The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

wrote, but did not act. In the whole corre-
spondence Lord CLARENDON suggests not a
single measure for the relief of Kars ; he takes
no one step for supplying the Wants which
the British Commissioner so energetically de-
plores. General WILLIAMS states the necesti,-
ties of the army to Lora CLARstmett, who is
content with stating theta to Lord gtRATFORD
DE REDCLIFFE, who Is to state ihent to the
Turkish Governttrentzu4rhe appoiht itemmli;
goners to investigate their truth who
make reports on what is to be done to the
Turkish Ministers who find that they
have not the means of (tarrying the recom-
mendations into effect. And this is the way
Kars was lost.
The question really raised by the Parlia-
mentary papers is, whether it was a wise, and
under the circumstances a just, policy to leave
Turkey to provide as she best could for the
supply of her army in Asia, and for the de-
fence of Kars. If this question be answered
in the affirmative—if it be urged that we were
not primarily concerned in resisting the
advance of Russia in that direction—if it be
pleaded even that we were unable, though we
had been willing, to take part in the Asian
warfare, then we must accept the fall of Kars
as the inevitable result of known causes.
On that view of the ease the answer of the
Government is easy. No one is to blame.
The best defence was made that was prac-
ticable. The catastrophe was foreseen, and
its result, so far from disparaging the wisdom
of our rulers, only justified their foresight.
They knew the weakness of the Turkish Go-
vernment, and the Government proved itself
weak. They anticipated the fall of Kars, and
it did fall. If the principle on which they
proceeded was a just one, no objection can be
made to the consequences.
What Parliament will shortly be called
upon to decide is, whether that principle was
truly a right one. Was it proper, when the
fate of so important a place as Kars was con-
cerned, to leave the Turkish Government to
provide for its defence from its own resources,
or to continually urge it by taunts and me-
naces to make efforts which it was in reality
powerless to make ? This was the line taken
by Lord CLARENDON, and consistently acted
on from the appointment of General WILLIAMS
in August, 1854, to his surrender to MouRA-
VIEFF at tho end of November, 1855. He
would do nothing himself, but from his desk
at the Foreign-office lie reproached the
Turkish Government with not doing every-
thing. By his own showing, he expected the
performance of impossibilities. That which
the English Government could not or would
not do with its unbounded resources and
unlimited credit, the Turkish Government
was to do with resources completely ex•
hausted, and a Treasury completely empty.
Lord CLARENDON must have known per•
fectly well that he was demanding from
the Turkish Government more than it could
perform, as the communications addressed
to him teem with representations of the
poverty of the Porte—of the corruption and
inactivity of Turkish officials—of the im-
practicability of getting the authorities
to act with the necessary decision and
vigour. He is told over and over again that
the Ottoman troops in Asia are fifteen, eigh-
teen, twenty-two months in arrear of pay.
Here is his own summary of the reports of the
state of the army in Asia, which he says he
received with entire confidence :

That the hospitals were generally in a miserable con-
dition ; the medicine of the worst or most useless kind ;
the surgeons who knew something of their profession re-
jected fur nen who knew nothing of it, but had bought
their places ; that Zarif Pacha is now having his command
gorged with plunder; that habitual and notorious drunken-
ness prevailed among the officers, to such an extent it:, to
invite the enemy to surprise the army; that the soldiers
were without proper clothing or shoes ; that the cauldrons
in which their food was cooked was in such a state as to
render it poisonous ; that the muster-rolls exceeded greatly
—often one-half—the numbers really present; and lastly,
when there is reason to believe that nearly 18,000 men
• perished last year, through the want of ordinary care and
precautions, her Majesty's Government cannot say that
there has been any superfluous or exaggerated matter in
the reports which have reached them during the last
twelve months, and respecting which they have so often
and ineffectually remonstrated with the Turkish Go-
♦ernment.

So because her Majesty's Government had
often and ineffectually remonstrated with the
Porte, they were to continue in the same