In the earlier part of the week the Russian news
was exceed- ingly good, but this time not from the Bukovina or the Strypa lines—from which places, indeed, wo have heard little— but from the Caucasus. The Russians have driven the Turkish armies, after very great losses in casualties and prisoners, into Erzerum, and that city is now believed to be invested or on the point of being invested. What makes its position specially critical is that the remains of the combatant Turkish army have swarmed into the city, and will prove a great burden upon its supplies. If Erzerum falls and the Russians make good their advance, there will be a very considerable reflex action upon the Baghdad campaign. It is true, no doubt, that the Russian troops are still a long way from Baghdad and that the intervening country is difficult, but none the less the Russian advance cannot help having a beneficial effect.
