The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1877-11-10
Suleiman Pasha's Peculiarities,

Suleiman Pasha is still maneuvering,
or pretending to do so, somewhere near
Gabrova, but this distinguished officer
has such very eccentric method of con-
Quoting 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: at
is true that he has been successful, but has
been 80 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
years 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 Circassian, his bronzed fea-
tures bear an expression of sternness and
decision almost amounting to ferocity.
His courage is undaunted; his want of
education almost proverbial. He speaks
French fuertly, but ungrammatically ;
boasts of never having studied any mil
itary author, and never writes letter
or takes a note. Sober as Spartan,
simple and unaffected in his dress and
manners, Suleiman Pasha is the very an
tipodes of his Russian adversaries. and,
by the mode of organization of his army
and of its various elements, may be
called military specialist, living an
achronism. He despises red tape in every
form, and consequently has no staff.
With him aid-de-camps are useless en-
barrassments; so he retains about his
person simply one or two orderly officers
| 4. &c he
field, as he retains no copies of anything.
The Quartermaster's Department is a
source of abuses. He has, therefore,
suppressed it entirely, just as he has
done with the ambulance service, main
tanning that no true believer has any
need of surgical aid, but if it be his
kisnet to recover he will do so, whereas
to call in foreign maxim is to fly into
the face of the decree of Allah Still,
even with all these radical reforms, SUI
lehman Pasha has won not a few brilliant
victories by the rapidity and energy
of his movements and the impetuosity
of his attacks. The necessities of STRAIT
egy obliging the General to move hur-
riedly from Adrianaople to Karabunar,
he summoned the different commanders
of his forces to his presence and gave
the order for each to get his men off in
the course of four-and-twenty hours, add
ing they might take whatever measure
they chose providing that every one was
at the point of rendezvous at the proper
time. Immediately the movement of
troops commenced The soldiers were
notified to provide themselves with three
days rations of biscuit, and to get into
the train if they could find seats, or tc
go by the road if they could not "Go
to Karabunar as fast as you can," was
the order of the officers, and thithel
every one went as fast as his legs or the
railway carriages could take him. Sulei
man Pasha possibly commands well-but
let me add, every Ottoman soldier is an
other Suleiman, who acts, and in this
individuality lies the secret of his sue
|