The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-08-11
THE FORTRESS OF ERIE
ROUM.

A Place of Great StTateGicaS Importance.
1t is quite true that Erzeroum is a
!" wretehed place " its houses, for the
most part, are built of mud its streets
are narrow. muddy, unpaved, and in.
tested with crowds of disgusting dogs;
while its general features represent rather
the appearance of an extensive and
dilapidated village than that of a wealthy
and important town but situated al it
is on the highest point of Anatolia, in the
midst of huge and fertile plains spreading
around it in every direction, and as far
as the eyes can Teach, it occupies q STRAIT
tegical position of such vital Importance
at the head of both the eastern and
western Euphrates, that it is in fact the
last barrier against the Russian advance
into Anatolia. Too much stress can not
be laid upon the danger of this conquest,
and public attention, without being
diverted to affairs on the Danube oughtd
to study events near the Euphrates with
that keen interest with which men
watch over what concerns themselves.
Russian ambition1has long cast longing
ewes toward Erzeroum. When Erzeroum
is in the power of the car, there will
not-with the exception of Diarbekir,
scarcely meriting go respectable a name,
be a single strong or even fortified
place between the Russian frontier and
Constantinople. And although it is
true that Turkish troops might defend
the mountain passes through which the
road leads to the capital, the Ottoman
commanders would in that case labor
under two terrible disadvantages-frst,
in having no point PaPpm to fall back
upon, and secondly, in having to strug-
gle against enemies always attacking
them from higher ground. Erzeroum,
although a "wretched place." without a
theatre or even a hotel, is, nevertheless,
the kew to the whole of Asia minor, and,
in the t,ands of the Russians, a bar to
free communication between Turkey and
Persia, as weN as a menace to CONSTANT
nople itself.
When it becoI@s a Russian fortress,
j. the great road bsSEeen Turkey and
Persia will be closed fer, except by
means of the long and tedious route
through Bagdad, there will then remain
no other way from Co%nstantinople to the
' frontiers of the latter kingdom. It is
therefore evident that Persia will be
' altogether isolated, and from the threat
= ening position already taken up by Rus
STA round the eastern as well as the
southern provinces of the shah, hit
= kingdom, the moment Armenia falls
3 being almost entirely surrounded, itf
conversion into a Russian province car
be predicted with The same certainty al
r that with which the astronomer foretellE
any other eclipse. Erzeroum is not only
the key of Persia, but it is the pivot or
which the Russian advance towarc
India can be most easily worked. hecarst
it's possession, enabling the Muscovites tt
y avoid the dreary deserts of Khiva, will
e give a road stretching through fertile
pre- 7inces to Herat, that easy highway
i which has invariably been followed by
Y every invader of India, whether il
is ancient or modern times. The com
j. handing advantages of Erzeroum-situ
0 ated as it is in the centre of vast plains
producing every requirement for a larg'
y army, besides grain and cattle in gener
GUS abundance~-have long been coveted
by the Muscovites, who, although per
fectly well aware that it is a "Wretchec
place" are convinced that, in their power
full grasp, it will become an impregnabl
fortress, with Trebizond, Batoum, ant
s. Kars, a notorious quadrilateral, as vel
"a as a base of operations threatening En-
Il glands supremacy as an eastern power
IL When once in possession Of thi
a "wretched place." it is idle to suppos
. that the Russians will ever give it up
T. for they have long coveted it; first, OF
% account of its grand strategical impor
. lance, and secondly, because it is tn
n granary of Georgia. It can be yer,
easily argued that, Russia having takel
g possession of Erzeroum in her previou
wars, and then retired from it, she vii
10 display similar moderation, either il
a the course of the present year, or, pei
"a haps, when those amiable Christians G
% the neighborhood, whose grievances s
l. touch the tender heart of the benefacto
ofPoland, are granted some fresh immuni
10 ties. Nothing can be more mischievou
a or more misleading than a line of argu
le ment without patience enough to OK
y serve the totally different circumstance
"a under which these several occupation
e. occurred.
y In 1928 Pasklevitch abandoned FL
y J zeroum, not because he considered it
"wretched place." but for the excellen
reason that, as hissbase was threatened
and his position made extremely dar
gerous by the enmity of the unsubduec
"a powerful, and fierce tribes of Circassian
III and Lesgi inhabiting the wild ~oountrie
y through which his way back to Russi
aS lay, he was not strong enough to hold i
g. Prudence and self preservation oblige
C. the Russians at this time to detach
y vast line of garrisons in order to guar