The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-08-17
THE TURK.
His strongest Point in Warfare.


"a The recent battles in Bulgaria, says
the New York Times, have exemplified
once more the peculiar qualities OF both
combatants. The strength of both lies
in defense rather than attack, and in this
case, the Russians being the assailants,
their weakest point was matched against
their enemy's strongest. In holding an
intrenched position, the Turkish lines
man has few equals and no superiors.
In the field, where he is, and feels him
self to be, at the mercy of incompetent
officers, the occasional panics to which
he is liable, in common with all Eastern
races, have led many critics to under
value the splendid fighting power which
he really possesses; but behind breast
work, where his stubborn valor is un-
trammeled by any influence from with
out, he is emphatically "the right man
in the right place. n
1t is worthy of remark that both ma
tions have been almost uniformly victo-
rious as defenders and unfortunate as as
sailants. Russia's defensive victories at
Poltava, Kunersdorf, the Trebbia, Heils-
berg, Valentino, Smolensk, and her dis
| astrous attacks at Narva, the Pruth,
Zorndorf, st. Gothard, Naefels, Austen
litz, Inkerman, lEupatoria, are familiar
to every student of history. AS instances
of the Turks aptitude for defense it is
sufficient to mention the twenty months
siege of Rustchuk in 1S11-12, the de-
Tense of the lines of Rassoya against
Gen. Aurep, in 1853, the stubborn re-
sistance of Silistria in the same year,
costing s, 900 men to the besiegers, the
gallant defense of Kars against Gen.
Mouravieff, and the browning victory of
Eupatoria, which broke the heart OF the
Emperor Nicholas. On this point 1t is
worth while to quote the words of an
eminent military critic of the present
day, whose long personal experience of
Turkish troops gives special weight to
his opinion:
g In holding his ground against any
odds the Turkish grenadier is unsur-
passed. Were the enemy to come
sweeping down upon him 10000 strong,
where he stands yonder, solitary senti-
mel, he would fire his piece among them
as resolutely as ii he had an army at his
back, aud then fall where he stands,
without yielding an inch. With his i'm
plicit faith in destiny, and his noble self
sacrifice in the cause of God and the Sui
tan, he is capable of endurance and eff
fort that might put Spartan to the
blush-witness the wan, famine-stricken
hollow-eyed specters that manned so
stanchly the walls of beleagured Kars.
Take care of the officers, keep the Pa
sha's hands from bribery, and you may
trust the Turkish soldier that no Russian
regiment ever reaches the gates of Con-
stantinople."
The last clause sounds almost
prophetic, in the face of the efforts now
making to secure the services of the
Hungarian General, Klapka. 1t is GER
tainly poor compliment to the native
officers that, with German at the head
of the central army, an Enghshman in
command of the Black sea feet, two
Prussians prominent among the en-
gineers, an Egyptian taking the lead in
the artillery department, and another
Englishman handling the cavalry, the
Porte should beg another general officer
from Hungary but it must be owned
that the two leading instances of elm
ported Generals recorded in history
Tyrt@us at Sparta and Xanthippus at
Carthage-were successful enough to
make the experiment worth repeating.