The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-10 00:00:00

THE RUSSIANS IN SERVIA.

- --- • ----
VIENNA, Monday morning.—It was known last
night in the highest military circles that the Rus-
sians have violated the Servian territory. They
crossed the Danube at Radojevacz, above Widdin.
Therei; no doubt that Austria will immediately
occupy Servia with a large force, and the Danubian
Steam Company have received orders to hold all
their vessels at Semlin and Orsova in readiness to
transport troops for the Austrian Government.
The Oesterreichische Correspondenz confirms the
intelligence as to the signing of a protocol by the
four Powers, asserting the principles laid down by
the Vienna Conference.

200,000 Austrians, under Archduke Albrecht,
have been ordered to enter Servia. The Porte, it is
said, consents to it.

_
A telegraphic despatch, dated Orsova, April 9,
says the Russians have entered Servia at Radu-
jewacz, between Widdin and Orsova.

THE DANUBE.
DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS IN THE
DOBRUTSCHA.

In The Sun of Saturday there appeared a tele-
graphic despatch from Vienna to the effect-that a
communication of the 4th April, received there
from Bucharest, stated that a great battle was
being fought at Rassova (about midway between
Hirsova and Silistria, in the Dobrutscha), but that
the result was not known ; adding that Mustapha
Pacha was at the head of 50,000 men.
We now learn by a telegraphic despatch from
Vienna, yesterday, that the Turks were reported to
have gained a great victory in the Dobrutscha.
The following is from a Constantinople letter of
March 30:—" The greatest excitement and anxiety
prevail at Constantinople, and no wonder. The
following in4rmatiori from the ,DaulAbei which. may

be relied upon, has been received :—' Silistria,
March 25.—1 rejoined Omer Pacha's head-quarters
at Silistria this • morning, between three and four
o'clock. This afternoon we received intelligence
of the passage of the Danube by the Russians at
Galatz. The Russian force that has crossed is
advancing in Dobrutscha, whilst Mustafa Pacha
is concentrating his forces on the Carassou. But
the passage at Galatz is not the most important ;
and the concentration of the Ottoman forces on the
Lower Danube was deemed so necessary, that
Omer Pacha had already sent orders to have it
carried out. The Russians have only anticipated
his orders by forty-eight hours. A more im-
portant passage is, however, expected to take
place in a few days between Silistria and Ruts-
chuk. There the Turks will continue to concen-
trate their forces in the fortified places, in order
to act upon the offensive against the Russian
armies that will surround Schumla and the other
strongholds. This is the only plan that is possible
for the Turks, who are abandoned to themselves.
The Russians have not taken Omer Pacha by sur-
prise ; and if all the concentrations are happily
executed, he will have gained his end, and the
enemy will be menaced by him and by the foreign
auxiliary forces. Kalafab is still occupied. The
Russians made a demonstration at Topbachi on the
23d, and crossed the Danube at Galatz at the same
time. The Ottoman forces in the Dobrirbscha are
concentrating themselves on the river Carassou.
The other passage of the Danube, which we expect,
will not take Omer Paqha by surprise, I reckon
that from 15,000 to 20,000 men crossed at Galatz."
Accounts have arrived announcing the second
passage of the Danube by the Russians in very
strong force. The particulars are still wanting.
This news has spread the greatest consternation
amongst the Turks. The British and French
forces are behindhand. May we not have to de-
plore another Sinope ! Her Majesty's steam-frigate
Inflexible arrived here on Monday night. Yester-
day evening the Furious came in from Varna. The
combined British and French squadrons, which
-were anchored at Kavarna, on receiving news of
the passage of the Danube, immediately took up a
position between Baltchick and Varna. What can
be done by sea ? It is support by land that the
Turkish army wants. An aide-de-camp of Omer
Pacha arrived here yesterday, and immediately
repaired to the War-office. -Everybody is eagerly
awaiting the result of the onward march of the
Russians. If the Ottoman army under Omer Pacha
is beaten, the consequences may be very disastrous.
If we take a general view of the actual position of
affairs here, it is certainly by no means encourag-
ing. Greece, and the provinces of Thessaly and
Epirus, are in full revolt. A large Russian army
is advancing on the Ottoman army of the Balkan. It
is to be foreseen that the defeat of the Turks would
be the signal for a rising in Bulgaria. It would at
any rate give an immense impulse to the Greek in-
surrection, which may be 3 expected to increase on
the mere news of the passage of the Danube by the
Russians. In the meanwhile neither a British nor
French auxiliary force has arrived. The time has
come when their presence here is a necessity, and
too great expedition cannot be recommended.
Russia is pouring large armies into the Principali-
ties. The great secrecy observed throughout that
empire about the movements of its armies renders
it difficult to form an exact estimate of the number
of men they can bring to the Danube. All France
and England are doing is known to the public.
This undoubtedly gives the Russians an advantage.
It is to be foreseen that 50,000 French and 20,000
British troops will be far too small a force to carry
on the war with Russia, and people must make up
their minds to great measures, if a great end is to
be obtained. Thrice that number is nearer what
will be required eventually, before the immense
forces of which the Czar disposes can be effectually
checked in their onward course. Constantinople
is perfectly quiet. The guards in the Christian
quarters have, however, been doubled during the
last few weeks, as a precautionary measure against
any attempt at a movement on the part of the nu-
merous Greek population. It cannot be said that
there is any well-founded reason for entertaining
fears of an insurrection here. There exists, how
ever, a -great deal of general agitation.

THE BLACK SEA. •
Letters from Constantinople of the 31st ult. an-
nounce that three English merchant vessels were
fired into by the Russians near Sulina, in the Black
Sea. The Anna, laden with grain, was sunk. The
steamer Crescent was damaged. The combined
fleets were before Kavarna.
The Courri,er de Marseille gives the following
news brought by the. Caradoc, which left Constan-
tinople on the 26th. The day before the departure
of the combined fleets for Varna, the Mogador and
Inflexible, French and English steam-frigates, left
for the same destination, with 1,000 Ottoman troops
armed with Minie rifles to reinforce the garrison.
The object of the combined fleets was, it is stated,
to support the operations of the Turks, and to
attack, if necessary, the Russian fleet, which had
been seen by several ships near Varna, for the pur-
pose of supporting the movements of Prince Gorts-
chakoff. The Sampson and Cacique steamers,
during their last cruise, saw the Russians burn and
blow up a certain number.of fortresses on the coast
of Asia ; they also saw the Circassians enter and
pillage Soubachi after it had been set fire to and
abandoned by the Russians. Scotcha met with
a similar fate. They visited in succession Bom-
bary, Psizouapi, Galindzik, and Loujak-Bey. The
fort of Pshad was on fire and had been also pillaged.
The Circassians, with whom the frigates communi-
cated, stated that Schamyl was in the south with
40,000 men, and only waited for instructions to
act. The Russians were making great preparations
at Anapa, and repairing all the fortifications. The
Russians on all the coast were in a state of extra-
ordinary panic. At the sight of the steamers they
fired guns to warn the neighbouring forts to put
themselves on the defensive. Soukoum. Kale ap-
pears to be the place which the Russians intend
to make the centre of their operations.
Other letters from Constantinople to the 26th of
March, announce that the fleets, which re-entered
the Black Sea on the 24th, had been fallen in with,
steering in the direction—a part for Varna, and
another part for Cavarna, opposite to Sebastopol,2
leaving only the Tiger, Retribution, Niger, and
Sampson, at Beycos ; the last two awaiting the
Leander and Arethusa from Malta, with provisions,
to tow them into the Black Sea.
We extract the following from another letter
of 25th March, respecting the departure of the
fleets :—At last the fleet has sailed. A week of ex-
pectation and readiness has taken away the novelty
from this event, but from to-day every vessel that
arrives in the Bosphorus from the north will excite
a deeper curiosity and a sterner interest. People
feel that the crisis has come at last, and that the
Crimean and Circassian shores must shortly be the
scene of a fiercer struggle, by land and sea, than any
which the world has seen since the days of Trafalgar
and the Peninsula. The town has lately been alive
with seamen of all ranks, purchasing the necessaries
of war or of private comfort, in expectation of a
prolonged absence not passed in idleness ; and the
tradesmen of the place must lament the loss of their
free and honest customers (doubly valuable, as they
have never learned to make a bargain) as much as
all convivial spirits among the English loungers are
mournful at the loss of congenial society, and of
the pleasant object of many an excursion. The now
famous Bay of Beycos returns for a time to its old
tranquillity, and when the noble vessels which have
so long floated on its waves repair again to
their old anchorage, let us hope it will be with still
further claims to the admiration of their respective
countries, and that the loss of many a brave spirit
who has been consigned to the cold waves of the
Euxine will be compensated by the double reflec-
tion that he died for his country, while his country
was combatting in a just cause. Many
.of the mer-
chantmen from Odessa are at present in the Bos-
phorus. They left (full or empty) in the expecta-
tion of immediate hostilities.
A letter from Constantinople of the 27th ult., in
the Post Ampt Gazette of Frankfort, says that the
first military operations will take place before
Odessa.