The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-07 00:00:00

94' . 3 ElMlMMlMMEMMMilmimommiiinems THE PRESS. QUERIES FOR THE Laurels ! guerdon for the brave! Hear the jolly tiding ! Willing arms from Alma's wave To his granite ramparts gave Nicholas a hiding. Tell us, Emperor serene, Have we to thank Aberdeen? Should we hail this glorious day Had your old friend had his way? Chastisement is not ill luck ; It was long accruing; British valour, Gallic pluck, As he chose to run a muck, Pitch'd it into Bruin. Tell us, Emperor serene, Have we to thank Aberdeen? Should we hail this glorious day Had your old friend had his way ? Menschikoff with all his clan — His Crimean levy— Tartars—Calmucks from Kagan— Queerer lots from Astrachan — Had it hot and heavy. Tell us, Emperor serene, Have we to thank Aberdeen? Should we hail this glorious day Had your old friend had his way ? Menschikoff for his mistake May lament in alto ; If his carpet-bag we take, To the Sultan we can make A present of his paletot. Tell us, Emperor serene, Have we to thank Aberdeen? Should we hail this glorious day Had your old friend had his way ? Bruin's vaunts have come to nil. Where's his ultimatum? From his carcase, if we will, At our ease we can distil Excellent pomatum. Tell us, Emperor serene, Have we to thank Aberdeen? Should we hail this glorious day Had your old friend had his way ? SATURDAY, lines of communication are open with Kertch to the east, and with Perekop to the north. As reinforcements pour in to the allies on one side, and to MENScHIKOFF on the other, the warfare will assume mightier proportions, and be less likely to meet with speedy decision. Thus far MENSCHIKOFF seems to have shown good generalship, but we are entirely without data of his loss on the 20th. Our troops have suffered severely, and we are glad to perceive that the claims of the widows and orphans of the gallant fellows who are freely shedding their blood in our service have met with influential advocacy, and that a public appeal is made on their behalf. If the northern telegraph does not lie as broadly as the eastern, there will be work for Old CHARLEY'S fleet before the ice seals up the Baltic ports yet. A despatch from Copenhagen relates that " the order " for the return of the fleets has been countermanded," and that " steamers have been sent to fetch back the ships sailing homewards.' The fleets, then, had been ordered home in the first instance, and, whatever movement is in contemplation, much valuable time has been lost. Surely there must be some wretched bungling at home, or such contradictory instructions would never be given. The investigation into the affair aboard the Dauntless proves how easily what is called " public" indignation may be excited against innocent persons when they happen to bear her Majesty's commission. One of the accused gentlemen left the court "without a stain on his " character," and of the other nothing more could be said than that he had been as thoughtless and as imprudent as sailors are apt to be when " three sheets in the wind." But is it no excuse for him that ho had returned from Bomarsund only the day before ? The virtuous mob, which was so indignant at the notion of an outrage to a woman, would have torn the other unfortunate girl, EMMA LODGE, to pieces, if she had not been rescued by the police, because in her evidence she spoke the truth, and thus disappointed the said mob, which expected her to confirm all the slander their prejudice had conceived. The honourable and humane commander of the Dauntless must, we are sure, have been as deeply grieved as any man could be that the nasty carouse should have occurred aboard his ship. That there is a remedy for such mischief cannot be doubted. The captains of ships and of companies must consider themselves (fifty years ago they did so) as standing to their juniors, very strictly, in loco parentis. At all events, ships and barracks may be kept as clear of open pollution as colleges and mercantile establishments. Vke may, at least, be made to slink and go stealthily. Young men must not be left for days and nights to roam about the streets, or to gamble and drink and fight in barracks, or else the blood shed in battle will be nothing to the reckless self-sacrifice of the parent who gives his child to her Majesty's service. CZAR. THE WEEK. A WEEK of so great excitement, of such eager inquiry for intelligence, of questioning and debating, rejoicing and doubting, we, whose recol lection scarcely can go back to Waterloo, have never known. On Saturday night the intelligence that a great battle had been fought and won in the Crimea, first circulated in the metropolis. The Lord Mayor announced it from the steps of the Exchange, and in crowded theatres it was the most welcome part of the evening's entertainment. On Monday morning the Park guns were fired, and message after message speeding along the electric wires announced that Sebastopol had fallen as a consequence of the battle of the Alma. Tuesday brought confirmation of the report, and few doubted it. Wednesday, though still the telegraph was busy in its transmission of lies, men. began to reason on probabilities, and there was general disbelief But, up to the hour when the Extraordinary Gazette was issued, the country at large believed that Russian pride and power were effectually humbled, and that Sebastopol was in possession of the allies. That these reports of the fall of the great fortress, and of the total destruction of the Russian fleet and garrison, should have prevailed for nearly a week is a proof not only of extraordinary credulity on the part of the public, which would be intelligible, but of credulity on the part of high officials and acute journalists almost without parallel. The City men alone were not deceived. The funds didnot rise, and for once the decisive announcements in the Times failed to gain credence on the Stock Exchange. Nor is this surprising. When the accounts came to be analysed they were all found referrible to the authority of a wandering Tatar who was in search of OMER PACHA. This Tatar arrived at Bucharest on the 30th September, the very day when our Government despatches announcing the battle of the Alma had reached Belgrade. This seemed suspicious, as very little time was left for the receipt of further arrivals from the Crimea. More over, none of the Consulates at Bucharest received any advices of the astounding tidings which the Tatar loudly proclaimed. How could this be accounted for? It was suggested that their despatches might be in the packet addressed to OMER PACHA, but such a course would be unusual. Besides, the Ministers of the Porte are not usually the most prompt in communicating intelligence, and, when first hours and then days passed without authentic confirmation of the Tatar's story, it seemed more probable that his tale should be false than that the various embassies at Constantinople should be so remarkably remiss in the transmission of news of such vast im portance. What gave colour to the opinion that the intelligence was fabulous was the fact that the report of the fall of Sebastopol prevailed even before intelligence was received of the battle of the Alma. Thus in the Vienna letter, dated Sept. 29, published in,the Times of Wednesday, it was stated : " Yesterday afternoon it was whispered that two forts had been taken by the allies and in the evening several Greek firms, which are notorious for their caution, bought up stock," &c. This referred to transactions on the 28th, and from that date the " two forts" figured in all the despatches announcing the glorious vic tory of the allies. Lastly, it seemed highly probable that, if the events had occurred as stated, some confirmation of them must have reached us via St. Petersburg. On Wednesday a despatch from that city, dated the 3rd, announced the receipt of advices from Prince MENSCHIROFF to the 26th, stating that he had retired to Baktschi Serai without opposition, whereupon it was insisted that the despatch must have been dated the 20th and not the 26th, as it took eleven days from Sebastopol to St. Petersburg. But an inspection of the distance soon showed that six or seven days is sufficient to transmit despatches from one point to the other, and hence it became highly probable that what took place at Sebastopol on the 26th would be known at St. Petersburg on the 3rd. In future there is less likelihood of any fabulous reports obtain ing such general currency. We now know with tolerable exactitude within what time we may expect news of importance. The despatches from our camp at Bala Cleve, dated the 28th, reached London about noon on the sth—a period of seven days only—and, with this fact be fore us, it is the more suspicious that acute journalists should have thought it possible that the great European capitals should have known nothing of an event of such magnitude as the capture of the Sebastopol defences, twelve days after it occurred, except through the gossipping revelations of a wandering Tatar in search of OMER PACHA. The sober details from Bala Cleve are not likely to be very welcome, falling, as they must do, so far below public expectation. The tele graphic messages of the week, with a little filling up, would form a grand theatrical spectacle. A comic man bringing in Prince MENSCHI 'OFF prisoner, with a halter round his neck, a vivandiere heading a column of infantry and boarding the Twelve Apostles, with all the thunder of those innumerable guns from ships, and forts, and heights, which one of our daily contemporaries described in that forcible article wherein the voluptuous NICHOLAS, in the midst of his Sybarite Court, was so graphically described, would make up a magnificent tableau. But the cravers for excitement and the caterers to it may find som e thing to comfort them in the latter part of the Government despatch — the allied forces were about to march on Sebastopol, and it is to be feared that there will be desperate work still before the place is won. The force which MENSCHIROFF has at his disposal can be little inferior to that of the allies There must still have been a numerous garrison in Sebastopol when lie rested with his army on the heights of Alma. If he has 20,000 men with him at Baktschi Serai, it is proballe that 80,000 or 40,000 guard the lines of Sebastopol. From his position his !",r 1 !!,7"'"" A ■