The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-24 00:00:00

THE TURKISH ARMY IN ASIA.

We extract the following from a letter, dated—
CAMP HADJIVELEKEY, July 14.—As Hadjive-
lekey is not marked on any map that I have seen,
I may mention that it is a small hamlet or village
distant about 18 miles north-east from Kars, and
within some three miles of the Georgian frontier.
Its inhabitants, like those of every Turkish village
near the border, have long since been driven by
the war to seek refuge elsewhere, and are now
settled in the more remote and peaceful neighbour-
hood, of Erzeroum. Since the beginning of spring
a small camp of some two thousand regulars and
about half the number of Bashi-bazouks has been
pitched in its outskirts, and, in conji.n.;tion with a
smaller force encamped in the adjacent village of
Sahitan, has been the strongest and most advanced
outpost of the Kars army. Hitherto, according'y,
General Guyon and his reconnoitring party re-
tired, on observing the passage of the Karstchai
by the Russian army. Startled into spasmodic
activity, the Mushir no sooner heard of the ap-
proach of the enemy than he hurried from Kars
with a force of nearly twenty thousand men,
despatched orders to the outlying troops at
Besinquey, Zeim, and Ardahan, to concentrate
forthwith upon Hadjivelekey ; and, by the
energy of his movements, practically threatened
to drive the Muscovites pell-mell into the Karst-
chai, or, if necessary, back under the very towers
of Gumri. Men and officers at last hoped that
their inglorious inactivity was at an end, and
the most cautious in their predictions confessed to
a belief that before forty-eight hours a battle would
be lost or won. One, two, or three days were
spent in preparation ; artillery and ammunition
were brought in in great abundance from Kars ;
troops joined from all the neighbouring out-posts,
and everything was in readiness for an immediate
and effective descent upon the foe. These latter
were encamped about two miles off, at the deserted
village of Balderban, on the Turkish bank of the
Karstchai. As if in very contempt of the enemy,
the Russian General, with thirty thousand men
and sixty guns, had chosen almost the worst pos-
sible strategetical position for his camp ; in its
immediate rear lay the river—considerably deep
and difficult of re-passage—in front was a steep and
isolated mountain, whilst on both flanks it was
exposed to the easy and most advantageous attack
of the Turkish army ; altogether its topographical
situation could not well be more inviting or favour-
able to an enemy. Even the unmilitary brains of
the Mushir were brought to see the advantage
thus either contemptuously or recklessly given him,
and he proposed—what ? That General Guyon
should advance to the attack with 20,000. men,
whilst he fell back nearer Kars with the remainder
as a reserve ! This magnanimous plan, however,
did not meet with the approbation of even the
Turkish generals—to say nothing of its estimate
amongst the Europeans ; the original design there-
fore of an advance with the whole army (which now
numbers nearly 40,000 men of all arms, with 80
guns, and exclusive of the large reserve at Kars)
was recurred to, and a battle was again hourly ex-
pected. By way of compromise, however, on Wed-
nesday morning last his excellency resolved on a
" demonstration" only ; the wisdom of the step
was questioned by more than one of his generals,
but the valour which suggested it was too gushing
and irrepressible to be stemmed ; and, accordingly,
by early noon some twenty-five or thirty thousand
men were marched out in full battle array from
the camp. In front went the motley host of
Bashi-bazouks-5,000 strong—ander Ismail Pacha,
with their green and re I banners floating in the
breeze, and the hard-sounding " tum-tum" of their
Lilliputian kettle-drums rising in shrill clearness
above the bands of the regulars behind. Then fol-
lowed seven regiments of cavalry, and several bat-
teries of guns, under Khurschid Pacha (Guyon),
not much inferior in the general effect of their ap-
pearance to any equal number of ordinary European
cavalry. Last of all, at considerable distance, came
the infantry and remainder of the artillery, under the
Mushir, who, mounted on a splendid Arabian charger'
and girt with a diamond-hilted scimitar, looked sol
dierly enough, and evidently thought so himself.
After proceeding for a short distance from the camp,
the infantry halted and piled arms, when the com-
mander-in-chief went through the farce of a pre-
tendedly minute inspection. The cavalry advanced
for some half a mile farther, and then drew up
likewise, whilst the Bashi-bazouks—in two immense
straggling lines—continued to go forward until
within less than half a mile of the Russian out-
posts.
As yet not a Russian uniform had been seen ; and
some notion seemed almost tenable that they might
even have given the Mushir" the slip" andrecrossed
the river, when a cossack picquet made its appear-
ance round a slope of the mountain I have already
mentioned. A few minutes afterwards a small but
close body of cavalry came in sight out upon the
plain and advanced slowly towards the scattered
and noisy host of Turkish irregulars, upon whom
their appearance had an almost instantaneous effect.
From a tolerably smart gallop they reined in to a
canter, which soon subsided into a dead halt along
the whole line : the noisy clatter of tonguk
was stilled, and every eye seemed fixed upon
the little phalanx of Russian horse. After a
minute or two this latter opened, and I then
learned the cause of the sudden " pull up" of the
Bashi-bazouks. They had fancied that the compact
handful of the foe concealed a gun behind, and
against this terror-clothed monster not a man of
the whole crowd would advance. "So it is," re-
marked Gen. Kmetty to me, in giving this explana-
tion of their halt, " with a couple of guns and half
a score rllBl.l, [would engage to keep at bay the whole

five thousand." By this time several other masses
of Russian cavalry appeared on the field, and the
prospect of an extensive skirmish became imminent.
As theycontinued to multiply Ismail Pacha ordered
up the second line of his straggling command, and
prepared to meet the slowly advancing squadrons
of the enemy with a somewhat compact and regu-
lar front. Seeing no signs of cannon, the Bashis
seemed eager for the fray, and, with sleeves rolled
up above the elbows, brandished their long cane-
shafted lance with a rapidity and precision which
heightened not a little the general picturesqueness
of their appearance. It soon became evident, how-
ever, that the Russians meant more than a skir-
mish ; regiment after regiment of cavalry wheeled
round the base of the mountain, and took up their
position in order of battle; then followed artillery;
and lastly, huge square masses of infantry—the
whole moving with an automaton-like compactness
and order which contrasted most favourably with
the previous advance of even the Turkish regulars
behind me. In little more than ten minutes from
the first halt of the Bashi-bazouits, between twelve
and fifteen thousand Russians were ranged in order
of battle ; and what the (I have no doubt) now
alarmed Mushir had only intended to be an empty
parade of his forces, was about to end in a gene-
ral collision of the two armies. Sure lam he
would have given a month's pay—no trifle—if he
could have cancelled the rash step into which his
vanity had betrayed him ; but there was now no
help for it, and all he could do was to keep as far
as possible in the rear, and trust to Allah and
Khomschid Pacha for deliverance.

In the meantime a party of Bashi-bazouks had
detached themselves from the main line, and in their
impa•ient eagerness to get within reach of some
outlying Cossacks, or with a view of throwing some
effective odd shots into a compact battalion of in-
fantry which stood temptingly along the base of the
mountain, spread themselves up the side of the
grassy slope which would have favoured either
purpose. The movement, however, was not unob-
served by the foe, for suddenly a party of Russian
skirmishers appeared along the summit of the de-
clivity, and, before the unsuspecting Arabs had
fired a shot, poured down a volley which sent seven
horses riderless down the mountain-side. Were it
not for this unfortunate loss of life, the scamper-
ing, pell-mell, sauve-qui peat descent of the re-
mainder would have justified a hearty laugh, even
in the face of the then prospect, of affairs. In less
than 5 minutes the entire mountain-side, and as
far round the base as within range of the Russian
muskets, was cleared of stragglers; and the Bashi-
bazouks were compelled to content themselves with
the prospect of a legitimate hand-to-hand encoun-
ter, which threatened to be close and desperate
enough to satisfy the most fiery-spirited amongst
them.

Fortune, however, which proverbially " favours
the brave," sometimes, in the indulgence of her
sovereign caprice, aids the coward as well, and on
this occasion played one of her exceptional freaks
by coming to the rescue of the Mushir. For nearly
half an hour previous to the little episode just de-
scribed, some drifting clouds had seemed to threaten
one of those smart but brief showers of rain which
here almost daily burst down in the midst of the
most brilliant and scorching sunshine, cooling the
air, but drenching the " faithful" at the same time.
As they passed over the arrayed thousands, how-
ever, only a few heavy drops fell, and there seemed
every prospect of Moslem and Muscovite having
what is called in Ireland " a dry blink" to measure
their comparative stren,r,ths in, when suddenly a
perfect shower of forked lightning burst over the
field, and was followed in a few seconds by a thun-
der-storm, which would have turned into ridicule
the mimic peals of the combined artilleries of the
two armies. Instantaneously after the thunder, as
it had succeeded the lightning, poured down a tor-
rent of rain, the equal of which I have only seen
once before in the mountains of Donegal. In much
less time then I have taken to pen this rather wordy
ihtioductiou of the storm, I was myself drenched
through to the skin, and a thick beaver coat, which
has turned off many a heavy English shower, had
become one huge saturated sponge. For one mor-
tal half-hour I bore this terrific bath patiently, till
my poor horse had been shrivelled into nearly half
his size, and his rider into as externally unwar-
like an individual as ever belted on a sabre. At
length, when human nature could bear it no longer
when the very bashi-bazouks turned away their
horses' heads from the enemy, and when these
latter themselves began to fall back slowly upon
their camp, I, too, turned towards the Turkish
tents, and in the face of the still pelting storm
neither tightened rein nor withheld spur till I
reached the sheltering canvas of my tent. Late in
the afternoon the half-drowned regiments returned
piteous in appearance as they had been gay and ex-
hilaraut in the morning ; and on till midnight con-
tinued the terrific deluge which had thus so oppor-
tunely prevented a battle, and redeemed the reck-
less bravery (!) of the Mushir.
I am thus, for the present, unable to report any
decisive advance in the status quo of affairs. I
may, however, confidently reiterate the prediction
that in a very few days we shall have either gained
a victory or suffered a defeat. Even the anile ner-
vousness and indecision of the Mushir can no
longer ward off decisive action, for with a Russian
army of 30,000 men and sixty guns within cannon
shot of his tent, action or inaction ceases to be op-
tional, and fight he must. Without drawing a man
from the reserve at Kars, he can bring an efficient
and well-armed force of at least 35,000 into the
field under advantages which—as a European
officer remarked to me this morning—if well used
might destroy the Russian army in three days, and
open up a ready way to Teflis at the same time.
At present to attack Gumri with any prospect of
success would cost a greater sacrifice both of men
and time than it would be wisdom to make ; but
the reserve at Kars might safely be left to keep its
garrison in good behaviour whilst the main body of
the army proceeded on to the capital of the pro-
vince, which could not long resist a vigorously con-
ducted siege. If once taken, Russian rule south
of the Caucasus would not be worth a week's pur-
chase ; for with Selim Pacha towards the coast,
and Schamyl in the north-east, its reduction, even
with a much more pro-Russian population than it
has, would be no difficult or tedious achievement.
With the aid of ten thousand English or French
troops, or even with an energetic European Com-
mander-in-Chief in the place of the vacillating
and cowardly nonentity who at present acts as a
back weight upon the action of the troops that are
here, the Crescent might be waving over the walls
of Tiflis within a fortnight from the present time.
At present nothing short of the Russian retreat—
which is not likely—can long delay an engagement
which must be more or less decisive. The men
are eager for it, the enemy are at hand, and nothiiig
hut the vacillation and personal dread of the Mushir
himself postpones it for a day.