Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1877 — THE WAR IN EUROPE. [ARTICLE]

THE WAR IN EUROPE.

The Turkish Defeat in Armenia. The recent defeat sustained by the Turkish forces in Armenia, says the Detroit Free Fress, is the most severe reverse which the Turks have suffered during the war. The Turkish loss is heavy in killed and wounded, in guns and prisoners. If the Russian reports be true the Turkish army is so badly decimated, divided and demoralized that its effectiveness as an offensive agency has been almost entirely destroyed. The fleeing Turks were compelled to take refuge in their fortifications, and without heavy reinforcements cannot again make a successful stand in the open field against the Russians. Except for a brief period after the beginning of actual hostilities in Asia Minor, the fortunes of war, until lately, were steadily against the Russians. Revolts in the Caucasus served as a source of annoyance in the rear and distracted their strength, while in the front they more than once ran into traps which Mukhtar Pasha, by convenient retreats, had adroitly laid for them. The Russian losses have been large, but, with trite Muscovite tenacity they never completely abandoned the hold which they obtained m Armenia at the outset, and, as the Turks never followed up their victories, the Russians have been left free to repair their reverses and try it again. The Russian victory will be productive of the greatest results in the inspiration it will give to the Russian armies in Bulgaria. The latter will be filled with a desire to emulate the achievements of their brother soldiers in Armenia, and to show that they, too, are superior in fighting power to the Turks. A victory in Bulgaria similar to that gained by the aj my nominally under the Grand Duke Michael would be of immense advantage to the Russians—ten-fold more than that of the Armenian success. The Russian triumph over Mukhtar Pasha, at the most, can only result in the investment of Kars ; and if the Russians are foolish enough to attempt the capture of Kars as they attempted the capture of Plevna they will probably have equal occasion to regret their folly. The battle was, however, of great importance in its serious impairment of the fighting forces of the Turks in Armenia, and, although this does not immediately weaken the Turkish force in Bulgaria, the effect, if the Turks attempt to repair the losses suffered by Mukhtar Pasha, will be to impair the Turkish power of resistance in Europe. As the Turks have now all they can attend to in Bulgaria, the presumption is strong that they will philosophically resign the future of the Armenian campaign to fate. The battle is also of importance in its demonstration that in the open field the Russians are more than a match for the Turks. The engagement was the nearest approach, of the war to an encounter on equal terms of a large body of Russians with a large ' body of Turks. The advantage of the position was on the side of the Turks, 1 but it was not so great as they have generally had in .most of the heavy fighting which has occurred in which the have been successful.