The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-18 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 18, 1854. never reached our batteries, and never attempted to rally when °doe they fell into confusion. It seemed something supernatural to see the plain clear and empty, and within half an hour afterwards completely covered with the killed and wounded. Preparations were instantly made for in terring the dead, and removing the wounded and prisoners to the rear. All the prisoners say that the town is much out up, and begins to sutler fur want of water. There is doutless a general system of tactics arranged between Liiders, who commands in our rear, and Bodahoff and the other generals in Sebas:opol; and a combined attack from both sides is not impossible. About the result of this there can only he one opinion, for I am cer tain, from what I have seen of the Russians, 10,000 of English or French infantry would be a heavy overmatch for 15,01 , 1 of them. Since Alma the Russians have a positive dread of our foot regiments. For the history of the two following days, the last fur which the detailed accounts have arrived, we draw upon the Times letter : Oct. 27.—Nothing was done to-day. Admiral Lyons, Sir George Brown, and General Cathcart visited Lord Raglan in the course of the day. The fire on both sides is very feeble. It is decided that we keep Balaklava, and the Sanspariel has come into the harbour, and is moored with her broadside towards the road to the valley. The Russians are still in force in the gorge, and their vedettes are not far distant from ours. This force seems to have its heal-quarters at the village of Kamiskoi, and keeps its com munication with Sebastopol open by the other side of the Tschernaya. The body of troops which attacked us on the 26th caine out of Sebastopol. We are making every pre paration, in conjunction with the French, to defend the approaches to lialaklava, and to secure our communication. hree battalions of French troops are encamped over the north-west side of the town. Two hundred sailors 3f the Agamemnon, and about two hundred sailors and marines from other vessels, have been landed to strengthen Sir Colin Campbell's bands. A very formidable battery has been erected by the sailors on the heights in front of the French. We have ninety prisoners iu Balaklava, and as a measure of precaution the bulk of them will be sent off to day. The officer who captured Lord Dunkellin told me that he took his lordship to Prince Menschikoff, and that his reception was of the kindest possible description. An attempt to exchange Russian prisoners for his lordship was said to have been made and to have tailed. Our guns are becoming very shaky from repeated tiring. We must have more men, and that speedily. The weather is lovely, the days befbg as warm as ours in best July time. Oct. 28.—The mail leaves at 9 a.m., and I have barely time to say a word. Last nightthe Russians gave us their usual salvo. They showed in some force in front of the French, but were repelled by musketry from the covering parties. To pay them off' for their audacity, the allies have seat strong parties of sharpshooters to-day, and between the lull of the eternal cannonade, which keeps up mono tonously, morning, noon, and night, till the ear is frenzied and worn out, one can now hear .the pop ! pop ! pop ! of the rifles at the embrasures. Towards morning there was some musketry neard from the French lines, and, to our wonderment, an inexplicable apparition of riderless horses took place in ourcamp They turned out to be fully equipped and accoutred—saddled, bridled, and all—and were recognised as belonging to Russian dragoons. How they turned up no one knows ;it is supposed that their owners got into a panic, and" bolted" ere they could get into the saddle. Already 193 have been caught. The firing at this moment on our front lines has nearly slackened altogether. There have been several fires at night in the town lately. It is suspected that the Russians make them to entice us to fire on the place, and to divert us from other spots more vulnerable. The Herald correspondent writes on this day (28th) : Towards yesterday evening the fire of the Russians was hot and accurate, and no less than nine of the guns in our works were dismounted. One of the sailors at work in our marine battery deserted to the enemy two days ago, and has given them much valuable information with re gard to the position of our trenches. This scoundrel was au American, and belonged to the Viamund, Captain Peel. Orders have been sent down here to send up the heavy guns of the Wasp with all speed. I believe they are to replace those dismounted in the trenches. The whole of the crew of the Wasp, officers end men, have also gone to our lines, for the purpose of manning the batteries. The French progress in their mine every day. At the same time there seems a general belief here that the siege will last for some weeks yet to come; indeed, it is stated everywhere that all are to be hatted and winter here. If this is true we must have powerful reinforcements from England and France, for sickness and war are pulling down our numbers sadly. The Turks have been removed from all points of im• portance, and replaced either by marines or foot regi. ments. CHAPLAINS AND MEDICAL ATTENDANTS TO THE ARMY. A correspondence has passed between Mr. Sidney Herbert, Secretary at War, and the Rev. Ernest Hawkins, 8.D., Secretary to the Society for the Pro pagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, relative to the attempt which the society is now making to send out additional chaplains to the seat of war. Mr. Hawkins stated that the society would undertake to make an allowance at the rate of 100/. a year to every such chaplain, provided the Government would guarantee an equal sum, with free passage, and the ordinary field allowances. Mr. Sidney Herbert has replied that he concurs in the arrangement proposed, THE PRESS. and that a free passage to Constantinople or the Crimea, according to the demand for his services, will be provided for each chaplain at the public expense. The Secretary at War adds that, during the period of the employment of the chaplains in this capacity, they will be subject to the same disci pline, and amenable to the same authority as army chaplains. In the medical service a warrant has just been issued re-establishing the rank of apothecary to the forces, and ordering that apothecaries shall hence forth form a recognised portion in the army, ranking with lieutenants, and receiving pay vanying from Us. to 18s. per diem, according to length of services, with allowances for servant, horse, lodging, and half-pay on retirement. THE APPROACH OF WINTER. The Constantinople correspondent of the Times announces the occurrence of severe gales, with all the symptoms of the rapid approach of winter on the shores of the Black Sea. He writes on Oct.2oth We cannot but pity the situation of our unhappy troops to-night. Wind, hail, anti rain are beating against our windows, and, if these prevail in the Crimea, the troops will pass a night worse than that of the 11th of Septem ber, when they first set foot on Russian ground. Some. times, however, these tempests are merely local; the wind comes down the Bosphorus as through a funnel, and Con stantinople is beaten by storms when the Black Sea is sunny and calm. The vessels which came in to-day were under reafed topsails, which seems as if the gale had ex tended to some distance from the Cyanean rocks, but whether the weather is the ulna 200 miles away we cannot tell. On October 30th : The Attaralian has just arrived, bringing four Russian officers and thirteen privates prisoners ; also eight officers and 193 men of the wounded British cavalry. Seven men died on board. Unfortunately the wind is so strong, and the sea runs so high, that they cannot be landed. Their wounds are extremely severe. He adds on the 2nd inst : Five such days as those we have just passed through are said not to have been known at Constantinople fur many years. On the night of the 28th a strong wind began to blow, and increased to a tempest within the next twenty four hours. It was accompanied by torrents of rain and occasional storms of hail and sleet; and not only w as every calque driven from the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, but the steamers which ply between Constantinople and the villages were obliged to discontinue their usual traffic. The narrow channel of the Bosphorus was so roused by the strength of the gale that the sea has iu many places burst into the houses, the lower rooms of which have been rendered uninhabitable. Rain has poured down for five days in one incessant stream ; the roadri have be come almost impassable, and communication between the different points of the environs is nearly impracticable. The sympathy of the public will be raised for the unhappy wounded who have come down to Scutari, and have for two days been kept on board the steamers which conveyed them, through the impossibility of bringing them on shore. Nothing has arrived at the moment I write from the seat of war. The chief cause of anxiety is on account of the recent unfavourable weather, and that which may be now expected during the whole of the month. Our men are much warn out ; they are diminished in number to an extent hardly credible, and any further hardships may have had an effect the most deplorable. The last news was dated the 28th. On the night following the rain set in and has lasted ever since. The men must have been exposed to the full inclemency of the weather. Their camp is on a height., over which the fierce winds Must have swept, perhaps blowing away their tents and leaving them without shelter from the pitiless storm. The rain pouring down—not in a drizzle, like that of an English November, but in a strong steady stream—day and night, must have saturated their clothing and placed them for days in the same circumstances as on the first night of their landing. Half the man are constantly on duty; they are alarmed by continued " alerts" on their rear, the real force of the enemy being unknown ; so that at night a few Cossacks may disturb the rest of a whole division for hours together. THE BALTIC FLEET. The Iriatur;a;rived — at Dauzic on Thursday, having left the fleet at Kiel on the 9th. Sir Charles Napier was expected shortly to leave for England. On the 9th, being the birthday of the Prince of Wales, the fleet celebrated the event by firing royal salutes and dressing ship, not only with British flags, but those of their allies the French and Tarks. In the evening a grand ball was given by the inhabitants of Kiel, which was attended by about sixty officers of the navy, royal marines, and marine artillery, belonging to the British squadron. THE REINFORCEMENTS . The following comparison of the supplies of men, horses, and material lately sent, or about to be despatched, to the army in the Crimea, with the requirements of theservice, is published by the Times : We believe that from the commencement of the cam paign of the Crimea up to the present time there have been despatched some 7,IXX) men to reinforce the army. Of these some have arrived anti been engaged in active conflict; others, for instance the 40th, have probably reached the camp since the 2741 i ; some may even yet be on their way. 'These reinforcements are principally node up of detachments sent to complete the void which dis ease or battle has left in the ranks of our regiments. In 1089 no more useful form oould reinforcements be sent, though also in none which would leas attract the public eye, or wake a smaller show on paper. Adulating this, we must still think that such reinforcements, even if they had already arrived, are but a small addition to an army ex posed, as ours has been, to the ravages of a devouring pes tilence, as well as to the attacks of an enemy greatly superior in numbers, in resources, and in knowledge of the country. War has a devouring maw, which must con stantly be fed, and even in times of the greatest ease and inaction, when large bodies of men are gathered together, he never foregoes his daily banquet. We are not, we be lieve, too presumptuous in hoping that the losses of the siege and of the actions which have been fought may, by the supplies already sent, be pretty well compensated, and that for the future, in order to raise our army to its original efficiency, all that is required will be the supply of 10,000 men to take the places of the sick, who, we fear, amount to fully that number. The following is an outline of the manner in which it is intended to accomplish this object: — It is intended to send to the Crimea one more battalion of the Guards, the 97th Regiment from the Piraeus, the 02nd from Gallipoli, the :14th from Malta, the 71st from Corfu, the Yana from Edinburgh, and the 90th from Ireland. There will be no difficulty, we understand, in obtaining the services of an amount of any militia that may be repaired to do garrison duty in the fortresses thus left unganisoned, so that this very considerable reinforce ment can be sent without running any risk, or stripping the empire of any of its necessary defences, nor are the 111e9218 wanting of supplying this great additional train on our resources. Notwithstanding the Peace Society, not withstanding the increased demand for labour in all rades and occupations, we are recruiting at the rate of 1,000 men a week, and have as little fear of wanting the raw ma terial of soldiers as if we had a legion of spies and a whole army of crimps to cutoree the utmost rigours of conscrip tion. The martial and adventurous spirit of the nation to roused by the stining tidings which almost every post brings to our shores ; and the service has regained in the midst of a bloody and desperate war that popularity which it, was in some danger of losing in the piping times of peace. The cavalry regiments at Lonnie will nut be wet abroad, but will serve ILS training schools for the recruits of the regiments on foreign service. it is intruded to raise each troop to seventy-five men and to add two troops to each regiment, which will give a total increase of 1,500 sabres to the force in the Crivea ; and, besides, all defi ciency occasioned by casualties is to be made up. It is proposed to purchase for the use of the cavalry seasoned horses instead of three-year olds, as better able to bear the fatigues and privations of a ciuupsign, and less liable to injury by a long voyage. The following infantry battalions will constitute the reinforcements to be despatched immediately : The tat battalion of the Grenadier Guards. The :34th Regiment, now at Corfu. The 62d Regiment from Malta. The 71st Highland Light Infantry from Corfu. The 90th Light Infantry from The 97th Regiment from Athens. The 82nd Regiment, new at Edinburgh, will not be sent to the East, as stated. The Europe steamer, belonging to the Cunard Company, was expected to arrive ►n Kingston harbour to-day (Saturday) to receive on board the LKlth Re giment, which musters 1,00(1 strong. A 3 regards the cavalry, au arrangement has been come to different from what was or►ginally intended. Instead of sending out the cavalry regiments on home service as regiments, the effective men of those corps will be incorporated with the regiments now in the Crimea, so as to bring them up to such a strength as a cavalry regiment in time of war should possess. Each cavalry regiment in the Crimea will be made up to eight troops of 75 men each, or COO in the whole, besides the regimental staff. The officers of the cavalry regiments at home will not be transferred to those abroad, but will remain with their own corps, and will be usefully employed in keeping up an effective supply of trained man and horses to the regiments abroad. Owing to the recent losses, the ten cavalry regiments now in the Crimea cannot be said to muster I,OtXO men. When the new arrangements are carried into effect they will be in creased by 5,000 men, and from the regiments at home there will be no difficulty in at once supplying 2,000 of this number. The Yen►nsular and Oriental Company have notified that they have rece►ved " imperative ►rders from Government to prepare the Candle, Ripon, and other large steamers for the transport of troops to the Crimea." _ _ The Royal Albert, 121, screw steamship, Captain Sir T. Palley, has been ordered to Portsmouth, whero she is expected to sail for the Black Sea with troops almost immediately. She is capable of conveying from 1,500 to 2,000 men On the side of our allies, preparations are busily proceeding for a speedy and large supply of rein forcements to their army. A despatch from Paris on Thursday stated that two new French divisions are about to sail for the East, and all preparations are being made at Toulon and at Marseilles for their departure before the end of the month. Of the additional reinforcements from Varna and Gallipoli, 9,000 had already arrived at the data of General Cattrobert's last despatch, which, with other reinforcements before Sebastopol, gave the French general 08,000 troops. The effective number is of course less. The late reinforcements from France