26 AUGUST 1876, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE crisis in Servia is still delayed, but the grounds for hope are very slight. Tchernaieff still holds Alexinatz, and is fortify- ing Deligrad behind him, and is said to dispose of 79,000 men. They are, however, chiefly Militia, unaccustomed to regular war- fare, and apt to be panic-stricken by the shells. On the other hand, Eyoub Pasha and his Prussian adlatus are using their troops as if they were shells, are splendidly seconded by their men, who show all the contempt of death natural to Mus- sulmans, and have, by the latest accounts, carried height after height till they are touching Alexinatz, the loss of which must either end the struggle or convert it into a guerrilla war. The conduct of the Turkish regulars explains the long duration of the Empire they serve better than any amount of historical disquisition. Half-paid, ill-fed, and badly officered, they will still go forward under fire with the courage of Englishmen or Germans, and their success shows that the em- ployment of Bashi-Bazouks is for military purposes entirely needless.