, 1877-02-28

HEl'AN itVuN Hi-A ~ AO'NNt u NlNtC
Of he could not say, hit it was to his mind
clear that no Considerable force could hs
spared l~herefcom, either for the invasilr Of
Stryil or he prevention Of a Seryian advance
long The Sophia road. ShumIa in The in.
yader'> hand, or completely invested, the pas.
SAGE Of lhp Balkans, The great barrier Of Tur.
key, would have TO he IF .ctrd. This formi.
liable mountain range, separating Bulgaria
from Il iumplia, ran from west to east, gradu-
ally diminishing in hight from 5000ft. to
5000 f., until it abruptly terminates at Cape
Eminrh. between the valley Of the Klm:Schlk
and Uadir. Won MOllke said that the difficulty
attending The passage Of the Balkans lay far
more in the paueity and bad state of The roads
than in their height or inaocaSSibi i'y. The
passes, with the single exception Of th. Sohib.
ka (Which the Sultan travtrsed in 1886 in q
four horse carriage We're imprarticihIe, or
nearly so, for wheels. an were liltlt more
than bride paths. There are >rven passes
over the Balkans. which the gallant lecturer
pointed out and described Thr e Of these
passes might be utilized BY an invading force.
Il was impossible to suppose that III" passes
would be neglected by their def-ud RI in his
ssm9 way as in 1929, bat tbs a,t.npt to 40.
port the Russian land forces by SEA wolll b}
even more serious and formi .bI.. Thy
We're. Of course, dealing but with SupposilionS.
I; could not be otherwise. LIZ hem suppose
the invading commander 20 he rrownrd with Il
wrra'h Of l,Qrel. II. hal passed. lhe Btktns.
aud been jonej by II reserve of 100000 men,
disrmharkyd from lh. fleet. With the f.e;
he mast conti0u in communication an push
on towards The @ IN Of The south. Three
roads W re O2at - hin, w: From karraSat
by Bujnx Der5-nI, Or Tia Grand Pass ,ge. 10
Adrianopl4, and thence to Tchatal BIrgts:
AIlos TO Kirk Kslj>-il. and thence also TO
Tchatal Burgas and next the coast road.
Between these here We're ample means Of
communicates n. Tno coast was undrfrnded,
and such supplies "a ths country did not afford
should be obtained from the q ct. The only
serious obstacl, was The dtfle Of Bunk Der.
bend, the passage of which was dangerous and
difficult to a degree, unless, as in 1922. it was
wholly neglected. Ii this road must the main
advance he made, and, if successful, AdtiauO-
pie was not likely to cGer any resistance.
Thence there was the railway TO Tchatal
Bargas, where III junction should BIZ effected
with the Al los corps. Now The hope If centuries,
tne day dream Of all Musoovy. was we'll nigh in
sight. Islam wouldf Lht for very existence; nther
nations, too, it. might be. (Applause.l What
the result would BIZ none could say. 1t Was
not bis business TO inquire. But this be re-
echoed -
"Ah voc to u, and woe to all who think and feel,
= If once upon the Bosphorus the naughty Rus.
sian plants his frozen heel
renewed app'au,e.) He now came to that
part Of his t4Sk whu Oh he would not affect to
conceal was the ms agreeable to hm-tbo
defence of the status quo in Eur'peln Turkey.
NJ one was more alive than himself to the
great necessity to this Empire that the channel
Of the BDsphorus should remain in the hands of
q, 50 10 say, neutral Power. No ono looked
with greater dread or more m~iasiviug upon the
dlnger that now threatened it. The armi,rice
betwe IL the Russo. Serbs and the Turks had
been devo ted Ivy the latter to the movement of
the bulk Of their armies from tbs s, rviau from
tier to the Dauubian inc. AS TO the numeri.
cal natu re Of the movement, Neither ho nor
aoybad in the world could inform thtm. The
Scra kicr had 10 idea of the number Of men on
which he at any given time or place could
count, what their weapons might b.. or any par
ticulars nbout them. The Commander in- chief
could form n more proximate. but at best only
a rough, idea. The same state of bIi,sful
ignorance and Indifference reigned in the minds
Of the great majority Of the officers. The
battalionS and almost the companies were indis-
eriminately formed. The Turk was a glorious
soldier in the hour Of danger. His courage was
heroic, his discipline perfect but no Turk had
the fsintest notion of Organization. In 1878
the utmost resources of the Sublime Pnrtc CON-