, 1877-10-14

the Shipka Pass, and were be to attempt with
draWa! to oppose this flank movement, he woul.
nave Hadetzky Ut his hec1s at onre, and hi:
army would have their hands full enough with
out attempting to meddle with the Plevna arm,
Of allies.
The Seryians have large stores OF provision:
Oh their fronijcrs, and large arsenal IN tut
town OF kragui icvatz, hidden among tue noun
talt,s IN Inc heart OF Their cotntrY, "hefe snells
l.uy 1aye been manufactured without foreign.
ers knowing ANYTHING about it: They bare had
s:.illcd work1ncn there from private arscnals i'll
&c many, and could easily replace the Russian
line of Communication with the Danube i,y
another via the valleys OF the Morara, Tnnok,
aud Sofia
Should Mehcmct Ali Pasha attempt to move
to the southwark, the Russian hordcs of cavalry
would eutang!e him at everr step, while the
Russian inInniry, with its superior mobility,
would strew bis ilnc of march with the bodies
OF his men: Perhaps it Is with view to some
thing like the above that the Russian command
ers keep their hold on the Shipka Pass and per-
sst in their attacks upon Plerna- There is 10
doubt but what the Turkish powers Of resistance
art strained to high degree Of tension, and, in
such circumstances, scmiciyilize0 organizations
like those OF Turkey are liable to collapse il,
the most unexpected manner; 60 that, in spite
Of the gross blunders Of the Russian staff,
greet change is possible at any moment in the
military situation in Bulgaria.
IEc severe censures upon the Russian trans
port service have been called forth, not 50 much
IN account OF its deficiency in quantity and ma
:eria1 Us bv the stupid want OF service aud in
;elliecnt management in handling it. The ad-
7cnt therefore, OF some good transport direct
u, which, Of course, is not an impossiuility,
would soon effect change Of things, and pro-
!uce corresponding improvement i'll all the
lcid operations. The same remarks apply to
lie Russian hospital service. They have
,lenty OF material, but the medical OIL
ers co1npiain-and justly. no doubt-tI,at
hey are never given any hints as to
Fhcre their field hospitals and iepots would be
required, and, consequently, they have been I'LL |
Ible to concentrate their supplies at the rcqu- /
atc centres in time to prevent much needless |
mtfering among their wounded Up to the !
commencement OF the siege Of Plcvna the Rus
aau army had lost very little by sickness. My
knowledge is derived from an inspection of the
'uryine-grounds. Every village has its church.
ard-1n fact, two OF them, since the Christian
nd Mos)em dead are Inferred in separate ccmc- |
cries, aud, therefore, the village grareyards |
eli the story OF the Russian deaths By ordi- |
.ary sickness. The numbers oi these graves
re surprisingly small, compared with the usual
'erceutage OF deaths from natural causes.
There Is an abundance of wheat and barley re-
nanng iu Rulgaria Every hamlet is crowded
nth immense stacks Of these grains, while q
cry large crop Of Indian corn is awaiting the
usbanl1nan. Very little OF these crops raised |
his wear in Roumania has been touched bv the
russians: consequently, they have provisions in
.bur!anee Tor man and beast IT they can sur ! i
auunt til. difficulty of obtaining fuel, they can
f!Ntr. III Bulgaria very comfortably.
fbis is tile situation OF affairs at present. .
Nth T. continuance OF past bad gcncraisfp =.
III notA s:des. anything and everything is pos
:ti> but. with the advent of Il good con,- !
l,aader possessing necessary powers, it can he s
ecn from the above sketch that the hole | j.
l.; ;.tecs vi the campaign may be changed in
stck !
II is .aid that the Russian official accounts ! l
acknowledge loss since crossing the Danube Of | /
i, ,sU3 men, But how this loss uas been asccr- s
aired wr are not informed. As no rot!-caIls |
,rc made, it can only be supposed that these ;.
lSurcs have been obtained IRON the number of ! II
ick in hospital and dead buried Oh the fields Of s
'attl: Such j reckoning would, however, give 0
tutai Tar below the real sum- for many men Il
sarpear, many wounded and dead arc never ;,
uund. and all the missing are entirely lost u
lsht OF IN such lnanncr OF counting loss. U
ut The smaller the Russian loss is found to be, d
&C greater must bc the failure OF the military , n
aminstration> The seven army CORPS and ! u
,ur detached divisions which crossed tic Dan y,
DC should have mustered on paper at least | II
NJ GU mcn. II the loss, as reckonel above, be ! tt
cductcd. there should still be oO1,O0U men in ! b
ulgaria. without including the sei1lforce,ncnts If
; the Rouniauians- No one can believe that =,
lis number ol co1nbatants is present with the u
andaris. The Russ1au torrc in front OF r.
teEna docs not now avowedly number 40, ,0O0. OF
lc army of the Ccsarcwitch is not at the out iu
dc more than 50.o0V strong, and Ka,Ietzky =,
Is not more than 10000 men IN the Shipka ~
ass Even fucsc figures are probably higher az
ian the ACTUAL force. Either the strength Of bt
le army originally must have been greatly ! cc
exaggerated I'll paper, or the losses have been | T.,
ueh Inorr severe than thu returns have a. m
WED. g