TURKEY. 



743 



of this battle made themselves felt immediate- 

 ly. For, while the main army of the Turks 

 was virtually destroyed, and Mukhtar could 

 hardly dare to leave Kars with the remainder, 

 Ismail Pasha, who had been operating against 

 jgdir, immediately began his retreat to Turk- 

 ish territory, closely pursued by General Ter- 

 gukassoff. On the other hand, the Russian gar- 

 rison of Ardahan, not finding itself threatened 

 any longer, proceeded to active operations. It 

 advanced to Pennek, and thence to Olti, and 

 there threatened any army that might advance 

 to the relief of Kars. On October 27th, Mukh- 

 tar Pasha and Ismail Pasha joined their forces 

 at Koprikoi, and continued their retreat to Er- 

 zerum. At the same point, Heimann and Ter- 

 gukassoff joined their forces on the 28th, On 

 November 4th, the Russians attacked Mukhtar's 

 positions on the Deve Boyun, a mountain ridge 

 immediately before Erzerura, and, after nine 

 hours' severe fighting, completely defeated the 

 Turks, who fled in all directions. On the 9th 

 the Russians attacked Erzerum, but were re- 

 pulsed and driven back to the Deve Boyun, 

 where they made a stand and repulsed all 

 Turkish attempts to dislodge them. Another 

 attack on November 14th was also unsuccess- 

 ful. On Sunday, November 18th, the fortress 

 and city of Kars was taken by the Russians by 

 storm, over 300 cannons, and large stores of 

 ammunition, etc., falling into the hands of the 

 victors. The Turks lost 5,000 killed and wound- 

 ed, 10,000 prisoners, and many flags. The Rus- 

 sian loss was about 2,700. The Russian soldiers 

 made but trifling booty, and spared peaceful 

 citizens, women, and children. General Loris 

 Melikoff directed the battle during the day. 

 The Grand-Duke Michael was present also. 

 The former entered the city at 11 o'clock Sun- 

 day morning. 



This virtually ended the campaign in Ar- 

 menia for 1877. Although the Russians pro- 

 ceeded to invest Erzerum, and also sent re- 

 enforcements to General Oklobjio, operating 

 against Batum, no actions of any account oc- 

 curred. 



In the first week of July, after an absence 

 of six months, the British fleet returned to 

 Besika Bay. It was during the sittings of the 

 conference, and at the request of Lord Salis- 

 bury, that the admiral received orders to quit 

 Besika and retire to the Piraeus. This was done 

 not so much to mark the displeasure of the 

 British Government at the obstinacy of the 

 Tnrks as to convey to them by an outward and 

 visible sign that they had nothing to expect 

 from England in case they should be involved 

 in a war with Russia. In 1876 Lord Derby in- 

 formed a deputation that the fleet had been or- 

 dered to Besika in order to protect the Euro- 

 peans and the native Christians of Constanti- 

 nople in case of any outbreak of Mussulman 

 fanaticism. But this motive was certainly not 

 made public at the time, and those who pro- 

 fessed to know the intentions of the Govern- 

 ment declared in a tone of resolution and de- 



fiance that this was a demonstration against 

 the Czar, who would have to count with Eng- 

 land in case of any aggression on the Sultan's 

 rights. When Lord Salisbury arrived at Con- 

 stantinople he soon found that the Turks were 

 possessed with the fixed idea that, do what 

 they might, England would never allow them 

 to be attacked. It was to eradicate this per- 

 sistent confidence that the fleet was directed 

 to leave Turkish waters and proceed to Athens. 

 Its return, therefore, at this time, was regarded 

 as a menace to Russia not to proceed too far. 



The continued Russian successes in Europe, 

 which caused the change in the chief command 

 of the Turkish army, also brought about im- 

 portant changes in the ministry. Safvet Pasha, 

 the Minister of Foreign Affairs, resigned, and 

 Aarifi Pasha was appointed in his place. The 

 change indicated a victory of the war party ; 

 for while Safvet Pasha always counseled peace, 

 Aarifi, a fanatical Turk, would continue the 

 war to the bitter end. Redif Pasha, the Min- 

 ister of War, was removed, and Mahmoud 

 Damad Pasha appointed in his place. Aarifi 

 Pasha, however, resigned within ten days, and 

 was replaced by Server Pasha. Further min- 

 isterial changes took place in the latter part of 

 August, when Mustapha Pasha was temporarily 

 appointed Minister of War, and Safvet Pasha 

 was appointed Minister of the Interior in place 

 of Hassiiu Pasha. 



When Suleiman Pasha left the Shipka Pass, 

 to succeed Mehemet Ali as commander-in-chief 

 of the Shumla Army, he was succeeded in the 

 command of the operations against the Shipka 

 Pass by Rauf Pasha. No actions of any im- 

 portance occurred here during the remainder 

 of the year beyond an ineffectual attempt on 

 the part of the Turks to capture Fort St. Nicho- 

 las on November 21st, and occasional bombard- 

 ments between the hostile batteries. Suleiman 

 Pasha, upon his arrival with the Army of East- 

 ern Bulgaria, remained inactive for some time. 

 Finally, on November 18th, he sent a strong 

 division from Kadikoi across the Lower Lorn, 

 against the Twelfth Russian Army Corps, under 

 the Grand-Duke Vladimir, with orders to take 

 Pyrgos. The movement was at first successful, 

 but was afterward repulsed by the Russians. 

 Another forward movement on the same line, 

 undertaken on the 26th, met with no better 

 success. On the same day, the 26th, the Turk- 

 ish centre, stationed at Rasgrad, together with 

 the left wing at Osman Bazar, undertook a for- 

 ward movement on the line of Osman-Bazar- 

 Selvi, which led to a battle at Elena on De- 

 cember 5th. In this battle several Russian 

 battalions were destroyed, and eleven Russian 

 guns captured, but the victory brought the 

 Turks no great advantage. On December 12th, 

 Suleiman made another forward movement, 

 crossing the Lower Lorn nt Kadikoi, and at- 

 tacked Metchka and Tirstenik. After seven 

 hours' severe fighting, he was repulsed with a 

 loss of about 2,000 men. On the 15th he also 

 withdrew his troops from Elena. All these 



