The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-02 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Gazette contains a Royal decree creating
The Madrid journalq of the 26th ult. have arrived.
a consul-
ship at Jerusalem, charged, amongst other things, to
come to an understanding with the Spanish Franciscan
monks residing in Palestine for the purpose of supporting

the interests of the Roman Catholic religion, and to pre-
vent the ancient rights of Spain from being slighted. A
commission is also, the decree declares, to be appointed
to examine the archives of what is called the Pious Work
-at Jerusalem, and the state of its funds, and to send in a
report on the same as soon as possible, as well as an his-
torical paper on the rights of the crown of Spain to the
patronage of the Holy Places. Measures are to be taken for
the purchase of a house to educate Franciscan missiona-
ries for the Holy Land. The Gazette also appoints the
commission, alluded to above, consisting of six persons.
A letter from the Governor of the Philippine Islands, of
the 2d April, is given, in these journals, declaring that
the rice crop was most abundant, and that everything
was perfectly tranquil in the islands.

AUSTRIA.
VIENNA, 30th June.—The marriage of the Arch-
Duchess. Marie, with the Duc de Brabant, will take
place early in August.

DENMARK.
COPENHAGEN, 26th June.—The cholera has broken
out here ; 40 persons have died.

-- ---
DISASTROUS CALAMITIES IN PERSIA.

Letters from Erzeroom bring dates from Teheran to
the 19th of May, and from Tabreez to the 29th, detail-
ing a succession of calamities and disasters in various
parts of the Persian empire, attended with immense loss
of life, as well as property of great value. On the 3d of
May, the towns of Shiraz and Cushan were levelled to
the ground by a violent earthquake, destroying 15,000
souls in the former, and 3,000 in the latter place, and
entirely drying up the fine river Zaiandervod, upon
which the town of Ispahan in a great measure depends
for its supply of water. The drying up of the river was
followed by an extraordinary flight of locusts, which in
a few hours laid waste the luxuriant crops of wheat and
barley, and destroyed the blossoms of the fruit trees.
At Khorassan a pestilence broke out in the month of
Rejab (April), and typhus fever of the most deadly
nature was raging throughout Astrabad, Mazraderan,
and the Turcoman desert ; whilst at Teheran, on the
16th of May, where cholera morbus was carrying off no
less than'lso souls per diem., an inundation had swept
away 18 :dwelling-houses, a public bath, the ice depot,
and several men, women, and children. Fortunately
for the city (for otherwise the consequences to life and
property would have been much more serious), the water
from the fosse or ditch which surrounds it burst out on
to the plain, washing away the most luxuriant crops of
corn and forests of fruit trees, with a number of horses
and other cattle.
In the midst of all these calamities, whilst his Ma-
jesty the Shah "and his court have fled to Imama, the
Prime Minister and his relations carry out their diabo-
lical system of oppression of the poor, turnln • g a deaf
ear to the petitions and complaints
of the people unless
accompanied by a fee, and such is the extent of this
corrupt practice, that, in 8111118 of 20 and 40 shil-
lings, the Minister is reported to have amassed
the princely fortune of half a million of tomans, which
are said to have been secretly remitted to Russia,
whither he will, before long, no doubt repair, to enjoy
this ill-gotten wealth. The sooner the better, for his eNil
doings are a blot on the reign of Nesserud-deen, who
has lately taken into favour an individual of a totally
opposite character, the Adjutant Baebee, a personage of
great merit and extraordinary talent, well worthy in
every respect to fill the vacancy, when it occurs, with
honour to the Sovereign and benefit to the country. By
a late royal decree, he has been created a Knight of the
distinguished Order of the Portrait, and appointed to the
important office of Generalissimo of the Shah's army.
The relations between the Shah and the representative
of Great Britain are, through the intrigues of Russia,
upon anything but a cordial footing. We learn from
Malta that Colonel Shiel, her Majesty's representative
at the Persian Court, arrived at that island on the 20th,
in the City of London, Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's steamer, from Constantinople, and was to leave
about the 23d for Marseilles, en route for England, in
the Euxine, belonging to the same company, accom-
panied by his lady and the two children. His Excel-
lency returns to England on sick leave, Mr. Thomson,
the Secretary of Legation remaining as Charg6 d'Affaires.

RUSSIA AND TU_RKEY.

(From the Times.)

We have now received positive information from St.
Petersburg, by the packet which left that capital for
Stettin on the evening of the 25th of June, that on that
day, and after the return of the last courier from Con-
stantinople, the Emperor of Russia dispatched imme-
diate orders to his troops to cross the Pruth. It was
expected that this determination would forthwith be an-
nounced to the Russian nation and to foreign States by
a manifesto, in which the Emperor would reiterate his
strange declaration, that this aggression is not an act of
war, and that he is ready to stop the march of his troops
whenever the Turkish Government signifies its intention
to comply with his demands. If such be the language
of this official document, which has not yet reached
us, it will only be a repetition of the confused and
inconsistent propositions already put before the
world in that Russian circular, which has excited
unqualified reprobation wherever it has been read.
But after placing all that confidence in the language
of the Russian Government to which the Emperor
Nicholas laid claim, as a man of honour and a Prince
solicitous to preserve the tranquillity of Europe, we have
for some time past been compelled to look to the acts of
that Court only ; and on the present occasion the arti-
fices of language to which it may resort have ceased alto-
gether to disguise its intentions. In our judgment,
Russia has gained absolutely nothing by her attempt to
impose upon Europe. Long before a soldier could cross
the Pruth the fleets of the Western Powers were assem-
bled at the entrance of the Dardanelles ; Turkey is as
well prepared as she can expect to be ; and all Europe
has formed a just opinion on the conduct of the Emperor
Nicholas. The language of Russia, when she says that
the advance of her troops is not to be regarded as an
act of war, but only as a means of extorting submis-
sion, is in imitation of one of the tricks to which
Napoleon had recourse to conceal some of his most
indefensible actions. When his armies entered the
Peninsula in 1808, it was not, it was said, an act
of war—it was merely a friendly occupation of the king-
dom. By the same rule the French might advance to
Brussels or to Turin, and all the laws of territorial in-
dependence would be suspended. But in this case
there is not even the usual amount of pretext. The
entry of the Russians into the Principalities is meant as
an act of coercion applied to the Porte to compel it to
accept certain terms which it has repeatedly rejected,
and which all Europe holds to be inconsistent with
its sovereign power. The ordinary operations of
war have no other. . purpose or meaning. Their
avowed and only object is to compel an inde-
pendent State, by the use of force, to do what it
otherwise refuses to do. A contest ensues, if that
State is in *a condition to offer resistance, and
to oppose force by force. But the mere attempt
to dictate terms by military power in a foreign country,
and against the consent of the Sovereign, is an act of
war by all the principles of public law, and it is an act
deserving the strongest reprobation, unless it can be jus-
tified by such provocation or necessity as leaves no other
means of obtaining redress. _

The next step, therefore, which we may expect is the
advance of the Russian army into Moldavia. The rup-
ture is already complete at Constantinople, whence even
the records of the Russian Embassy have been removed.
Everything now depends on the attitude the Porte may
assume and the incidents which may occur, especially in
the Black Sea, where the commercial and maritime rights
of two nations, now on the verge of war, are brought so
nearly into collision.

(From the Morning Post.)

Public opinion, disappointed in its hope, will be se-
vere in its condemnation of the Sovereign who, after
warnings so constant and disapprobation so universal,
can invade the territory of a neighbour and friend, in
violation of good faith, of the law of nations, and of
peace, which the Czar may break, but cannot restore. '
The courier bearing the news of the rejection of the
utimatum of Russia arrived at St. Petersburgh on the
24th, and immediately, on his arrival a council was held
by the Emperor at his palace of Peterhof, at the issue
of which council a messenger was sent off -to Prince
Gortchakoff, bearing dispatches, the contents of which,
there is every. reason to believe, are peremptory orders
to the Russians to cross the Pruth at once, and proceed
to occupy the'principalities.
The passage of the Pruth has, by this time, been
effected, and we may expect, in a few days, to learn that
the corps d'armee of General Danenberg, 40,000 strong,
crossed the river, the boundary of the two empires, on.
or about the Ist of July. The forces inniiediately under"
the command of Prince Gortcha,koff are, we learn,
120,000 men, on paper and, no doubt, in reality, a very:
imposing number.
By a careful collation of treaties, their causes and re-
sults, we yesterday showed that Russia had only twice oc-
cupied the Danubian Principalities within the present cen-
tury. On the first occasion she held them as a pledge for the
payment of an indemnity due from Turkey, and restored
them duly and freely upon receiving payment. In the second
instance, Russia, occupied the Principalities after the
troubles of 1848, for the purpose of aiding in the repres-
sion of internal commotion , of immediate danger to
Turkey, and proximate embarrassment to herself. When
Russia, however, crossed the Pruth after the distur-
bance of 1848, it was clearly defined and laid down by.
treaty that she did so, first, by consent of the Sultan ;
and, secondly, in consequence of the exceptional condi-
tion of the Danubian provinces, which were agitated by
revolution, dangerous to the welfare of their Sovereign
the Porte, as well as that of
surrounding
the
nations.
third article
The Treaty of Adrianople, o which
says that "the Pruth shall continue to form the boun-
dary of the two empires, from the point where the river
touches the territory of Moldavia until its confluence
with the Danube," has never yet been infringed upon,
but is now broken by the passage of the Pruth and the
violation of the integrity of the Turkish Empire.
It is a matter of deep regret that the peace of Europe
should be so wantonly and needlessly imperilled ; but,
at the same time, there is ground for gratulation that II
the. two great Western Powers are one in action, and
that, therefore, we have a strong guarantee for the suc-
cess of right, and good reason to expect the discomfiture
of an ambition as eager as it is vain.
It is now the duty of- the signataries of the treaty of
1841 to maintain their own honour and their own inte-
tests, as well as those of Turkey. Russia must recross
the Pruth, with her own reputation, indeed, in tatters,
but having learnt respect for the flag of Turkey and
those of her allies—a lesson which may be disagreeable,
but a respect which is necessary, if Europe is to be
spared the sight of the continual encroachments of the.J
strong upon the Weak. •