The War Minister and Abdul-Kerim were summarily deposed, the latter being sent off as prisoner to the island of Lemnos.
All witnesses agree that the War Minister, Redif Pasha, was incapable and corrupt.

The age and weakness of Abdul-Kerim might have excused his comparative inaction in the Quadrilateral in the first half of July.

It is probable that his plan of campaign, described above, was sound; but he lacked the vigour, and the authorities at Constantinople lacked the courage, to carry it out thoroughly and consistently.
Mehemet Ali Pasha, a renegade German, who had been warring with some success in Montenegro, assumed the supreme command on July 22; and Suleiman Pasha, who, with most of his forces had been brought by sea from Antivari to the mouth of the River Maritsa, now gathered together all the available troops for the defence of Roumelia.
The Czar, on his side, cherished hopes of ending the war while Fortune smiled on his standards.

There are good grounds for thinking that he had entered on it with great reluctance.

In its early stages he let the British Government know of his desire to come to terms with Turkey; and now his War Minister, General Milutin, hinted to Colonel F.A.