The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-22 00:00:00

MARCH 22, 1856. THE CAMP IN THE CRIMEA. As official notification from the War-office this week, informs us that on the 15th instant the Armistice h a d been agreed upon, and signed by the Allied and lttr;:ian Generals. The documents were to be exchanged on the 16th. A general after-order, as early as the 3rd, from English head quarters, fixes the left bank of the TAchernaya as the line of demarcation between the two armies. General Codrington appeals to the officers and men " to moderate their very natural curiosity, and respect the line of neutrality." The weather in the camp for the first week in March, up to the Ath, has been detestable ; snow and rain alternately of a day, with bitter winds and hard frosts of a night. Our men keep their health well, hut the French army is suffering severely. The men are dying at the rate of 170 a day, while no less than 30,000 are reported to be in hospital from typhus and scurvy. The Russian army also was suffering a severe mortality from typhus. General Kokonovitch and 1,800 Russians, made prisoners at Kinburn, have been exchanged at Odessa. _ _ Intelligence from Kinburn, states that the Rus sians are strengthening the fortifications of Nico laieff. _ . _ The Turkish army in Mingrelia is in a fair state of efficiency. The men are healthy, and well fed for Turks. Ismail Pacha, famous at Kalafat, is ap pointe.l Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Anatolia. General Kmety, it is thought, will accompany him as his Chef d'Etat Major, in command of a division. Omer Pacha had arrived at Constantinople. THE ARMISTICE IN THE CRIMEA. The following official notification of the signature of the armistice, by the allied generals, has appeared this week:— Lord Panmure has received intelligence from Sir W. Colrington, under date March 15, that the armistice had b •en signed by the allied generals, and that the exchange 0(114(.111/lents would take place on the 10th. War Department, March 19, 1858. MA THE As offic informs had bee The t A ge English TACherr the twc the otfic curiosit: The March, and rail hard fr , well, h The me no less from ty The matt& Gene prisoner Odessa Intel signs a laielf. The of etiici Turk.. 4. pointed Genera his Che °mei The 1 of the a thia wei Lord Coiringi b •en Big of doeuu War I Althc Ist, the beyond by som had cee out of beyond seemed each al day wak the In. Englisl ther on a neare. Minn, nisatlon would intercha were DIN they all on both dient. the wale accepted could ex their fri( Chapel, face of t hewn ho bens 01 undergt fo under t perhaps stances Camp s crossed who sp( the Fre spot. appeare( going 1: 4 intee ru p caves.— Durit Russia! " nobbl get, in On tb wretches forced fc good oni with son and sticl dish stied exchang At the in the c CAMP OCCURRENCES. Although the Russians had ceased firing on the Ist, there was no little hesitation in our camp to go beyond safe ground for fear of being made a potshot of by some Russian rifleman; for, though the Russians had ceased their dropping fire, none of them came out of their ambuscades, or showed themselves beyond their works. On the next, day, however, it seemed to be resolved on both sides that the sooner each showed a little less reserve the better. The day was fine and light, the Russians turned out at the Inkermann caves, and very soon a group of English and French officers and men collected toge ther on the banks o° the river, in the hope of getting a nearer view of the famous caves : Mutual salutations took place, and to establish a frater• nisation, as far as the obstacle which flowed between would permit, cigars and tobacco were tossed across and interchanged. This was not sufficient, and various attempts were made to cross the river ; but the water was deep, and they all ended in failures, which gave rise to amusement on both sides. At last the Russians hit upon an expe dient. They felled a high tree, and, projecting it across the water, formed a temporary bridge. The invitation was accepted. Over went French and English, and nothing could exceed the civility of their late antagonists, but now their friendly entertainers. They showed them the Ruck Chapel, the iron balcony of which, projecting from the fete of the cliff, had often been an object of curiosity, and hewn hollow places, which, instead of being simple charn• hers or natural excavations, proved to be spacious underground barracks. There was also soup, raki, or the pipe, for such as desired them, and it is asserted that under the influence of this sudden friendship, assisted perhaps by the raki, there were more than one or two in• stances of soldiers not finding the way back to their Camps for many hours after the time when they first crossed the liver. Some Russian officers were present who spoke French fluently, and received with politeness the French and few English officers who were near the *Pot This meeting took place before the general order appeared confining all persons within the camp from going beyond the outposts, an order which will, of course, interrupt any further visits to the Inkermann chapel and caves. —Daily News cor., March 4. During the conferences at Tractir-Lridge, the Russians kept an eye on the main chance, and " nobbled" all the best whips and sticks they could get, in the following manner On the first day of the negotiations they offered their retched sti c k s to t h e English officers, who naturally were creed for politeness sake to give them in return their gailso some es. The next time th e y aga i n o ff ere d , toget h er of their ow n , t h e worst cf the Engl i sh wh i ps sticks back again, taking care only to return the Eng lish sticks to those officers who had better ones to give in exchang e .—...m . At the first meeting, it is reported, General Timonieff, in the course of conversation, said to Generals Mar- TILE PRES. timprey and Windham, "Do you wish orders to be given for the tire to cease at once from our batteries? ' to which question General Martimprey promptly replied, "Just as you please about that; it does us very little harm." In the conclusion of the armistice, the boundary lines were the most difficult points to be settled, as it was necessary for the sake of observation, as well as protection, for the allies to stretch their outposts far away to the eastward, to the position they had in November, in order to watch the movements of the Russians, who might during the armistice collect a powerful force in that direction, ready to fall at a moment upon the French flank. The destruction of the Karabelnaia buildings still proceeds ; the walls alone remain. The warehouses, wharfs, and admiralty buildings are next to be de stroyed. THE SEA OF AZOFF. A letter from Kertch, under the date of the 2nd, in the Moniteur de la Flotte, states that when the news of the armistice had been made known along the shores of the Sea of Azoff, it produced a pro found sensation. At7Marioupol, Berdiansk, and Gheisk, business, for a long time dead, had been suddenly resuscitated as if by enchantment ; and at Taganrog the news of the armistice had been hailed with enthusiasm. The armistice was received there with shouts of " Long live the Emperor Alexander ! " and at night the houses were illuminated. The imperial foundry, established on the left bank of the Don, has been closed, and this would seem to con firm the news of the intention manifested by the Court of Russia to abandon all its maritime estab• lishments on the Black Sea. lortign Cforrtsgonbtutt. FRANKFORT, March 19. THE instalment of Prussia at the table of the Con ferences has given great satisfaction to the Germans of every shade of opinion. Although the " parti de la Croix" claims the credit for this mark of respect, and alleges it as a proof of increasing ascendancy over the antagonists of Gotha, yet it is not disowned that the latter, by their steady efforts to uphold Ger manic unity and to keep Prussia at the head of the movement, have mainly contributed to the influence of the country throughout the Confederation. To a certain extent the " parti de la Croix " has lost by this apparent gain, for every augmentation of im portance, purely national and Germanic, weakens the present predominance of Russia. It must be well un derstood that the instruments of St. Petersburg work at a consolidation of interest exclusively Prussian, as dis tinct from German; since, on crossing the higher Elbe, that same party—de la Croix—becomes opposed to the substantiality of German unity, " Divide et impera" being the principle of the dictation to which it con sents to yield. This is the real cause of contention betwixt the "de la Croix" and Gotha factions. The former maintain themselves to be the servants of the King only ; the latter give a ready obedience to the Constitution, with the King as its chief magistrate and exponent. It can be well imagined, therefore, with what enthusiasm the speech of Mr. Disraeli on Friday last has been received throughout constitu tional Germany. It was taken as the embodiment of a principle, the declaration of a fact, contended for by the Gotha party with honourable perseverance for years. It was affirmed in plain terms, that, the preliminaries of peace having been settled, Prussia had a right to a voice in the discussion of European affairs, and that her value at the conferential assem bly was twofold—from integral position, and from being considered to represent German interests by the Germans themselves. To this Germanic repre sentation Mr. Disraeli asserted that Austria could not pretend—that the elements of that country were gregarious, impossible of amalgamation, and difficult of restraint—and that the slender archiducal territory, according the privilege of the Dietic station, could not bestow that Germanic nationality with which Prussia was directly endowed. It is barely possible to have condensed in a few words principles of graver importance to Central Europe. The effect in Ger many has been instantaneous as that of an electric current upon the hopes and spirits of a constitu tional party that demands respect for the integrity of its objects, and for the sobriety with which just claims are respectfully but firmly advocated. The speech is ac counted to be an acknowledgment of German unity as a fact; and the trite expressions, simple, yet charged with augury, bear evidence of a thorough intimacy with those mainsprings of German polity of which the majority of English journals seem to have an im perfect cognisance. Against extraneous influence, especially Austrian, the Gotha partisans have laboured to concentrate national hostility. They have suc ceeded. But any one, in the smallest degree in stracted in the " mocks operandi," will not gainsay that the centre of the movement, and the guiding spirits possessed of party confidence, have had a Prussian location and a Prussian origin. Without Prussian agency, the unity of Germany would have no inherent attraction—would be devoid of political gravity. Had the recognition of this national "status" been enunciated by an ordinary member of Parliament, it must always have commanded atten tion. In emanating, however, from the leader of the English Conservatives, from one who will probably soon occupy a foremost position in the coun cils and Government of England, it acquires a solidity, of which the value has been gratefully recognised by all favorable to German nationality. The birth of the Imperial Prince of France has been regarded with a feeling more allied to gratified curiosity and expectation than to a deeper motive. There is no German interest that can be attached to tLe event beyond an additional pledge for the forth coming of peace, and the opportunity that a return to commercial order will give to unlimited specula tion. The higher commercial enterprises of Ger many revolve upon principles held in high honour at the Hombourg Kursaal. The discomfiture of Austria on the subject of the Bessarabian frontier will not be lessened by the suc cess of the Kustendjie canal. This project, now cer tain of fulfilment, will in great measure decrease the value of the Delta cession, and Ismail, with the fortresses and islands at the mouth of the Danube, will be stripped of their former guardianship of the river commerce. The Danube, after a course of 1,547 miles, enters the Black Sea through five channels—Kilia, Sulina, Kedrillo, Portessa, and Istowa Bogsi ; and the volume of water, charged with alluvial matter, moving forward in an unbroken mass, is plainly discernible at a distance of forty miles from the shore. Avowedly the navigation of the river is free, according to the stipulations of the Congress of Vienna, but the liberty of egress and ingress was essentially demolished by the treaty of Adrianople. Previous to that arrangement the Pruth was the absolute limit to the Ottoman and Russian empires, and &tits junction with the Danube the Russian boundary continued on the left bank of the fortresses of Ismail and Kilia and the upper mouths of the stream. Subsequently, and according to the provisions of that treaty, the line of demarca tion crossed the Danube at the confluence of the Pruth, and rested on the right bank to the mouth of the Canal of St. George. By this cession, styled by the Russian negotiators to be " a mere correction of the frontiers," all the islands formed by the Delta or branches of the Danube were declared to belong to Russia. Former treaties had provided that the accumulation of sand at the mouths of the Kilia, Sulina, and St. George's channels, brought down by the partial floods and freshets, were to be constantly removed, and tolls for that purpose and for the repairs of the Phanar and coast-forts were duly levied. After the treaty of Adrianople the channels were neglected by the Russians—sandbars were formed, impediments such as sunken vessels and timber rafts were purposely contrived, and thus the navigation of the river was seriously, if not alto• gether, obstructed. The stagnation of this Danu bian trade immediately benefitted the port of Odessa, and the supplies of corn from the rish Moldavian and Wallaehian districts were suppressed to secure a monopoly to the Odessian and Bessara bian markets. But the remedy of the riverain ob structions, so cunningly devised, is of easy appliance. At Rassova, a Bulgarian village thirty miles below Silistria, the Danube bends from east to due north, as far as Galatz, and then turns again to its northern direction by Ismail and Kilia to the Black Sea. This coarse, from Rassova to the Phanar or light house at the Sulina mouth, is 180 miles. But at Rassova the distance from the point of the river to Kustendjie, on the Black Sea, barely exceeds forty miles. A canal, therefore taking tnat line would be a saving of 140 miles of difficult and uncertain navi gation, would supersede the constant and heavy ex penses falling upon the trade by tolls to provide against the dangers of the passage at the Tchatal point near Ismail, and the shifting sandbars at the Sulina mouth, and would, at all times and seasons, insure a ready access for the merchandise of the Danube to the waters of the Black Sea. The line of the canal has been surveyed and reported to be easy of construction, and the cost of the undertaking, estimated at something less than a million sterling, is to be borne by England, France, and Austria, in shores of 325,0001. each. By this canal the supply of grain from Moldavia and Wallachia, where corn is used as fuel for want of purchasers, would abun dantly furnish the English markets, would attract colonisation for labour, which is deficient, fertilise the uncultivated steppes of Moldavia, enrich the im poverished exchequers of the principalities, and, by the reciprocal advantages of commerce, would enable the shivering labourer to exchange his ragged garment of skins for the warmer broadcloths of England. It would also give to England and France a vested interest in those localities, whisk