The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-11-01
Suleiman Pasha's Peeuliarities.

bucharest Correspondence of the n. Y Times.1 |
Suleiman Pasha is still maneuvering,
or pretending to do SO, somewhere near
Gabrova, but this distinguished officer
has such very eccentric method of con-
ducting a campaign that no one can tell
what he wants or means to accomplish.
The enemies of the first Bonaparte, in |
their desire to detract from the merit of |
his victories, used to say sneeringly: 1t |
is true that he has been successful, but has |
been so by the violation of every estab-
lished rule of tactics" Suleiman Pasha
has read this naive anecdote, and has de-
termined to show himself the worthy imi-
tator of the First Consul, by going back
three centuries to the time of his glo-
rious namesake, Suleiman II, and fight
ing as people did when firearms were
only accessories, and bow and arrows,
lances and sabers were the principal
weapons of offense. For him the Janis
saries with their impetuous rush are the
true models to be followed, and all mod
ern innovations mere makeshifts to con-
ceal the absence of that courage by
which alone the Osmanli should triumph.
Suleiman Pasha is little over forty
wears of age. Who he was, no one
knows, before he put on the turban. His
nationality is supposed to be Polish, and
he is strongly protected by the powerful
influence of the Old Turkish Party, by
whom he is held in great respect for his
sedulous observance of the principles
and precepts of the Koran. In other
words he is a fanatical renegade with
Puritan manners, who hates Christians,
and never drinks spirits in public. Like
most of his class, he will probably one
day sell his army to the Russians, after
the manner of Joussouf Pasha, at Jarna,
| in 1928; meanwhile he is doing it all the
harm he can by uselessly exposing it in
assaults perfectly unnecessary, and by
| refusing to come to the assistance of his
chief, by whom he is publicly denounced
as miserable traitor" Tall and mus
cular as a Circassian, his bronzed fea-
lures bear an expression of sternness and
decision almost amounting to ferocity
His courage is undaunted; his want Of
education almost proverbial. He speaks
French fuently, but ungrammatically
boasts of never having studied any mil
itary author, and never writes letter
or takes a note. Sober as a Spartan
simple and unaffected in his dress anc
manners, Suleiman Pasha is the very an
|
by the mode of organization of his arm!
and of its various elements, may b,
called military specialist, a living an
achronism. He despises red tape in ever.
form, and consequently has no staff
With him aid-de-camps are useless EN-
barrassments so he retains about hi
person simply one or two orderly officer
for the transmission of orders on tn
| Go1 I, 70. of
The Quartermaster's Department is
source of abuses. He has, therefore
suppressed it entirely, just as he ha
done with the ambulance service, mair
tanning that no true believer has an
need of surgical aid, but if it be hi
kismet to recover he will do SO. wherea
to call in a foreign maxim is to fly int
the face of the decree of Allah. Still
even with all these radical reforms, 81
4 lehman Pasha has won not a few brilliaI
victories by the rapidity and energ
= of his movements and the impetuosit
! of his attacks. The necessities of stra
/ egy obliging the General to move hui
:. riedly from Adrianaople to Karabuna
he summoned the different commander
Z of his forces to his presence and gay
e the order for each to get his men off
IS the course of four-and-twenty hours, adj
e ing they might take whatever measul
e they chose providing that every one WI
3 at the point of rendezvous at the prop'
II time. Immediately the movement
T troops commenced. The soldiers We
u notified to provide themselves with thr
4 days rations of biscuit, and to get in
:, the train if they could find seats, or
q 60 by the road if they could not. &c
c. to Karabunar as fast as you can," W
T. the order of the officers, and thith
u every one went as fast as his legs or tt
y railway carriages could take him. Sult
=, man Pasha possibly commands well-b
IL let me add, every Ottoman soldier is a
er other Suleiman, who acts, and in til
y individuality lies the secret of his su
w cess.