The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-03 00:00:00

SUN. LO :N DON, FRIoA. EVE!•;ING, OC OBER 3,1 t

rAN.ES LEASED AT FIXED RENTALS.

SIR C. NAPIER AND THE " TIMES."

TILE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Mr. Editor,—l send you the copy of a letter 1
have addressed to the Editor of the Times ; you
will oblige me by inserting it in your valuable
journal.—l remain, your obedient servant,
Murchistown, Oct. 1, 1856. CHAS. NAPIER.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
JASSY, SEPT. 21.
Our time-honoured treaties, the treaty of Pari4, the
solemn promises of the Western Powers, and the procla•
mations issued by the Turkish Commissioner, Dervish

Pacha, at the outset of the last war, are at this moment
a dead letter. Our hopes of improvement are vanishing
by the hour. The rights of self-government, so long en-
joyed by the Moldo-Wallachians, are violated by the un.
heard-of proceedings of the Porte. Under the rule of the
Pnanariote Princes, when the Ministers of the Sultan
most interfered in the government of the Principalities,
the wishes of the Suzerain were made known by firmans.
This form is now dispensed with, and ministerial de-
spatches take their place. Not content with giving
power to the Austro-Russian party, the Porte has deter-
mined to supersede our old self-governing institutions.
The Caimacan has just been authorised by a letter from
the Grand Vizier to receive the customary annual grant
of 600,000 f. to the Prince. At this very time the reve-
nue of Moldavia is not equal to 4 millions of francs. A
ministerial despatch has been considered a sufficient
order to close the Bank of Moldavia, and abolish the
liberty of the Press. These encroa2liments on our pri-
vileges and rights are made at a time when our country
is supposed to be consulted on its desires and its wants.
We are gagged when we ought to speak. Better, a
thousand times, to be a Russian province than a Turkish
Pasbalic. Yet this is what the Treaty of Paris has
brought us to. As for Austria, she evidently has the
noblest part in this drama. England and France have
lost torrents of their best blood that Austria may
reap the fruits of their victory. The Cabinet of Vienna
has just sent her orders to the army of occupation to
take up winter quarters in the Principalities. They are
overjoyed at this, but little know that they are serving
the Russsians better than themselves. Patriotism, in the
meanwhile, becomes a bye-word, and we are called ironi-
cally ice Occidentaux (partisans of the West). " Your
Napoleons and Palmerstons are noble friends, are they
not ? See what they are doing for you! France and
England are holding the noose for you ! " Such is
the style in which we are daily railed at
by the partisans of despotism. Unfortunately for
us, circumstances bear out the truth of these sarcasms.
The Star of the Danube and the Zintbro, the only inde-
pendent and liberal journals in the Principalities, have
been suppressed, and a dead silence and stupor prevail.
The Constantinople Journal can now assert without fear
of contradiction that the Russians reject the idea of an
anion. We can only trust in future to the efforts of the
independent press of the West to remind the world of the
rights which we are losing. We have now no rallying
point here, and indignation is now uppermost in every
heart. Read the following Turkish despatch. It is the
last we have received, and a specimen of what may ye
follow :

"Excellency,--You will be good enough to suspend
the measure passed by the ex-Prince Ghika, and re-
establish the law upon the press and the censorship in
their old form.—(Signed)—FuAD."

THE CENTRAL AMERICAN QUESTION.

The following account of a separate article in
;he treaty recently concluded between Great Bri-
ain and Honduras is extracted from a recent
number of the Journal of the Society of Arts :
"In addition to this Treaty of Friendship, Com-
merce, and Navigation,' there is a separate article in re-
ference to the inter-oceanic railway through the State of
Honduras, projected by Mr. Squier, late Charge
d'Affaires of the United States to the Republics of Central
America, which article is to have the same force and
validity as if it were inserted word for word in the same
treaty. This article is one of very great importance to
the commercial world, should Mr. Squier's undertakirg
be conducted to a successful issue. A similar article, it
is said, will be concluded between theßepublic of Hondn:
ras and America, and also between that State and Frances
By that article the Government of Honduras agrees
that the right of way over such road (the inter-oceanic
railway), or any other which may be constructed
through its territories, from sea to sea, shall be at all
times open and free to the Government and subjects of
Great Britain, for all lawful purposes whatever. It also
agrees that it will not impose any tolls, duties, or charges
of any kind on the transit of property belonging to the
Government of Great Britain, or on the public mails sent
under the authority of the same, nor on the subjects of
the British Crown, and also that all lawful produce,
manufactures, merchandise, or other property belonging
to the subjects of Great Britain, passing from one ocean
to the other in either direction, shall be subject to no
import or export duties whatever, or to any d,scrininat-
ing tolls or charges for conveyance on any such road,
and shall be secure and protected from all interruption
and detention on the part of the said state. It agrees
further that any other privilege and advantage, com-
mercial or other, which is or may be granted to the
subjects or citizens of any other country, in regard to
any such road, shall be also extended to British subjects;
and she likewise engages to establish the Forts at the ex-
tremities of the contemplated road as free ports, for all
the purposes of commerce. In consideration of these
concessions, in order to secure the construction and per
manence of the contemplated road, and to secure for the
benefit of mankind the uninterrupted advantages of such
a communication from sea to sea, Great Britain recog-
nises the rights of sovereignty and property over the
line of the said road, and guarantees positively and effi-
caciously the entire neutrality of the same so long as
she shall enjoy the privileges conceded to her. And
when the proposed road shall have been completed
Great Britain equally engages, in conjunc:ion with
Honduras, to protect the same from interruption,
seizure, or unjust confiscation, from whatever quarter
the attempts may proceed. Nevertheless, Great
Britain, in according her protection to the said road, and
guaranteeing its neutrality and security when completed,
understands that this protection and guarantee are
granted conditionally, and may be withdrawn by her, if
she should deem that the persons or company undertak-
ing or managing the same adopt or establish such regu-
lations concerning the traffic thereupon as are contrary
to the spirit and intent of this article, either by making
unfair discriminations in favour of the commerce of any
nation or nations, or by imposing excessive exactions, or
unreasonable tolls upon passengers, vessels, goods, wares,
merchandise, or other articles. The aforesaid protec-
tion, however, is not to be withdrawn without first giv-
ing six months' notice to the Republic of Honduras."