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

THE PRINCIPALITIES.

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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 met two days back and
decided that the presidency should be exer-
cised in turns. Satet Effendi, the Turkish
commissary, is president for the present month.
An 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 that the discussion was very warm, and
that serious differences of view have already been
erpressed by the members. The commission de-
cided in a sitting it held yesterday on concerting
with the Caimacan' in a confidential manner, on
the modifications to be introduced into the con-
vocation of the divans. This step is, however, one
of pure form, for the commission is prepared to
accept the modifications proposed in the document
addressed recently by the Wallachian government
to the Porte and to the commission."

RUSSIA.
A letter from Sebastopol of the 18th ult., in the
liloniteur de la Plotte, gives some details which
show the state of that port, and points out what
has really been effected with regard to getting up the
Isrevenltt athayesen:Try" It is well known that
of the allied fleet into
Ssiuneboakrseatneoir:oteols,spethe Russian Commander-in-Chief sank
in succession three lines of vessels, one behind the
other, and that in the night which followed the
capture of the Malakoffand the town of Sebastopol,
the Russians sank all the other vessels that hap-
pened to be in the port. A certain number
which ware 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 repaired at Nicolaieff.
Among them are the Pruth, the Chersonese, the
Reni, the Danube, the Etoile du Nord, the Si-
latch, and the Ordinanetz, all small steamers.
As to the line-of-battle ships, frigates, and other
vessels, either steamers or sailing ones, which
were sunk to form the three lines alluded to, it
has been found impossible to move them. Tney
are deeply embedded in the sand, above the bilge,
and are heavily laden with stones and other ar-
ticles, which were conveyed on board in order to
keep them firmly is their places. As their masts
and rigging have been removed, they do not in any
way impede the navigation, whichj is confined to
merchant vessels, since, according to the tt-ruas 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
Wlidimir, of 400-horse power, two corvettes, 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 be
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-
tioned by several foreign journals, the sta, etnent is
a pure inven ion. The port
of gel)astopol is now
almost entirely abandoned by naviga, ion, as it is less
advantageeus for commerce than that. of Katniesch,
and is only frequented by a few fishermen, who
sell their cargoes to the persons who h twk fish
about the interior of the country. The point to
which the Russian Government now directs all its
efforts is Theodusia 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."