23 JULY 1853, Page 1

The uncertain conduct of the Selavonian population in the Prin-

cipalities is another disastrous circumstance. Russian emissaries who had been in Servia, and were travelling about with great ac- tivity, were received by the people and their leaders with distin- guished honours. The Russians are evidently doing their best, on the one hand to alienate the Sclavonie population from Turkey, and on the other to familiarize the Selavonie mind with the Rus- sians as their natural patrons. Instead of simply crossing the Pruth, the Russian troops have established their head-quarters at Bucharest, near the Danube. With extensive military arrange- ments, and works even of so permanent a kind as fortifications, Prince Gortchakoff appears to act as if his instructions did not an- ticipate a temporary, much less a brief occupation of the Turkish dominions. The statement that he had taken possession of the post-office, and usurped other civil functions, has not been denied. Possibly, Russia may negotiate in the hope of wearing out objec- tions to her remaining in the Principalities ; and if so, those provinces are already taken from Turkey and annexed to Russia. Arguments of weight are industriously circulated, even in London, to show that it would be vain to persevere in any attempt to keep up the decayed Ottoman empire ; and the foibles of the Turkish Government are lending a fatal force to those arguments. But there is no reason why, because the Otto- man minority cannot be maintained in its political rule over Christian Turkey, that the great barrier of an independent state to the encroachments of the hordes beyond should be passively surrendered by Europe at large.