The news from Asia, though on points exaggerated, tends all
in one direction. The Russians have been obliged, after repeated assaults and heavy losses, differently represented in every account, to abandon their attack on the heights above Batoum, and to retreat from before the heights which command the road through Delibaba to Erzerourn, sustaining in the course of the latter movement a severe defeat at Sewin. Their attacks on the forts which protect Kars have also failed, though the report that the siege of that city hos boon raised is either false or premature. It appears certain that the invasion has been rolled back, that General Loris Melikoff, who com- mands under the Grand Duke Michael, is to be superseded, and that reinforcements must be sent from the interior of Russia. We have endeavoured elsewhere to explain the main reason for this severe check, which is obviously the want of sufficient numbers to carry out a plan involving active and dangerous operations at three or four points at once. It should he added that there may be a deficiency of quality in the men also. A large proportion of them are not Russians, and it is quite possible that the heavy losses have been made heavier by falling chiefly on the best troops. This view is strongly con- firmed by the extraordinary slaughter among the higher officers, which must have occurred while endeavouring to rally their men.
