The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

656 INNEMINNI=INIMII •1•1••••mm05i0.,..1m.i...w. THE WAR. THE ARMIES. The event of the week is the embarkation of French troops for the Baltic. During several days past the first contingent has been concentrated around Calais and Boulogne, where on Wednesday and Thursday some 10,000 men have been reviewed by the Emperor of the French, previous to their departure for the scene of war. Further detachments are to follow in rapid succession, until, it is stated, the whole Gallic land force on service in the Baltic amounts to 25 or 90,000 soldiers. The scenes that are passing or have passed at Boulogne and Calais are described as most interesting. The Emperor Napoleon arrived in the former town from Paris on Tuesday night, and slept at one of the largest hotels in the place, the whole establishment, it is said, having been taken for his use for an entire month. Next day he reviewed the troops encamped at Wimereux, and afterwards made them an imperial address in these terms:— " Soldiers,—Russia having forced us to war, France has armed five hundred thousand of her children. England has called out a considerable number of troops. To-day our fleets and armies, united in the same cause, give the law in the Baltic as well as in the Black Sea. I have chosen you to be the first to carry our eagles to those regions of the north. English vessels are about to convey you there—a fact unique in history, a proof of the intimate alliance of the two great nations (peupies), and of the firm resolution of the two Governments not to abstain from any sacrifice to defend the right of the weaker, the liberty of Europe, and the national honour. " Go, my children ; attentive Europe, openly or in secret, offers up prayers for your triumph ; our country, proud of a struggle in which it only threatens the aggressor, ac companies you with its ardent vows; and I, whom imperious duties retain still distant from the scene of events, I shall have my eyes upon you ; and soon, in rebeholding you, I shall be able to say : They were worthy sons of the con querers of Austerlitz, of Eylau, of Friedland, and of Moskowa. " Go ; may God protect yon !" Prolonged shouts of "Vivo l'Empereur ! " and other loyal cries followed this address. Copies were on the same evening posted up in Paris, where they are stated to have produced a favourable effect. After the review the troops marched for Calais, whither the Emperor himself proceeded on Thurs day. Renewed excitement and enthusiasm accom panied the concentration of soldiers, chiefs, political celebrities, and English visitors in that port. Count Walewski, the French ambassador in England, had arrived there to wait on his imperial master, and the captains of the English ships lying off the harbour, waiting to take on board their French comrades in arms, had all landed at Calais to pay their respects to the Emperor. Among them were Commodore the Hon. F. W. Grey, Captains Talbot, of the Algiers, Kingoome, of the Royal William, Mansell, of the St. Vincent, and Clifford, of the Sphinx, with Mr. Con sul Bonham, who waited on the Emperor, and met with a most cordial reception. The embarkation arrangements were then finally concluded. Yesterday (Friday) had previously been fixed for that process, but messages received from the British Admiralty, who doubted, as usual, whe ther punctuality were possible, had led to some per suasion that considerable delay must intervene, inso much that Thursday next, the 20th instant, was as signed at one time, on good authority, for the event to come off. The Emperor, however, contrived to expedite matters considerably. While discussing the question his Majesty is said to have referred to the English superstition against commencing a voyage on an unlucky day, i.e., Friday. Ultimately it was settled that the baggage and matiriet—which in cludes 6,000,000 cartridges and 320,0001b5. of powder —should be placed on board yesterday (Friday), and that the troops should embark to-day. This having been arranged, the Emperor invited the British offi • cers to dine with him. They expressed their sense of the offered honour, but declined it, as it was not consistent with their duty to remain absent from their ships. The British ships employed in conveying these troops to the Baltic are the Hannibal, with broad pendant, screw two decker; Algiers, screw two decker; St. Vincent, three-decker; Royal William, three-decker ; Gladiator, 6, paddle-frigate ; Sphinx, 6, paddle-frigate ; Termagant, screw-frigate ; and the following transports—Prince, screw, 2,700 tons, Belgravia, Herefordshire, Fox, Columbia, Cl(fton, Julia, Nimrod. The French Government steam-packets Reine Hortense and Corse assisted in the embarkation. The forces are under the command of General Bare.guay d'Hilliers. Their actual destination is still secret. By some accounts they are to occupy the Aland Isles. According to other rumours they will land in Sweden and garrison that country throughout the winter against any possible attack from Russia, with which country the King of Sweden is expected immediately to declare war. From Turkey our last news of the combined forces represents them as still chiefly at carne, ready to THE PRESS. advance towards Schumla and the Danube as soon as the commissariat and transport arrangements were complete. This was expected when the accounts left (on the Bth inst.) to happen " next week." It is said, however, that 18,000 English and French troops had already found means to join Omer Pacha, and had shared in the successes he obtained on the 7th over the Russians at Giurgevo. The Duke of Cambridge returned on Ithe 2nd to Constantinople, to confer with M. de Bruck, the Austrian Internuncio, and next day, in company with the Sultan, passed a review of the Turkish brigade, and of the twenty pieces of cannon attached to that division. The Duke returned on the 4th to Varna. According to the accounts given by the Paris War Department, the precise number of the English and French armies already assembled at Varna is 75,000 men. THE FLEETS. - The naval operations reported during the week are of little interest. In the Baltic Sir C. Napier has retired from his advanced position before Cronstadt, frightened away by a more formidable enemy than the Russians, namely, cholera. The disease is ravaging the Russian garrison of that for tress, and the infection spread to the fleets. The ships were accordingly withdrawn to more healthy cruising-ground off Baro Sund. There they were last seen, on the 12th inst., to the number of sixty two ships, forty six English, and twenty-six French. The blockade of the Baltic Sea is now complete from shore to shore : " An opinion being entertained that an attack on Cron stadt was practicable on the northern side of the island, Rear-Admiral Chads and Vice-Admiral Parceval-Des chenes, accompanied by Lord C. Paget, of the Prince's Royal, the Hon. H. Keppel, of the St. Jean d'Acre, and others, embarked on the 29th ult. in the Driver, paddle wheel steamer, and proceeded as far up the channel as was necessary, in order to judge by personal observation the nearest distance off the town which could be approace with safety by any portion of the ships in the fleet. The result of their observations is said to be that the greater part of the ships in the fleet may, without difficulty, steam up the channel on the northern side of the island, and take up a position from which they might, at long range, throw their shell, ctc., into the town, and destroy it, with out sustaining any serious injury themselves." From the Black Sea we learn, only by a brief and skeleton despatch, dated Odessa, July 7, that " the combined fleets, fifty sail strong, had been seen pro ceeding in the direction of Sebastopol. The Russian works at the Sulina mouths of the Danube have been bombarded. An attack has been preparing against the fortress of Anapa, the only Russian post still de fended on the Circassian shore. Anapa lies a short distance from the entrance to the Sea of Azof, and is a place of great importance and strength. Its enormous defences are so formidable that Sir E. Lyons thought it unsafe to attack them with his steamers only, and found it necessary to ask for a reinforcement of ships-of-the line before undertaking so important a measure. These reinforcements have arrived, but it is said that in the meantime the Rus sians have not been idle. They have added a new battery to their defences, which carries twenty-eight heavy guns. No tidings of the result of this attack have as yet arrived. THE WAR ON THE DANUBE. The retrog r ade movement of the Russians in the principalities was not only stopped since the super cession of Prince Paskiewitsch as their commander in -chief, but attempts have been made to reoccupy some of their abandoned positions. A despatch of the 12th from Vienna announced that Prince Gortschakoff was advancing with 30,000 men towards Giurgevo, where, according to subsequent advices, his army was encountered by Omer Pacha, and de feated with a loss of 900 men. The details of this encounter are thus reported : " 30,000 Ottomans and 12,000 auxiliaries, under Omer Pacha, encircled General Saimonoff, near Giurgevo. He cut his way through, and retired upon Bucharest. The contest lasted eleven hours. Nine hundred Russians were killed and wounded. General Chruleff lost an arm. Large Russian rein- foreements are arriving from the iouth." Prince Gortschakoff subsequently fell back upon Bucharest, and was preparing for the defence of that place, in itself undefendable, by forming an entrenched camp four miles in advance of the town walls. It is said, however, that the whole force amounted to only 30.000 men. The Ost Deutsche Post of the 11th says :—" After several days' fighting, the Turks have defeated the Russians on Wallachian ground. They have taken "Woken, Radovan, and Giurgevo. The Turks still advance." Omer Pacha was at Silistria on the 4th, distri busing rewards to the troops and having the fortifi cations repaired. The Russians have destroyed Matschin and Isakieha by fire. From the Aluta downwards the left bank of the. river is still occupied by the Russians, who are busy SATURDAY, erecting batteries on the Transylvanian frontier at Tekutch Piatra, and Okna, in Moldavia. Letters from Cronstadt (Transylvania) state that a battery of twenty-four pieces of artillery, of heavy calibre, has been erected on the Wallachian soil, directed against the Temesher Pass. The Dobrud scha not yet evacuated. "On leaving Silistria," says the Pattie," the Russians destroyed everything on their road, leaving behind them only desolation and ruin. Traces of their passage were met with at every step. The most lowly cottages were burnt, as well as all the crops, arid even the trees. The accounts from the Dobrudecha are of a similar character, and the conduct of the Russians shows that in our age o f progress and intelligence the most odious barbarism struggles against civilisation and justice. " Colonel Beatson, of the Hon. East India Company's service, has arrived iu Turkey to take the command of a regiment of Bashi Bazouks, and try and drill them into order. General Yusuf has a similar command in the French army, though his is of course of a more extensive character. The French general is confident of forming them into a most serviceable irregular cavalry." THE ARMY IN ASIA. The Journal de Constantinople announces that the Bashi-Bazouks of Asia have been surprised a second time near to Urzuguette, by the Russian General Andronikoff, having 22,000 men under his command. The irregulars, not being able to resist such superior forces, lost 3,000 of their men. Salim Pacha and Achmet Pacha covered the retreat of the Bashi- Bazouks with their regular troops. Unfortunately, these two chiefs were wounded in the struggle. The Turkish army of Kars is now in very good order. Zariff Mustapha Pacha, the Commander-in. Chief, has no knowledge of tactics, and is equally deficient in strategy; but Kurachid Pache (General Guyon), the second in command, is a man of great military talents and experience, and possesses the confidence of the troops. His efforts are, however, much embarrassed by the opposition of several Polish officers, who are intriguing to deprive him of his authority over the troops. THE REINFORCEMENTS. The Ist battalion of the Rifle Brigade, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Beckwith, numbering upwards of 1,000 men and officers, embarked on Thursday, on board the Orinoco steam-ship, at Ports mouth dockyard, for the seat of war. The 46th Regiment, now quartered at Windsor, is ready to march to the port of embarkation at an hour's notice. It is known that they will sail from Portsmouth. The screw-steamer Himalaya has been fitted up to take out 2,000 soldiers and 500 horses to the East. She will take in soldiers and horses at Devonport. A party of the Ambulance Corps will be taken out to Turkey in the Himalaya. The Simla is to take out a cavalry regiment from Devonport. She is to be provided with a fiat boat to land the horses and troops. A negotiation is pending between the Government and the General Screw Company for the purchase on satisfactory terms of the new ship Prince, of 2,700 tons, belonging to that company, for the pur poses of a steam-transport. The Himalaya, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company, is also said to have been sold to the Government. Portsmouth garrison is about being manned by militia, as its last regiment of regular troops will be embarked for foreign service on Monday. The extent of the weekly mail for the Baltic fleet has astonished the weak nerves of the post-office authorities at Dantzic : it is mentioned with astonishment, that in the course of fourteen days 8,500 English letters passed through their hands. A proposition has been sent to the Admiralty by an officer of the navy of high standing for the perfect sealing up the entrance to Cronstadt, by doing which the Russian fleet could be kept there for years, and if necessary for ever. The plan is now cinder the consideration of the Ad miralty, and we (Morning Chronicle) are credibly informed the gallant Anglo-French admirals are being consulted on the practicability of the same. To give further explana tions at present would be most injudicious. if carried out, it will release nine-tenths of our fleet from that part of the Baltic ; after which, Sveaborg and Helsingfors may have similar cards played at a coat of few shot or shell, and most certainly without loss of lives, compared with Gamla Car leby. Omer Pacha has received the following letter from Abd-el-Kader, dated Broussa, the 18th of June : " My very dear Brother,—The gates of Paradise opened themselves for me, when I had a conversation with the only prophet, in a dream, on the eve of the Ist Ramadan. I heard all the great and holy souls who repose in Abra ham's bosom proclaim your name with shouts of joy, and I saw a large rainbow extend across the striking ranks of the holy souls when they called you by name. God is with you, my brother. Wherever you go glory and victory will attend you. I envy you. Carry off the camps of your enemy by your troops. May my blessing accompany you. The enemies will fly before you like jackals, and our chil dren's children will glorify your name. Do not draw back, but march your troops forward. The Prophet wills it. The day of expiation is arrived for the gisours of Moscow. —Blessings on you, my brother. " ilissomplissse