The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-22 00:00:00

1206

attainment of its original objects, and desiring
no other glory or triumph than its necessary
participation in the triumph of justice.

THE FALL OF KAiis.
Ir has been remarked by a keen keeial
server that " one might read 04 faii of Kati
" in the faces of the present Ministers," and
since the landing at dallipoli liMeh to the
present time it is a fact that the Whigs have
never looked so grave about the consequences
to themselves. They instinctively quake lest
the surrender of Kars should portend the
swamping of their Cabinet. Their consciences
tell them that the abandonment of General
WILLIAMS to his fate was a more heinous error,
because more intentionally • committed, than
any mistake of the Duke of NEWCASTLE. Their
n.ost servile retainers cannot give them
comfort about the feelings of the public mind.
Some of the chiefs amongst them vainly
endeavour to assume an outward serenity that
is absent from their breasts. The hoarse
mutter of indignation is beginning to be
heard far and near throughout the land. Ac-
cording to the English nature, it is not loud
'at first ; but by and by, when all the dia-
•graceful circumstances are proclaimed, the
national anger will swell forth in thundering
tones, and even callous deceivers of every
political connection in Parliament may shrink
•as their fraudulent and ephemeral fame
;perishes before the eyes of all men. It has
rteently been bitterly said with much truth
that " what FEAROUS O'CONNOR was to the
• " working men, the same was Lord PALMERSTON
"to the middle classes." The demagogue
never recovered Snigg's End ; the vogue of the
present Cabinet cannot survive the surrender
of Kars, necessitated by a non-enterprising
War-office. For the fall of Kars is much worse
than a mere military calamity. It closely
approaches to the character of a grave political
crime. Unlike the other untoward contin-
gencies of the campaign, the certain surrender
of Kars, unless a relieving army was sent to
:it, must have been foreseen by any statesman
competent to conduct a great war. Neglect,
not accident, " supineness," together with
• short-sightedness, were the causes of this
:grievous disaster. In vain had Ministers the
best military maps, indicating at a glance the
geographically important position of Kars ; in
vain had they authentic intelligence of the
numbers of the Rusidan hordes around the
g illant WILLIAMS and the leaguered walls ; in
vain was the electric telegraph at their coin-
mind, which might in an instant have con-
veyed commands for throwing an army of
-,;relief on the coast to advance against MounA-
JirtEFF. Government was deliberately " supine."
%.That word, coming from the steadiest sup-
Alorter of the Cabinet, will adhere to the pre-
• sent War•otlice with as much tenacity as the
terrible " too late " fastened twelve months
ago by Lord DERBY OD Lord ABERDEEN and his
colleagues.
The results of this prodigious error are of
' threefold importance. Russia is strengthened,
.1 the allied Powers suffer grievous disparage-
ment, and in our domestic affairs, as we shall
shortly see. a further weakening of the Execu-
tive must take place, which bodes ill for the
national honour and the glory of the Crown.
That Russia gains greatly is too painfully
obvinus to require comment. She has taken
an army, and she has subdued a fortress
whose brave defence was one of the brightest
incidents in the whole war She has shown
her foresight in concentrating a large amount
of troops upon Kars, and maintaining the
spell of her name through the eircurnjacent
rlgions. Along the mountains of Circassia, by
tie shores of the Caspian Sea, and on the
fr mtiers of Persia, there can be no doubt that
tle tall of Kars has been interpreted as pre-
s 'ging further disaster to the Allies. illusion
is a vast power in Oriental politics, and the
triumph of Russia will be vastly magnified. It
will be felt in a large part of Asia Minor that
the Czar has an Executive which does not
deserve to be branded by any Eastern equiva-
lent for " supine."

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