The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

JULY 28, 1855. sion of a new position, commanding the harbour and the bridge of boats which crosses it, must eventually cause the enemy to retreat. The Russian generals, though brave and determined on an obstinate defence, may fairly receive credit for the possession of prudence and forethought. As long as a place can be held with a chance of success, or even of damaging the enemy, they will hold it; but all their proceedings give reason to believe that they will not allow their troops to be cut to pieces merely for the credit of having made a desperate resistance, and held, without advantage, for a short time longer an untenable position. When they see that their retreat is seriously endangered, it is not improbable that they will altogether abandon the southern side, which they can hardly hope to hold should the allies be able to command the harbour. They no doubt count at least on being able to prolong their resistance until the winter sets in; if that be impossible, they will most likely withdraw to the northern side, which it may be impracticable to lay siege to before the spring of What may be done during that time to strengthen the works we may judge from the industry and skill with which they have laboured in the defence of Sebastopol proper. To-day Major-General Barnard was appointed chief of the staff, in the place of General Simpson. Rumours pre vail that a new commander-in-chief is to come out from England. Whether this be true F have not yet learnt, but it is to be hoped that the Peninsula and Waterloo, at twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, will not be the only qualification. The Commissariat, both in the Crimea and at Constan tinople, is making laudable preparations for a regular supply of provisions during the coming winter. Depots are to be established at Ismid and Sinope, and a regular transport service will be organised between various places on the coast and the port of Balaklava. Sheds for 4,000 cattle will be constructed near the camp. The chief dOll. eulty will be in the land transport, which will require all the care of the authorities to render it complete when the season of mud and snow again recurs. The railway is not as firmly laid as could be wished. The late storm washed it away in several places, the sleepers being merely placed on the soft yielding soil, which after the heavy rains of November becomes a mass in which horses' hoofs sink to the depth of eight or ten inches. A Commissariat should have its own transport at its own command ; but under the actual system requisitions must be made on the Land Transport Corps, who even in the present summer weather often cannot supply mules, other requisitions having been made on them for carrying up ammunition. Some persons go so far as to prophesy for the army as great an irregu larity in provisioning as was the case during the past calamitous winter; but the very fact that these dangers are foreseen and discussed is a warrant that they will not recur. At any rate the crushing burden of overwork will not press on our men, for we have the French on all sides of us to take part of the labour of the trenches. • singular fact elicited by Sir J. Macneil, but known to all acquainted with the army, is, that during the winter every man cooked hie own food. The cold and weary soldier, creeping back from the trenches, found hie junk of salt meat, which he must light a fire to cook, often with wet wood, probably the work of more than an hour. The consequence was that he often devoured the food in its raw state, or contented himself merely with ruin and biscuit. A better system has begun to prevail with regard to cooking, which, it is to be hoped. will be developed and perfected before the return of inclement weather. JULY 13.—Last night the Russians kept up a tremendous fire. It has been blowing a gale for the last twenty-four hours, and the wind bore the sound of the heavy guns towards us, so that the very ground shook. lam sorry to say that the battery which the French have constructed between the Mamelon and the Malakoff has been knocked to pieces by the powerful fire of the latter fort. A colonel and about thirty officers and men were put hors de combat, and the siege works have received a decided check. In fact, as the allies advance to the actual defence of the place, they must expect to meet more elaborate works, and ob stacles heaped on one another with all the care which nine months of preparation admit. Even now the enemy are strengthening the Malakoff every day. It is not what it was on the !nth of June, and a fortnight hence it will not be what it is now. The battery at the White Works, how ever, still goes on, and its effect will be proved in a few days. JULY 11.—Nothing new up to eight o'clock this morning. THE HANGO MASSACRE. The Journal de St. Petersbourg of the 7th July publishes a long statement relative to the Hang() affair, as also the correspondence on the same sub ject between Admiral Dundas and General de Berg. The Russian semi-official organ denies that the Cos sack's boat was entitled to be respected : No signal (it says) was made to give timely infor mation to our authorities of the approach of a flag of truce to parley. No consent was asked, no permission granted, to authorise a landing. The boat ran on shore, the crew landed, the officer advanced into hostile territory without permission, without any legal recognition of his quality— in a word, at his own risk and peril. He fell into our power, exposing his life and the lives of his crew to the chances of a surprise. The Emperor, in defending his country against hostile aggression, which he did not provoke, maintains, sword in hand, the dignity of his crown and the honour of Russia in honest war, by the aid of God. If the enemy makes use of artifices it is for us to counteract them by every means in our power, conformable to the laws of nations. We have just done so at Hango. We declare it openly. The same journal also publishes a letter from Prince Dolgorouki to Admiral Dundas, dated July 11, informing him that, in addition to Cronstadt, Swea borg, and Revel, flags of truce will also be received at Libau, Windau l Wasa, and Tortes: THE PRESS. ROYAL THANKS TO THE ARMY. The following despatches were published in " General Orders " in the camp on the 10th instant : War Department, June 25. My Lord,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's despatches of the 2nd and sth inst. I have submitted to the Queen the satisfactory reports with which your lordship has furnished me of the con tinued success of the important operations in which the forces of her Majesty, and those of her ally the Emperor of the French, have been engaged, subsequeuJy to the occurrences which your lordship reported to me in your despatch of the 29th of May ; and I am commanded to express to your lordship the gratification which it has afforded to her Majesty to receive the intelligence that the resources of the enemy had been crippled, while, at the same time, the steps taken to effect this object were un attended by loss of life. Her Majesty is fully sensible of the important assistance rendered by her naval forces in effecting the successes now reported by you, and I have it especially in command to desire that your lordship will convey to Captain Lyons, of the Miranda, and to the officers and men serving under his orders, her Majesty's high appreciation of their gallant deeds, by which objects have been accomplished of such vast importance to the cause of the allied Powers. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's despatch of the 9th inst., which I have laid before the Queen, and on this, as on every other occasion in which her Majesty's troops have been engaged, they have, by their gallant conduct, earned still further her approbation and gratitude. You will be pleased to accept her Majeety's congratula tions, which I am commanded to convey to you, and like wise those of my colleagues and myself, on the important acquisition of the works in front of the Redan, and you will announce to the troops engaged on that occasion the thanks of the Queen for their unabating gallantry and de termination in seizing and maintaining post after post from the enemy. The Queen deeply grieves that successes such as these cannot be obtained without the loss of valuable lives and the infliction of severe suffering; but you may be assured that no one more cordially honours the gallant dead, or more sincerely sympathises with her wounded soldiers, than her Majesty. Where all are brave, I can enter into your lordship's difficulty in naming any; but the country cannot fail to hail the names of those whom you mention, and I rejoice to see recorded among them the daring feat of Corporal Quinn, of which I have no doubt your lordship has already marked your sense. It gives her Majesty some consolation to learn that the wounds are of a comparatively slight character, and, above all, that the wounded of all ranks have been comfortably disposed of, as your lordship describes. Your lordship's description of the contemporaneous attack and entire success of our allies on the Mamelon and " Ouvrages Blanes," is highly satisfactory to her Majesty, and you will, in her Majesty's name, felicitate General Pelissier on the gallant achievements of his army. These successes cannotfail to inspire confidence through. out the ranks of the besieging armies, while they dishearten the enemy, and will, I trust, lead at no distant day to the final overthrow of Sebastopol. PANSIVRE. RECOGNITION OF MILITARY MERIT. In the Moniteur of Sunday last several columns were filled with the names of non-commissioned officers and privates belonging to the French army in the Crimea, whose gallant conduct on the 17th and 18th of June had entitled them to the decoration of a medal and to " honourable mention." The list includes the names of drummers, buglers, as well as of the combatant classes of the army, and a few lines are attached to each name, briefly recapitulat ing the particular acts for which the owner has been distinguished. On this subject the Paris correspon dent of the Times remarks : It is easy to fancy the pride with which all these men and their families in France will point to such testimo• nials, in which no distinction is made between the general commanding and the lowest drummer under hie orders. The prejudice that regarded such decorations, as in reality offering no incentive to the mere soldier, is rapidly passing away in England, and, while no one can advocate the in• discriminate and lavish distribution of decorations, they who believe that they are a matter of complete indifference are much mistaken. The soldier is proud of his decora tion, and I doubt whether the feeling is exclusively con. fined to Frenchmen. In England these decorations were generally limited to the highest classes of the army, and for a subaltern officer (of any one lower in rank there need be no question) to receive the Order of the Bath, for instance, was a dream too wild for imagination. The most persevering opponents of a change which would enlarge the circle of these honours, on the ground of their being unnecessary to the due performance of duty in the field, were to be found among those whose breasts were covered with orders, foreign and domestic. This system of ex• elusion seemed to render Englishmen indifferent to that class of honour—l say " seemed," because Ido not believe that such indifference in reality exists. So far as one's own experience goes, I have seldom found Englishmen less willing to accept, or less eager to obtain them, than any other people, either for civil or military services. These things may be carried to excess, but it is certain that a bit of riband which indicates, or is presumed to in dicate, the possession of merit, civil or military, is regarded with justifiable pride by the wearer, to whatever nation he belongs. It is not in human nature that it should be otherwise, and I fear that some of those who affect to re gard it as a puerile weakness would not do so if they had the same distinction. I am not certain that the disci. Thine of the troops would be at all weakened by private 707 soldiers and non-eommissioned officers sharing more largely in these honours, or that if the name of the drum mer who, amid a shower of balls, and with death about him, beats the charge to the last, were inserted in the London Garrtie, as in the Mowitewr of Sunday, that insubor dination and anarchy would necessarily follow. THE FLEETS. Official despatches, detailing some minor but suc cessful operat►ons, both in the Baltic and Black Seas, have been received at the Admiralty during the past week. Admiral Dundas transmits the following letter and inclosure, dating the former from " the Duke of Wellington, off Nargen, July 7." : I transmit herewith a report of proceedings during the past week from Captain Yelverton, who rejoined mu yesterday at this anchorage in her Majesty's ship Arrogant, and who, with the Magicianne and Ruby gun-boat iu com pany, visited the south coast of the Gulf of Finland, and attacked some military posts of the enemy at liuunda Ray and in the River l'urtsoiki. Returning afterwards to his former station in the Bay of Wiborg, he proceeded with boats towards the town, and engaged with a superior force of the enemy, defended by batteries. I request you will express to their lordships toy approba tion of the conduct of this enterprising officer upon all occasions, and I would beg to recommend to their favor able notice the conduct of Captain Vansittart, of the Magicienne, and of Lieutenant Haggard, of the Arrogant, and Lieutenant Dowell, of the Royal Marine Artillery, and the excellent behaviour of all the officers and meu. Captain Ye'Tenon has spoken favorably also of the con duct of Mr. Hale, mate, in command of the Ruby. I regret much to have to report the loss of Mr. Story, midshipman of the Arrogant, with nine others wounded in the boats of the two ships, of whom one is since dead. R. S. DUNDAS. (Inclosure.l H. M. 8. Arrogant, off Wiborg, July 14. I have the honour to acquaint you with my proceedings during the week. The Al agicieline rejoined me on Wednesday, and I pro ceeded direct to Kounda Bay, on the south coast, where I had reason to think that troops were concentrated. It turned out to be a large Cossack encampment, on a most commanding position, whence I dislodged them with shell and rockets from the Ruby and ships' boats. Some oppo sition was made to our landing, and shots tired from behind hedges, Jtc.; hut I succeeded in examining the place, which I did not injure, as it only contained private property. The following morning I anchored at the month of the River Portaoiki, and, landing on its right bank, destroyed a Cossack barrack and stables, driving the soldiers into the country. I then came on here. Having anchored the ships as close as 1 could to the island of Stralsund, I proceeded in the Ruby, accompanied by Captain Vansittart, of the Magirientir, and Captain Bowder, Royal Marines, of this ship, the latter officer having under his command a strong detachment of marines. We towed with us the boats of the ship, under the com mand of Lieutenants Haggard and Woolcombe, and those of the Magicienne, under the command of Lieutenants King and Loady. Hrving opened the bay called Trangsund, we saw a Russian man-of-war steamer, with two large gunboats in tow, not far off; this most novel and unexpected sight of a Russian man-of-war for once clear of a stone wall, and to all appearance inclined to give us a fair and honest tight, created the greatest enthusiasm among the men and officers. I directed Mr. Hale, commanding the Ruby, to open fire on her at once, but she very soon retired out of range, having, I think, received some damage. We had now reached the entrance of the Sound; Wiborg was in sight, and a fair prospect of attacking three large gun-boats, lying with another steamer under an island about one mile off. We were here brought up by a barrier, impeding the passage of the gun-boat and launches. At this moment a masked battery on the left bank, not more than 350 yards off, opened on us a heavy fire of musketry, round, and grape; this was instantly returned and kept in check by a rapid and well•directed fire from the Ruby and all the boats. The enemy's steamer and gun boats then came from under the island and also opened fire OD As it was impossible to get the Ruby through the barrier, I returned towards Stralsund, the enemy's riflemen follow. ing us along the banks, but driven from their positions as fast as they took them by the fire from the Ruby and hosts. An explosion took place in one of the Arrogant's cutters, which swamped the boat ; the men were saved, but I regret to say that Mr. Story, the midshipman in command of her, was killed. In endeavouring to save the crew, the boat drifted close to the battery, and would have fallen into the hands dills enemy had not Lieutenant Haggard, of this ship, and Lieutenant Dowell, R.M.A., of the Magicienne, in the Ruby's gig, with a volunteer crew, towed her out under a very heavy fire. I cannot sufficiently praise the conduct of all the officers and men who were engaged in this affair, where their cool and determined courage enabled them to handle most se verely, and keep in check for upwards of an hour, the enemy far superior in number, with the advantage of local knowledge and a good position. H. R. YELVERTON. From the Black the destruction of tl Straits of Yenitchi, called the " Tongue The details of this • the following from Lieutenant the Biagi* J. -a 1 Black Sea, Admiral Lyons announces n of the Russian floating br.dge in the nitchi, connecting the singular part 'ongue of Arabat" with the mainland. this transaction are communicated in despatch, which the admiral inclose. nt W. N. W. Hewett, Commander et