THE WAR IN TURKEY.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 964, 28 July 1877, Page 3

THE WAR IN TURKEY.

[From the “Melbourne Daily Telegraph.”] The news from the seat of war is growing more exciting as the troops advance, and it is evident that the hour for slaughter is fast approaching in the Danubian provinces. The Russian troops have lost no time in marching southward from the crossing point at Sistova, and our cable message this morning states that they are advancing upon Selvi and Plevna, somewhat important towns on the main road from the Danube to the Balkan Pass at Kezanlik. Plevna is twenty miles south of Nikopoll, and Selvi is nearly forty miles further along the same road, in the direction of the Balkans, but between these two places is the beautiful town of Lovtcha, through which the Russian army must pass to join the contingent at Selvi. In his description of this route Colonel Baker says Lovtcha is one of the quaintest and most picturesque places he had ever seen. It is a straggling town, built in a deep and winding cleft of basaltic rocks, which rise up in lofty anti precipitous walls around, while trees and minarets thrust themselves up between the houses here and there, and add to the general effect. The rapid-flowing Osma, about 100 yards wide, runs through the town under the arches of a new stone bridge which would do credit to any country. The houses have overhanging eaves, and roofs covered with great irregular yellow slates more than an inch thick, and the pretty Bulgarian women, in their picturesque costumes, may be seen sitting at the doors of their houses, with their children spinning the woollen threads into household cloth. This is the territory which is to be devastated by war. A little further along the road, at the point where it junctions with the highway from Rustchuk, is the fortified town of Tirnova, within twenty miles of the foot of the Balkans, which must fall before the advancing arms of the Czar. Tirnova, like Lovtcha, is built in a great basaltic basin, with a rapid river—the Jantra—flowing through it, and which has such a winding course that it nearly makes an island of a <n-eat portion of the rock upon which stands the citadel. The depth of the cleft varies from 1000 ft to 500 ft. The houses are built on a plateau, and on the sides of the cliffs where they arc sufficiently sloping to permit of it. Tirnova is a very strong position, but no advantage lias been taken of the natural defences. It was formerly the seat of the Bulgarian kings after their power was driven north of the Balkans, and in those days it must, in a military sense, have been a position of great strength. The neighbouring country is prettily laid out with vineyards, gardens, orchards, and villas, which give it a familiar European aspect. Here and there portions of an old Roman highway, probably of the time of Trajan, are to be met with, paved with large flat stones, which still have the smooth polish, created by the ancient traffic, and the kerbstones along the ed<*e look as though the road had but lately been repaired. The modern roads are hard and well-formed, and are described as the best met with outside London, so that there will be no obstacle in the nature of bad around for the invaders to march over. The whole of the country betw'een the places named is divided into large estates, belonging generally to Turkish Pashas and beys, whose families have inherited them for generations, and the tenants and laborers arc usually Bulgarian Christians. Along this line the Russians are now sending their troops, and when they have massed in sufficient force, no doubt the Balkan passes will be threatened at this point. Our telegram mentions that it is geoeraUy reported th 4 alliaiwo has

been concluded between Servia and Roumania, and it is semi-officially stated at St. Peters burg that an alliance will not affect the relations existing between Austria and Russia. Anticipating this action an English writer says : —“ It is not worth while to dwell upon the treachery displayed by that little state in its recent policy. Plutarch long ago observed that perfidy is the resource of the weak ; and the feebleness of Prince Charles and the unwarlike character of his people constitute perhaps a sufficient excuse for their tortuous policy. Roumania has made war upon Turkey, and now, to all intents and purposes, has declared its independence of the Sublime Porte. This can only be described as an act of almost amusing audacity. Roumania exists by the good pleasure of the Great Powers of Europe, and it has neither the right to assert its independence, nor the capacity to support the declaration.” Turkey, however, can ill afford to have these two provinces thrown into the Russian scale, and it is to be feared that the new turn affairs have thus taken may lead to further complications, upon which it would not be safe to speculate. In Asia the Ottoman troops continue their victorious march, and the left wing of the enemy has been driven over the border into his own territory, whilst Muhktar Pasha has joined the garrison at Kars, and taken up the position which the Russians have been compelled to evacuate. So long as the Balkans remain between the enemy and Constantinople, the Turkish position cannot bo described as critical, and there is every reason to believe that the passage of this range will tax the utmost resources of Russia, with the disaffected provinces to boot.