LETTERS FROM THE SEAT OF WAR.

New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 887, 14 October 1854, Page 3

LETTERS FROM THE SEAT OF WAR.

(From the special correspondent of the Daily News.) A Visit to the Turkish Camp. Shumla, June 12s There are now from .50,000 to 60,000 Turkish troops in Shumla and the neighbouring camps, but there are unmistakeablc signs that they will not lung remain where they are. The clothes ot those troops are rather the worse for wear, and their faces and bodies showed signs of exposure and privations of a campaign which for them has now lasted many months, and those months some of the severest and most trying that had been known for years past. Nevertheless, the physical condition of the troops is good} there are but 1,800 men in the hospitals of Shumla, and among the number of these are all the wounded in the last skirmishes, and the patients that were in the hospitals which have been removed from tlxe Dob • rudscha. The deaths from wounds and disease average about fifteen or twenty a day; and the diseases, typhus, variola, and camp fever, are less malignant than the experienced regimental surgeons to whom I spoke have found them in other countries and campaigns. Altogether the condition and morale of tbs Turkish army under Omar Pacha’s command is most satisfactory ; and slightly as these troops have been spoken of late, they will form an important and reliable element in the operations of the Allied nrinics. Outer Pacha has hitherto done aU in liis power to promote a good understanding with the leaders of the auxiliary corps : and his generalship, tried and proved in many a critical position, will no doubt weather the dangerous rock of professional envy and false ambition, Shumla will soon bo deserted. Already has the Turkish army commenced its movements, which will finally bring head quarters of the Mushir in the immediate vicinity of the Russian lines. On the 7th instant the advanced guard of the Turkish army, accompanied by Colonel Cannon, and Mr. M eye 11 of Her Majesty’s 73rd Regiment, left the camp to occupy part of the forest of Belirina, near Silistria. The forest, a most important stratsgetical feature, .though not mentioned on any of the maps which I have seen, is 19 miles long and 3 miles broad, and stocked with high oaks and dense biishwood. It opposes almost insurmountable difficulties to the march of a regular army, but it offers the greatest facilities to the operations of troops accustomed to guerilla warfare, who in these dense glades can play at hide and seek with their enemies,, harassing them within an inch of their lives, and yet never standing to accept a fight in the plain.

Another division left the camp this morning,, and followed in the track of the first, while several other corps are under marching orders for the next few dajrs. While the light division of the English army, serving as an advanced guard to the two armies, uses Devina as its pivot, from where it may either turn upon Silistria direct, or create a diversion in favour of that fortress by marching upon Bazaltshik and the Dobmdscha, Omer Pacha is about to remove his own corps from the heights of Shumla to the banks of the Danube to relieve Silistria, and, if a battle is offered, to accept it, and fight it out. His K raj ova division, late of Kalafat, is meanwhile advancing upon Slatina, and Halim Pacha, who conraands at Rusidiuk, has obediently to Omer Pacha’s instructions crossed the river to tiiurgevp, evidently for the purpose of diverting the Russian army in front of Silistria, by a threatened advance upon Slatina or Bucharest. Now that the matter is nearly ovi r I can safely say that the Russians have committed a grievousfault dn not taking Silistria,. They should have taken it at any price, and’at any sacrifice ofL\ei and men, The fortress is one of third-class order; its works are wretched. Its strength lies in the devotion of its garrison, and the prudent management of Major Geach, the chief engineer. Our own officers who have returned from Silistria are astounded. Captain Symons of the Engineers, who came in yesterday, declared that the renowned defence of Saragossa was as nothing compared to the defence of Silistria. That may be so ; but since neither the Turks nor the Russians are historical nations, since the latter never tell the truth about anything, while the former never tell any tiling at all, the'glorious defence of Silistria will scarcely be known and appreciated by the generations that come after us. I will, however, do ray best to make it known for tne day and the time being.

Let it, therefore, be understood, tliat the town of Silistria has long since been destroyed by the hailstones of bombs and shells which, for weeks past, have incessantly fallen upon it—that the works, not very strong even at the best of times, have for weeks past resisted the assults of a large army, conducted by General Schilders, and encouraged by the presence of the Princes Paskiewitch and Gortschakoff. And yet after many weeks the Russians have gained no advantage, as the very outer works have resisted them ; if taken by the Russians, they were at once retaken by the Turks. The Arab Tabia (or stones), for instance, a mere earthwork, has been taken and retaken half-a-dozen times, and is now occupied by a party of Avnonts, who by deeds have pledged their words i hat they will never leave it. Whatever bits of wall there may have been have long since been smashed by the artillery, and nothing remains but a few mounds of earth, behind which these brave fellows have dug holes, in which they lie, and from which they repulse all attacks. You will, no' doubt, have been informed of the death of the - commander of Silistria. A shell struck him while he was. at prayer. His death has not even slightly discouraged the garrison. He was but one brave man among many.