The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-24 00:00:00

TURKEY.

Constantinople letters and journals to the 15th
have reached us. Prince Couza's visit is the prin-
cipal incident of interest. The following account
of the proceedings connected with the visit is given
by the Levant Herald, which journal, however, it
should be premised, has never been very favourable
to the Prince :—" Whatever may be the difference
of opinion as to the political morality of the Hos-
podar's late proceedings, or as to the real motive of
his journey to Constantinople, there can be no ques-
tion as to the character of the reception he has met
with. Externally, at least, his visit has been a
great success." From first to last the event has
gone off as well as the best managed royal progress
ever burlesqued at Astley's or Cremorne Conveyed
from Tchernavoda to Kustendjie by a special train,
he was saluted on mounting the quarter deck of the
Beyront with the full royal complement of 21 guns.
Again, as the corvette passed Buynkdere on the
early morning of her arrival—flying the Moldo-
Wallach standard at her fore—the French gunboat
saluted the princely bunting, whilst her crew
manned yards and hurrahed as lustily as if the
Gallic Cmsar himself had been sweeping by. On
landing the captain of the corvette again tran-
scended the exigencies of etiquette and repeated the
21 gun salute. Ashore his Highness found not an
ordinary yali—such as lodged the Viceroy of Egypt
during his visit to the capital—but a private kiosk
hitherto sacred to imperial occupancy alone ; and
so consistently on throughout the week. On Wed-
nesday (the Bth) he was honoured with a most flat-
tering audience by the Sultan, at which, however,
the Grand Vizier, and not the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, attended—the fact of his Highness's
mere vassalage being thereby ceremonially indi-
cated. Oa Thursday forenoon he received the
visits of Fuad and A'ali Pashas; and, later on the
same day made his own round of calls on the foreign
ministers, in Court carriages, attended by his suite
and escorted by a couple of Sadyk Pasha's dragoons.
Sir H. Bnlwer, as doyen of the diplomatic body,
received of course the first visit, which lasted about
half an hour, after which his highness passed on to
the French embassy, where he honoured the Mar-
quis de Moustier with, we believe, a causerie of
nearly two hours' duration. The round of other
diplomatic visits being completed, the Prince pro-
ceeded to the Porte and made the usual calls on the
chief members of the Divan. These done, he visited
in rapid succession the Greek Patriarch and the
patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria,s
by all of whom his highness was received with a
much show of affectionate unction as if the little
affair of the Convents had never happened. On
Friday, the foreign representatives returned the
Prince's visit. In the matter of these diplomatic
calls, we may here mention, occurred the first of the
two
three hitches which have slightly—very
slightly of course—marred the ceremonial harmony
of the week's proceedings. Without pretending to
the confidence of any one of the august personages
who have contributed to this Hospodaric triumph,
we are, we believe, accurate in saying that it had
been arranged that the important first visit should
be exacted from and not paid to the Prince by the
foreign Ministers. From this understanding, how-
ever, Count Greppi, the Italian charge d'affaires,
appears to have departed, by himself calling the
first on the Hospodar. Again, on Friday evening,
the Marquis de Moustier, though oily second in the
diplomatic hierarchy, displayed his friendly zeal in
being the first of the corps to offer a banquet to
Prince Couza. His Excellency's invitations to this,
however, were not accepted either by Sir H. Bul- ,
wer, Baron Prokesch Osten, cr M. Novikoff, the
Russian chargé d'affaires. On Saturday,
tahfete
after
re-
ceiving the return calls of the patriarchs,
Hos-
podar visited the imperial yachts, the various bar-
racks, and,Tophaneh, and in the evening entertained
Count Greppi at a quiet dinner en
f
forenoon was passed in hearing mass
tnizaliet.heSFllanndaary,
where something like a scene occurred when the
Patriarcb volunteered his blessing in terms uneccep-
teble to the Hospodar, who protested, a haute vo x,
against the formula employed, and retreated hastily
before the conclusion of the service. In the evening
his Highness was entertained by A'ali Pasha at a
grand banquet, at which the whole of the Ministers
the Grand Vizier excepted—and high functionaries
of the Porte were present. On Monday he was
the guest of Sir H. Bulwer at a dinner for which
no diplomatic invitations had been issued, The
presence, however, of the leading members of the
Government, with that of Lady Herbert of Lea, Mr.
Consul-General Cumberbatch, and a few leading
members of our local society, gave sufficient weight