THE WAR IN THE EAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4813, 20 April 1877, Page 3

THE WAR IN THE EAST.

t , PENSIVE PLAN OF THE TURKS. I THE correspondent" o£ the World, j Tili , ronl Constantinople, take 3 a very | -vrrit'US 0 f the " Sick Man's" chances fi' ooW^ a r against the great northern Power, '"a'believes t ' ia ' ' a BIX wee ' C3 ' 'iue the aD -'ans will be in. Adrianople. Other Eng- ■ ""°ourn:ils take the same view ; but these the opinions of civilians. British '* irC j ,- or eiga officers who have not only 3 u'jief' Turkish history, but are acquainted S . H) tbc Turkish soldiers and their capabili- ' .mile at such gratuitous assertions, and fcICS, ° predict a very different result. The dcfcnce of Constantinople, in any attack from Russia on the European Contint may be divided into three lines of def'nee 1- 'l' ho Danube ;2, the Balkans; /"he rid"fi of hills extending from Buyuk Checkmedge, in the-Sea of Marmora, to Karabnrnee in the Euxine—(about 2o miles j. s taiit from Constantinople). The- Turkish army in Europe consists at ~resent of about 320 battalions. The strength J.,-Mese battalions varies very much. The Xizim or regular army, has been very materietrcngthencl since January, from the Ist " j 0,1,1 Kedit's, corresponding to our Miliiia These battalions are now computed at about SOO men, giving them in round numbers about 250,000 men. From these B ust be deducted the Army Corps that has j,.>en detailed to keep the Montenegrins in check; the corps in the Island of Crete, j the garrisons of Constantinople and Other towns, leaving them about 130,000 jjjeu of the Ist class wherewith to oppose the Russians in the field. lu the Dobrudscha (the low flat-lying country at the mouths of the Danube) are two small fortified positions—Tuldscha and Matschiu. They were regarded in former times as the t*tc de ponU of Ismail and Ibraila, and although occupied by Turkish troops, it is not likely that any serious resistance will there be offered to the advance of the Russians, as lower down the Danube, a distance of about 30 miles from Matschin, stands the lirst of the Turkish fortified positions of any note—Hirsova. Hirsova is a small town, with five bastioned revetted fronts, surronnded by a ditch. Omar Pasha, in 1554, strengthened this position, and frequently used it to harass the fl.iuk of the Russians in Wiillachia during the siege of Silistria. The other fortresses defeudiug the Danube are Silistria, Uustchuk, and Widdin, the latter being close to the Servian frontier. Uustchuk and silistria are the. principal fortresses. Both were strengthened in ISSI, and since then they have been mounted with Krupp guns. From llus tuiiuk to Varna there is now a railroad. West ward, at a distance of about lifty miles, lies Pravadi, and still further westward about 30 miles, lies Schumla, tbe centre of the strong fortified positions of , Turks defending the Eastern passes of the Balkans. This position, from the Danube to Schumla and Varna, is known as the great Bulgarian Quadrilateral. Tirnova, the other fortified position o£ the Turks, lies on the swift river Jantra, and, as a place (Farmes, is excessively strong. The different routes verging towards Tirnova are mere bridlepaths as they cross the Balkans. The Turkish troops, under Kerim Pasha, are at present en echelon from Rustchuk to Schumla, aud from Silistria to Varna, —and are ready to dispute whatever point at which the Russians may choose to try to pass the Dauube. The Russians in forcing tbese positions in IS'29 did so at an enormous sacrifice of life, and only after two campaigns. At that time the Turkish army was in a state of transition. The Janizaries had just been destroyed, and at no time during that war in Europe and Asia, had the Turkish Sultan more than- SO,OOO regular, and 90,000 irregular troops. Yet they frequently defeated the Kussians, who had then Che command of the Euxine. Baron Moltke states that the Russians crossed the Pruth with 160,000 men, aud some 50,000 horaes; and that scarcely more than from 10,000 to 15,000 men re-crossed the Pruth into their own land, and that at the Peace of Adrianople, Marshal Diebitsch had not 12,000 to march on Constantinople. The great mass of these men fell by disease in Bulgaria and the Drobrudscha, known as the most treacherous climate of Europe. From these former campaigns, one can only infer tbe extent ot the resistance the Turks will offer to their old enemy, fighting en the same ground, their position strengthened by the greatest strategist of the day, Baron Von Moltke, who was for years employed by the Turkish Government in making the beat of the positions. They will be able to give a very good account of .themselves. Let us add to this the fact that the Turks have now, and will hold, .the command of the Euxine. Farther, the position of the Turks is very materially strengthened by the fact that they will have a strong force in the valley of the Timok, and have already provisioned jN'issa, in order to enable them to act vigorously on the Russian flank. Of the plans of either belligerent it is impossible to say anything, but one can only hope that the sword of honour lately presented at Constantinople by the Hungarian officers, to the victor of Dujnis, Abdul Kerim, the Seraskier, may be worn with honour in the present contest. Austria.