NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Russians have passed the Danube at last. On the night of
the 26th June, at 11 o'clock, the Grand Duke Nicholas threw a division across the river from Simnitza, in boats, under a feeble and desultory fire from the Turks, whose guns were silenced by the heavier though slow fire from the Russian side. The Turks were driven away and the hills occupied, and then the bridge must have been fixed, for by the next day 30,000 men are reported to have crossed. A second passage was effected in boats at Petro- ceni, also with little resistance ; and the Russians have now the means of transporting their whole army across the Danube. The tetes de pont will, of course, be fortified, and the bridges strengthened, until the invaders are in posses- sion of roads sufficient for the easy passage of any quantity of artillery, stores, and impedimenta. The feeble resistance of the Turks is as yet entirely unexplained. They may have been -taken in as to the point of passage, or may have decided on a policy of retreat—a theory supported by the absence of any serious effort to defend the Dobrudscha—but the military corre- spondent of the Times thinks the officers have little heart in their work. We incline, as the Turkish officers are fighting well in Asia, to accept the second theory-, and expect to see the Turks retire within their fortresses and towards the Balkans.
