THE INVASION OF TURKEY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4742, 30 April 1877, Page 2

THE INVASION OF TURKEY.

'JLV assist to aniinderatkhding?oi:theiele grama whM, appear in ,OOT..iißpressipn.oi!'.thiß morning, a few-words may be said Rusaiaiia pouring troops into Boumania, and many have already arriyed at Galatz. Galatz (45.23'NV 1at.,23.5E, long.) is situate .on r the"leftbank of the Danube, about, three''miles east," from the.mouth.of the Sereth,: and-10; c:miles.*west from the junction of 'the -Prutli^ with" 'the Danube. _, It is situate on that part, of "the Danube where the/Roumanian Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia (the Sereth.dividing), and Bulgaria (on the'right^ hand-side of the Danube) meet. •■ ■'.

Kalafat (43.57 N., 22.58 E.) is situate oa the' Danube. It is in Wallachianvßoumariia,/is separated from Bulgaria by the Danubs, and isnot far from Servia. ; The Turks are in fcrce near Kalafat, but are on the Bulgarian"side- of • the river, Kalafat being held: by Roumanian troops. Widin and Saitscliar are the Turkish strongholds near Kalafat. A -Widin telegram in the Times of> February 22nd says :—" The troops of Osman Pasha concentrated between Widin and Saitschar, including two battalions which are expected to arrive at 'this 'place to-night, consist ; at present : ,of.63 battsQions of infantry, two- cavalry., regiments, and 78 field guns.: A Widin alone has; aVgarrison of 28,000 men. Thirty.battalions,:of;,these trooi>s are Asiatics. They, arrived here for the firat time within, the last _ few. weeks from Constantinople, partly by land and partly by water. The whole of. the'battalions :are: armed with the Martini-Henry' rifle. Their exposure to a severe climatefo which they,have not been accustomed, and the very dose quartars into which they are crowded iat Widin, have_ caused much illness among then! There is said to be a high mortality-in consequence of the-massing of such a number of .trobp3 hear Widin. It is beb'eved here -that' shouldb war break out, the Turks will occupy-Ealafat,-The materials for cohstruetingpontoonj bridges have been collected liere in sufficient ■' 5000 men are daily employed-on. the fortifications at Widin; Advance are .being constructed, and opposite Kalafat a great .enclosed. work'has been built. In .tSe event of Svar, 15.000 Circassians wi11... ..be"nhited with, the Osman, Corps. The Basid Bazouks will be incorporated with the regular troops." ;; -,. The telegram states that "Prince Nitka, of Montenegro, is marching towards tli9 frontier," and that " the Turks are advancing upon 'Nicksch.'" 'Montenegro is-on 'the shbfes of the Adriatic, with Servia,.- Bosnia,-:.and';Bul-garia intervening between it and. the .Danube. ; Surrounded as it is by Turkish provinces, the frontier must mean the boundary?6f -Montenegro, and not the Danubian and Bulgarian fortresses, where Turk and-Russiah.will, to all appearances, meet " Nicksch," on which, ihe Turks are said to be marching, must be the little town'of Nieitshij in Herzegbvina^ bh the;bbrders of Montenegro. .Thereisa:"Niah v?or"iNiKa"in. Servia, a very important, place, tooi as from it irailway and <road' colnmunioation leads to all the Turkish strongholds which lie between it :and Kalafat, namely, Alexinatz, Drinovatz,' Ivrajovatz, Gourgechevatz, Belgradchick, Wid-

dm &c. But as Nigh is the distributing centre for men and material sent from the South for ?• that *he TurJ? are advancing npon it. As to the opposition the Eussians iaay expect to-meet on crossing the Danube at Galatz where they would enter that part of BulS fffl^ army. telegraphing totondon on March 6th, says:-"In the Dobrudscha sste .ssr d^o a^yhoTmtroDchments near Galatz, which commaads &£f >,Übe/n d ntt e mouth of the SeretbT L? Janbuch and Caltabuchsee it i, said that a very As to the Eussian line of march nrlorto aJSr^"O^ 16 Characfcer of the roads for Prom Eustchufc, on the the Timea cays.— Of all Turkish fortresses the ereatest llPSliii «£m? tl mo t dern instruction, nor a l6 they suited to the nature of the surrounding country LJS-T™^is^rygood. For|rovS taken F^^P^^emessnreßambß^g taken^and. contracts for the deliver- of larol •lAcnmeE .rasna, who is said to nostsM* litfU gemus,. bur much energy. ThTKrSrS saS --«S ThP n,ltSelf) ,th? Same Sl; W SCarp ' ? ndcount ei -scar P of S. _ The garrison consists of 10,000 men, and an increase of this number is not expected, Ye 7. terday there arrived here a cargo of torpedoes ' a portion of them on their way to Widdta. ' reference to the provisioning of ithe for-tress,-jip.ste.pß have yet been taken. ~-; : "

■■>■•■* -WHY WABWASNOT DECLARED SOONEB.; -^ -v On^tMs point the following telegram 6f March^Sfch, from Vienna, wo°uld S to throw hght:- "The meteorological inSugnS which comes^ from Eoumania and Southern Kussia w positively reassuring for the moment. The revival of winter, which set in at the be^ gmmng of the month all about Central. Enrope has displayed itself in those.partawith unusnl violence. According to the news which comes ?Z?r, 01i h- 6th JDBt J :' communications were that has fallen will melt and make'thl roads^ even ;; more /impracticable than they SS?«w bthe?° "the mosfc c£ »S tV,«f^ and 1^ n- tuPP?^S no .very late spung, the deep alluvial soil on the plains of Bessarabia and Eoumania, r.bove aU near the banks of the Danube, can rarelj be conside-e! as practicable for large military transSan^ operations before the middle of,Aprit D <?.tUat a month may be reckoned upon wit.h tolerable certainty as still available^ for negotiation! from this meteorological caus 3 alone.".. Thus the middle of April was predicted, and war W-aSiactually declared on the 22ad or 23rd.: - , Ihe Berim correspondent of the Times on March 2IJ telegraphed:-"According toite SSr^rf Corrwpoadenz,- the Russians/ alter all, do not intend to cross just now. Mv owa intelligence purports that snowstorns are the order of -the day.in Bessarabia, and that the army could not think of moving at this ?- 9asonj ; were Tthe; St. Petersburg Cabinet ever