The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-02-02 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

"We have reason to believe that an undeastanding
has already been arrived at between the Powers, that
on the conclusion of an armistice between Russia and
Turkey, a Congress of the Powers signatory to the
'Treaty of 1856 will be assembled at Vienna in order to
establish a new European arrangement of the questions
connected with Turkey in accordance with the altered
circumstances of the case."—Vanitg Fair.

So intense a feeling was caused at Athens by the
news about the progress of the peace negotiations that
the Chamber of Deputies suspended its sitting on
Saturday. A disorderly crowd numbering, it is esti-
mated, ten thousand persons, paraded the streets. and
in the evening went to the residences of several
Ministers, smashed the windows, and did other
damage. After calling on the Minister President, at
whose hotel they fired p:stol shots, the crowd went to
the Palace, where the King addressed them and urged
them to be calm. In the end they had to be dispersed
by the troops.

Some excitement was, it said, caused at Berlin on
Tuesday, by reports that England had succeeded in
partially detaching Austria from the triple Alliance,
and securing her for a conditional opposition to the
Ruseian pew() programme.

The German papers announce that Osman Pasha is
to be interned at Kharkoff. He declined the custo-
mary allowance of money to prisoners, saying that he
had enough about him, and that were he to want more
it would be sent him from Constantinople. From
Kisheneff Osman telegraphed to the Grand Duke
Nicholas thanking him for his generous re,eption.

Odessa is named as the place where the peace pre-
liminaries will be signed. Hence the expectation that
the (Irand Duke will pass with an esc )rt through Con-
stantinople. —Peru. Correspondent of The Times.

Advices from Tirnova state that Suleiman Pacha's
retreat was even more diastrous than was at first re-
ported. Besides an unknown number of killed and
wounded, the Russians are reported to have taken
5,000 prisoners and 12,000 rifles.

Denial is telegraphed from St. Petersberg of a state-
ment recently made in a Berlin telegram, published in
a London newspaper, that a fresh levy, exclusively
composed of men over 40 years ef age, would be made
in Russia.

"I am told that the Queen personally rtquired
Lord Carnarvon to explain the reasons which actuated
him in the course he has recently pursued, and which
led him to make a declaration of the policy of the
Cabinet on the eve of its meeting; that Lord
Carnarvon thereupon asked Her Majesty if she had
read his speech, to which the Queen replied affirma-
tively; and that thereupon the undismayed Minister
boldly informed the sovereign that he had always been
accustomed to 'speak out' whenever he had anything
to say."— Whitehall Review.

A telegram from Erzerourn says that typhus fever
is raging there, the number of deaths being nearly 250
daily. The hospitals are overcrowded, there being
10,000 sick and wounded. The cold is intense and
fuel is scarce. The inhabitants are in great misery,
and victuals are hardly to be had, even at fabulous
prices.

A telegram from Erzeroum says that on the 12th of
January a Turkish officer bearing a white flag passed
through the lines of the enemy and entered Erzeroum.
He delivered to Ismail Pasha a telegram from Con-
stantinople announcing the cessation of hostilities.
Notwithstanding this, however, the Russians con
tinned to concentrate their troops.

We (Globe) hear on the best authority from St.
Petersburg that early last Week Admiral Buttakoff,
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Mediterranean
squadron, and Admiral Shestakoff, the Russian Naval
Attaché in Southern Europe, were specially summoned
to the capital to give information to the Czar on
matters connected with the English fleet.

The Russian losses in Europe from the 23rd of De-
cember to the sth of January were 7 officers and 68
soldiers killed, 43 officers and 326 soldiers wounded.
Twelve officers and 913 soldiers retired from the front,
besides a further number of 230 men, including some
officers. The total, inclusive of the previous losses, is
80,435.