The New England Weekly Review

PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE.
Official Bulletin.

CAMP AT SATUNOWA,
27th May. (8th June,) 1828.

We have already given an account of the impediments which have retarded the passage of the Danube, on account of the uncommon height of the river. The most difficult works had been accomplished within a few days, over a space of nearly four wersts, required in the construction of a pier in the midst of the waters of the Danube. We soon nearly reached that part of the shore where the bridge was to rest, but the enemy, taking advantage of the necessary delay, had made entrenchments on the bank, near the gates of Isaktscha, armed them with cannon, and showed a determination to dispute the passage. Their position was very advantageous; the Turkish side of the Danube presenting a chain of wooded heights, which command the Russian side. Three Turkish batteries bore upon us. The enemy's right was on impenetrable marshes, and the left was on the fortress of Isaktscha. The position was to be carried by main force, to effect the passage.

A brigade of dismounted Chasseurs was therefore embarked at Ismail, in hired merchant vessels, and sent up the river, escorted by a part of our flotilla. On the other hand, two divisions of the corps commanded by Gen. Rudzewisch, were collected at the place where the river was to be passed, and on the 25th of May, (June 7.) his Majesty the Emperor joined them. Those embarked at Ismail, had also joined them.
After giving orders about dislodging the enemy, on the other shore, His Majesty went to the camp of the Tschernigoff and Poltava regiments, where a Te Deum was sung to invoke the Divine protection at that decisive moment. On the 27th, [8th] at one o'clock A. M. the Emperor was on an eminence at the commencement of the line across the Danube. At day-break, a battery of 24 twelve pounders, which we had constructed to silence the Turkish fire, opened a cannonade in concert with our flotilla. The Ottomans replied vigorously; but in spite of their fire, our troops embarked: and the Attaman of the Zaporoc Cossacks, who had lately come to place themselves under the Emperor's protection, offered him his light boats, as well as his Cossacks, and showed the greatest and most useful zeal at the moment of debarkation. In order to reach the Turks, our troops had, on one side, to bear the enemy's cannonade, and on the other to pass a deep marsh; but they were not slow in overcoming both these obstacles, and in taking ground on the right bank of the Danube.

The commandant of the flotilla, Capt. Parnajotti, although wounded in the commencement of the action, did not leave the action. At length, towards 11 in the morning, the enemy's batteries, although one of them was mined and killed thirty men in an explosion, were in our hands. Eight battalions, and several pieces of cannon had been landed, and the Turks were in full retreat towards the fortress of Isaktscha, one of the suburbs of which they burnt. They lost 12 cannon, 2 mortars, and a howitzer. Our loss has not been great, considering the obstacles we had to surmount; and that of the Turks we have not yet learnt.

In this brilliant affair, the Danube was passed under the very fire of the enemy; nothing, however, opposes the completion of our bridge, which will be finished in two or three days. The Emperor has made the attaman of the cossacks a colonel, and decorated him with the order of St. George. He has besides given him ten soldiers' crosses of that order, to distribute among his favorites.

On the evening of the 26th [June 7th.] Don Cossacks had passed the Danube in a chaloupe, reconnoitred the most favorable point of landing, and passed the night on the Turkish side. To recompense this surprising act of bravery, the Emperor conferred crosses on them also, and placed them in the guard.

We now occupy the position the enemy have left, and our troops are working at the constructions necessary to cover the bridge.

CAMP OF SATOUNOWA. May 30, [June 11th] nine o'clock P. M.

After our troops had forced the passage of the Danube in the morning of the 27th [June 8th] the river was covered, during all the rest of that remarkable day, with boats which transported the soldiers and our artillery to the positions which the enemy had just left. We found four cannon more, one mortar, and a considerable quantity of powder and ammunition, in one of the redoubts nearest to Isaktscha.

May 28th [June 9th] in the morning, the passage continued. The works necessary to establish the bridge were begun. At 1 o'clock in the morning the enemy burned the remainder of the suburb of Isaktscha. Afternoon the Emperor crossed to the Turkish Territory. He crossed the Danube conducted by six Zaporoc Cossacks, who were a few days before subjects of the Porte, and had just received the cross of St. George. Their Attaman, but just before a Pacha with two tails, sat at the helm. By a singular coincidence the Emperor, the same day, received news that the Shah of Persia had named one of the battalions of his guard after his Majesty.

The Emperor visited all the positions abandoned by the Turks in the morning. He made a present to Marshall Count Wittgenstein, of one of the cannon found in the Turkish works. On his return the Emperor embarked with the same Zaporoc Cossacks, and was rowed by them across the Danube.

On the 28th (June 10th) a letter from the Pacha of Isaktscha announced his intention to give up the place; and it was made known to him that he should have until next day at 10 o'clock to accept the terms offered him. On the 30th the fortress of Isaktscha was surrounded by two divisions of our troops, and while the Emperor was passing along the chain of advanced posts, two messengers arrived, informing that the commandant accepted them, and was ready to yield. On the 11th, Isaktscha was surrendered.

The article of the capitulation having been agreed on, about three o'clock, two Pachas (Eyoul Pacha, Commandant of Isaktscha, and Hassan Pacha, who had been forced to seek an asylum there, as his troops had disbanded themselves after the affair of the 8th,) came to present their homage to the Emperor at some distance from the place. At the same time our troops, guided and introduced by the Pachas themselves, took possession of the gates and ramparts of Isaktscha; and what seems to prove that the actual war is in no sense national or religious amongst the Turks, is, that on entering the town, our troops found the shops open, and the inhabitants ready to receive them. Our officers and soldiers were soon seen quietly mingling with them.

The garrison of Isaktscha and the two Pachas above-mentioned, have obtained permission to retire; but 85 pieces of cannon, 17 stands of colours, with the ammunition and provisions with which the fortress abounds, have fallen into our power.

The same day we received intelligence of an engagement which had taken place on the morning of the 9th, between our flotilla and that of the Turks near Braila. The former consisted of 17 vessels of different sizes, that of the Turks consisted of 32. The engagement commenced early in the morning, and soon became brisk; but the ship of the Turkish Admiral shortly lowered her flag, and some hours after 25 more Turkish were taken, burnt, sunk or stranded. The six vessels remaining to the Ottomans took refuge under the cannon of the fort of Maichine.

The bridge over the Danube is finished: a brigade of cavalry is at this moment crossing it, and the whole of the army is to follow.

Private letters received by the same courier show that the reports of the bulletins are by no means exaggerated. They state that 20 pieces of cannon, instead of 15, were found in the works which the Turks had raised to oppose the passage of the river, and which they were forced to abandon. They also mention the excessive difficulties that had to be surmounted in establishing the bridge for the army to pass. Two regiments of Cossacks crossed the Danube on the 10th, in boats, the men holding their horses, which swam across. General Alexis Orloff and his horse fell into the river, when the horse perished, and the General would have been drowned, had not a Cossack seized him by the hand, and pulled him on the bridge. M. Henry de Rochejaquelin distinguished himself: he captured one of the enemy's colours, and carried it himself to the Emperor, who addressed him in the most flattering terms.

The Augsburgh Gazette gives letters of the 8th inst. from Semlin, which state, that on the 2d, the garrison of Braila made a sortie, and took 500 Russians prisoners; they were immediately beheaded. The garrison of Braila, it is added, having been reinforced, now consists of eight-thousand men.

We learn from Bucharest, that the Divan of Wallachia, has sent an address to the Emperor of Russia, begging his protection. The secret object of the measure is believed to have been for the promise to be comprehended in the States subject to the Imperial sceptre. The Emperor, with a view to give a fresh proof of his moderation, declined the offer.