The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-02 00:00:00

11. 11111 V 5 ‘0 , • . _ --714 C11r7 THE PRESS. 828 THE W E E K. THE gallant spirit of the nation will be severely wounded by the in telligence of the abandonment of the Crimea expedition. On this point there can no longer be room for doubt. Marshal ST. ARNAUD was about to summon a council of war, and councils of war we know do not fight. The Emperor NICHOLAS has gained a mighty victory without striking a blow. Action was delayed till the sickly season came on, and pestilence had wofully thinned the ranks and broken down the spirits of the allied army. The campaign is over—the year is lost. Who is to blame? That is the question which now will ring through the country. It will be asked too—Was not this boasted ex pedition a mere sham ? Was not its abandonment foreknown ? Three weeks ago—on the 12th of August—there appeared in our leading columns words which now seem prophetic : " General officers will not forfeit their military reputation nor entail disasters on their country to help the gambling chances of a desperate Ministry. The grand expedition authoritatively announced as des tined for the capture of Sebastopol will prove as delusive as other announcements of a like kind put forth to amuse the public for some months past." The secret of our prescience is soon told—we knew Lord ABERDEEN. The stress and pain of war, though hitherto there has been no fighting, are beginning to be painfully felt in many a home. Sickness has carried off numbers of our brave fellows in the East, both ashore and afloat. Each division seems to have lost from 100 to 150 men, and, among those unvisited, health was but comparative, all the troops being much enfeebled. The French army, however, has sustained losses which must be counted by thousands. On some of the ships the pestilence fell like the sweep of a destroying angel's wing. The disease broke out simultaneously in several ships : the Britannia lost fifty men in the first twenty hours, and thirty more in the next twenty hours. The sailmakers were exhausted by their labours in sewing up hammocks—the seaman's shroud and coffin—and, minding their duty too strictly, were sometimes seized at their work. The last accounts say that the health both of the troops and ships was much improving: often the pestilence departed as suddenly as it came, silent, inscrutable, tra versing the ship like a living thing, then floating away on the air when its deadly mission was done. The officers aboard suffered little, though, as regarded midshipmen and others, they fared to all appearance no better than the men in either diet or berths. Those, however, who escaped free seem to have been much enfeebled, not in spirit only, but in physical condition. No movement from Varna had been made on the 19th, and the troops, the French in particular, were incensed at their long inaai vity, suffering as they had done. The fact cannot be conce aled that there has been fearful mismanagement somewhere. The cause of the fire does not seem to have been discovered. Some innocent Greeks, we fear, fell victims to the exasperation of the soldiery. In an Eastern town, when- the weather is dry, and an im mense number of careless strangers are assembled, smoking and drinking, it is easy to understand how a fire may occur without attri buting it to incendiarism. Some army stores were lost, but the most important escaped uninjured. In Asia the report of the battle between the Russian army under Prince BEBOUTOFF, and the Turkish army of Kars, on the Oth ult , turns out to be correct. The fight was obstinate and not deci sive: " the Turks," says BEBOUTOFF in his despatch, " displayed a " resistance such as the oldest of our soldiers had never witnessed " before." The loss in killed and wounded on each side seems to have been about equal, from 2,000 to 3,000, but the Russians took 2,000 prisoners and fifteen guns. The Turks retreated much discouraged, At present, therefore, the Russians are masters of the country. From the Baltic- we hear that the allied fleets had appeared off Hango on the 16th. The Russians blew up their fortifications and retreated to Abo, where a large body of troops was collected. The Aland Islands are to be evacuated,—a proof, it is supposed, that Sweden will not join the allies, or provision would have been made for their occupation. Vienna, the seat of diplomacy, where Austria fights all her battles, and gains continual victories, has been busy of late. Last week diplo matic notes told how bases of peace had been arranged ; now we have a note from Count Bum, of prior date, tending to throw some light on the policy of the Austrian Cabinet. It is addressed to the Austrian Ministers in Paris and London, and is written as a commentary on that Russian answer to the Austrian summons to evacuate the Princi palities, which was dated the 29th of last June. It is only important as showing that, upon this very indecisive and unsatisfactory reply; Count Buot. inferred that negotiations for peace might be built. " What aim," he asks, "have the endeavours of the Powers constantly " had other than the return of a firm and lasting peace ?" And, again, " The belligerent Powers will doubtless, therefore, feel it their duty " maturely and conscientiously to consider whether the tenor of the " answer of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg does not contain such germs " of arrangement as might pave the way for a definitive pacification." And this when the Russian .Cabinet had declared that it could not, for strategical considerations, abandon the military positions it had SATURDAY, taken up in the Principalities. The latest intelligence from Vienna intimates that the Russian and Austrian Courts seem likely to come to an agreement, and that orders had been despatched to check the advance of the Austrian forces. In home politics the most remarkable event is the meeting at Newcastle on the management of the mar. There was a large and respectable assemblage, and decided language was used. Thus Mr. CRAWSHAY said—" I feel it is time to break up this Coalition;" and Mr. Arrwoon spoke of the expulsion of Ministers from office amid cheers which checked his voice for some minutes. The meeting was furious at every allusion to the "dark and deadly Austria" of Comm. Matters have mended in Spain. In Madrid, as in other Euro pean capitals, the soldiery proved themselves the guardians of order. After O'DossEr.t.'s troops had entered the capital the violence of the clubs abated, and the order for their suppression was obeyed without a murmur. Queen CHRIBTINL had taken her departure from the capital without opposition. O'DONNELL appears to be the most energetic member of tho Government. BEAunret bountiful nature has this year bestowed on us her warmest smiles. She has come with both hands full of ripe, heavy, golden grain, scattering over tho wide surface of the country the blessings of abundance, with Hope, and Mirth, and Plenty, and all kind deities of household life, about her, to cheer and gladden the hearts of toiling millions. Wherever the plough has broken up the soil, and seed been scattered into the bosom of the earth, the cultivator is now reaping an ample return for his care. Rarely has the earth borne a richer harvest. The most inexperienced eye, as it glanced over the waving field of ruddy or yellow corn, could mark how thickly the stalks grew, how tall and straight they rose, how the heavy ear gently bent with its weight of wealth. In some districts the oats appeared even more luxuriant than the wheat, and sunk their plumy heads beneath light showers of rain. From the extreme dryness of the air and the heat of the sun the corn has remained in the fields, after reaping, a much shorter time than usual, so the symmetrical shocks which give au aspect of order to the labours of husbandry soon disappeared from the stubble-fields, and the plough began its labours for another year. By this date an immense quantity of grain must have been secured in the finest order: the yield and weight are almost universally described as very good, and from the high prices of the last two years a much greater breadth of land was sown than usual. Thus from natural laws, when price is not interfered with, abundance results from comparative scarcity. Agricultural statistics would be useful now to determine how far we are likely to be independent of foreign supplies. Abroad the crops have been generally plentiful, especially in Canada, but it is questionable whether prices will fall to the range of three or four years back. Gold, notwithstanding Sir R. MURCHISON'S predictions to the contrary, pours plentifully in from the Californian and Australian mines. The world's population—its civilised portion at least—is fast increasing in numbers and wealth, and thus rapidly absorbs the pre cious metal. Still the addition of so many millions of gold (certainly not less than a hundred millions since the first discovery in the valley of the Sacramento) is likely to have some influence in enhancing prices. Ships from Australia with tons of gold, valued at one, two, or three hundred thousand pounds sterling, which at one time would have been hailed with ringing of bells, and firing of guns. and shouts of multitudes, continually come up the Mersey and Thames, and excite no more remark than if they were colliers. In spite of war and its drain, the funds are high and buoyant, the rate of money easy, and we may boast, as a nation, in being just now blessed with a most abundant crop of both grain and gold. Other topics of our domestic history are less cheering. The cholera and diarrhoea last week carried off upwards of one thousand souls. The Beard of Health, as was to , be expected, seems to have done nothing to abate the pestilence. Sewer-gratings continue untrapped in every street, sending up poisonous gases. From wealthy Belgravia some persons waited on one of the police magistrates this week to know what steps could be taken to have the drains trapped, which bred pestilence to the neighbourhood. The magistrate could only recommend them to the Board of Health, which would probably recommend them to some other place, while the inhabitants were being recommended by the "fell sergeant" to the nearest undertaker. In such cases as these the Board of Health—if it be more than a name—should not wait to have applications made to it. Its officers should be on the search for nuisances, and the plain direction of " follow your nose" would always be sufficient guidance. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. (At the service of the Coalition Journals.) FREE COMPANION:-.." Sheennonsense" is a good compound word, partly derived from the Saxon and partly the Latin. It is applied (and we think properly) by the Secretary of State for Home Affairs to describe the arguments of the .Secretary to the Treasury. MiC•TALLETRAND (Aberdeenshire).—l ou hare won the bet. The present Earl of Aberdeen did not negotiate the Barrier Treaty. To your second question, we have no idea by what process he means to restore the Orleanists, nor why his organs abused Napoleon 111. till the .Russians had entered the Principalities. To your third queoion, the Austrians have secured to themselves the showman's choice," anything they please." BUCK-EYE.—Mrs. Stowe is quite. correct as relates to Mr. Macaulay—he does "seize on an " idea, and tarn it inside out, and Jake it on all sides," so well that Andrew Marvell or Pens trnnld hardly know hie own rt:so;o. 1 \ 111