The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 87, 18 May 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1877.

Diplomacy has failed in settling the Eastern question, the solution of which has been left to the arbitrament of the sword, and that sword has been unsheathed and stained with blood. So far as the war has progressed the Russians appear to have gotten the worst of it. After their advance had been checked at several minor points, an attempt to cross the Danube in force has resulted in signal failure. , This attempt seems to have been made at Reni, a small town about twelve miles below Galatz, and situated at a point where the river Pruth joins the Danube. Accordingto Turkish accounts, the Russians were defeated with great loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners. At Kars, too,

where such a gallant defence was made jby the Turks under an English commander during the Crimean war, .and I which" only surrendered after famine, had done its work, —the Russians have been, twice heavily repulsed, and at length compelled to retire. At the bejEpnning of the campaign, it was thought, by some, that the great power of Russia backed by her vast resources, would meet with but feeble opposition from the Turks, who, would be crushed by the immense forces which Russia would bring against them. It was conjectured that the march of the armies of the Czar, would be a series of conquests, and that in describing theni, Cesar's memorable words, " Veni, vidi, vici," might with truth bo repeated. It is no; so, however. The power of the Muscovite has received a decided check, whilst the star of the followers of Islam appears in the ascendant. What the final result of the struggle will be, it is at present impossible to predicate. 'We believe that if the belligerents are let alone,'if they receive no aid from other power's, that the war will not last so very long ; and for these reasons—both are heavily in debt, but have not, to any great extent, the command of the sinews of war, money—and the credit of both is bad. That Russia has not found her task so easy as she imagined is evident, since, unaided and depending solely on her own resources, Turkey has hitherto successfully kept in check the advances of her imperious foe. She appears no longer as " the sick man just at the point of dissolution" but as instinct with , vigorous life. A little consideration will in some measure account for this. The people who form the mass of the inhabitants of the Turkish Empire, have not been subjected to the same enervating influences as their rulers, and, as a natural consequence, they have not sunk into the same indolence and sloth. They make good soldiers, and fight bravely, and when well officered most obstinately witness their gallant defence of Kars during the late war. They fight not only for their country but for their religion, and under the belief that to be slain in battle is, immediate entrance into Paradise. Men actuated by such motives and having confidence in their commanders will dare to do almost anj-' thing that can be accomplished by mortal '■man. And this, wo believe, to be the secret of the success which has lately orowned the Turkish arms. It is well known that several English officers have taken service under the Porto, and, it is not at all improbable, that Englishmen may have commanded at the recent conflicts with the Russians, or if not exactly in command, they may have so influenced the movements of the Turkish troops as materially to have contributed to the results of those movements.

Ostensibly, the end of Russia in entering on this war, is to protect the Christian subjects of the Porte from cruelty and oppression and to secure for them equal civil rights with the Moslem. A noble end truly, and one which it is hoped will be arrived at. But is not this end, grand and noble as it is, only put forward as a mask to conceal the real springs of Muscovite action. From the time of Peter the Great down to when the Czar Nicholas, likening Turkey to a sick man, coolly proposed the dismemberment and spoliation of that empire, the policy of Russia has been that of conquest, annexation, and aggrandisement, and, is it not possible that the present movement on her part may be only a stejs towords the same end ? England has hitherto remained neutral. She joined with Russia in attempting to influence the Porte at once to carry into effect the reforms demanded in.the administration of his government, but failing in that she declined to unsheath the sword at Russia's bidding. ..Those at) the head of the Government have, however, emphatically declared that they will protect English honours and the interests of English subjects. Meanwhile, according to the brief reports flashed along the electric wire, the majority of the House of Commons has declared in favour of neutrality.