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

89f THE WAR. LANDING OF THE ALLIED ARMY IN THE CRIMEA,. On the morning of Saturday last, the 16th inst., despatches from Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud reached Constantinople by special steamer, announcing to the embassies•of England and France that on Thursday, the 14th, a completely-successful landing h-id been effected on the enemy's coast. The intelligence was immediately communicated to the embassies of friendly powers, and 'at 11 a.m. of the 16th Baron Bruck sent off a Tatar with the fol lowing message to the head-quarters of Count Coro nini, at Bucharest : " Constantinople, Sept. 16. " On the 11th, 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 Varna, to fetch the reserve corps. ' This despatch arrived at pncharest on the 10th, and at Vienna on the 20th: On its arrival in Paris it appears to have heen distrusted by the Government. The Mo?4teur published it only as a private and unofficial message, and under " toute reserve ;" but afterwards an official note was posted at the Paris Bourse ratifying it with the authority of M. de BoUrqueney, the'French Minister at Viernra. To complete the authentication of this most 'im portant intelligence, it is added that telegraphic accounts have been received by her Majesty's Government from:Vienna and Bucharest announcing that ihaillied forces ' consisting of 25,000 English, 25,066 French, and 8,000 Turkishtroops, landed on tbe 14th at Eupstoria l without meeting any resist ance' and had commenced marching on Sebastopol. Ithas been stated that shots were exchanged and lives hist during the landing, hut this is not true. The enemy% 'preparations were founded on a mis conception of the plan of the French and EngliSh generals, and were directed` o the wrong point. The chief French and English naval force was at tbe entrance of Sebastopol, keeping guard over the enemy's fleet during the landing. It is said upon less certain authority that ships, with troops, are off the fortress of Kinburp and Island of Tendra, near Odessa with a view of intercepting any Russian re inforcements intended for the CrinJea. The whole of this news came to band 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 arrpy in the Crimea, have now been puhliqled in this country. These orders convey by anticipation the most accurate idpa that can be formed of the opera tion in which the forces were about to engage. It is assumed, ip 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 Baltschik and the coast of the Crimea withinat accidents, and without any material departure from the order of sailing, tor thi place of every boat in each division of the fleet is accurately determined,. and it is intended that the divisions should advance spi.li the regularity 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 line-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 nip on hoard on the of shore side of each ship, partly toile nnder the shelter of the vessel in case the enemy should open his ilre from the shore, and partly f4O leave 4E4 vessel . at liberty to open ber own ye on the lepd. This cir qunistance deputes that it is expected t e trOops will e t ub44 at a short diiitinice from the 0 pre, and off i feeciliilt notes 040 Pi* ilist 4 neo VI RP exceed IPP ittrilß• Te Rtal aria to PPtOr t e I)? , 100 3 thif pus an litilitisiwi l Wit 1,41 plx po; iotted, ono. e Pigioaclf* PPL RAtlefl RR: loi in l IlftirP Ptloo ji 0 liPPli 1 144 t'efilf 4 01 41 Otl4Pes a 4 VW 44 Pen Will carry W4l l l.liPlt fe9 OW !get PR4 FIR meat, besides water, in we r caake44. 4 WO sP*4 of the fleet haying thus been tiljod with !POP, they will form in three grand divisions-thee first pew slating of all the launches and pinnaces from the sailing•ships of the fleet, in which the /3rikinnfo's boats will occupy the post of honour, on the epreme right of the line; the second division will consist of the paddlebox-hoats 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 baste 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 Agarteintton, the whole lino will row stoutly and steadily towards the shore, the men in perfect stillp,pss and silence, no 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 oar 3 will be slung so as to be dropped over the side on reaching land. Upon land ing, 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 'tip 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 land until specially ordered to do so. The artil lery will be landed on "flats," as 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 Itwo pinnaces from the fleet, and, if possible, a cutter, for the purpose of assisting them, if requisite. ODESSA AND SEBASTOPOL. Rumours respecting the bombardment of Odessa haie been very rife during the week. The town itself his been subject to increased consternation, as may be seen froth the following 'letter, pnblished in a Vienna newiPapei, and dated from Odesia, Septem ber I: " Many inhabitants 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 practice. At first the commander, Count Annenkoff, thought the enemy was about to attack us, and the garrison was kept ready for ac tion, but the real state of things soon became evident. The enemy has not 'yet attacked us, but We are in hourly expec tatiOn he will do so. • A great many ships are Sailing in a westerly direction. The enemy will certainly menace 'all the places on the coast of the Black Sea at one and the same time, in order to keep our army fully occupied. Akermann, Odessa, Oczakoff, Kinburu, Perekop, Eupatoria, Sebastopol, and, indeed, all the places up to Anal*, will 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 fro pa the land as from the pea aide. Between Sebastopol and 111140- lava there are live strong detached forts, which are garri soned by a sufficient numker of troops. The road front Balaklava to Yalta is rendered impassable alid partly minefl. The coast between Sebastopol and Eupatorie is defended at unequal distances by batteries consisting fax howit zers. There are three forts at Eupatoria, one on the north, a second on the east, and a third on the nit aide. 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 iv 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 25,000 men. Prince Menschikoff is sued a proclamation on the 3rd, in which he prepared the people for a resistance to the very last. I asp unable to 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 victeries gained by the Rus sians in the course of this century, end then calls op his soldiers to show themselves equal to their preileegesors in bravery and power of endtrauce. If the enemy, 1413 a con sequence of the inscrutable will of Owen, should obtain a victory, then let the whole store et powder gq with him into the air. The conclusion of the proclamation'', Rather let us 4ie than puerender to the enemy.' Our army is very much cast dinen; The news of the fall of Bomarsund bas much depressed military men, as affill high as low. prom the interior of Russia, especially from the ppighbonritood of Novogorod, reinforcements Kaye arrived within the last few days, but they du not remain here, as their destination is I.sczakoff and Kherson. Troops have also artiset! front the Dpinubian srn,y." On the Ist of September there was a sad catas trophe. A Turkish steamer, used to tow off the troop-boats fTom the pier to the transports, ran don 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. Tbq captain of the boat has been arrested and placed id prison. This event has much disheititened the Zouaves, just as they were beginning to recover from the depression created' by their losses in Om Dobrudspbs. THE WAR IN ASIA. The following sketch of the state of the Turkish army in Asia will be rend with interest. After stating that the Turkish offi cers had enclesiyouTed to throw the whole blame of their ill-success on General Guyon I and retnarking that the general is, in point of authority; a mere cypher, with the privilebe 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 wit .t 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 hie men, or exhorted them to be steady, whilst majors and colonels Were invisible. As a general rule, the subalterns behaved extremely well, whilst all grades, beginning pith the coldssi or captain adjutant, covered themselves with shame. There we a few noble exceptions, where colonels displayed the most un doubted courage. I myself saw several weeping like children when their battalions opened and disbanded; but the above rule will hold good, and is undeniable. The cavalry behaVed disgracefully ; not only did they not once charge, but it the first good ronnd discbargp they turned and fled. General 'Guyon, wishing to check the destruc tive activity of a Russian battery playing upon the left wing, drew• up two regitrents 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, leaying Guyon alone. The artillery behaved excellently, and main tained its former reputation for gallantry and disci line. To its well-directed discharges of grape may be attributed the 'serious loss sustained by the Itusstana, particularly 'in cavalry. The foreign office's 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 theni by the latter. With respect to the ambulance arrangements, they were miserable. Every wounded man was carried off the field by one or two comrades; consequently • the battalions melted away sensibly. The medical stall you at a considerable distance from the field of action, and could render no great relief. I believe that but npp spreon dressed the wounded tinder Ore, and lie was an English man, Di.. f' raspy . The litisusians did not behave brilliantly. It w , - only by exposing their lives to an A.l , ly • . - unusual degree that th e officers could draw on the infantiy. The artillery was *badly directed, the range being generally too low. But the cavalry, that is to say, the Russian dragoons, shone admirably, and by their grtaistible pluck decided the action. Altonshwhole ranks were momed down by the Turkish artillery, the remainder closed *gain witlyint hesitating, and pursued th eir deadly charge. The Commits, like the Turkish bashi-haFoults. proved themselyea perfectly harmless. In eopFluding my 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 allay should have behaved so badly, whilst on the Danube the same rye of men have disp,layed umisnal bravery. Tbis in) st e r y is solvable. On the Danube there are wally filft l3 l tna p , p who are better disciplined than the TOMEI soldiers ; and then Omer Pscha has 'accustomed his men to stand fire by bringing them into timelier engagements, and thus preparing them tor 002014 m a general ectig• slit the great reason is tins---on the Danube there com mands a soldier ; in Anatolia , a civilian. With did bees will in the world, Zarif Pacha could not have expected to conduct a campaign with success, wanting as he Is in every military knowledge. His only hope lay in in the Europeans 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 d ig- played rib animosity." The precipitate and unexpected retreat of the Russianh took every one by surprise, and has called forth a variety of ettrmiseS to account for it. The motives, probebly, ar,e complex. In that country of irregular hordes; where no 'rule is established beyond that of the cl ief of the tribe, a victory does little htii disperse bands wh - o assemble again to m or r ow, A ar meanwhile the country beComes exhausted of lig means of eupply ? ap4 nty irregular bands are P ew ' ing forth WAttlft.ek . au enemy weakened by hip' sE4 successes. There pay be; hpsides, more definite reasons in thp present instance. i3charnylls dreaddi presence in tile near neighbourhood of Tiflis 4ap hurriedly called the Russian general away to defer.] the Georgian capital against this much more terrible enemy than 4ftrif Pacha. He has probably strengthened the F arrison of Guwri, and marched the remainder of his force to check the invading hordes of the Daghistanee chief. To so check Schamyl, however, Bebutoffs 25,000 men are not likely to be of much avail, if what is authoritatively stated is correct, that, before six. weeks from lijs present time, the neighbouring coast of Circassis will be the scene of some important operations on the ~irii.