Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-02-05

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them the strait itself frequently takes the name
of the DardanelIes. This strait is about thirty
three miles long, and from half mile to a mile
and half in width. You must sail through
this strait, to go up to Constantinople and the
Black Sea- Having passed through this strait
you enter the Sea of Marmora, a vast body Of
water $50 miles in length, and go miles in
breadth. Crossing this sea to the northern shore,
you find the opening of the Bosphorus, with the
gttering domes and minarets Of Constantine
pie, on its western banks, near its mouth This
strait is fifteen miles long, and one-thrd of a
mile in width Its general aspect is said very
much to resemble the Hudson river in the yicin-
ty of West Point; only the landscape is far
more highly cultivated the shores being literal
ly lined with palaces, through the whole length
of the strait.
The scenery of the Bosphorus in its highly
cultivated shores in the gorgeous and fairy-llke
beauty of its oriental architecture in the trans
parent depth of its cloudless atmosphere in the
rich and picturesque attire of robes and turbans
and walls, which adorns the assembled multtudes,
from all the nations of the East; in the motley
and grotesque asscmbago Of ua7eiIers from eve
Try country in Europe, and every province in
Asia; in the air of mystery in which everything
is enveloped; in the infinite variety of water
craft which crowds the strait, from the mammoth
ship of war, gloomy and threatening, to the frag-
lie and galy-decked caique, SO light and so
buoyant, that like bubble it skins the wave ;
in all these combinations of the beautiful the
picturesque, the romantic, the Bosphorus stands
pre-cmlnent and unrivaled Paris is the capital
IF France; London is the metropolis Ct the
British cmp%,ree but Constantinople is the center
of the world
On the eastern or Aslatic shore of the Bos-
phorus lies the suburb Of Scuari, in itself large
city, embowered in the most luxuriant foliage of
the cypress. The northern streets of Constan-
tinople are laved by lovely bay jutting into
the land, called the Golden Horn, which const-
tutes the harbor Of the city of the Sultan. On
the northern shore of this bay lies Pera, glitter
ing with the palaces of the European ambassa-
doris, all of whom reside there, and which, on
that account, the Turk in his poIiteness has
embellishcd with the name of the "swine's quar-
ter"
The Bosphorus conducts you to the Euxine or
Black Sea, vast inland ocean, receiving into
its immense reservoir the floods of the Danube,
the Dniester, the Dnieper, the Don, and the Ku-
ban; and opening through these rivers bound
less regions for commercial enterprise. The
magnitude and importance Of the commerce of
the Black Sea, even at the present time, may be
inferred from the fact stated by Comodore Por-
Ter, that during his residence at Buyukdere, a
beautiful town on the western bank of the Bos-
phorus, few miles above Constantinople-lro
fifteen to twenty SHIPS and briggs, in addition to
"uMborlcsa smaller craft, passed his house every
hour. going up the strait into the Black Sea-
From this sketch, it will at once be perceived
that the power i'll possession Of the Dardanees,
at the mouth of the Hellespont, can at any mo-
ment close all the commerce of Constantnople
and the Black Sea. Said the Emperor Aexan-
der, "the DardanelIcs are the key Of my house.
Let me get possession Of them, and my power
is irresistible" 1t is so, to moral demonstra-
ton.
Let Russia obtain possession of the Dardan.
ees, and she is henceforth not merely invincible,
but nvulnerable No power can approach her
The Black Sea becomes the harbor of her en-
pire, into which no foe can possibly penetrate
its shores become her navy-yard, inaccessible to
foreign fleet or army. And this vast Northern
power will then press its resistless way down up
on the sunny plains of Southern India, till her
trading factories supply those vast territories,
and till English goods, and finally Englishmen
are crowded out of Asia. The deep solctude
felt by Great Britain upon the subject may be
inferred from the following extract from the
Foreign Quarterly Review, the organ of the
sentiments of the Court of st. James. The
possession of the Dardaneles would give to
Russia the means of creating and organizing an
almost unlimited marine 1t would enable her
to prepare in the Black Sea an armament of any
extent, without its being possible for any power
in Europe to interrupt her proceedings, or even
to watch or discover her designs. Our naval
officers of the highest authority have declared,
that an effective blockade of the Dardanellos
cannot be maintained throughout the year. E.
ven supposing that we could maintain permanent
y in those seas a fleet capable of encounteripg
that of Russia, it is obvious that in the event of
a war, il would be in the power of Russia to
throw the whole weight Of her disposabe forces
on any point in the Mediterranean, without any
probability of our being able to prevent it; and
that the power of thus issuing forth with an O.
verwhe!ming force, at any moment, would ena-
Bile her to command the Mediterranean Sea for a
limited time, whenever it might please her so to
do Her whole southern empire would be defend
ed by single impregnable fortress. The road
to India would then be open to her, with all
Asia at her back The finest materials in the
world, for any army destined to serve in the East,
would be at her disposal Our power to over
awe her in Europe would be gone, and by even
a demonstration against India, she could aug
ment our national expenditure by many millions
annually, and render the government of that
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