AS OLD STORY RETOLD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 108, 9 May 1877, Page 2

AS OLD STORY RETOLD.

THfi iJtSGE 01? KAUS IN 1855 BY THE RttttSIANS, ANtl ITS HEROIC DEFENCE BV &BNE&AL WILLIAMS. (Evening Post). %t CM recent telegrams iuform.us that the foSJrfrSS of Kars is again being besieged i by t%6 '^ttSfiian forces, it may be interesting to tfSCaA Some of the incidents which attfeftflld Jfce Siege of the same place in 1854, whs* 1p was so heroically defended by General, io«r Sir Fenwick, Williams. It appeal that in 1854 the English Government B#nt General Williams as a British mffif&fy Correspondent to advise and uphold thfc ITtJtlsh commander at Kars. U was late ia Sfe&iber, 1854, when General Williams enteißfi mats, accompanied by Captain Teesdale fotfl Dr Sandwith. He found the Tiriisi forces thoroughly demoralised and disoqstnised, and devoted some months to the tfkdeavor to bring them into a better state of military discipline. Before his preparations tore completed the spring of the yesf W 1855 had passed, and the IGth of Junfc witnessed the arrival of the Russians before Sacs. The Turkish outpost^ were driven in, but afterwards Mouravieff's army mafie its appearance before the gates. General Williams had urgently for months pasfc appealed to the British General for reinforcements, but had failed to obtain them. Ultimately he was surrounded by such a Cordon of Cossacks, who encompassed the beleaguered town, that neither reinforcement* nor supplies could enter it, even if such had been obtainable. A graphic writer thus describes the state of affairs which then arose, and gives details of the heroic manner in which General Williams so long held out against the liussians. He writes : — The stern history of the siege now approaches. AH the food in the town was collected, and its quantity ascertained ; and short nations commenced. The oxen and sheep, the wheat and barley, the grass and hay, were placed under careful commissariat management, and a plan was laid down to efEgcj; ttye best that could be done for inhabitants, Boldieps, and b,orses, The brave heart of the ferik was now the moral support of the whole population aud garrison. Supplies failing, and the hopes of rehef becoming daily fainter, the poor Turks looked anxiously up to Williams, and endeavored to read their future fate in his eyes. Thin «nd spare he was, for he worked incessantly, and slept little ; but no indication of despair ; if he had forebodings, he conned f,b,om. to a few of the English companions or committed th.ein. to pa.per. To others he was still the commander, really though Hot officially, who wrought up those around him to a heroic determination.

Whether at the Tahma3p, watching every movement in the Russian camp ; whether afi the Kara-dagh, or in the hospitals, or in the commissariat stores, or afi head quarters with Vassif Pacha— he was ever the same, thinking for all and encouraging all. His English officers, too, worked juse'aa young Cap-tain Butler had worked at Silistria. Thompson was guarding and watching at the Kara-daefe from morning till night; Teesdala was laboring with the veteran Kmeti at the Tahmasp ; Lake wa3 at all hours tramping from redoubt to redoubt, to aee that the defences were good and well manned; while Dr Sandwith, who modestly says little concerning himself in the volume which narrates the eveins of this siege, is known to have been rendering surgical aid to Russians as well as Turks, and throwing a halo of humanity about rough warfare. ■■ spionage, desertion and insubordination occasionally appeared • but Williams quickly applied a stern measure' of punishment, which made him to be feared by the ill doers as fully as loved by all the rest. The 20th of September was marked by a vigorous Russian assault, repelled with more than equal vigor by the garrison. During many days movements had been observed in the enemy's camp, leading to au opinion in some minds that the siege wag about to be abandoned by Mouravieff, under apprehension of attack from Omar Pasha in his rear Williams aud Kmeti, however, thought differently, and took care thafc no post should remain unguarded. At four in the morning of the day in question, the attention of Kmeti and Teesdale was called fay the sentries on the Tahmasp Jo a low rambling sound, audible through the thick darkness ; Kmeti, applying his ear to the ground, recognised the sound of the wheels of guns, and instantly the garrison was roused to arms Listening again, the measured tread of infantry was heard ; and orders were given for riflemen to prepare, and for artillerymen fo load their guns with grape shot. A datfc mass was seen mpvihg 5 a gun was flred fnto it ; cries of agony arose from i6 } and in ia few minutes vast bodies of Russians assaulted the earthworks. The enemy, nearly 35,000 strong, were on the north and west; of the defence works. Teesdala held the tabia nearest to them ; Kmeti and Lake were between him and the city ; wbilo the Mushfr and Williams had their headqjzturtera southwest of the city ; but very speedily all were at the posts most imminently in peril. The Russians had placed artillery on some adjacent hills, and under cover of a heavy fire, dense masses of iufantry advanced to the assault. Deadly became the contest. The Eussian officers, sword in hand, charged at the head of the column, and every redoubt and breastwork became a scene of bloody strife. When day (Continued an Fourth Page.)

(Concluded from Second Page.) dawned, vast masses of Rnssiana were seen advancing to give support; while a large force of cavalry and artillery menanced,f or feigned to menance, the plain on the south. Williams took up a central position, where he could see all, and manoeuvre his slender forces; Kmeti, Lake, Teesdale, and others — not including several Turkish officers, who fought gallantly when thus well commanded — met the Russians bayonet to bayonet and gun to gon; while Thompson, on the Kara-dagb, wrought destructive havoc among the enemy. by one single gun of large calibre. During seven hours did the mortal struggle continue, the Tahmasp beiDg the chi ; i point of attack; again and again d*d the Russians, as at Inkerman and Tcherbaya Bridge, rush on ia dense columns; ageia and again did the motley garrison repel them — for it was indeed a motley garrison; although Williams had infused into them so much of bis own dauntless spirit, that all fought well on this day. About noon the enemy, utterly repulsed at all points, retired. If Williams had possessed either cavalry or horse artillery, he might have nearly destroyed them daring the retreat; but having neither he could no venture beyond his defences, and so Mouravieff got clear.

This battle of Kavs worthily so called, greatly elated the Turks; it was in every eenee honorable to them; and if they bad not been so cruelly abandoned hy the authorities at Constantinople and in the Crimea, it ought to hare led to permanent success. It was a sad duty that now devolved upon Dr Sandwith and his coadjutors. Thousands of Russians lay dead or wounded among the earthworks which bad been attacked; and while the troops buried the one, the surgeons Bought to heal the woande of the other. Williams estimated the Russian loss at more than 2500 killed and 5000 wounded; while bis own loss was less than 1O0O; others, however, including Dr. Sand with, place the Russian casualities.at a much higher number— even so great as 10,000, As at this time, owing to the absence ot animal fcod, and other causes, cholera appeared with much severity in the town, and labors of the surgeons became unspeakably onerous and distressing; still, Sandwitb bra?ed herocially the dutieß of his position, October began and ended in wearing anxiety. When the oholera abated, then did the emaciated frames of the troops and the inhabitants tell only too truly how the spare diet was bringing down tbeir strength. A little bread and a little gruel made of flour and crushed biscuit constituted all their food; and the hospitals became filled with men whose only malady was want of sustsnanoe. The wild dogs and the valtures were the only beings fully fed; there was, alasl plenty for them. Within the city women and children were searching and craving for food; grass and roots were torn up and eaten raw; a small store of onions, brought in by a venturous dealer at the hazard of capture by the Russians, was sold at the late of 53 per pound; the few wretched horses yet left were killed, and their flesh cooked for food; and Beveral soldiers were poisoned by eating indiscriminately of the herbs dug up from (he ground. It was a terrible truth told in a few words when, in a despatch written towards the close of the month, Williams said: " I have on my shoulders the management of a starving population as well as of the army." Mouravieff, an active and intelligent general, knew that Omar Facha was not likely to reach Kara from Batoum, a distance by circuitous and difficult roads of nearly 200 miles, bofore winter arrived; and he therefore resolved to remain quiet and watchful before Kars, until the garrison surrendered through eheer starvation.

Women and children gathered the dust before the flour-depots, and regarded it as food in virtue of the few grains it contained. Aged persona were moaning and crying in the streets for very hunger; and mothers would bring their children to the military council nnd lay them down sayiDg: — " Take and keep these children, for we have no bread to #ive them." Yet, amid all these sufferings the devote ; eolJiers remained gallantly at their posts; a party of them stood sentry over a store ot three day's provisions «t the batterit-s, and although starving, not a biscuit whs stolen from first so last. Night after night Williams sent off messengers to Selim Pasha, each carrying a note in cipher rolled up and put into a quil, which thty might drop if stopped by the Cossacks, and each note urgently pressing for aid ; and day after day brought with it the sickening sense of disappointed hopep.

The chivalrous roan to whom oil looked up, and whose heavfc bled within him at the haggard looks and moaning cries of bo many thousand human beiugs, knew where to draw the lino between heroism and cruelty. He saw that, although the raoutha to bo fed were daily diminishing with fearful rapidity, he had only eevon days provisious left at half a pound ot brej.d per day par head — he saw all this; aud when he received from Consul Braui ft note in cipher saying " Selim Pacha won't advance," he felt that, tho hour of surrender had arrived. Ho called together all the Pachas and and asked whether ho thought the troops coulii cut a way for themselves through the investing army; but they all declared with one voice that such au effort w^s impossible for men ao emaciated and debilitated. In a dispatch written about this time io Lord Clarendon, he jgaid : " We bad, up to that date, bui-

fered from cold; want of, sufficient clothing, and starvation, without a murmur escaping from the troops. They fell dead at their posts, in their tenta, and throughout the camp, a* brave men should who cling to their duty through, the slightest glimmering of hope of saving a place, entrusted to their custody. From the day of their glorious victory, tha 29th of September, they had not tasted animal food, and their nourishment consisted of twofifths of a ration of bread and the roots of grass, which they had scarcely strength to dig for, yet nigU and day they stood Jto their arms, their wasted frames showing the fearful effects of starvation, but their sparkling eye telling me what they would do were the enemy again to attack them. We had now lost nearly 2000 men by starvation, and the townspeople also suffered, and would have died by hundreds if I bad not divided the bread' of the soldiers among those who had bravely fought by their side." ',

On the 24th of November Williams sent Teesdale under a fUg ot truce, to request a conference with Mouravieff. The antagonists met on the 25th. The Russian General was a gentleman as well as a soldier;, he had the generosity of a gallant man, and knew how to respect those who had 'so nobly defended Kars amid such great trials. Williams offered to surrender if honorable terms were granted; but an unconditional surrender he would not submit to u nil be had destroyed every gun, every standard, every trophy within the town. . Mo.utayieff said : I have no wish to wreak an unworthy vengeance on a gallant and long-suffer-ing army, which has covered itself with glory, and only yields to famine. They, must be splendid troops/' he added, pointing to a lump of bread and a handful of roota, '" w,ho can stand to their arms in this severe,, climate on food such as this. General Williams, you have made yourself a name in history, and posterity will stand amazed at the endurance, the courage, and discipline this siege has called forth in the remains of an army. Let us arrange a capitulation that will satisfy the demands of war without outraging humanity," By the. Jenns agreed on the torts, redoubts, batteries, guns, Bmallarms, ammunition, magazines, powder, military clothing, stores, ■', and Government . documents ,of every description were to be given up to the oonquerers. On the other hand, the: regular troop3 were to march out with colors fly ing;and bands playing, and sur-> reader themselves prisoners of war; tbe officers were to retain their swords. These terms, estimated by military precedents, were highly honorable, and show that the conqueror wae worthy of the great opponent who had yielded to him. It is not quite certain whether Mouraveiff, from a generous motive, connived at the escape of Generals Kmeti and Colman; but those Hungarians— known to the Turks as Ismail Pacha and Fezzi Pacha — at the first whisper of surrender, asked Williams to allow them to cut their way out and escape to Erzeroum, preferring the chance of dying in the attempt to that of being-made prisoners, since Russia would perhaps have felt bound to deliver them up to the vengeance of Austria, had they been captured. On the 27th, Williama and his whole staff, with two Turkish officers, went over. to. dine with Mouravieff, who — speaking-the Russian, Turkish, English, French, and German languages — acted the host as gracefully as he had acted the general gallantly. Dr. Sandwith writes as if tears overflowed his pen, with joy at the delicate attention paid to the vanquished by all the Russian officers. Among the incidents of the conversation, he says, "one of the office T3 recognised Teesdale as having, under a deadly fire of grape and rifle balls, leaped over our breastwork?, and rescued from some maraudiug soldiers a wounded Russian officer. This little episode was not hitherto known to us; fand I almost fear to shock the modeoty of that gallant officer in thus recording it.'' During these hospituliiifSj Mouravieff did not forgt to seud in hoi to the stervin^, garrison ami inhabitants.

Kmeti and Oolraau, with a band of daring Kurdish horsemen, made their f scupe to Krzercua), after undergoing liiefti peril. S&udwith went through she wild Li.zutin country to Baloum; hearing everywhere ihat in the esiinia^ tion of the people, * 'William Pacha was a Eustem, an Ilderim,^a lion in the fight, a very Solomon in council." William Lske, Teesdale, and Thompson went aa prisoners to Gumri; and Churchill, a civillian, voluntarily accompanied them. A Russian force took possession of Kara early in December, and quartered in the barracks lately inhabited by !the Turks.