14 SEPTEMBER 1878, Page 1

The Constantinople correspondent of the Times points to a danger

which 113 believed to be threatening that capital. The Russian Army is being withdrawn over sea week by week, and will shortly be gone, and the British Fleet is retiring from the Sea of Marmora. The populace are therefore relieved from all restraint, except that of the Turkish soldiery, who may sympathise with them, and of the police, who are inefficient. Swollen as this populace is by thousands of refugees and deserters, and harassed as it is by want of means, by the price of bread, and by the excessive depreciation of the paper-money—now 75 per cent. below its nominal value—it will be disposed to commit outrages, and perhaps to favour revolution. Very powerful per- sons are known to be discontented, the Sultan's authority is shaken, and it is deemed necessary even now to take the most jealous precautions for his safety. All the signs, in fact, point to an outbreak in the winter, which, unless the soldiery are strictly faithful, may amount to a revolution. Even without one, there are certain to be massacres in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, only to be averted by a European force.