Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-12-28

! glorious and. Rs 1ertulllan, speaking oi th'
Christian struggle over sin, says ''Wha
pretor. or consul, or questor, or priest. cal
purchase Won by his munifcence game o
triumph like this" We make these sugges
tions in the interest of no movement" but
simply in the interest of society and the
State. Too many of our strong men and
youths have fallen victims to alcoholism. We
| must conserve our forces, for We need them
for the living present and the future And
the DESTROYER of these vital forces must be
DESTROYED, or we will surely hear that dis.
NAL verdict uttered over the slain body Of
society "D;,d from alcoholism"
Foreign correspondence Free Press and Times.
Letter From Turkey.
THE CAMPAIGN IN ARsENIA-THE MOVEMENTS
PRECEDING TIE FALL OF ERzERouN.
TREBIzoNp, Turkey, Nov. e, 1877.
To the Editor o. the Free Press and Times.
After long season OF comparative quiet,
occupied with busy preparation, and here
! and there battle, neither side gaining de-
cided advantages. the tide has turned and
the Russians are again successful. Moukh-
tar Pasha, (newly styled GhazD, victorious,
elated with success, began to dream of in
vading Russian territory, and ofplanting the
standard of the prophet on the iortresses OF
! Alexandropol and Tihis. To carry out this
| ambitious scheme he concentrated all his
| forces near the Russian border. and, bellev-
ing the enemy to be demoralized by defeat,
he waited the opportune moment when the
| forces before HIM would crumble away, and
lie would march on to assured victory. He
would not believe that the Russians were
| lnSilr ratpfnraipr ari latpr hp
would feel new shock from their strength
rned and advancing columns. lie made no
arrangements for a possible retreat; he pre-
pared no positions where, on a retreat, he
could turn and make stand against his pur-
suers. The possibility of reverse did not
at all enter his calculations.
At last the Russians were ready, and
moved forward on a new plan. upto this
time, when they had works to carry
before them, they have thrown for
ward masses of men to capture
them by direct assault When those
works are bristling with Winchester
and Peabody rifles, it is morally certain that
four out of five of the assaulting force will
will never reach the ramparts, and the at
tack effects nothing but a holocaust of brave
men. At Zeyin, the Tihis regiment entered
the attack four hundred strong of whom only
| agility came out unharmed. Such useless
sacrifice Of human life is not simply folly, it
is II crime " hich should call forth the in
| dignant protest of the civilized world. One
would suppose that after the experience of
| Zevin and the first attack on Pleyna, the
Russians would have learned wisdom. But
it seems they needed separate lessons, until
baI e tL, L.. l.. hn
ioIe the redOubts of Plevna. before they
began to change their course. Just at
the beginning of Winter they are forced to
begin siege of Plevna, a plan which, adopt
ed three months ago. would have saved 20,-
900 lives. and perhaps the necessity Of a
second campaign.
In Armenia, too, the old, reckless and
useless method of frontal attack has been
abandoned. and the troops of the Car under
the skilful generalship OF Tchernaietf, the
hero CT the Seryian war, have been led for
iward, not to wanton Jptchery, but to sic-
tory. On the 18th OF October. the Russians
attacked the Turkish camp in three columns,
one column flanked the right, another the
left. and a third attacked the centre. The
onset was overwhelming and the Turkish
troops refused to fight, when fighting was
only useless waste of life. Modkhtar did
his almost to rally his troops, he thrashed
| his officers, and they in turn thrashed the
men. They even ordered the scattering col
umns to be fired on, but all to no avail The
poor men had too long been kept on INSULT
cient rations, had too long been exposed to
the inclement weather of those trigid heights,
huddled in tents, their clothes thin and
/ ,,,,,I oil lol L. bol .
of them-they would rather be captured by
the enemy than prolong the useless struggle.
Moukhtar, with a portion of the left wing
of the army, succeeded in escaping to kars,
but the Russian column attacking the centre
succeeded in breaking through and joining
the column tianking the right, so as to com
pletelv surround that wing of the army.
| The Turks insist that a portion of these cut
their way out and escaped, but the Russians
say they were all captured, including seven
Pashas, among them Mehemet Ghazi Pasha,
son of the distinguished Circassian chief,
| Schamyl.
By this defeat, Moukhtar's army was
nearly annhilated and the way opened to
| ErzerOum. If the Russians had availed them
selves of their opportunity and marched di-
rectly on Erzeroum they could have captured
| it without a blow But their hesitation
enabled Moukhtar to gather up few
thousands Of his shattered army and
to anticipate the Russian advance on that
city lsmail Hakki Pasha, then on Russian
soil near Bayazij, with a large army, on
hearing Of Moukhtar's disaster, blew up his
magazine of ammunition, destroyed the
provisions he had been storing for Winter
use, and started on rapid retreat towards
Erzeroum, joining Moukhtar before the
Russians came up. At last accounts the
Russians were encamped at the western
extremity Of the Passin plain, at the foot OF
the ridge which 5eparates that plain from
the Erzeroum plain, called a: this point, the
"Deve Boyoun," or Camel's Neck. Here
six miles from Erzeroum, in position ol
great natural strength, the Turks are making
stand. Properly fortified ard brayely de
Tended. the Deve Boyoun is absolutely i'm
pregnable.
Nothing had been done to fortify this
ridge until after war was declared, but. since
Spring, entertainments have been thrown up
and if the Turkish soldiers are not too much
demoralized, the Russians cannot reach
Erzeroum from that direction. Should the
| btNt Doloun it NhiIltu, tHtIt sun Ecnldil
the immediate Jefences of the city, which
consist OF series of forts surmOunting the
near heights and line of earth works
entirely surrounding the city. The only
other approach to Erzeroum from the
east, practicable for artillery, is the
Alt road on which there are positions Of
great natural strength where the Turks can
contest the passage OF the Russians. The
enemy will find it very difficult to reach
Erzeroum from any quarter. and once before
the city they cannot capture it, if properly
defended, except by complete investment
As for supplies, there is provision for at least
six months gathered into Erzeroum this
year. The weak point is the water supply,
which comes mostly through pipes from
springs at the loot of tho mountains two
miles above. Should bcsieg.ng army once
get IN between the town and the mountains
t could cut of the greater part of the water
of the town and force it to capitulate in a
tortnight'S time. But the Turks should sec
to 1t, and probably they will, that the enemy
do not get behind the town. They would be
decidedly cnlpa5lc if they failed to avail
themselves of natural Advantages to do So
Should the season be mid one, active
operations might continue through thi.
month and into December But during No
yember, last year, the cold and storms were
50 severe that muleteers with their horses
persisted on the mountains. The campaign
for this year is, therefore. probably ut an