The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-12 00:00:00

/44/

of his fellows, set at nought the formes soma
orders, attacked the Russians, and suffered the pre-
dicted defeat as a consequence. This -was discour-
aging news, but more startling and important still
was the additional intelligence, brought by the same
messenger, that the majority of the successful army had
marched, after the battle, towards Ezeroum, and were
already as far on the way as Taprakale, with the view
of attacking the Kars army in the rear, while Bebutoff,
the Russian commander-in-chief, our neighbour at
Hadjivelekey, fell upon it in the front with the re-
mainder of his force. Here was startling news, indeed,
for the Mushir ! Hurriedly calling together the Turkish
pachas, he sought counsel as to what was to be done ;
but unfortunately their suggestive faculties were not
much brighter or more lively than his own. Pacha
This suggested one thing, which Pacha That declared
to be suicide, and proposed something else in its stead,
which Pacha the Other assured the helpless commander-
in-chief must end in defeat, and finished by advising
something equally bad. Zarif Pacha was in a fix. But
" orthodox" 'counsellors having failed him, he fell back
upon his denier ressort, and unwillingly sought relief
and deliverance from Guyon. This general saw at a
glance what the circumstances demanded, and at once
divisi
hostile column at Taprakale ; or secondly, that they
epritohpeors ed
fallobnaecko f
otnw oKcaortsi r, se
ands—
send at at
oe
narmy
ns
slit°
tuhl de
should, on the following morning, attack Bebutoff whilst
his forces were divided, and after having defeated him
—ever willing to avoid a general fight, wa
dispose similarly of the body in the rear.s
pTarhteialMtuostlahier
former of these plans ; but Khourschid Pacha and the
the General
ad-
visable one, and accordingly counselled its adoption.
Afterother Emuurcohpehaensiotffiatcioenrs, deemed the second the more
attack should be postponed till the morning of the 6th,
as the 4th and sth were 'unlucky' days in the Turkish
wat hnaods u
definitelyeg rhat
b. -
wf
were
reficonjunction.xneodt
fot or t
the
ec
-in-Chief consented, and manbyut nervous
stipulated misgivings,hat th
calendar, the moon being, he alleged, in the sign of the
ram, or crab, or some other equally fatal and not-to-be-
this superstition was forcibly insisted on, but the rain
which Guyon cculd call to his aid, andy so the attack
the The
afternoonnece s
ofnecessity y
theof
sdtihs disregarding
i tnhge
gtlNtrii
oruous through
rhahst
ashedemabtl camp,elednga
ttohna
`screwedlp oi
6notthTs e. ri
hnr leeachdge
When
i t
became
encya
ma argument
u knownm ent
is
ing place,' great was the general saeutirrsafgaacentdtioons7eemLaintiitgctkllye
confident, discussion of the result of the' morrow's tr 1
of strength between the two armies, and whenthe mena
assembled on parade that evening, to give the usual
shouts of 'Long live the Sultan,' the hills around Had-
jivelekey echoed as they had never done before. During
the afternoon ammunition had been distributed, on the
backs of mules, to the various regiments ; arms were
individually 'looked to,' and all seemed eager for the
coming novelty of a fight.
" an hour after sunset had been the time fixed on
by Guy.in ter the march of the troops, so as to secure
their having the light of the moon as route, and
reach the enemy in time for an attac.: at dawn.
It came, but brought not the necessary order
from the Mu.hir ; and it was only after the moon
told risen, shone, and gone down that the march began.
Phis was blunder No. 1, and its consequences were soon
felt. Soon after getting clear of the camp confusion be-
gan on all sides— men, horses, and waggons tumbling
pell-mell in the darkness into the ruts and holes which
honeycomb the first portion of the line of march. After
another hour lost in this way lanterns were procure 1,
and the troops proceeded, literally groping their way
through the darkness thus made 'visible.' In this
manner they crept along, cavalry running foul of in-
fantry, and artillery of both—all, in fact, in as delight-
fully unmilitary disorder as the (supposedly) sleeping
and unexpecting Bebutoff could have wished. The first
grey streaks of dawn struggling over the hill tops of
t;eorgia revealed these consequences of the Mushir's
pr..crastivation, and with them the startling proximity
of the whole Russian army some few hundred yards
ahead, close by the deserted village of Perget. Fortu-
nately this unexpected neighbourship was discovered in
time to allow of the scattared columns being gathered
together, and arranged in something like order, before
there was sufficient light for the enemy to take advan-
tage of the Turkish status quo. When this was accom-
plished, the march was resumed for a short dis-
tance, when • a general halt was made, and the first
division (consisting of twenty battalions of infantry,
one of ride-, three regiments of cavalry, and six bat-
teries of al tillery—the whole commanded by Kerim
Pacha) advanced and deployed in order of battle. I
should mention, that on the previous evening the avant-
garde composed of a detached corps from the Ist divi-
sion, and formed of four battalions of foot, one battalion
of riflemen, and one mountain battery, had been sent
on to occupy the Caradagh (black mountain) which over-
looks the stussian camp, for the purpose of operating
against their rear during the battle. This force re-
mained on the heights throughout the entire action,
without firing a single shot—though within musket-
range of the Russians below—or even attempting to
silence a masked battery which opened a few yards
before them on the right of the Turkish left wing. Had
they efficiently executed their assigned duty the Russian
rear must have suffered severely, and the fortune of the
day have been materially influenced : as it was, they
merely remained safe spectators of the storm which
raged on either side and in front of them below.

" A gun on the left of the Turkish right wing' opened
the ball,' and after the firing of a few shots—which
were promptly returned by the Russians—the cannonade
soon became general. For nearly an hour the Russian
firing was execrable, nearljlevery shot and shell passing
high over the enemy, and bursting far in the rear ; but
after that it iniproved, and, as I can personally testify,
'told' with a precision which could not well be sur-
passed. Not so with the Turkish artillery : from the
very first it had fired most admirably—with a splendid
accuracy of aim, indeed, which would hare done honour
to any army in Europe, and which well accounted for
the ultimately great losses of the enemy. The coin-
pact battalions of the Muscovites offered an excellent
target ; and it required but little " length" of sight
to perceive how terribly every discharge from the Turk-
ish guns mowed them down. For the first half of the
engagement success thus went strongly with the Mos-
lems ; but after that the balance of victory turned—
owing to causes now to be mentioned—and their defeat
went steadily and rapidly On to its consummation.
Earls' in the action Resul Pa .ha, of Bagdad (mentioned
n a 'farmer letter from Erzeruuni in terms of confidence
vlnch his suttee-1u •nt conduct has not justified), fled at
he heal of 3,000 Bashi-ba.zouke, before a fire of Rus-
sian musketry and one field-piece, on the right wing I
was close by them at the time, and can bear witness that
no mob ever absquatulated' more rapidly before the
watery discharge of a fire engine than he and his Arabs
did before—no pursuers. The force of this example soon
began to work upon the regular infantry engaged in the
same part of the fi,ld, and when some additional Russian
guns were brought up, whole battalions actually fell flat
upon their faces at each discharge—exactly as at their
evening prayers par pelotons. At this juncture Khoiir-
schil Pacha (who had no command during the aetioa
thanks to the jealousy of the Mushir), seeing the aspect
of affairs, ordered Vely Pacha, who commanded the
second division behind, to advance to the support of the
first ; but this individual—allowing personal enmity to
overrule public duty—refused to move without a direct
order from the Mushir. Now the Mushir being " no-
where," could not be found till after an interval of nearly
an hour, when he galloped into sight bare-headed, and
in most comical pertnrbation at having unwittingly
~ome within range of a Russian gun in another part of
the field. I happened to be passing at the time, when a
,shell flew over his staff, and burst some 12 or 15 yards
without injuring any one. Its effects upon his Ex.
,ellency's nerves were moot amusing to a lass sensitive
.bserver; shouting A %-tal ! he dog the spurs into his
lorse's side till the animal bouuded from the ground as
f elenlrnicaeLlia,an nmoerteatAl:pplh
stopped till
ne wastruckfar by
beyond a whole
the
fry
reachof
.ie had sufficiently recovered the effects of this fright,
s
•he necessary order was given to Vely Pacha, but it
was now too lete to recover the lost ground ; the first
division, borne down by the whole f Tee of the enemy,
was in full retreat, and no efforts of the Muehir could
stop them. Khourscbid Pacha succeeded in arresting
two battalions of infantry and a battery of guns, and
with these returned to the charge, regained the heights
which the Russian dragoons had already taken from
Kerim Pacha, and held them till the last. But no
efforts of individual skill or courage could now prevent
the full catastrophe of a defeat ; cowardice and incapa-
re result
thanr4el, this
o s l
mg neanl
city had lost the day, and neither bravery nor ability
could regain it. Vely Pasha advanced, but
(withnearly
oa
2d Oe
eos
tnOoamicano lawcneotlui
well-found
uof
nno
rdl y
saor helpmu nyl okofecl
yomv
aoe r toe
a tsr ta
ad
begun,
it would neither be sufficient nor just to ,eonfi„, te:
r tits bo f themg n
ba lc: me
wto o
worse.
she e. troops
Nearly
b o u r
after
f t
e; the e
battle majority
acted infamously, but all their superior Turkish of &cu erg
hardly a major or colonel was on the field—al
ost to a'
m
man they had deserted their regiments, and
fled to the
camp to pack and send off their baggage to Kars. In
Europe, the reward of such conduct is understood and
only
certain enough ; but here it excited
some short-
lived and fruitless remark. Of the different arms of
the service I may mention the special and peculiar
cowardice of the cavalry, who behaved from first to
last in a manner that would have disgraced the rawest
Bashi-bazouks. Two regiments of infantry—the sth
Arabi stan and
4th Desardat—fought gallantly, and
left two-thirds of their number on the field, but with
these exceptions the foot rivalled the
cavalwrYa.s In
striking contrast, however, to such
conducta llery, whose
sustained and splendid brave
of
the rti
Tahir Pacha,
behaviotr with that of their commander,
before mentioned,
who was educated at Woolwich,
would have done honour to
alone is to be ascribed the
ye army in Europe. To
their efficiency and heroisnm
aao full swoop of the Russian
weighty loss of the foe.leir four batteries, reserved their
cavalry down upon their
fire till the enemy were within fifty paces of the guns,
and then poured in
a fire of grape which swept down
hundreds at once ;
the reraainder continued to ad-
vance, and the gallant artillerists
were cut down to a

the
e Russiano fK ra colLadme
pr e.
ma.n‘ T. bus Wrorafo uteetv iallnadg el onset nearest tb attht
_so called
hays now
time to add merely the number of both
armieso nt subsequent losses, reserving other details and some int-
rtinformation a
represent
l loss
er
othe
2n,esx4tspoksitu. e
dThe
Turkish returns
in-
cluding one paella ; 1,-0 01 wounded, and about 4,224
prisoners and deserters, besides 15 guns, which were
lost through their horses being shot and there being
ps
none in reserve. Whilst Russian deserters, who have
come in since the battle, report Bebutoff's loss at more
than 8,000 killed, including one general and three
colonels. A few more such victories would leave the
Czir's province of Georgia without a defender. The
defeated army_ retreated to Kars ; 'but in what.order
and with what subsequent intentions on the part of its
commander I shall describe at length in my letter by
the next post."