The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-09 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN CAMP.

We were allowed to walk about the Russian camp, and
see what we chose. The men were hutted in a warm and
comfortable way, their dwellings being made almost wholly
underground, with fireplaces to insure ventilation. All the
officers' huts were furnished with glass windows. Anything
more admirable than the order, regularity, and well-being

137

of this camp could not be conceived. Each soldier was
warmly clad in becoming, well-preserved clothes, and
seemed fit for an inspection on parade at St. I'etersburg.
It was observed that the Russians had built a much finer
city than Kars itself, and it was proposed to call it Yeni
Ears, or New Ears.

The Russian officers, we are told, treated their
British prisoners with the most delicate atten-
tion, and lavished compliments on their
gallantry, endurance, and humanity. But the
wrath of the Turkish troops was awful. They
broke their arms in their despair, and cursed
the sacred Sultan himself. Dr. Sandwith
does not say whether the allied Governments
came in for any share of these despairing ex-
clamations.

His last chapter is devoted to an examina-
tion of the question, whether the garrison
might not have been relieved by other dis-
positions on the part of Omer Pacha and Selim
Pacha. He is of opinion that it might. The
generalissimo's movement seems to have been
a false one. Had he landed at Trebizond, he
might have marched through a friendly
country to Erzeroum, and from thence an ad-
vance would have been easily practicable.
The question which more nearly relates to
us is, how came it that the British Govern-
ment made no effort for the relief of Kars?
Why did it not send or insure the sending of
an efficient force to Trebizond ? What excuse
can there be for its long apathy ? How can it
throw on the Turkish Government the blame
of this disaster, when it withheld the loan
which it urged at the close of last session as
necessary to the immediate wants of the
Turkish treasury?

The delay of the Turks was caused partly by
extreme poverty—for even when Omer Pacha's
men were at Soukham Kale, he had no money
to pay their long arrears—and partly by the
superior direction exercised over the Turkish
Government. But the hands of our Adminis-
tration were free, and their means were ample.
To recapitulate, they made the struggle their
own, by sending General Williams to Kars as
British Commissioner; they were kept secretly
informed of the state of the siege; they knew
that the town must fall unless relieved by a
given date ; they could have supplied the
means of relief, for a period of no less than
ten weeks elapsed between the evacuation
of Sebastopol and the fall of Kars. But
they did nothing except to send " words of
great encouragement" proved by the result to
be utterly meaningless, or designedly false,
and thus contributed to an event which "must
"exercise a damaging influence on the reputa-
" tion of England."
The case calls loudly for inquiry. As for
responsibility, there is an end of that, so let us
not speak of it. But it is proper that public
opinion should know whom to accuse as the
real authors of this most humiliating disaster.
It is impossible to suppose that it could ever
have occurred had England possessed a Minis-
ter of vigorous mind at the head of the War
Department.
Dr. Sandwith's book is in other respects
valuable for its information as to the country
and people of the theatre of war, but the story
of Kars is of such exciting interest as to throw
all other details into the shade.

Noetea Ambroseanm. By Professor Wilson.
Edited by Professor Ferrier. Vol. 111.
London : Blackwoods.
WE have recently seen in more than one
quarter some harsh strictures on the memory
of Christopher North, and his assistants in
the " Noctes." The truth of the charges
brought against Wilson is, to say the least, as
questionable as their taste, but over a recent
grave we shall not aid in raising a controversy.
We are entitled, however, to protest against
the justice of those strictures. It is not the
case that in virulence and personality the lite-
rary Tories or Conservatives have always
exceeded the Whigs or Radicals. Lord Jef-
frey was the first who made 'that assertion in
his superficial, though graceful, essay on Swift.
We have since seen his remarks on this point
reproduced, and the names of Wilson, Theo-
dore Hook, and Dr. Ma ;inn quoted as exem-
plifications of their truth. It may be true that
in vitality the Tory pens have often given
an undying power to quarrels that would
have been forgotten without genius. We are