The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24 1855,

Irladi signifies fortrees,

for them in the military kitchens on the left bank
of the Kars-tchai.

"On the same day (28th of November) the
fortress was occupied by our troops under the
command of Colonel de Saget, and the Russian
standard was hoisted on the citadel.

" Thus, with the surrender of Kars, the last
remnant of the army of Anatolia, which in last
June numbered 30,000 men, has vanished. The
Mushir Vassif Pasha, Commands in-Chief of that
army, is himself a prisoner of war is our haudp,
without counting eight Pashas, a great number of
superior and subaltern officers, including the Eng-
lish General Williams and his whole staff. In the
fortress we took 130 cannon, and a great stock of
arms."

On the 28th of November General Mouravieff
issued the following order of the day to his
troops

" ORDER OF THE DAY TO THE DIVISION
OF THE CAUCASUS.
"CAMP OF VLADI-Kißs, Nov. 16 (28), 1855.
" Companions in arms I congratulate you ! As
Lieutenant of our Sovereign I thank you.
" At the price of your blood and your labour
the bulwark of Asia Minor has been placed at the
feet of his Majesty the Emperor. The Russian
standard floats on the walls of Kars. It proclaims
the victory of the Cross of the Saviour.

" The whole of the army of Anatolia, 30,000
strong, has vanished like a shadow. Its Com-
mander-in-Chief, with all his Pashas and officers,
and the English General who directed the defence,
with his Staff, are our prisoners. Thousands of
Turkish prisoners, who return to their homes, will
proclaim your deeds of arms.
"No inventory has, as yet, been made of the
vast stock of arms and Government property at
Kars ; but, without counting the cannon and
flags captured by us in the course of the cam-
paign, 130 new cannon will enrich our arsenals.
Numerous flags will adorn the holy temples of
Russia, and recall the memory of your constant
warlike virtues.

" Companions in arms I thank you again ;
from the first man to the last.

"Brave comrades ! I also thank you again in
my own name. I owe to you the happiness of
procuring a joy to the heart of our Monarch.
Yon have this year achieved what you prepared
to accomplish is the course of the two preceding
years.

" Unite your thanksgiving with mine to the
God of armies, who in his impenetrable Secrets
now gives us victory in the very hour of trial to
which we have recently been put. May faith in
Divine Providence maintain the martial spirit
within you, and double your strength. We will
undertake new labours with hope in the protection
of the Almighty.

"MOURAVIEFF,
Commander-in-Chief, Aide-de-Camp General.',

"TRIESTE, DEC. 21.

" Advices from Constantinople of the 10th,
received here, state that the remittance to the
Ottoman Minister of War of the money realised
by the Turkish loan in France and England had
caused a rapid rise in the value of piastres.
" The capitulation of the town of Kars was
not officially known at Coasta►ntinople.
" The Russians are preparing to take the of-
fensive this winter in the Crimea.

" The Sultan objected to the establishment of
a police force organised by the consuls of foreign
Powers.

" Advices from Smyrna of the 12th of December
state that the English squadron under the orders
of Rear-Admiral Stewart was preparing to leave
for Malta."

"BERLIN, DEC. 21.
" The Prison de Pless, President of the Cham-
ber of Peers, is dead.
" Count Munster has not brought either an
autograph letter or any propositions whatever
from St. Pesersburg."

THE RUMOURS OF PEACE.
The Frankfort German, Journal contains the

following :
" It is quite true that new stipulations have been
added by Austria to the Four Points, which will
serve as bases for negotiations during the winter
months ; these stipulations take into considera-
tion the advantages obtained by the Allies through
the fall of Sebastopol. These propositions were
first submitted to the Emperor Napoleon, who,
desirous of a lasting and honourable peace, list-
ened to them favourably, and succeeded in recom-
mending them to England. If we are well in-
formed, Sir Hamilton Seymour and Viscount de
Serros took with them to Vienna the consent of
their respective Governments, who refused, how-
ever, all mediation from neutral Governments.
Subsequently, however, the Emperor Napoleon
consented to waive this question of form, and
prevailed on Lord Palmerston to do the same."

The Bourse Gazette, in a letter from Vienna, of
the 17th, says :

" Sir H. Seymour is treated with the greatest
distinction here. He has daily interviews with
Count Buol. The language of Sir Hamilton is
constantly pacific, and it is said that he is charged
with the task of advising the Porte, through its
ambassador here, to accept the terms agreed upon
by Austria and the Western Powers."

OMER PACHA IN MINGRELIA.
(From the Times Special Col-respondent.)
TURKISH CAMP, SUGDIDI, Nov. 14.
The anniversary of the terrific storm which swept
over the Crimea last year finds us still encamped at
Sugdidi, under a cloudless sky and a bright sun.
Our commissariat arrangements have involved a
delay here of a few days. It is not to be wondered
at that, with the inadequate means of transport
which our almost bankrupt Government places at
Omer Pacha's command, he should find some diffi-
culty, now that he is 40 miles distant from his
nearest depot upon the seacoast, in provisioning a
considerably larger army than that which nearly
died of starvation within six miles of Balaklava,
when England was straining every nerve to sup-
ply it. Hitherto we have not been able to calculate
upon receiving any assistance from the people of the
country through which we have passed, and, al-
though confidence is gradually beginning to be re-
stored among the Mingrelians, and they are bringing
meat and vegetables in small quantities into camp
for sale, still in our onward progress we must de-
pend entirely upon our own commissariat for sup-
plies. It is to be hoped that before very long
our depots of provisions will be moved to some
line upon the coast nearer the scene of operations,
and that we may be enabled to draw our sup-
plies either from Anaklea or Redoubt Kaleh.
Even now the roads to those places are reported
free of Russians, and the force which was
watching Redoubt Kaleh when I visited it two
months ago has now retired. We may therefore
hope soon to see the Rhion made available for pur-
poses of transport, and it would be a most valuable
effort on the part of the British Government to assist
the operations in this quarter, if it would place at
the disposal of Omer Paulaa two or three steamers
of light draught to tow flat-bottomed boats upon
the river. The water is deep to within a few miles
of Kutais, but the principal obstacle to its naviga-
tion is the bar at the mouth, upon which there is a
little over six feet of water.
I rode down to the old fortress of Ruchi a fErff days
ago to look at the ford by which Skender Pasha
crossed the river, and to command which wo had
ereoted two small batteries two days before the
battle of the Ingour. It was matter of congratula-
tion that Omer Pacha did not attempt the passage
here with his whole army. Although the ford was
not commanded by any Russian artillery, the thick
woods had been made available in every direction
for riflemen, and an abattis had been thrown up at
every angle of the narrow road which winds up a
steep hill past the old castle. For more than a
mile there was scarcely a point which was not swept
from some stockade concealed in the woods, and
which we only discovered in the course of our ex-
plorations. The castle itself is a picturesque old
Genoese ruin, of great extent, and its ivy-grown
towers, surrounded by massive loopholed
rise high above the surrounding forest, and form a
charming feature in the landscape.
Skender Pasha had only two men wounded at
this point while the river was being crossed by us
lower down. Two days afterwards he passed over,
to find the opposite shore deserted. This veteran
warrior has now moved on a day's march in ad-
vance to a village in which the Russians had stored
magazines and provisions, which they have now
blown up and abandoned. Skender Pasha, is well
qualified to command the advanced guard of the
most dashing cavalry
soldiers in the Turkish army.;

he has distinguished himself repeatedly since the
commencement of the war, and can already boast
of 18 wounds, not counting the loss of a few fingers
on his left hand. The plundering propensities of
the Abasians have been so strongly developed
lately that Omer Pacha, after having had corporal
punishment administered to two of them, has sent
back the rest in disgrace.
15T11.—The whole camp was struck this morn-
ing at daylight, and we marched through an un-
dulating well-wooded country to Chaita, where we
found the still smouldering embers of the Russian.
barracks and storehouses. The growing confi-
dence of the population was testified by the fact
that the inhabitants of some of the houses by the
roadside had not quitted them upon the approach
of the army, although they could not be induced
to minister to our wants, protesting that the
Russians, before leaving, had appropriated all
their live stock. Omer Pasha had given strict
orders that no force was to be used in procur-
ing supplies of this nature; but I found, in the
course of my own foraging expeditions, that in
many instances the fowls said to be in Mus-
covite hands were snugly stowed away in seine
obscure outhouse, and upon the production of
some bright silver sixpences, and the assurance
that I was an Englishman, a Christian, and no
Turk, were readily parted with. In the neighbour-
hood of our camp was a picturesque old ruin, pro-
bably of Genoese construction, built in an oval
form, about 150 yards long by 100 wide, with three
towers, two of which were in a very tolerable state
of preservation, and a picturesque old archway.
The main body of the army is expected to reach
this place to-morrow.

16TH.—Marched for three hours to the Chopi.
The country became more beautiful as we advanced,
and a lovely -view burst upon us as we reached the
river and saw the Monastery of Chopi perched
upon a bank about 300 feet high, overhanging the
stream. We ascended the steep hill, and, pitching
our tents upon its summit, revelled in a glorious
prospect. Immediately below us all is bustle and
activity. The artillery is fordin,, the river, and
the opposit• plain is alive with' troops, pitch-
ing their tents or collecting round their camp fires.
In the night we were alarmed by the firing of can-
non, as far as we could make out, in the direction
of Skender Pagha'‘ brigade, which is now two hours
in advance ; but, as this turned out not to bo the
case, on the following morning it was attributed to
Mustapha Pasha, whose troops are not very far
distant, in a south-westerly direction.
17TH.—We made a short march to-day, and soon
after leaving Chopi struck into the macadmised
road which connects Redout Kaleh with Kutais
and Tiflis.

18TH.— Continued our march along a magnifi-
cent road ; the bridges, however, were almost uni-
versally destroyed ; and, notwithstanding the ac-
tivity of the Turkish artillery horses, and the ex-
cellent way in which they are managed, there is
occasionally some difficulty in getting the guns
across the ravines and muddy streams with which
the road is intersected.

ZIEWIE, Nov. 19.

This morning a spy was brought into camp in
Mingrelian costume, who turned out to be an
aide-de-camp of Mockrausky, the Russian Com-
mander-in-Chief. When the fact was ascertained
beyond a doubt Omer Paella ordered him to be
shot. The unfcrtunate man met his fate with the
utmost courage. The corpse, attended by a priest
in full canonicals, has just passed the tent to re-
receive Christian burial. It is reported that we
are to march the day after to-morrow, in which
case we may hope to reach Kutais in two days
from that time.