The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-17 00:00:00

TURKEY.

Constantinople letters and journals to the Bth
have arrived. The financial situation had not in
any way improved, and £23,000 of protested bills,
endorsed by the Minister of Finance, and sent to
cover the dividend due on the loan of 1858, had
been returned from London. Thus, the Turkish
Government became one of the first victims of the
recent enormous rise in the exchange, occasioned by
its own disastrous financial policy. These bills thus
returned were purchased by the Treasury with bills
on Mires, which were duly paid on maturity. The
following summary of events is from the Levant
Herald :—"Halim Pasha, brother of the Viceroy
of Egypt, is daily expected from Alexandria. The
object of his visit will have reference to the succes-
sion, to which he aspires.—Mr. Williams, the now
ex-American Minister, will, we learn, in a few days
leave direct for the United States, via Havre or
Liverpool.—During the week a month's salary
waste paid to the Government employes of the capital,
leavinj eight months' pay still in arrear. Last week
a party o! French surveyors, well provided with in-
struments, started from Pera for Asia Minor, on the
ostensible mission to examine and map old Roman
roads, for a ' History of Caesar,' on which the Em-
peror Napoleon is engaged. The expedition is at
the expense of his Majesty, and is likely to have
useful results.—The commission from the Council
of Public Works which is to survey the Aidin
line on behalf of the Porte will leave for Smyrna
by the French steamer of to-morrow. It consists of
'Alajor Gordon, RE., M. Ritter, and Hakky Effendi,
of tine Treasury. After surveying the rival routes
by Saledin and Ephesus, the commission will pro-
ceed to Samos to inspect and report on the site of a
proposed new harbour for the island, and thence to
%Iytelene—or rather to Airvali on the opposite
mainland—on a similar errand. A local celebrity,
a miser named Matcovitch, died in Pera during
the week, and the searches consequent on his
death have far exceeded in result the liveliest
anticipations of his heirs. Large sums of hard
cash have been discovered in nearly every part of
his house. In an old box, and in separate parcels
of rags stowed away in earners, more than
1,500,000 p. have been found in old coins. Besides
this valuable treasure, the deceased has left exten-
sive house and other property—the whole compen-
sating well to his family for the economic restric-
tions to which he had subjected them for many
years. The (Gregorian) Easter just past witnessed
the exercise of a permission to the Greek clergy on
the part of the Porte, which has not, we believe,
been granted since the conquest of Constantinople.
Leave to parade the host in public procession has long
been enjoyed and practised by resident Roman Catho-
lic, but Sunday last was the first occasion on which a
similar privilege was extended to t , le Greeks since the
days of Mahomet 11. On that day, accordingly, a
i-
nrocession of the clergy of the latter communion
passed, with the host exalted high at their head,
through the main street of Pera. On arriving
opposite the chief police station at Galata-Serai,
the party halted whilst the bishop delivered aloud
a short prayer for the well-being of the Sultan,
which was lustily responded to by the " amen "
of the attendant crowd. The historical novelty
of the incident makes it worth recording. Seve-
ral arrivals of Tartar immigrants took place
during the week, the new comers being landed
at Haidar Pasha, behind Scutari. Of these new
subjects of the Porte experience has now fully
proved that the Crimean Tartars are by far the
best colonists, being industrious and frugal, whilst
the Nogais are idle and improvident to a degree
which augurs most unhopefuily for their value as
settlers in their new territory. The press of the
capital is about to be increased by the addition of
a new Arabic weekly journal, to be called the
Djeraib, and be edited by Ahmed Faris Effendi,
who was employed for many years in London in
connection with Arabic literature. The Banshee
goes to-day to the Dardanelles to receive and con-
vey to the capital Lord Dufferin, who is hourly
expected from Syria, whence he comes in a cor-
vette specially placed at his disposal. The foreign
consuls in Bosnia have been appointed to act as dele-
gates for their reneetive Governments at the head
quarters of Omer Pasha, and immediately after the
arrival of the new Commander-in-Chief at his post,
will, in conjunction with him, publish a proclama-
tion to the insurgent population, conceding nearly
all the reforms which had been at first demanded
by them from the Government. The best conse-
quences are expected to result from this conciliatory
measure. A Silistria correspondent states that the
vizierial prohibition against the export of grain
from that pashalic is practically a dead-letter, the
traffic outwards having hardly at all diminished.
A telegram from Smyrna reports the death of Mgr.
Mussabini, the Roman Catholic archbishop."
The same journal ccntains the following account
of an incident which might have turned out tragi-
cally :—" An uproarious scene occurred at the resi-
dence of the Bulgarian bishop Hilarion, in the
Fanar, on Thursday last, of which we are enabled
to give the following authentic details. The bishop
had been absent at Buyukdere for six weeks, in
consequence of indisposition, but on the approach
of the season of Easter he returned to the Fanar,
arriving there on the forenoon of Thursday, when
the Bulgarians flocked in hundreds to welcome
him. Later in the day a karakoulah (employe)
arrived from the Porte, accompanied by the noted
Bulgarian Hadji Nicoli, and informed the bishop
that they were the bearers of a firman ordering
him 'into immediate exile at Kuteyiah. The pre-
late at once expressed his readiness to obey the
Imperial rescript, but the crowd outside, on being
apprised of the order, loudly declared that they
would not permit him to move. He was, they
said, bishop of their community, and if he had
acted culpably, it was for them, and as their spi-
ritual chief. The people then became greatly ex-
cited, and expressed their determination to sacri-
fice theii lives rather than to give him up. In
vain the bishop besought them to be calm, and
equally in vain did Hadji Nicoli—who is most
unpopular amongst the community—attempt to
address them. He was at first overwhelmed
with abuse, and at length with blows, from which
he was with difficulty rescued by the bishop.
Seeing matters in this state, the karakoulah
deemed it prudent to beat his retreat back to the
Porte. The people, however, still crowded round
the episcopal dwelling, and in the evening, when
the Minister of Police himself repaired to the spot
to execute what his subordinate had failed in, he,
too, apparently considered moderation the best
policy, and, after an interview with the Bishop,
retired without his prisoner. On the following
day, Friday, as the Sultan was proceeding to
mosque, a petition, signed by 5,000 Bulgarians,
was presented to his Majesty, praying him to
deliver the signers and the community whose senti-
ments they expressed from the ecclesiastical op-
pression of the orthodox authorities. A few hours
afterwards an imperial order was received, assuring
to the petitioners full liberty and protection during
the exercise of their Easter devotion. Bishop
Hilarion accordingly officiated in his usual church
on Sunday. As the S'tltan's order, however, was
only verbal, the people have continued to guard
the bishop's house and remain resolved to
preyent his deportation, A local print states

that both bishops—Hilarion and Aksensentios—
will be removed to their places of exile after
Easter, and that they have in the meantime given
bail to the Synod that they shall be forthcoming
when called on for that purpose. We have the
best reason to believe that the latter of these state-
ments is without foundation, as is the yet more
malicious fabrication that the bishop's defenders are
receiving a daily bribe of five piastres for their ser-
vices. The cause which needs the help of such
fictions must indeed be in extrenzis."