The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-07 00:00:00

TBE CHAN&E OF MINISTRY IN TURKEY.

The following letter from Constantinople relates
to tho circumstances which led to the change of
the Turkish ministry :
" As the 28th was to be the day on which the period
expired for the fulfilment of the provisions of the treaty,
the Porte sent a note to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to
remind him of that circumstance, and begging him to,
make his arrangements relative to the closing of Va.,.,
Straits. The recent arrival of a reinforcement to the
English squadron sufficiently indicated that the British
Cabinet had no intention of recalling its fleet. Th,
English ambassador is said to have made a .4„bie
reply—a verbal one, which be made in person to Aali
Pacha at his private residence, at which ;.n tore iew
Foad Pacha was present, and afterwards sent the
substance of this declaration in writing. At the in,
'
terview, the noble lord ie said to have 5 eclared In the
first place that the difficulties which he.d arisen relative
to the frontiers of Bessarabia and ',;he occupation by
Russia of the Isle of Serpents e'rnetituting the nen-
execution of the treaty of Paris by 'Russia, no astonish-
ment ought to be felt that Eogl,a.ad, who had fn!filled
i her engagements with good fait4, should- require a kind
of guarantee for the conduct of the cabinet of St. Peters-
burg by keeping a squadron in the Black Sea ; that
those measures moreover did not lets interest the Porte
than its allies ; and that it ought, to under, tancl that the
entire and strict execution of the treaty would be re-
quired from Russia. Lord Stratford de Radcliffe also ex-
pressed his astonishment th'at so much should be thought
of the presence of au Enteleeh squadron in the Black Sea,
when in Moldo-Wallachi.a the Austrians were preparing
to pass the winter, and. were increasing their garrisons
on several points. Ts!'lie latter circumstance was, he
said, of much Brea' er consequence to the Porte than
the presence of a tew English vessels of war in
the Bosphorus. In consequence of there observa-
tions, it was d'cided that the Porte should demand ex-
planations f peen the Austrian internuncio, and NI.
d's. Prekef'.:l3, in his turn, waited on the Grand
.„
v. lzir- P-is declarations were, it ,is'a;d, very pre-
cise, alP"1 the more caudi(i, perhaps, because he
knew taut his auditors were well disposed to listee
to all 11(1 might say against the Principalities. Ac
n?rd'l'g to M. de Prokeech, the state of the pro.
v w,cf,s is very unsatisfactory ; the public mind is
!Tench agitated, and evildoers were at work with ideas of
nnion hostile to the rights of the Porte and of Austria.
A revolution was, he said, to be feared, if the Austrian
troops were withdrawn ; and the Cabinet of Vienna had,
therefore, decided nu maintaining the occupation ; and
.i
the more so as the season was too far advanced to allow
of the removal of the troops. The English Ambassador
miAt have expected this reply, but he never-
theless manifested astonishment, and made this
declaration the subject of a blame on the way in
which affairs were conducted by the Porte. The
two Ministers, Aali Pacha and Foad Pacha, replied
with great warmth, and a discussion took place, which
at length went so far that the English ambassador
said he should refer the matter to the Sultan, which he
did on the same day, but it was not known what was the
reception he met with from his Majesty, It was after this
interview and the visit of the English ambassador to the
Sultan that the two mini-tars tendered their resignations,
which were not accepted ; hut, on the contrary, Aali Pacha
(as has been before mentioned) received a letter from
the Sultan expressing his confidence in the Minis-
try. Many persons, however, are still of opinion
that there will be a change of Ministry, and that
Reschid Pacha will come into power. It is thought
that Kubrizzi Mehemet Pacha, the President of the
Council, who is now on a mission to Russia, will be kept
at St. Petersburg as ambassador, and that Reschid
Pacba will take his place ia the Ministry. This combina-
tion is the more suicessary that Rifaat Pacha, who was
the ad intcrim, successor of the absent President,
is too ill to attend to public affairs. As if to support
the declarations of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, a large
steam frigate yesterday came op the Bosphorus, saluting
the Turkish flag with 21 guns, and went to join the squa-
dron in the Black Sea."

A new and beautiful college of St. Aidan, which is
delightfully situated in Claughton Firs, Birkenhead, was
inaugurated by a grand banquet, on Tuesday afternoon,
which was presided over by the most noble the Marquis
of Westminster.
The clipper ship Tudor, Captain Arelersor, belonging
to Messrs. James Baines and Co.'s "Black Bell Line,"
eailed from the Mersey yesterday, for Melbourne, with
400 passengers, about 40 of whom are first claea She
ralso takes out a large cargo of merchandise, and carries
a mail.
PRESERVATION OF LIFE FRO3I SHIPWRECK.—Yester•
day a meeting of the Royal National _Lifeboat Institution
was held at its house, ,Tohn-street, Adelphi ; Mr. Thos.
Chapman, F.R.S, in the chair. Mr. Lewis, the secretary,
having read the minutes of the previous meeting, a re-
ward of 6/. waa voted to the crew of the lifeboat of the
institution stationed at Berwick, fer putting off in her
! and rescuing the crew of six men of the Norwegian ealliot
Irroveuce, which during a heavy gale of wind eas re-
cently stranded near Berwick. The service was well
perfintrned, and the lifeboat was reported to have behaved
exceedingly well on the occasion. The lifeboat of the
institution placed at Cu Ilerecate, on the Northumb-rland
, coast, ha,d also recently rendered valuable assist-Lee to
two fishing vessels, which during a heavy gals of wind
bad got . foul of car) ether; 19 faerene - ,••
a .II promNee put
off in the lifeboat to rescue their fellow-fishermen'eleee
and property. The silver medal of •the institution aas
also voted to Donald Thompson for his gallant services
in putting off, with four others, in a boat and rescuing,
at considerable risk of life, two out of six persons from
the Russian brig Abti, which was observed off Ham,
near Thurso, diemaeted and waterlogged. Thompson
and his crew had also received a reward frum the Board
of Trade. A reward of 2/. 10s. was also granted to five
in consideration of their prompt and laudable con-
pilots the rescue of
duct in putting off in their gig to
and two women, who were upset from their b-at near
Ilfracombe last week. Capt. Ward, R.N., inspector of
lifeboats, read his report, and it being announced that
Dr. Croly and Sir W. Dunbar bad offered to preach
sermons on beheir of the institution, the proceeding
erminated.

GENERAL WILLIAMS AND OMER
PASHA.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor of the Times :

Sir, —I have read with surprise and regret Lieutenant-
Coionel Simmons's letter, which appeared in your
columns of to-day, commenting on a paragraph contained
in one of my private notes written during the painful
struggle at Kars, and bearing on the military conduct of
Omar Pasha, over whom the Lieut.-Colonel would fain
threw his mantle, though we are not informed whether
he does 90 at the Pasha's desire or otherwise. It must
also be left to the future judgment of the world to say
whether or not Lieutenant Colonel Simmons's military
reputation and services are of sufficient weight to enable
him to do so with an effec', equal to his seal.
Tee book published by Colonel Lake was written mere
with a benevolent object than the usual one of pecuniary
gas❑ or literary reputation. Unfortunately, all the pri-
vate letters of my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel
Teesdale, which were intended to render this little volume
interesting, were, for the moment, lost ; and I then,
and then only, offered to get my private correspondence
from my friends iu London and give it to Colonel Lake,
partially to fill the regretted void.
In excluding many paragraphs of my letters, which
would only have tended to keep alive a painful subject
on which the Sovereign, the Parliamect, and the nation
had decided, I regret that the paragraph alluded to by
Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons should have escaped my
eye. But as Lieutenant• Colonel Simmons can have but
one object in view in criticising this paragraph—that of
defying me to put into execution the threat I made "to
mask with my ink" the General in question—l must
reluctantly enter on the subject.
On the arrival of Omar Pasha to take command of the
army which was intended to relieve Kars, he wrote to
the Mushir Vassif Pasha, by the hands of an aide-de-
camp, telling him that " if we stood firm for 20 days he
would relieve us." At that moment I was nut aware
that Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons was with the head-
quarters of the Generalissimo ; but had I supposed him
to be there I should naturally have hoped for at least a
line from my brother commissioner, more especially as
he was an officer of the sister corps of Engineers, brought
up at, the same military college, and could not be igno-
rant of my position, although I was, from the nature of
things, utterly uninformed of his.

IC can easily be imagined that we waited anxiously
and worked hard during those 20 days in expectation of
the succour which Oinar Pasha knew while promising
that he could or would not render. Selim Pasha played
the same game from Trebizond, telling us that he had an
army sufficient to relieve us, and that his men were
burning for the advance. We therefore held on to the
hopes inspired by these two generals, until famine had
reduced the strength of our devoted little Turks, and
rendered impossible all chance of marching and cutting
their way over the mountains ; and I will venture to say
that as long as a soldier of that garrison survives the
names of those two men will be execrated.
In speaking of Omar Pasha with respect to Turkey,
Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons calls it " his adopted coun-
try." I will give some idea of his patriotic sympathy
by informing the reader that, in answer to my despatch'
to the Generalissimo, congratulating his Excellency, as
the acknowledged head of the Sultan's forces, on the
glorious victory of the 29;1 of September, I received ,a
reply simply and without comment acknowledging the
receipt of my communication, thus exhibiting to the
gallant and enduring garrison of Kars the deep interest
felt for them by their Generalissimo. On this great oc-
casion, too, I should have hoped for a line from my bro-
ther commissioner. He knows whether or not he was
by the side of o:nar Pasha when the Generalissimo
received this welcome news. lam altogether ignorant
on that point.

It is not worth while discussing with Lieut.-Colonel
Simmons how far Omar Pasha could have penetrated
towards Kars from Bateum, but I will express a clear
opinio❑ that the moment he ceaFed to operate, 2,9, in
nty humble opinion, "a brave and resolute man" should
have done—that is, towards Kars and the csntri of
Georgia—our fate was sealed ; and the instant that
General Mouravieff heard he bad chosen the remote port
of Suchnm-Kaieh the Russian General felt himself re-
lieved from his disquietude, and made up his mind to
but his army, and thus insure the capture of Kars by
famine.

This opinion. is fully supported by that of General
Mouravieff himself, expressed to the and to my aide-de-
camp with characteristic frankness. The able and veteran
General laughed, and said, "As soon as I found Omar
Pasha at Suchum-Kaleh I had no doubt of the result
of the campaign ;" adding, " I was much obliged to
Omar Pasha for going in that direction."
Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons seems surprised that
after "12 successful campaigns" a general's conduct can
be scanco-4 ; but let me ask who were Omar Pasha's op-
ponents in those conflicts ? Why—revolted peasants,
without generals, discipline, or artilleiy.
The -world now knows my opinion and that of the
1108F;tan general with respect to the•recent operations of
Oe.par 7t'asba. It will attach to these opinions whatever
valve they may be deemed to men:.
When I used, in speaking of my Eastern experience,
`the terms, " from the cataracts of the Nile to Ararat,"
I they bore reference to my general knowledge of Turkey;
and, in spite of Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons's sneering
style on this point, I still latter myself that I know
something of my subject. I should be at a loss to,ac-
count for the tone of his whole letter if I did not kno
that he has recently arrived from Constantinople.
I have not the smallest wish to enter into the field of
"animositz" or "controversy" with Lieutenant-Colonel
Simmons, but, at the same time, I cannot pass over
without remark his lamentation about "that fatal posi-1
tion in which they were placed by the strategy of others"
—that is, of course, intended for me. In a work now
preparing for the press by competent judges the ques-
tion of the necessity of defending Kars at all will be dis-
cussed. In the meantime, Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons
and those who think with him can cling to their opinion
—that it ought not to have been, and that the risk of
abandoning that stronghold should have been hazarded ;
I and those who served with me, on the contrary, will
hold to our view—namely, that by keeping the Russian
army occupied before Kars, only 20 miles from their own
frontier, till the snows of winter prevented their taking
a single step in advance, even after the blunder of Omar
Pasha and the imbecility of Salim Pasha had put that
f,,rtress into the possession of the enemy, we bad ful-
filled a wise purpose, and saved Asia Minor from being
overrun, as also the allies from the dire necessity of
pending English and French troops from Sebastopol to
its rescue.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient humble
servant,

W. F. WILLIAMS, Major• General.
Woolwich, Nov. 5.

Tlf I& LONDON GENERAL OMNIBUS

COMPANY.

Yesterday morning an inspection of several new omni-
buses, built ny three of the principal manufacturers in
the metropolis, took place in the Guildhall-yard, with
the permission of the Lord Mayor. The vehicles exhi-
bited were the production of Messrs. Gower, Miller, and
Carpenter, and comprised many important improve.
ments, which can hardly fail to be appreciated by the
public. The company having now become the owners
of about three-fourths of the omnibuses plying is Lon-
don and its suburbs, it is natural to expect that the
public requirements should, as far as possible, be com-
plied with, and the exhibition of yesterday proves
that this expectation is not likely to be disappointed.
No less than eight vehicles were assembled, four from
the manufactory of Messrs. Go war, two from that of
Mr. Carpenter, and two from that of Mr. Miller. In all
of these, two desiderata of vast public importance, viz ,
ventilation and an augmentation of space, seem to have
been carefully studied, and almost equally realised, and
this without any increase of bulk. It would of course
have been easy to add to the space by increasing the
ith of the vehicle ; but this advantage might have
been purchased too dearly. In the first place, the in-
creased accommodation thus obtained would have in-
volved additional weight, which would have thrown an
extra burden on the horses, and caused a corresp inding
impediment in the rate of progress. To avoid these evils
the inventors have all had recourse to the expedient of
reducing the space occupied by what is termed the casing
of the omnibus, and by reducing this on each side they
have gained about six inches for the public in the breadth
of the vehicle without at all augmenting the track or
breadth. The effect of this economy of space is to afford
what may be termed additional knee-room—an advan•
tage which will practically commend itself to all who
enter the improved vehicles. The omnibuses of Messrs.
Go war (the patentee of which is Mr. J. Rock, of Hast-
ings) are provided with a very useful apparatus for corn-
municating with the conductor, consisting of an india-
rubber tubing naming along the upper part of the vehicle
inside, and fitted with an air-ball of the same material,
which on beinggently' -pressed hy the passenger gives forth
a sharp whistle to the. 6ondrictor, forming an effectual sub-
stitute for the use of st.ickf-3, umbrellas, &c, This simple im-
provement, which is, in 'fact an application of the railway
whistle, is intended to be applied to all the omnibuses be-
longing to the consoar y. One of the greatest deficiencies
in the vehicles hit) lest° used has been the want of

some support, by v leans of which the passenger might
steady himself proceeding to take his seat.
To meet this sot iv of the new vehicles are supplied
with tassels sus' ?e nded from the ceiling, others with
a horizontal str aaa and ethers again with a perpen-
dicular rail, set Nietia
division of at the same time as an equit-
ablevpace. The arrangement as regards the
windows seen,
,s to have been left an open question,
to be determit
led by the public voice. In some cases
the windows
is for the put Ara fixed, in others there is a slide ; and it
/lie to say which plan is, on the whole, the
most desira' ale. As to ventilation, however, which is
the gra" I ,pint to be considered in reference to this mat-
ter, she n` iw omnibuses seem to include all that can be
In each ample ventilatiaa is provided for by
dmeetreed
0. f
- ?perforated wires or openings of various kinds
he tOf combined with a similar arrangereent at the
ea t. he vehicle. The question of height, too, has
not wens .oed attention, and the increased altitude, to-
gethe.r • with the increased width, gives an appearance
and real ity of enlargement which must be grateful to the
senses, as well as conducive to the convenience, of the
passeaf ens. The internal improvements include a lamp
on the principle of the railway lamp, with an elongated
stern, ; 4nd having a valve attached to it to carry off the
efiluvi; a. As regards the outside of all the new omni-
buses there is a material change for the better, in the
access to the roof, convenient steps being provided by
mer 03 aof which the open-air passenger can mount with-
!'n 4 s ,ny danger to life or limb. With respect to fares,
It' it stated to be the intention of the company to exhibit
outside as well as inside, so as to-leave no cause
di en 'paint on that subject. On this point it may
inftbet be nbeerved, that it is the design of the company
„;ta blieh in rremy casts an uniform fare of sixpecce