rob the latter of the chief motive which prompted this venturous advance by depriving it of its character _as a diversion_. Indeed, in such a contingency, the further Omer might have penetrated, the worse, perhaps, would be his situation; since General Mouravieff, by not returning directly towards Tiflis (which would be rather better able than Kars had been to stand a siege in its turn and to hold any assailant in play), but by moving diagonally, north-east by north, along the excellent Russian line from Alexandropol to Akhazik, would himself take Omer Pacha in flank and rear, shatter his line of communication, overwhelm his detached supports, and cut him off from the sea. For these reasons, General Mouravieff tranquilly and steadily persisted in the blockade of Kars; and never for a moment showed any inclination to turn aside to face the Turkish invader. A month and seven days had now elapsed since the assault on Kars was repulsed so gloriously, when Omer Pacha at length brought his labouring columns through the miry woodlands as far as the Ingour. There he saw, for the first time, a regular stand prepared by the enemy, about 12,000 strong, intrenched on the opposite bank, and commanding the passage by batteries. They were chiefly the Russian militia of Georgia and were under the command of General Bragation-Makrausky. The Turks had some 20,000 men. The stream was barely fordable in half-a-dozen places, by which the enemy’s intrenchments could be turned. The Turks passed it, up to their armpits in water, holding their muskets aloft; our countrymen--Colonel Ballard, Captain Dymsck, and others--showing a splendid example worthy of English officers. The engagement lasted five hours, when the Russians fled, leaving behind them 60 prisoners, five gun-carriages and ammunition carts, and 400 killed. They appear to have carried off their wounded. Omer Pacha had 220 wounded and 68 killed. Pressing on the track of the fugitives he came up with them before the end of November, within sight of Kutais, and obtained another advantage. But the floods had come; the Phasis had assumed the dimensions of a torrent; great forest trees were swept down the stream as if they were reeds--now engulfed out of sight in the eddies, now reappearing on the surface for a moment as they were borne away; the roads were impassable to artillery, and almost to infantry; the whole country was transformed into an alternation of morass and lagoon; a day’s march was the work of a week; the troops were broken up and islanded, as it were, into helpless detachments; the commissariat could not act; the supplies arrived with greater irregularity, incertitude, and insufficiency from day to day; the whole army was suffering incredible hardships and privations; it was threatened with annihilation unless a retrograde movement were promptly made; and, finally, came the news Kars had succumbed at last. The conquerors, therefore, retired, unpursued, and gradually straggled back to