The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

AUGUST 12, 1854. eight children. The present King is very much de voted to literature. In Spain Queen Christina seems placed in a very critical situation. She is most desirous of leaving Madrid, but the population will not allow her to escape until she shall have been put on her trial for several alleged offences. The Junta have approved of this determination; and Espartero has acceded to the request that she shall not quit the capital until the Cortes have given their decision upon the ques tion. She has made two attempts to depart, but each time failed; and had she fallen into the hands of the populace it is feared that she would have met with a violent death. The charges against the Queen Mother are that she has given evil advice to her daughter, and been guilty of peculation and other corrupt practices. SEBASTOPOL. To the enemy who approaches Sebastopol from the sea that fortress presents a must formidable aspect. The bay on which it stands opens a short distance above Cape Khersonesus, the south-west ex tremity of the Crimea, and consists of a deep road stead, narrow at its entrance, and penetrating for a league in a direction from west to east between cliffs of white chalk varying from forty to eighty feet in height. The town is situated on the south shore of the bay. Within this long roadstead, which of itself constitutes a vast and magnificent harbour, four ports, perfectly sheltered from all winds, open them selves successively. Nearest the embouchure is the quarantine port, then the arsenal or artillery port, afterwards the visitor reaches the grand port, while the port for outfitting and repairing ships lies far thest in of all. The inlets which form these ports have between them jutting peninsulas covered with casemate(' forth presenting many-tiered batteries, whose fires cross at every point along the whole extent of the bay. Each port is also flanked by similar batteries, while a submarine chain protects the entrance to the great or military port. The harbour is altogether justly reckoned among the finest in Europe. A list of the forts at Sebastopol, on an enumera tion of the various batteries which make up the ensemble of its bristling defences, would be monoto nous and barely intelligible. We must content our selves accordingly with such general and topographic description as may best give an idea of the fortress which has so long constituted the great stronghold of Russian power upon the Black Sea. There are twelve forts upon both sides of the bay, six being on the shore where the town lies, and six more facing them from the northern coast. These forts are built for the most part in pairs vis-à-vis to one another. They carry from 1,300 to 1,400 guns, in cluding several mortar batteries, and are furnished at many points with furnaces for heating shot. The six pairs of forts offer so many lines of fire which an advancing fleet would have successively to surmount, exposed in every instance to the shot at pint -blank range from three or four hundred cannon, b ;sides the fire from more distant batteries, the shells from the mortar batteries, or red-hot shot. The stone of which these forts are built is said to be friable, and it is also asserted that the casemates would rapidly become filled with smoke from the fire of their own guns. But still much time would be required to extinguish the resistance of the first two forts, and after that there are ten more to be dealt with. There are, moreover, several elevated fort; which command the bay from a height of 120 feet, and can throw a plunging fire upon ships whose guns could hardly, if at all, be elevated to the angle requisite to return the salute with any effect. Then the entrance, which, as we have said, is very narrow, is flanked by two enormous fortresses carrying each three tiers of guns. Around the military port also are ranged a series of defensive fortifications which the highest professional authorities rank with those of Gibraltar or Malta. All the works of the port and harbour are constructed upon the most gigantic scale. They have cost the Russian Government t venty millions sterling. From this detail we cannot wonder that both the English and French admirals recognised the impos sibility of assailing Sebastopol successfully from the sea. By land, however, the attack presents much less formidable difficulties. The town of Sebastopol is built upon an amphitheatre of rising ground com manding the bay, and on a foundation of chalk, whose hot and sterile strata extend into the interior as far ai the eye can reach. The streets of the town are steep and difficult of access. One street, which runs parallel to the port upon an elevated terrace, is at oace the only level thoroughfare of the place, and cliitains the principal edifices, public and private, which it can boast. The population amounts to 41 . .000 souls, of whom three fourths are soldiers, sulors, or otherwise employed upon the public estab lishments of the forts or arsenal. Above the town ii a suburb containing some decenthouses, but much exposed to the fierce winds from the steppes, which bring down absolute tornadoes of sand. As a resi- THE PRESS. deuce the town of Sebastopol is detestable. In addi tion to all other inconveniences, the inhabitants are terribly a ; icted by the Egyptian ophthalmia, caused by the prodigious quantity of dust raised by every gale from the chalk soil laid bare by the levelling opera Lions when the fortifications were constructed. Thirty thousand soldiers and sailors are stated to have fallen victims to Z.his disease since the fortress has been occupied by the Russians. Before 1852 Sebastopol was hardly fortified at all on the land side, and was commanded from a near distance by the hills with which it was enviroued. Recently, however, these hills have themselves been fortified, or levelled, the materials being employed in filling up every crevice which might facilitate the approach of a besieging force. Upon the ground thus prepared an enceinte continue has been traced, commencing with s bastion behind the quarantine port, and traversing round to the very brink of the grand port. This enceinte has at least three quarters of a league of circuit. Such a work must cost much time and money. It is not a work to be improvised. It requires vast constructions of solid masonry ; nor will a simple rampart suffice : there must be out works—that is to say, demi-lunes and lunettes—all built of massive stone, and of the most solid charac ter. On this work it is said that every disposable soldier or marine in the place—to the number of 40,000—has been, and is, incessantly employed, and, as these are forced to labour according to the Rua• sian system, which lavishes men by thousands either upon work or upon war, it is far from impossible that these fortifications may already have attained a formidable progress towards completion when the allied armies present themselves before them. But, notwithstanding all the fortifications and all the levellings executed or executing, Sebastopol will still be commanded by heights which no engineering skill can either reduce or isolate, and where a be sieging army will find their intrenchments almost naturally marked out. It is true that from these heights the harbour is invisible, the declivity being so great that even the mast-heads of the vessels lying in the different ports are not perceptible ; but, when the siege-works are sufficiently pushed towards the right, which is a mere matter of time, the great military port will then lie open to the fire from the trenches, and may be enfiladed in its whole length. This will always be the weak point in the defence of Sebastopol from a land attack ; at all events, until the Russians have had time and opportunity to com plete she fortifications of the enceinte in all their extent and solidity. It is an axiom in the science of war that every place can be taken if besieged with au cient force and according to the rules of the military art. But for the siege of Sebastopol nothing less than an en tire army will be requisite, for the Russians will certainly have one on the spot for the defence of their great arsenal. The preliminary operation must consist of the disembarkation of the troops and siege apparatus on the shores of the Crimea. Such a de barkation upon an enemy's coast is one of the grandest and most difficult achievements of war. We must expect to find every available point crowned with fortifications and garrisoned by troops. Will the attempt be made upon the southern coast; at the monastery of St. George ; the convenient harbour of Balaklova; the fine beach of Yalta; or on one of the bays of the Khersonesus • There are four of these bays, of which the most remote is only three leagues from Sebastopol. They are called Streletska, Pestschanaia (or Sandy Bay), Kamiesk, and Kasach. By disembarking, and immediately constructing an entrenched camp at either of these points, the attack ing force would have the great advantage of securing a lodgment very near the scene of action, and whence the transport of materiel for the siege would be safe and speedy. That the attack will be made sooner or later appears certain. The Russian garrison of the place are looking for it day by day. grtiant. THE chew of the Royal Agricultural Society at Armagh, which opened on Monday in that city, has been one of the most successful of the exhibitions ever held by the society. Additional éclat was given to the proceedings by the presence of the Lord Lieu tenant and the Countess of SL Germans, and also his Grace the Lord Primate, who had from the first taken the greatest interest in the exhibition. THE MASTER OF THE ROILS in England, and the English Solicitor-General, will proceed to [lreland after the prorogation of Parliament, to be joined there by the Right Hon. Francis Blackburne, the late Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Chief Justice Monohan, of the Common Pleas. as commissioners to inquire into the action of the Encumbered Estates Court in Ireland, and the propriety of conjoining that court with the Court of Chancery in Ireland. THE remittances from Irish settlers in Australia are steadily increasing, at such a rate as to warrant the belief that they will, before long, equal the sums 759 received from America to enable families in Ireland to join their relatis es at the other side of the Atlantic. In a single parish in the county Wicklow, the Austra lian remittances, for some time, have averaged nearly 1,0001. per month, chiefly sent by persons who had emigrated from the mining districts in the county. THE first division of the 3rd West York Militia arrived inDublin yesterday week from Liverpool. The division consisted of :109 men. This regiment was one of the first raised under the Militia Act of 1852. MINING ENTERPRISE has lately been very successful in Ireland so far as established and prudently managed companies are concerned. The Mining Company of Ireland, after a gradual recovery from the severe depression of the famine, has now reached a state of prosperity. The Wicklow Copper Company, devoting itself to a single mine of great productiveness, is paying a dividend of 65 per cent-on the subscribed capital. The Berehaven and a few other mines, some of them in the hands of private capitalists, are also worked with large profit. A valuable iron-mine has been discovered on the estate of Lord Carew at Dysart, in Queen's county. A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION took place in the theatre at . Belfast on Monday night, owing to an accident in pre paring gas used by a Mr. Grafton, who has opened a diorama there. A servant of the theatre was, it is feared, mortally wounded, and considerable injury was done to property in the neighbourhood. THE ACTION OF BUTLER V. MOUNTGARRETT ter minated at Kilkenny Assizes on Saturday last in a verdict for the plaint►f. By this verdict, if undis turbed on subsequent proceedings, the title and estates hitherto enjoyed by the defendant are trans ferred to his cousin. The question of title is now under going investigation before a " committee of privileges' of the House of Lords. The civil right will no doubt' receive further scrutiny from the superior courts of law. THE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS IN FACTORIES is thus stated in a parliamentary return just issued :—From the Ist of October, 1844, to the 30th of April, 1845, 1,030 males and 1,045 females were killed or injured by such accidents ; and of these 1,938 accidents were occasioned by machinery. In the year ending April 30, 1846, 2,550 males and 2,510 females were either killed or injured ; in 1840-7 the sufferers were 2,254 males and 2,336 females ; in 1847.8, 1,460 males and 1,343 females were killed and injured; in 1848-9, fatal or other accidents happened to 1,678 males and 1,513 females ; in 184950, 1,749 accidents happened to males and 1,561 to females ; in 1850.1, 2,239 males and 2,273 females were either killed or injured; in 1851-2 the number of accidents to males was 1,983, to females 1,895; in 1852.3 the accidents to males were 2,217, to females 2,077 ; and in the year ending the 30th April last the accidents were 4,257, of which 4,044 resulted from machinery. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE. Tuesday, August 8. BANKRUPTS.—WILLIAM %min . NIELD and WILLIAM HENRY HUGH COLLANERR. Cannon-Street West, City, shawl warehousemen — CHARLES WILLIAM NORMAN, ShoreditchlllllOTS' trimming seller—HENßY TURTLE, Mount Etna-place, Mile-end road, cheesemonger HENRY TAYLOR, Newbury, Berkshire, grocer—JAMES Mellott, Sootham_pton, boot and shoe maker— HENRY COPPINOER, Hawkhurst, Kent., taiIor—EDWARD DAVIZS, Harrow-road, Paddington, and Park-terrace, Regent's-park. oil and colour man—THOMAS JOHN HOLLOWAY, Salisbury, rope manufacturer—THOMAS Kixrrox, Liverpool, carrier—WlLLlAM ARMSTRONG and WILLIAM OLDROYD HANKRY, Shrew•bury, , tailors—GEOßGE HENRY FOURDRINIZR, Shelton, Staffordshire, paper manufacturer—THOMAS BELSHAM HurroX. Birmingham, wine merchant—WlLLlAM HOOPER. Bristol, cabinet maker— GEORGE EDWARDS, Newport, Monmouthshire, grocer—SYßeasx TROTIIkN, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, corn dealer — GEORGE HINGESTON, Lyme Regis, Dorsetahlre.money scrivener —JOHN SUDDEN aid GEORGE WEBSTER, Bradford, Yorkshire, woolstaplers—GEOßGE JEzvEs, Sheffield and Manchester, brush manufacturer. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS. THOMAS MtL( OLMSOM DICKSON and Co., Glasgow, merchants--ANnacw Pußvie, Mlln gavie, Stirlingshire, contractor—JOHN COUPER, langloan, La narkshire. grocer—PAUL CAMERON, Glasgow, builder—WlLLlAM SQUAIR, Cantray-mills, Ardersier. Friday, August 11. BANKRUPTS.--Ozoeoe l'Artie, Wood-street, Cheapside, carpet warehouseman —Meetly BENNETT. Christchurch, Hants, linen draper—MICHAEL Sotoese. Lambeth•walk, china dealer— FREDERICK HAWSE KING, New Shoreham, carpenter and builder --JAMES WILD, Hurst, Ashton-under-Lyne, cotton spinner— JAMES Woveentit, Manchester, eating-housekeeper—THOMAS MELLOR and SAMUEL EASON, Liverpool, merchanta--Mosett NATHAN, Liverpool. watch manufacturer dome Frooxe, Sherborne, breWer—SAMUZI , GARRATT, PelTall-Wbfirf, Corr Wan, contractor—dome STURRnis, Maidstone, Kent, baker—J *esti ABRAHAM SMITH, Lambeth, liglitermsn—THOMSl4 FREDERIC Goonote, Bromley, omnibus proprietor GEORGE LOWRY, Salford, tlax•spinner—WlLLlAM GELDART, North Shields, ship. SWINT—EDWARD STAPLES the younger, Soham, Cambridge. miller—Tawas' , BELISHA'S ilurrox, Birmingham, wine and spirit merchant—WlLLlAM YORKE, Cheshunt, builder. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—FAnQUHARSON and MASON Edinburgh, brassfounders ROBERT Rein, Leven, Fifeshire, bOOkhelier—THOMAS GALLOWAY, Olaagovr, baker. SOME days ago, as the diligence which runs between Prudes and Olette (Pyrenees Orientales) was entering on a narrow bridge, called the Pont de Is Bernade, the ear• riage struck with such violence against a stone post that eight of the passengers on the outside were thrown oft br the jolt. Three were killed on the spot ; two are so much injured that no hopes are entertained of their lives; the other three escaped with some severe bruises.