THE WAR IN THE EAST.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 702, 19 September 1876, Page 3

THE WAR IN THE EAST.

Progress op Events. [From the Home News , July 27th.J A fortnight ago it was reported that the Servians had gained what, had the statement been true, would have constituted a very important success. The direct road from Sofia, the Turkish head-quarters in Bulgaria to Belgrade, is through the valley of the Morava, which roughly "speaking, bisects the province of Servia. The last Turkish fortress along the route in Bulgaria is Niasa, the first Servian fortress Alexinatz. Midway between these is the difficult mountain pass of Ak Palanka, and this position the Servian general had, it is said, acquired. So far from this being the case, a force sent by the Servians against Ak Palanka, has been, it seems, without difficulty beaten off Thus, it will be seen by reference to the map —and perhaps the clearest of the many war charts published is that now before us, Messrs W. H. Smith and Sons’ —that not merely has Osman Pasha, against whom Tchernayeff pitted himself, and the other Turkish commanders, been able to hold the Servians at bay on the east and south-east—-in which direction only Prince Milan’s troops could possibly make an effective advance into Turkish territory—but that on all sides the Turkish troops, reinforced by large detachments, are closing round the Servians. Moreover it is stated that the Egyptian battalions have already arrived at Metrowitza, which is the terminus of the Salonica Railway, whence they may march towards Novi Bazar on the west or Nissa on the east, to join the Turkish army. Meanwhile, Servia is being drained of its money and men. Notwithstanding the rumors of national enthusiasm, it is certain that there is a strong party which objects to the war, the Minister of the Interior having been waited on by a deputation at Belgrade, which has demanded with threats that the Government shall publish “ a list of the killed and wounded Servians, and true reports on the events at the theatre of the war,” while Prince Milan is declared to have solicited the kindly offices of the Czar in securing favorable terms of peace. The general situation may be summed up in these words—that Servia finds, first, that she underrated, as did the French in 1870, the power of her enemies ; secondly, that she overrated the impatience of the neighboring provinces, especially Bulgaria, of the Turkish rule. The Daily News correspondent, writing from Belgrade on July 25th, says;—“The Servian war has virtually collapsed. The greatest despondency reigns in Belgrade among those best acquainted with the situation, and although at head-quarters men strive to show a good front, there is much gloom at heart. I have some reason to believe that an offer of mediation on the part of Great Britain would be favourably entertained by Prince Milan’s advisers. I have my fears that they are victims of Russian intrigue, and are buoyed up by the chimera of Russia’s active intervention, superinduced by tbe reported enthusiasm of the Russian soldiery for the Servian cause. Captain Germanz, Prince Milan’s personal aide-de-camp, has left head-quarters at Paratjin with a Russian officer who has been staying there for some days. “ A surgeon has informed me that about one-third of the wounds in the Belgrade hospitals are from sabres and bayonets, showing the desperate character of the fighting. The Servian policy now appears to be a purely defensive one on the eastern and western frontiers.”

The reports of a Droposed mediation between the belligerents in Turkey which have been circulating during the past week are, the Eastern Budget has reason to believe, without foundation. There is no intention to mediate until a decisive blow has been struck on one side or the other.

The same paper understands that the report that the Porte has protest d against the closing of the harbour of Kick is unfounded. The Turkish Government has expressed its “ regret ” at the measure, without contesting its justice or legality. The demands of Roumania have been rejected by all the Powers, iu conformity with the principle of non-intervention which has been generally adopted regarding the present conflict iu the Bast.

The Servian Government has, at the re* qnest of the Austro-Hungarian Consul-

General at Belgrade, removed all its coastguards on the Danube between Belgrade and the Iron Gate, thus leaving the navigation of the river free, as provided by the fifteenth article of the Treaty of Paris. Turkish Atrocities. The following account of the atrocities committed by Turkish irregular troops in Bulgaria is from a letter by the Daily News correspondent in Belgrade:— “ It is difficult as yet to obtain positive estimates on the particulars of the havoc wrought by the Bashi-Bazouks in the district of Philippopolis. The insecurity of the roads is so great, that no Christian ventures to visit the destroyed towns and villages, in order to ascertain by personal inspection the extent of the devastation. For this reason, while some estimate the loss of innocent life at 25,000 men, women, and children, others believe it does not rise above the figure of 12,000 It is not only in the villages which defended themselves against the plunderons attacks of the Bashi-Bazouks that no distinction was made of guilt, sex, or age ; in the first weeks of the revolt, all Bulgarians found on the highways in thecazasof Philippopolis and Tatar-Bazardjik were mercilessly massacred. As regards the loss of property it is simply incalculable. Countless a*e the families which have been plundered of everything they possessed. The system followed by the has been 'this. As soon as they perceived, on their way to the insurgent district, a Bulgarian village, they deputed emissaries to demand tha arms of the inhabitants. If the demand was agreed to. as was generally the case, the arms were collected, houses plundered, and the inhabitants tortured for money; if not, if the least sign of resistance was shown, the village was attacked, taken by assault, the inhabitants massacred or dispersed, and the houses pillaged and burnt. Some sixty large and small villages were burnt in this way; about 4000 families have been left houseless and penniless to beg in the towns, to feed upon grass in the mountains, or to starve. While life and property suffered in this terrible way, honor fared no better. Many are the young women who have been carried off from the destroyed villages—in some cases for a few days only, in others, perhaps, for ever—to form part of their captors’ harems. A good many children have been also carried oft, to be converted to Mohammedanism, and kept as drudges. All these horrors, all these wanton massacres and outrages, were committed in many cases under the very eyes of the civil and military authorities. There is this thing besides to be noticed in connection with them, that no plea of reprisals can be put forward in their favour. It is true that at Avratalan and Yeni-Cun some sixty Turks were murdered by the insurgents ; but no case has been proved of.a Turkish woman or child having been put to death by the Bulgarians, at least in the district of Philippolis ; while as regards the general conduct of the insurgents towards Europeans, and even Turks who submitted to give up their arms to them, the European officials of Baron Hirsch’s establissemcnt forcstier at Bellova speak of the Bulgarian disturbers of order in terms which contrast very strongly with the language of the railway officials with respect to the behaviour of the Turkish restorers of peace, the Bashi-Bazouks. Want of discipline is not alone sufficient to explain the frightful excesses of these irregulars. It is now positively ascertained that both political and religious authorities have been guilty of the most inconsiderate appeals to the worst passions of the Turkish populace. The highest officials in Philippopolis have been heard to declare that all Christians were revolutionaries, and ought as such to be hunted down and massacred, as the Padishah did not want any more to have Ghiaours for subjects. There is also a stray current of imams preaching to all those who engaged in the holy war against the Ghiaours, that every piece of Christian property pilfered was a legitimate acquisition for a faithful, and that every Moslem who killed one priest and thirty-three Christians was certain of a place in Paradise. I give this report on the authority of the ViceConsul in Philippopolis. As regards the other assertions in the concluding paragraph, incredible as they appear, they are all facts, and I am even prepared to give the names of the officials who have been guilty of such enormous excesses of language. Doctrines like these, and the impunity shown to offenders by the Central Government, have excited the fanaticism of the ignorant Mussulman masses to such a point that peace is henceforward impossible in Turkey, unless Europe takes prompt steps to put an end to a state of things which has become unbearable.” Latest Particulars. The following is a summary of progress of the war in Turkey up to the time the mail steamer left San Francisco, as published by the Daily Times-. The Tinook river for many miles divides the North western boundary of Bulgaria, Turkish Province, from Scrvia. An extensive delta lying between this river and the Danube was the starting point of the Servian war. Ahmed Byoub, or Snob Pasha, the Turkish General, established head quarters at Nish, and divided his army, numbering between 150,000 and 200,000 men, into two divisions, extending his lines northwards through the delta to Widin, Bulgaria, a town on the Danube. Osman Pasha assumed command of the northern division, operating from Widin. Tchermajeff, the Servian General, with 120,000 men, half of whom were volunteers and irregular troops, established his northern army, about 25,000 troops, at Saitschar, a Servian border town, under General Horavatovitch. The Servian lines extended south to Alexinatz, in the valley of the river Moravia. Issuing a stirring appeal calling on the Balkan Provinces to rise in the name of liberty, the Servian General crossed the Turkish frontier into Bulgaria at two points, commencing hostilities near Nish in the south, and Agath. the Turkish army operating from Widin in the north. Tchermajeff’a plan was manifestly to carry the war into Turkish territory, relying on the rising of disaffected Bulgarians to aid the Servian army and harass the Turkish troops. A series of engagements ensued between both divisions of the contending armies, with great slaughter, the Servians, owing to their smaller numbers, suffering most severely, but resisting with great courage the attempt to force the war upon Servian ground. After severe fighting, the Servian army in the north was driven across the Tinook river, twenty-five miles from Widin, falling back upon Saitschar. Osman Pasha built bridges across the Tinook, and assumed the offensive against the town, driving the Servians down the valley to the Tinook. The Turkish army took possession of Saitchar, which was evacuated, the defenders falling back with the intention of joining the main body of the Servian army between Alexinatz and Parakia, Meanwhile

Eyoub Pasha who had also forced the Servians into their own territory, continued his march northwards, driving the southern front of the Servian army back on Gorgucheratz, a town between a high mountain range, and the Bulgarian boundary, situated at the junction of two branches on the Tinook, and commanding the road along the valley to Saitschar, and through the ranges to Balya and Alexinatz. After five days’ fighting before Gorgucheratz, the Servian troops evacuated that town and fell back on the main body of Tchermajeff’s army at Alexinatz and the more northerly town in the Moravian valley, Perekia. It was be lieved that General Tchcrnr.jefl, in evacuating Gorgucheratz, had effected a strategic movement with the intention of taking up a standing position at the head of the mountain passes commanding Alexinatz, but latest telegrams via America state that the Turks, contrary to expectation, had pushed through the ranges to Bungar without opposition. Alexinatz had been strongly garrisoned by an entrenched camp of 20,000 Servian troops, with redoubts and earthworks two hours’ march in the rear. Women and children were hurrying on to Parakin, and every preparation was being made for a struggle. Colonel Beckar, with another body of Servians, had been stationed on the northern road from Saitschar into the Moravian Valley, expecting the approach of Osman Pasha from that direction to form a junction with Syoub Pasha This was the position when the mail steamer left San Francisco, but cablegrams to the 30th August announce that the right wing of the Turkish army had been routed at Alexinatz, and retreated, the Servians taking the offensive. The Turks, while keeping the enemy in check, will probably press forward against the Servian capital—Belgrade on the Danube —penetrating and laying waste the verv heart of Servia.

England has intimated to the Porte that the atrocities of Bulgaria must not be repeated now that the successes of the Turkish arras have placed a large extent of Servian territory at their mercy. Turning to Montenegro, military operations are much less complicated. Prince Nicholas, concentrating his army, crossed at once into the Turkish province of Albania, and gained several important victories against troops under Mukthar Pasha, driving them back upon Padgorrigza, a Northern Albanian town. The Turks at the latest advices were standing on the defensive, awaiting reinforcements. Late telegrams state that estimates published in Constantinople journals of the slaughter of peaceful villagers, men, women, and children, by Bashi Bazouks, vary from 12,000 to 40,000.