The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-10 00:00:00

TURKEY.

A telegraphic dispatch, dated Vienna, yesterday,
says :—" M. Meyendorff, the Russian Ambassador,
has just arrived here from St. Petersburg with in-
telligence for the Imperial Court. Accounts have
been received to-day from Constantinople, via
Semlin, to the Ist June. The state of affairs at
Pera remained unchanged. A firm assurance was
still felt of a pacific solution ; armaments were
nevertheless continuing on both sides. The Rus-
sians had not passed the Pruth on the 4th.
The Lloyd's steamer has arrived at Trieste from
Constantinople, with news to the 30th of May.
The armaments continue. A memorandum has
appeared on the late crisis. Abbas Pacha has pro-
mised 150,000 men.
The Moniteur, after having declared that in-
structions have been given to Lord Redcliffe similar
to those sent to the French Ambassador, announces
that the Governments of France and England have
decided that their united squadrons should ap-
proach the Dardanelles. Orders left on the 4th of
June, by the Chaptal and Caradoc, for the Admi-
rals De la Susse and Dundas. This measure of
precaution, says the Moniteur, does not exclude
the hope of a pacific settlement of difficulties.
The Debats gives the following resume "
of the
last accounts from the East :
"We have received letters from Constantinople
brought to Marseilles by the Leonidas. They come
down to the 25th ult., and are consequently two days
later than the last accounts. If we were to judge
of -the future by the state of the public mind, there
would be much reason to fear for the maintenance of
peace ; but it must not be forgotten that it is no longer
on the banks of the Bosphorus, but at St. Petersburg,
that the question will be solved. After having nobly
done its duty, the Government of the Sultan has now
only to wait ; but it is not from it that will come the
resolution which Europe waits for with a very, legiti-
mate impatience. All that the Porte can do is to think
of organising its means of defence, and although the
Divan believes with reason in an amicable solution of
the present difficulties, the news and the reports of war
which every day reach it from Southern Russia, impose
on it the obligation to arm itself. This, therefore, is
what the Sultan is occupying himself in doing with the
greatest activity ; he is placing his fleet on a war footing,
he is having ammunition prepared in the arsenals, he
has called for the contingent of the Viceroy of Egypt, he
has ordered the mobilisation of the militia in the province
of Roumelia, which it is said will furnish 90,000 men, and
he reckons on being able, before the end of June, to as-
semble 120,000 men under the walls of Schumla, in order
to defend the line of the Batken, for the idea of being able
to dispute that of the Danube has been abandoned. The
fortresses, which were dismantled in the campaigns of
1828 and 1829, have not been repaired, and can now he
considered only as open places. The news which had
reached Constantinople from Odessa, Bessarabia, and
the mouth of the Danube, justify this activity and these
measures of prudence. On the 24th, the eve of the de-
parture of the Leonidas, a Russian packet, which left
Odessa on the 21st, arrived with the most alarming
news. The Russian troops were everywhere in motion
marching towards the south, and they were said to be
animated with the most lively enthusiasm ; they be-
lieved that they were marching to the conquest of Con-
stantinople and of St. Sophia—that dream of all the mem-
bers of the Greek Church. It was positively stated that
on the 21st, the very day of the departure of the packet,
the Grand Duke Constantine, second son of the Empe-
ror Nicholas, and Grand Admiral of Russia, arrived at
Odessa in order to press forward the armaments of
Sebastopol, and the departure of a numerous flotilla of
gun-boats for the Danube. Private letters from Ismail,
of Russian Bessarabia, on the Danube, announce that
accommodation had been prepared there for the Em-
peror Nicholas himself, who would only await the return
of Prince Menschikoff to proceed in person to the
southern part of his empire. On the other hand, a
courier dispatched by the English consul at Galatz to Con-
stantinople, announced on the 24th that 20,000 bullock
waggons had been put in requisition in Moldavia for the
passage of the army across that province, and that these
means of transport were prepared all along the banks of
the Pruth. All the materiel necessary for the construc-
tion of a bridge of boats across the Danube was ready
at Ismail, and it was supposed that if the Russian army
made an offensive movement, it would be by crossing
the Danube from Ismail to Touldscha, where it would
enter on the Turkish frontier, as it did in 1828, and in
that case it could in a few days be on the road to Adria-
nople. Touldscha is a town of Bulgaria, situated at
about 150 leagues from Constantinople. We publish all
Vibeeaecounts witbout in any way guaranteeing their
authenticity, for we do not believe them to be all exact,
although they come: to us from a good source. We have
some doubts as to .the arrival of the Grand Duke Con-
•statithie -at' Odessa on the 21st ult. 'A
telegraphic
, dispatch was received a few days since from that town,
dated the 24th, which announced the arrival of Prince
-Menschikoff, but which said not a word of the journey
of the Grand Duke. This is not a positive proof that
he was not at_Odessa on the 21st, but it is nevertheless
a strong,presumptive one. It is known that the Prince'
left Constantinople on the 21st. On the previous day
M. de Lacour went to Buyukdere, in the Heron
steamer, to take leave of the Russian ambAssa-
dor. The Prince landed from his steamer to re-
ceive him at the Russian palace. The reception
given to the French ambassador was most gracious,
and when be left the Prince accompanied him as far as
the landing place. Lord Redcliffe, who it was said had
had a rather warm altercation with the Prince, did not
pay him any visit. These incidents were much talked
of at Constantinople. A strong movement in public
opinion was apparent at Constantinople in favour of the
Sultan, not only among the Turks, but among the
Greeks, who appear to fear the protectorate of Russia
much more than the suzerainty of the Ottomans."
We read in the .Debats :—" We spoke a few days
since of a note addressed by Prince Menschikoff to
the Divan on the eve of his departure, and which
shows how Russia comprehends the interests of the
Greek Church in Turkey ; how the most solemn
guarantees given exclusively to the religious in-
terests of that Church would not satisfy her, and
that, in fact, what she demands is a political, civil,
and administrative jurisdiction over the subjects of
the Sultan. We have since received the text of
the note, which is as follows :

" Buyuddrd, May 21.
"At the moment of quitting Constantinople, the un-
dersigned, Ambassador Extraordinary of all the Russian,
has learnt that the Sublime Porte has manifested the
intention of proclaiming a guarantee for the exercise of
the spiritual rights with which the clergy of the Eastern
Church are invested, which in fact renders doubtful the
maintenance of the other privileges which they enjoy.
Whatever may be the motive of this determination, the
undersigned feels himself compelled to make known to
his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs that a
declaration or any other act which, while maintaining
the purely spiritual rights of the Orthodox Eastern
Church, might tend to invalidate the other rights, privi-
leges, and immunities granted to the Orthodox Church
and to its clergy from the most distant times, and which
they now enjoy, would be considered by the Imperial
Cabinet as an act hostile to Russia and to her religion.
(Signed) " MENSCRIKOFF."

• - -
The chief features of this important document
are the spirit which dictated it, and the threat
which is implied in it. Let us, in order to appre-
ciate this more fully, bear in mind that the main
and avowed object of Prince Mensohikoff's mission
was to obtain for his master the guarantee of the
religious rights of the Greek subjects of the Porte.
The Sultan, having refused to place in the hands
of the Czar such large and dangerous powers,
wished to show to Christendom that his determi-
nation was dictated by no hostile feelings to Chris-
tianity. He therefore announced his intention of
issuing a proclamation confirming all the religious
privileges granted ab antique to the Greek clergy,
expressing through the Ministers the hope that
this act might have the effect of removing any
doubt the Emperor might have on the subject in
question. This act of conciliation was refused by
Prince Menschikoff, in whose eyes the privileges
of the Greek Church have no value, except as
associated with the power of Russia as their
guarantee. _

Previously to writing this letter, the Prince had
made a last effort to induce the Porte to reconsider
" the frank and loyal demands of the Emperor,
made in a spirit of affectionate solicitude, and
having at heart the best interests of the Ottoman
Empire." The form of a treaty being objectionable,
an act having the force of a treaty had been al-
ready prepared and rejected. It was now suggested