Current History, A Monthly Magazine | Page 7

Bosphorus with

mines and destroying entirely the imperial Ottoman fleet after having
split it in two. Our fleet, believing that it had to face an unexpected
attack, and supposing that the Russians had begun hostilities without a
formal declaration of war, pursued the scattered Russian fleet,
bombarded the port of Sebastopol, destroyed in the city of Novorosiysk
fifty petroleum depots, fourteen military transports, some granaries,
and the wireless telegraph station.
In addition to the above, our fleet has sunk in Odessa a Russian cruiser
and damaged severely another. It is believed that this second boat was
likewise sunk. Five other steamers full of cargoes lying in the same
port were seriously damaged. A steamship belonging to the Russian
volunteer fleet was also sunk, and five petroleum depots were
destroyed.
In Odessa and Sebastopol, the Russians from the shore opened fire
against our fleet.
The officers and crews of the mine-layer Pruth were subjected to a rigid
examination.
Eight or ten days ago the Pruth, lying in the roadstead of Sebastopol,
received a cargo of mines and was put under the command of officers
who for a number of years past had been training on board the Russian
depot ship in Constantinople and therefore had become familiar with
the ins and outs of the Bosphorus.
As soon as it became known that a small part of the Turkish fleet went
out to the Black Sea, the Russian fleet sailed from Sebastopol, leaving
only an adequate squadron for the protection of the city, and on Oct. 27
put to sea, taking a southerly direction with the rest of its forces. On the
next day the mine-layer Pruth left Sebastopol and steamed southward.
The Russian fleet, acting in different ways, intended to fill with mines
the entrance of the Bosphorus, attack the weak squadron of the
Ottoman fleet, at that time on the high seas, and cause the destruction
of the rest of the Turkish fleet, which, being left in the Bosphorus,
would rush to the assistance of the light flotilla, and, encountering the

mines, would be destroyed.
Our warships manoeuvring on the high seas met the mine-layer Pruth
as well as the torpedo boats accompanying her, and thus took place the
events already known from previous communications.
The rescued Russian officers are five in number, one of them a
Lieutenant Commander. The prisoners have been sent to Ismid.
This successful action on the part of our squadron, which only by
chance came to be on the high seas at the time of the naval battle, is
itself one of the utmost importance for us, as it assures the future of our
fleet.
THE SULTAN'S PROCLAMATION.
As soon as war was declared against Russia, England, and
consequently France, the Sultan issued the following proclamation to
his troops:
To my army! To my navy!
Immediately after the war between the Great powers began, I called
you to arms in order to be able in case of trouble to protect the
existence of empire and country from any assault on the part of our
enemies, who are only awaiting the chance to attack us suddenly and
unexpectedly as they have always done.
While we were thus in a state of armed neutrality, a part of the Russian
fleet, which was going to lay mines at the entrance of the straits of the
Black Sea, suddenly opened fire against a squadron of our own fleet at
the time engaged in manoeuvres.
While we were expecting reparation from Russia for this unjustified
attack, contrary to international law, the empire just named, as well as
its allies, recalled their Ambassadors and severed diplomatic relations
with our country.

The fleets of England and France have bombarded the straits of the
Dardanelles, and the British fleet has shelled the harbor of Akbah on
the Red Sea. In the face of such successive proofs of wanton hostility
we have been forced to abandon the peaceful attitude for which we
always strove, and now in common with our allies, Germany and
Austria, we turn to arms in order to safeguard our lawful interests.
The Russian Empire during the last three hundred years has caused our
country to suffer many losses in territory, and when we finally arose to
that sentiment of awakening and regeneration which would increase our
national welfare and our power, the Russian Empire made every effort
to destroy our attempts, either with war or with numerous machinations
and intrigues. Russia, England, and France never for a moment ceased
harboring ill-will against our Caliphate, to which millions of
Mussulmans, suffering under the tyranny of foreign domination, are
religiously and whole-heartedly devoted, and it was always these
powers that started every misfortune that came upon us.
Therefore, in this mighty struggle which now we are undertaking, we
once for all will put an end