The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-24 00:00:00

TURKEY.

SITTTGARDT, JUNE 17.—T0-day's Vienna post brings a
piece of intelligence which throws so much light upon the
fruits of the Russo-Palmerston alliance that, although I only
wrote yesterday, I again take up my pen. You are aware of
the hostile position occupied by Turks and Rayahs in the no: th-
ern Turkish provinces. The movement, which on both sides
seems independent of all direction, and still more so of all con.
trol on the part of the Government, extends from the Danube
and the Save, over Roumelia, to Macedonia, in which latter
province, as in Bulgaria, the greatest determination to
try the fortune of arms is manifested. The interest taken
in the fate of the Rayahs by their freed brethren, both
across the Danube and in Greece, has hitherto been mani-
fested only by indirect assistance, but a step is announced
as about to be taken which will be an overt act towards the
overthrow of the Porte. Wallachia, which has spent great
sums and made great exertions to estabiish a quarantine, is
about, it is said, to give up the line drawn against the other
provinces of the empire, by which means the communication
between the Greeks of all provinces will be unhindered, and
great facilities afforded them to prepare and carry out their
plans. In the first instance, the Hospodars arc said to be
stimulated to this step by the favourable opportunity which
presents itself for the aggrandizement of their houses,
and perhaps the enlargement of their territories ; but
as the Turks will evidently not quit the field without a
struggle, for which they are prepared, the consequence
must shortly be a collision. There is, then, but one
mode of stopping the effusion of blood, fur which a tender
regard will immediately spring up in the bosoms of neighbour-
ing Powers, and the examples of British officers commanding
dispersed corps in Syria will form a precedent for Russia,
which considers the northern provinces as its natural field for
action. Once in possession of these fine lands, the example of
Algiers can be adduced for retaining them, with this differ-
ence, that the Hospodars, instead of being plundered, like the
unfortunate Dey, will doubtless receive good salaries, and pro-
bably remain Governors for life.
From the Danube to the Ambracian Gulf, Turks and
Rayahs are arrayed in arms against each other. Such a state
of things cannot long exist without bloodshed, and the contest
must hasten the catastrophe towards which the Ottoman empire
is tottering.
The settlement with Mehemet Ali is represented as being
anything but in a way to its conclusion, and, under the cir-
cumstances, who can wonder at the old fox desiring to gain
time? The outbreak of rebellion in European Turkey would
be a signal for him to declare himself independent. On the
whole it is most singular that, while so much depends upon
the impulse coming from that quarter, Great Britain should be
the only Power not efficiently represented upon the Danube.
In Belgrade there is no Consul, and the youth of the Consul
at Bucharest is an untimely qualification at such a moment.

FRANCE AND THE REVOLT 1N
THE TURKISH PROVINCES.
The crisis of the Turkish empire seems near at hand, and
as may naturally be conceived, the state of the East, and par-
ticularly of the Christian population, is exciting the attenti9n of
the Paris papers, and some of them are struggling hard to re-
commend a kind of protectorship of which France is to be the
head. La Presse hazards the following paragraph
Lord Palmerston, when questioned in Parliament on the
subject of Candia, replied by a vague promise to compel the
Porte to respect the rights of humanity towards a population
which has been reduced by a brutal yoke from 600,000 to
150,000. We knew how this promise has been kept ; we see
the ships of England openly giving assistance to the expedi-
tion of Tahir-Pacha. What should be the attitude of France ?
Will our Government have performed its duty in observing
severe and scrupulous neutrality? We think not. The Chris-
tians of the East, whether Greek or Roman Catholic, reckoia