NARRATIVE OF THE MONTH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 214, 10 September 1877, Page 2

NARRATIVE OF THE MONTH.

(By Electric Telegrapii.)

Wellington, September 8. Tha San Francisco correspondent of the N. Z. Times writes as follows under date August 15:^

As you will doubtless have heard before this the Russians suffered severe reverses in Bulgaria. Their defeats are all traceable to the disaster at Plevna. The purpose of the Russian generals obviously was to wheel round their right and left wings into a line parallel with the Balkans, taking Tirnova as the pivot, and thus force Osman Pasha and Mehemet Ali hack across the mountains on their respective lines of retreat. This accomplished, Osman Pasha and Mehemet Ali were to be prevented from effectiuj*- a junction by the forces under General "°Gourka, which were in the meanwhile to have established themselves south of the Balkans. The Russian campaign would then have been in no danger of failure or serious interruption The promenade across tlie Danube and over the Balkans, while the Turks remained idle in their camps and fortresses, was sufficient to justify the idea of the Russians that they had ouiy to advance to ensure that the Turks would retreat. It was this feeling that led the Russians into the fatal ambush of Plevna and which again sent an inferior force to avenge that disaster on a victorious army in a fortified position. The result is that the Russians have been checked in the campaign and cannot make any progress until they have shaken off Mehemet Ali and Osman Pas In from their flauks. Meanwhile Gonrka's army was defeated by the concentration ' and organisation of Suliemau Pasha's army the Roumanian railway all the time being'mouopolised by the despatch of reinforcements frcm the c imp at Kischeneff. It is alleged that Dobrudscha will be almost wholly evacuated, and that Zimmerman's corps will return via Sistova to the central army. The Turkish plan, it is believed, is for' Osman Pasha to fight his way eastward, and Mehemet Ali to advance westward up to Tirnova while Sulieman Pasha endeavors to force the Russian position at the Shipka Pass, but in doing this Osman Pasha must expose his left flank to the risk of being turned from the direction of Nicopolis, thus facilitating the Russian plan of pivoting ou Tirnova^ and forcing him to retire behind the Balkans. Mehemet Ali would incur some danger from the Russians between Rustchukand Rasgrad while Suliemau Pasha must attack the Russians in a position of their own choice It is •supposed that the Turkish plan does not look very promising unless the Russians aid it by mistakes like those made at Plevna but it may with skilful handling serve to keep the Russians in check until the cani-

paigmng season is over, which would be for the Turks the next thing to absolute victory. Both Russia and Turkey are submitting to a terrible strain on their resources to win a decided advantage in this campaign. It would seem from apparently well authenticated reports of murder and rapine by the Bashi-Bazouks, Bulgarians, aud Cossacks, that the war is fast assuming a character of savage cruelty, which threatens to make it a war of extermination for all the inhabitants of the territory invaded, whether Christian or Mahommedan. The Grand Duke Nicholas displays remarkable energy in moving rapidly from place to place, and inspiring confidence in his troops. With regard to the Plevna lines a London special, dated Aug. 11, says the Russians have 85,000 men before Plevna, aud are preparing to carry the position regardless of cost. The works have been greafly strengthened since the last great battle, and the morale of the Turks has been improved by their late ivictory. The Russians have found a difficulty in raising troops in Russian-Poland, all the men from eighteen to forty-eight years of age being registered preparatory to calling out a general levy. The Russians experience a serious difficulty in filling the ranks of the Landwehr in consequence of the reluctance of men with wives to come forward. To obviate this the Government have issued a notice that the men will not be required to go to the front but will merely take the place at home of the reserve and garrison troops. The manner in which the Landwehr is constituted legally precludes their employment out of Russia. Under the present call the city of Moscow is forming a volunteer legion, which it proposes to support until the end of the war. Marines continue to be sent south from Croustadt to join the fighting army. After Sulieman Pasha's auccess at Eski Saghra, the Russians were pursued by the Turkish forces as far as Hambaghay. The Grand Duke Nicholas is determined to convert the cabpaign from a political into a more military one. It has been the plan of tho Kussians hitherto to occupy a large tract of land with the greatest number of towns possible in every country, so that when peace might be concluded they might dictate conditions on the basis of an accomplished fact. The Grand Duke Nicholas was nearly captured at the late defeat of the Russians at Eski Saghra. Dinner had been prepared for him at Kesanlek, but he departed without partaking of it. Ahmet Pasha, who surrendered Nicopolis to the Russians, was afterwards interviewed atOrmah, and committed suicide. A Chicago Times London special correspondent says that the information as to the atrocities have created a very strong anti-Turkish feeling in England. A powerful Russian party is growing and assumin**- a position of prominence, and public sentiment is now in favor of the subjugation of the Turks and the settlement of terms of peace by Europe afterwards.