WAR NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 388, 21 July 1877, Page 2

WAR NEWS BY THE MAIL.

We glean the following additional war news from our exchanges : BATTLE OF ISAKTSHI. Another engagement is reported to have been fought lower down the river at Isaktshi, where the Turkish monitor engaged the Russian shore-battery erected at the Monastery of Theraponte, south of the village of Satanon, founded by the Russians in commemoration of their passage of the Danube there in 1828. The Tillage lies at some distance from the river, on a more elevated point, and from it there runs down to the river, between the Lakes of Kugar and Kartal, a narrow strip of land on which the Monastery of Theraponte is built. The result of tho encounter was that the Monastery wan . destroyed, and the Russian guns dis- . mounted. Higher up the Danube Turkish crafts are cruising about reconnoitr- . ing in different places, and laying hands on any ships they can iind vi. >*e. . They i went to Pieketu, at the mouth of tho ; Scliyl, and took away several vessels laden with grain. Did the same at Tnrim : Mogara, at mouth of the river Aluta, where, according to the news from ■ Trieste, they forced three Austrian Bhips i laden with Indian corn to cross to Nicoi polis, on the Turkish side. Tlie owners ; have already put in claims through the Austrian authorities. The Turkish flotilla lias hitherto been able to maintain supremacy in the Danube against tho Russians shore batteries and torpedoes, and in artillery encounters on the Lower Danube, especially at lbraila and Isaktshi. The Russians have heavy guns between Widin and Kalafat. Firing was resumed on the Bth with more effect than the day before in Kalafat. The barricades of the custom house were destroyed, and the church, which forms a prominent object on the bluff, was badly injured, while Roumanian shells set fire to some wooden lattice houses in Widin. The Russians made attempts to cross at various places with small bodies of troops, intended as feints to deceive the Turks, and divert their defence of the Danube near Rustchuk by a series of alarms of this kind. The Turks will be forced to keep a large number of troops distributed along the river, which they cannot concentrate on the real point of tho crossing. CONDITION' OF TUH TUItKISII AHMY. A despatch from Orealuke to the Timts says that a Christian doctor who deserted from Trebinje, Montenegro, gives a gloomy account of the condition of the Turkish army. 2400 men have died at Trebinji since the campaign began, that city being the hospital depot of tho Turkish army now concentrated at Grahovo, which consists of ,'3G battalions, of 200 to 400 each. Of these, at least half were suffering, chiefly from scurvy. There is also much dysentery. The physicians and surgeons are subject to fanatical outbreaks of Mussulman violence, and are continually menaced, assaulted, and never paid. Three thousand men are sick at Masbar, and deserters from Podogoritza report the same condition of affairs prevailing there. The troops are under-fed, have nothing beyond the barest means of sustaining life. They are compelled to work continuously on earth works. The health of the Montenegrins' force is excellent, and their hospitals are quito empty. THE WAR IX ASIA. The following was the position of the Turks in Asia on the 19t!i, the day before the mail left :—A despatch from Erzeroum, of tho 14th June, says Mukhtar Pasha is at Zevin, and has received reinforcements of 24 battalions and two batteries. He is intending to send succour to Kars from along the whole line. The Turkish right wing, which is at Delibaba, lias been ordered to march to Toprak Kaleh. Of the Turkish left wing, six bat-

talions are between Pennek and Olti. The Turks are concentrating at Olti. There is atao a Turkish battalion of cavalry at Hassan Kaleh. The Ruasi^n

left wing is at Karakalissa, with a column at Dayden, and in the direction of Van. Ulleves/"'s.r\ipp guns, of 15 centimetres calibre, have arrived at Erzeroum, from Trebizond. The Mussulman population of Erzeroum are being called to arms. Telegrams from Turkish sources claim that the Turks, by superiority of their artillery fire, have prevented the Russians from creating works to attack Kars. Intelligence received at Constantinople represents that the position of the Turkish army in Asia has improved, and that the Turks are preparing to assume the offensive. The Russians have suffered losses before Kars. Artillery engagements between besiegers and the garrison continue. The principal feature last week was a partial withdrawal of the Russian right wing and the closer investment of Kars and Batoum. Sickness, especially typhtis, causes greater gaps in the Turkish ranks in Asia than the Volunteers are able to fill up. During the last six months, at least 10,000 men died in the hospitals. The Governor General of Syria telegraphs that 1200 Bedouin horsemen and some Ottoman troops had a conflict in the district of Hima, in which the rebels were completely defeated. Several Turkish officers have been shot for the loss of Ardahan. The Tribune's London Special says a correspondent in Constantinople writes that it is by no means certain that treachery has not much to do with the bad performance of the Turkish army in Asia ; and those who have been at Erzeroum and Ardahan can only account for the insufficient fortification of these places by the theory that coveted Russian gold have been at work. They assert that many Turkish field officers have been heavily bribed by Russia. Things are even worse at Constantinople. It is said that both Mahomed and Redif Pasha have been bought by the Muscovite, and that they will get a large sum when a peace advantageous to Russia is concluded. Instances are given of influences of this kind which Russia heretofore has used disastrously to Turkey.