New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-17

ported to have crossed the Balkan, ana
reached Jeni Saghra, station on the
branch railway between Adrianople ana
Jamboli Inasmuch as there has been
diminishing at Gabrova on the road lead
ing from Tirn0va to Kesanlik, IL Is
reasonable to suppose that the cavalry have
dashed through the mountain defiles and
swept down the Valley of the Tunja until
thew struck the railroad. Jeni Saghra is
twenty miles west of Jamboh, the terminus
of the branch railroad which unites with
the main line midway between Philippe
polls and Adrianople. The supplies for the
Turkish Army have been shipped from Constan-
tinople to Varna, and transported thence by rail
to the vicinity of Shumla. Some of their heavy
ordnance and military stores have been drawn
over themountains by the Eastern Passes, through
which Diebitsch descended upon Adrlanople In
the campaign of 1929. 1t is not probable that
this railroad has been used to any extent III
the transportation of supplies, and the capture
of Jeni Saghra would seem TO be a useless
piece of dare deyiltry, if the present demonstra-
ton be nothing more than a brilliant cavalry
raid. If the COssacks have strong column OF
infantry behind them, the Grand Duke Nlcho-
las has determined upon coup -de-maln as haz-
ardous as it is bold.
Diebitsch did not cross the Balkan until he
had defeated the Turks in the open field. The
campaign opened with the siege OF Slllstrla,
which occupied forty-fvc days. Narna had
been captured during the previous year. and
there was a Russian force at Pravadl. The
Turkish commander sailed forth from Shum-
la to attack this garrison with all his
available troops Diebitsch made a rapid
march from Silistria and nearly destroyed
the Turkish Army by attacking it on the
flank and in the rear. This flank march,
which Moltke, a Prussian captain who was
studying military operations at the Rus-
sian headquarters, pronounced stroke OF gen
ius resembles the movement of the German
armies by which MacAlahOn was put to rout.
Nor does the analogy end there. The masking
of Shumla corresponds to the siege OF Metz,
and the advance across the Balkan to the
march upon Paris. The Russian fleet had al
ready established a base OF supplies at Sizeboh,
beyond the mountains; the enemy was crippled
and PROSTATE; the plague had broken out III
the Russian camp, and was spreading fast; 1t
was an army of invallds, but there were neither
foltresses nor troops in front OF them,
and TO halt and invest Shumla was
defeat and death. The march across the
Balkan was a triumph of irOn-bound pluck,
and the peace of Adrianople was dictated by
the genius of despair. But the flank march
from Silstria and the victory IN front of
Pravad, had given pluck its opportunity and
despair its forlon hope.
If the force which has suddenly appeared
in the valley of the Tunia is the advance
guard of the Russian Army, the Grand
Duke has made flank movement from
Sistova and scaled the rampant of the
Balkan without crushing the Turks in the
open field. The risks of such movement rs
this are simply enormous. Rustchuk, the
natural base of supplies, has not been closely
invested. The command of the Danube above
and below the floating bridge at Sistova has
not been assured, although the capture of
Nikopols and the establishment of batteries
on the islands will shut off the Turkish
monitors at Widdin. The Right Wing
at Kalafat is inactive and the Left Wing
has scarcely emerged from tie Dobrudja.
The thanking column, in marching from Tlr-
nova to Kasanlik or Selmno, will have long
line of communications to protect, and the
country through which it passes will not yield
it even bread and salt. The Turkish Army con-
centrated at Shumla will be in position to fall
upon its flank and rear after the column has
scaled the mountains, or by striking southwark
through the Karnabat Passes to crush it in
front. They would have the same advantage
which they had in Armenia; a shorter line of
internal communication, by which they can
mass their forces against the enemy before he
can be reinforced. If the Grand Duke has sent
this flying column across the mountains, he has
done a bold, possibly foolhardy thing.
But if despair was victorious in 1929, audaci
ty may win to-day. A protracted war will not
only result in the financial prostration of Rus
STA, it Will also give the Great Powers oppor-
tnnities for intervention a cOup-de-maln may
draw the Turks out of their entertainments and
prevent the war from resolving itself into a Sc
ries of sieges. The Ottomans have already fought
best behind entertainments. The spade is their
trump-card in the game of war They have
seldom done more than occupy their fort
resses and fight hard behind stone walls and
whenever they have met the Russians in the
open field they have been defeated. Rumca
is an open plain, where the traditions of war
fare will favor the Russian arms
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