RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8671, 14 September 1891, Page 5

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

, THE 'PASSAGE OF , THE -' ' ! . DARDANELLES. RUSSIAN VIEW .OF QUESTION. SULTAN GRANTS INTERVIEW TO , • BRITISH AMBASSADOR. ALARMING WAR RUMOURS. RUSSIAN PRESS CLAMOUROUS FOR AGGRESSION. CONTEMPLATED SEIZURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. GLADSTONE ON THE BALKAN QUESTION. Prm Am/nation.—Electric {Telegraph.— Copyright. Constantinople, September 11. The Porte denies having apologised to Russia in May last for the stoppage of Russian merchant vessels passing the Dardanelles, and admits that in the action taken at that time to prevent vessels passing, the commandants of the forts were not to blame.

Constantinople, September 12. The Sultan has granted Sir A. W. White an • interview concerning the firing on British merchant vessels when passing the Dardanelles in July last. Vienna, September 11. It is understood that in recent' interviews between General Von Caprivi, the German Chancellor, and Count Kalnoky, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, an agreement was arrived at that there was no present ground for diplomatic action with regard to allowing Russia the free passage of the Dardanelles. It'is rumoured that another of the great powers has refused England's request to interfere. Berlin, September 12. A Hamburg paper has created a sensation by publishing what it declares are Russian designs. It states that Russia proposes to suddenly seize Constantinople, and that she has sufficient transports to land thirty thousand troops on the shores of the Bosphorus in twenty-four hours. Russia, it is said, will mobilise an army in April to test the efficiency of the new military system. The Russian press is clamorous for aggression in the east. The Nowosti demands free passage for all Russian warships, to enable Black Sea fleet to join the French fleet. St. Petersburg, September 12. The Moscow Gazette declares that the Great Powers are bound to respect the decision of the Sultan with regard to the Dardanelles, as he has a right to give passage through the straits to whomsoever he pleases. London, September 12. Mr. Gladstone, in writing to a Ser- j vian statesman, objects to the supre- j macy of Bulgaria, or any other Power, with respect to the Balkan States.