The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-07-10
THE sERvJAN WAR.
Comparative strength Of the Christian
League and the Turkish Empire.
lBt. Louis Times

/ Comparative strength Of the Christian
/ League aud the Turkish Empire.
lst. Louis Tines
The strength Of Servia has been great
| ly exaggerated by interested reporters
Gen. Tohernaieff, some three weeks
ago. wrote from Belgrade to the Ruski
/ Mir that the'Servian army numbered
/ 125, 900 men, and the militia 100, 900 more.
He might as well have made them
1000, 900 while he was aboutit. Servia
In 1873 had population Of 1888, 505. Her
regular army Is very small. It contains,
according to one authority, no more
than 1000 men. and we have never seen
1t rated higher than 1000. The strength
Of the militia Is estimated at 10000
Thus, between them, the two bodies
count about $1,000 combatants, most OF
whom have received only arough train.
ing, while all, unless they have seen
! foreign service. must be quite unused to
war. The Serbs, however, are gallant
race and take naturally to arms. A
teuee en- masse might draw $4,000 addi-
tional men to the flag. But such drain
could not be supported for any length
of time. Even an army of $1,000 exacts
i the recruitment of 56 per 1000 inhabit-
ants, and this. as we have shown, is q
larger ratio than Germany, with all her
organized resour ces, claims to call into
field.
Montenegro in the fourteenth century
| formed part OF Servia, then mighty
kingdom, which stretched from sea to
sea, from the Euxine to the Adriatic.
The principality Is now by all odds the
most quarrelsome State In Europe, and
makes noise in the world ridicuiously
disproportionate to its size, for the
population is only 1870, O00 Highlanders
! IN n uu re- rai "a In ,fau nf
combatants than the peaceful peoples
| of the plain" Therefore it may be
possible for the Black Mountain to turn
out 10000 or $4,000 fighting men. 1t
pretends to do much more than this.
But we would prefer to rate its forces
even at the lowest Of the figures we have
named. Here are two criteria to judge
the matter by. When the fiery cross
went around among the Scottish clans
it called the whole strength Of the land
to battle. Whoever could march rushed
to the rendezvous. Neither age nor
youth escaped that levy. Yet never, at
least in historical times, has u Killed
army contained more than one-tenth Of
| the population il was drawn from
Again, Switzerland, q country with the
stoutest inhabitants and most exact
enrolment, can only arm rs in the 1000
Of its population. This proportion
would give Montenegro $3.50 men. Its
army, however, as used to be said Of the
Swiss, Is "all bone;' and the princi-
pality offers very defensible country
Yet in the war of 1862, Omar Pasha. at
the head OF 10000 Turks, swept the
defiles of Karadagh, besieged Cettigne,
and reduced the mountainous to the
hard choice between submission and
destruction
| Georgios of Greece rules over king
| dom, but he has only / ,457 900 subjects.
His regular army numbers 1000, and,
! il placed on a war footing, can be in
creased to $4,000. The national guard,
whatever it may be worth, is said to
amount to 10000 men. This would raise
the total force to 200. But such @
ratio cannot by any possibility be mo-
bilized. We have no reason to suppose
| that the available strength OF Greece
exceeds the figures we have given for
| Servia. The Greek navy would be- un-
able to keep the sea for an hour against
Turkeys formidable fleet, as it contains
only q single iron-clad and six screw
steamers.
Roumania has larger population and
gte IL f645rfe at t4faeo yn1'bl16bi ahsn
Its regular army is divided into two sec
tons, the permanent and the territorial.
Both are effective They number. on a
fair estimate for the reported battalions.
squadrons and batteries, 50, 900 infantry.
$1,000 cavalry, mainly territorial, 10000
artillery and $500 troops and staff-n
all. over $4,000 men. The militia, who
are exercised one day in each week. will
supply an efficient reserve, 15o. 900
strong.
The National Guard" and "rural
masses, may as well be omitted from
an estimate OF fighting power. One
thing, however, must not be forgotten.
Servia and Montenegro are under Rus
sian influence, while Roumania looks to
Germany for guidance and support.
The Prince or "Domnu".is Hohenzol-
Tern OF the branch of Sigmaringen. an
Intelligent and excellent ruler, who
labors for the advancement OF his peo-
pie, and understands that his territories
lie directly across the path of Russian
conquest. To him the Gar Is danger
incarnate, and the Sultan no more than
q distant suzerain, content with the |
shadow OF sovereignty and an annual |
tribute Of $lS1, 1926.
From the facts we have cited two con-
illusions appear deducible, although. at |
best, 1t is blindfold work to
-" east the event of war;
And sum the account OF chance"
The Ottoman Empire, If pitted against
ooA ~" oAu MouteuegTo, IL IL giant con-
tending with dwarfs. The giant. no
doubt, has been weakened by formidable
revolts as well as by recent revolution.
while the dwarfs are the most active and
venomous Of their kind. Still the dis
parity is 80 great that we cannot doubt
turkeys ability to beat back the Ser
Wan aud Montenegrin invaders, and
even, In the long run, to stamp out She
though not, we may be
sure, without some burning of the feet.
But IL Roumania shall fall into line
things will go very hard with the Sultan.
who then may have to make up his mind ,
% the loss Of all his possessions north of !
ne Balkan, with perhaps Albania and )
Ihessaly to boot. Already some of I,
hese provinces have been annexed, in !
Intention, by the two Slavonic princes :
Who defy the Porte. But :
l'he paan FL at 4 ~ s4ii tL LIN >. - | 5