The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

1112 officers of the Guards wore buried together near the wind mill. The work of burying the dead and carrying the wounded to Balaklava ocoupied the day. The Russians are quiet. Nov 7.—A council of war was held to-day, at the close of which the Duke of Cambridge left fur Balaklava and went on board the Caradoc. His Royal Highness is, it is said, going to Constantinople. It is said we wait here all the winter. The 48th Regiment have arrived here, also 1,700 Turks from Volo, and 2,800 French. The Russians fired on our burying parties. There was an alarm last night. The fourth division were under arms all night, and a portion of the second division. I have no time to add more. We must have men at once, and abundance of them. Another writer says : The allies, having received considerable reinforcements on the Bth, 7th and Bth, made a demonstration against the Russian left flank. The Russians evacuated the plateau and retired to the right bank of the Tschernaya. The allies were overjoyed at the arrival of the reinforcements, which were coming in at the rate of 1,000 per day. At the councils of war here mentioned it is be lieved that resolutions were adopted for deferring any assault on Sebastopol until the arrival of large reinforcements. The French say that they could take the town by three ways at any time they chose, but that it would be almost impossible to retain their position in the present reduced state of the forces. The troops are preparing huts for the winter, and hourly expecting reinforcements. Should the wea ther prove cold and unfavourable, with much wet, it is feared they may be compelled to raise the siege. Every preparation is making for keeping the men housed as comfortably as possible under the circum stances. Wooden huts are to be sent out, and every thing done to enable them to keep out the cold. Stone is in such plenty on the ground occupied by the troops that they can easily construct small huts of stone with the tents they now use for roofs, and, so constructed, fires can be made, and heat kept up to any degree they may want. CHANGES IN THE COMMAND. The command of the brigade of Guards has de volved upon Colonel the Hon. George Upton, who is himself wounded slightly. Colonel Thorn, of the 20th, is acting brigadier in the fourth division, in place of General Torrens, and Major .General Codrington commands the light division during the absence of Sir George Brown. Colonel Richard James Dacres was appointed by a general order, issued on the 6th instant, successor to the deceased Brigadier-General Strangways. THE PRISONERS. Two hundred and eighty prisoners, not wounded or only metely grazed, fell into our hands. One among them is about the largest and most powerful man in the camp of the allies. He stands nearly six feet six inches, and is broad in proportion. He surrendered when pursued without attempting resist ance. The Russian soldiers were infinitely inferior in ap pearance to those who were met at Alma; but in all that relates to discipline and courage far superior. They were all clean, but ragged in the extreme. None had knapsacks, but merely a little canvass bag of that disgusting naw-eous looking stuff they call their bread. No other provisions was found on any. The knapsacks probably were left behind, in order that they might scale the heights on our right with greater facility. Every man wore strong well-made Wellington boots, of a stoutbut rough-looking brown leather. On none were found either money or books. On many were miniatures of women and locks of hair. They appear to have been veteran troops, as a large number bore the scars of previous wounds. The dead officers, as at Alma, were with difficulty to be distinguished from the men. Their officers be haved very well. THE CAVALRY CHARGE OF THE 25th. Respecting the fatal charge at the battle of Bala klava, the verbatim copy of Lord Raglan's.order which was delivered, or should have been delivered to Lord Lucan by Captain Nolan, has been pub lished. It ran thus : Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent their carrying away the guns. Troop of horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on the left—lmmediate. R. AIREY. The returns of loss in that charge have been made up and show that the results, though terrible, fall short of previous impressions : CAVALRY. Men—Killed or missing Wounded 197 Officers—Killed or missing Wounded ARTILLERY. Officer wounded Man killed Cavalry horses killed 528 Artilleg hprees killed l3 SteoMOO killed THE PRESS. SIEGE JOURNAL OF GENERAL CA.NROBERT. A continuation of the official journal of siege opera tions drawn up by General Canrobert has been pub lished in the Noniteur. The period comprised in this new series of notes extends from the 22nd to the 26th ult., both days inclusive : Oct. 22, 13th day.—During the day we continue enlarg ing the first parallel and the branch trenches both behind and in front, and also the communications with our parks of artillery. On the left of our line of attack we have been several times obliged to set up again the gabionade which has been levelled by the balls of the enemy, and to recon struct the top with fascines. During the night we enlarge and deepen parts of the trenches. Notwithstanding these labours, the right part of the communications between the first and second parallels is not yet covered, the work being impeded by the nature of the soil. At the right extremity of the first penile}, the artillery men have traced a battery of eight guns for playing on the Fagstafi Bastion. Two loops keep up the communication between this battery and the first parallel. The enemy's fire, very warm during the day, has been Mildly, if at all, kept up during the night. The enemy, abandoning the batteries played upon by our guns, is hastily opening others in their rear. He places cannon wherever he can be sheltered from rifles, and fires from the most distant points of his defences. The fire on the part of the attack is well directed. The bombs of the battery No. 9 ( Turkish guns), having four mortars oftwenty-seven centimetres, and three of twenty two centimetres, do not always explode, or do so too soon. The Turkish projectiles are defective. The fire of the riflemen who go out and fire from behind sacks of earth (the franc-tireurs) is beginning to produce good results, and often causes the fire of the place to slacken. The bombs of the battery No. 3 have kindled several fires in the city but they do not spread. Oct. 23, 14th day.—ln the night between the 22nd and 23rd ( 14th night) a conflagration broke out about three in the morning, between the tower ruined by our attack and the central part of the city : it lasted till daybreak, but made little shoW.- A Russian twodecker, that had filed off to the south ' western part of the southern harbour, and which had been firing on the English left, has disappeared. During the day we enlarge and dig the parts of the second parallel, and of the communications cpened in the previous night; we repair the others, and continue enlarging and deepening the communications in the rear. During the night we execute the part traced out of the second parallel, from the ravine to the communication on the right, and commence the ipaulement. The other works are continued. From eight o'clock to half-past eleven in the forenoon, and from half-past one to half-past four in the afternoon, the fire of the besieged has been very hot ; it has not been very destructive to lite, but all the embrasures of the battery No. 2 have been demolished. At one in the afternoon General George Brown sends to the corps of observation requesting its support, as the enemy had been signalled on the side of Inkermann. It is ascertained that what had been perceived is a convoy of the enemy on the Simferopol road, guarded by some Russian troops. This incident has no sequel. The Russian cavalry that was blockading Eupatoria at a distance gets bolder, and on the morning of the 23rd from 5,000 to 6,000 horsemen made their appearance on the heights that hound the horizon of the town. A few rockets discharged at them compelled them to retire. Oct. 24, 15th day.—By day we remove a large number of blocks of stone that impeded the way ; we make steps for crossing in front of the ravine, and we dig deeper holes for the greater protection of the fatigue parties. Dy night we push on the works of the second parallel, wißch is completed by day. We work on the communica tions : the general of the engineers has just traced, at six in the evening, a rectification of the seventh and eighth ap proaches found to have been defective. The English have constructed, to the left of the ravine of the southern port, to the right of our works of attack, a battery of four guns, which they armed this morning, and from which they are now firing. The fire of the Russians began in a very active and hur ried manner about seven in the morning. It annoyed our workmen at first ; then it slackened a little, and continued in a uniform manner till nightfall, when it almost entirely ceased. Every evening the guns, carriages, merlons, and openings of the embrasures of the numerous works in Sebastopol are found to be more or less damaged ; but during the night the injury done to the covering masses is repaired by means of sacks of earth, and the armament is restored by the help of guns and new carriages. It is nevertheless remarked that the besieged no longer fire bombs and shells so often, and the shots from the Quarantine Battery are aimed less accurately. During the night the battery No. 2 (of the marines) has been thoroughly restored, which increases the number of guns in battery by six. In the evening, between nine and ten o'clock, a brisk cannonade, but of short duration, was opened on the right of our works. It did very little harm, although the Russians fired grape. The enemy, it would seeni, was fearful of an offensive movement on our part, and was very restless all night. The advance of our works to four hundred metres from the place appears to disturb him. During the day a body of Russian troops was seen in the upper part of the Tschernaya valley, near the village of Tschernaya ; the part in sight of these forces was about fifteen battalions, with from three to four hundred cavalry and artillery. To-day the general-in-chief is having a redoubt con structed on the right of the English lines, on a spur of land SATURDAY, which, sloping down, runs into the valleyof the Tschernsya. But for this precaution the enemy could easily climb up to the tableland and take the English and French positions, covering the siege in reverse, by forcing them at their point of j unction. Oct 25, 18th day.—During the day we enlarge and deepen the first and second parallels and approaches where they are imperfect. By night we continue the same works, and prepare the construction of fresh batteries. These works are difficult ; we have continually to excavate rock, and are obliged, in order to effect this, to resort to blasting and mining. During the day of the With the firing from the place has been constantly brisk; the fire was mainly directed against the parallels, and especially the spots where the filmes tireurs are ; these soldiers distresa the enemy a great deal. In the early part of the night the enemy's tire ceased, but at halfpaat eight and at two in the morning it covered the points of attack with grape for a quarter of an hour each time. This firing produced no result, and wounded only one man. . The enemy has commenced throwing up a fresh battery in front of the right face of the Flagstaff Bastion. Our bombs fall true on the defences and into the place ; the fire of the incendiary fusees does not appear to produce as yet any great effects. During the afternoon an enemy's bomb fell into one of the powder magazines of the (marine) battery No. 2, and ex ploded it. The powder chests were only half full. In con- sequence of the precautions that had been taken, this event had no disastrous consequences. The battery continues its fire regularly. At half-past seven in the morning the general-in-chief was informed that the Russians were marching on Bala klava against the English. He galloped up to the tableland which we occupy, and from there took the 2nd brigade (Vinoy) of the Ist division along the tops of the hills that slope down on our right to Balaklava, and went to support the English, and made a good junction with them. The Ist brigade ( Espinasse ) of this division guarded the pas sage of the ravine with the battery of the division and the brigade of African Chasseurs ; the Turks occupied the re doubts and the works armed with cannon. A body of infantry, Chasseurs, and Zouaves, armed with rifles and muskets of long range, lined the intrenchmenta prepared for them. The troops of the third division were in position behind the crests of the hills ; the horse artillery of the reserve, on the right of this division, was in harness and ready to march. These arrangements taken, the general•in-chief pro ceeded to a central point of the crest, between the neck and the telegraph, not far from Lord Raglan, in order to take a survey. Having failed in an offensive movement on their left against the guarded heights of Balaklava, the Russians advanced with their centre and their right against the ad vanced redoubts constructed by the English, and which they had caused to be occupied by the Turks. The enemy's cavalry, pouring in between the redoubts, where the Rus sian infantry came to its support, advanced in one strong body against the English brigade of heavy cavalry that was ranged along the gardens of Balaklava on the outside. The English cavalry bravely awaited this charge at one hundred metres. Then, getting into motion, it dashed against the heads of the Russian columns, and, after a fight from the very first iu its favour, compelled them to wheel about, and overthrew all the Russian cavalry, which flew in disorder very far beyond the redoubts, and thus flying drew away with it the enemy's infantry, which had been stationed iu the two redoubts nearest to us. _ _ . The English brigade of light cavalry, drawn up like three sides of a square, not far from the scene of this brilliant action, was unfortunately not able to take part in it and complete it. The light and heavy brigades uniting, the whole division of Earl Lucan rode towards the line of the redoubts perpendicularly to this line, having its right to• wards Balaklava. - - The English division thus confronted the Russians, who endeavoured to recover from the cheek they had sustained, and reinforced with infantry the redoubt furthest from Balaklava, and which remained in their possession ; this redoubt forming the centre around which they had just manceuvred. In the meantime two divisions of English infantry, with their artillery, descended into the plain of Balaklava, guarded the approaches to this spot, and drew up in two lines between the cavalry and I3alaklava. Finding the left of the cavalry to be lather exposed, G eneral Canrobert had it supported by our brigade of African Chasseurs, the regiments of which, under the orders of General Monis, formed in echelons behind the left wing, composed of the English light brigade. Moreover, the first brigade of the first division crowned the redoubt next to our positions, forming in this manner a strong line of support behind the Earl of Lucan's cavalry. At this moment the English cavalry advanced. This movement exposed it not merely to the fire in front from the enemy's artillery, but also to that of a Russian battery placed under the protection of five battalions, on the high ground of the Tschernaya, and which played on their left wing, both flankwise and obliquely In order to disengage the English from this fire, which besides causing them losses, hampered their movement,' General Morris ordered up General d'Allonville with the African Chasseurs, three squadrons of which charged this battery in succession, and cut down the enemy's foot sol diers where they stood ; the latter received them with a well-sustained lire from two ranks, which, fortunately, was not very destructive. The Russian artillery tolled off, and appeared no more for the day ; the five battalions fell back behind the posi tion, remaining on the other side of it. This movement, executed with as ninch intelligence as brilliant boldness, completely disengaged the English left, costing us only ten men killed, two of them officers, and twenty-eight wounded. ~. -