The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-09 00:00:00

TURKISH NOTE ON THE ISLES OF THE

DANUBE.

nadg
nelTvlideiptomrdat,icofdoEcruumsseenits,
fpruomblitshhees
ptehne
ofufllFoNev!
Pacha, Minister of the Foreign Affairs of the Sub-
lime Porte. The note is addressed to the minis-
ters of the Sultan at the courts of the Great Powers,
and is dated August 8 :
Sir,—At the Congress of Paris, when the works to be
executed at the mouth of the Danube were under discus-
sion, the Ottoman plenipotentiaries stated that the Sub-
lime Porte would willingly make the advances demanded
for those works. This declaration is registered in the
Protocol of the 27th March, No. 16 ; and immediately
after the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty of
Pars, the Imperial government hastened to carry it into
execution by sending a dredginr, machine to the Suliria
mouth, and a steamboat to assist in Clearing the chan-
nel, and by establiAing a lighthouse for the security of
tho navigation. The commencement of carrying out
these preparatory improvements, which ought to be fol-
lowed by such as may be deemed 'necessary
.by the
European commission, was. at the same time a formal
taking possession of the • mouths and islands of the
Danube, which fell back to it of right.
The Sublime Porte never had, and cannot have,
doubts as to its rights, or the intentions of its allies, in
respect to the islands of the Danube and their•direct
ownership. If the question is now reverted to, it is to
render it more dear, and to scatter the slightest doubt
that may remain on.the point.
The stipulations of the Treaty of Paris fix new fron-
tiers between the Ottoman empire and Russia on the
Bessaiabian side. One part of that province is restored
to'Turkey and annexed to. Moldavia. But the '.lands
of the Danube Cannot belong to that clasS, but must fall
under a special and separate rale. - •
The territory that is to be annexed to 'Moldavia is a
portion of Bessarabia that was formerly part of the
daviati principality, and wars coded to Russia by the
Treaty of Bucharest in 1812. •
The islands of the Danube, which never formed part
of Bessarabia, were placed under the regime by which
they were ruled, prior to the late war, by the Treaty of
Adrianople, in 1829, and that regime differed essentially
from the Russian administration of the other bank of the
river. That treaty even bound Russia not to raise any
fortification, and to build no other than quarantine. estab-
lishments. Taus the islands at the mouth of the Danube
never formed part of MoldaVia, and the period of their
cession ddmonstrates that they were not ceded to Russia
with Bessarabia as a part of that'province. . .

A part of Bessarabia returns to Turkey, and it is to be
annexed to Moldavia in virtue of the stipulations of the
Treaty of Paris, whilst the return of these islands to their
former state of things issues from another principle.
The cancelling of the Treaty of Adrianople, putting an
end to the domination of Russia, restores them to their
ancient possessor. The same principle that cancels the
neutrality of the right bank of the St. George's Channel
restores these islands to Turkey, from which they had
been detached.

The treaty of the 30th March speaks only of that part
of Bessarabia which is ceded by Russia. Art. 20 fixes
the new frontier between the Ottoman empireand Russia.
Art.2l says that "the territory ceded by Russia shall
be annexed to the principality of Moldavia, for the suze-
rainty of the Sublime Porte. The inhabitants of that
territory shall enjoy the rights and privileges assured to
the Principalitie', and they shall be allowed for three
years to change their domicile elsewhere with the power
of freely disposing of their property."
The spirit of this last article makes it easy to compre-
hend that the annexation to Moldavia of the territory
ceded by Russia applies only to Bessarabia, and not to
the islands in the embouchure ; for, speaking of the in•
habitants of the ceded territory, the treaty evidently ex-
cludes the inhabited islands from the circle of territory
that is to be annexed to Moldavia. If the contracting
Powers desired to give the islands to the Moldavian
principality, the treaty should have so expressed it in an
express clause.

The declaration of our plenipotentiaries at the Paris
Conference, embodied in the protocol without any obser-
vation on the part of the Congress, confirms the return
of the mouths of the Danube to the direct ownership of
Turkey. It promises the discharge of a duty in return
for a right recovered.
The condition in which the islands at the mouth now
are, the spirit of the treaty itself, and this declaration of
taking possession—a declaration accepted by the con-
gress—will be evidence of the intentions of our allies as
to the future condition of the mouths of the Danube.
in stipulating for the restitution of Bessarabia to Mol-
davia, they undoubtedly had no intoution of wronging
Turkey by depriving her of what rightfully returned to
her, to unite it to a province having no claim to it.
Our august allies must have recollected the blood
shed at o:tenitza, Kalafat, and Silistria.
The object aimed at by Europe in stipulating fur the
restitution of the mouths of the Danube was the freedom
of that river. It is plainly evident that tina- bAt means
of attaining that object is to place them again in the
bands of t.oe h,gitirriate. propel-oto..
As we have said above, the Sublime i'orte, never hav-
ing conceived any doubt as to its right or the intentions
of its allies, took possession of the Delta of the Danube
by beginning to carry out improvements. It exercises
that right by discharging its duty for the interest of the
whole world.

You are desired, sir, to offer these reflections and ex-
planations to the court to which you are accredited, by
affording a perusal of this despatch.