The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-12-06

saaisss - ls5iaH g6safAIgs EssgRs aIssl! ga!
y;0I .husMn foS6upies about, onAl6el
vsasR 'of sao habisabie globe. It extends
breadth Of Europe and Of Asia 10 Bsh.
rings Straits. The population must be-
asaF!y twice that OF the United Statea
Yet the seaports' OF this great empire are
ontthe Baltic. amidst the Northern ice.
and unless she can obtain O door to out.
side commerce through the Bosphorus
and the Dardanelles, her progress is
greatly impeded. Possession of Con-
stantinople would give her command of
these subjects. The strits, usually call
q d the Hellespont, connect the Mediter.
ranean Sea with the Sea of Marmora.
40 its mouth are four strong Turkish
forts, named the Dardanelles, and hence
thestraits are sometimes called by that
nee. Tkeyy s-e thirty niles long, end
from haif q mile 10 mile aud u half i'll
width, and lined with heavy batteries.
The inland Sea of Mamora, to which
they lead, is $50 miles in length, and
sixty, III breadth. On its Northern shore
you enter the Strata of the Bosphorus,
and aIshort distance up those straits, on
the European side, is Constantinople.
The Straits Of the Bosphorus, which arc
about fifteen miles long, and perhaps
half mile of average width, connect
Bleck Sea, that great inland ocean, which
is, from West to East, 700 miles long,
and in breadth 800. Into this vast ex-
panse empty those mighty Russian
rivers, the Dnieper, the Dniester, and
the Don, through which navigation is
opened to almost the whole of Russia
All her great navigable rivers flow into
that sea, and thence through the Bos-
phorus, the Marmora, and the Helles.
pont into the Mediterranean. This brief
sketch shows why it is Russia has no
long sought Constantinople. 1t is to
obtain command of the Bosphorus and
the Dardanelles. ''The Dardanelles, +"
said the Emperor Alexandes I. '.are the
keys of my house. Let mo get them,
and my power is irresistible" ''The
possession Of Oonstantinople, said Ma
polaon I. .'gives Russia the dominion
OF the world" s'Once mistress of Con-
stantinople, said the Emperor to
O'Meara. ''Russia gets oil the commerce
of the Mediterranean. becomes great
naval power, marches of to India an
army. of 10000 good soldiers, and
Heaven knows what moy happen. All
this I foresaw. see into futurity fur
ther than others; and I wanted to estab-
lish barrier against those barbarians
by re-establishing the Kingdom of Po-
land, but your imbeciles of ministers
would not consent. A 100 years hence,
shall be praised, and Europe. espe-
oially England, will lament that I did
not succeed"
The anxiety with which England con-
templates the encroachments of Russia
has been exhibited by the sensation pro-
duced even by Gortchakoff's late reason
able demand. It arises from the convic-
tion that Constantinople is the ulterior
object, and that tho possession of the
Dardanelles would give to Russia the
means of creating and organizing an
almoet unlimited marine, and would
enable her to prepare armaments in the
Black Sea, without Europe having the
means OF preventing or even of disco
vering her designs. She would be able
to defend her whole Southern empire by
a single impregnable fortress, and the
road to India would be open to her, with
all Asia at her back. Thus, it is most
plain that before she is permitted to ac-
complish that object, there will be war
IN Europe on such scale as the world
has rarely seen. Baltimore San.