Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-15
IS STRONGLY FORTIFIED. The Town of Sigri Occupied
 by British Troops. INDIANS DYING BY THE HUNDREDS. Thousands of People Drown
 ed in Spain.
THE LATEST NEWS FROM CHILLI.
The New York Democratic
 Convention.
THE DARDANELLES INCIDENT.

!
 | THE DARDANELLES INCIDENT. | Turkeys Action Still Causing Agita- tion - SfEri occupied by British Troops - Foreign Exchanges De- pressed by the News-Excited Utter ances of Hungarian Paper. CoNsTANTINoPLE, Sept. 14.-A detach- ment of blue jackets and marines from a British ironclad, accompanied by battery of eight field pieces and several Gatling guns, was landed yesterday morning at Sigri, on the island of Mitylene, formally occupying that place in the name of the queen of England. There is good harbor at Sigri, and it is supposed that the British naval officers at Mitylene intend to fortify the island and to make it coaling station and rendezvous for the British Mediterra- mean fleet. Sigri is on the east coast of Mitylene, and it is about sixty miles from the mouth of the Dardanelles.
 LONDON, Sept. 4.-Late this evening an other and still more startling dispatch comes by telegraph from Athens. It is that the Greek consuls at Mitylene and at Smyrna have wired the Greek government that thirteen British men of war landed troops and guns at Sigri on Friday and that they have already strongly fortified that place.
 Lord Salisbury's chief private secretary has returned unexpectedly to London and is busy at the foreign office.
 CoNsTANT1NoPLE, Sept. 14.-It is stated that the French and Russian ambassadors here have received telegrams from their respective consuls in Mitylene announcing the occupation of Sigri and stating that guns have been landed and that the islet has been surrounded with torpedoes.
 PARIS, Sept. 14.-A feeling of uneasi- ness has been caused in diplomatic and financial circles here by the receipt of dis patch announcing that Sigri, on the west coast of the Island of Mitylene, an island belonging to Turkey, near the coast of Asia Minor, and within easy steaming distance of the Dardanelles, has been occupied by detachment of British troops or marines, landed there from a British ironclad No details have been received and the report lacks confirmation.
 Under ordinary circumstances little or no credence would have been placed in this alarming rumor, but, coupled with the story circulated on Saturday that Great Britain, in view of Russia's practi- cal coercion of Turkey in the matter of passage through the Dardanelles of ves- sells belonging to her volunteer fleet, in- tended to occupy the Island of Tenedos, at the entrance to the Hellespont or Dardanelles, more serious attention is paid to the dispatch from ConstaEtinople. The island of Mitylene would form an anvantantageous post from which Great Britain could control the waters of the Hellespont.
 The island of Mitylene is within twenty five miles of the Hellespont. It has an area of 276 square miles and population of ,000. It has good harbors and fer tile soil. The principal towns are Castro Cor Mitylene) and Molivo. Tenedos, on the other hand, though occupying a much more advantageous position, being at the actual entrance of the Hellespont, is only five miles in length and is of rugged rocky nature.
 BUDA-PEsTH, Sept. 1A.-The Pester Lloyd, doubtless inspired through it's edi- tor, Max Falke, reporter of the foreign committee of the Hungarian delegation, says to-day that Austria -Hungary's interest in the Dardanelles question is greater than Great Britain's, adding:
 ''Can Austria look on with complacency while Russia, finding herself barred from expanding through Bulgaria, advances by shorter route to the goal she has in view the seizure of Constantinople. England | can compensate herself with Egypt, but | where is Austria's compensation! The powers ought not hesitate to check Russia. Does Berlin2''
 Referring to the alleged Russian plot to l seize Constantinople by coup de main, the same paper quotes document prepared by l Czar Nicholas in 1853, minutely detailing plans by which force of 16,000 infantry, | two sotnias of Cossacks, and thirty ] two guns could force the passage of the Bosphorus and carry Constantinople. | Admiral Menchikoff pronounced the scheme to be an impossible one. The czar, it is said then proposed, as an alternative, a surprise, landing at Burgaz, seaport in Eastern Rumelia, seventy six miles north east of Adrianople, situated on the Gulf of Burgaz, which has a depth of from five to l twelve fathoms. The idea was that after landing suddenly and unexpectedly at Bur gar, small Russian force could make a rush from there upon Constantinople and capture it before the powers could inter- | vene.
 Admiral Menschikoff was at that time at
 the head of the Russian navy, which he
 had raised to high state of efficiency. In
 March, 1853, Admiral Menschikoff was
 sent as ambassador to Constantinople,
 where he speedily brought about rupture
 between the porte and the czar, and event
 ually caused the Crimean war. During
 that war he commanded both the land and
 naval forces of Russia, and displayed great
 energy and skill in defending Sebastopol.
 The Pester Lloyd, in conclusion, says
 that it has also become known from words
 dropped here and there recently at St.
 Petersburg that these coup de main pros
 poets have been revived in high oficia
 circles there, and that various plans fol
 capturing Constantinople have been dis
 cussed in view of their feasibility, owing
 to the advantage of modern war equip
 ments.
 LONDON, Sept. 14.-An intimation of tn,
 intention of the British government to oc
 cupy an island giving point of vantag l near the Dardanelles was first heard of il
 the inner diplomatic circles of Vienna ant
 Berlin soon after Sir William Whites au
 dience with the sultan on Frida,
 last. Nothing about it, however, ap
 peared in European newspapers till Con
 stantinople cables startled the bourses ant
 the public to-day The reports were a first treated as incredible and are still hell
 to be of doubtful authenticity, or at leas | exaggerated. In the absence or forelg
 office confirmation of the reports an
 until the details of the action of th
 British warships are known the full sig
 nifcance of the movement cannot b
 revealed. It can be stated on high author ity, however, that Sir William White aske
 the Sultan to assent to the British occups
 ton of some point within striking di'
 tance of the straits and offering a goo
 harboring for the fleet. Tenedos and B.
 sika Bay, where the fleet rendezvoused frol :. 1876 to 1878, have been surveyed recen ' ly and were reported to the admiralt O adversely. The offer made to the sulta
 revived the request which the British go
 ernment made in 1877, prior to the acqu
 sition of Cyprus. to purchase an island ne,
 the Dardanelles. This project was long tl
 subject of negotiations and was abandone D. on the signing of the Anglo.Turkish col ~ aa vention in June. 1S7S. The seizing Fe Sigri, therefore, cannot have occurred wit out the connivance of the sultan. An c re ficial announcement issued in Constant Id klaI