THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 1168, 18 July 1877, Page 2

THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

The following . U from the letter of the ban Francisco correspondent of the- N.'Z* 1 imes: — • San Francisco, June 20. Recent wars have so accnstomed us to a rapid progress of what newspaper writers call tremendous events, consequent upon a declaration of war, that all the world expected a sewes.of these great incidents in a Swath or six weeks at least after the Tsar had unfurled his banner against the Sultan. But when the time allotted by public expectation had expired, and the news which came day by day from Rounmnia and along the line of the Danube was literally no news, Jbeing at its best merely conjectural as to what might happen, everyone began to ask in the language of poor Artemus Ward, why this thusness? Well, at last, under date two days before the mail steamer left San franciaco", we had information afforded to us from what professed to be a weU informed source of the causes which had led to the slow movements of the Russians on the Danube. It was positively stated then that a fort- j. night or so at least would have to expire before the Russians could be read y to undertake operations along" the line of the river - owing to the * , IMPERFECT STATE OF RUSSIAN PREPARATIONS, which were found to be very backward indeed when the Tsar arrived ac Ployesti, and took up his quarters there. No secret could be made of the fact that he expressed his high and mighty displeasure at the little progress made towards active hostilities on" a large scale. Despite the obstacles caused by the rains, be considered that more might have been done. And there is no doubt more might have been done, and perhaps would have been done, had it not been for a want of co-operation and harmony, extending even to those occupying very high positions. The autocrat of All the Russias was particularly hard on the backwardness shown in the establishment of magazines close to the Danube, and the collection of materials for throwing bridges across the river, which he considered in a very miserable state indeed. Since the Tsar's arrival, fresh energy has been infused into all the preparations; but this at first was somewhat neutralised by various RAILWAYS BREAKING DOWN. • Those who do not believe in immediate operations being undertaken, explain the' present movements of the Russian troops by the supposition that the Commander-in-Chief has fouud reason to considerably modify his plans, and that according, to his new arrangement, the MOVEJIENTS OP THE RUSSIAN FORCES will be:— Six out of eight of the army corps are to be concentrated on a comparatively short line between Giurgevo and Islacz, on the river Aluta. Both opinions are fouiided on observations made on the spot at Giurgevo. Steam launches have arrived, and a large-sized train is being collected, while the ; eighth, eleventh, aud twelfth army corps are ready to converge on that point on the Aluta behind Turin. The ninth corps is in waiting, and the thirteenth is on the march to join it. The fourteenth corps is in Galats, and will proceed westward, and probablycross about Kalarch with the fourth corps. Ostentatious demonstrations are being made in the neighborhood of Brahilov, Reni, and ' Ismail, but these are considered to be merely feints. In the meantime, as to the condition of the enemy the Russians have to meet, the correspondent of the London Times with the Sultan's forces sends particulars of the NUMBERS AND DISPOSITION Oj« THE TURKISH ARMY OF THE DANUBE. He says it is rather deficient in artillery and very deficient in cavairy, the only reason for this state of things being want of money. The Turkish Government have 400 breach loading cannon lying idle afe Constantinople, but want horses and harness. They have multitudes of well qualified dragoons, but no money to mount them The armament of the troops in the field is I however almost perfect. The infantry have Martini-Henry rifles, and the cavalry Winchester rifles. According to the most trustworthy information the present strength of the army, inclusive of reserves in course of formation on the other side of the Balkans is 230 battalious of infantry, 72 squadrons of horse, 300 cannon, and about 8000 fortress artillerymen and engineers, Of these 4§ fcittaljons are stationed at Widdin, 36 at Rustchuk, 67 at Shumla, 28 at Varna, and 36 at Silistna The remaining 20 battalions are divided between Nicoplis, Sisfcova, Turtukai, and the Dodrudscha, and various places of more or less importance in Bulgaria livery battalion ou an average may be assumed to contain 750 men. The contributions from Nisch are considerably below this standard, but numerous relief battalions have 1000 men and more ; therefore, the total number of infantry is about 172,500, and of cavalry reckoning 100 men to the squdrou 7200. Accordingly the army of the Danube including fortress, artillery, and engineers is close on J>oo,ooo strong ; but the TURKISH FORCES TOTALLY WAST ORGANISATION. there being an utter absence of everything that is indispensable in tactical unity and system. Until within a few weeks ago there were no divisions, brigades, or regiments Battalions lay scattered about, of tea mthont

kknqwing, from whom, they had to receive t W? ; v The army is Virtually directed from \ Constantinople, where .all movements acd I planned and orders issued by a so-called i copnpil of : war, composed of a number of genej rah who are tnere puppets in\the hands of a ,' teifjgaoran.fi upstsats. ■ Abdul Keritupasha is the mere executor of the will of^this body. He undoubtedly possesses military experience and a sharp judicious eye; but is wholly wanting in energy and power of rapid action. To the natural incapacity of the commander-in-chief in tins respect mast beadded thecir- ; cumstances that he is seconded by no general -staff. • ' ' ■■*,"■ TURKISH FORTRESSES WONDEBFDLLY STRONG, As regards the fortresses in European Turkey incredible results have been accomplished. Widiu, Rustchuk, Silistria, Shumla and Varna, especially the last two, are now quite formidable fortifications, which almost entirely consist of independent works, mostly of earth, but constructed in strict conformity . .with _ modern principles of fortification. {„T heir armament, too, leaves nothing to be , depefil •■. j \, J L i'-. .-..'-. THE- NEW RUSSIAN to AX Which after all was, it is thought, essential - rfo active operations, as Russia is pretty in- ; solvent, was foe 75,000,000 dollars, and the ■ London,. Times says it was first offered to I houses in the English metropolis, and refused. ■3 Ifc. was then resolved to offer it at Paris and Berlin. It is stated that the issue price was 70, and that a syndicate had taken the loan at a price so far below'this figure as to leave ; an : aftfple margin^ in face of the fact that an internal forced loan of 100,000,000 roubles i ,'jW"? 1130 keen-decreed. - This borrowing does flat Indicate "a healthy state of financial [ the contrary, it -shows a rapid exHaustion" of resources. Whilst Russia shows money "embarrassment, Turkey has'fiad recourse to an old source for raising : P the; wind. The Shfeik Tl Islam recently sent delegations of doctors of law to the Scherif of Mecca, the direct descendant of the Prophet, for the purpose of demanding funds from .the Treasury of Islam to be applied in defence of the Islam faith. This treasure is ■fdnued from the annual offerings of pilgrims .. which are. accumulated, oa the treasure of Mecca. The Scherif of Mecca receives an average of .15,00 ',000^ francs in annual offer--1 ings; ■ One offering chest was opened during the Russo-Turkish war of 1828, and several sums were withdrawn, but it was again closed. A second chest was opened in 1854 ■ during the Crimea war, but the third has not been opened since 1415, and it is conjectured that the accumulation of money i." the last naniedroffertory chest cannofc be less than 25(",O00,00O francs, and it it is fully believed that the total amount of the treasure of Islam will exceed 600,000,000 francs, and ev;en a much larger sum. j DESTRUCTION OP A TURKISH MONITOR. A New York Herald correspondent at headquarters at Ploj'esti describes the destruction of a Turkish monitor on the Danube thus:— Pour gunboats left Brahilov on the 25 th ; about two hours steaming brought the gunboats to where the Turkish ironclads lay, and without delay the signal to attack was given. Lieutenant Dentasoff, with the gunboafe Tsarowitch, ran between the Turkish ironclads without paying attention to the heavy fire. Selecting the largest he ran his gunboat alongside, and succeeded . in exploding a torpedo uuder the enemy's side, causing a bad leak, but not damaging - her sufficiently to disable her. This partial failure was soon remedied by the gunboat Xenia, which had closely followed Tsarowitcb, and approaching the Turkish monitor succeeded in exploding under her a second torpedo. This brilliant action did not occupy more than twenty minutes from the moment of giving the signal to attack, until the withdrawal of the Russian gunboats. During the attack, the Turks kept up a constant fire i : iupon their assailants, but the aim of the artillerists was so bad that not a single Russian was struck. The effect of the torpedo i attack is likely to prove very demoralising to the Turkish fleet in the Danube, and it , definitely settles the question of the value of \ the Turkish fleet in preventing the passage of the Danube, and will probably induce the j Turkish ironclad's to remove f roiii the danger- ! ous neighborhood of the Russian gunboats. The Turkish army on the Danube has not lost spirit however. The London Times Rustchuk correspondent writes as follows:— The 20,000 odd troops at this garrison are the perfection of soldiers. They are brown open-faced, big-shouldered fellows, perfectly resigned to any fate Allah may hare for them, with perfect faith in their bankrupt Government, for which they shout " Salaam" every evening at sunset.