The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-19 00:00:00

776 THE WAR. ATTACK ON BOMARSUND. The attack on Bomarsund actually commenced on the Bth inst., when a body of French troops were landed on the south, and a corps of English marines on the north, of the island without difficulty or opposition. The troops then advanced on both sides towards the fortress, which was closely invested on the 9th, and by that day the whole siege material (French) had been landed, and was about to be placed in position. The Russians had destroyed their outer works, indicating an intention to make a vigorous resistance. On the 10th, 10,000 French and 2,000 English were intrenched to the westward of the fortress, and had commenced erecting batteries without replying to the Russian fire. Next day a smart cannonade took place with the forts. One French officer was killed and one wounded ; two English sailors were wounded and one French killed. Frequent skirmishes occurred. The fort was completely invested. There were reports that the Russians had attempted a sortie on the 12th, but this intelligence has not been corroborated. The latest news is conveyed by telegraphic despatch of Wednesday from Copen h.gen, which states that on Monday last, the 14th, thtlargest of the gates was taken by the French afteLfour hours' resistance, and that scaling ladders and $i other apparatus was in readiness for a grand attack e l the 18th. A letter dated Ledsund, August 12, states : " 1 write in the greatest haste, as the steamer is just leaving, witiout any previous warning being given. The troops landeu on Tuesday morning last (Sth) at three o'clock, withou. opposition, and attacked a redoubt of five guns, which dettnded the road. The French took it in front, and the maines in the rear, and carried it in a mo ment, without any '.oss. They are now encamped behind some high ground 'aetween the villages of Finley and Sundsbole, about twc miles from the main battery, the French Chasseurs spreading themselves over the inter vening ground to within 400 yards of the wall. A Russian officer came out of the door of the fort about a dozen yards, and was instantly shot by one of them ; he was seen to raise his band to his breast and fall, and some men rushed from the fort and took him in. " The people from the villages bring plenty of provisions, and are very civil. The French troops have been slightly attacked by the cholera, eleven having died in four days. " The Penelope got aground within range of the for s, and was tired upon for three hours and a half, - but was not hurt much. The small ships went to her assistance, and drew the attention upon themselves. The Pigmy's mainmast was shot away. The Heck had several shot in her, and one poor little fellow had his chest torn open by a round 'shot. They fired red-hot shot. " Lieutenant Cowell, Royal Engineers, has been badly wounded in the thigh by his revolver going otf accidentally. As yet we have only lost five men. "A battery opened on the Amphion and Phlegelhon, which they silenced almost immediately ; and when they landed to spike the guns they found four of them burst, and a fifth could not be loaded. " The Penelope had to thrlw everything overboard, guns, water, ttc.. before she could be floated. " The attack or bombardment will commence to morrow or Monday : the English and French guns and five ten inch mortars are in position on the hill." General Baraguay d'Hilliers has caused it to be proclaimed in the churches that the Isles of Aland arc freed from the yoke of Russia. The Russian authorities are flying from the Aland Isles; the peasants threaten them and place them in fear. A letter from Copenhagen states that Admiral Napier has issued the severest orders to the whole squadron to treat the Aland peasantry in the most friendly manner, not to deprive any one of his property, and to pay the full value of whatever may be required. The poor peasanty have hitherto re fused to accept payment for what has been asked of them, for fear of being sent to Siberia, with which punishment the authorities have threatened them. A tariff has therefore been fixed by the commanders, so high as far to surpass the utmost price that could be asked. The articles needed are now taken, and the money left in exchange according to the tariff. OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH. The latest advices from Varna, ctc. (to the Bth inst.), report that the long-talked-of expedition is still " preparing." It. was, however, believed thatthe troops would absolutely sail on the 10th, or there abouts. A telegraphic despatch from Vienna, dated Sunday last, the 13th, says that 90,000 allied troops sailed from Varna on that same day, on an expedi tion against the Crimea. This is endorsed by the journal as " authentic." The Ottoman naval arsenals were working night and day in constructing pontoons, rafts, and boats. General Canrobert has, it is said, expressed his conviction that if once the allied force can secure a firm footing in a bay to the rear of the strong fortress that commands the entrance to the harbour of Sebastopol, the Czar's fleet will only have to choose between certain destruction from the bat teries of the allies, or turn out and give battle to the allied fleets. THE PRESS. The object of the late visit of Marshal St. Arnaud to Constantinople was to explain to the Sultan in person the object of the great expedition which was on the point of being despatched against the Crimea. The rumour in the Turkish capital was that the combined fleets would be able, without incurring much danger—as was proved by the experiments made by the squadron under Admiral Bruat—to do the greatest damage to the fortifications of Sebas topol, and even to destroy the Russian fleet at an chor there. Marshal de St. Arnaud issued at Varna the follow ing address to the army on the 30th July : " Soldiers of the Allied Armies.—We shall soon advance into the territory of our enemy. I rely on your obedience, on your bravery, and steadiness in the fight. The task we have to complete is no light one. The enemy we have to encounter is strong and numerous. The forty years of peace passed by us in promoting commerce, industry and the arts, have been spent by him in the study of the art of war, and in military preparations. From your bravery and energy France and England await a victory. The eyes of all Europe are on you. Show yourselves the worth) sons of your brave fathers. We march into the land of the enemy, resolved on victory. As conqumrs must we see our fatherland, or never more return." The cholera has latterly been on the increase at Varna and Gallipoli. The delay in sending out the expedition to the former place is by some accounts attributed to the rapid spread of the epidemic. The reconnaissance effected at Sebastopol by the three steamers Fury, Terrible, and Cacique, is stated to have resulted in the following conclusions : " From the observations taken, it appears clear that an army might be landed either at Cape Loukoul, which is fifteen miles to the northward of Sebastopol, or at the Katscha river, which is not more than six miles therefrom. At each of these points these is a break in the red perpendi cular cliff which forms the coast line, and is about sixty feet high. The land immediately inside of this is fiat, and almost unbroken, from Cape Lonkoul, where its breadth may be about seven miles, down to the northern shore of the harbour, where it is not more than four miles. About midway between the two there is the little winding valley made by the Katscha river, and towards the harbour there are trees scattered here and there. On this flat ground the army would get plenty of water from the Katscha, and their advance could be materially assisted by the steamers, which could go within a quarter of a mile of the shore, and might keep up a terrific fire on anything on the plain within range of their guns. The country inland beyond this plain does not rise very steeply until near the harbour, but there seem to be other more elevated plateaux. The fort on the northern shore of the port, about a mile from the entrance, is the only difficulty for the troops ; for that once carried the artillery would destroy the ships and town on the southern shore without difficulty. This important fortress seems regularly built, has guns mounted, and a ditch sur rounding it. The forts at the entrance to the harbour are most formidable. The land near Cape Kherson is so low, and the ground between it and the town, inside the bays, so easy for troops to march over, that the Russians have seen the necessity of placing no less than four encamp ments there to prevent an attack in that quarter. The number of troops under canvas must be full 2.5,000, and it is in fact the only large body of troops visible. " The fortifications of the town appear unimportant ; there is a wall running round it which is loopholed, but has no ditch, and it seems to have only one round battery on it. There is a good part of the hill on which the town stands unoccupied ; and if this were gained, the arsenal, forts ships-of-war, &Lc., below would be easily destroyed." According to letters from Odessa of the 4th, Ad. miral Nachimoff, with a great part of the Russian fleet, appeared on that day in sight of that port. A steamer, which was sent into the harbour, stated that the fleet was to return to Sebastopol the same evening. This statement has since been contradicted on good authority. THE PRINCIPALITIES. Bucharest was entered on the Bth inst. by 10,000 Turks under Halim Pacha and Iskender Bey. The Archbishop of Silistria entered Kalarasch with the Ottomans. The Holy Cross was carried be fore him. The Turks were entrenched 40,000 strong at Giurgevo. According to a letter from Rutschuk in the Mo niteur, a corps of French pontoneers had begun the construction of a bridge of boats from the right bank of the Danube to the island of Ramadan, already connected with the Wallachian bank by two small bridges. This great bridge, situated nearly in the °entre of the facade of the fortress and of the isle, where the river is most narrow, will be 830 metres in length. The materials were brought with great celerity, and the bridge will, it is hoped, be rapidly finished. Omer Pacha, who has already nearly 20,000 men on the left bank, between Slobozia and Giurgevo, was urging on the works of entrenchment in front of these two places, and intends, as soon as they shall be sufficiently fortified, to remove there the rest of the garrison of Rutschuk, or 25,000 men. 40,000 were between Turtukai and Silistria, and as many at Rasgard, as a reserve ready to proceed to Silistria or Rutschuk. An action took place on the 20th ult. at Babadagh between the Bashi-Bazouks, under Youssuf and the Cossacks. The latter were repulsed. A French co- A-TIJRI)4.Y ? lonel reeeived seven lance-wounds, but none of them dangerous. The well-known political writer, M. Übicini, has published a detailed account of the losses which the two principalities have suffered in consequence of the lawless occupation. The estimate gives the round sum of 200,000,000 francs. The Chronicle correspondent at Vienna writes : "I learn from an entirely reliable source that General Baron von Hess, the commander-in-chief of the Austrian armies on the northern and eastern frontiers of the Austrian (mpire, leaves Vienna this evening for his head- quarters at Suczawa, in the Bukowina ; and that orders have already been despatched by telegraph to the Arch duke Albrecht forthwith to cross the frontiers of Moldavia, thence to march upon Jassy, and to occupy the piincipa lity with the 9th army corps. Another division of the Austrian army has been ordered to cross the frontiers of larger Wallachia, for the purpose of occupying the alpine passes of Temes and Rothenthurm on the Walachian side." THE ARMY IN ASIA. The Hungarian general Klapka bad been sent to Kars, where the Russian and Turkish troops were every day expecting a general engagement. 40,000 Turks, supported by 110 pieces of cannon, were in presence of 30,000 Russians, having 80 guns and a numerous cavalry, but the Turks were perfectly intrenched. Advices dated St. Petersburg, 14th inst., announce that the Russians, under General Wrangel, were victorious at Bejezid on the Ist of August. The Russian version says that 3,000 Turks were slain, four guns, seven teen colours, and two camps cap tured. The Russians, says the same version, subse quently occupied Bajezid. The Turkish army in Asia has received orders to act strictly on the defensive until the arrival of the allies. According to mercantile letters from Bagdad, contracts had been made for furnishing the neces sary supplies and means of transport for an Indo- British corps which was to arrive at the beginning of July in the Persian Gulf, and to land at Basra, at the mouth of the Tigris. ~ The Russian army in Asia is to receive powerful reinforcements, and Anapa is being fortified in every possible way. An entrenched camp for 20,000 men is being constructed there. THE REINFORCEMENTS. With the exception of the head-quarters of the 46th Regiment, the whole of the troops composing Sir George Cathcart's division of the army in the East are now on their way to the seat of war. This division will consist of the 20th, 21st, 63rd, Ist bat talion Rifle Brigade, the 57th (which has been for some time at Corfu), and the 46th, which pill be sent out as soon as the court-martial proceedings at Windsor shall have been brought to a termination. The screw steamer Golden Fleece arrived at Queenstown on Sunday from Plymouth, for convey ance of 900 rank and file of the 21st Royal Fusiliers, under command of Lieutenant- Colonel F. G. Ainslie, to the East. The men were safely embarked on Tuesday last. Lieutenant-Colonel Shadforth's division of the 57th, at Cork, will embark there in the Mauritius, 800 tons, screw steamer, for Corfu. The 71st, at Cork, gave 400 volunteers to the 57th for Turkey. Nine hundred rank and file are held in readiness to proceed from the depot battalion at Fermoy to Cork, for conveyance to Turkey, to join the 30th, 33rd, 49th, and 50th. The new screw squadron in active service has been increased by the commissioning of five more of the screw vessels that have been recently launched, viz.:— Curacoa, 31, built at Pembroke, now at Ports mouth, 1,569 tons, and 350 horse power, to be com mended by Captain the Hon. G. F. Hastings; Cossack, 21, 250 horse power, built for the Russians by Mr. Pitcher, of Northfleet, and now at Chatham, to be commanded by Captain E. G. Fanshawe ; Harrier, 16, screw, 747 tons, 100 horse power, built at Pembroke, and fitting at Portsmouth, to be com manded by Commander H. G. Austen (1846); Curlew, 8,485 tons, 60 horse-power, built at Lepttord, fitting at Woolwich, to be commanded by Commander Rowley L ambert ; Swallow, 8, sister vessel to Curlew, built at Pembroke, fitting at Portsmouth, to be com manded by Commander A. B. Cranford. There are others of the above classes being brought forward, or in course of rapid construction ; the Pylades, 21, and Pearl, 21, for instance, and the Falcon, 15, just launched; the Fawn, Mutine, and Alert, all of which are being fitted with machinery by Miller, Ravenhill, and Salkeld; also the smallerow c lass—Arid, 8, Lyra, 8, and Cameleon, 8, n ' building. Two fine voting lads from Ango, one of the Aland islands, went on board one of our ships•of•war, and, on their return to the shore were met by some Russians, who found some English money upon them. They were immediately taken up to the fort, decapitated, and their muWated bodies sent to the Wand whence they came. Ainslie, irked on the 57th, :tius, 800 , at Cork, readiness 'ermoy to Oth, 39rd, has been we of the ed, viz.:— at Ports- o be com Hastings; Russians Chatham, ;'ansh awe ; wer, built o be com- a (1846); Lepttord, omm ander to Curlew, to be corn. se s being istruction ; and the futine, and machinery le smaller s, 8, now land islands, d, on their s, who found immediately listed beaks