dispositions of the Emperor. We do not on that account yet abandon the resolutions announced from the beginning in our circular of the 20th of June (2nd July). At that period His Majesty declared, that in temporarily occupying the Principalities as a material guarantee destined to insure him the satisfaction which he demands, he did not wish to push further the measures of coercion, and would avoid an offensive war as long as his dignity and his interests would permit him.

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At the present hour, and in spite of the new provocation which has now been addressed to him, the intentions of my august master remain the same. Possessed of the material pledge which the occupation of the two Moldo-Wallachian provinces gives us, although we are always ready, according to our premises, to evacuate them from the moment that reparation shall have been made to us, we shall content ourselves provisionally with maintaining our positions there; remaining on the defensive as long as we shall not have been forced to quit the circle within which we desire to confine our action. We will await the attack of the Turks, without assuming the initiative of hostilities. will consequently depend altogether on the other Powers not to enlarge the limits of the war, if the Turks should persist in absolutely commencing it, and not to impart to it a character different from that which we intend to leave it. This situation, altogether of an expectant character, does not throw any obstacle in the way of continuing negotiations. As is to be expected, after the declaration of war which has been made, it is not for Russia to seek for new expedients, or to as

It

sume the initiative of making overtures of conciliation. But if the Porte, becoming more enlightened as to her own interests, should hereafter be disposed to put forward or to receive favourably such overtures, it will not be from the Emperor that any obstacles will proceed to their being taken into consideration."

On the next day, the 1st of November according to our style, but the 20th of October according to the Russian or old style, the Czar issued his manifesto of war. After the declaration of war by the Ottoman Porte the Emperor had no alternative except either to take this step or abandon the possession of the Danubian Principalities. His pride revolted at the latter, as if it were humiliating himself before the arms of Turkey; and he thus threw down the gauntlet of defiance, nominally to the Porte, but in reality to Europe, if the four Great Powers persisted in their determination to protect the territories of the Sultan against the encroachments of Russia. The important document was as follows:

"By the grace of God, we, Nicholas I., Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, &c., make known as follows:

treaties, had remained unfruitful, and that we had consequently deemed it indispensable to cause our troops to advance into the Danubian Principalities; but in taking this step we still entertained the hope that the Porte would acknowledge its wrong doings, and would decide on acceding to our just demands.

"Our expectation has been deceived.

"Even the chief Powers of Europe have sought in vain by their exhortations to shake the blind obstinacy of the Ottoman Government. It is by a declaration of war, by a proclamation filled with lying accusations against Russia, that it has responded to the pacific efforts of Europe, as well as to our spirit of long-suffering. At last, enrolling in the ranks of its army revolutionary exiles from all countries, the Porte has just commenced hostilities on the Danube. Russia is challenged to the combat; and she has no other course left her than, putting her trust in God, to have recourse to force of arms, and so to compel the Ottoman Government to respect treaties, and to obtain reparation for the insults with which it has responded to our most moderate demands and to our legitimate solicitude for the defence of the Orthodox faith in the East, professed also by the people of Russia.

"We are firmly convinced that our faithful subjects will join their prayers to those which we address to the Almighty, beseeching Him to bless with his hand our arms in this just and holy cause, which always found ardent defenders in our ancestors. In te Domine speravi, non confundar in æter

num.

This manifesto of the Emperor was examined in the Moniteur, in an article which may be considered as expressing the views of the French Government. After detailing shortly the events that preceded the declaration of war by the Sultan, it stated, "That Sovereign acted in the plenitude of his responsibility; but it is not exact to say, as the Russian manifesto does, that the principal powers of Europe have vainly endeavoured, by their exhortations, to shake the blind obstinacy of the Ottoman Porte.' The principal Powers of Europe, and, in particular, France and England, on the contrary, recognised that if their conciliatory action was not exhausted, the arrangement to be made ought not any longer to be concluded on conditions of which the Cabinet of St. Petersburg had itself undertaken to prove the danger. The manifesto terminates by declaring that nothing now remains for Russia, provoked as she was to combat, but to have recourse to arms to force Turkey to respect treaties; but it does not mention any clauses of such treaties which had been violated by the Porte. By the treaty of Kutchuk-Kainardji, the Porte engaged to protect the Christian worship in all its churches. The addresses which the Armenian and Greek communities have just presented to the Sultan prove their gratitude for the recent benefits of His Highness. The treaty of Adrianople confirms in favour of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia

advantages and privileges, which the Porte has respected even to the point of not recalling the Hospodars Stirbey and Ghika, who at present quit power, not in consequence of a firman of the Grand Seignior, but owing to the orders of General Prince Gortschakoff, which their loyalty as subjects of the Sultan did not permit them any longer to execute.

The same

treaty of Adrianople fixes the Pruth as the boundary of the two empires; but that river was crossed in the midst of peace by a Russian army. The Turks, in crossing the Danube in their turn, do not assume the offensive; it is the Ottoman empire, such as it is determined by treaties, which they are endeavouring to defend against an aggression, the date of which goes back several months. Our intention cannot be to enter here into a useless discussion, but it has appeared to us indispensable to re-establish, as we comprehend it, the truth as to the real situation of things."

The parties to the Conference of Vienna were, up to this period, still anxious that open hostilities should be delayed by the Turks; and the representatives of the Foreign Powers at Constantinople urged the Porte to send orders to Omer Pasha, not to cross the Danube or precipitate a conflict. Such instructions were actually dispatched, but before they reached the Turkish General the die was cast and the conflict begun. Between the 28th of October and the 4th of November the Turks crossed the river in four places. The first passage was effected at Widdin, near the frontier of Servia, from which they pushed on to Kalafat, and occupied it with a force of about 12,000 men. The Rus

sians retired from this point towards Slatina. Lower down the river the Turks, in a smaller body, crossed from Rustchuck to Giurgevo, between which two places there is a small island in the Danube, which they continued to hold, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Russian forces to dislodge them. At Turkistan, still lower down, a large Turkish force crossed over to Oltenitza, where they established themselves, although they were vigorously attacked by the Russian General Perloff. On the 2nd and 3rd of November, the attacks of the Russians were repulsed with loss; and on the 4th a more desperate attempt was made to dislodge the Turks, who were posted in the triangle formed by the Argis, the Danube, and the village of Oltenitza. They were 9000 strong, and occupied the quarantine building situate in the plain near the Danube and the village. This building and an old redoubt were fortified with materials brought from Turtukai. The Turks made use of the batteries of that fortress with great success; they threw across the Danube shot and shells, which reached the Russians at the foot of the village situate on an elevation. The Russian General Dannenberg, who directed the operations, was at a short distance from the village, with his staff. The loss of the Russians was estimated at 1200 men killed or wounded. The fourth point at which the Turks passed the Danube was at Silistria, from which they crossed over to Kalarashe. They thus, at different points, held possession of the left bank of the Danube; and between them the Russian forces were distributed, in the form of an irregular triangle, the base of which was the river

Danube, and the apex Bucharest, the capital of Wallachia.

The following was the Turkish account of the spirited engagement of Oltenitza, as detailed in a despatch from Omar Pasha to the Seraskier at Constantinople:

"The possession of the island situate in front of Turtukai having been considered indispensable, I had effected the passage of troops, and in the space of the night of the 1st managed to raise tolerably strong fortifications. On the following day, the 2nd, two battalions of infantry, three pieces of cannon, and a hundred of the mounted police were conveyed in large boats to the locality, with ammunition, provisions, and great coats.

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They had scarcely landed, when from the batteries of Turtukai we opened a fire on the lazaretto situate on the left bank. After the first discharge, the Russians quitted this position, and the Imperial troops took possession of the building, which is of solid construction, with vaulted chambers. Without loss of time 400 workmen, under the direction of staff officers, commenced raising fortifications, for which purpose 2000 gabions had been already prepared. On the 3rd, again, other troops were sent to fortify the téte de pont.

a great number of boats, which were sent to Turtukai.

"The number of boats at our disposal having facilitated the construction of the bridge, we were enabled without delay to place in the fortifications twelve large guns, which were brought from Shumla.

"On the 3rd, at 4 P.M., three battalions of Russian infantry, with eight cannons, a regiment of cavalry, and a party of Cossacks, entered the village of Oltenitza. Our troops, posted within the works constructed on the left bank, waited them with firmness. This same night I caused a bridge to be constructed at the conflux of the Argisch and Danube, and flanked it with redoubts.

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Yesterday, November 4, at 6 A.M., we began to perceive the movement of the Russian forces. As soon as their march was well defined, I caused a reinforcement of one battalion to be embarked and conveyed to the lazaretto. The evening before I had placed on even ground a battery of guns calculated to check any attack which might be made. The Russian forces amounted to twenty battalions, three regiments of cavalry, one of Cossacks, sixteen mounted batteries, and sixteen on foot. They formed in order of battle, with fourteen pieces of cannon in the rear of twelve battalions, and the regiment of Cossacks in lines beyond the reach of our guns, and fronting the centre of our works. They advanced, supported by the fire of their artillery, and at the same time two battalions, with two cannons, came on, threatening our left flank. Having commenced the assault, another stronger division-consisting of six battalions, with four

cannons, and having in the rear three regiments of cavalry supporting and outstripping their left flank-took its position and formed in two lines, with artillery, horse, and foot, into echelons, attacking our right flank. After an exchange of some cannon shots, the centre gave the assault, whereon they charged both our wings. The centre attacked three different times, and each with a fresh battalion-twice on the left, and once on the right.

"A well-directed fire from our fortress at Turtukai soon dispersed their right column, and the centre gradually fell back, after having suffered severely, and half its numbers being disabled. The battery of the island, also mounted with powerful guns, and commanded by Khalid Pasha, did admirable execution on the enemy's right wing. The Russians advanced with coolness and resolution almost to the brink of the trench, and on this account their loss was considerable, amounting to a thousand men killed and double the number wounded.

"The engagement lasted four hours, from noon till 4 P.M., and during this interval the waggons never ceased carrying off their dead, and twenty were observed heavily laden even after the conflict. With a view of facilitating this duty, as long as it lasted, we abstained from molesting the enemy and from firing a single shot, but found, nevertheless, 800 bodies on the field. A private carriage, moreover, was remarked, and from the pains taken in the search we conjecture it must have been destined to receive the body of a general officer.

"At 5 P.M.

a total confusion

We will now say a word respecting the Principalities themselves, one of which, Wallachia, became the theatre of war, and both were occupied by the Russian forces after they crossed the Pruth. Each was governed by a Hospodar, and was in the anomalous position of being under the sovereignty of the Porte, but under the protection of Russia. Originally the Hospodars were elected for life out of the class of Boyars, or nobles of the first rank; but a revolution broke out in 1848 in both provinces, which was suppressed by the aid of Russia, and in the following year, on the 1st of May, a treaty or Sened was signed between the two Powers at BaltaLiman, whereby it was provided, that the Porte should nominate each of the Hospodars for successive periods of seven years only, at the expiration of which fresh nominations were to be made. In June, 1849, the Porte accordingly appointed Prince Stirbey Hospodar of Wallachia, and Prince Ghika Hospodar of Moldavia. The residence of the former was at Bucharest, and of the latter at Jassy. The population of the two provinces is about 2,324,000.

When