ha, and, after a sanguinary
encounter, he was not only repulsed, but compelled to withdraw to the
Shipka Pass. Suleiman Pasha followed him and succeeded in occupying the
village of Shipka, but his attempts to drive the Russians from the pass
were unsuccessful, and on August 27 he discontinued his operations and
telegraphed for reinforcements, the Russians having in the meantime also
received theirs. Suleiman Pasha did not renew the attempt until
September 17; and, although at one time he had so far discounted his
success as to telegraph a victory to Constantinople, he was finally
repulsed.[178]

Added to these and other reverses in Europe, there came tale after tale
of disaster in Asia. Kars, which had been besieged by the Russians, was
successfully relieved by the Turks under Muktar Pasha, just as, a few
months later, Erzeroum was twice attacked by the Russians, who were as
many times repulsed. Then it was, when the skies were lowering on all
sides, that the Russian emperor and his princes and generals began to
look eagerly for aid from their ally north of the Danube; and then, for
the safety of his own country, Prince Charles entered the field with his
brave little army of Roumanians, and, recalling the days of Stephen and
of Michael, and emulating the prowess of the field of Kalugereni, he
succeeded in turning the tide of victory, and in saving the honour of
that ally, from whom lie subsequently received such poor acknowledgment.

[Footnote 176: _Daily News War Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 73.]

[Footnote 177: There are two monuments, one at Simnitza and the other at
Sistova, which are visible to the traveller as he passes up or down the
river. The first indicates the spot where the Russians embarked, whilst
the last is a handsome memorial to the slain.]

[Footnote 178: These operations are graphically described in the
interesting work of Col. Fife Cookson, _With the Armies of the Balkans_,
Cassell, 1880; in the _Daily News War Correspondence, Macmillan_, 1878;
and in Ollier's _History of the Russo-Turkish War_, Cassell.]

IV.

Up to August 25 we hear little or nothing of the movements of the
Roumanians, and in every case the fighting was done by the Russians,
either alone or in conjunction with their ruthless allies the
Bulgarians,[179] the operations being then spoken of as those of the
'Russo-Bulgarian' forces; but on the date named, or thereabouts, the
main portion of the Roumanian army crossed the Danube,