17 MARCH 1849, Page 10

For some time reports have been current in Paris and

London that Rus- sia bad demanded of the Porte liberty to pass a fleet from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean; that Turkey had demurred to granting the pas- sage of the Dardanelles, and that Russia had threatened to force it. The military restlessness of Russia in the Danubian provinces has before been noticed. A paper in the Times of this morning imparts weight to the anxiety respecting these movements. It appears that the Emperor has peremptorily demanded of the Porte a change in the mode of appoint- ing the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia; and being thwarted, he has declared that "the next time he makes a campaign across the Balkan, it will not terminate at Adrianople." The Times intimates that the British Ambassador at Constantinople has been instructed manfully to defend the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire. The journalist also reviews the improved state of the Turkish forces by sea and land, and calculates that the Porte would now prove no contemptible antagonist even for Russia.