The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-01 00:00:00

SYRIA.

TRANSLATION OF TIIEGIiAND VIZIER'S LETTER
TO /I ADJI EDHIN BEY, DEFTERDAR (AC-
COUN TANT.-.GENERAL) OF ACRE.
It has been s*ted in a note presented to the Reis Effendi
by his Excellen yt ae British Ambassador, Lord Poiisenby,
that the prt%iities alvAie by the Sublinie Porte to recom.
pense certain fru4ful subjects amongt the Syrians, who
rendered useful ;-•ervices ; and to indemnify the pro-
prietors of the 'n,tulbeyry trees tliitt were cut down to
fortol).7bitirp2itl,ied
.ettinpietAttj'ettal;liave 'ilea 'beet fait.
filled ;'. and that. upon interrogation upon this point,
your Excellency. raplied, that you had received no in-
structions ito that effect.
Now, you itnowlhat a list of the persons to be indem-
nified was.. placed your hands ; that, at the moment
you were/ about to quit this
_,place, and at a Council of
Minister's whereat you assisted, you were most strongly
recommended 'to distribute their recompenses incon-
formity with the list remitted to you—to pay the value •
of the trees in queStion—to make inquiries into the
nature of the taxes—and to take care, that the country
slionld be administered according to wise and equitable
principles.

Consequently, we all expected that you, being an ,en-
lightened servant of the • Sublime • Porte, endowed with
prudence and sagacity, and knowing the delicacy of ex-
isting oireumstances, would. not only take every care to
arrange all these matters, but that, stimulated by your
natural zeal, you would render greater services to the
Governthent than any other functionary in that part of
the emTiire.

-wb have, therefore, great grounds for astonishment
upon hearing that you pretend not to have received •in-
striictions relative to these matters, and that yon neglect
tuo4write to us, whilst the different Foreign Embassies
constantly receive letters from Beyrout. It results from
thiS, that we are unable to return satisfactory answers
to the representations made to us upon points to which
the Sublime Porte attaches the most lively interest._ It
.has become necessary, therefore, that we should issue Dew
orders to you on this subject ; transmitting to you at ,the
same time a copy of the note of his Excellency the Bri-
tish Ambassador, in order that you may be made sac-,
quainted with the faCts alluded to.
It' is lighly important that these indemnities Aould
be made without the least delay, and the dignity 'of the
SublimeTortc., requires • that the'nichnu,* the gratit ca-.
tions in money, and other .kinds of recompenses, should
be distributed as soon as possible. Consequently, we
have orderence- tiVo nichau le' be completed, and we
shall sentrthem to you, 'in order that you may confer
_them upon'the persons -entitled to receive them. You
will distribUte the gratifications according to the list of
persons already made Out. You will pay the value of.
the trees,. of' which Mention has bean already made, and
you willdo.all that is requisite, in order that thesenaat-
ters and all,others recommended to your notice;,miy.:ba:
arranged;; and Youiwill'inforni its; without:loss Oftims:,;
of all dint von have done. • ,
. As regaida' the taxes, the l)ruses demand exemption
for three; years, bet they have already been exempted
from the,ferdetax and other vexatious. outributious..
It appears only, asfar as we can aseettaih;thathis. Ex-
Cellency Se lim Paella, formerly Monchir (General-in-
Chief) of Saida, spolie,to the. inhabitants .of 'One or two
villages, situated in the neighbourhood of. Bevrout, rela-
tive to some concessions that his Highness tile Sublime
Porte might make to them. Examincv this matter and
write to us upon the subject.
.And as in the case that
. you,. or any other public authoritiea,,, should act in
dilatory manner, affairs would be coniplieatei mote, and
more, it is requisite that you should constantly make us
acquainted with all that is passing, in order that

poly receive now

you
if fiectwatnitryn cronry-

The Ferik (Lieutenant-General) of Jerusalem, his
Excellency Tapir Pacha, who is on the eve of departing
for his destination 4 is char7ed with communicating to
you the necessary orders relative to ali the affairs above
mentioned. In short, you will devote your whole atten-
tion to the • arrangement of these affairs. You will
write to us constantly upon all that passes, and you will
see that the country is well governed. You must never
forget for a moment that you must exert your utmost
solicitude to ensure to the people the enjoyment of that
pr)tectioa which it is the desire of the Sublime Porte
shonld.be their portion. You will avoid everything that
may intethre with their repose, or give rise to popular
discontent. It is with this view that this letter has been
written.

11 Djemaziul Akhr, 1257 (29th July, 1841).
4' This alludes to the nichau (insignia of office) promised to
the representatives of the Maronites and Druses. This nicluzu
must not be confounded with the decoration bearing the same
title.

A kind of tithe, amounting to about one-twelfth, payable
in kind, on cattle, sheep, &c.
Tayar Paella, who must not be confounded with Tahir
Pacha, the Grand Admiral, has been sent to govern the dis-
trict of Jerusalem, charged especially with the protection and
administration of the Christian population. .

THE STRAITS OF THE DAH,DA-

NELLES.

The following article has been published by the Augs-
burg Gazette, relative to the Straits of the Dardanelles:—
" The Porte, in its declaration of the 7th January,
1807, complained of the abuse by Russia of the pas-
sage which had been garnted to her to the Seven
Islands. Russia, in contempt of the neutrality of
the Porte, had profited by this passage to effect a
landing on the coasts of Italy. The English fleet, under
the orders of Admiral Duckworth, appeared in the
Dardanelles on the 20th of February, but retired on
the Ist of March without effecting anything. During this
time the Turks, under the direction of General Sebastiani,
had placed Constantinople in a state of defence, so that the
English could not retire without sustaining considerable
loss. The English do not care to talk much about, this ex-
pedition. It was a vain demonstration, like that of the
Russian Admiral, who on the 20th of duly, 1770, entered
the straits with his vessel, had his tea served on deck, and
then returned to his fleet. The Baron de Tottthenreceived
orders to put the castles in a better state of defence. Adair,
the negociator of the peaee of 1809, has defended, in the
Edinburgh Review, the English policy of 1807, but
places all the ridiculous part of it. to the account of
Russia, which power, he pretends, deserted her ally,
Prussia, the better to follow up her projects of con-
quest on the Danube. We see by the foregoing
that the old rule for the closing of the straits was so
fallen into oblivion that Russia. England, France, and
the Porte were completely in ignorance of it. England
only remembered it in 1809, at a time when she was at war
with France. This ancient rule signified two things ; as
it was laid down in 1809, it recognized :a right of the
Sultan, and the Sultan entered into an engagement
towards the other Powers. This right of the Sultan was
based on the principle of his possession of the straits,
and this right was so strong as to confer the power of
a passage through them. Others pretend that the
passage should only be granted spontaneously by the
Sovereign who had the dominion of the sea. It is easily
observed that Russia constantly endeavours to extend
her influence in the Black Sea to the prejudice of the
Ottoman Porte. The Porte instinctively comprehends
(even had the jealousy of France towards Russia
been less strong) how far that power would go if
temporary possession only were given of the sea of Azof.
Twice the Russians have restored Azof—at the peace of
Pruth, in 1739, and in that of Belgrade—by which Rus-
sia renounced the navigation of the Black Sea, Russian
vessels should not he built in the sea of Azof nor in the
Black Sea, and Russian commerce should be carried on
by Turkish vessels.

" The peace of Kutschuk-Kaimardschi (1774) changed
the scene, and•the Turkish empire began to decline. The
Russians profited by the sovereignty of the Crimea to
divide the domination of the sea coast. Russian cora-
merge was granted not only the navigation of the Black
Sea, but also the free and unlimited passage of the
straits of the Black and White Seas ; and the Porte
having raised some difficulties, this permission was fur-
ther confirmed in 1779 and 1783. In 1783, Count Panin
declared at Constantinople through the Prussian Ambas-
sador, that there was no question about Vessels of war,
but merely of merchant vessels. At the commencement of,
the 19th century, Europe became accustomed to see a Rus-
sian fleet of men-of-war in the Black Sea,
which more
than once defeated the Turkish fleet. Notwithstanding
this, it was the Ottoman Porte which grunted to
different nations, one after the other, the pri-
vilege of navigation in the Black Sea for mer-
chant vessels, viz. :—to Austria, on the 24th Feb-
ruary, 1784 to England, 30th October, 1799 ; and to
France, 25th June, 1802. From 1797, Nicolazen and
Sebastopol became importaut maritime ports. Since
the peace of Bucharest in 1812, all the coast from the
northern mouth of the Danube unto that of Kouban was
submitted to Russian domination ; but it was only in
1829 that Russia derived any benefit of this right of so-
vereignty.
" Article 7 of the treaty of Adrianople runs thus.:—
" The passage of the canal of Constantinople and of
the Dardanelles is declared free to all the merchant
vessels of the powers at peace with the Porte, whether
they are proceeding to the Russian parts in the Black
Sea, or are returning from them loaded or unloaded, on
the same conditions as vessels under the Rtissien flag,