distance, but
the sister insisted that he should remain. The Sul-
tan perceiving her, caused his caique to stop, and
made a sign to her to approach. When she was
near, the Sultan rose, in the boat, and the sister
attempted to do the same, but the sea being rather
rough, the Sultan told her to remain seated, and
to tell him in French what she wanted. She did
so very briefly, and the Sultan answered that he
thought that the affair had been settled long be-
fore, but that he would give new orders respecting
it. He then graciously saluted the sister and re-
sumed his seat. The next day an Imperial cham-
berlain remitted the 80,000 piastres to the Supe-
rior of the Sisters."

RUSSIA.
•
The following letter, dated Nov. 22, from the
Polish frontier, appears in the Augsburg Gazette :
"A few data respecting the Russian military forces of
the-Caucasus will be interesting at the present moment,
when the operations of Omer Pacha are drawing public
attention to the theatre of war in Asia. The Russian
provinces of the Caucasus are divided into military dis-
tricts, each of which has its chief under the superior
command of Aide-de-Camp General Mouravieff. The
general Prince Bagration Moukhranski, for instance, is
the chief of the troops in the Gouriel and in Mingrelia,
and these troops consist of militia, both horse and foot,
reinforced by a few regiments of Cossacks.
"The troops assembled near Akhaltzik were under the
orders of Lieut.-General Kovalevski, who has been
killed before Kars ; the army corps stationed at Erivan
is commanded by Gen. Soussloff. In Georgia, Lieut.-Ge-
neral Bebutoff commands the detachment destined to
arrest the march of the invading army under Omer
Paella. The select troops under the conqueror of Akhaltzic and Gumri are the 19th Division of Infantry,
commanded by Lieut.-General Kozlovski 1,, and consists
of a brigade of Carabineers, with a brigade of General
Evdokimoff's Chasseurs. This force was employed, dur-
ing the war with Schainyl, in occupying the frontier, but
baying been replaced by militia, the troops can now take
the field. •

"General Bebutoff has also under his orders the 20th
Division of Infantry, similarly composed of 4 regiments.
The two divisions contain 16 battalions, which do not
appear sufficient for making head against Omer Paella's
army, the latter being 22 battalions, or 20,000 strong.
But the forces left as a reserve by General Mourayieff in

Imeritia and Georgia may amount to 32 battalions, since
there are 48 reserve battalions in the army of theCau-
casug, not including the militia and the numerous Cossaak
regulars. Still, as both these battalions and the militia
are much scattered, the Russians would not be superior
in numbers to Omer Pacha's army, if this latter were to
succeed in effecting its junctionwith the two army corps
coming to it from Batoum and Redout Bakal. For all
that, the Sirdar's enterprise is very rash, since General
Mouravieff has time to come to the aid of General
Bebutoff with his army. Kars, it is true, would in
that case be delivered, as likewis the whole of Anatolia,
but the Turkish General would also have tolthink of his
retreat.

A letter from Poland in the Donau says :
" Prince Beboutoff has at his disposal seven fine regi-
ments, viz., those called respectively, Tenguinek
Navaguinski, Apcheronski ; those of the Daghestan, of
Stavropol, Kouban, of Prince Tchereitcheff, and Prince
\Voronzoff. The reserve battalions now with bin for
part of the 19th, 20th, and 21st divisions of infantry.
The prince commands moreover the greater part of the
Cossack regiments of the Caucasus, and one regiment of
dragoons."