batteries at the point of the bayonet; meantime, from
Karadagh, Captain Thompson had, with the eye of a
General, albeit a young one, despatched one or two
companies over the gorge and the river, who took up a
flanking position in the midst of rocks commanding
these English Tabias, and by immense exertions he
also got some heavy guns to bear on them, so that he
soon changed the Russian retreat into a rabble rout.
Some Russian cavalry made a gallant charge here, but
soon came to grief among some trous de loup.
Meanwhile the battle was raging at the original point of
attack; the rolling fire of musketry was incessant, and
the thunder of the artillery from the numerous batteries
never ceased for a moment. At one time, and only
once, some little symptoms of giving way was observed,
but no sooner observed than the fresh fire from
reinforcements despatched by General Williams and Colonel
Lake, and ably handled by General Kmety, changed
the backward into a forward movement; the loud
hurrahs of the Russian hosts were soon mingled with the
yells of the Turks, who fought with the ferocity of tigers,
charging repeatedly with the bayonet. White-turbaned
citizens were seen rushing into the fight, hewing with
their scimitars; and Lazi mountaineers springing like
wolves from behind rocks, and charging with the
clubbed rifle or broad two-edged dagger. The grey-
coated Russians, too, fought with wondrous courage;
again and again they advanced to the deadly breastworks,
and were blown from the very mouths of the
guns or bayoneted in the batteries. As the action
continued, and each new movement of the enemy was tried,
the excellence of Colonel Lake's batteries was fully
proved. Wherever the columns of the enemy were
directed they found themselves under a flanking fire of
heavy guns; if they gained possession of a battery
weaker than the rest, they were again pounded by our
artillery from some battery which commanded the
weaker point; meantime any assault on the keys of our
position was altogether hopeless,—the Colonel himself
under a heavy fire, directed the artillery of the two
principal batteries, and well did the Turkish officers, who are
second to none in the world in their practical skill in
this branch, second his efforts. I am unable to do
justice to this gallant affair of the Heights of Kars; the
battle continued without intermission for seven hours,
and about midday the Russian columns were seen
running down the hills much faster than they had advanced,
their cavalry and horse artillery protecting their retreat.
Two of our forts, named Chim Tabia and Tek Tabia, or
the one-gun battery, both of which were out of reach of
the enemy's light guns, fired into their retreating
columns with heavy ordnance, the former battery
especially doing much execution. Oh, for two regiments
of cavalry to complete our day's work! But we had none,
and so were mortified to see the Russian army, or what
remained of it, quietly retreating to their original camp,
but not without considerable symptoms of disorder. I
rode round the batteries soon after the action, which
ended about 11 a.m. and seldom had the oldest officer seen
a more terrible sight; there were literally piles of dead
stripped of their clothes and lying in various postures,
while the plaintive cries of men with shattered limbs
arose from all sides from amid these acres of defaced
humanity. I have no time to go into further details,
nor will I endeavour to form a calculation of the
Russian loss in killed and wounded, lest I be accused of
exaggeration, but I will give you an unadorned fact.
We have already buried upwards of 4,000 dead Russians,
numbers of the enemy also crowd our hospitals, where
the Turks treat them as musafirs or guests, a sacred
word used by the Mushir Vassif Pasha, as he directed
them to be taken care of even more than our own men.
Our own losses are scarcely above 1,000." In a postscript
the writer says, "We have buried already 6,300
Russians; numbers were carried off by the enemy
besides."

A letter in the Times gives further intelligence from
Kars, down to the 10th of October: "Oct. 5.—The enemy
shows every symptom of taking a final departure, but I
never shall feel sure he is gone until I hear of his being
safe in Gumri. Up to yesterday our people report
having buried 6,500 men, and they have not finished
yet. A certain number of troops are employed in
parties under an officer; each officer reports the number
he buries to a brigadier-general, who keeps the account;
so that, if the truth is to be got out of a Turk, we have
some hope of arriving at it; but deserters and others
coming in from camp give the total loss in killed and
wounded at 18,000!—among the former are said to be
300 officers killed. This I can readily believe as the
officers were always to the front. We see thousands of
carts leaving the Russian camps every day, laden with
wounded; some are carried by men and some put on
horses, for want of carriage. General Baklanoff, of the
Artillery, was killed, and Mouravieff is said to have
wept bitterly at his funeral. The General second in
command is also said to be killed, and many other
superior officers. The Russians showed wonderful
courage in standing up to the batteries and breastworks,
which was pretty well proved by the numbers lying in
the ditches and around the works. The Turks fought
more like demons than men, and, I grieve to say, their
conduct in many iustances was most fiendish. The
Karslees, or inhabitants of Kars—a fine race of men,
proverbial for their hereditary bravery—were in the
very thickest of the fight, greyheaded men and young
lads alike mingling in the fray. Many of them had
imbibed an intense horror of the Russians from the
treatment they had formerly experienced from them—
their houses robbed, their families ill-treated, and every
indignity put upon them; their thirst for vengeance
therefore, was great. One man, who shot down a Russian,
seeing the blood spurting out, rushed forward, caught the
blood in his two hands and drank it. He then fastened
on the body with his teeth, shook it like a dog, and
bit pieces out. The troops were equally ferocious, and
I fear bayoneted many a wounded man. I rode about
doing my best to prevent it, but their blood was up and
they were under no control. You saw men walking
about with Russians' heads stuck on the ends of their
bayonets, and, in short, I cannot describe the whole
scene. However, they soon subsided, and became as
tractable as ever again. No troops in the world ever
fought better. I do not know at what number General
Williams puts the two forces in his despatch, as I have
not seen it, but I fancy 30,000 Russians must have been
in the field, while we had from 7,000 to 9,000 engaged
altogether. We sent reinforcements up just at the end,
which may have brought the force up to the latter
number; but, for the most part of the time, I should
say 7,000 was the outside number. It is wonderful how
little the works were damaged, considering the heavy
and continued firing kept up. We have now put them
all in order again, for fear of another attack; but I
scarcely think it probable. Our loss in killed and
wounded amounts to between 1,000 and 1,100; many
of the latter have since died. We lost a few
officers (Turks), but none of the English officers
suffered, strange to say. We have got four Russian
officers here, three badly wounded, and one taken
prisoner unhurt; about 150 wounded Russians, and 50
prisoners, but I do not exactly know the numbers. Our
men neither gave nor asked for quarter. The hospitals
are quite crowded; for, I am sorry to say, cholera is
still very bad, and men are dying every day in numbers.
If the Russians go away, I fancy General Williams will
proceed to Erzeroum, and I am to be left here. Of
course, I do not look forward to it with much pleasure,
for nothing can be done in the winter, and the cold is
intense. The town is half unroofed to supply us with
firewood; the Russians have laid waste the whole of the
surrounding country, having set fire to every place.
Every village is deserted, and the houses pulled down;
and, in short, I know not what the population will do
next year, for there will be no grain of any kind. A
great deal in my opinion, depended on our being able to
keep this place. I need not dwell on what the result
would have been if we had lost it, for you know better
than I can tell you. This last crowning act of the
campaign carries with it more good than at first appears.
If Omar Pasha has not been asleep, he must be already
near Tiflis, but even if he has, from necessity or other
causes, delayed his march on that place, he will now
have to encounter an army weaker in numerical strength
by, say at least 10,000 men, but most probably more,
and, from all accounts, in a most dispirited if not