The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-02 00:00:00

THE DANUBIAN PROVINCES.

One of the most immediate and disastrous conse-
quences of the Russian occupation of the Danubian prin-
cipalities is that their commercial prosperity will be for
many years retarded. Moldavia is one of the most fer-
tile provinces in the east of Europe—it is intersected by
noble rivers, blessed with a magnificent soil, and pro-
duces abundance of the finest wheat and Indian corn.
An entirely new trade has recently sprung up in the
Danubian provinces in the growth and export of Indian
corn, and they are evidently becoming formidable rivals
to the south of Russia. Wheat exported from the Da-
nube ranks higher, and obtains better prices, in the Lon-
don market than Polish Odessa corn ; while there can
be no doubt that if properly encouraged they would soon
divide with Russia the corn trade and commerce of the
Black Sea. At present not the slightest effort is made
to improve the navigation of the Danube. Prior to the
treaty of Adrianople the depth of water over the bar was
16 feet—there is little more than 9 feet now, and as the
deposit is merely alluvial soil carried down the river
nothing could be more easily effected than its removal.
By a convention entered into between Austria and
Russia in 1840, the latter was authorised to levy a tax
on all ships entering the Salina mouth of the Danube,
and in consideration of this privilege Russia was bound
to keep the mouth of the River free from all such im-
pediments as now exist. Since that period the tax,
which falls heavily on British ships, has been duly
levied, but the obligation has been entirely neglected,
the end and aim of Russia being to allow this channel,
which she is not permitted to fortify, to fill up with a
view of forcing the entire trade through the Kilea, or
northern branch. By this means the Russian fortress of
Ismael would command the entire trade of the Danube.

So long as the Sulina mouth was in the possession of
Turkey, every vessel leaving the river was compelled to
drag a large rake behind her. This was sufficient to stir
up the mud, which was carried away by the mere force
of the current. Vessels are now positively prohibited
by Russia from continuing the practice. The conse-
quence is, the trade of the Danube is decreasing, the
difficulties of entering the Danube are far greater than
formerly, and numbers of English ships are lost upon
the bar every year. Independently of this, there are
various quarantine regulations, and the Austrian Go-
vernment has the entire control and monopoly of the
steam navigation of the river. If England is ever to be
independent of Russia for the annual supply of corn, it
is chiefly from the western shores of the Black Sea that
she must look to obtaining sufficient to satisfy the ever
increasing demand, and there oan be no doubt that if
these vast and fertile provinces were allowed a free de-
velopment, they would be found adequate to meet that
demand. It has been proposed to cut a canal from Ras-
soya in the Danube to Kustnidji in the Black Sea a work
of comparative facility. The length of this canal would be
40 miles, and it would save a circuit of nearly 200 miles
of intricate navigation from the mouth of the Sulina to
the same point—it would remove the traffic to a distance
from the Russian frontier, and could be constructed at a
comparatively small expense. At Gala,z, the most
northern point of the Danube, is the extensive preserved
meat manufactory, which obtained such an unenviable
notoriety for Mr. Goldner, by whom the navy was for
some time supplied. The manufactory is now carried
on under the superintendence of two Englishmen. There
is no place in Europe where provisions are cheaper or
wages higher. A common porter may earn a silver
rouble per day, while, after selling the hides and tallow,
the meat supplied to the Admiralty did not cost Mr.
Goldner a halfpenny per pound.
Orsova is about 500 miles from the mouth of the
,Danube. Opposite it is a little fortress in the middle of
the stream, formerly occupied by a Turkish garrison.
The mountain range commencing near the northern
bank is the line of separation between Wallachia and
Austria, and is the present limit of Russian aggression.
It is not quite 60 years ago since the most westerly
point of the Russian empire was still 200 miles from the
Austrian frontier. Now the Austrian and Russian
frontiers are conterminous for a distance of 400 miles,
and if Russia be allowed to complete her long cherished
designs upon Turkey, by the seizure of these Danubian
provinces, that extent will be doubled, and for a distance
of 1,000 miles, or more than one-third of its circumfer-
ence, will Russia clasp in her giant embrace an empire
nearly equal to the enormous territory of Poland, which
within the last half century she has absorbed into her
dominions.