Polynesian., 1852-04-10

force of 2l2,000 men, and will have total oi
100000 when this establishment shall have beer
completed. The two services, as they now stand
form an effective force of 335,O00 men. Wher
their full strength shall have been filled up as con-
templated, it will amount to 4S0,000. Besides
these, there are number of detached corps In
Crete, Tripoli, Tunis in garrisons, &c. &c., which
raise the effective strength of the present standing
army to 365.COC men. By the augmentations as
proposed and now being carried out in Bosnia, Al
banla and Servia, and inclusive of the marines
sailors, and the police force ''the grand total OF
armed men at the disposal of Turkey, in the even,
OF her existing resources being called into play
may be quoted at no less than 664, GOO men, with
out having recourse to occasional levies, which
are more easily and efficiently realised in Turkey
| than in any other country"
1t also appears from Mr.. Skene's account, tina:
this service is highly POPULAR and that the physi-
cal comforts of the troops well taken Of
He SAYS:
"The military hospitals might serve as pattern
OF cleanliness to the first armies of the world and
the medical officers are now perfectly efficient,
some of them having studied at European univer-
sltes others having become profcients in their art
at the medical college of Constantinople, and few
being foreigners.
With regard to their probable efficiency in the
field. he further states that they are rapid in their
evolutlons, especially the cavalry and artillery
that the Russians have been shown, when brought
into comparison, to be infinitely slower, and that
the latter very far inferior in their infantry drill.
He adds:
"With such an army as this, formed by nation
whose inherent bravery has never been impugned,
even by Its most prejudiced detractors, it will
readily be allowed, that were the campaign of 1929
against the Russians to be fought over again now,
the result would be very different considering how
ha troQ nf
been in training, and also how undeniably the Rus
sian army has been falling of. for it not theI
to be compared with what it had been in 1915, and
it is not now equal to what it was in 1929"
The efficiency of the reserve of the Turkish
army, this writer further states, was recently fully
demonstrated:
"When an army of g. Coo men was assembled
by Turkey in the space of six weeks, on the occa-
sion of the interruption of her amcable relat ons
with Russia and Austria, on account of the Hun
garian refugees. In another month, 2C0,CC0 men
of the reserve, might have been collected at Con-
stantinople had they been required and it furnish
ed matter for astonishment to the many foreigners
in that capital, to behold thoroughly drilled and
disciplined army thus extemporsed in a camp to
which a number of mere peasants in appearance
had been seen focking from their villages"
These facts, which VIC have thus endeavored,
substantially, though imperfectly to enbcdy in our
synopsis, important and interesting, in the pres
ent aspect of European affairs. They show that,
regarded only in reference to her present military
forces the strength of the Ottoman Empire is any
thing but contemplate, likely to be disregarded
by her more despotic neighbors and that in the
event of future commotions, the wisest policy of
Austria and Russia will be to let Turkey alone
Whether, with her present strength. Turkey would
continue to submit to the disgracefu terms of the
treaty of Adrianople, or would take advantage of
favorable opportunity to recover her exclusive con-
troll OF the Ddrdaneles is another affair. 1t would
be worse than idle to indulge in conectures on that
point, which the future alone can solve.