The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-15 00:00:00

TURKEY AND RUSSIA.

TEE truth respecting hostilities is very hard to be got
at. The reports received from the banks of the Danube
concur in indicating an active prosecution of hostilities.
That the Turks crossed the river in some force at Widdin,
and established themselves at Kalafat on the opposite
bank, is beyond question ; and it is also stated that 2,000
Ottoman troops have appeared at Giurgevo, and made an
attack upon that town. The situation of Giurgevo is
about midway between Widdiri, where the Turks first
crossed, and Brailow, where they were making prepara-
tions to cross. As for further reports, we give those be-
low, as they have reached London, by electric telePraph,
daily. The following is the proclamation which has been
addressed to his army, by Omar Pasha, previous to cross-
ing the Danube :

Y`- Imperial Soldiers—When, firm and courageous, we
shall engage the enemy we will not fly, but sacrifice body
and soul to be avenged. Look to the Koran—on the
Koran we have sworn. You are Mussulmans, and I
doubt not you are ready to sacrifice body and soul for
your Religion and your Government. But, if there be
among, you a single man afraid of war, let him say so, for
it is dangerous to face the enemy with such men. He
who is under the feeling of fear should be employed in the
hospitals or other occupations ; but he who remains with
us and turns his back on the enemy shall be shot ! Let
the courageous men, who long to manifest their devoted-
ness to their religion and the throne, remain. Their
hearts are united with God; and, if faithful to religion,
they prove themselves brave, God will assuredly give
them the victory. Soldiers, let us purify our hearts, and
then put confidence in the aid of God. Let us do battle,
and sacrifice ourselves like our ancestors ; and, as they
bequeathed our country and our religion to us, we ought
to bequeath them to our children. You are all aware that
the great object of this life is to serve God and the Sultan
worthily, and thus win heaven. Soldiers ! may God pro-
tect all who have honour to believe and to serve in these
principles."
VIENNA, Nov. 4.—The Vienna Presse confirms the
intelligence of the arrival of 7,000 Turks at Kalafat, and
of the advances of the left wing of the Turkish army,
besides 8,000 of the Turkish reserves from Sophia. The
vanguard, under Namik Pacha and General Prim, had a
serious conflict with 2,500 Russian cavalry, between
Kalafat and Karajowa. The affair lasted two hours,
when the Russians retreated towards Slatina.

CONSTANTINOPLE, OCT. 25.—0 n the 19th of October
Omer Pasha was at Rehubar, where he had concentrated
200 gunboats, each carrying a piece of heavy ordnance,
and fit for the transport of troops. The Pasha was pre-
paring to cross the Danube at this point, where he had the
centre of the Russian army before him. Prince Gortscha-
koff 's head-quarters had been removed to Slatina, whence
the Russian commander-in-chief watched the movements
of Omer Pasha's corps. Hostilities have commenced
in Asia. A special steamer, with despatches from &lira
Pasha for the Seraskier, arrived on the evening of the
22rd from Batoum. The contents of these despatches are
known by vague rumours only. It is said that on the 29th
of October Massa Bey sent a reconnoitring party in the
direction of Cirock-dere. The Russians surprised and
attacked this detachment on its march. Selim Pasha,
attracted by the noise of the skirmish, advanced with re-
inforcements, and encountered a corps of 15,000 Russians
from Redout Kale and other points. An engagement took
place ; the Russian forces were routed, and Selim Pasha
established his head-quarters at Orelly, at the distance of
six leagues from Cirock-dere.
Despatches from St. Petersburgh announce that the
Czar refuses to admit the last proposition of the powers
concerning the Eastern question. He again insists on the
Vienna note. Letters from Bucharest, of the 25th Oct.,
state that Prince Gortsphakoff has but from 70,000 to
80,000 men in the principalities. He has sent to General
Osten Sacken, commander of the third army corps, to join
him with his forces in all haste. General Luders, with
the fifth army corps, is ordered to mdVe into Moldavia.
General Dannenberg commands the Russians at Krajowa,
and Semi Pasha the Turks at Kalafat.

BERLIN, Nov. s.—The note which, according to the last
concerted act of the Four Powers, has been sent to Con-
stantinople and recommended to the Sultan's acceptance,
was not previously submitted to the Czar, nor sent with
his sanction. No doubt is felt that the Sultan will con-
sent to sign it, but strong apprehensions are expressed
that it will not be acceptable to the Czar.

VIENNA, Nov. B.—The Consul of France at Bucharest
writes as follows under date the 6th of November :—" On
the 2nd and 3rd of Nov. the Turks crossed the Danube
from Turtukai to Oltenitza, to the number of about 18,000
men. On the 4th Gen. Parlof attacked them with 9,000
men, and after a brisk cannonade, a combat with the
bayonet took place between the two armies. The Turks
maintained their positions at Oltenitza, and have fortified
them. The combat lasted three hours. In it the Rus-
sians lost several officers and 136 privates killed, and six
superior officers, 18 subalterns, and 479 privates wounded.
The loss on the Turkish side is not known. Four thou-
sand Turks occupy Kalarache, 2,000 have established
themselves on an island in front of Giurgevo, and 12,000
are in Lesser Wallachia."
VIENNA, Nov. B.—From the 4th to the sth the Turks
occupied the island near Oltenitza, and crossed unobserved
to Wallachia, at dawn. When seen, a battle ensued which
lasted twenty-eight hours. The result is unknown. It is
rumoured that Giurgevo was taken by storm. Turtukai
and Oltenitza are towns on the right and left banks of the
Danube, between Rustchuk and Silistria, on the direct
route to Bucharest. Higher up the river, and opposite to
Rutschuk, lies Giurgevo, from which another road leads to
Bucharest. Still ascending the river, we come to Rohava,
a town on the right bank, opposite to which lies Kala-
rache, at the junction of the Schyl and Danube. The
troops in Lesser Wallachia are those which crossed from
Widdin, which forms the extreme left of the Turkish line.
BUCHAREST, Nov. 3.—Prince Gortschakoff has now ex-
tended the state of siege over Moldavia. The Prince has
not left Bucharest to this day. notwithstanding recent
events in Lesser Wallachia, conceiving that his presence
May be
_required at points best to be reached from this
capital. The Turkish force which crossed from Widdin,
is reported to be more considerable than was at first sup-
posed. Omer Pasha is not there in person. The Turkish
commander has thrown up entrenchments at Kalafat, and
constructed a tete de pont, from which it is inferred that
a permanent bridge will be made from Wallachia to the
eyot over against Widdin. Desertions to the Turks daily
take place in great numbers, notwithstanding the strict
surveillance exercised. The Russian troops under General
Dannenberg are echeloned from Krajowa to Slatina, their
strength is variously estimated at from 20,000 upwards.
The Russians in their entrenchments on the left bank of
the Danube make no preparations to cross the river. The
Consuls of France and Great Britain expect instructions
from their governments, authorising them to leave the
country.
BELGRADE, Nov. 3. The official Gazette of the Serbian
Government contains a decree by which every person
capable of bearing arms is ordered to possess himself of a
good serviceable rifle. Parties needing the article may
obtain it at cost price from the arsenal. Prince Alex-
ander has assured the Porte that no foreign power will be
allowed to violate the Servian territory.
The Journal de St. Petersbourg, of the Ist November,
publishes an imperial manifesto of which the following is
a translation :
By the Grace of God, We Nicholas the First, Emperor
and Antocrat of all the Russias,
" By our manifesto of the 14th of June, of the present
year, we informed our faithful and well-beloyed subjects
of the motives which made it incumbent upon us to de-
mand from the Ottoman Porte inviolable guarantees in
favour of the sacred rights of the orthodox church.
" We at the same time announced to them that all our
efforts to bring the Porte, by means of amicable persua-
sion, to sentiments of equity, and to the faithful observ-
ance of treaties, had remained fruitless, and that, conse-
quently, we deemed it indispensable to order our troops
to advance into the principalities of the Danube. But, in
adopting that measure, we still entertained the hope that
the Porte would confess its errorp, and would resolve to
give satisfaction to our just reclamations.
Our expectations have been deceived.

" It is in vain also that the great powers of Europe
have endeavoured by their exhortations to shake the
blind obstinacy of the Ottoman Government. It is by a
declaration of war, by a proclamation replete with false
accusations against Russia, that it replied to the pacific
efforts of Europe, and to our forbearance. Finally, enrol-
ling in the ranks of its army the revolutionists of all
countries, the Porte has commenced hostilities on the
Danube. Russia is provoked to the combat ; no other
means is left them than a resource to arms to compel the
Ottoman Government to respect treaties, and to obtain
from it the reparation of the offences by which it responded
to our most moderate demands, and to our legitimate
solicitude for the defence of the orthodox faith in the East,
which is also the religion of the Russiai? people.
" We are firmly convinced that our faithful subjects will
join in the fervent prayers which we address to the Most
High, that His hand may deign to bless our arms in the
holy and just cause which has at all times found ardent
defenders in our pious ancestors.
"' In to Domine speravi ; non confoundar in teternum.'
Done at Tsarskoe-Selo, the 20th day of October (3rd of
November), in the year of Grace, 1853, and the 28th of
our reign, `. (Signed)