The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-15 00:00:00

FRONTIER OF PERSIA AND TURKEY.

TABREEZ, SEPT. 25.—A detention here of a few days
longer than I expected enables me to report the occur-
rence of one of those terrible phenomena which now
almost periodically spread ruin and death throughout
Persia—an earthquake. Happily this one has not
equalled in its fearful destructiveness many which this
city and province have previously suffered from ; but it
has, nevertheless, destroyed life and property to a very
considerable extent, anda few days may bring in news of
its terrific effects beyond what has yet been ascertained.
Shortly after midnight of the 22d I was awoke by a
rumbling noise, such as some sleeper on a first floor in
Cheapside might hear during the passage of a dozen
heavily-laden waggons, and within less than half a minute
after—quickly as thunder follows lightning—came a
fearful shock, which, lasting for some 15 or 20 seconds,
brought down great flaps of plaster from the roof, toge-
ther with portions of the mud wall of the room,
and justified the conviction that the house itself was
tumbling about my ears. Before I could find the door a
second shock, less severe than the former, took place,
and hardly had I gained the small garden attached to
the house when this was followed by a third. Speedy
as had been my movements, I found my host's family all
clustered in the centre of the garden when I reached it
—none of them burthened with surperfluoua clothing,
and the women shrieking forth their terror in every
key the feminine " organ " possessed. Nearly three-
quarters of an hour, however, having passed without
a recurrence of the cause of their alarm, this pleasant
addition to the other features of the situation subsided,
and dread of possible 'danger yielded in some degree
to the increasing intense feeling of cold—which be-
came sharper as dawn approached. Coverlids and
hels were brought out, tea was made and being
drunk, when whurr I I came shock the fourth, play-
ing havoc amongst the china, and renewing the
rivalry 'of female lungs. Between that time
and• sunrise two other shocks occurred, but less severe
than any of the four which had preceded. I was struck
by the tact that, several seconds before each shock, the
dogs —only less numerous than in Constantinople —broke
out into a long warning howl, which they kept up long
after the cause of their fear had gone by, apparently as
sensible of the passing danger as any of the biped inha-
bitants of the town. Much on the same principle these
last, soon otter the first shock, were summoned to avert-
ing prayer from the roof of every mosque in Tabreez ;
but, if one might judge from the shrill confusion which
everywhere prevailed, these pious admonitions received
but slight obedience. Such a " concert of harsh sounds"
it has seldom been my fate to listen to.
Soon after daylight the extent of the damage done to
life and property became generally known, and I then
ascertained that nearly a sixth part of the town had been
laid in ruins, burying in all some fifteen men, women,
and children, besides many times that number who
escaped with broken limbs. But for the low-
ness of the houses—generally only one storey in
height—this list of casualties must have been much
gFeater; as it is, the loss, compared with that of pre-
vious visitations, is considered trifling ; and being "used
to" such phenomena, the Tabreezees hold themselves
fortunate in having escaped so well. News has been
brought in this afternoon that nearly the half of
Khoi—
from the direction of which the shocks came—has been
destroyed, and that several of the villages in the plain
between this and that have shared a similar fate.
Whether they extended to Teheran or not there has
not yet been time to learn. It may be in the recollec-
tion of some of your readers that about this time last
year Shiraz was nearly levelled to the ground by a
similar but more severe situation, which, besides the
destruction of more than three-fourths of the town,
buried more than 10,000 human beings in the ruins.
Some eighty years ago Tabreez itself suffered to a simi-
larly fearful extent, and many a ruined mosque and
other public building bears testimony even now to the
calamitous effects of so terrible a scourge..
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liable occurrence—the advance of the Russians towards Van and the consequent stoppage of that only remaining '
road' to Erzeroum. This fact was publicly notified here
yesterday by the Russian consul, and is consequently
ahuastheonffitioci.allyFrroemoeitvhee informationdfromßaronwhlvicrhanthgis el,gethnietleomoman.
mander, it appears that having received reinforcements
from Erivan, they have left a small garrison in
Bayazid, and marched upon Berghuie (close by that
of Ercheck, mentioned in my last), where Selina Pacha
has been "lying on his oars" with some 3,500 men,
in expectation of reinforcements from Mehemet Pacha,
of Van. Van is not of sufficient strategic' import-
ance to be at present worth the loss of time which
would he necessary to reduce its garrison ; and Ge-
neral Wrangel's plan, therefore, evidently is to march
upon the larger town, occupy it (as might be done in
half-a-dozen hours), and then take the Kars army in the
rear, whilst Baibuteff hems it in on the front. This, as
I explained in a former letter, was the design to pre-
vent the execution of which Zarif Pacha gave battle to
Kurackdere. What the Russian general. then aimed at
he will now be able to accomplish, and it is not too much
to predict that before winter yet sets in the army of
Anatolia runs a strong chance of surrendering without a
blow. To secure this bloodless triumph, it will be suffi.
cient to cut off provisions (of which there is never more
than a four days' store in Kars) and oppose a strong
force in front. If this be done promptly—as promptly
it will be, if at all—the crowning proof will be given
to all I have hitherto said as to the suicidal policy of
the Porte in its management of this army. Had
General Guyon been installed in the command six
months ago the status quo would be widely different
from what it is, but jealousy on the part of the Turks,
and inexplicable non-interference on the part of Lord
Stratford, have prevented this. Soon after the taking
of Bayazid, large and respectable deputations of the
Armenian population of Van and Musch and the neigh-
bouring districts—by far the majority of the whole—
waited on Baron Wrangel (I have this from one who
saw his despatch to the Russian Consul here), and in-
vited them to occupy their parts of the country, assum-
ing, at the same time that the Christians are pro-Russian
to a man, and would receive his troops with open arms.
The reduction of a people, therefore, whose majority is
so minded, will be no difficult matter, and when spring
comes round the Allies, with whom the battle must
then lie, may find their recovery more desirable than
easy. All this, however, both Lord Stratford and the
Porte were well informed of many months ago ; coming
events may show that the policy which afforded to
despise such intimations was neither far-sighted nor
wise.

TaE GALE IN THE BLACK SEA.—The screw steam-
ship Albatross, belonging to the Cork and Liverpool
Company, which was driven on shore in Eupatoria Bay,
in the gale of the 14th ult., was towed off and into Bala-
klava harbour
tomdaaged, but not making water, and
would proceed Malta for repairs, the dock at Con-
stantinople being full. The Liverpool transport, Cou-
rier, reported as lost in the same gale, has, according to
last accounts, escaped without much damage, and was
riding (safely at anchor at Constantinople.