Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-07-06

Belgrade itself with bombardment.
! This floating force is comparatively
small land will probably be compelled to
retire; but in order to guard agaiI st any
| future attempts of the Turks In this di-
rection the Servians propose to torpedo
| the Danube, and it has even been pro-
pose d to obstruct the river at the Iron
| Gates, SO as to render them entirely i'm
| psssable. The following extract from
! the correspondence published in the Lon
don Standard describes the prepaIa.
tioDs:
'tIf the kilograms are to be believed
which say that some Turkish gunboats
are cruising off Widen, between that
and Negotin, the struggle is entering on
quite new phase. From Wtddin it is
hut few hours' steaming distance TO
Belgrade, and the gunboats, If they have
come, either mean to menace that city
or 10 cover the movement Of the TURKS
scrOss the river to invade Servia through
Negotin. The latter is, beyond doubt,
Servia's weak point but : till the attempt
on II would now be most hazardous,
and, if not successful, would mean fear.
fol disaster for the assailants. The
authorities at Belgrade, however, are by
no meaDs unaware Of the danger to the
city from gunboat attack. When the
Turks gave over the fortress they gave
with it large stores Of the very heaviest
smooth-bOre bronze cannon, all eight
inch or ten-inch calibre, some OF them
throwing shot OF more than two hum
dred pounds weight. When l left about
four weeks ago all the arrangements
were complete fer mounting these on
the river walls of the fortress overlook
ing the Danube, and the same will be
done, or now most likely has been done,
on the side which commands the Soane.
Still it has not been forgotten that q
gunbOat moving quickly is but small
mark, whereas the city, rising like q
small mountain at the junction of the
two rivers, is very large one, and that |
with lOng-range shells the houses would |
get the worst OF it, and it would be poor |
consolation for the forts to hold their |
own while the city was burning behind |
them. TO guard against this eventuality |
an extensive system Of
DYNAMITE ToRPEDoEs
are being arranged beneath the waters
over which the gunboats must come to |
do anything effectusl. II it does, and
the Servians are driven to the last ex.
tremities, they are said to mediate a
vengearcs which is too bad to speak Of
in temperate terms. Nevertheless, it is
spoken of by both civil and military en-
gineers, who discuss-guardedly, GER
tainly-the means Of doing it, the
amount it would cost, the time it would
take, and the number of tons of dyna-
mite 1t would require. To explain what
I mean 1 must digress for few lines.
Every one knows what broad, deep
and rapid river the Danube is, but it
foG Cn ito SOrnn f1rx1 hal 1
the cstaraets, st pass called the Iron
Gates. Here, opposite the small village
Of Tichevizths, it narrows from a width
Of a mile to about one hundred and
eighty yards wide, and with depth, as
far as can be sscertained from the vic.
lence OF the current, of from eight hun
dred to one thousand fathoms. The
on either side of this are very
Iofty-nearly five thousand feet high
but that on the Austrian side is thou
sand feet higher, and on the river side is
nearly sheer for about three thousand
feet above the torrent. In fact, where it |
Is not perpendicular it rather overhangs
the water. When there is very low
Danube the sharp, craggy points
Ot sub-SqueOu5 rocks begin to |
show themselves abJve the water, and
between these the passage is most mar
,ow, winding and shallow, and, in fact,
,sn only be passed by steamers espe-
,ially built for the purpose, OF light
iraught OF water, four psddle-wheels,
and Of immansa p3wsr. At the break
Up of last winter the floating Ice jammed
among these crags, the waters backed
ID, laying ali the Banstt and vast tracts
If Hungary under water. Such del.
lge was never known, and whether it
vas the hideous ruin which this caused
irst put it into the heads of the insur-
rents do nos knOw-ail do know is
hat the blowing up of the precipice of
Mount Serieber (the Austrian side)
Toul bring down many millions of tons
# rock across the Iron Gates, and long
before the obstruction could be removed
! vast part of eastern Europe would be
urDed into an inland lske.n Such will
% the desperate character of the war,
md there can scarcely be any doubt but |
hat civilized Europe must soon inter.
ere and put stop to the contest by re-
moving the cause.-The Ottoman power.