19 MARCH 1881, Page 2

The negotiations at Constantinople may be profoundly affected by the

Russian catastrophe. At present, however, they halt. The Porte has informed the Ambassadors officially that it will cede Thessaly up to Mount Olympus, and some small terri- tory in Epirus, and has hinted unofficially that it will throw Crete in. The Ambassadors have officially replied that the cessions on the mainland will not do, and have unofficially poohpoohed the offer of Crete, and there the matter rests. The next stop, it is believed, will be for Greece to announce a date within which talk must terminate, after which the Turks will state what they are in truth prepared to give, and then the Ambassadors will decide. There is, as yet, no sign of decisive- ness on either side, the secret intention being to drift to war; but the accession of a new Czar may alter matters greatly. If the Russian Ambassador insists, Austria may shrink from pre- cipitating a war, Germany may agree to wait, and Turkey must give way. Observe that the Sultan may in secret be offering Bosnia to the Hapsburgs, who desire a better title to that pro- vince, and ascendancy in Tunis to the French. There is a strained situation arising there.