The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-07 00:00:00

THE FA 1,1, OF KAbS.

(From the Times of this date )
The papers relating to the fall of Kars are now
before the public. We will take no credit, be-
cause they confirm all that has been asserted lung
since in these columns, for the facts wore by no
means secret, and might have been knOwn by any
one desirous of discovering and speaking the truth.
It is enough to say that no statements of ours have
given any adequate notion of the scandal which is
now revealed to the world. The silence of those
who would have been, most properly, eager to de-
fend the British Atnbassador, had defence been
possible, must have prepared every one for the
gravity of the facts. Yet since the papers have
appeared surprise at the proceedings disclosed has
been the general feeling.
It may be stated once more that the present Sir
W. Williams was, after t to defeats of the Turkish
army in 1854 i appoieteil by Lord Clarendon CotuL
mssioner for the British Government to the Coin-
mander-in-Chief in Asia. According to general
testimony, the Foreign office Made a wise selection.
General Williams had been engaged in the settle-
ment of the Turco-Persian frontier ; lie was ac-
quainted with the country to which he wss sent,
and that he knew how to deal with its people the
history of the subsequent, eventful siege has proved.
In what circumstances and from what causes dissen-
sion sprang up between him and Lord Stratford do
Redcliffe we care not to inquire ; that General Wil-
liams was disliked by his Ambassador there is reason
to know, and this dislike, expressed on more than
one occasion, we may he were was not long in
reaching Turkish ears. General Williams made his
way to the seat of war. He went unannounced,
unaccredited, to a camp where he was looked upon
as an enemy and a spy. After the formal honour
of a reception was over, he had soon a proof of the
light in which he was regarded by the chiefs of the
army which lie came to save. Every Pasha Pm
dered, and was ready to insult and threaten the
only man who could put an end to hie misdoings.
What the state of the army was may he learnt
from a few facts :—From 10,000 to 12,000 men
had perished or deseited in a few months. In the
middle of October the army was only 14.000 strong,
but rations were drawn for 27,000. Towards the
end of the month the Mushir drew rations for
33,000, without any real increase of force. Pay
was 20 months in arrear. The men were without
shoes, there was scarcely any ammunition, and the
arms of all kinds were nearly unfit for use. What
was the course of General Williams ! He advised,
remonstrated, and threatened the intervention of
his Ambassador. By every post he wrote to him ;
by every post he made suggestions and asked as-
sistance. But no answer came. It is easy to see
that the Turks observe] the manner in which the
Commissioner's representations were treated. They
ha I seen that he had come among them nuhonoured
by the representative of his country, and that now,
as months rolled away, no notice was taken of his
entreaties and suggestions. It did not require
their habitual keenness in such matters to discern
that the Commissioner was unacceptable to the
Ambassador, and might be neglected with impunity.
Perhaps there was not wanting tidings to the same
effect from acquaintances at Stamboul. If only the
position of a single man had been at stake, the
Ambassador's conduct, however indecorous and
unkind, would have,been less censurable; but the
consequences in the prt sent case were unhappily
felt long after, when the ragged soldiers perished
of hunger by the thousand in Kars, and three
days' ammunition were for a month all that the
defenders had with which to resist an attack from
an enemy happily unconscious of their weakness.
At last the patience of General Williams was
worn out. The Turks, it appears, had even re-
fused to call on the officers of his staff, thus evinc-
ing their contempt for him and his office. One
Pasha had told him plainly that his interference
would not he allowed. What must have been his
feelings when from that distant region, from the
midst of that den of iniquity and suffering, he
wrote the following lines to the Ambassador ?
" With the exception of one letter," he says, " I
have not been favoured with a line from your Ex-
cellency, even with au acknowledgment of the re-
ception of my public or private communications.
By one who has served your lordship for so many
years this avowal can only be recorded with feel-
ings of deep disappointment and mortification—.
feelings which I have studiously endeavoured to
coreeeal even from my aides-do-camp and secre-
taries, because each successive post was anxiously
looked for i't the hope of receiving answers from
your lordship." Fifty-four lespatches, each ac-
companied by a private lettet, had up to this date,
Bth December, been in vain written. As in duty
bound, General Williams transmitted a copy of
this letter to the Foreign-Acc. And here we
must do justice to the honest( and activity of Lord
Clarendon. He had from the beginning urged
Lord Stratford to support General Williams and
his cause to the utmost, and many were the de-
spatches transmitted on the subject at a time
when the expedition to the Crimea might seem
enough to occupy a Minist,e at hem©. He now
addresses the Ambassador in a tone which we
can only suppose that suet a man would have
borne because he felt it tc be deserved. "It
would seem that your ),'xcellency has not
taken any notice of 13rigadiee.-General Williams."
Her Majssty's Governmot desire to receive
your Excellency's observations on the despatch of
General Williams, which I joed hardly say has
been read by them with teat regret, after the
anxiety they have in vain adiressed, through your
Excellency, to the Porte," Lord Clarendon then
demands whether General Williams had been
officially reeegnieed by the Porte, and requests a
copy of the nocumnet. It was: of course, not forth-
coming,.as it had no existence. In answer, the
Ambassador is obliged toconHs that he had never
&veined it, conceiving that it was not wanted,
though probably few out of the General's 54 de-
spatches failed to mention etc slights suffered by
the writer from the wilful neglect of the Anil) is-
sador. Lord Clarendon concludes, "Your Excel-
lency will understand that ler Majesty's Govern-
ment, require to be furnisheS with a full and de-
tailed report of everything tint has passed between
the Embassy and the Porte, in compliance with
the instructions that so frequently, but in vain
have been addressed to your Excellency." This is
certainly a despatch which has had few parallels in
British official literature ; but its tone was perhaps
strengthened by another missive from General
Williams to the Foreign-office, announcing that he
had now written 62 despatches, and never had one
word in reply.
Now for the Ambassador's defence. It is con-
tained in a despatch to Lord Clarendon dated the
28th of December. This document is composed with
much care, and the writer evidentlyemploys all the
reseurc, sof his literary style. General Williams
had been writing to him for three months, and
never had an answer ; bet, because the General
complains, Lord Stratford considers himself " en-
titled to remark on the hasty manner" in which
General Williams had "malted fie the conclusion,
that I gave him no support." The Ambassador is
" not at all inclined to depreciate the somewhat
"voluminous correspondence which contains the
result of his researches and remonstrances." Of
course, the gist of the defence is that, although the
Ambassador had taken las notice of General Wil-
liams, he had done everything that had been re-
quested. Into thisquestionwecanuot enter at present,
but we believe the plea to be totally without foun-
dation ; the fact is perfectly plain that General
Williams's wants were not supplied, and if even
under the pressure of Lord Clarendon's despatches
a few suggestions were made to the Porte, yet there
is, as every one acquainted with the East knows a
wide difference between a formal and an earnest re-
presentation. If everything was not effected, it was,
says Lord Stratford, the fault of the Turkish Mi-
nisters. He regrets the little progress made, " but,"
continues his Excellency, is his happiest diction,
" the well known proverb which contrasts the faci-
lity of bringing a horse to water with the impossi-
bility of forcing him to drink is no less true at Con-
stantinople than in London orParis. Unfortunately,
too, the horses whose reluctance I have to over-
come are not without circumstances to excuse,
though not entirely to justify, the slowness of their
pace." Then follows a comparison between the
Turkey of to-day and the England of past times
in respect to corruption. " Have we never heard of
Bacon or Marlborough ? Are not the denunciations
of Burke ringing inour ears?" Lord Stratford issorry
for Turkish indolence. " But can I wonder ? No !
It may be some gratification to our countrymen to
find their language wielded with such power by
our military and diplomatic authorities in the East,
but in a case like this a little more attention to

details would have been satisfactory. The con-
cluding sentence of the despatch will give a
notion of the trustworthiness of his Excellency's
general defence. He alleges two reasons for not
writing—first, that he had intended to give one
long answer to the 124 despatches and letters ;
secondly, that, though he thought sometimes of
writing, the unpunctuality of the Trebizonde packet
prevented him. This packet leaves the Bosphorus
every week, and, though sometimes she may be de•