The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-05-04

| opposite RuStchuk. AT the laSt-named
point the river is three-quarters of
mile wide and the current two and
half miles per hour; at Ollenitza it mar
rows to eight hundred yards. The ad-
vantage of coming to Giurgeyo is that
there is railway all the way, with
Bucharest as basis of supplies, and
from here the best roads lead into the
Balkan range. But it would take at
least fortnight to bring the army here,
giving the Turks time to concentrate
their forces. If, on the other hand,
NepokoytchiZky has determined to cross
at Brahilov at once, in the face of the
Turkish fleet in the lower Danube, and
move down through the Dobrudsha 1.-THE
northeastern portion of Bulgaria be-
tween the river and the seal, he must
cross the line of Trajan's wall, leave
Silistria on his flank and pass between
the two great fortresses of Varna and
Shumla. the latter, one of the strongest
of all which command the road. This
was the line taken in 1929, but Russia
had then fleet on the Black Sea, and
it is difficult to imagine successful
march along coast controlled by the
enemy.
But at whatever point the Russians
cross the Danube, the greatest task
will be still before them. They will
still have the Balkan range to cross, the
second line of defense, which presents
most frightful difficulties. "The
mountains" says writer to the Lon
don News, "attains an elevation of
about 5000 feet at their western ex-
tremity, descending to 1900 feet at
their eastern end and abruptly termin-
ating at Cape Emineh. The distance
from the Danube to the top of the
passes is about so or 60 miles, across q
rough and broken country; the declivi-
ties of this mountains themselves are
clothed with forests, the climate is very
cold and bleak, the highest parts of the
mountains are only free from snow for
few months in the year, and piercing
The passes are eight in number. The
most easterly one is the coast road from
Tarna to Burgas; this is a tolerably good
road and easy, but it is commanded
from the sea. Proceeding westerly we
come next to the Chenga Pass; this is
an Indifferent road but an easy pass,
and was traversed by the Russian army
in 1929; the next, the Begza Pass, from
Shumla to Karnabat, although on the
main road between Silistria and Adri-
anople, is a very bad road and diff
cult pass; the next, from Osman Bazaar,
is also rough and craggy pass; next
follows the Iron Gate, on the road from
Tirnova to Slivno, this is decent pass,
and has been traversed by a military
force; from Ternova to Kasanlik is the
Shipka Pass, with road for carriages;
the next is a very difficult pass-indeed,
it has been lately described as almost
impassable'-it leads from Nikopoli by
Lovatz to Phillippopolis, or Tartar Baz-
arjik; the most westerly pass, leading
from Lom or Nikopoli OH the Danube
to Sofia, OH the Nash and and Philippe
polls road, is an easy one, with good
road practicable for carriages. The
roads from the more easterly of the
passes enumerated converge on the line
of railway at or near Adrianople, after
traversing some seventy miles of rough,
undulating and stony country, which
falls rapidly toward the sea of Mar
mora" There are no further physical
obstacles to march on Constantinople
until we come within few miles of
that town, where a range of hills
stretches across the narrow peninsula
from the Sea of Marmora to the Black
Sea. This is the line which Valentine
Baker proposed to fortify, but nothing
appears to have been done with it.
The war would have been decided, how
ever, long before a Russian army
reached this point.
The difficulties of the Balkan range
are so great that it would be worth
while, if possible, to go all the way
around them, as the Russians might do
by crossing the upper Danube at Tcher-
metz and moving through Servia and
down by the great highway that leads
through Nissa, Sofia and Philipopopplis
to Adrianople. The drawbacks to this
plan are the extent of the movement
especially as the Roumanian railway is
single track affair, with meagre roll
ing stock, and the danger that the pas
Nfo int, o1n t.
the Austrian frontier would compel
that power to cry halt, as she did once
before. We shall be better able to
speak of the Russian plan of campaign,
however, few days hence, when Ne
pokoytchizky's intentions have been
more fully developed; the one thing to
be borne in mind in that even should
the Danube be successfully crossed the
tug of war-assuming that the war is
to be fought out-will be yet to come.