TURKEY BEFORE THE PROCLAMATION OF WAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 340, 26 May 1877, Page 4

TURKEY BEFORE THE PROCLAMATION OF WAR.

' Jaat before the mail left England the correspondent of the Times at C'onsta Ainople telegraphed :—Weareflrdi;er : ngand gasping like birds in the re-e.ver of an air pamp. d'S-racls! between th.3 confident hope a_.C clmojt cer....i"?ly of peace and iie isrro.sof im-iihie'd Trer wii-h "which h-.;tv?y telegrams y.ovpeiaally conhvadicLhr/* each Other -lurry ? ?d bewEder us. hl-at unre-rtumhe Ri"s ian protocol nxust, by th"s time, have oeen ac,cepfced and rejected byEughind. hundred times. o:dy a week agj ..I : see.iiea soft and smooth, and we received invitations to go out to the Sea of Marmora on board the Ottoman ircnclad squadron, which was to treat us with the si lit of a grand naval review attended by the Sultan--vEfiree days later all changed for the worse. J SJusurus Pasha tel-grapked from London that all was up wit'i the Protocol, and that we six >uld prepare for immediate hostilities, whereupon "Hzy, presto!" the fleet was summoned hr.ck from the Propontis, and at once ordered out to the Black Sea. But then England threw out a hint that negotiations wore still pending, and that any warlike demonstration would be imprudent, whereupon the fleet went no further than its anchorage .at Buyukdere, and there is even a thought of calling it back to Reschiktach. In the midst of this fluctuation between hope and fear one thing is becoming clear, that the men on whom the responsibility of war and peace rests in this country—such men as Sultan Ahm?d, I.lalmioud Damad, his shadow, and Said Pasha, the man of Woolwich—arc earnestly and even anxiously desiring for peace. And they have very good reasons to bu so inclined, considering that the Govcrrra;nt dare not issxie more than the 3,OGO,CdCIT of paper money, making up the issue of „O.OGQ,OOOIT already decreed, lest it should lose all valixe ; considering that the fo-wling of the army alone, limited as it is to flour and rice, is said to involve a monthly expenditure of 700,C001T, or 8,400. CSOI'J yearly—a sum, if correct, exceeding the G/~30,0001T of the Budget for the War Department handed over to the Council cf Ctate by" the Seraskier as the cost of the army for the financial year dating from the present month of March : and considering finally that it is more than twice as as that of last year, -which was only 3,C00,000iT, ■while no way is found even to procure the 1,000,0001T to pay the debt of 2C0.0001T left by Sultan Abdul Aziz, and BCO,OOOIT due by Sultan JMurad, the thought that Russia, even if out of ivspect to Germany she will not venture to inarch on the Danube, may next month resolve upon an attack on the East-rn frontier, and that upon htr winning a battle or two, Persia. Greece, and other Intent enemies of Turkey may f;dl upon her on all sides, is well c.lnitiated to sober the er.t-.usi.-.sia of .inone wbo knows hiiv utterly <l. feulute <n all the resources of w«-r tli.s eoi;i:Uy -wonld be at ti:e very opening of thj campaign. 'I Lis knowledge 1 eg;ns to work so strongly upon the Gov. inniciit of il;e Porte that fc'afvtfc IV.s!;a has been Lite-ly asking the Montenegrin Envoys u> put oil" their departure, Liu ling that there was still room for an understanding, and that the Porte would peradventure not be inexorable, at least as to the cession of Niksich. It is trxie that the Chamber of Deputies, -which lias now gone through the discussion of its rules, and is at length thoroughly constituted, on proceeding yesterday in a public sitting to vote the Address in answer to the Crown Speech, unanimously resolved upon recommending the Sultan to com.) to no terms which should be incompatible with the integrity of the Ottoman Emphv, as established by the very first Article of the Constitution, and insisting especially that not an incu of ground should be ceded to such an enemy as the disloyal vassal Montenegro. But tills must be looked upon as th« idle vapouring of men unused to the management of public affairs. The Government, •who have to deal with stubborn facts, will not only set little store by tiie vote of the Chamber, but will be at no loss for the means of making the Chamber reconsider that vote, and come to a resolution more in keeping with inexorable circumstances. The Government of the Porte has only partly yielded, and that with a very ill grace, on the subject of the salaries of the j officials of the telegraphic service. The I manipulators, as the men charged -with the actual transmission of the messages through the wires are called, are henceforth to receive their salaries in silver, but the accountants and the other clerks, servants, aria porters will have to put up with the depreciated psper momy at par. The discontent among ihzm an 1 among . the public who with fern is j very great. Or-hrj- '■: > ih-3 intx-noti-m of • the service caused by :h? Ir.to sirikr, the j Imperial d'cy.-U.- L'aii": ha;' irhhhred losses I from the non-tranir.rhs'on of is m?s.iTg?s. ! to the amount of £O,CCh"J., for which i's I Direction will claim i:.d :-;:::tj, bringing an action a; rarest the te .-g:anh depart- ' ment. Ynver ?r.shr., tho cVrector I of posts and telegraphs, "i -3 written a ! letter to the Tir.rr:'.? stronvy d:~yin;t c i statement reproduced in many of the .'cad ! journals to the elect that i"."e rrprr ular ' measure of which t:e o:'heia_s rnderhhi so justly complained had been ade-ded at - his suggestion. Is»t only, he says, did he i not initiate tiie measure, but he resisted it to the best of Ih abi'hy when it was ■ proposed by tiie Grand Yhiier or by the | Home Minuter-, on whom his branch of I the public service depends. According to ■ an oncial announcement, all- the tele-grcp-iic lines but one are now again in working order.