The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-18 00:00:00

SWITZERLAND.

A letter from Berne, of the 12th, states that the
federal troops which had been sent to the canton of
Tesino are about to return home, seeing that the
Italian refugees have withdrawn into the interior of
Switzerland, in conformity with the decree of the
Federal Council.

DAN ÜBIAN PRIN CIPALITIES.
The Constantinople correspondent of the National
gives the subjoined account of the present state of
affairs in the Danubian Principalities:—
" The question of the principalities of the Danube
acquires daily a more serious aspect, and at the present
moment the Cossacks may be said to rule there su-
preme. The authority of the Caimacan and of the
Commissary of the Porte is a dead letter. The Rus-
sians arrest whomsoever they like, and openly assert
that the Czar does not care two straws for Turkey or
for the European Powers. An Austrian subject has
been arrested in the consulate of that nation; the resi-
dence of Omer Pacha, the military governor of Bucha-
rest, was violated, and his aide-de-camp seized by the
Russians, fur the sole reason that he was a Wallachian;
and they have now laid hands on a British subject, whom
they seized in the house of an Englishman at Bucharest.
"I am not aware whether the Austrian Consul, who
is said to be in the pay of Russia, has protested, but I
can state that Omer Pacha, on seeing his aide-de-camp
arrested, protested with all the energy of a soldier, and
that his protest was forwarded to Ceneral Duhamel, the
Russian Commissary, accompanied by an energetic note
from Fuad Effendi.
" The great Powers have consuls at Bucharest ; it is
therefore impossible for them to be ignorant of these
facts, and if they are aware of them, how explain their
apathy? The liberty and the letters of their compatriots
are at the mercy of the Cossacks, who trample upon
them at their pleasure, and they submit to it; and these
Powers do nothing: they allow all the privileges of their
subjects to be violated, and do not see that, by refusing
to come to the support of Turkey, they most seriously
compromise their own interests.
" When I say that all the powers of the West submit
to the tyranny of the Cossacks, I make an error. The
representatives of one of them has loudly preclaimed
against it. I mean Sir S. Canning, the British Ambas-
sador at Constantinople. When M. Asprea, the Eng-
lish subject alluded to above, was arrested in an English
house at Bucharest, M. Colquhoun, the British Consul-
General, immediately appealed to the Caimacan of the
Principality. The latter replied, that being entirely a
stranger to the abominable acts of the Russians, he could
not be held responsible for them, the more especially
as he had no power to control them.
" This being the case, M. Colquhoun addressed him.
self to the Commissary of the Porte, from whom he re-
ceived a similar answer. Not being able to obtain satis-
faction at Bucharest, the British Consul-General laid the
affair before Sir S. Canning at Constantinople, who
immediately demanded an interview with the Grand
Vizier and the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs.
These two high functionaries expressed great indignation
at the audacity of the Russians, and expressed their
regret that they were not supported by Europe in cir-
cumstances in which the interests of the West and of the
East are equally concerned.
" The Porte, however, addressed an energetic note to
M. Titow, the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople,
who, on being informed of the energetic steps taken by
Sir S. Canning, who demanded redress, replied that the
officer who commanded the detachment that arrested
M. Asprea should bo dismissed, and that the latter
should receive a pecuniary indemnity for the injuries
he had received, he being in prison, and suffering from
the blows he had received from the butt-ends of the
muskets of the Cossacks. It is evident from this that
if France and England had taken an energetic attitude
at first, matters would never have come to this pass.
" It is said, however, that General Aupick, the French
Minister, and Sir S. Canning have taken upon them-
selves to protest against the abominations committed by
the Cossacks in the Principalities. For the honour of
France and England, I trust it is true; for they cannot,
without compromising themselves, allow the rights of
their compatriots and of the Porte to be at the mercy of
the Cossacks in theiDauube Principalities.

Tinc ABUT 1N InLLAND.—The official returns state
the &ices at the Ctispcsal of the authorities in Ireland
for the month of December, including strong detach-
ments of artillery and engineers, with the out-pensioners
and grand Paine, g$ new! 60,000 mene—Obferver. •