New-York tribune., 1877-08-20

advance like problem IN mechanics II "'i
expected resistance was developed at any
point they had only to increase the pressure
ly massing their forces and crush out opposi-
tion bv sheer weight. There might be delay
so ponderous n machine could scarcely be
cxpectcd 10 run without considerable friction
but they had provided against accident.
According to the Russian staff, science ratIer
than fortune was the genius of the modern
battle field.
While the furnaces Of national pride were
heaped with kidding desires and inflammaDle
ambition and the elastic strategy OF the stan
was exerted at tremendous pressure, there was
slight Jar and then an awful shock; and
now the nation and the staff are beginning to
realize that far from avoiding an accident,
their system has narrowly escaped an absolute
break down. The advance guard of the Ninth
Corps staggered into Pleyna in the same easy
and nonchalant style in which the Eighth Corps
sauntered through TirnOya, and while the
soldiers were laying aside their knapsacks and
loaiing and chatting in the streets, the Turks
opened fire upon them from every house,
and drove them out Of the town. Resistance
had been encountered unexpectedly. This was
the moment to bring the pressure OF the en-
tire military machine to BEAR Forty thousand
men were massed, and the assault was re-
newed. For two days columns of soldiers were
flung like pith-balls against the ntrenchments.
The whole force of the Right Wing was spent
like a puff of exhaust steam without forcing
passage through the enemy's lines. There was
not sufficient momentum in the attack, and the
brgades recoiled, shattered, helpless and
no innnmpraDle
of Xerxes, but the army of the Romanoifs
with large proportion of its available strength
ON paper. and regiments could not be thrown
away without being missed. There were no
reserves upon which the decimated bngades
could fall back for support. Not only the
Right Wing but the whole army seemed to be
crippled and paralyzed. 1t was not that here
a lever was bent and there a rod was strained,
but that the whole machine seemed to be out
of gear and falling to pieces.
Three weeks of inactiOn have followed. The
Landwehr have been called out and the Guard
Corps has been summoned to the front. The
demonstration against Silistra has been cut
short, and the Fourteenth Corps has returned
to Roumania leaving the Turks at liberty to
occupy the Dobrudja and threaten the Russian
communications on the lower Danube. Gh0urko
and the Eighth Corps have been recalled from
their outposts beyond the Balkan, and the Shipka
Pass either has been already or will speedily be
abandoned. The investment of Rustchuk has
been interrupted. The attack upon Plevna
has not been renewed, and seven army corps
are massed between Tirnova and the Danube.
Suleiman, forcing his way over the mountains
by the same brdle-paths which Ghourko had
taken when he made his brilliant raid, has
ioined Mehemet Ali while on the other flank
Osman holds the nights which looked down
upon the slaughter of Plevna. Every day
since the battle the prospects of the Rus
SLAMS have grown darker. While they have
been waiting for reinforcements the Turks
have been drawing closer and massing
their forces. The time has passed for over
whelming either the Widdin or the Shumld
army. The Russians are practically acting
on the defensive, and their position is ex-
tremey critical. Instead of predicting coup
de main across the Balkan and a rapid march
upon AdIianOple they now admit that the war
will last two years and that they cannot hope to
do more than hold their own where they are,
unless they are heavily reinforced through
general levy. The science of war has played
them false. Instead of leaving nothing to
chance, they may risk everything on the for
tune of single engagement. They are as
timid and cautions to-day as they were rash
and confident three weeks ago. The staff has
been burned with hot milk, and now it blows
on cold water.