The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-01 00:00:00

.RENEWED WAR RUMOURS.

The (Tatum contains the fol'dwing alarmist article:—
" Our private information enables us to predict the proxi-
mate commencement of hostilities between Turkey and
Greece. The news received at the Ottoman Embassy is
bad. Omar Pasha, commanding the the army of Thessaly,
has received orders to hold himself in readiness to cross
the Greek frontier. All the Turkish vessels which yet
remained at Constantinople have lately left for the
Archipelago. Austria must by this time have sent her
fleet from Trieste to the Piraeus, there to wait for orders
which will be certainly conformable to those given
by France and England. Prussia is displeased at the
little importance attached to her proposal for a
Conference, and holds Austria responsible for the present
complications. A Russian general, well known in Paris,
an ex-Governor of the Russian principalities on
the Lower Danube, and who was for a long while Ambas-
sador to the Court of the Tuileries, has been heard to
say :—" Everything tends to a collision ; the Greco-
Turk conflict cannot be localised, and we must expect a
general war. The Danubian Principalities, under the
pretext of provocation from Austria and Hungary, no
longer conceal their preparations for war. In a few days
—to-morrow, perhaps—cannon may tell its talc."
The Liberte says its private correspondence is also exces-
sively warlike, but, unlike the Gautois, it nevertheless
believes that the Great Powers want peace, and will pre-
vent an explosion at present.

GREEK VESSELS UNDER RUSSIAN

COLOURS.

The Levant Times, which reaches us MIS morning, con-
tains the following reiteration of a report which, as remarked
on a previous occasion, we are alike unable and unwilling to
credit :—" In hinting yesterdayat the means adopted by the
owners of vessels carrying the Hellenic flag to evade the
embargo, by fictitious sales to persons under Russian pro-
tection, we hesitated to mention a statement which
had been communicated to us that an intimation had
been given by the Russian and Greek Chancelleries
that the trouble and risk involved by that expedient
would be obviated by a free permission from the former to
Hellenic captains to assume the Russian flag for a period
of twelve months. We were not able to vezify this
serious piece of information, and could scarcely believe
that the Russian authorities, at a time when the St.
Petersburg Cabinet is professing its entire accord with the
other Powers in regard to Turco-Greek affairs, would
venture on so flagrant a violation of international law."
The Turquie, however, confirms the fact, and says
that for three days past the Greek Chancellery has been
issuing certificates to all captains applying for them which
enable them at once to register their vessels gratis as
Russian. Supposing this to be true, it would be difficult
to find terms in which to denounce tilt:, conduct of the
Russian authorities. The proceeding alleged would
be a distinct and flagrant violation of international
law, and constitute a cants belli. Without the most con-
clusive evidence we must, however, refuse to accept the
rumour as even founded on fact. Russia would never
stoop to so ignoble a transaction, base in itself, and incon-
sistent with her position in relation to the proposed Con-
ference.— Globe.

THE CONFERENCE ON THE EASTERN
QUESTION.

Official announcements at Paris state that the meeting
of the Conference at an early date no longer admits of
doubt, and the conciliatory disposition shewn both by the
Turkish and Greek Cabinets promises an issue in conformity
with the wishes of the Western Powers. "We consider
it extremely probable," says the Etendara," " that the
negotiations are about to close, and that within a
few hours the result which was presaged by the
unanimous and persistent accord of the Great Powers will
finally reward their labours." The Cons'itntionnel con-
firms the statement that the only programme laid down
beforehand is that the deliberations should be restricted
to the Turkish ultimatum. This limitation was suggested
by England. The official paper adds that the news from
the East denotes a certain amelioration in the relations
between Turkey and Greece—a good augury for the
success of the Conference. Some of the French papers
say that a Greek representative will be admitted, and that
Russia has given her consent on account of this permis-
sion. This, according to the Independence Beige, was the
only point left undetermined. The same journal adds that
the resolution of the Powers not to interfere with the internal
affairs of Turkey does not exclude the status quo in Crete
from discussion. The Cretan insurrection has given rise to
all the trouble, and is both dangerous and injurious to
Turkey. It is not likely that the Powers will press any
course of action upon Turkey in this respect, further than
recommending some mode by which a recurrence of the
difficulty may be avoided. The success of this Conference
is looked for with much anxiety at Berlin, where it is
expected to bring about a good understanding with
France.

Several of the Paris journals urge that the meeting of
the Conference must be so entirely useless that it had
better not be held. " The more any one reflect.," says
the Patrie, "on the project of a Conference, the less
possibility there seems of perceiving any practical
utility in it. Why should the Powers, after the
check their efforts have suffered at Athens, persist
in interfering between Turkey and Greece ? When two
men have a quarrel or a difference there may be some
utility in intervening to prevent, by an arrangement, a
collision or an action. But when one of the parties refuses
to hoar anything, and formally rejects all idea of accom-
modation, what is there to be done but to let the dispute
follow its course?

The Journal de Paris thinks the deliberations will be
both useless and dangerous. " Let us suppose that the
various Powers before meeting in Conference had agreed
on the satisfaction which Greece owed to Turkey ; let
us imagine that the Hellenic Government had declared
itself ready to do what was required, and that the
Porte was inclined to be contented with the same; in that
case there would not have been necessity, everyone must
allow, to set all the chanceries in movement, and to as-
semble in one of the Western capitals all the great Powers,
merely to invest with a regular form an arrangement
agreed to beforehand. In that case the assemblage in
question would have had the fault of being useless. But,
on the contrary, it would be dangerous if the various
diplomatic representatives had got together around a green
table without having adopted either bases of arrangement
orperhaps a programme clearly determined." This dilemma
is certainly not imaginary. If the Powers agree not to
meddle in the affairs of Turkey, why meet at all? And if
no programme be previously arranged, it is evident
that the result must be doubtful. The matter must either
be settled before the meeting takes place—all the work
must be done to the diplomatists' hands, or the Eastern
question, more or lees, must be opened.

A MERITORIOUS ACTION.—Sir P. Francis has
recommended Alexander Nair, one of the crew of the
barque Tyne, lost last week off the Island of Marmora,
to the Foreign Office for some suitable reward for his
courage on the occasion. The vessel was wrecked
about half a mile from the .shore of the island, and the
brave fellow swam ashore with a light line, which
enabled him to land a cable, along which the captain and
the remainder of the crew effected their escape.—Levant
Herald.

DINING CARRIAG ES. —Pullman's palace dining-
•oom cars have been regularly established on the Chicago,
Alton, and St. Lon;s Railroad. The new line consists of
the splendid cars—Southern, the Tremont, and the Bre-
voort, named after popular hotels. Each has two saloons
that will seat twenty-four passengers on either side of th•
cuisine department, which occupies the centre of the car.
Thus forty-eight diners may be busy at one time. The
car is to run in the centre of the train, and is open at all
hours, with a bill of fare that enables these cars to amply
justify their names in the substantial reproduction of the
best hotel tables.

LIFE IN LONDON.—The number of amusements
now afforded to country cousins daily and nightly in the
metropolis have, perhaps, never been equalled within the
memory of man. There are no less than twenty-six
theatres open every night, either for pantomimic display
or for the performance of cDmedy and drama. These are
—Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Haymarket, Princess's,
St. James's, Queen's, Prince of Wales's, Royal Alfred,
Adelphi, Olympic, Lyceum, Holborn, Globe, Strand,
Gaiety, St. George's, Surrey, Standard, Britannia,
Sadler's Wells, Victoria, Grecian, City of London,
Royalty, the Bower, and Pavilion. Besides these, the
Holborn Amphitheatre, the Alhambra Palace, and a circus
at the Agricultural Hall are open every night, also some
scores of music-halls in all parts of the metropolis, as well
as Christy's Minstrels at St. James's 11%11, the
Royal Polytechnic, the Gallery of Illustration,
and Madame Tussand's. But if there is arch
a glut by night, there is also an ample supply in the day-
time. Besides the British Museum, the South Kensington
Museum, and the National Gallery, there are the
Tower, the Zoological Gardens, the Crystal Palace,
Hampton Court Palace, and three winter art exhibitions.
In addition to these sights, nobody from the country
would miss a walk upon the Thames Embankment, a peep
into both Houses of Parliament, an examination of West-
minster Abbey, a hurried view of the Bank, the Mansion
House, and the Royal Exchange, and a trip to Kew Gar-
dens. On the whole, it must be -confessed that London
still holds her superiority for sight-seeing over nearly
eury otheteapital LA the world._