The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

L NNE 680 THE WAR. THE ARMIES. The embarkation of the French troops at Calais was successfully completed by Wednesday evening, having commenced on Saturday last. By daylight on Thursday the whole squadron had cleared one of the harbours, and were on their way to the Baltic. General Baraguay d'Hilliers sailed in the imperial steam-yacht the Reine Hortense. The whole force is estimated at somewhat over 5,000 men, exclusive of superior officers and the general staff. The Made states with much positiveness that a second division of French troops will shortly be sent to the same destination, and will be joined by 6,000 English. The plans of General d'Hilliers are still kept secret, but there seems good reason to believe that his troops will occupy the Aland Isles. Before sailing General d'Hilliers issued the following address to the troops of the expeditionary force : " Soldiers,—lt is from Boulogne that fifty years since the glorious army left which, under the orders of the Emperor Napoleon, beat the Russians at Austerlitz,Eylau, and Friedland, and gained the peace of Tilsit. " In the campaign you are about to undertake you will show yourselves worthy sons of those valiant soldiers, and inspired by those great souvenirs, without pretending to such grand triumphs, we will prove to our Emperor and to France that we know how to justify their expectations." The British army in the East still lingers in the neighbourhood of Varna, the only advance move ment that has been announced consisting of a transfer of camp from Aladyn w Devna, about nine miles off. This was effected on the Ist inst. ; and on the Bth, the latest date to which advices reach the bulk of the force remained at that place. Sir De Lacy Evans had, however, pushed his division (the second) somewhat further on, and detachments of light cavalry under Lord Cardigan were feeling their way towards the Dobrudsclia, and had made reconnoitring expeditions for sixty or seventy miles beyond Devna. The country is described as a scene of complete abandonment and desolation. Cossacks and Bashi•Bazouks have made it a desert, and Lord Cardigan is stated to be at times very hard set to find food for his men. At Devna the camps are scattered over the neck of a valley formed by the range of hills between Aladyn and Devna on the one side, and by rising grounds on which the light division was encamped on the other. A deep stream of water runs through the meadows close by, and turns the wheels of a Bulgarian mill which had been kept busily at work grinding flour. The village of Devna is about a mile and a half dis tant. It is a collection of huts thrown on the plain at random, built of mud or loose stones, and covered with a rude black thatch of straw or rushes. Many of the inhabitants remain in their houses, and the country people bring in milk, eggs, and poultry in limited quantities. The country around Devna is a kind of circular basin, of the diameter of two miles, or thereabouts, formed by a sweep of hills o f mo derate and irregular elevation, and consists of a light sandy soil, with a few patches of barley here and there, amid a waste of brightly-coloured weeds and scrub, acacia, and brushwood. Admiral Dundas visited Varna on the Bth, to confer with the generals. Two days previous Omer Pacha came over from Schumla, attended a grand review, and was afterwards present at a council of war. He brought news that the Russians were retreating on Brailow, and wag believed to have consulted Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan concerning an advance of the allied forces. No orders to that effect had, however, been issued when the last accounts were despatched. A body of English sailors and a company of Sap pers have been sent from Varna to Rustchuk. The latter were to be employed in building abridge across the Danube, under cover of a powerful Turkish force. The sailors were to man the captured vessels belong ing to the Russian flotilla. The French troops at Adrianople were coaching towards Varna. Marshal St. Arnaud had returned to Constantinople on the 10th. The statements given in the Moniteur that many thousands of the allied forces had joined Omer l'acha are now known to be premature. The squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Bruat joined that of Vice• Admiral Hamelin, in the roads of Baltschik, on the tand instant. It carried 0,000 men of the 4th division of the army of the East, who in one single day were disembarked under the walls of Varna. The rapidity with which this movement of the troops and the analogous ope rations were accomplished by different vessels of the Imperial Navy, and the ready assistance which the army hail in all cases received from the marine, formed topics for a complimentary address issued by Marshal St. Arnaud to his soldiers. It was believed that these troops will be employed against Anapa, in the neighbourhood of which Admiral Lyons, with a steam squadron, has been lately cruising. The Sulina mouth of the Danube is occupied by British and French troops. The Russian batteries between Sulina and Odessa were first silenced, and THE PRESS. then, after the enemy had been driven away, occu pied and repaired by the English. The Russian coast has been closely reconnoitred, from the Kilia mouth of the Danube to the mouth of the Dneister. Three steamers of the allied fleets gua , d the mouths of the Danube, to prevent the escape of the Russian river flotilla. This flotilla, threatened on all sides, was wandering up and down the Danube in despair of safety. It must either be destroyed or fall into the hands of the allies. The navigation of the river was completely re-established, and the steam-boat of the Austrian Lloyd's had arrived at Galati. Brigadier Brown has completed the telegraph be tween Schumla and Varna, via Pravadi. A tele graph is also to be erected between Schumla and Adrianople. THE FLEETS. The allied fleet in the Baltic, which had remained for several days at Baro Sund, sailed thence on Tuesday for the Aland Isles. The cholera was fast disappearing. It is stated that all idea of attacking Cronstadt this season has been abandoned by both admirals. From the Black Sea we learn that the fleets were still at Baltsehik on the 9th inst. The Turkish fleet had returned to Bujukdere for repairs. The proceedings of the Firebrand when attacking the Sulina batteries are reported in an official letter from Admiral Dundas to the Admiralty. Captain Parker, the despatch states, " on the 28th and 29th ult., assisted by the Fury, com pletely destroyed the strong and well-built batteries at the Sulina. The lighthouse, the private houses, and the quarantine establishment were un, but the fear of damaging them by the use of powder touched and fire rendered the work of destruction of the batteries very severe and heavy to the crews of the Firebrand and Fury." THE WAR ON THE DANUBE. The last intelligence from the banks of the Danube announces that the Turkish troops were fortifying themselves at Giurgevo, so as to render that place an important strategical point. It is announced from Vienna that the great mass of the Turkish army is marching towards the mouths of the Danube, and that Giurgevo is held merely by a division. Omer Pacha has sent a corps, under Halim Pacha, up the Aluta, which will endeavour to turn the right flank of the Russo-Wallachian army. A letter from Orsova of the 13th, in the Press of Vienna, says :—" Mehemed Pacha occupied on the Bth Czernawoda, in the Dobrudscha, after a combat which lasted five hours, and ended by obliging the Russians to retire to the left bank of the Da nube." The Russians were continuing their concentra tion upon Bucharest. Their forces ti.t Frateschti are already 70,000 strong, with artillery in proportion, and are receiving continual reinforcements. The whole garrison of Brailow was marching to Bucharest. The Russian troops were returning from Moldavia into Wallachia, where they were cutting down all the crops of wheat. The Russian loss at Giurgevo, on the 7th and Bth, was 900 killed and 2,100 wounded. Omer Pacha states his own loss in the engagement was 1,700 killed and wounded. The Lloyd states that, during the march of a corps of Russian troops between Bucharest and Kimpina, the heat was so excessive that the soldiers fell in the road from fatigue, and a number of them were attacked with cerebral congestion. Out of 6,000 men who had left Bucharest only about one half reached their destination. THE ARMY IN ASIA. An important victory in Asia is announced in letters from Constantinople of the 10th inst. Kerim (or Hezim) Pacha had surprised 12,000 Russians in the mountains near Ardahan, and defeated them with the loss of 6 guns and 400 prisoners. At Batoum, also, the Russians have been repulsed by the Turks. Advices from Abasia state that Kissel Bey, one of Schamyl's officers, had surpriQed a Russian convoy at Sakhumbi, and killed, or made prisoners, the whole escort. On the 9th inst. a severe engagement took place at the ford of Clomunda, near Nicopolis, between Sall Pacha and General Popoff, when the latter was seriously wounded, and compelled to retreat. On the following day Sall Pacha occupied Turnal, and re opened commun cations with Iskendov Bey. Four thousand Turkish troops to reinforce Selim Pacha have been despatched from Varna to Cir cassia. THE REINFORCEMENTS. Detachments of the 4th Light Dragoons embarked on Monday and Tuesday from the Keyham Docks, under the command of the colonel, Lord George Paget, for Varna. The Medway left Southampton on Wednesday night for Woolwich, to take in there the heavy bat tering train destined to the East. The steam gun vessels to operate against the Russians in the Baltic are rapidly approaching com pletion, the Arrow, Curlew, Wrangler, and Beagle having been launched in the port of London. The SATURDAY,. first three are nearly ready for sea. The Swallow, launched at Devonport, is being brought forward_ with all expedition. The total amount of men and horses of tbe British , and French armies that had landed or touched at Malta up to Saturday, the Bth inst., from Zak, March„ are-- English troops-31,473. Horses, 4,928. French troops-46,272. Horses, 7,428. Forming a total of allied troops of 77,745 men. At the siege of Silistria the Russians had an army on. the right bank of the Danube which at one time amounted to 60,000 men. They had 00 guns in position, and threw upwards of 50,000 shot and shell, besides an incalculable quantity of small-arm ammunition. They constructed more than three miles of approaches, and sprang six mines, yet during fifty days not one inch of ground was gained, and they abandoned the siege, leaving the petty fieldwork against which their principal efforts had been directed a shapeless mass from the effects of their mines and bat teries, but still in the possession of its original defenders. The Vienna Wanderer gives some further information as to the protracted action of the 7th and Bth July at Giurgevo. The Russians were beaten at all points. Oue party of them retired in the greatest disorder to Frateschti, others northwards towards Calugereni, and eastwards towards the Argis. From 7,000 to 8,000 Russians, of the division Chruleff, took up a position, on the evening of the 7th, on an extensive plain on the slope of a hill a short distance from Bucharest. During the light on the banks of the Danube, which continued till late in the evening, a division of the Ottoman forces landed about three miles above Giurgevo, and surrounded the above-mentioned force of 7,000 to 8,000 Russians. At the same time (about midnight) 8,000 Ottomans crossed over to the left bank of the river, below Giurgevo. Thus the engagements went on simultaneously at three points—namely, on the shores of the Danube and partly in the town ; below Giurgevo, with the aforesaid 8,000 Ottomans ; and finally to the north, where the combat with 7,000 Russians was the bloodiest. A ROYAL QUERIST. Some time since the King of Prussia sent for M. von Hinkeldey, President of Police, with whom the following dialogue took place : "The King--Hinekeldey, tell me honestly what impres sion do you think it will make if I were to give orders for the mobilisation of the army? " M. von Hinekeldey—Will your Majesty allow me ta p re mise my answer by first putting an important question ? " The King—l don't want your questions. I want your answer. " M. von Hinokeldey—Then I hope your Majesty will, at least allow me to give my answer a twofold shape. It is this: Tf your Majesty mobilises the army against Russia, I will be responsible for it the measure will make the best possible impression : if your Majesty mobilises the army for Russia. I cannot be responsible for anything at all. " The King—Very well, Hinekeldey, that's all I wanted to know." EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. The following regulation for the exchange of pri soners has been published at St. Petersburg : " It has pleased his Majesty the Emperor to ordain that the following rules shall be observed in all exchanges of prisoners of war. First, in case the Turkish general should propose an exchai.ge of prisoners of war, only Turks by birth shall be exchanged against Russians. Second, should the proposition emanate from the commander of the French troops, the exchange can only be made with respect to pri• Boners French by birth ; and in like manlier, should the English commander make such a proposition, only Eng lishmen by birth can be exchanged for Russians." This order is, of course, aimed at the foreigners who, from Omer Pacha downwards, have rank in the Ottoman army, and comes from a Sovereign whose best generals are Germans, and whose best troops are kidnapped Poles, Circassians, Georgians, and Tartars. An English steamer arrived at Odessa on the 10th inst. with thirteen officers and 200 privates, to be ex changed against the crew of the Tiger. As the Rus sian Government had only given permission to ex change eight officers, it was not known whether th, Governor of Odessa wculd on his own responsibility liberate the other five. It is stated that the Austrian War Department has entered into a contract for the term of two years with the aeronaut, Eugene Godard, for the supply of balloons at the chief stations of the army on the south-eastern frontier. He has also to instruct the officers in the management of balloons, and to render personal services for the purposes of military obser- Nations. A theatrical representation was given on the 28th of June by Lord George Paulet, the commander of the Bellerophon, on board his ship off Varna, under the patronage of the Duke of Cambridge. His Royal Highness occupied, of course, the seat of honour, an arm-chair in the front row, which included all the great folks within hail of Varna. The ship was rigged into a theatre in the most ingenious way. The scenery was good and well managed—the ladies' parts being taken by midshipmen and boys of the ship. Two of the pieces were The Lottery Ticket, and Diamond Cut Diamond, both of which (the