The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

ME TILRACIAN GIBRALTAR,

The Trieste Journal has the following remarkable ar-
tcle, the author of which is supposed to be an exceed-
igly influential diplomatist in the East :

" Between Enos and Rodosto lies the province of Swrid•
shi, an irriguous and healthy range of shore, traversed by
a small ridge of mountains in the south, over which, in the
direction of the Sea of blarniora,, the Kuru Dagh and the
Tekir Dagh rise as it were like the cavaliers of the whole
bulwark of the mountains, at the base of which the road.
from Constantinople runs through Sihwri, Rodosto, Aynad-
shik, Keshan Ruskoi, and Kawala, to Salonica.
" From Keshan Ruskoie a branch road leads to Enos,
which is situate at a short distance from the mouth of the
Maritza, in the ./Egean Sea. The river Erkeneh, which
merges into the Maritza at Ipsala, encompasses in the far
distance the whole tract, which forms a narrowing bend
towards Rodosto. From Rodosto there is a road that opens

out near Araba Berg-as, or Tshatal, into the high or wain
road leaaing from So.mboul to Adrianople, to which latter
place there is also a road from _Enos through Ipsala and

biinotika.
"In the south the designated province rests on the
tEgean Sea, with the Gulf of Saros in the west, which is
separated from the Dardanelles by the ancient Chersonesus,
that far-extending tongue of land whereon is situate Galli-
poli, and upon the Sea of Alarmora in the East.
"'This, again, is protected on the east by the narrow pas-
sage of the Bosphorus, and on the south-west by that of
the Dardanelles or the Hellespont. The islands of Satnoth-
raki and Imoros ale situate, as it were, like sentinels be-
fore the Gulf of Saros.

" As the northern mouth of the Hellespont, which be-
tween Kilid-B ihr and Kaleh-Sultanieh is scarcely a quar-
ter of a German mile broad, lies Gallipoli, a town contain-
ing 18,000 inhabitants, at present principally occupied by
the French ; whilst Scutari, the tete du pont of Constanti-
nople, nearly six miles distant from Beycos Bay, on the
Asiatic coast, is occupied by the English.
" The main points of political interest—for the English,
Asia ; for the French, Europe—are clearly demonstrated by
this occupation. The English have thereby taken upon
themselves the bolder, the French, however, the safer part.
The reason hereof is to be fottud in the fact that Englanel-

rules on the sea, and that the English reserve squadron
(known by the denomination of the home squadron), howso-
ever equally the nautical strength of both the protecting
Powers may be divided in the Black Sea, is three times
stronger than that of the French. This circumstance also
renders it easy to be understood why the French in the
East must generally dance to the tunes of the English
whistles.
" In the front protected by the River Erkeneh, in the
left flank near Enos by the Maritza and the bogs of
Karaasmak, in the right flank near Rodosto by the rivulet
Tschora, Suji, and Constantinople itself ; in the rear by
the sea and the combined fleets which rule over it, whilst
the plain of Erkeneh rises life a glacis towards the pro-
montories of the Tekir Dagh and Kuru Dagh, and the road
along the coast from Stamboul to Constantinople passes
along the base of the glacis, the position between Euos
and Rodosto (the latter place containing 26,030 inhabi-
tants), together with the landing and retreating points,
Gallipoli is by nature one of the strongest, ; in the
hands of the French engineers it will become still
stronger, and when it is further considered that the fleets
will constantly have the supply of provisions, ammunition,
and new troops in their po weraud that when once the despot
at Toulon are organised, 10 steamers of from 1,?.00 to 2,000
tons will be enabled each time to bring up an additional
8030 to 10 000 troops, and that by planting their large ship-
guas on the fortifications, as the Americans did during
their attack on Vera Cruz in 1819, in their disabling and
breach-batteries, where they introduced their 33-pounders
and paixhans taken from their ships, these fortifications
will receive an enormous superiority by the calibre of their
artillery and their great number over the inferior besieg-
ing cannon of the assailant—the deduction may safely be
made that the position of Galtipoli, occupied by good
troops, under an able commander, is, according to the
given conditions, an almost invincible one.
" From Enos to Rodosto the distance is 19, from Rodosto
to Constantinople about 18, German miles. About half-
way between Enos and Rodosto lies the village Malgara.
From hence. to Dschifr-Erkeneh, on the Erkeneh, where
its northermost bend begins, the distance is about 19, but
from the southernmost curve of this river to Rodosto, it is
only three German miles. The whole tract of land bounded
ay the Maritza and the Erkeneh, independent of the land-
tongue of Gallipoli, encompasses about 108 German square
miles, of which 80 belong to the mountainous part, and
about 30 consists of plains—the former is the more impor-
tant in a military point of view. The tactical points
which deserve particular mention are Enos, Ipsala,
Dimotika, where the road from Salonica., which runs along
the western bank of the Maritza, crosses this river ; fur-
thermore, Dschifr-Erkeneh, Ayrobol, S wench:Lk:a, where
the road from Adrianople to Stamboul leads across the
Erkeneh, Sarlar, Rodosto, Aynadshik, Malgara, Keschan-
Rustoi, the aforesaid mountain heights, together with the
two higher ridges, and the very small neck of the land-
tongue of Gallipoli, which would serve as a last hold
(support).
" Upon these 80 square miles, in the position already in-
dicated, which cannot at all he attacked in the rear, and in
the flanks only with difficulty, because every such flank
attack would probably be turned (diverted) by the fleets,
60,000 to 70,000 men may successfully maintain themselves
against an army of 200,000 combatants ; nay, they may
even destroy such an army, and by a long resistance anni-
hilate it. We almost incline to the belief that without a
fleet it would be impossible to effect anything against
this position.
"Thus is situated the Thracian Gibraltar, from whence,
without possessing Constantinople (according to the tenour
of the conventions), the Western Powers, and especially
England, may dictate the laws in the East, render the au-
thority of the Sultan perfectly illusory, hold the heart's-core
point of two parts of the globe (Europe and Asia) in their
power, dominate over the Euxine and the Archipelagus,
and explore for themselves the whole of the Levant trade.
Thus is situated the Thracian Gibraltar, this new despotic
castle of Central Europe, to which England, by the pos-
session of the lonian Islands in the south, and of Heligo-
land in the north, has affixed her spectacles immediately
opposite its finest streams, namely, the Elbe, the Weser,
and the Ems, and which—for the protection of her own
commercial and industrial interests, that constitute the
life-breath of England—she can entirely paralyse, if she
were only to get the Sound, or even the island of Born-
holm (as a punishment for Danish friendship towards
Russia) into her power ; of this England, which, for the
sake of its own existence, must live upon the blood and
sweat of other nations, and which now possesses so mighty
an ally in the public opinion of Central Europe, because that
opinion has been frightened out of its wits by the so-called
liberal press and the Bourse, riding hard upon the dreaded
phantom of an impending revolution Thus is situated
that Thracian Gibraltar, from whence Lord Palmerston
may apply his levers against Austria, in order to protect
the interests of political liberties,' as the crown, the last
and highest aim of which absolute free trade' stands
forth, which is so advantageous to England that her very
existence depends upon it.
" And is it possible that under such circumstances
people can still ask on whose side Central Europe ought to
stand ?
" We will not speak of France, whose dark policy has
thrown a shadow upon Italy by the names of Brennier,
Lucien Bonaparte, and Murat. Nevertheless, let us be
comforted. The eloquence of Baron von Vincke in the
Prussian Chambers, the arguments of the Vienna Lloyd,
and the ovations which the German press lays at the feet
of England and France, will conjure the impending tem-
pest, and deliver Germany from the knout, in order to
bring it under the cat-o'-nine-tails."