The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-16 00:00:00

THE PRINCIPALITIES.

A letter from Bucharest of the sth, in the
National Gazette of Berlin, says :—" The la-
bours of the international commission have at
length commenced ; it wet two days back and
decided that the presidency should be exer-
cised in turns. Saiet Effendi, the Turkish
commissary, is president for the present month.
Au account of the proceedings will be kept by a
secretary of the president, but at the first sitting
the Prussian secretary drew up the minutes. It
appears thrt the discussion was very warm, and
that serious differences of view have already be;,n
erpressed by the members. The commission de-
cided in a sitting it held'yestorday on concerting
with the Caimacan, in a confidential manner, on
the modifications to be introdu2ed int.) the con-
vocation of the divans. This step is, however, on;
of pule form, for the commission is prepared to
accept the modifications proposed in the document
addressed recently by the \Vallauhiaa g4vernment
to the Porte and to the commission."

RUSSIA.
A letter from Sebastopol of the 18th ult., in the
Moniteur de la Flotte, gives some detai's which
show the stare of that port, and points out what
has re b effecte i with regard tog tiing up the
entry—"
It is well known thof the allied fleet into
at
sin nokrid- ne
rvte
,s)s
prevent
t saysthe :
Sebastopol, the Rus,iau Commander-in-Chief sAnk
in sun;es.ion three lines of vessels, one behind the
other, and that in the night which followed the
capture of the Malakoff and the town of Sebastopol,
the Russians sank alt the other vessels chat lu.p-
petted to be in the port. A certain number
which were anchored near the shore, and in
rather shallow water, were grounded rather
than sunk, and received but very trifling
damage. These are the vessels which were taken
up, and which have been repair, .d at Nicolaieff.
Among them are the Pruth, the Chersonese, the
Reid, the Danube, the Etoile du Nord, the Si-
latch, and the Or linane-z, ail small steamers.
As to the line-of-battle ships, frigates, anl odder
vessels, either steamers or sailing ones, which
were sunk to form the three lines alluded to, it
h;ts been found impossible to
,move them. Tiiey
are deeply embedded in 'he sand, above the b
and are li...,avdy laden with stories and other ar-
ticles, which were conveyed on beard in order to
keep them firmly in their places. As their masts
and rigging have been removed, they do nut in any
way _impede the navigation, which,) is confined to
merchant vessels, since, according to the t,rtns of
the treaty of Paris, vessels of war are excluded
from the Black Sea, with the exception of a certain
number of small ones. At the time of the destruc-
tion of. the Russian fleet, it only comprised 3)
steamers, among which were the fine frigate
W 1 iditnir, of 490-horse power, two corvett ‘s, the
Bessarabia and Gromonosetz, of 260-horse
-power. All these have been or may be got up
with more or less success, but as to the others,
should they even be raised, they would not b 3
worth the expense incurred in the operation. As
to the reconstruction of. the land and sea forts for-
merly defending Sebastopol, which has been men- ,
tioued by several foreign journals, the statement is
a pure invereion. The port of Sehastopol is now
almost entirelyabanduned by navigation, as it is less
advantageous for commerce than that oiKamiesch,
and is only frequented by a few fishermen, who
sell their cargoes to the persons who hawk fish
about the interior of the country. The point to
which the Russian Government now directs all its
efforts is Theodosia or Kaffa, an excellent port,
situated more to the south, which is to be one of
the heads of the line of railway,
and is likely to
become a great maritime and commercial point." ,