8 APRIL 1854, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

In accordance with a principle which we have not now adopted for the first time, we have this week to report that the progress of our arms is not signalized by any achievement; that the joint fleet in the Black Sea commands but is not traversing the Euxine ; and that Sir Charles Napier has issued to the Baltic fleet one of the most spirit-stirring general orders ever addressed to British sailors, telling his "lads" to sharpen their cutlasses and point their guns well.

Several reports are current, invented for one purpose or another, to the effect, that the Russians have succeeded in conveying rein- forcements either to Circassia or to the Dobrudscha, where the army under Prince Gortschakoff is making good its position, with- out, apparently, attempting any immediate advance towards Con- stantinople. There is, however, every reason to doubt these re- ports through German channels ; and Lord Clarendon in the House of Lords has expressed a disbelief that the Russian fleet has left port since it was driven in by our ships.

The two most startling incidents comprised in the week's news from Turkey have taken place further from the Danube. One in the capital itself, where the Government has been doing much to reconcile Mahommedan obligations with the reasonable wishes of the Western allies. There is some ferment, the importance of which is indicated rather than explained by the overt acts of the Porte. The Sheik-ul-Islam has been dismissed, not, it is averred, because he had resisted the concession of Government to the French and English demands for admitting Christians to give evidence in criminal eases, but because he had resisted a project spontaneously originating with the Porte itself, to nationalize the property of the mosques. The immediate object of the measure has not been explain- ed. Its importance as diminishing the authority of an independ- ent church, sustained by the territorial lords who have secured their property by locking it up in mortmain and becoming themselves the pensionaries of the mosques they endow, is almost beyond estimation. From the manner in which the project is mentioned, it would appear as if the purpose was to bring the church closer to the state as an establishment, and thus to place it more under the control of those who are charged with the sovereignty and political ad- ininistration of' the empire. In any case, its results must be

important, not only in checking the "high church" view of a sub- versive because reactionary party in Turkey, but also in placing the whole faith of Islam at its European capital upon a totally new footing, which would assimilate it in a great measure to the ecclesiastical polity of other states in Europe. Such a reform would be almost as difficult and hazardous as it would be pro- mising; but it all events it falls in well with the movements of the Allies, and the .growing disposition of Turkey to preserve close alliance with the Governments of the Continent.

The second startling incident is not so accordant with the Westerii Alliance in Turkey—it is the open rupture with Greece We have it now stated, on the high authority of Lord John Russell, that the King and Queen must be regarded as having openly fomented the insurrectionary movement to invade Turkey. A slight sacrifice to appearances has been made in accepting the resignation of Greek officers serving with the revolutionary and invading forces ; and the King has declared to the Turkish Go- vernment that he cannot constrain individuals among his subjects who may join in the aggression upon the dominions of the Sultan. In short, the terms which we now have before us only confirm what was more hastily and imperfectly stated last week, that the Greek Government declares its inability to control its own subjects or to give any satisfactory assurances to its neighbour. The con- sequence is, a total breach between the Governments of Greece and Turkey, with the reciprocal retirement of their respective envoys.