New-York tribune., 1877-06-11
WAR SCENES IN CoNsTANTINOPLE.

THE HURRY TO GET THE NAVY AND ARMY READY
FOR sERvICE-THE RAID INTO CIRCAssiA-A
BOLD-sPEAKING PARLIAMENT-THE DEFENDER
or BATUM.
lFRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRiBUNEJ
CoNsrANrINoPLE May 23.-It is just one month
since the great doubleheaded eagle dropped out OF
sight behind the parapet on the top of the Russian
Embassy in PeTa, but no great battle has yet been
fought. The oldest inhabitants join with one voice
in testimony that this is the wettest of Mays that
the Danube never was so high, and that the in
the passes of the mountains of Ararat never lay so
late unmelted Theremarkable delay in the deploy
ent of the Russians enables the Turks to profit by
The respite to make their fna preparations for the
war. One would have supposed that they had had
time to make ready; but the actual pressure Of war
as a present fact was needed to make the Govern
ment use energy in its preparations Although the
fleet had been for a month before the declaration of
war under orders to be ready to move any moment,
after war came it had to spend week III taxing III
coal before il could begin offensive operations. The
same laxness has run through all the Turkish az
rapcements and 1t is only since the outbreak Of war
that the Government Is completing the Notifications
of its advanced posts in Europe and in Asia. In
fact Arabian is said TO have fallen solely
because the Krupp guns were not III position and be-
cause the ammunition for them was yet 10 come.
The people have been worked up into a fever of cx
eitement again. They are satisfied that England
will in the end be drawn into the war on the Turk
sh side and are therefore generally well behaved
toward foreigners; but, Notwithstanding this the
Ministry have found 1T necessary to send the most
stringent orders to the provinces to watch against
the tendency bred in the popuiace to consider all
foreigners in some measure the same a. Russians.
Some of the people are always in danger Of
ing that if 1t is merorious 10 XIII Russian gaour,
ii is also mercTiOus TO Kill giaOuT of another
it is all lott The foreigners IN the interior
of Turkey are very few IN number ASIDE from the
American missionaries. They, knowing the Ian
guage and knowing the people, will not undertake
to leave their homes for the present.
The Government is anxious to prevent the undue
excitement Of the MCsleDs and yet il finds it neces-
sarv to excite their fanatclsm somewhat So IT has
proclaimed the war 10 be religious one (" JhGd f.
seJH ulah")-a war of Isamism against infdels-
and i'm the breath it has declared, the other
hand that the war is not one Of Christianity against
Isamsm, so that the Christians of the Empire must
be regarded and treated as brothers. The Govern
ment illustrates the character of the people TO which
il addresses itself by making an official statement
of the nnocuous character of comets. at is only
singular coincidence" says the official paper, that
a comet should have appeared at the time of the
I'll W
TIE TURKS N CIRCAsSIA.
The Government is making the most of the Cir
eassan nsuuection and the. capture of Sukum
Kaleh on the CircassaR coast. Some 10000 OF
10 900 men have been embarked for that region
during the past week and Fazti Pasha pretty good
general has been sent 10 command the expedition
The troops sent are poor material. About half Of
them are Circassian irregulaTs, whose departure
from Turkey "A blessing. The CircassIan coast can
be CONQUERED with some labor for the Turkish feet
rules the Black Sea 1t cannot be held however
without the feet unless the Turks take Anapa, the
point where the Caucasus Mountains touch the
Black Sea. The Caucasus Mountains utterly
impassable and the master of the forts at Anapa
viii rule the land between the mountains and the
ElacL Sea rs lar As tO the Georgian Valley. But
even if the Turks were TO have the luck or the
erv to copouer the Circasslan coast it would be of
no practical value unless they use it for base of
operations against the great Kasbek Pass Here the
wild mountain barrier is riven and in gorge whose
sides are perpendicuar walls of barren rock is the
only road across the Caucasus. The railway system
Of Russia terminates at Vladkaukas, north OF the
uaz.. and all the supplies for the Russian army IN
Armenia naturally flow through the Pass OF Kasbek
10 Tlais The pass is nearly hundred mlles long
and il would seriously embarTass the Russians should
the Turks and their Circassian allies gain access TO
1t. The only remaining line of communication Ter
the Russian army is the circuitous route by the Cas-
plan Sea. This blockade of the Pass OF hasbek can
only be accomplished, however, by the and OF
all the mountain tribes. There is small reason
TO expect that the Ccassan rebellion alone will he
Of any serious moment to the Russians since there
are hardly $4,000 of that left M the Caucasus
Meantime the diversion of the finest ships in
the feet for the bootless mission of bombarding
the Russian martello towers this useless coast ID