Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-07-19
Foreign War News.

sian center, lying III Its front. As vet
there is no news that this purpose has
been fulfilled 1t L. believed now that
it has been Abandoned because while
the Turkish forces there could not be
materially reinforced or their position
strengthened, the delay has afforded the
Russians abundant time to prepare for
an inyincible defense The Russian
success in recapturing Bayazid and re-
/ lieying its garrison is the best evidence
+ that accounts of the disasters to them
have been exaggerated. Practically
Mukhtar Pasha has only strengthened
the garrison Of Kars, which is still
under siege and likely to remain so,
until reinforcements shall enable the
toward ErzrOum
In European Turkey the Russian ad-
vance to the Balkans seems To be a
meeting almost no opposition. The
Schibka pass Is already practically in
their hands, with no enemy apparently
i'll front. Is it strategy, military inca
pacity, OF mad panic that had left open
to the invader one Of the most easily
defended passes of the mountains which
constitute the second line of the Turk
ish defense?
apparently it Is panic, such as notOri-
Ously reigns in COnstantinOple itself.
Unless the Turks fight Il great unSuccess-
full battle within the coming week,
their fate must depend entirely upon
one great open field battle south of the
Balkan Mountains But this probably
will be DELAYED some weeks until the
Russians can build the proposed rail
road from SistOva to Tirnova and bring
over it the vast stores of supplies need
ed for the starving people of the invad-
ed Territory as well rs the army itself.
The Turks themselves are on the
verge of starvation, 50 there Is no enc
my's country from which the Russians
can exact support. For these reasons
the struggle will begin, unless diplo-
macy Is permitted to settle it soon, as
everybody sees that Russian occupation
of ConstantinOple, if the war goes on,
is only question of time.
Letters from COnstantinople give
alarming pictures of the distress pre-
vailing there The government has
wrmg from the people their last pias
tire and is still pennileSs. The streets
are full of respectable people begging
for food.
Thousands are subsisting on scant
supplies of dry bread, and abso-
lutte starvation stares multitudes of
Christians i'll the face as well as the
families of Turkish cOnscripts gone to
war. Unless speedy relief comes from
some quarter, pestilence such as the
world has seldom witnessed, may be
( ,l II, Il To l,r #
ing situation.
PERA, July 15.-The Russian advance
guard of COssacks has reached Jenl, on
the Sardargh railway station, half way
between Jamboli and Adrianople. The
Russians are attacking the town, which
Is occupied by two battalions of Turks.
RaOuf Pasha is expected there with Il
large force. The Russian advance guard
! traversed HeiOn Pass through the Bal
kan Mountains. The force of which
/ the attacking party forms part has oc-
i cupied Yunda Valley. The Russian
4 force is estimated at 10000. but are des-
titute of artillery.
! LONDON, July 15.-There is no trust
worthy news from the armies in Bulga-
ria Recent dispatches announcing that
il SACttt b1tttlCo NCIC Progressing lil1l I
prove entirely grOundless That the
Russians are closing upon Rustchuk Is
probable, although the concentration
must still be in very backward state,
since telegraphic communication be-
! tween Rustchuk and Schumla was intact
up to Friday. A Constantinople dis
/ patch of Saturday announces that the
I Russians are approaching Rasgrad, and
have probably already cut the railway
near that point 1t Is cOnjectured by
some that the Turks will maintain
a defensive line, extending from Rust
chuk via Schumla to Osman Ba-
zar, and will give battle in the open
country. The Constantinople telegram
above mentioned strongly opposes this
/ presumption, since the chief object of
such a defensive line would be to pro-
/ tect the railway which feeds the quad
rilateral This railway has now been
apparently cut by the Russians without
opposition. \ more plausible theory
is that the Turks will await the devel-
Opment of the Russian campaign, in
expectation that Rustchuk and Schum-
Ii must be besieged, and one or both
be reduced before the advance on the
DblhStllN Nslil bS 1lS'N
hope thus TO consume the season
wherein operations are practicable, as
Rustchuk and Schumla are believed
capable of heightened resistance, and
meantime the Balkan passes could be
strengthened and reinforced Two
things appear certain: First, that the
Russians cannot seize the passes OF
the Balkans or Sophia by coupe de
main, as was ut one time expected,
since the Turks have already taken
precautions against such movements;
secondly, the single bridge at Simnitza
remains as the only means of commu-
nicating with and supplying the army
south of the Danube. As this bridge must
be barely adequate for from day to day
requirements, and has been several
times broken by storms and the cur
rent of the river, there cannot yet
have been any such accumulation OF
material and transport at Sistova as
would justify Il general advance II
seems improbable, therefore, that the
Russians can originate any very start
ling movement for the present, and i
the Turks choose TO keep to their forti
tications, advices from Bulgaria bid
fair TO continue of the same uninter
estin9 character as heretofore for sew
eral weeks at least.
The position in Asia Minor is tolerabl,