The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-16 00:00:00

T_FIE RUSSO-MOLDAVIAN BOUNDARY.

The following letter, by the " Hertfordshire In-
cumbent," has been addressed to a contemporary :
In common with many who took a liveiy inte-
rest in the terms on which the late war was con-
cluded, I was unable to make out in a satisfactory
manner the course taken by the proposed boun-
dary ; but I concluded, of course, that the parties
immediately concerned in determining it had be-
fore them authentic local inftirmation which was
not generally accessible. If, however, the present
proceedings of the Russian Government are cor-
rectly represented this certainly could not hale
been the case ; on the contrary, the ignorance
which prevails in Western Europe respecting this
out-of-the way locality must have been wilfully
abused for the purpose of evading th,,) main object
of negotiation—the security of the free .navigation
of the Danube.

The fact is, that the whole coast of th.” Black
Sea, from the northern mouth of the Dan L-tbe to
that of the DnieAter, is fringed with a series of h.\kes
(or limans) at the outlets of the steppe rivers.
Their connection with the sea and with one anothe:
i 3 a very variable one. In the spring and early sum-
mer the strong floods producJd 133 r melting snow
and ice force a passage here and there, and the salt
lake becomes a portion of the sea ; at other periods
strong easterly winds deposit large quantities of
detritus, and the result is either a long bar, or in
some cases, an absolute closure of the neck of the
gulf. The sea-loch becomes a salt lake, or salt
marsh, excessively unhealthy, but very valuable
from the abundance of salt which it furnishes ; the
streams which run into it, when not mere channels
for surface drainage, partaking not uncommonly of
a strong saline character.
Of this changeable nature of the coast in question
it really seems that advantage has been taken by
our new allies to secure their object clandestinely.
In Western Europe I suspect that no better autho-
rity exists for the nature of the locality Than the
old French map of Zannoni, " Carte de la partie
Septentrionale de l'Empire Otoman, 1774." No
doubt much more accurate charts exist in the Rus-
sian archives, but there has been nothing in the
course of events to call the attention of other na-
tions to that part of Europe. Now, in Zannoni's
map, the Salsig Liman appears altogether separated
i] of the K
flowingagaltnhirko, u
gohr
Tart a
from the Bourna Soula. The former is the estuary
(if one may use such a word where there is no such
ttiLi nr
River,tterritoryas of the Budziack Tartars. The latter
is another estuary some 25 miles to the eastward,
unmistakeably fixed in site by a Tartar village and
mosque on the banks of it, having the same name,
although perhaps hardly recognisable in the altered
form, Burneseul, which it bears in the Austrian
ides a ats
it the
was
called, from
map.
From the nature of the coast nothing is, indeed,
more probable than that the more eastern of these •
two estuaries has in the course of the last seventy
years become connected with the western, and also
with several intermediate limans of the stow 'kind.
Such, indeed, is the idea suggested by the last.
Admiralty chart ; and a similar process has cer-
tainly taken place in several other localities of the
same coast. Now, here was a favourable opportu-
nity for a piece of sharp practice. Bourna Soul&
means the same thing, as Salsig Liman—viz., salt-
marsh ; and by the course of natural operations the
two have become included in the same lagoon.
Hence the simplest of problems for a pettifogging
attorney—find any point on the Euxine three-
quarters of a mile to the east of any point of the
new lagoon, and you may call it to the east of the
Bourna Soula, although the true Bourne Soula is at
least a day's journey to the east of it.
The reader who is familiar with the south coast
of England will the better understand this pretty
arrangement by supposing a proposition made to
divide England by a line drawn perpendicular to the
south coast road, from a point on the shore "7_0.12°
mile to the east of Chichester Harbour." Let. bum
imagine the waterway between Selsea and.
or
Bembridge Point choked up by an earthquaket him
some other convulsion of nature ; and
thee northward
agreed upon by running a line to t
the ground
from Freshwater Bay to Bomsey,
further conceive a suggestion to fulfilthen
nonditions
and. thea
were "other names of Chichester barb() -• Such,
to all appearance, is the cogent reasons of our new
friends
The occupation of the
Isle of Serpents becomes
intelligible for the first time, when taken together
that the Solent, Southampton Water:npi d
_
with this audacious attempt to deceive France. As an insulated possession, one wondered
what attraction it could hate
for Russia, almost as
much as on what grounds_ it could possibly be
claimed. It would be included within a line drawn
England and
east of the true Bourne. Soula, as little as the Isle
of Wight would be within one drawn to the east
of the true Chichester harbour.
If the Czar's Ministers have really pursued such
a course in the peace negotiations, as appears to
thankfulhavebe noeentuhg fo eh
casre' Englishmen can never be
that excellent custom which
has saved their representatives in Paris and Mos-
cow from the misfortune of receiving Russian de-
corations. There is only too much dirty work
done in the lower regions of our own domestic
politics ; but the most successful labourer in that
is still a long way off expecting the blue
riband.

The rectory of chalk, near Gravesend, bas become
vacant by the death of the Rev. G. J. Wyatt, M.A.
(instituted 1850). The benefice, which is Worth 2004
Years is in the gift of the LordChaecellyr!