WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 427, 10 September 1877, Page 2

WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

FEARFUL MASSACRES. A Bucharest correspondent telegraphs to London as follows :—" I have written the following as I received it, and from the terribly accounts which fugitives are continually bringing over the Balkans I fear it must be only too true. On July 31, the day of the Russian evacuation of Eski Saghra, the Turks ordered that all Christian men, women, and children should be shot as they left their houses. Those who remained within were burnt a'ive. The order was given to burn down and destroy every particle of Christian property. Many leading Turkish merchants took part in the all ray. Turkish officers despatched a large number of Bashi-Bazouks all over the Schirpan district. This district is one of the richest in that part of Turkey. It contained a very large proportion of Christians, over thirty chnrc' es, and 500 schools and colleges, all of which have been burned. The "destruction extended to the villages of Boghdan, Mahelsi. and many others in all about GO, containing from 150 to 200 families each. Scarcely fifty persons escaped alive. Bulgarian fugitives at, Gai>rova and Selvi istimate that from 12,000 to 15,000 Christians have been massacred in the Eski Saghra and Schirpan districts alone. Soldiers passed along the road from Eski Saghra to Kazmlik, with orders to shoot everyboody passing." i The Times' correspondent at Karabunar writea : —" Appalling accounts continue to come in of the misery of the fugitives from th ■■ districts devastated by the Bashi-Bazouks and Bulgarians. Thousands of women and children are homeless, and perishing for want of shelter. Medical attendance, food, and immediate help are most sorely needed. T.<e local Pasha proposes to distribute the fugitives about Constantinople, Adrianople, and Phillippopolis. Correspondents suggest the formation of a city of refuge on the island near Constantinople, under the protection of a neutral flag and a neutral guarantee from the belligerents. The crops are rotting in the ground-, and no provision is made for the winter." The same correspondent speaks favourably of the conduct of the Turkish regulars, but blames the Government for employing or not controlling the irregulars, who commit the worst excesses. Even fugitive women and children who come for protection to the Turds have to be guarded by the regular troops Lst they should be further injured by those savage Bulgarians, who are behaving much in the same way as the Bashi-Bazouks. It will be impossible for Christians and Mahommedans to ever live together again in the disturbed districts. Even PiiiloRnssians severely condemn the Russians' conduct—in first instigating the Bulga- j rians to revolt, and then leav ; ng them to the mercy of the Turks, whose right to I

treat them as rebels it is very hard to question. A C -nstantinople despatch says 12,000 Mussulmans <.f the village of Soiikou>on, near Eski Saghra, surrendered to the Russians. 7,000 "f them were massacred by Bulgarians, and 3,000 by the Cossacks. At Barak, a village in the cxe'u-siv.-ly M ihomedau district of Sistova, 100 lionses were destroyed, and 100 men and 330 women perished. It is believed that only seven of the inhabitants survived. At Batomn, a Mussulman village in the district of Tirnova, '250 houses were burned and 700 nun and 1.200 women perished ; one pjrsoii alone : s bliev. d to have escaped. At Calaboulas 100 hous' s were burned and 200 men and 300 women perished; two persons only es:iped. At K'stomal 1.10 li m i es wen; burned and 300 men and GO) women peris'ied. At Ciiemis. a mixed village, 00 of the houses were destroyed and 120 men and 2.) won e i perished ; one person only ts-aned. At Tunja, another mixed vil age, 100 houses were destroyed and 2.VJ men and £OO women p •rished ; three persons onl" survived. The villages abandoned upon the approach of the Russians w< iv g Vi n to the flames, and nearly n.OOO houses wire destroyed. Tno L-gation c mclud-s, from information recived, that the .Russians have adopted as a uniform system to seiz • (h fenc less villages, ami after destroying them with cannon shot, to massacre the unarmed inhabitants, and carry oil* the women f.-r the purpose of outriding 'heir persons, when they are no- killed ar. first. The Russians threat-n the dristian villages with the same fate, if they do not surrender, or if the in ir.bitaiits refuse to be enrolled in the service.

WAR ITEMS. A lartre Russian armv under the Cz irewitch is facing Ejou') Pasha on the left, and Meheui-t Ali on t!ie rig d. The f.n'iiM' is threatened fi-ui <> s 111; 111 Uazir. Ejouh is believed to have 4S battalions of infantry, 02 squadrons of cavalry, and 15 batteries of artillery, while the army of M 'heinet Ali contains GO OilO men. The Turkish Minister of Foreign Afl'airs has sent a eiren'ar to Turkish representatives aliroa'l, reciting the harliarons acts cornniitted l»y the Russians. He said it is nt-c.'SSiry that t.heeivilis d world should become acquainted with these horrors, to express its indignation, and to brand them. The inhabitants ..,•' i ; :iis, near Tiruova, having, on tu !',•;•;•■... -li of the Russians, taken lvfnge ■' " "-'j'les, were burned alive in an cur! 'n • ''he Russians liavin;- met 300 < :w'.'il with fugitives, destroy d th; :i >. ':■ cannon shot, t'-eii completed tin;,' w ~•■'■ r exterminatioi by mass icrin . '.; ;ii and women they could Hud in t v ry suburb or village, occupied by Russia.n troops, and the dwellings of Mussu'inaus were g veil to file fl lines. T.ie Unitarians, excited by t' e example of the Russians, coinniitN d against the peac -fill and resigned Mussulman p filiation acts of harhirby and outrages still more airoeioiiand horrible than fhosj perpetrated by the invaders of the G:,h. If is . stimated now I'm*, from CD,039 fo TO.OOO Turks are on the Lovatz and Phvna line, and will take a great deal of beating.

The CzivewitcYs annv. which is nvailalilo ft.r holding the line from tin- Danube ti> the Balkans, numbers about (50,000. ;iml is n. c ssiri'y attenuated over a long front, so as to leave n> vt : i' ,s for tin; Turks to croc]) througi. Tm; Turks arc probably of alioiit, the same stivn','tli ; but if Meheniet Ali chooses lo t:ikj tin; offensive, lie may concentrate cither at Rustcliuk. R-isgrad, or O-mian Bazar. The Russians must he ready to face him everywhere, and consequently must remain strictly on the defensive. The river Lorn still virtually constitutes the line of the Rustehuk army.

Tin; hcadqu irters of the. 12 fT i Corps have been moved b'ymid to Kadi-koi, ;uid the li".'id-quarters of the C/, irewiteh. with the I'J'.'i Corps, liave Ik;-n advanced to Kahat/, vat. thu-s emif'-o'iting R-is-rrad ; while b tween Osman Bazu* and Tirnova the Ist Divishm squids with their headquarters in lv..sariuova. A corrcsj) >nd nt teh'gmphs from Sis-tov.-i: —"It has been d fi;iit"lv resolved to brill',"; tin; Dumbo-at Pirgo."

A correspondent with the Dobrud-'cha army also ti I.'graphs :—" A malignant fever is doing its work. Hundreds of sick sire arriving at Chernavala daily, the majority being from the neighbourhood of of Mi a jad ij, where, st'-aming swamps, poisoned water, and ba 1 air a'ike court dys entry, which has many victims. In proportion as the season advances sickness increas s." Sulienian Pasha announces that Rnska Pas'ia has retaken disarmed the Bulgarians, and re-established order. He then captured Kaiopi, which was defended by Bulgarians in entrenched positions, and occupied it. The rebels fled into the Balkans, af'er losing 5000 killed. Eleven Turkish soldiers were killed, and thirty-two wounded.

The Russian reinfore 'men's to f'e Asiatic and Caucasus armies arc stated t<> be GO.OOO. F-fteen thousand have crossed the frontier and occupied a strong position north of Ani, threatening the right flank and centre of the Ottoman army. The Russian centre is divided into three columns at Ani-jloeinu and Kumdara ; numbers in all G8 battalions of infantry, 10 batteries, and 8,000 cavalry. A rft. official despatch of August 11 says the Turkish riudit wing assumed the offensive along the line from Tehiizzi Pa*s to Karavansara, and drove in the Russian posts with small loss. They attempted to take Khaladti, but were repulsed. General Tergukassoff is on the frontier at Karodondos, with 18 battalions of in-

fantry, 7 batteries, and 7 regiments ol cavalry. In Asia Minor the Russians liavo ad. vanced upon Apulkia. General Tergukassoll' advanced to Bilikloitte, mid mail llakee is returning from Rußßian territory towards the frontier. An oflieiii] despatch from the Governor of .Schildii, Anatolia states that 10,000 Russian in fantry were encamped between Kabrovn and Alasb-erd, and a body of Hussim cavalrv at Arpaehai. Mukhtar Pasha telegraphs that 1,00( Kirapika hots ■.■ man defeated two Rtmsitit battalions near Ardahan. Also tliu' several hundred Russians were killed it an iinibusead! at Kouli, south of Ani 'I'll" Russian outposts near Ani were dt> bate I with a loss of 1,000 killed. T'n Tui'-s withdrew o»> the approach of tin Russian reinforcements. Ismail Pasha i about an hour's inarch west of Bayazid. At Kustendji there was a panic, owhi; to its bombardment by the Turks. It wu occupied by only two regiments of th 14th Army Corps and one battery, whit' 1 evacuated the town. Meanwhile, for tli* protection of foreign subjects, an Euglis! steamer arrived in port. A Bulgarian rumour from a Rusbuv source ass rtsthat liulgaria, while remain ing a vassal of the Porte, will be place under a Mussulman prince. Print' Hassan, son of (he Khedive of Egypt, i spoken of as the future sovereign of Hu garia. lie was educated in Germany, an the suggestion of his name as the Prim of Bulgaria is regarded favourably i Berlin. lie will he supported by Hhi; land.