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Show TURKEY WANTS A HEAVY PRICE 4- Black Sea Fleet Can Pass Dardanelles Dar-danelles on Conditions. Berlin, March S. The porte hag thus far met the request of the Russian ambassador am-bassador to Turkey, M. Zinovieff, to permit the Black sea ileet to pass the Dardanelles by naming conditions wholly unacceptable" to liussia. Oraa of thtse conditions naturally is that Russia Rus-sia shall break off or evade the fulfillment fulfill-ment of her agreement with Austria respecting the Balkans, rive the sultan leave to settle the controversy by his j own methods, and assist Turkey, should Austria or other powers dispute the sultan's decision. Russia rejected thes-j proposals as preposterous, but she renewed re-newed her request to which there- seems little likelihood of the sultan yielding, as British diplomacy is active at C'oie stanlinople in urging on the porte a strict observance of the Berlin treaty. France, s-o far as can be perceived here, has not seconded Ru.isUi in this matter. Such a step as permitting- the Black sea fleet to pass through the Dardanelles Darda-nelles would be regarded diplomatically as a breach of neutrality on the part of Turkey, though Great Britain's opposition oppo-sition to it. being aimed at the maintenance main-tenance of the status quo, is not so considered. con-sidered. Russia's diplomatic weight at Constantinople has been somewhat reduced re-duced by the occurrences in the far east. The porte will give nothing without with-out a heavy price. 'Germany expresses no opinion on- the subject. The most that Germany Mill do in the presence of a bargain between Russia and Turkey Tur-key for the release of the Black sea fleet would be to maintain silence, neither nei-ther advising nor assisting either party. Tho government here is looking ahead. It can conceive of a time when it will be to Germany's advantage to have a portion of the Russian navy locked up. Austria and Italy are not moving at Constantinople where all the powers therefore, except Russia and Great Britain, are quiescent. Russia would not use the Dardanelles now if she could, in the opinion of experts ex-perts here, because her Black sea fleet is not ready for a far eastern campaign, and if it were ready, Russia would wait until her Baltic fleet is thoroughly equipped. It is believed that Russia could not hope for a decisive naval success suc-cess without the Baltic-, Black sea and Mediterranean squadrons uniting and proceeding east together, as otherwise they would be destroyed by piece-meal. French Sympathy. Paris, March 7. The municipal council has voted to send an tuldress to the municipality mu-nicipality of St. Petersburg expressing its sympathy with Russia in the war. The socialist members of the Paris council coun-cil abstained from voting. The council voted also the sum of for the succor of Russian and Japanese wrounded. ' f Russians Eetreated. London. March S. fabling from Pinj Yang. Korea, under date of March fi. a correspondent of the Daily Mail says that 2,000 Russian cavalrymen, with sevin guns, retreated last Wednesday through Kusong and Sonchon -toward W'iju. They destroyed the telegraph line. |