Long telegrams are reaching England about the relations between Austria
and the Porte, which of late have been rather "strained." As far as we can gather from them, Austria wants not only that a system of Railways in Turkey should be con- nected with her own, but that they should be constructed by Austrian concessionnaires; while the Turks would rather not have the railways, or if that is impossible, would like them in their own hands. A body of financiers in Vienna, interested in con- cessions, would seem to be pressing the Austrian Foreign Office, and so bitter is the dispute that it will probably lead to a change of Ministry in Turkey, the Sultan recalling Malunoud Pasha. Since the temporary effacement of France and the retirement of Great Britain from foreign business, the " pressure " on the Porte has become so severe that Turkish Ministries seem to exist only at the pleasure of the three remaining embassies, and a Grand Vizier may disappear because some speculator in Vienna thinks he is in the way. If this lasts there will be a catastrophe in Con- stantinople, where the old Mussulman party, which detests all this interference, and with all its vices has some national pride, is rapidly regaining power.
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