THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1880. SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2060, 30 September 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1880. SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE.

Since the Great Powers determined "to put on the screw" by despatching the combined fleet into the waters of the Adriatic, the Porte has been put to its wits' end to grapple with events. The old policy of procrastination becomes impossible with a large fleet of ironclads on the marine frontier, and the impracticability of the Albanians is a serious item when they are snpposed to be liege and loyal subjects of the Sultan, but in reality are something very different. To take np the narrative of events since the time when the fleet arrived at Ragusa, we find that active steps were at once taken for forcing the cession of Dulcigno, the port on which the Montenegrins set such store, as giving them an outlet into the outer world, and which was granted them by the B«rlin Treaty. But the Porte immediately protested against the action of the allies, and gave as his reason his fear that the result would bo anarchy in his empire. Nothing deterred by this threat Sir Paget Seymour, the English Admiral, despatched an ultimatum to Ali Riza Pasha, the commander of the Turkish forces at Dulcigno, demanding the immediate cession of the town and district to the Montenegrins. To show the light in which the then state of affairs was . viewed by our Government, and the length to which it considered that the friendly relations between England and Turkey were strained, it may be mentioned that at this dato various works which had been commenced at Cyprus were stopped. It is evident that, as England administers the affairs of that island under the Porte, if a rupture were to occur one of two things would happen. She would either seize Cyprus entirely, or as some of the Liberal party seem to wish, take the opportunity of evacuating it. In either case affairs there would be very different from what they are at present, and the stopping of the works alluded to was significant of the danger the English Cabinet thought our position as regards Turkey was subjected to. But to resume the direct narrative. No answer having bean received from Riza Pasha, Sir Paget Seymour himself went up to Cettinge, the capital of Montenegro, to interview the authorities regarding the steps to be taken to obtain the cession of Dulcigno from the Albanians. He was away two days, and on his return on Saturday, the 25th, it was arranged that the fleet should start for the latter place on the Monday. The Porte now positively refused to cede Dulcigno unless the naval coercion was abandoned, the Albanians threatened tho arrest, of the various foreign Consuls, and the English Consular Staff left Scutari. In order, presumably, to give the Sultan time to reflect on his words, the starting of tho fleet was then delayed for two days, and in the meantime the Porte addressed itself to Montenegro, and asked that State to delay the steps it had taken to obtain possession of Dulcigno, as tho Turkish Government was not yet ready to enforce the cession. Moreover, Riza Pasha, evidently more at ease in treating with Montenegro than with the combined Powers, declared that if their troops crossed the frontier into Albania, the step would be deemed a casus belli. But the Montenegrins at once appealed to the Admirals of the fleets, and asked them to aid them in seizing|the coveted territory, and, not altogether trusting in the efficacy of the naval demonstration, begged that some other steps might be taken. The Admirals thereupon referred to their respective Governments for instructions, and so the matter at present rests. [Since the above was in type this evening's telegrams throw a doubt on the likelihood of the naval demonstration being carried out. Prance has latterly hung back, and England and Russia, a curious brotherhood, are now, apparently, the only Great Powers who wish to seo the programme through. The eagerness of Montenegro has overshot the mark.]