The daily gazette., 1877-09-29

u,
for, according to this strange historian,
Orloff, wishing an Italian painter to re-
present the destruction of the Turkish
fieet at Tchesme, blew up a man-of-war
in the Bay Of Naples, just toilet the ar
list see what the Slowing up ofa ship
was like. This, says -Castera, with char
acteristic naivete, was very imprudent, the
roads being flll of. vessels which might
easily have taken. fire.
Ifno more attempts were made to pass
the Dardanelles during Catherine's reign
that may be explained, perhaps, by the
fact that most Of the English officers
Quilted the Imperial service when they
learned that the pirate PAUL Jones had
been appointed to the command of the
3 Baltic feet. THE treaty, however, sf
Kustchuk-Kainardji gave the Russians
the right of passipg the Straits with COM,
hercial .vesselA and according to some
authorities, the fthssiaIis obtained by the
same act the right of passing with vessels
Of war, but only with one ship at time,
which, 1t was stipulated, should not fe1
main Sin Turkish waters. This prlvf-
lege may have BEEN ceded BY o. Secret
clause but no mention Of it is make in
the French version OF the treaty, publish
ed in 1775, at st. Petersburg, and repro
duced by Professor Holland in his re-
Gently published little. work on the
Treaty relations BetWeen Turkey and
Russia. ~ ,Ns
II has been said that the passage of the
IDardanelles has never been forced ex-
cept by Englishmen and Americans. Cap
tain Elphinstone seems to have taken his
ship through the Straits chiefly with the
view of showing that he could easily do
1t. His cup of tea he could have ordered
just as well in the Mediterranean as in
the sea of Marmora. All that he really,
gained by the passage was the right of
commanding flourish of trumpets. Cap
tain Bainbrldge, the first American offic-
er who passed the Dardanelles, sailed not
only from the Mediterranean to the Sea
of Marmora, but also from the Sea of
Marmora to Constaptinople. The cir
cumstances under which he executed
this feat were sufficiently remarkable. He
had gone in the year 1903 with tribute to
the Dey of Algiers, when the Dey refus-
ed to let him leave, and threatened even
to sink his ship unless he consented to
take an Algerian embassy to Constanti-
nople. The request, put in the form of
command, was difficult one 10 Gem
ply with; for, in the first place, Captain
Bainbridge was in the American not in
the Algerian service; while, in the second
place, the Dardanelles were closed to
American as to all other ships. of war.
Ultimately, however, Bainbridge under
took to convey the embassy as desired,
and, sailing through the Dardanelles and
the Sea Of Marmora, entered the Bosphor-
us and duly landed the Dey's representa-
lives at Constantinople. The Turks did
not at first know what to make of this
visit; but they decided to treat Captain
Bainpridge as an honored guest; and for
about q fortnight he was most Hospitality
entertained. + = -
The only forclble passage of the Bosph-
orus really worthy Of the name was that
effected in 1907 by Admiral Duckworth.
Russia and Turkey have sometimes been
allied; at others Turkey and England; at
others again, England and Russia. In
1907 England and Russia were allied
against Turkey; and Admiral Duckworth
was ordered by his Government to take
feet through the Dardanelles and
Bosphorus and present an -ultimatum at
Constantinople. His arrival in front of
bu6 CnpltdA CduSou BtSdO COnoVoI IudblOus
But the French ambassador, General
Sebastiani, calmed the Sultan, and adj
wised the preparation of batteries while
negotiations were entered. into. When
in about weeks time the batteries
were ready, the negotiations being by no
means at an end, the English admiral
found 1t prudent to retire, and he suf-'
fered so much during the return voyage
that before regaining the Mediterranean
he had LOST in killed and wounded up
wards of 200 men.
During the last hundred years, when
ever the Russians have gained an ad-
vantage over the Turks, they have en-
deavored to secure the right of free navl-
cation for their men-of-war between the
Black Sea and the Mediterranean. They
made first step in this directlon when,
in 1775,the Treaty Of Kustchuk-Kainardji
was signed, though all that can be found
on this subject in the published version
of the treaty is to the effect that "there
shall be free and unimpeded navigation
for the merchant ships belonging to the
two contracting Powers in all the seas
which wash their shores; the Sublime
Porte granting to Russian merchant
such as are universally
employed by the other Powers for COM
merce. and in the ports-a free passage
from the Black Sea into the White Sea,
and reoiprocally from the -Whlto sea into
the Black Sea, as also the power of en-
tering all the ports and harbors situated
either on the sea coasts or in the passages
and channels which join those seas"
After the war of 1923 and 1929 a new at |
tempt was made to obtain the much |
coveted privilege, and in the 7th article |
of the Treaty of Adrlnople Russia stipu-
lated that ships of all sizes and of all ma |
tions should be- allowed to navigate the |
waters of the Porte. By previous treaties |
Russia had gained the liberty of passage
for small vessels of commerce.. Now i
there was to be no restriction as to size; |
and the Porte, moreover, had to bind it. |
self not to visit the ships sailing through |
its seas, Gin ORDER" as the Duke of We'll |
lington put it, "to ascertain that they are |
not ships of war, or filled with armed |
men, or that they conveyed persons who |
ought not to be conveyed into or out of |
the dominions of the Porte" This, the |
Duke of Wellington, in memorandum |
on the subject, declared to be violation |
Of the independence of the Porte. "Itl
places the Porte" he wrote, sin the safe |
keeping of Russia, for that which is, of |
all other points, the most important to |
avery nation its safety from surprise by |
foreign or domestric treachery. The |
Porte cannot provide for its own safety |
by the-vistt and detention in its own
waters of suspicious ships without incur |
ring the penalty of reprisals."
Four years later, in 1888, Russia ad-