CX
The Fall of Kars--I
The People's Paper, April 5, 1856
The fall of Kars is the turning-point in the history of the sham war against Russia. Without the fall of Kars no Five Points, no Conferences, no Treaty of Paris; in one word, no sham Peace. Then, if we can prove from the Government's own Blue Book--carefully cooked as it is, mutilated by extracts, deformed by omissions, plastered and patched up by falsifications--that Lord Palmerston's Cabinet has planned from the beginning, and systemati-cally carried out to the end, the fall of Kars, the veil is lifted and the drama of the Oriental War with all its startling incidents emerges from the mist diplomatically wrapt around it.
Towards the end of May, 1855, General Williams reports to Lord Clarendon, that "a large force, consisting of 28,000 infantry, 7,500 cavalry, and 64 pieces of artillery, was assembled round Gumri (Alexandropol), and that the Mushir had received information of the intention of the enemy to attack Kars. We have in that entrenched camp 13,900 infantry, 1,500 cavalry, 1,500 artillerymen, and 42 field pieces." Seven days later, on June 3, Williams informed Clarendon: "I have now four months' provisions in the garrison of Kars, and I trust the central Government and the Allies will soon prove to this remnant of an army that it is not absolutely forgotten by them." This despatch (see Kars papers, No. 231) was received in Downing Street
