WAR NEWS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 359, 18 June 1877, Page 2

WAR NEWS.

UNPUBLISHED INFORMATION.

DARING COURAGE OF HOBART PASHA. Dunedin, June 18. At Yienna it is rumoured that negociations are on foot for an alliance between Germany, Austria, and England. Austrian papers demand that the approach of the Russians to the Austrian frontier must be regarded as a casus belli. The English Consul-General at Warsaw reports that frightful atrocities have been committed by the Russian authorities in their endeavours to make converts to the Greek Church of Poles. Bobart Pasha's daring defiance of the Russians on the Danube is the common subject of table-talk in Loudon. Whilst his vessel was lying near Rustchuk he was informed that the navigation of the-river was unsafe, that the Russians were laying torpedoes, and that it would be safest for him to leave his ship and go overland to Constantinople. He declined to do so, and made ready to run the Russian gauntlet. He put out all the lights, and ran by at the rate of 20 miles an hour, the Russian guns being so depressed that they could not be altered in time. When satisfied that there was nothing to fear from the enemy, he returned and shelled their tents on shore. Austria is taking steps to prevent Russian Roumania from stopping the Hungarian trade on the Danube. The Grand Duke Michael telegraphs from Tiflis that the Turkish fleet is bombarding'the coast from Cape Adlar to Ptchutchuir, and burning, undefended settlements. The Circassians accuse the Russians of massacring the inhabitants of their towns.

Greece, in spite of the efforts of the Powers, has sent a note to the Porte, demanding an amelioration of the conditions of the Greek provinces in Turkey. The new Greek Ministry is disposed to adopt a war policy. A very uneasy feeling prevails in Athens. The Russians have captured some Turkish parties and S2 cannon at Ardahan. The British officers arc very active in surveying the defences of Constantinople. The Russian commanders have received orders not to cross the Danube near Kalafat, nor join anywhere with the Servians.