The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-21 00:00:00

21,.18 . 54 RUSSIAN PREPARATIONS. Since the hostile forces have been face to face no time has been wasted on either side. Day and night have the Russians laboured to strengthen the ne glected land fortifications of the town. Fresh redoubts have been thrown up, breastworks constructed, and the stone towers most exposed to our balls have nearly disappeared in the earth thrown up against them. The enemy deserve credit for the energy they have shown, but it remains to be proved if their activity be inspired by determination or by despair. THE CHOLERA. Cholera sadly ravages our army, and seems to have increased in virulence. There are two hospitals established at Balaklava, and one of them alone con tains 216 cholera patients. Several valuable officers have fallen victims to the scourge, and amongst others are Colonel Hoey, of the 30th ; Captain Free man, of the Scots Greys; and Lieutenant Grant, of the 79th. The Rev. Mr. Morley, chaplain to the 3rd division, expired at Balaklava. The death of this exemplary young minister was greatly lamented. His piety, devotion to the sick, and true Christian charity, had endeared bim to all. Scarcely a single officer is in full possession of his health ; those who are not suffering from diarrhoea, fever, and ague, are martyrs to rheumatism. Truly the British army has suffered much, but death and sickness are supported without complaint. Sebastopol lies before it, and in the fearful contest which a few days more will witness the fate of the campaign will be decided. Sebastopol once taken and completely destroyed, it is to be hoped the British army will be immediately conveyed, if not back to old England, at least to a less trying clime than the Crimea. The hardships we have endured, says another writer, since we landed are literally beyond description. We still (Oct. 2) bivouac in the open air, for now we find that no tents are to belanded at all. Added to these discomforts, the cholera is raging among us in the most awful manner. What the disease did in Bulgaria is a mere trifle to what it is doing here. Fortunately we are campaigning, so it does not attract so much attention, but the number of deaths are enough to appal the most hardened. Since we arrived at Balaklava (five days ago) we have lost three lieutenant-colonels, fourteen captains and subalterns, and about four hundred non-commissioned officers and men from cholera alone. During the two days' march from Katscha Bay, the British force lost four hundred men from dysentery and cholera. On the same road, and within the same time, the French lost about one thousand men. The cholera is not likely to diminish in the camp about Balaklava and Sebastopol, for there is an abundance of grapes and other fruit; and in Balaklava itself the presence of troops, though so recent, has already produced filth and garbage to a frighful extent. Nothing could be easier than to stop the disgraceful practices which lead to this dangerous state of things, but while every one complains no one seems to think of the remedy. PROCRASTINATIONS. It was generally expected that the first engineer ing works—that is to say, the marking out the trenches within gun range and the tracing them ready for the pickaxe and the spade of the fatigue parties—would commence on the Ist ; but, as the working parties cannot proceed to business without a sufficient number of gabions —to be filled with earth and placed before the men—and not sufficient means of transport had been provided, the commencement of engineering operations had been put off. Under an energetic commander that first battery would have been already in full play. Means of transport abounded in the villages round, officers speaking the language having invited the natives to come out with their carts, dromedaries, and horses, and for sterling money—paid down "on the nail"—do cart ing for the English. The natives expressed their desire to earn the money, and their readiness to come, if the English would make a show of compul sion, wind half a dozen dragoons, and, in fact, give the poor natives a good and sufficient excuse, in case they should ever again fall under the dominion of the Czar. Thus a detachment of twelve dragoons might have brought in hundreds of arabas and horses with willing drivers, if it had been in the nature of our military an-angements to detach cavalry on such a service. But, as the providing of means of transport has an appearance of some sort of connection with the commissariat, the detaching dragoons or other cavalry on any such service could not be thought of: This is another leaf out of the history of military mismanagement, and will satisfy the people of Eng• land of there being very good reasons for slowness whenever it does appear that the movements are slow. THE MARINES. In compliance with an eager request made by the seamen of the Black Sea fleet that they mignt take part with the land troops in the assault on Sebas topol, they have been authorised to do so. Each ship is to furnish six pieces of cannon and a certain number of men. This will give a total of 200 pieces of artillery. THE PRESS. The ship guns will be worked by sailors. Nearly 600 blue jackets, landed from the Agamemnon and Sanspareil, encamped on the 2nd inst. on shore. Jack anticipated with great glee his participation in the honours of the day. Above a thousand marines— magnificent fellows they are—volunteered to storm the breach, and were landed and bivouacked near Balaklava. THE LONG RANGE. One of the long-range Lancaster guns has been mounted on the Arrow, and for the last few days been trying its range upon the fortress. Its success has exceeded the most sanguine expectations, and there is no doubt that had we more of them we might in a fortnight destroy the whole town, ship ping, and fortifications of Sebastopol without the loss of a man on our side. The first few shots fired by the Arrow, at three miles, the gun was too ele vated, and the balls passed far over the whole place. Afterwards the range was precisely taken, and for three hours shot and shell were thrown into the nearest battery until it was completely destroyed. For the last half hour of the firing it never returned a shot. But this, it appears, is by no means the sole merit of the gun. It weakens the resources of Sebastopol still more fatally than by knocking up batteries. Under the natural belief that because their works were in range the vessel which fired must be in range also, the Russians returned a tre mendous fire, but every shot sank in the sea at about three quarters of a mile distance from the Arrow. Unless there are incredible stores of ammunition in Sebastopol, such a mode of fighting must soon leave them without a shot. THE SUBMARINE SERVICE. Sergeant William Came left Chatham on Saturday afternoon, to embark on board the Prince steam-ship for the Crime a. This non-commissioned officer is joined by privates Lewis, Price, and Toohey, of the Royal Sappers and Miners, and also with two civil ians, selected by Government. These men are well known for their ability in the duties of submarine explosions, and are excellent divers. They go out for the purpose of removing the ships-of-war sunk by the Russians at the mouth of the harbour of Sebastopol. They take with them four sets of diving apparatus, and all other necessary implements, and twenty galvanic batteries, with five miles of copper wire. The charges to be used will be from one ton and a half to two tons of gunpowder, and will be fired at a distance of about two miles. The operations will be confided to the especial charge of Sergeant Came. Messengers will be at his command to trans mit every information to Lord Raglan as the works of the submarine siege proceed. SEBASTOPOL RECONNOITRED. No one was allowed to ascent to the brow of the bill, as the instant they are seen they are fired at, and the troops exposed to the risk of the falling shot. As a favour the writer was permitted, in charge of an officer, to ascend to an abandoned Russian guardhouse on the top of the hill, which can be approached under cover of some low stone walls. From the windows of the building he had a perfect view of the town and fortifications, which lay beneath him about three quarters of a mile distant. Only nine sail of the line remain in the harbour, five having been sunk acros3 the entrance. The others, which are principally two-deckers, are moored stem and stern, so as perfectly to command the ground where our trenches must be opened. Fort Peter and Fort Nicholas, the large works which abut upon the sea, are almost out of range of our guns, and we are equally safe from their annoyance. The places where it seems our attack will be commenced are to the rear and north of the town and high up the creek. Here we have opposed to us a long redan wall, mounting some sixty or seventy guns, and crenelled between the embrasures for musketry ; and on the north extremity is Fort Constan tine, a low, blunt, circular muss of masonry, with three tiers of guns, which will give us sonic trouble. This latter fort is also commanded by a stone battery of considerable strength, situated on the other side of the harbour, and called by our sailors the " Wasp," on account of its pro tected situation and the length and weight of its guns, which are perpetually blazing away at any ship that strays within range. To the north Fort Constantine is again protected by Fort Paul, and three or four ranges of bat teries, covering the Quarantine Harbour. Such are a few of the fortifications which a mere glance enabled him to discover. Fort Constantine will evidently be the chief point of attack, and to render it impregnable the enemy are using their utmost efforts. They have about 25,000 tnen at woik round it and in front of the redan wall throwing up in trenched works and stockades of the most formidable kind. As the men work day and night, before oar batteries are in position the enemy will have doubled their fortifica. tions. While surveying their preparations on the Ist, between 8.000 and 10,000 fresh soldiers entered Sebastopol from the opposite side. These were no doubt the detached garrisons which have been collected from different towns in the Cremes. Unless our commanders take some mea sures for stopping these reinforcements, we shall com mence the s ege to little purpose. From what we hear from deserters it seems that the whole of the aristocracy, and, indeed, all the Russian population of South Crimea, have sought refuge in Se . bastopol. So great is the concourse of inhabitants that thousands sleep in the streets each night. As a preli minary operation, we have turned aside the little stream of water which supplied the town, so that the garrison must soon begin to suffer. When the siege is pressed, the great mass of the inhabitants will probably be re moved by the north side, and most likely with their escape we would not interfere, as we have no idea of starving out the fortresses, but storming them. THE TRENCHES OPENED. On the evening of the 3rd the following order of the day was issued by the allied generals regulating the commencement of the siege works. The despatches being sent off very shortly afterwards, the names of the first working detachments could not be ascertained. It was, however, known that the en trenchments had been opened with complete success, not a shot or alarm disturbing the men during the first night of their operations The trenches will be opened this evening against Sebas topol; a working party, consisting of —, furnished by the —, will be marched to the engineers depot at p.m., where they will receive tools and directions ftom the engineers' officers and sappers, who will guide them to the works ; they will be without arms and accoutrements. The guard for the protection of the working and ground will consist of —, furnished by —, and will parade in their camp at be conducted to their positions, posted, and receive instructions from staff officers who will be assembled for the purpose. All the movements of the parties must be, if possible, kept out of view of the place. After moving from their last place of assembly, which will be after dark, the utmost silence must be preserved, and the least possible noise of any kind made. The working parties will be arranged in proper order by the engineers, but will not commence work ti ordered, after which it must be carried on with the greatest energy. The engineers will be charged with the arrangements, but the officers of the troops must be responsible for the maintenance of order and attention to the directions given by the engineers, and for the amount of work done : on diligence and regular conduct of the working parties will depend more rapid and complete success of the enterprise. The working parties must not quit the works on slight alarms. If the enemy make a sortie, the guard will advance and drive them in, and before they reach the work, if possible ; should the working party be absolutely obliged to retire, they will take their tools with them, and reform a short distance in rear to return to the work when the sortie is repulsed. The guard will be posted in rear of the working party, and near to it, if possible, under cover from the tire of the place ; if not, they must lie down in order of battle, with accoutrements on, and each man with his firelock close by him—one party, not less than one-third of the forces, ab solutely on the alert all through the night, taking it alter nately, ready for an immediate rush on the enemy. A sortie is out and on the works in a very short time, and therefore the guard must be in immediate readiness to attack it without hesitation : nothing is so easily defeated as a sortie if charged without delay. Atter the repulse of any sortie, the guard will return under cover as soon as possible, and resume their position. All working parties and guards will be composed of entire regiments, or parts, anti not of detachments made up of different corps. The future progress of the siege operations is thus foreshadowed in a letter of the 3rd instant from the camp :—" The first parallel is to be commenced to night. About thirty siege guns have been landed, and we shall hear their music tomorrow. Each night a fresh parallel will be opened, till within 150 yards, when the breaching battery will be placed. A few think that the actual siege will last three weeks, but the majority say that the whole will be over in a fortnight. Those who ought to be well informed assert positively that within a month all the troops will have re-embarked for their winter quarters." ULTIMATE INTENTIONS. Many people have imagined that with the fall of Sebastopol we might look for a termination of the war, and the return of our brave countrymen to the enjoyment of their homes and laurels. This is cer tainly not the opinion of the French Government. The capture of Sebastopol is looked upon as merely the commencement of a succession of great events. It is not likely that the Emperor Nicholas will submit to the humiliation of the defeat he has already sustained, or will consent on the first check to the abandonment of that power over the Black Sea, and, with the Black Sea over Central Asia, which it has been the policy of his predecessors for cen turies past to establish. The French Government is consequently making preparations on an immense scale for the prosecution of the war. Not only is Sebastopol to be taken, but the Crimea is to be kept, and Perekop garrisoned to resist the huge armies now on their way to the Crimea to the relief of their countrymen. it is also said that att soon as the possession of the Crimea shall have been secured another expedition of an important character is contemplated. A winter campaign will take place in Bessabaria, all the troops which can be spared from the Crimea being carried back to Odessa, and forming a junction with Omer Pacha, who will advance for that purpose from the Pruth. This expedition, if successfully carried out, would force Russia to s)andon Ismail, Reni, Toulchkoff, Kilia, and all the other fortresses on the southern boundary of Bessa rabia, which constitute the strength of Russia on that frontier, and give her the command of the mouths of the Danube. This is said to be the work I