The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-06 00:00:00

per satisfaction will not be given to the representative
of Turkey at Athens, and all diplomatic and commercial
relations be therefore broken off. The last accounts that
have arrived from Thessaly and the Epirus are favour-
able to the Turkish arms. An engagement had taken
place near Arta, in which the Turks had been victorious.
rhe greatest excitement prevailed near Salonica, and
Volo, and many of the inhabitants had arrived there
from the provinces, not feeling themselves safe. The
convicts from the prisons had been seL loose by the
Greeks, and the country was in consequence overrun by
l)ad characters.

" Yesterday evening a British and French war steamer
left for Prevesa, with Ottoman troops on board, destined
ror Arta. Lieutenant•Geneial Ibrahim Pacha commands
this expedition.

" Lieutenant-General Sir John Burgoyne, and some
officers of the Royal Engineers, returned yesterday from
Schumla. They came from Varna by the Caradoc. Major
Dixon has gone round on horseback by Sophia and
Adrianople.
"It appears that whilst the Turkish regular army is
doing its duty, the hordes of volunteer horsemen (B .zi
Bazouks) who have come from Asia infest Bulgaria, and
commit the greatest atrocities. Instead of being of any
service to the Turkish Commander-in-Chief, they are
spread about the country, to the great dismay of the un-
fortunate inhabitants who have to feed and lodge them,
snd are not sure of their lives. Omer Pacha has remon-

.trated against the presence of these marauders, and it
is to be hoped that the Turkish Government.will prevent
any more from proceeding to the Danube. He has
made an example of son..e of them.
"An Asiatic warror woman, Fatima Hanem, has
arrived at Constantinople with 600 horsemen as her
suite. She is an old woman of about sixty years of
age, of a very withered appearance, and very like a
gipsy. As she passed through the capital yesterday,
seated on horseback like a man, thousands of people
flocked to have a view of her, especially women. The
Turkish females are quite taken aghast at this, for the
East, most astonishing phenomenon, and eagerly pressed
forward to catch a glimpse of this adventurous old dame
as she cantered past them. " Mashallah ! What a
woman I"
" The Sheik-ul-Islam (head of the faith) has been
removed by the Sultan, and Aarif Effendi appointed in
his place. This is a most unusual occurrence, and in
ordinary times would have created a greater sensation
than it does at present. The Sheik-ul-Islam was
opposed to the reforms contemplated in the empire,
and his removal is interpre:.ed as the prognosti-
cation to numerous social changes. The day before
yesterday some slight, though not unfounded, fears
were entertained of a revolutionary movement on the
part of the softas (theological students), but lam
happy to say nothing occurred The guards were in-
creased in the different parts of this vast city.
" Rifaat Paella, president of the Council, has been
dismissed, and Chekib Effendi appointed as his sue-

cessor.
" Mr. Smith, the deputy commissary-general, who
has been here since last week, is, I learn, making
arrangements fur provisioning 10.000 men. The bar-
racks of Doud Aglou at Constantinople are being re-
paired, it is presumed, for British troops.
"The Miranda steamer arrived here the day before
yesterday, with provisions and stores fur the British
army.
"The Samson, British war steamer, and Cacique
(French) have been cruising in the Black Sea, on the
coast of Circassia. They found that the Russians had
aban•loned and burnt down all the forts along the sea
shore, and retired to the interior.
"The full particulars of the engagement that took
place on tbe Danube on the 12th, near Turtukai, are
still wanting. The Russians were endeavouring to con-
struct a bridge across the river at that point, but were
prevented by the Turks, and obliged to retreat with a
most severe loss. The loss of the Russians was very
great, as they were quite exposed, whilst the Turks
could not be injured from their position.
"A grand attempt at forcing the Danube is very
shortly expected near Rutschuk. Omer Pacha had lett
Schunila eight days since with the bulk of his army for
Rutschuk. On the 17th he was at Rasgrad, half way.
" Several British officers leave for Asia to-day by the
Austrian Lloyd steamer that starts for Trebizond.
People here are impatiently looking out fur the British
and French troops. From very good information that I
have received, I can state that they will not proceed to
the Danube, but remain on this side of the Balkan, at
the Dardanelles, and very likely tbe bulk of the force
occupy the plain of Adrianople. The expectations of
some of the officers, who looked out for a good war on
the Danube, will, therefore, in all probability, he disap-
pointed. Being quartered as a reserve roui,d Constan-
tinople will appear to them very like a Turkish. Chob-
ham."

The following is from the Times correspondent,
dated Constantinople, March 23 :
"Nor is the enthusiasm confined to the Frankish
nations, or even to the male sex, as the following his-
tory will show :--Two mornings since a report was
brought that a beautiful girl of 17 had conducted 60,000
warriors from the heart of Asia, and had .laid their ser-
vices at the feet of the Sultan. It was natural at first
to believe that this rumour was as true as many others
with which we are amused or annoyed in this metropolis
of idleness. However, an unusual tumult in the streets
proclaimed something of importance, and it soon ap-
peared that there was sediment of truth, after
wiping away the froth of Oriental exagoration
The eastern and southern parts of Asia Minor are
the patrimony of wandering tribes, who to a fierce
IVlusselman spirit unite a strong feeling of independence,
and who are always ready to contest the authority of the
Sultan, except when it is in real danger. A line drawn
from Sinope to Smyrna will mark the boundary of the
regions which, totally subjected to the authority of the
Pashas, furnish their contingent of Bashi-Bazouks ac-
cording to a regular militia law of great antiquity. To
the south-east of this line the peninsula contributes no
certain supply of men ; and it is only on occasions like
the present that the name of the Prophet, or the
love of plunder, induces them to quit their plains
and mountains, and venture into contact with
civilized man. One of these tribes, said to be
capable of furnishing 4,000 horsemen, is under the
guidance of a woman, whose name, or rank, is expressed
by the word "Fatima." Their home is in the moue-
tams of Cilicia, and whether or not they are of kin to
the ancient pirates, they certainly bear a strong moral
resemblance. 300 of them set out from their strong-
hold 6 weeks ago, and their appearance at Scutari gave
rise to the excitement I have mentioned. The Queen, or
prophetess, for she is endowed with supernatural attri-
butes, is a little dark old woman of about 60, with nothing
of the Amazon in her appearance, although she wears what
seems to be intended for male attire, and bestrides her
steed like the warriors of her train. She is attended by two
handmaids, like herself in masculine costume, and was
brought across the Bosphorus with a select band of fol-
lowers, to a species of barrack at Stamboul. The Bashi•
Bozouks are beings of refined intelligence in comparison
with these noma'ls of the Karatnaman wilds, whose con-
dition and numbers are unknown even to the Pachas of
the province. Their arms are various, and seem to in-
dicate a mode of warfare in which each man keeps the
spoils he has won. Some carry the pistols and yataghan of
the Albanian, here and there is a rifle that may have come
fromßirmingham, and a scimitar from theforges of Syria.
One will carry a wooden club or mace, which he swings
round his head, chattering his teeth, and gesticulating
violently, as if to make up for the poverty of his arma-
ment by a display of ferocity. The long matchlock of
the Affghan is not wanting, and individuals of the tribe
are said to retain the bow and arrows of their remote
forefathers. One account declares that conjugal affection
has impelled the heroine to her perilous enterprise. Her
husband is expiating sundry misdemeanours in a Cana-
dian prison, and Fatima, fearful that her entreaties
would have • little effect on the Sultan without seine
proof of her loyalty, has brought 300 of her best war-
riors to fight the Muscovite, on the reasonable terms of
80 piastres a month, with tooth and stirrup money in
every village they may traverse."
The following is an extract from a letter, dated
Constantinople, March 22 :—" According to all
the accounts received, it appears that the Russians
are about to cross the Danube with 200,000 men.
Otner Pacha has scarcely the half of this to oppose
them, and if he holds his own against such heavy
odds, he will earn imperishable laurels both for
himself and soldiers ; meantime he is imploring
the Government to send at least 10,000 more
troops. At the same time, Lord Stratford is
urging the Porte to despatch at least 5,000 more
troops to the Greek frontier, where the hand-
ful of Turkish soldiers lately sent are threatened
with extermination by the masses of insur-
gents and invaders gathering round. them.
There are about 10,000 troops in Constanti-
nople, and should these be withdrawn, or any of
them, the city would be burned by the Greeks.
Great alarm has been felt, in consequence of the
well-known mischievous propensities of the inde-
pendent Greeks (i.e. the subjects of King Otho),
numbers of whom are living here. I cannot re-
frain from mentioning to you a few facts concern-
ing the fleet. I hear, from very good authority,
that the discipline of the fleet is very bad ; that
there are frequent acts of insubordination ; and
that there was positive mutiny in one ship, the
Albion, the men refusing to work. All this, I
am told, has been kept secret, but of course
such things will ooze out. You are aware how
unwilling the admiral has been hitherto to go
out to sea. Two or three weeks ago he was
informed that a Russian squadron had come
out to revictual the Circassian forts : the
ambassador urged him to go out to pre-
vent this being done, and he tardily sent out the
Sampson to see what was going on. This steamer
returned yesterday. I have learned the following
facts, though I have reason to believe that they
are not known, viz., that the Sampson saw seven
Russian steamers, with four transports, the latter
laden with troops and munitions of war. These
ships garrisoned and strengthened the forts of Sou-
koum-Kale and Anapa, and they had landed men,
who were engaged in blowing up all the smaller
forts along the coast, having previously taken out
the men and munitions. -These facts speak for
themselves. While our ships have been comfortably
lying in the Bosphorus, the Russians have not been
idle, but have prepared themselves at every point.
Is this holding the Black Sea ? Since I com-
menced my letter I have heard of the arrival of the
Retribution. She went to the mouth of the.
Danube, but, in consequence of a heavy gale of
wind, was unable to do anything. However, I
hare seen a sailor who declares that he saw chains
drawn across the Danube, over boats, and that