The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-23 00:00:00

8911 THE WAR. LANDING OF THE ALLIED ARMY IN THE ORME*. On the morning of Saturday last, the 16th inst., despatches from Lord Raglan and Marshal 'St. Arnaud reached Constantino ? le by special steamer, announcing to the embassies of England and France that on Thursday, the 14th, a completely-successful landing 114 been effected on the enemy's coast. The intelligence was immediately communicated to the embassies of friendly powers, and at 11 cm. of the 16th Baron Bruck sent off a Tatar with the fol lowing message to the bead-quarters of Coupt Corq nini, at Bucharest: " Constantinople, Sept. 16. " On the 14th, 25,000 French, 25,000 English, and 8,000 Turks, disembarked at Eupatoria, without encountering any resistance. They immediately commenced their march to Sebas topol. The transports have returned to Verna, to fetch the reserve corps." This despatch arrived at Bucharest op the 10th, and at Vienna on the 20th. On its arrival in Paris it appears to have been distrusted by the Government. The Mopiteur published it only as a private and unofficial message, and under " touts reserve; " but afterwards an official note was posted at the Paris Bourse ratifying it with the autbOrity of M. de BoUrqueney, the French Minister at Vienna. To complete the authentication of this moat 'im portant intelligence, it is added that telegraphic accounts have been received by her Majesty's Government from'llienpa and Bucharest announcing that the allied forces, consisting of 25 ? 060 English, 25,000 Freech,' and 8,000 Turkish . troops, landed on the 14111 tit Eupaterie l without meeting any resist ance and had commenced marching on Sebastopol. It been stated that shots were exchanged and lives lost during the landing, but this is not true. The enemy's preparations were founded on a mis conception of the plan of the trench and EngliSh generals, and were directed to the wrong point. The chief French and English naval force was at the entrance of Sebastopol, keeping guard over the enemy's fleet during the landing. It is said upon lust; certain authority that ships, with troops, are off the fortress of Kinburn and Island Of Tendra, near Odessa with a view of intercepting any Russian re inforcements intended for the Crupea. The whole of this news came to hand by telegraph, and is ne cessarily brief. The instructions issued to the troops at Yarns on the 3rd of September at the moment of embarkation, and furnished to every officer in the fleet for his guidance in the great operation of landing the army in the Crimea, haye now been published in this country. These orders convey by anticipation the most accurate idea that can he formed of the opera tion in which the forces were about to engage. It assumed, in the first place, that the whole fleet., con sisting of sailing ships-of war, steamers -of war, and transports, has accomplished the passage of that por tion of the Black Sea which lies between 11 4 1tscLik and the coast of the Jrittlea withqut apcidents, and withotit any material departure from the order of sailing, for the Place of every boat in each division of the fleet is accurately determined, and it is intended that the divisions should 01/1113C0 With the regglarity of an army in the field. It is probable ? as has been stated in some of the German papers, that the troops will chiefly be conveyed in the transports, leaving a sufficient number of lips-of-battle ships to cover and defend the enormous convoy, in the event pf the Russian fleet attempting to molest the expedition. But the whole naval armament will actively assist with its boats and crews in the landing. The boats will form and receive the men on board on the of shore side of each ship, partly toile nndsr the shelter of the vessel in case the enemy should open his fire from the shore, and partly n leave each Yese9l.St liberty to open her own fire on the land. This cir cumstance denotes that ft is expected the troops will Winbqk 4a s h ortsau ce frogs he olf Pre, 'Rid off gccount states Oat this distance will neF , exceed 3 O roe. Ile tare 1 40 to enter the boats with * IF Fins 02 4 lir but ar_fl Poijotilp4? op 4 e lincßsee ppt RH: Tllgi TOIL 14100 apt • biff° 4 mull efPf4 o , i , 6 40, 4 1 % S-1 Aff ;gen wir Fefq ajiree 0014 !gel ( ' PIPIIP meat, besides water, in their cantens: 4 tn 9o4 of the fleet haying thus been tilled with men, they will form in three grapd divisions —the first eon elating of all the launches and pinnaces from the sailingships of the fleet, in which the 13ritatinfa's boats will occupy the post of honour, op the extreme right of the line; the second division will consist of the paddlebox-boats of the war steamers towed by their own cutters, and these will occupy the extreme left ; the central, or third division, will contain all the boats of the transport service, and will, consequently, be by far the most numerous. These three divisions ill form one vast continuous line, keeping a distance THE PRESS. of twenty feet between the oars of each boat. Upon the signal being given from the Agartemtunt, the whole line will row stoutly and steadily towards the shore, the men 114 pprfect stillupss and silence, un boat being allowed to advance before or to fall behind the others. Such a line, from the enormous multi tude of boats engaged, must extend to between two and three miles in length, irrespective of the French forces, which are not referred to in these instructions; the landing must therefore be intended to take place on a lengthened expanse of the coast. The light division of the British army and the 'artillery, con veyed in six of the British transports, will be the first to land, and four companies of the second battalion of the Rifle Brigade will be attached to each brigade of General Brown's division, and will form the ad vance. Upon these gallant fellows, therefore, will devolve the glory of first setting foot on the Crimea, and of opening their fire upon the enemy. The larger boats will all be provided with grapnels and small anchors, and the oars will be slung so as to be dropped over the side on reaching land. Upon land lug, each regiment will form in continuous columns at quarter distance, and the batteries will in every case land with the divisions to which they are at• tached, as well as the proper detachment of Sappers. with their tools to throw hp field intrenchments, if required, with the utmost rapidity. The other divi sions of the army will follow in their order, the boats returning to the ships to take them, but the cavalry will not laud until specially ordered to do so. The artil lery will be landed on "flats," es they are termed, consisting of pairs of boats with portable decks fitted to convey guns and horses, which only require to be put together by a party of shipwrights when the time comes for using them ; these flats will then be towed in by steamers, and each of them will be attended by two pinnaces from the fleet, and, if possible, a cutter, for the purpose of assisting them, if requisite. ODESSA AND SEBASTOPOL. RumouisTespecting the bombardment of Odessa have been very rife during the week. The town itself has been subject to ` increased consternation, as may be seen limn the folloWing 'letter, published in a Vienna newspaper , and dated from Odesia, Septem ber " Many inhahitapts of the town have sought refuge at Tiraspol, the position of the hostile fleet being a threaten ing one. Half the population of this city has already has tened into the interior of Russia, in order to escape the terrible cannonade which has more than once wounded our ears. Since yesterday several ships have been collect ing in front of our city. To-day some of them got into order of battle, and began to fire for praFtice. At first the commander, Count Annenkpff, tbought the enepy was about to attack us, and the garrison was kept ready for ac tion, but the real state of things soon became evi4ent. The enemy bas not yet attacked us, but we are in hourly expec tatiOn he will do so. A great niany ships are Sailing in a westerly direction. The enemy will certainly menace all the places on the coast of the Black Sea ;It one and the same time, in order to keep our army fully occupied. Akermann, Odessa, Ociakoff, Kinburn, Perekop, E upatoria, Sebastopol, and, indeed, all the places FP 1- 0 AnsPL 10 1 become targets for the enemy's artillery. ' The same letter contains the following respecting Sebastapol : " Prince Menschikoff has exhausted all means of defence in order to render Sebastopol impregnable, as well from the land as from the sea side. Between Sebastopol and gook. lava there are live strong detached forts, Which are Pal- Honed by a sufficient number of troops. The road from Balaltlava to Yalta if rendered impassable andway The coast between Sebastopol and Eupatoria is defended at unequal distances by batteries consisting of sit howit zers. There are three forts at Eupatoria, one on the north, a second on the east, and a third on the west side. That place is garrisoned by 15,000 men. The heights in front of Sebastopol, which are encircled by redoubts and trenches, are armed with eighteen batteries and defended by 20,000 men. The garrison of Sebastopol is only 10,000 strong, but, if we add to this number the crew of the fleet, the for tress is defended by 26.000 men. Prince Menschikoff is sued p proclamation on the 3rd, in which he prepared the people for a resistance to the very last. J alp unable tp givi you the proclamation literally, but I cap give you the sense of it as it was communicated to me by a friend. The prince first enumerates all the victories gained by the Pop shins in the course of this century, aid then calls op Ills soldiers to show themselves equal to their prplicessors in bravery and power of eucli.rtuice. IS the enemy, pf a con sequence of the inscrutable will of 'leaven, should obtain victory, then let the wbnle eta* t 4 powder gq with him into the air. The conclusion of the proclamation la t Rather let us 41e than surrender to the enemy.' Our army is very much oast dawn. The news of the fall of Bomarsund has much depressed military men, ss vigil high wi low. From the interior of Russia, especially front the neighboothood of Novogorod, reinforcements have arrived wtthin the last few days, but they do not remain here, as their destination is Cczakoff and Kherson. Troops have also arrived front the Danubian am." On the Ist of Feptember there was a sad catas trophe. A Turkish steamer, used to tow off the troop-boats from the pier to the transports, ran doe a lighter with forty Zouaves on board. As the men were fully equipped and laden with their knapsacks, &c., they sank like stones to the bottom. Ten were SATURDAY saved by clinging to the sides of the lighter. The captain of the boat bas been arrested and placed in prison. This event has much disbeattened the Zouaves, just as they were beginning to recover from the depression crested. by their losses in the Dobrudaphil. PIE WAR IN ASIA. The following sketch of the state of the Turkish army in Asia will be read with interest. After stating that the Turkish officers had endeavoured to throw the whole blame of their ill-success on General Guyon , and remarking that the general is, in point of authority; a mere cypher, with the privilege of giving advice and the annoyance of never seeing it followed, the writer continues : " To be candid, I fear that Napoleon himself would have proved incapable of coping with the indiscipline and watt of soldierly virtues displayed by the Turkish army. The highest officers set the example of indiscipline, and when ever a battalion advanced to the fire, or stood with intrepidity the awful shock of the Russian dragoons, it was some poor lieutenant or captain who cheered on hia men, or exhorted them to be steady, whilst majors and colonels were invisible. As a general rule, the subalterns behaired extremely well, whilst all grades, beginning with th e colossi or captain adjutant, covered themselves with shame. There we a few noble exceptions, where colonels displayed the most an• doubted courage. I myself saw several weeping like children wben their battalions opened and disbanded; but the above rule will bold good, and is undeniable. The cavalry behaved disgracefully ; not only did they not once charge, but at the first good roam] discharge they turned and lied. General Guyon, wishing to cheek the destruc tive activity of a Russian battery playing upon the left wing, drew• up two regiments of cavalry, and, putting him self at their head, led them against it: The men followed him with shouts ; but on riding over a slight acclivity a Russian infantry regiment opened its small fire upon them and the cavalry, to a man, wheeled about and fled, leaving Guyon alone. The artillery behaved excellently, and main tinned its former reputation for gallantry and To its werldirected discharges of grape may be attributed the serious less sustained by the Iltutabeas, particularly •in cavalry. The foreign officers behaved well to a man, and, by the gallantry they displayed in the presence of the Turks, nobly avenged themselves for the slights heaped upon theta by the latter. With respect to the ambulance arrangements, they were miserable. Every wounded man was carried eg the field by one or two comrades; consequently the battalion, melted away sensibly. The medical staff we; at a considerable distance from th e field of action , an d c oal render no great relief. I believe that but ripe stir eon dressed the wounded ander fire, and be was an English man, Dr. Fraser. The Itusesiens did not behave brilliantly. It was only by exposing their lives to an unusual degree that the officers could draw on the infantiy. • The artillery wee badly directed, the range being generally too low. But the cavalry, that is to say, the Russian dragoons, shone admirably, and by their irresistible pluck decided the action. Altongh whole ranks were i n ol g if4 (lowa by the Turkish artillery, the remainder closed agaip witholit hesitating, and pursued their deadly charge. The Cossacks, like the turkish bashiliarculut• proved themselves perfectly harmless. Ip Concluding nil remarks, I will add that, in their present condition, both as regards officers and discipline, the Turkish troops are incapable of fighting in the open field. With the cavalry in its present state it would be folly to risk anotberaction. Behind walls I have no doubt the infantry will fight well ; but to draw it from beyond those defences would be a cruel sacrifice. It will excite surprise in Europe that this rainy should have behaved so badly, whilst on the Danube the some race of men have displayed unusual bravery. This mystery is solvable. On the Danube there are many _wq . p. i tiort tro t pa, who are better disciplined than the TWILta soldiers ; and then Omer Pecha has accustomed his men to !tend fire bybringing tliem men u, and smeller engageme , and thus preparing them for ateadines in a general pelifili• lift the great reason is tins—nn the Danube there cow mends a soldier; in Anatolia, a civilian. With the beSi will in the world, Zarif Pasha could not have expected td conduct a campaign with success, wanting as he is in every military knowledge. His only hope lay in in the Europefure about him, who, although no Napoleons in point of genius, still possessed experience in war: These he openly slighted, and towards General Guyon in particular be openly 66 ' played his animosity." The precipitate and unexpected retreat o f the Russiani4 took every one by stirprise, and has called forth a variety of tiarmises to account for it. Tha motives, probably, are complex. In that country of irregular hordes; where no 'rule is established beynnd that of the cl ief of she tribe, a victory does little buy disperse bands wlio aysesible again to morrow, in 1 melinwbile the country becomes exhausted of it 4 means of supply, apd nty irregular bands are pous ing forth L 311144 au enemy weak en ed by hie' w( iteri stitgesses: `There pay be, besides, more defin reasons in the present instance. illchamyl's dreoulti presence in the near neighbourhood of Tiflis by hurriedly called the Russian general away to def end the Georgian capital against this much more terribla enemy tban Zarif Pacha. He has probably strengthened the garrison of Gumri, and marched the remainder of his force to check the invading hordes of the Daghistanee chief. To so check Schamyl, however, Bebutoff's 25,000 men are not likely to be of much avail, if what is authoritatively stated is correct, that, before six weeks from the present time, the neighbouring coast of Circassia be the scene of some important operations on the