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

942 proceeded to make formal proclamation of the event from the steps of the Royal Exchange. The Park and Tower guns fired salutes on Monday at sunrise. In the course of Sunday and Monday the tidings flew about England and Ireland, eliciting everywhere tokens of joy and triumph. Paris was illuminated on Monday evening. In many French towns there were salutes, flag hoistings, and other triumphal performances. The Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Buol Schannstein, on behalf of his Majesty the Emperor Francis Joseph, transmitted to the Emperor of the French his sincere congratu lations on the brilliant success of his arms in the Crimea, and to add, that he heartily associates him self in all the hopes which are attached to them. This message was conveyed by M. Hubner to M. Drouyn de l'Huys, and published in Wednesday's Monfteur. FURTHER PROCEEDINGS. Within a few hours of the publication of the despatches announcing the victory of the Alma, Loudon and Paris were startled by tidings that Sebas topol had been taken by a coup de main. This intelligence was accompanied by a variety of circum stantial details which gave it apparent authenticity. Fort Constantine, on the north side of the har bour, was said to have been blown up, Fort Alexan der taken, six Russian ships sunk, and 18,000 Russian soldiers killed. Prince Menschikoff, it was added, retreated into the inner harbour, where he threatened to blow up his remaining ships and forti fications it' the attack continued. Six hours had been granted him to consider whether he would not prefer a capitulation "for the sake of humanity." This story agitated the public mind for four days, and obtained extensive belief, notwithstanding its evident improbability, and the almost miraculous rapidity of the military operations which it inferred; for this assault on Sebastopol was stated to have taken place upon the 23rd, only the third day after the battle on the Alma. Still the tale came to us repeated from so many points, and occasionally with additional particulars, that at length it was almost accepted as veracious, and the Times of Tuesday morning printed the wondrous narrative over again, with the heading " Decisive Intelligence," and published also a leader taking for granted its truth to the fullest extent. Some contradictions, and even impossibilities, of time and locality, were, however, detected by known critics in the details set forth in the story, and although its versions were innumera ble both in London and Paris, yet the origin of all could be traced no further than Bucharest, where the only basis for the report seemed to be the verbal statement given by a Tatar, or courier, bringing despatches from Constantinople to Omer Pacba, which contained, he declared, the authentic an nouncement of the great event. All surmises were, however, set at rest, and the public anxiety appeased and disappointed, by the publication of official despatches bringing down the history of the Crimean expedition to a late date, the 28th ult., and sufficiently proving that, up to that time, Sebastopol had not even been attacked. The despatch appeared also in an Extraordinary Gazette : " Translation of the Exact Copy of a Telegraphic Despatch, received October 5, 10 a.m., and trans mitted by the Agent of England in allachia, at Bucharest, the 30th of September [evidently 3rd of October], 1854, 31 p.m. "Lord Stratford, Constantinople, to Lord Clarendon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, London. " September 30, 1854, at 01 p.m. " The allied armies established their basis of opera tions at Bala Cleve on the morning of the 28th, and were preparing to march without delay upon Sevas topol. The Agamemnon and other vessels of-war of the allies were in the port of Bala Clam There were facilities there for disembarking the battering train. " It is stated that Prince Menschikoff was in the field at the head of 20,000 men, expecting reinforce ments ; that the fortified place of Anapa has been burnt by the Russions ; that its garrison was march ing to the scene of action ; and that a convoy of ammunition, escorted by Cossacks, had been taken and destroyed by an English detachment. " The Banshee, bearer of this news, left the Crimea on the evening of the day before yesterday. " STRATFORD DE REDCIIFFE." There are some geographical perplexities involved in the despatch and an hiatus of time which we have but slender and unauthentic intelligence to fill up. Bala Cleve lies on the coast of the Crimea, several miles to the south of Sebastopol, while the Alma flows into the sea nearly twenty miles to the north of the fortress. Between these two points are two or three rivers, several ridges of high land intersected by deep ravines, and the harbour of Sebastopol itself, which makes a deep incision into the land. To cross from the Alma to Bala Clara also the allies must have cut through Menschikofes line of commu nication between Sebastopol and his military head quarters at Bakchiserai. How the allies got to Bala Cleve is not stated in the official despatch THE PRESS. nor in what operations the interval was occupied between the Alma victory and the 28th, when the forces are briefly announcedas having ar rived at Bala Clava. Vague reports ro-ceived from Vienna and Odessa state that no fighting took place between the 21st and 21th of September, but that on the 25th and following days some san guinary engagements occurred at different points. Among others an encounter is said to have taken place on the Belbec River, about seven miles from Sebastopol, but on the north side of the harbour. Our present information extends no further. At St. Petersburg, on Monday last, a telegraphic despatch arrived from Prince Menschikoff, dated on the 14th (26th) of September. It announced that " the Prince has passed, with all the troops under his command, without obstacle, from the position which he occupied near Sebastopol, on the road to Baktschisarai, where he will concentrate his forces with the reinforce ments which the Hetman Houcoutoff is bringing to him from Kertch and with those which are coming to him from Pcrekop." THE PRINCIPALITIES. The Austrian Commander-in-Chief, Baron Hess, arrived at Jassy on the 20th ult. with eight squadrons of cavalry, and three batteries. The population re ceived the Austrian troops joyfully everywhere. Intelligence from Rutschuk brings some interest ing accounts of the movements of the Turkish army. At the above date all the roads of Bulgaria running towards the shores of the Black Sea, were covered by marching troops—infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Many thousands of waggons were required to convey the provisions, munition, and materiel. The troops were supplied with double rations, but were required to double their marches. Omer Puha gave orders that the march should be sufficiently rapid to ensure the arrival of the troops on the coast by the time of the return of the transport-ships from the Crimea, in order that the embarkation should commence immediately, and the transport be effected at a favourable season. THE WAR IN ASIA. The lithographic news-sheet of Vienna olthe 29th ult. says :—" According to the last accounts which have been received from the theatre of the war in Asia, and which come down to the 17th, the Rus sians are concentrating themselves at Tiflis. The question is, whether all the efforts they are making will succeed in preventing the followers of Schamyl from leaving the mountains, as the operations of that chief are vigorously supported by the Turkish army, which have been reorganised. Up to this time Schamyl has occupied 400 Russian villages. The Russian columns are flying in all directions. Schamyl has made prisoners of more than 800 indi viduals, many of whom are considerable land owners." From Trebisond a letter dated Seat. 10 states : " General Andronikoff, with a superior force, has fortified himself at Urzugheti. The condition of the Ottoman army on the Tschurskou was unsatisfac tory. The Governor of Kars remains active. The Russian outposts have advanced to Untschikilisser again, interrupting the communication with Persia. A second caravan, with 3,000 horses, had been inter cepted. " Schamyl has abandoned the attack upon Tiflis, appearing resolved to co-operate with the allies on the Circassian coast." THE BALTIC. Some further operations, even now, are, it seems, not impossible in the Baltic before the frosts set in. As yet we have no intelligence of any definite inten tion, but it is announced that the French squadron under Admiral Deschenes, which was on its way home, has received orders once more to proceed to the Gulf of Finland and resume communications with Sir C. Napier. The receipt of the Crimea news is reported to have stimulated the naval commanders in the Baltic to fresh enterprises. Admiral Napier is stated to have made a further reconnaissance at Sveaborg. A Paris correspondent of the Daily News writes in very confident terms : I learn that an attack upon Cronstadt is seriously con' templated almost immediately. General Niel, the general of engineers, who distinguished himself in the Baltic by the prominent part he took in the direction of the siege of Bomarsund, reported personally to the Emperor that he believed the attack was practicable this year. This report has been communicated to the English Admiralty, and I have reason to believe that the movement of Admiral Parseval Deschenes portends a more serious enterprise than a finitless sacrifice of life at Revel." A cavalry corps of a somewhat novel character, and comprising nearly one hundred, embarked at Hun gerford-pier on Saturday evening, on their way to Woolwich, whence they sailed on Monday for Gib raltar. This corps is designed for special service in the East. They are designated the Mounted Staff Corps, and consist of men selected for their intelli gence and good conduct from the Irish police and constabulary force principally, and also from the metropolitan police. They all appeared to be men in the very prime of life, above the average height, and to be possessed of great muscular energy. They are accompanied by Major Grant, their commanding ATURDAY, officer, Captain Baynes, and two subalterns—namely, Comets Bugden and Hunton. Their appearance was novel and picturesque. They were dressed in the new regimental tunic, which is a short red frock coat, without epaulettes, tastefully ornamented back and front with black braid, and in which the ease and comfort have been as much consulted as the elegance of the wearer. The headdress consisted of a strong black felt hat, resembling an ordinary helmet in shape, and encased or set in an open-wot•k of brass, in which both taste and durability were combined. They were each armed with a sword, and a Colt's revolver, which they carried in a neat black leather case on the left side. They will join their horses at Gibraltar. The French in the East are proceeding in a most me thodical manner to make their preparations for a long war. They have bought a piece of land at Tophana, and are erecting stores of the most capacious and durable dm. racier, capable of containing provisions and munitions of war for an entire army. The most wonderful feature in the French military character is its power of elaborate and minute organisation. The works in the present instance are being carried out on the most comprehensive and yet the most subdivided scale, and when they are finished everything that the bother can want, from Minie rifles to shoe-blacking, will be ready for him in the proper place. It is much to be wished that a similar establishment were contemplated by the British authorities. It would be at once cheaper and more convenient than the present system of depot vessels. At the present moment there is in the Bosphorus a vessel of 1,200 tons, the Canterbury, which is used fur the purpose of keeping stores in readiness for the army. This ship, with its crew and contingent ex. penses, does not cost the Government less than 16,000/. a year, while it answers its present purpose most inade quately. The vigour and perseverance of our allies are in all things most admirable ; even the manner in which they brought out their army in the small transports was a prodigy of organisation and constructive skill. General de Bodisco has taken up his residence defini tively at the Hotel du Grand-Cerf at Evreux, with his family and aides-de-camp. The whole of the party are paid great attention to by the inhabitants. The ez•Governor of Bomarsund receives the pay officially assigned to his rank, or 166 f. per month. That sum is calculated on the allowance at all times accorded to French officers in Russia. The general lately received a visit from M. de Fontenilliat, attaché to the French embassy at the Court of Stockholm, who, on his return from Sweden, passed through Evreux. A Russian priest, belonging to the Greek Church at Paris, has also visited him. The general, before commanding Bomarsund, where he succeeded General I)ehn, at present Governor of Cronstadt, com manded the military school at Wyborg. He leaves a large family in Russia, having had by his first marriage eight children, some of whom are now officers in the Russian service. THE REPORTS THIS YEAR FROM THE GROUSE MOORS continue to be excessively scanty. The fact is that, instead of sport, the grouse•shooting is becoming a task. The birds have got so very wild that it is more a business of grouse-stalking than grouse. shooting. Tux Towx OF DAROCA, IN ARAGON, has been destroyed by an inundation caused by the bursting of a waterspout formed in the neighbouring lake of Gallocanta. This place, which contains 2,500 inhabitants, is situated in a narrow valley, between two chains of hills. The river Moen runs at the bottom of the valley. Daroca was visited by a similar calamity in the sixteenth century, after which, iu order ti carry oft' the water from the mountains, a sub terraneous channel was cut, which was completed in 1562 by Pierre Bede!, a French architect, and is known as La Mina de Daroca, but it proved on the present occasion inadequate to carry off the mass of water. A Daroca letter of the 12th gives the following account of the catastrophe, which occurred at three p.m. on the 11th. It says :- - An immense waterspout, raised from the lake of (lallocants, was moving itself for a long time over its banks, and came to place itself about a league above the city, but on the declivities leading to it. When this waterspout burst the country was converted into a sea. The waters descended in the direction of the Mina in a torrent of a hundred vards broad, and, as witnessed on their first rush from the heights of the city, seemed mountains which were in mo. tion. The cavity of the Mina, which is ten yards high by ten yards in breadth, and a great fall, could not give pea• sage to that immense mass, and it then begcn to run off, forming a spacious sea, restrained two hundred yards from the city by the magnificent chaussee, which has often hero tofore been its salvation. The waters, however, increaae. l every moment, and, flowing over the chaussee, precipitated themselves on this unfortunate city. The gate of the city, which is of extraordinary size, was not sufficient entrance for them, and an immense lake was formed, which, how ever, endured but a short time, as the walls began to fall down, and the inundation spread everywhere. The wale's beat against and threw down the houses, which, from their position, opposed their current, spread over the piazzas and streets, inundating the wine•cellars, the shops, and the first floors, reaching iu some up to the roofs. The people, breaking down walls, and abandoning everything, retired to the mountains to be spectators of that horrible coat trophe." The loss is described as very great, the effects in the shops carried away, water sulisti' uted for wine in the badegas, many houses breaking up, and in the vela of D a mes everything destroyed. A girl of twenty was carried off by the current, and many children and grown-up per. sons were missing. An exceedingly large number of animals had perished, and among them ninny horses and mules belonging to the farmers. Great praise is bestowed on the 4th company of the Zamora Infantry Regiment for their exertions, through which many lives and much pro perty had been saved. S. Mir.