The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-28 00:00:00

CONST ANTINOPLE.

Advices from Constantinople of the 16th inst.
state that the convention relative to the rights and
privileges which the Sultan has engaged to confer
on the Christians of his empire was not signed at
that date. From this circumstance it has been
inferred at Vienna that some serious and perhaps
insurmountable difficulty has presented itself,
arising from Ottoman exclusiveness. In fact, how-
ever, no unreasonable delay has taken place. The
reforms contemplated.by the Sultan involve a com-
plete reconstruction of the civil and administra-
tive institutions of the empire and the prepara-
tion of a new code; it is not, therefore, astonishing
that the whole business has not been settled with
a stroke of the pen. For the rest, the Sultan has
given his word to the powers, and the reforms will
certainly be carried out.
Another letter of the same date from the
Turkish capital, states, however, that the conven-
tion between England, France, and Turkey, was
signed on Monday, and forwarded for England the
same night by her Majesty's steamer Banshee.
This convention will be kept very secret, for
different reasons, and especially because war
has not been formally declared by France and
England against Russia, as also in order not to
awaken any susceptibility on the part of Austria
and Prussia. The convention contains all the
particulars about the conditions of the alli-
ance—what active aid the Western Powers will
give Turkey against Russia, and in what. manner—
at the same time plainly and positively renouncing
all ambitious views of material or exclusive advan-
tage and territorial aggrandisement. As regards
the stipulations made in favour of the non-Mussul-
man subjects of the Sultan, they will form a sepa-
rate note, comprising the different points, but
attached to the treaty, on the basis which the
Porte has already admitted--of ameliorating the
whole administrative system of the empire in fa-
vour of the non-Mussulman subjects of the Sultan.
In this note, which is attached to the treaty, the
particular conditions on which the rayahs will be
permitted gradually to participate in all civil and
political rights will be specially enumerated.
The same letter says :—" When will the French
and British forces be here ? There is not much
time to be lost. It is the general belief that the
Russians meditate a passage of the Danube in a
large body very soon. suppose Omer Pacha's
army beaten (which it is to be hoped will not be
the case) ; it will require a ready force of French
and English to stay the march of the Russians
upon Constantinople. Where are the British
troops going to land ? The general opinion is,
either at the Gulf of Eynos or the Dardanelles.
When? Nobody knows. Will they immediately
proceed to Adrianople ? In sending 20,000 men,
England is sending as many soldiers as she can
spare. But 20,000 men are but a handful. The
people of England must not imagine that the Rus-
sian empire is to tremble before such numbers as
these. Let us rather regard the present expedition
as the advanced guard of twice that number, who
are to follow. A war with Russia is no small
quarrel, especially if a decisive result is to be ob-
tained ; and the object of a great war can only be
to obtain a great end, for which great measures
must be adopted."

FRANCE.
FRENCH DECLARATION OF WAR.
In the sitting of the Corps Legislatif yesterday
Monday), the Minister of State was introduced,
and in the name of the Emperor read a message,
announcing that the last resolutions of the Cabinet
of St. Petersburg had placed Russia in a state of
war with France, the responsibility of which en-
tirely rested on the Russian Government.
The assembly received the announcement with
acclamations.
The President, in reply to the Message, said that
the Emperor might rely on the unanimous assist-
ance of the Corps Legislatif, as well as of the whole
country.
The acclamations were renewed, and the as-
sembly broke up amid repeated cries of " Vive
l'Empereur."
The same announcement was made to the Senate,
where it was received with the same enthusiasm.
The Moniteur of to-day publishes the following
declaration :
" Art. 1. A delay of six weeks, dating from this
day, is granted to Russian trading vessels to leave
French ports. Consequently, Russian trading ves-
sels actually in our ports, or those which, having
left Russian ports before the declaration of war,
shall enter French ports, may enter and complete
their cargoes up to the 9th of May inclusively.
" Art. 2. Such of these ships as should be cap-
tured by French cruisers, after having left the
ports of the empire, shall be let free, if they can
prove by their papers on board that they were
making direct for their port of destination, and
had not been yet able to reach it.
(Signed) " DROITYN DE LIMY&
"March 27, 1854."
The Moniteur also declares that Russian subjects
may continue to reside in France under the pro-
tection accorded by the law to all strangers, on the
sole condition for them to respect it.
The text of the Convention of Alliance between
Turkey, France, and England was received yester-
day morning at the Foreign-office. It is believed
that a communication to that effect will, without
much delay, be published in the Moniteur.
It is stated that Prince Demidoff, who for several
years past has resided in Florence, has written to
the Emperor Nicholas, placing at his Majesty's
disposal " his fortune and his sword." The Prince
is the husband of the Princess Mathilde, daughter
of the ex-King Jerome, and consequently- first
cousin to the Emperor of the French.
The bands of several regiments of the garrison of
Paris have been for some time practising the air,
" God save the Queen," in order to play it on the
arrival of the English auxiliaries, whose bands will,
no doubt, return the compliment by playing the
now appropriate air of " Partant pour la Sync."
A Paris paper of yesterday morning takes upon
itself to announce that on the 22d instant orders
had been despatched from London to Sir Charles
Napier, giving him directions to commence hostili-
ties against Russia as soon as the weather would
permit. It is hardly necessary to say that the
paper in question gives no authority (but its own)
for the statement ' • but, although it must evidently
be incorrect, in the present feverish state of the
public mind it created great uneasiness at the
Bourse, and a further fall in all public securities
was the consequence.
It appears that in the affair of M. de Motalem-
bert, the Government is determined to have mat-
ters pushed to extremity. M. de Persigny has had
an interview with the president of the committee,
and declared to him that the intention of proceed-
ing against M. de Montalembert was unchange-
able. It is even said that he made use of the fol-
lowing words with reference to this affair :—" We
have as yet met but one stone on our road, and it
must be crushed." The Emperor has refused to
receive a deputation which was desired to request
him to renounce the proceedings, and there is now
scarcely any hope of the authorisation being re-
fused, as the Government reckons on 180 votes, at
the very least, against M. de Montalembert.
The Patrie announces last evening officially that
the English cavalry are next week to pass through.
Paris.

The Havre journals publish the following impor-
tant telegraphic despatch from the Minister of
Marine to the chief of the maritime service at

Havre :

" Paris, March 25.

" Inform your Chamber of Commerce that letters
of marque will not be delivered by the United States,
and that the Federal Government has formally de-
clared to the representative of France that acts so
contrary to international law will not be tolerated
on the territory of the Union: "
All the securities again declined yesterday on the
Bourse. The Three per Cents. opened at 63f, 850.,

rose to 64f., and fell to 63f. 55c., the closing price
for the end of the month. The Four-and-a-Half.
per Cents. closed at 90f. 25c. ; Orleans Railway
Shares, 1,065 f. ; Rouen, 840 f. ; Havre, 435 f. :
Great Northern, 717 f. 50c. ; Strasburg, 690 f. ;
New Shares, 515 f. ; Lyons to Paris, 787 f. 50c. ;
Lyons to the Mediterranean, 650 f. ; 'Western of
France, 565 f. ; Bordeaux to Cette, 5121. 50c. ;
Great Central of France, 410 f. ; Lyons to Geneva,
430 f. ; Bank of Credit Mobilier, 515 f.

ITALY.
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE

DUKE OF PARMA.

We learn by telegraph, from Vienna, under date
of yesterday, that on the 26th, at a quarter to 5 in
the evening, the Duke of Parma was stabbed at
Turin, with a dagger, in the stomach. The Duke
is not dead, but there is little chance of his reco-
very. The assassin escaped. Some arrests have
taken place.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany has conferred the
decoration of the Ist class of Military Order of
Merit upon Field-Marshal Radetzky, Lieut.-Mar-
shal Prince Lichtenstein, and other distinguished
officers in the Austrian army. The same decora-
tion has been conferred upon the hereditary Prince
of Tuscany.

The Caiollico of Genoa publishes an encyclic letter
of Pius IX. to the bishops of the Armenian Catholic
sect, in which his Holiness defines certain ecclesi-
astical controversies, and gives some instructions
for drawing a line between the Armenian Catholics
and Armenian heritics, but allowing certain pecu-
liar rites and customs belonging to the former.
Prince Frederick William of Prussia left Naples
on the 13th for Sicily.

MI