SUCCESS in the East continues to flow without interruption in
the same channel. Our accounts last week left General Diebitsch with NEWS OF THE WEEK.
his head-quarters at Aidos ; his advance at Karnabat, about fifteen miles to the westward ; with Krassowski in his rear between Shumla and Jenibazaar ; Pahlen also in his rear, but on the Roumelian side of the Balkan ; and Roth, in the vicinity of the fortresses in the bay of Bourgas. The Russian accounts came down to the 1st of August only ; but a paragraph in the German papers, in which nothing else was announced, contimaed our dates to the 7th. We are. now in pos- session of despatcl -to the 21st, the last dated from the" Eski-Serai, Adrianople !" The first object of General Diebitsch appears to have been to render his rear secure from interruption. For this purpose, while he pushed forward detachments to Benli, to Karabunar, and to Fakhi, to the south-west of Aidos, he directed his march by the way of Karnabat towards Janboli and Silimno to the south-west of the samOtown ; by the latter of which towns, it was confidently expected that the Vizier would endeavour to pass the Balkan, with a view to the defence of Adrianople. Silimno and Janboli are very considerable towns, standing on a tributary of the Tondja, which stream joins the Maritza (the ancient Hebrus) a few miles below Adrianople. As a farther precaution against the forces under the Vizier, General Kras- sowski was ordered to manceuvre in the direction of Shumla on the other side of the mountains, with a view to intercept his progress should he attempt to cut through the Russian line by the road of Kay- nabat. In the capture of Janboli an action took place between a few troops under General Sheremetief and an immensely superior number of Turks under Halil Pacha, which terminated in the utter defeat of the latter, with almost no loss on the side of the assailants. The move- ments of Krassowski were equally fortunate, and the Vizier was driven from his purposed route. The capture of Silimno was attended with still more decided results. The Vizier, driven from his position by Krassowski, marched towards the west, with a view to pass the moun- tains at that town; and such was the confidence of Count Diebitsch that he purposely halted in order to allow him to reach it, although the fact of his having done so is not noticed. The action appears to have been lit- tle else than a chase on the part of the Russians, and a run on the part of the Turks. The town was captured without even a show of re- sistance. By looking at the map, it will be seen that the Russians now occupied a line stretching from Janboli to Fakhi, and prolonged from the former to Silimno in the mountains, and from the latter to Sizeboli on the the sea, from every point of which the advance to Adrianople was open and easy. Of the manoeuvres immediately pre- vious to the occupation of that city, we are not informed, the particu- lars not having yet reached England. But the fact of its capture is undoubted. The Turkish spirit seems, from the report of the actions to which we have briefly alluded, to be utterly broken ; whole masses fly at the bare appearance of an enemy. And not only the troops, if they may be so called, offer no resistance, but the Mahomedan population generally—either from hatred of the Sultan's innovations, and from the lingering spirit of the Janissaries, that formidable corps whose privi- leges they destroyed; or from a philosophic determination to submit to a Aispensation of Providence which they can no longer control—seem in every case to receive the invaders even with gratulation. Where- ever they move, so far from meeting, as was anticipated, with wild and regardless enemies at every step, the Russians find infinitely less Opposition than they would encounter in marching over the most peaceful and unarmed district of England. It is said—and from his necessity we can now believe it—that the Sultan is seriously bent upon peace. We dare say that he will, if moderate in his wishes, obtain it. Adrianople will, however, remain in the hands of the Russians for the winter ; and the fortresses on the Danube, together with Wallachia and the remainder of Moldavia, will probably be permanently ceded. While Diebitsch is carrying every thing by land, Greig has not been idle on the sea. He has succeeded in taking possession of the fort of Vassiliko and of Akhteboli, the latter a_place of considerable import- ance, about forty miles to the south of The last accounts from Constantinople speak of energy, but afford no proofs of it, in the conduct of the Sultan. When he went to The- rapia, he rode in a carriage, while the Green Standard of the Prophet was carried before him. This mode of travelling on such an occasion, which is contrary to all precedent, occasioned great murmuring.
Letters from St. Petersburg of the 26th August, speak of an inter- view between the Persian Chosrew Mirza and the Emperor, when the former made a speech in Persian to his Majesty. The opening is curious :— " The cordial union which the peace between your Imperial Majesty and the great ruler of Iram, my Sovereign and beloved grandfather, had confirmed, irritated the Damon of Evil. Misled by his fatal influence, a body of furious madmen ventured at Teheran to commit an unheard-of crime, of which the Russian legation became the victims ; and this deplorable event threw a veil of mourning and profound affliction on the royal house and its faithful sub- jects. Feth-Ali's just and noble heart shuddered at the thought that a band of wretches had, with impious hands, torn the bonds of peace and union which he had just renewed with the great Sovereign of Russia. He chose me among the princes of his house, and commanded me to hasten without loss of time to the capital of your empire, convinced that my voice, faithful to truth, would be heard with kindness by your Imperial Majesty ; and that my words might serve to maintain unimpaired the friendship which unites the two greatest and most powerful sovereigns of the earth."
The Vice-Chancellor, in the Emperor's name, made a very gracious answer.
