“The scoundrels,” muttered Gen. Skobeleff “to give up with such a force and with such a position.” “No wonder,” cried the Turks, “that we were beaten; for the Russians were commanded by Akh Pasha and it is impossible to overcome him.” The first order given was, “Let the Turks’ property be sacred to us. Let not a crumb of theirs be lost. Warn the men, I will shoot them for stealing.”
“I shall never forget,” said Mr. Kinnard Rose, “a solemn service for the repose of the souls of the dead that was held on that battlefield of Senova by the General and a score of companions. Skobeleff’s chaplain chanted the Mass with a simple dragoon for clerk. Every head was uncovered. The party stood in respectful groups around a monumental column with its cross, the General to the right of the priest. As the service progressed, the General wept like a child, and among the small but deeply moved congregation there were few dry eyes.”
And now the road lay open before him. The last army was beaten—Skobeleff’s forced march made the Turkish Pashas stand aghast—thirty, even fifty miles a day, and soon he had occupied Adrianople, the second city of the Empire. He had entered it without a sick man—there was not a theft nor burglary—not a street row, as he rested there a few days.
The heroes of the campaign in the Balkans were Generals Gourko, Radetzky and Skobeleff. They carried out operations which for difficulty of execution, rapidity of movement and quickness of combination have hardly ever been equalled. In fifteen days they had destroyed three Turkish armies, and swept the country from Shipka Pass to Adrianople and with one hundred and thirty-two thousand bayonets were ready to dictate peace to the Sublime Porte.
General Gourko, who was Skobeleff’s senior, arrived in advance of his columns on January 26th, and took command of the city, while Skobeleff pushed on with his cavalry and in two weeks (February 5th) camped on the shores of the Sea of Marmora a short distance from Constantinople, having marched two hundred and seventy-five miles in twenty days, one hundred miles of it in four days.
The history of the Russo-Turkish war has been written in terms of highest eulogy by impartial historians and disinterested eyewitnesses. The condensed account given in these pages is accorded space to emphasize the difference between warfare as conducted by one of the Great Powers of Europe and the barbarous methods of the “Unspeakable Turk.” Previously to the occupancy of Adrianople by the Russian forces, representatives of the two nations most interested, met and seriously discussed the question of peace.
The Turkish delegates refused to accept the Russian terms. They were informed that the Russians would march upon Constantinople unless they accepted. On the question of the autonomy for Bulgaria, the Russians were inflexible. This the delegates refused, and the troops continued to close in upon Constantinople.
On January 31st an armistice was signed, and a neutral zone declared with Constantinople exposed to the Russian army. While going over the lines of delimitation one day, General Skobeleff and his whole staff gazed upon the city of Constantinople. He was furious when he learned that the Russian army was not even to enter Constantinople, and he is said to have debated whether he would not on his own responsibility take the city without orders and break the meshes of diplomacy.
“I would hold a congress in Constantinople—here!” he said, “and would myself preside if I were Emperor, with three hundred thousand bayonets to back me—prepared for any eventuality. Then we could talk to them.”
“But suppose all Europe should oppose you?”