TURKEY 



TURNBULL, ROBERT. 



745 



Servia, which had concluded peace in Feb- 

 ruary, again took up arms against Turkey in 

 December. (See SEKVIA.) Their main army, 

 the Morava corps, advanced from Alexinatz 

 toward Nissa, and arrived at this town on De- 

 cember 15th. On the same day they occupied 

 Mramor, six miles west of Nissa. On the 22d 

 the investment of Nissa was completed, and the 

 commander of the post was notified that the 

 town would be bombarded. Several detach- 

 ments had in the mean time cleared the neigh- 

 borhood of Turkish troops, and had occupied 

 Ak Palanka on the 24th, and Pirot on the 27th. 

 The Timok corps, under Horvatovitch, on De- 

 cember 16th, occupied Adlie, or Kula, about 

 eighteen miles west of Widin. On the 19th it 

 occupied the St. Nicholas Pass, connecting Bel- 

 gradtchik hi the north and Isvor in the south ; 

 and on the 23d effected a junction with the 

 Russians, who had come from Berkovatz, 

 forming part of the cavalry division of General 

 Arnoldi. This division, which had originally be- 

 longed to the Army of Plevna, was sent in the 

 beginning of November to the west of Plevna. 

 On December 16th, Arnoldi occupied Berko- 

 vatz, and on the 25th effected a junction with 

 the Servian Morava corps at Pirot. 



After the withdrawal of the Turkish troops 

 from Montenegro in June, Prince Nicholas 

 proceeded very carefully to advance against the 

 neighboring portions of Herzegovina. On July 

 22d, he stormed several of the outlying works 

 of Nicsic, and on September 8th this fortress 

 surrendered to him. Presyeka was taken on 

 September 16th, Bilek on the 17th, and the 

 four forts of the Duga Pass on the 18th. He 

 had thus secured a corner of Herzegovina 

 which could easily be maintained. The Mon- 

 tenegrin troops were now dismissed to their 

 homes. In the beginning of November, Prince 

 Nicholas again resumed operations, this time 

 directing his attention to Albania, where Ali 

 Saib was stationed with a few thousand troops. 

 On November 12th, the Montenegrins stormed 

 several of the outlying works of Antivari, took 

 the fortress of Spizza on the 16th, and the 

 town of Antivari shortly afterward, the Turks 

 holding the citadel until January 10, 1878. 



When Ears had fallen, Mahmoud Damad, 

 who was supposed to be in favor of peace, and 

 who had up to this time been all-powerful at 

 the Turkish court, was removed from the di- 

 rection of military affairs. At the same time 

 the Council of War was abolished, and the 

 Minister of War was clothed with full powers. 

 Two weeks later, Mustapha Pasha was re- 

 moved, and Rauf Pasha appointed Minister of 

 War in his place. The condition of the Turkish 

 Empire was truly terrible at the close of the 

 year. Without money, without armies, and 

 without friends, it was finally obliged to ask for 

 n armistice in the first days of 1878. 



The second session of the Ottoman Parlia- 

 ment met on December 13th. In his speech 



from the throne, the Sultan reviewed the events 

 which led to the war with Russia, by severely 

 denouncing the Christian subjects of Turkey 

 who had taken up arms against their Govern- 

 ment, " in spite of the equality in the eyes of 

 the law which all our subjects enjoy, and the 

 immunities which secure their nationality and 

 their language." 



In Bosnia several engagements took place 

 between the Turkish troops and the insur- 

 gents, which culminated in the defeat of the 

 insurgents under Despotovitch, on August 4th, 

 when the latter was forced to seek safety on 

 Austrian territory. Other insurgent bands, 

 under a leader named Gotub, who appeared 

 after this, were characterized as little better 

 than robber bands. 



In Thessaly and the other Greek provinces 

 of Turkey, a reign of terror prevailed during 

 the year, brought about by marauding bands of 

 Bashi-Bazouks, and even by regular troops. A 

 revolutionary government was established, and 

 was aided by contributions from Greece, and 

 a few engagements with the Turkish troops 

 took place. In Crete the same state of affairs 

 prevailed, the Christians retreating to the 

 mountains where the Turks could not follow 

 them. 



The war waa marked by the perpetration 

 of outrages upon non-combatants and private 

 property, both in Asia and in Europe, for 

 which it would be hard to find a parallel in the 

 history of civilized nations. 



TURNBULL, ROBERT, an American cler- 

 gyman, born at Whiteburn, Linlithgowshire, 

 Scotland, September 10, 1809, and died at 

 Hartford, Conn., November 20, 1877. He 

 graduated at Glasgow University, studied the- 

 ology, preached for a short time in Scotland 

 and England, and in 1833 settled in Danbury, 

 Conn. In 1835 he became pastor of the Bap- 

 tist Church in Detroit, in 1837 of the South 

 Baptist Church, Hartford, Conn., in 1839 of 

 the Boylston Street (now Harvard Street) Bap- 

 tist Church in Boston, and in 1845 of the first 

 Baptist Church in Hartford, where he con- 

 tinued to reside until his death. In 1851 he 

 received the degree of D. D. from Madison 

 University. He published " The Theatre " 

 (Boston, 1840); " Olympia Morata " (1842); 

 " Vinet's Vital Christianity," translated, with 

 an introduction and notes (1846); "The Gen- 

 ius of Scotland" (New York, 1847); "The 

 Genius of Italy " (1849) ; " Theophany, or the 

 Manifestation of God in Christ" (Hartford, 

 1851); "Vinet's Miscellanies" (New York, 

 1852) ; " Pulpit Orators of France and Switz- 

 erland " (1853); "Christ in History, or the 

 Central Power" (Boston, 1856); and "Life 

 Pictures, or Sketches from a Pastor's Note- 

 Book " (New York, 1857). He edited Sir Wil- 

 liam Hamilton's u Discussions on Philosophy," 

 and was for several years editor of the Chris- 

 tian Review. 



