The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-05-04

~ Il w OnLLANH, Il Ii
fused to recognize Roumania or settle
the questions which have been pending
for years. According to an additional
convention the Russians are allowed to
use Roumanian roads, railways, rivers
country are placed at their disposal for
the supply Of the army. The
Roumanian authorities are to assist
In erecting camps and forward
ing baggage. Russian military trains
and telegraphing are to have
the precedence OF ordinary traffic. The
Russians are empowered to complete
unfinished railroads, and the necessary
ground for this purpose Is ceded to
them. The Chief Of the Russian Mill
tary Traffic Department is empowered,
nian Minister OF Works, to dismiss Rou-
manian railway officials. The Russians
are allowed to establish military sta
tions and hospitals anywhere except in
Bucharest. Roumania will, Ii re-
quired, provide material for the
construction of boats, ships and
bridges. Articles intended for the
Russian army will be admitted into
Roumania duty free. The Roumanian
authorities will assist In capturing Rus
sian deserters. All the expenses in
Cured through the passage Of the Rus
sians are to bB paid in cash within two
months. An explanatory report an
nexed to the convention says Russia is
obliged to intervene In Turkey be-
cause MussuIman fanaticism and the
weakness of the Turkish Government
allow no hope of reform, and as Russia
desired to respect the inviolability of
Roumania, the present convention was
concluded.
The Chamber ratified the convention
by vote Of 70 to %.
THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
The Rules for Recruiting and Organi zing
the Army.
IN. Y. World.l
By the law of 1874 each Russian citi-
zen. upon attaining the twenty-first
year Of his age, Is obliged to serve his
country as q soldier, Ii required. The
general term Of service is fifteen years,
of which six are to be passed in active
service, and nine in the reserve. But
this term may be greatly modified ac-
cording to the education each recruit
has received. The stated term Of fifteen
years Is exacted only of such soldiers as
are entirely illiterate. Instruction at a
village school shortens the time to
eleven years, Of which but two must
be spent in active service. OF
young men, educated at provincial
school or university, but nine and @ half
years Of service are required, of which
one year and six months must be pass
ed in the active army and the rest in
the reserves. Moreover, voluntary
enlistment shortens in each case the
time of active service by one half All
the soldiers on active service form the
standing army during peace. The re-
serves are called in when the army is
placed on war footing. An imperial
ukase each year designates the number
of men necessary for the completion OF
the army, and the War Ministry distrib-
utes them among the different proyin-
ces, in which special committees, COM
posed partly Of government officials
and partly of elected members, are ap,
pointed for receiving and examining the
recruits.
OF course not all Russians twenty one
years old actually become soldiers
The first year the new law was put into
force, out OF 100000 young men who
presented themselves for military ser.
vice, but 100000 were actually required
for the army. ALI those who are not en-
listed, together with the men who have
served out their time, constitute the
second part Of the Russian armed forces
the "opelteheHie,' or militia, to
which all able bodied men from twenty
to forty necessarily belong. The first
division Of the militia, formed by men
from twenty to twenty-four years OF
age, may during war be incorporated in
the active army IL the latter appears in
ing men from twenty-four to forty years
Is to be called out only when the
country has to be defended against in.
vasion.
TURKISH FRONTIER FORTREssEs.
a strong Circle that the Russians VIII
Have to Break Through.
[London Telegraph
Verna is in an efficient state of de.
fense. Shooma is stronger than ever
Widin, on the northwest frontier, il
mounted with four hundred guns. The
citadel stands in the center Of fortified
walled circuit some six miles in circum.
ference, the approaches to which arc
over marshy grounds dyked in, and thai
may be overfowed by opening the sluices
so as to drown out an assailing force
The Russians hope to cannonade this
fort from Kalafat, on the opposite Rou
manian shore of the Danube, but they
will hardly be allowed to do it by the
Turks. Iney Will anticipate tne arrlVa
Of the Russians by preoccupation o
kalafat. In any event, they could rem.
der it untenable by their gunboats anc
the fire from the batteries on the island
in the Danube, between the two shores
Widin taken, it would be necessary mex
to carry Nisch, q stragetic point of great
strength, commanding three valley
routes leading in different directions or
the Turkish railway system, debouch
ing at Salonica and Constantinople
There is a certain prospect of the hard
est kind Of fighting at all the northern
frontier strongholds. The Turks will
be troubled by the distracting Difficult
ties that may be created by the invasion
of Bosnia by the Austrians, and tn,
! simultaneous rising of the principal
ties. Rely upon it, however, that the!
they will fight against all odds, and il