The Mails.

Otago Witness, Issue 1341, 11 August 1877, Page 16

The Mails.

NEWS FROM HOME.

PROGRESS OB 1 THE WAR.

It is of course useless for me, ia view of the competition of the telegraph, to occupy your Bpace wish speculations regarding the progress of the war now going on between Russia and Turkey. It may nevertheless be both useful and interesting to note briefly the course of events, in order that your readers may have the main occurrences of the struggle before them in a more consecutive and intelligible form than is practicable by means of detached and often hazy telegrams. I shall therefore record only, and not anticipate. In Europe the Russians have not yet made any serious attempt to cross the Danube, though small parties of Cossacks have now and then crossed that stream, and made a dash at Turkish villages or stragglers. The river has bean unusually high, so that the Russians have been compelled to take things patientlyj They have been far from idle, however, for they have been rapidly distributing their forces along the north bank of the river at such places as afford facilities for crossing, or for commanding the channel. In this way, they have' completely mystified the Turks, who cannot lell where the intended crossing 'will be* made, and are reduced to helpless .inaction, accordingly.-, The Russians seem to be doing everything in fine military style, and the ' excellence of their arrangements evokes the universal admiration of the war correspondents. The men are described as hardy, active, and sober, and they have already displayed remarkable marching powers. In Asia there has been plenty of fighting. The first battle of Batoum, recorded in my last, was followed by another and more severe one, fought on May 11th. The Russians displayed great doggedness, and were only repilsed after eight hours , of desperate fighting. The Turks, who were r mostly Bashi-Bazouks, and were commanded by Ali Pasha, a Georgian who formerly distinguished' himself by suppressing brigandage in Armenia, fought with furious valour, at times advancing to close quarters, unsupported by their artillery. The Daily Telegraph's special ctzrespondent, who witnessed the whole battle, says that the Russians, having to advance in the open in the face of a terrible fire, were "literally mowed down ia swathes." They are indeed said to have been so profoundly impressed with the excellence of the rifle used by the Turkß— a Martini-Henry of American manufacture— that they have called up large reserves. Since the above-mentioned struggle there has been some more heavy fighting at Batoum, in which the Russians have been again repulsed. Midway between Batoum and Kars, the Turks have sustained a most serious loss by the capture of the fortress of Ardahan, which the Russians took by assault on May 17th. Sixty cannon, great quantities of rifles and ammunition, and a large number of prisoners fell into the hands of the Russians by this success.. The capture of Ardahan, moreover, enabled them to concentrate their forces and threaten Ears en the flank and rear. The latter fortress may indeed be now said to be in T vested, and has already been subjected to more or less cannonading.- It is strongly armed and garrisoned by 26,000 men ; but ' if these show the white feather like their comrades at Ardahan, the Russians will soon hold Ears also. As for .Muktar Pasha, the Turkish Commander-in Chief in Asia Minor, he is dodging about somewhere between Srze roum and Ears, but his incapacity has become so flagrantly manifest that his recall hae been demanded jn the Turkish Parliament and by the Sof tas, and is pretty .certain to take place soon, though too late to save the Turkish cause in Asia.

A TURKISH MONITOR BLOWN UP.

The moat sensational, and in some respects the most interesting, incident of the war thus far bas been the blowing up of a Turkish monitor on the Danube on May 11th. On the afternoon of that day the turret ship Lufki Djepil (" joy of the world ") steamed out from the island of Matchin towards the Russian batteries at Braila, or Ibraila. Several light pieces of ordnance having been fired at her without effect, the Russian officer in command ordered two 8 inch mortars to be loaded .and fired. The first shot from one of these missed, but the second, fired at a high elevation with a low charge, fell upon the monitor, which immediately blew up with a tremendous flash, followed by a deafening report. The two gunboats which accompanied her steamed off without attempting to save any of the craw of the Lufki Djepil who might have fallen into the water, but the Russians were more humane, aud sent off boats to the rescue. They succeeded, however, in picking up only one man alive, and he dangerously hurt. There consequently prevails much uncertainty, which will never be removed, regarding the manner in which the explosion was produced. One allegation is that the fatal ehot crashed through the deck into the powder magazine ; another that it went down the funnel. The third, whion is that put forward by the Turks, is that the explosion was accidental, being caused by carelessness in handling cartridges in the magazine. Anyway, the result -was the instantaneous destruction of the most powerful vessel on the Danube, built in England at ocost of L 160.000, together with her crew of 200 men, commanded by a Bey. The Russians were # f»irly beaide themselves with joy at the exploit. The men in the battery hugged each other in their delight, and the lieutenant who fired the nhot was entertained at a public dinner in the evening, followed soon after by the more substantial reward of military promotion. The monitor carried five guns, of which two were 9-inch and two 5-inch.

GUNBOATS AND TORPEDOES.

A few days ago another Turkish turret gunboat was sunk by the Russians in ivery daring manner. Two young officers put off in two little sloops early in the morning, and, undeterred by a heavy fire from the gunboat, approached close to her, and then discharged' a fish torpedo, which struck her under the Btern, exploded, and caused her to sink in a very shorty time, though her crew succeeded in escaping.^ The Russians managed to make good their return in safety to the Roumanian shore. It is now evident that the days of the gunboats on the Danube are numbered, Th« vessels are for the m^st part armed with a single heavy gun only, and are but thinly armoured. While, therefore, they were able to hold their own against the field artillery which was in the first instance brought to bear upon them, they are quite nnable to face the heavy Krupp guns which have now been placed on the most important of the Russian batteries. Theßussians have indeed succeeded in shutting most of them into the curious loop of the Danube known by the name of the Mafcchin Canal, and in order to make good their escape from theuce they will have to run the ganntlet of many heavy batteries and any number of torpedoes. The use of the latter is now being fairly put to the test for the firat time, and is being closely watched by naval and military men of all nations. The Turks have succeeded, by means of divers, in destroying a good ms-ny of the torpedoes, but the process is tedious, and it affords no guarantee, of course, against the

attack of a self pr6pelliag torpedo, such as that mentioned above. The only effectual defence against auch a missile seems to be a strong iroanet, and interesting experiments with such nets are being made by the British Goyernment. ' ,

TURKISH DISSENSIONS.

"With iJI their fatalism the Turks are not taking their disasters calmly. They are very indignant with the gross mismanagement of their military affairs, and with good reason, for the Turk is nothing if not a soldier. The miserable palace clique which has so long throttled the country is striving hard to stem the tide of popular indignation, but its doom cannot be far off. In the Turkish Parliament as noted above, the mismanagement of the war department was bo boldly denounced that the President eiosed' the sitting in alarm. The Sof tas thereupon went in a body to demand the resignation of the War Minister, Redif Pasha, a hated upstart, and the crowds which collected on the occasion were finally dispersed by cavalry. In consequence of this episode Con; stantinople has been declared in a state of siege. Still Redif Pasha, and the yet more execrated Mahmbud, the Damad, or brother-in-law of the Sultan — defy the storm, which is indeed the only course left open to them: Indolence o| the most astounding 1 kind continues 1 to characterise the administration of the, former '4 department. A fortnight ago an .English officer saw with amazement, .lying rusting on the sand at Trebizond, the splendid Erupp cannon, which had been sent months before to be mounted on the defences of Erzeroum, on which the Russians are rapidly and irresistibly advancing. In the field, too, the braveryj sobriety, and endurance of the Turkish soldiers are more than negatived by the system of favouritism which prevails, and seems to flourish worse than ever. To thi3 is due Mukhtar Pasha's appointment to the command in Armenia, he being, according to the Para correspondent of the Times, " a creature of the palace." To the same cause is due the continuance of the superannuated Abdul Kerim in the chief command in Europe, with the useless Ahmed Eyoub as Mb representative in the field. The latter has managed to . get' rid of the four bast commanders in the Turkiaharmyj because they are obnoxious to him, Suleiman; Pasha now governing Herzegovina, i&li Saih. commanding in Miriditia, with Hafiz Pasha as his lieutenant, and Fazly Pasha commanding 1 the Soukhum Kaleh. expedition. These" are the four men who won the battle of DjunisUsii October, and there broke the back of the-Ser-! vian army. J • ! BRITISH PREPARATIONS FOB WAR. f This is a startling heading, but it seems to be only too well justified 7 by - existing facts. In spite of the pacific influence exerted by the debate on Mr Gladstone's resolutions, there can be no doubt the military and naval party in England are exercising both themselves and the Government in regard to the probability of England being called' upon to protect hero wn interests by siding with' Turkey in the presen^ conflict. One hears less now about a. [Russian occupation of Constantinople, though the posj aibihty and results, of such an occurrence are not lost sight of, but, the effects of a Russian seizure, of Armenia., and .the Euphrates Valley are now more frequently "dwelt upon. "It is quite' evident, and indeed, is scarcely denied)' that the persons connected with- oar fighting services, are striving with- might "and main' to bring about a collision with Russia as early as possible, before the Turks have been much weakened by defeat, and although the country generally recoils from the wanton iniquity and stupendous folly of such an act, there- is no knowing what our Premier, with his fascination, for tinsel glory, may plunge ua into. In the meantime the greatest activity 13 .being vmanijfested in the Government dockyards, where every vessel is being pushed on with. as. fast 'as extra hands working extra hours can manage! The army clothing factory at Pimlico is ,mjso working to the full stretch of its capability^ and, not content with this, the War Office has given out several contracts for soldiers' clothing to private firms." At the arsenals likewise, all is activity, anda.v.ery large quantity of gun--powder has just been sent from thence io Malta; while torpedoes are being , manufactured and imported in large numbers. Officers cpml manding militia regiments have in more than one instance lately warned the men of the probability of their services being soon required,' while at Chatham and Preston the enrolled pensioners not over 56 years of age have been called out for drill — a circumstance which has not occurred for years. Of course the Govern--raent are right, in these critical times, to be ready to face emergencies, but when warlike preparations are accompanied by warlike official utterances, peaceful people cannot help feeling a little apprehensive. CRISIS IN FRANCE. ', Coups d' etat have not passed away in France with Imperial rule, for the Marshal-Presidenj; has just executed one which was quite in the style of his late master, Napoleon. The . ex* citement it bas- caused in France is intense; and all Europe has shared, more or less, in the interest, not to say anxiety, aroused by the event. The course of the whole affair seems to the British mind very absurd, connected as it is, with the chiWish system of legislation against the freedom of the Press which finds such favour in " the most enlightened country in ihe world." M. Jules Simon, the leader of the Ministry, thought fit not to oppose tho passage of a vote destroying the Press law of 1875, which gave the Executive power to deal with Press offences. ' Ori visiting Marshal M'Mahon after the vote in question had Been passed, Mr Simon found him in a state of great irritation in consequence of the affair, but after giving his explanations he left under the impression that all was right, and that the Marshal was satisfied. Ho was consequently surprised to receive the same evening from the Marshal what the Times calls " one 'of the most peremptory epistles ever addresbed'to a statesman of M. Simon's eminence," desiring him to come to the Elysee immediately. Ha obeyed the mandate, aad was received by the Marshal with bitter reprouches, in reply to which Ml Simon said that he was tired of struggling against occult influences, and since the President of the Republic disapproved his conduct^ he begged him to find another Ministerof the Interior. ' "Very -good," rejoined the Marshal. "I accept your resignation. That is what I wanted to come to." The Ministry followed the example of their chief, M. Simon, and thus in a single day the Marshal disposed of a Cabinet with ?, Parliamentary majority of more than two to one at its back, while the nation first raved as usual, and then submitted. The President formed another Ministry under the leadership of the Due de Broglie with' an'expedition that spoke of a regularly laid plan, M. de Fourton succeeding to M. Simon's portfolio as Minister of the Interior. In order, also, to give the Chamber of Deputies no opportunity of expressing its indignation while this was warm, the President prorogued the Chamber for a month before it had sat again after hearing of his doings, and it is said that the prorogation is likely to be extended for another month. The universal belief is that the whole affair is the result of an organised conspiracy of the Ultramontane party, ■ I acting through the Due de Broglie and Mgr. : I Dupanloup, the Bishop oi Orleans, the Puc J

Decazes being also regarded as an.accesaary, he retaining bis portfolio as Foreign Minister under the new Government. Over 60 new Prefects have also been appointed, and have commenced operations in a spirit of the firmest resolution to carry on war to the knife against the liberty of the Press. Although the country^ as I have said above, has perforce submitted in th'» meantime, it is very far indeed' from' being silenced or satisfied, and murmurs both loud and deep are being uttered, whilo .rumours of probable revolution are agitating the country. The clericals are raising a terrible storm, which nlay be yet more serious in effects upon Europe than : the; conflict now in progress between Russia and Turkey. The Times, in a, leader subsequent, ,to that from. which I have already quoted, says : — " The Catholic Church of France has recently been showing that it 1 haa lost none of ' its tendency towards extreme courses. It has never, in fact, been so aggressively Ultramontane or dictatorial as to-day." The Paris correspondent of the same journal says of Marshal MacMahdn, that he "has been drawn into a conflict whence 'he must issue, victorious at any -.cost." , I , know that O'tagVrea'ders take, but little interest", as a. rule, in French ' politics ;4; 4 but the foregoing 1 will r be sufficient to 'show the more thoughtful 'among 'them the extreme gravity- 1 of the'Situatiotuin France, and when France is in a ja'tate o£ ;upheaval, «yen the, most distant ;part«. ,pf the world will do wellto watch the' course of events there- with painstaking scrutiny.

. Mr T. J. Arnold, the' senior, metropolitan Police Magistrate, 'died orV 'May* 19th, ,aged 74.. He was a London Magistrate for 30 years— tjsajfc, first four and a half : years 'ati Worship street,^ arid if or. the remainder at* Westminster. > ;He was the author of several useful; legaLyrorks.-;

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