New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5027, 4 May 1877, Page 4

New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1877.

The necessarily brief telegrams that have reached us with regard to the RussTurkish war, and mistakes which have evidently occurred in the transmission of these same telegrams, have not unnaturally caused more than one writer in New Zealand, and not a few of the colonists; to be rather confused as to the exact progress of events in'the great struggle which now commands so much interest here. Taking, however, the telegrams which have lately appeared, and reading them in due sequence, it is possible, with certain assistance, to trace very clearly what has happened on the historic battle-grounds of the Moslem and the Slav. With the admirable work of .Major Russell on " Russian Wars with Turkey" before us, and looking'at the military maps, copies of which we intend to give our subscribers on Saturday and Monday next, it is quite easy to trace, so far, the movements ,' of the' opposing armies, and to point out their present positions. And this is all the more easy, because, as we have Baid, such lighting as has already occurred has.but repeated the history of localities. Many a dogged Russian now lies lifeless where little less than half a century ago his forefathers under Paskewitoh in many an encounter drove the turbanned hosts of the Seraskier, like dust in the winter breeze, into quick and incoherent rout. As a, result, while tracing the progress of the present war we' come continually upon localities and fortresses which the history of past fighting makes plain, whilst their names identify the line of march of the Russians.

The first war telegrams which we received, and which were dated London, April 26, told ua that Russia was pouring troops into Roumania, many of whom had already arrived at Galatz, and that, the Turks withdrawing, the Cossacks wore advancing on Kalafat. After noticing the movements of Prince Nitjca, of Montenegro, the telegram went on to state that 17,000 Russians liad crossed the Turkish frontier, and that a large force was on its way to the Danube. This telegram referred to movements in the two regionß whore, at the outset, it is alone possible that Russian and Turk can meet. All of it, except that as to the 17,000 Russians having crossed the border, concerns the district between,the Black Sea and Hungary (through which, by the permission or

otherwise of. Roumania, the Russians can only advance on the Danube) and the Turkish frontier in Europe. For reasons, which will afterwards appear, the telegrams stating that 17,000 Russians had crossed the Turkish frontier, refer to the other place in which attack can be made, namely, Asiastic Turkey, lying south of the Caucasus, and divided from that range of mountains by an irregularly-shaped strip of land, wrested from the Sultan by Russia in former years. The next telegrams received, dated London, March 27, gave contradictory reports of the results of the first encounter between the old foes ; but made it plain that no Russians had crossed the frontier of Turkey in Europe. It was considered doubtful, however, if the Turks could come up in time to prevent the passage of the Danube. As in most previous wars the Turks have relied upon the Balkan Mountains as the line on which to check the advance of an invader, the absolute passage of the Danube by troops of the Czar would not have been an occurrence of great significance. • From the telegrams published this morning, however, it is evident that that passage has not yet taken place; but that it is on the eve of attempt, and possible accomplishment, is shown by the terms of the convention between Roumania and Russia, which now permit the free advance of the regiments of the latter on the frontier of European Turkey from Widin, near the Servian frontier, to the Black Sea. The main force of the Russian advance is oa the east ,of the line here indicated, as they have, according to a telegram of April 30th, occupied Galatz and Ismail, on the north side of what is known as the Kilia mouth of the Danube, and hence the telegram of the 30th April told us that the Turks were firing upon Galatz. That same telegram also told us that the Turks were bombarding Anaklia and Poti, and this intelligence referred to the hostilities on the Asiatic frontier, the course of which we shall now proceed to trace. A reference to the map which we shall publish to-morrow will easily make anyone, who at the same time reads the foregoing, perfectly acquainted with the state of affairs on the European frontier. , Through the telegram of April 27 we learn where the Russians have crossed the frontier in Asia, and by reference to our second map, which will appear with Monday's issue, the details we now propose to trace can be followed. The Russians crossed at Alexandropol; the main army, however, crossing more to the north, and being undoubtedly the 17,000 men mentioned in the previous telegram. They have crossed in exactly, the same places as in 1828, when they carried all before them, and captured Kars. The first telegram, received on the 27th April, told us that " the Russians commenced hostilities at:' Ardsham to-day, and routed the Turks near Batoura, with a loss of 800 men." The second telegram reversed the result of the first, and made' the Turks the victors. "Ardsham" is an evident mistake for Ardghan, where the Russians on the line of their invading march fought in 1828, and Batoura is also a mistake, probably, for Batum, a seaport of Turkey on the Black Sea, only some twenty miles from the Asiatic frontier. These circumstances make plain the cause of the bombardment by the Turkish fleet of Anaklia and Poti. The towns so named are fortified places, and are situated on the Russian coast of the Black Sea, Poti twenty miles, and Anaklia forty miles north of the Asiatic frontier. Between them lies Redout Kale, where Omau Pasha landed ini 1855 to relieve Kars, then as now besieged by the Russians. Poti is the terminus of the railway to Tiflis and the interior of Russia beyond the Caucasus, and the-,'bombardment of this place and Anaklia would be a well-conceived idea of HjOBART Pasha in command of the Turkish fleet, by which either seaport would be rendered useless, and, in a sense, the' country of the enemy harried, whilst he was carrying on his invasion. Whether Russian or Turk was defeated at a point along one line of the advance of the first named, it is plain that the former has made good his entry into Asiatic Turkey, because by the telegrams published to-' day it will be seen that ho has besieged Kars. In 1829 this place was taken by a rapid attack under Paskewitch, the Russian relieving force only appearing on the neighboring heights as the invaders' flag floated out over the town. At a subsequent peace Turkey recovered it. Again, in 1855, from June 16 to November 26, it stood a seige marked by sufferings and heroism on the part of the Turkish defenders under an English General, Williams. It always was a strongly fortified place, and an important point in military operations. It marks; the present limit of the Russian advance into Asia.

The question at this point arises as to which continent is to see the real effort made by Russia to advance on the fair city of the Sultan and for ever to crash • out the 0 thman power in Europe. Where the troops of the Czar are now pouring on the Danube, and Where they are swarming around the forts of Ears, as our maps will show, have in far byegone times passed Russian troops in march and countermarch, in advance and retreat. The cities; and towns lining the Danube, for some distance back from either bank, have witnessed sally and siege. The combatants of those days are now phantoms of the past. In their graves they will hear no, rolling of tumbril as it passes over them, or stir at no thud of a war steed's hoof. Later on the tide of battle ebbed and flowed around the Danube, until Europe armed herself, and France, England, and Italy fought for the crescent in the Crimea. In Europe the Czar, though at times victorious, has had his severest defeats from the Sultan, and from plague and famine. In 1853 Omar Pasha gave him terrible ! reason to remember Kalafat and Widin. In 1854 his troops retired beaten and baffled from Silistria, and were; fairly attacked and worsted under the walls of RustchuK, the Turks on each occasion having the assistance of a few English officers. So far, then, the omens of victory seem to point their best auguries for Russia in Asia. But any one looking at the maps will see how remote from the conquest of Constantinople would be even the most brilliant successes on the old battle-fields of Russians and Turks in Asia. The far- j thest advance of the former was to Kara- j kaban, in 1829, and this left hundreds of miles of wholly hostile, and still little known, country between them and the Golden Horn. Every probability seems to point to the present actual hostilities as an attack in heavy force certainly, but only an attack which, by weakening and diverting the Turkish strength, may make the road from the Danube to the Bospliorua more easy for the Russians to follow.

That our surmises as pointed to above are correct is made plain by the latest telegrams which were received last night, which receive publicity for the! first time this morning, and came to hand since the above was written. No important operations are expected on the Danube until the end of the present

month. In the mean time Hobart Pasha, who probably was not in personal command at the bombardment of Poti and Anaklia, has run past the Russian batteries at Galatz on the Danube, as Lieutenant Glynn, of the English navy, with his gunboats, did immediately previous to the Crimean war.

Austria, by her position, has always been the obstacle to a Russian advance on Turkey ; and it would now appear that Russia is ready to cheek any sympathy with the Turks on the part of her, or her Hungarian or Polish subjects, by the massing of troops and the concentration of gunboats, opposite a town only foityeight miles S.S.W, of Lemberg.