90 ROYAL FOCIETY OF CANADA 



came fully up to the ideal one Ibrms of a brave soldier, though in the 

 ordinary relations of social life lie was full of bonhomie and genial talk, 

 which gave no one the thought that he was the same man whose gifts of 

 command so com{)leteh' swayed the garrison at Kars amid the most 

 extraordinary privations, and whose resolute courage had won the 

 admiration of the Russians, who only conquered him by the horrors of 

 starvation. 



I pause for a moment in the recording of these desultory remi- 

 niscences, to recall to the memory of his country-men and countrywomen 

 the unqualitied praise which General Williams's indomitable courage drew 

 from friends and foes alike when the defenders of Kars were forced 

 at last to capitulate '• General Williams,'' said Mouravietf, the Russian 

 general to whom the fortress surrendered, " You have made yourself a 

 name in history, and posterity will stand amazed at the endurance, the 

 courage, and the discipline which this siege lias called forth in the 

 remains of an army which has covered itself with glory and yields only 

 to famine.'' In the English llouse of Commons, Lord Palmerston said : 

 " A greater display of courage, or ability, of perseverance under diffi- 

 culties, or of inexhaustible resources of mind, than was evinced by 

 General Williams, never was exhibited in the course of our military 

 history." In the House of Lords the Earl of Derby paid his tribute in 

 these eloquent words : " I would say to those gallant spirits, to Williams, 

 to Teasdale, to Lake and Thompson, ' you may rest assured that this 

 house and the country deeply sympathize with you in your misfortunes, 

 and we honour the valour and prize the fame of the brave but unsuccess- 

 ful defenders of Kars as not below those of the more fortunate conquerors 



of Sebastopol.' " " The name of Kars," continued the noble leader of 



the Conservative party, once ajitly called in his impetuous youthful daj's 

 the Rupert of debate, " will be remembered to the immortal honour of its 

 defenders ! a name of everlasting triumph and distinction to the valiant 

 souls, who, amid all the horrors of famine, and hemmed in on all sides by 

 an overpowering force, again and again repulsed their enemy, on whom 

 they on one occasion inflicted a loss almost exceeding the carnage of 

 any battle of modern times, and who, in spite of ever}' discouragement, 

 maintained their high spirit, and achieved victory after victory until 

 finally compelled to yield not to the overwhelming numbers of the foe, 

 but to the still more unconquerable force of sheer fiimine." ' 



It was but fitting that the representatives of the province, when 

 assembled in parliament, should immediately recognize in a tangible form 

 the valour of an illustrious son, and I well i-emember — though I was but 

 a mere boy then — the eloquent words with which Attorney-General (Sir 



'See "Portraits of British Americans" by Fennings Taylor, (Montreal, 1805,) 

 Vol. I., for an admirable sketch of Williams's career. The portrait I a'we is by Notnian, 

 who illustrated this book. 



