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Show THE EUROPEAN HELL. Beneath Which Lit) Hopes ol Peace. London, Sept. 15. At the present moment tbe air of Europe presents the parodoxical quality of being full of war and full of peacw. Five hundred cannons are rouing over the slopes and ridges of Plevna, and thousands of hissing shells are coming and going on their mission of destruction. The great central redoubt, of Gravilza has been stormed and taken, and its front and tbe long, uncovered glacis of each of the southern lines of Turkish works are Btrewed with 6,000 dead and wounded Russians the result of only three short hours' fightiDg. The I long central ndyes that pass through Plevna till they lose themselves to the west in the Vid are a series of volcanos, each ol' which is an erup-t.on erup-t.on ol furious flume, smoke, thunder and screaming shell. Along the sides of these central ridges, and commanding com-manding every line of approach, are small redoubts, placed on either swell, (rom which one, two, or three-gun three-gun batteries sweep every loot of the advanced ground with the waves of consuming fire. All these email re-i doubts are connected with each other by deep and capacious rifle pits, in which wit fanatical thousand- tUe Moslem, with their firlS on tbe trigger, ready for assault. Here no amount oi artillery fire can dislodge dis-lodge tiiem. They can he reached r.nly by the bayonet, and long before the lUistjiau steel c.iu he brought into. ul;vv thousands of Riiisiau coruaes must be '. upon me elretcb ol the approaches, ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE are the Russian works. On all the tow, outlying heights are Russian guns. Here a Ctileetion of a dozen monstrous steire pieces, throwing almost their owu wuight ol metal at every discharge, are pounding away with a dull, solid roar, now pitching shells directly into some bare spot of earth which indicates a Turkish para-1 pet, and again varying range, satisfied j to drop a shell into any portion of the ! areu within the immense curve of thy Turkish Hues. Nearer the Turkish I outer works, far down the slopes, the : smaller guns, field batteries, smoking and flaming, giving back a sharper tone than their gigantic companions! farther to tbe rear, are viciously heating heat-ing the further slopes with a hail of i-hot aud shell. Over , the hither and thither ridges there are incessant, swift outruehings j of smeke from gun-muzzles a smoke whicli then drills slowly upward aud mingles, until all over the scene there are great clouds which euvelop the combatants and reveal nothing save flashes of flame within their depths. Down in tbe hollows the volumes of: amoko roll lazily on. carried by light ; winds, and one can look down upon it ad a spectator iu a balloon often sees the fearless, the fleecy banks, and hears the thunder in the raging storm beneath him. Along tbe heights it is tossed about by the un easy air, now cleft to its base, showing the bare earthworks for a moment and then rolling on, obscuring here, revealing there; prismatic and shifting shift-ing as a kaleidascope. BENEATH THIS HELL. One would hardly think that within this smoky, flaming area in which there are incessant "volleyings and tbunderings," which is rent at every iustaut by the flight of shell, round- shot, grape, aud schrapnell; whose every iueb of space is searched by rifle bulleu; beneath which, with glazed eytu, rigid limbs, and gaping mouths lie thousands of Russian and Turkish dead one would hardly think, I say, that withiu tiie region of j passion and death there are to be lound the elements ol peace. To be- j lieve it would seem more absurd than digging beneath Buow-banks in Jan uary lor violets, or exploring the' uttermost depths of hell for examples j of content and serene happiness. Nevertheless, as the most serene '. calmB generally succeed the fiercest ! Btorms ; as the tender violet comes soonest alter tbe rigors of winter have, departed, so I believe that close upon tbe beels of this tremendous conflict will follow the tranquility of peace, the eflloresence ol those buds of concord, con-cord, whose coming indicates the approach ap-proach of a pacific summer of growth and fruition. SHOTTED ARGUMENTS FOR PEACE. Every day that bus elapsed since the Russians closed about Plevna has been an incentive toward an armistice, armis-tice, mediation, and final settlement. The same is true of every rotten aud swollen body that dots the slopes and DOisons tbe air. The smoking oat lent 8, the desperate attack and resistance, every bayonet slab, every shell whose frag-1 meuts lacerate a human body, every shot which plows up parapets and adds to the list of tbe killed and wounded, are each and all potent argumeuls lor adjustment and reconciliation. recon-ciliation. The mom deadly- and determined each assault, the more fierce and prolonged the resistance, the more will the contestants be disposed dis-posed for peace after they release their grapple upon each other's throats. In lact. I believe that this horrible carnage of the last week is doing more towards making peace attainable and orobuble than the diplomatic efforts ot all Europe or the efiorts of all Christian nations. THE RATIONALE. Had the Russians taken Plevna on the first, or aecond, or even third day of their attack; had they not experienced experi-enced on Tuesday a most bloody feoulse on the southern Turkish front; had they nr,t discovered that the labor of capturing Plevna is one of the most tremendous magnitude as well as cost, they would have regained all their old j-mnty contempt for the Turk, and would agmn have dreamed of a promenade to Constantinople as lightly as the Frencb soldiers, at the outbreak of the Franco -Prussian war, started on their journey to Berlin. On the other band, had the Turks been thus easily conqtiereJ, they would have become infuriated over their position; they would have unfurled un-furled the sinister flag ol the prophet, and their conquest would only have ended with their extermination. But now, even in the event of the less of Plevna, the '1 urka have every rpttxnn to be oroud of what they have accomplished. They bave withstood for mouths the advance and onslaught of the mightiest nation in existence. They repelled the Rudeian advance beyond tbe Balkans; they inflicted upon the enemy a stupendous defeat at Plevna; they have raised the siege of Ruslchuk, driven the Russian forces from the Lorn lo the Jantra; they have defeated und chrcked the Riisuiitn advance in Asia Minor; and, finally, they have seen the mighty coIcebub ol the north obliged to invite to bis assistance Itoumania, Servia I and Montenegro, and yet with all tbis acceasion of auxiliaries, the Turks, although outnumliertd and out weighed, have been utile to hold the Russians fur a week, before an intrenched in-trenched camp, aud inflict upon them such locoes that even a victory will be almost equivalent to ruin. The Turk, knowing and feeling all I these things; knowing that be has re deemed his fighting qualities in Iht estimate ol the world, can wlliird tc lose Plevna, and yet consent to treat for peace without loss ol honor. Cor. Chicago Times. |