Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 2, 1878

No. 501.
Mr. Maynard to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Constantinople, October 31, 1877. (Received November 26.)

No. 194.]

Sir: The military results of the last month have been more favorable to the Russians than during August and September. Without attempting details obtainable only from impartial eye-witnesses, they may be summarized as follows:

In Asia, the Turks have retired from the frontier before a vastly superior force, and have fallen back upon Kars and Erzeroum, with serious loss of men and material.

In Europe, the army of the Lower Danube has resumed its position along the Black Lom, having attempted movements against the Russian line of the Jantra without success. The command of this army has been transferred from Mehemet Ali Pasha to Sulieman Pasha. Around Plevna some important successes by the Russians are reported, but the place itself is still held by the army of Osman Pasha. The Shipka Pass remains with the Russians, and the operations against it have been reduced to a corps of observation. By comparing these positions with those held at the close of the last month, it will be seen that they are nearly the same, with the advantage to the Russians of having gained somewhat and lost nothing.

The Turks make success the absolute standard of merit in their military leaders. I have already mentioned the fall of Redif Pasha, minister of war, and of Abdul Kerim Pasha, the generalissimo (dispatch No. 173, dated July 31, 1877). I inclose a paragraph from the Daily Press giving their subsequent fate, and that of other unsuccessful generals. Mehemet Ali Pasha, after being superseded in the command of the army of the Danube, has been relegated to his old army corps in the Herzegovina, a milder sentence indeed, but still very humiliating. On the other hand, the Sultan has conferred upon Osman Pasha, for his defense of Plevna, and upon Ahmed Moukhtar Pasha, for his campaign in Asia, the imperial title of Ghazi (the Conqueror), with orders, jeweled swords, and Arab horses.

Everything at the capital is quiet, almost apathetic. The feast of Beiram was observed this year with less spirit than usual, although the display by the Sultan and his ministers was very brilliant.

Rumors of peace negotiations and of mediation by foreign powers are occasionally heard, but receive very little attention. The general feeling is, that peace will be possible only after a more decided success than either belligerent has yet achieved.

I have, & c.,

HORACE MAYNARD.

[Inclosure in No. 194.]

Exile of the ex-minister of war and the accused generals.

[From the Daily Levant Herald of September 6, 1877.]

The Sultan has issued an imperial decree concerning the trial by court-martial of Redif Pasha, ex-minister of war; Abdul Kerim Pasha, ex-commander-in-chief, and Serdar Ekrem; Eshref Pasha, late commander at Rustchuck, Ahmed Khonlorssi Pasha, who had charge of the defense of the Balkans on the occasion of their passage by General Gourko and the Russians; Ahmed Hamdi Pasha, late in command at Sistova; General Safvet Pasha, and General Mahmoud Pasha (Freund), who sustained the reverse at Medun during the last Montenegrin campaign. The decree orders that the trial of these officers, formerly in high command, be deferred till after the war, and that in the mean time they have assigned to them as a residence the island of Lemnos in the Turkish Archipelago. The accused generals were in point of fact conveyed away from Constantinople for that destination yesterday (Wednesday), on board the imperial dispatch-boat Sureya.

[From the Daily Levant Herald of October 2, 1877.]

As a mark of his appreciation of their signal services to the state during the present war, the Sultan has been pleased to confer upon Osman Pasha, for his defense of Plevna, and upon Ahmed Moukhtar Pasha, for his conduct of the campaign in Asia, the title of Ghazi (The Victorious; and the decoration of the imperial order of the Osmanié of the first class, set in diamonds. His Majesty further presents to each of” these gallant generals a jewel-hilted sword and two Arab chargers of the purest breed.

[From the Daily Levant Herald of October 30, 1877.]

General Mehemet Ali Pasha, recently commander-in-chief on the Danube, left Constantinople yesterday afternoon on board the Italian steamer Enna for Salonica, whence he will proceed with all dispatch by railway, via Uskup, to Bosna-Serai, to reassume his old command of the army corps in Herzegovina, for the purpose, doubtless, of keeping a watchful eye upon the Montenegrin and Servian frontiers, and holding in check the desultory semi-insurgent, semi-brigand outbursts which the local authorities occasionally report from Bosnia and the Herzegovina, those twin provinces of sinister renown, fons et origo malorum.