The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-05 00:00:00

TURKEY AND RUSSIA.

A private telegraphic dispatch, from Vienna, brings
the following, dated Constantinople, the 25th ult. :
" The Ministers of the Porte held a council to-day,
and afterwards sent off a courier to Vienna. The public
mind is more calm, but the preparations for defence
continue. A portion of the Imperial Guard has left for
Shumla."

The last direct news from Constantinople is given
by the Ost. Deutsche Post, in a letter of the 21st ult.. The
writer professes to have positive information that
Prince Gortschakoff has sequestered •the tribute pay-
able by the Principalities to the Porte, and pro-
hibited all official intercourse between the provincial
Governments and the Suzerain. Another version of
the first part of this has, however, reached us. Reschid
Pasha demanded the tribute due, whereupon the Hos-
podars replied to Omer Pasha, that there were already
above 80,000 Russians in the Principalities, and the
outlay was so great that years must elapse before they
could again resume the payment of their tribute. There
was a report in Constantinople on the 21st that the
Emperor Nicholas had proclaimed the independence of
Moldavia and Wallachia under Stirbey, but others are
of opinion that the Turkish Government is more likely
to do so. Probably neither of these reports deserve
attention. There is a very prevalent rumour, that a
powerful Russian army, which will be under the com-
mand of Prince Paskiewitz, is assembling on the fron-
tiers of Armenia in the direction of Erzeroum, but there
the Russians are not very likely to win laurels, as the
Asiatic provinces of Turkey are not its vulnerable point.
On the 18th and 19th all the Ulemahs and high dignita-
ries of the State were called together, and it was made
known to them in the name of the Sultan, that as they
did not share in the actual defence of the Empire it was
but reasonable that they should contribute to the ex-

penses.
These indications of the general tendency of affairs in
the Principalities have received a startling corroboration
by the receipt at Constantinople of a dispatch from the
Prince of Moldavia on the 16th ult. It is addressed to his
Kapou-kaia, or Charge d'Affaires, at the Porte, and an-
nounce to him that aßussian occupation having taken place
his functions as Chargé d'Affaires are at an end. Prince
Vogorides, the Chargé d'Affaires in question, represents
this act as a declaration of independence, and his view
is adopted by those who, though influential, may per-
haps not be thoroughly conversant with the bearings of
the case. Prince Vogorides has a son-in-law, for whom
he has been actively intriguing for some time, with a
view of putting him in Prince Ghika's place as Hospo-
dar of Moldavia. His intrigues even reached the extent
a few months ago, when Prince Ghika was suffering
from severe illness, of inducing the Porte to sanction a
medical commission de lunatico inquirendo.
The Egyptian fleet is on its way from Alexandria,
which it left on the 15th inst., and consists of two line
of battle ships, four frigates, two corvettes, one brig,
and two steamers, 40 transports. with 25,000 troops.
The whole under the command of Kel Selim Pasha.

A letter from Constantinople of the 21st ult. states that
the news of the assembling of a corps of Russian troops
in the neighbourhood of Erzeroum was fully confirmed,
and that that city would be invested by the Russians in
the first fortnight of August. •
The Patric has the following from Jassy, 20th ult.:--
" Information has just been received from St. Peters-
burgh, that the Russian Government, while leaving to
the reigning- princes of Moldavia and Wallachia their
title and their nominal power, has decided that there
shall be joined to them a council of government composed
of three members appointed by the Czar. All affairs
are to be submitted to this council, whose decisions will
be sovereign. Independently of this fact, the country
has just been subjected to a contribution in kind. Se-
veral young Boyards having manifested their discontent
at the exactions committed by the troops who occupy
the country, were immediately incorporated in the Rus-
sian army, where they will be compelled to serve for
three years. Engineers have been for several days past
taking a plan of the towns of Jassy and Bucharest,
which are, it is said, to be fortified in such a manner as
to be able to support the operations of the Russian
army."
A letter from Riffa states that several Russian ships,
which formed part of the 2d Russian fleet, have been
sent to Cronstadt to complete their fitting out, which
was not finished when they sailed.
The latest news we have from St. Petersburg comes
up to the 26th ult. ; a letter of that date maintains that
the Emperor would be very unwilling to receive an Am-
bassador from the Porte, unless he brought with him
the Russian ultimatum signed ; that the English and
French proposals had been set aside because they
seemed to proceed from a misunderstanding which
the circular dispatches of Count Nesselrode were in-
tended to remove ; that the task of Austria was the re-
moval of all the Porte's mistrust of Russia's pretensions;
that even any note in disclaimer on the part of Russia,
would be a matter of difficulty, as the Emperor had al-
ready expressed himself on that point. The feeling was
still that negotiations must necessarily be carried on for
a very long time, until the Porte can be brought to give
way. Nothing bad as yet had any success in convincing
the Petersburg Cabinet that there really were sound
reasons why the Porte could not give way.
From Cronstadt we hear that the news had been re-
ceived there of the loss of the Alfredf Capt. Martin, from
Newcastle, stranded on the island of Fsel.
As a preventive to the cholera, solemn processions
were parading the streets of Petersburgh, accompanied
by religious services, and with the crucifix carried at the
head.
Letters of an earlier date (24th ult.) from St. Peters-
burgh had expressed very distinctly that no proposals
would have any chance of acceptance that did not come
from Austria ; but when the Cabinet of Vienna has
procured the consent of the Porte to the Russian pos-
tulates, its representations will be taken into considera-
tion. The preliminary activity of the Austrian Cabinet
was represented as directed to withholding England and
France from any steps that would render war inevitable.
A Vienna correspondent of the Kreuz Zeitung
states that the Cabinets of Vienna and Peters-
burg are quite agreed on one point, not to let the influence
of England gain a monopoly or even a preponderance in
the East ; that this was a matter of vital necessity for
Austria, and to attain this Russia and Austria were de-
termined to unite all their energies.
A Jassy correspondent of the Aug sbt! rg Gazette writes,
" Those persons who consider the passage of the Pruth
a mere demonstration will soon see their error. The
4th and sth corps d armee have now passed the Pruth ;
that is, 24 infantry regiments, 12 regiments of Hussars
and Cossacks from the Don, making together 110,000
men, with 32 batteries, part of which form a siege
train. These forces, as you are already aware,
occupy the south of Wallachia, or, to speak more dis-
tinctly, the left bank of the Danube. Until yesterday we
believed that hardly more than 85,000 or 90,000 Rus-
sians were in the Principalities, but the following esti-
mate is probably nearer the mark—in the two Principali-

ties, between 100,000 and 110,00 men ; in Bessarabia, a
reserve of 85,000 men. In addition to the second reserve
army near Warsaw, there is to be a third near Tula, to
the south of Moscow, which, in case of need, will re-
inforce the army acting on the Asiatic-Turkish fron-
tiers. All the preparations announce a campaign of
some duration, and the contracts for supplies have been
concluded up to next year. If the Danube should be
crossed, which in case of war would of course be the very
first step, Shumla would be besieged, but the main
army would proceed at once to the line of the Balkan.
The Jassy writer animadverts on the way in which the
west of Europe indulges in allusions, and laments the
irretrievable loss of time ; but these are matters which
are too patent to need repetition. Justice is done
to the high discipline observed in the Russian army,
and the officers themselves, probably in obedience to the
orders of their stern commander, are extremely polite to-
wards the inhabitants. It is evident that anything but
harmony prevails between the officers of Russian and
German origin. Prince Gortshakoff is said to treat the
latter, among whom are some of the most eminent gene-
rals, with singular coolness, and his conduct to the Mol-
davian dignitaries, who creep and cringe before him, is
not much more engaging.