CABLEGRAMS.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 182, 4 January 1878, Page 3

CABLEGRAMS.

* (neuter's Telegrams to Press Agenoy.) ■ « London, December 24. The Czar has reached St. Petersburg. • There are snow blocks everywhere on the Varna and Roumanian railways. . The troops suffer terribly, 11 men and 30 horses were frozen to death close to Bucharest. The Queen opens Parliament in person. December 26. The Turks, are preparing to evacuate Sophia. Seventy thousand Turks are leaving the quadrilateral for Adrianople. Several Russian bridges were broken by ice drifting down the Danube. Sulieman Pasha has garrisoned the quadrilateral, and is concentrating the rest of his troops at Adrinople, The Russians are investing Ersjeroum. December 27. The Servians captured Akpalatika, Leaeonivatz, and Kurchumeje after severe fighting. They afterwards crossed the.' river at Morava and commenced bombarding Nisch; The fall of Erzeroum is imminent. T!h-e oarly opening of the BritijlH Parlia-

I " ment has encouraged the -Porte to resist. ; and increased confidence is felt at Constantinople. N December 29. After two days' fighting, the Servians ' captured Pivot. Mukhtar Pasha has gone to Ersumgian leaving Ismail Pasha in command . •The Whitehall Review states that the* Premier intends proposing that Parliament accept tlie suzerainty of Egypt with the Sultan's and Khedive's consent. The Austrian reply to the Turkish note intimates that they will only permit Russia to conclude j>eace on the basis of the Treaty of Paris. The}' will not sanction the dismemberment of Turkey, nor allow the Black Sea to become a Russian lake. December 31. A Russian semi-official note states that the British Government have intimated to the Russian Government that in the event of certain contingencies arising, . national feeling may force England to defend; her British interests in the East." It is officially stated that Russia is now willing to consider direct Turkish proposals for peace. Mukhtar Pasha has been recalled to Stamboiil. An attack by torpedo vessels on the Turkish fleet at BatoUm failed. Tlie Channel fleet and the ships under repair have been put in commission, and all ordered to be ready for sea by the 16th instant. Count Andrassy, according to the Government organ at Pesth, states that Austria was forced temporarily to join the triple alliance, but will support England the moment she decides upon a resolute policy. .Tomiary 1. Russia has refused Lord Loftus's proposed mediation. If Turkey desires au armistice, she must apply direct to the Russian Commander-in -Chief. Midhat Pasha has left Rome for London . It is reported at Bucharest that the Turks have abandoned and burned Sophia. The Ozarewitch remains in Bulgaria, with Todleben as chief of his staff. Numerous meetings have been held in England regarding Earl Beaconsrield's supposed war policy. The anti-war feel- . ing predominates. [Special to thr Argus.] December 28. Austria has forbidden Servian operations iii Bosnia and Herzegovina. The British Fleet has quitted BeS3ika Bay for the Gulf of Volo. A Russian frigate captured a Turkish transport, with 875 soldiers. A special to the Melbourne Argus, sent immediately after the fall of Plevna, includes the following incredible item of news : — It is asserted that Plevna could have held out, and that Osman Pasha wai bought/ The honours paid him by the Czar are only a blind. Russia will now make peace, Turkey being deprived of all territory north of the Balkans, and giving Russia the right to control the passage of the Dardanelles. — < i im