The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-09 00:00:00

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, MAY 26.—The members of
the Russian Embassy and its servants who were
left behind have sailed this day for Odessa. The
Turks are actively preparing for war. The arma-
ment of the fleet is carried on with much vigour,
and all the porters of the port have been engaged
for the transfer of ammunition from the arsenal to
the various forts on the shores of the Bosphorus.
The Minister of War has instructed Namick Pasha,
in case the Russians should enter Moldavia, to
march against them with an army of 40,000 men.
The Constitutionnel has letters from Constan-

tinople, stating that measures have been taken for
the purpose of arriving at a peaceable solution of
pending questions by means of an arbitration.
Redschid Pasha was in favour of such a solution,
which did not, however, receive a decided support
from some of his colleagues.
The departure of the Russian Consul from Smyrna
has produced a general alarm in that town.

By the Levant mail we have received Constanti-
nople journals to the 25th ult. inclusively, and
Athens journals to the 27th. The facts mentioned
ill the former were already known to our readers,
but we extract, from a summary given by the
Courrier de. Constantinople, some remarks which
are of interest, as showing the view that is taken
of the demand of Prince Menschikoff by the organs
of the Turkish Government. The Courrier says :
" We have no time to-day to develop the peremptory
reasons of political right which are opposed to the ac-
ceptance of such a demand. We will merely say that,
in acceding to these pretensions, the Sultan would abdi-
cate into the hands of the Czar a part of his legitimate
authority ; he would create a state within a state ; he
would introduce an element of dissolution into his em-
pire, and he would open a door to anarchy. Conse-
quently, out of respect to his imperial dignity ;
out of respect to the charter of Gul-Hand, which
guarantees to all Ottoman subjects—without distinc-
tion of religious creeds—liberty of conscience, life,
property, fortune, and honour ; out of respect to the
treaty of 1841, signed by the five great powers, in order
to protect the independence and integrity of the Ottoman
Empire, the demands of Russia could not but be rejected
by his Imperial Majesty. What astonishes every one
here is, that the Russian ambassador has not understood
that if his demand might have been some time since in
some degree. tenable, it could no longer be so from the
moment that Reschid Paeha returned to power. For is
not Reschid Pacha, for the Ottoman Empire, as for all
Europe, the man whom his august sovereign always
seeks in difficult circumstances; the promotion of the
Ottoman charter, the instigator of the treaty of 1841,
the faithful ally and the most sincere partisan of progress,
the man of national conciliation, the Richelieu of Otto-
man nationality Prince Menschikoff demanded to pro-
tect people already protected, and who are too happy in
the protection they now enjoy to wish to change it."
We read in the same journal :
" The armaments continue with increased activity.
Abbas Pacha, the Viceroy of Egypt, on hearing the
reports of war hastened to place at the disposal of the
Porte 45,000 troops commanded by Soliman Pacha
(Colonel Sews) a line-of-battle-ship, two first-class
frigates, 4 corvettes, 2 brigs, 2 steam-frigates, one of
850 and the other of 450 horse power. This sponta-
neous act has been very agreeable to the Ottomans and
clearly shows the spirit of the Mussulmans. On the other
hand Mustapha Pacha, an Albanian recently appointed
Governor of Herzegovine, has offered to furnish the Porte
with a levy of 200,000 Albanians, and to march them on
any point which the Government of the Sultan might
point out. Rendev-han Bey also demanded from the
Porte to be permitted to organise in the Kurdistan for
the Ottoman Government a considerable body of troops.
The following is the strength of the land and sea forces
of the Ottoman Empire :