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TURKEY. 



campaign. The Roumanian army consisted of 

 60,000 men poorly equipped and badly disci- 

 plined. It was concentrated at Krajova, and 

 occupied Kalafat. The commander of the 

 Turkish forces on the Danube was Abdul 

 Kerim Pasha, while the Russian army of inva- 

 sion was placed under the command of the 

 Grand-Duke Nicholas, the brother of the Em- 

 peror. 



The naval force of Turkey consisted at the 

 close of 1875 of 20 iron-clad ships and 70 other 

 steamers. The greater number of the iron- 

 clads were built in Great Britain. The Turk- 

 ish navy was manned in 1875 by 30,000 sailors 



and 4,000 marine troops, 

 clad fleet was as follows : 



The Turkish iron- 



The Russian navy consists of two great divi- 

 sions, the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, each of 

 which is again subdivided into sections. In 

 1875 the Russian navy was composed as fol- 

 lows: 



Connected with the fleet were 89 admirals, 

 4,000 officers, and 25,943 seamen. The iron- 

 clad fleet of war comprised the following ves- 

 sels : 



Immediately upon the declaration of war 

 the Russian troops crossed the Pruth and, as 

 stated above, occupied Jassy, Galatz, and other 

 important points in Roumania. Small bodies 

 had previously entered Roumania, and a detach- 

 ment of Cossacks had reached Kalafat, oppo- 

 site Widin. The Roumanian Government for- 

 mally protested, and withdrew its troops from 

 the districts occupied by the Russians. 



On April 25th the Porte replied to the Rus- 

 sian declaration of war. The following is the 

 principal passage in which she appeals to the 

 mediation of Europe on the strength of the 

 8th Article of the Treaty of Paris : 



The Sublime Porte consequently falls back on 

 Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris, which is in these 

 terms: "Should there arise between the Sublime 

 Porte and one or more of the signatory Powers any 



misunderstanding threatening the maintenance of 

 their relations, the Sublime Porte and each of the 

 Powers, before having recourse to the employment 

 of force, will give the other contracting parties an 

 opportunity of preventing this extremity by their 

 mediatory action." Although it is not the Ottoman 

 Government which threatens to take the initiative 

 of aggression, and although, consequently, it was by 

 rights the part of the Kussian Government to appeal 

 to these stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, this 

 Imperial Government, in order to avoid all misun- 

 derstanding, applies to the signatory Powers of that 

 Treaty for them to use their jjood offices in the 

 grave circumstances in which it is placed, by apply- 

 ing the article before mentioned, and thus putting 

 an end to the dangerous tension affecting the rela- 

 tions of the two states by means of such mediatory 

 action in conformity with right and treaty. 



The Russians soon after closed the naviga- 

 tion of the Danube and notified the foreign ves- 

 sels to leave the river. By May 1st, the Turk- 

 ish gunboats had all left the Lower Danube, 

 as the Russians had placed a large number of 

 torpedoes all along the river. When hostili- 

 ties began, Hobart Pasha, the commander of 

 the Turkish Black Sea fleet, with his vessel, 

 was at Rustchuk. Against the advice of his 

 friends he determined to run by the Russian 

 batteries, and bring his vessel out to the Black 

 Sea. He left Rustchnk at night. On arriving 

 at Galatz, which was guarded by torpedoes 

 and heavy batteries commanding the river, the 

 lights on the steamer had been extinguished, 

 but a rocket from the Roumanian shore showed 



