The Press. — London, England, 1856-01-12 00:00:00

JANuART 12, 1856. T E WA R. THE destruction by the French engineers of the first of the five docks of Sebastopol indicates clearly that the allied Governments have at length none to the conclusion that the town and harbour is after all not likely to bicome available for the allied vessels for some moderate period of time during the present Witt General Codrington's despatch of the I.3th ult. announces, that the preparations on our side fcr the destruction of three more of the five docks are being pushed forward ; and, as we have run parallel galleries under the bottoms of the docks, as well as sinking side shafts, we may reasonably conclude that the destruction will be most effectual. The movements of both allies and Russians are restricted to occasional outpost affairs, in which the French are usually successful. The Russians occa sional succeeded in making night visits to the town, but a strict look out was kept. General Cod riug,ton, in his despatch of the 27th„ hati defended the army, with no small degree of soldierly spirit, horn the accusation of general drunkenness. At lEinburn affairs remained quiet, reports of an attack upon the fort were rife, and the garrison was sbout to be strengthened from head quarters. The liman was alternately freezing and breaking up, cau-ing much danger to the gun-boats and vessels at anchor. From Kertch we learn that a small foraging party of the Turkish Contingent, surprised and surrounded by a large force of Russians, behaved in the most gallant manner, and, bravely led by their officers, cut their way through 400 Russian dragoons, with the loss of forty-one, killed, wounded, and prisoners. By despatches from St. Petersburg we learn that Omer Pacha has retreated from before Kutais, and concentrated his troops on Redout-Kaleh. THE WAR IN ASIA. POSITION OF THE TURKISH ARMY. St. Petersburg, Jan. 9. Omer Pacha has retreated on Redout Kaleh, where his troops suffer much from the inclemency of the weather. Our detachments of militia. including the militia of Mingrelia, do great mischief to the rear guard of the enemy. OFFICIAL DESPATCHES. DESPATCHES FROM GENERAL CODRINGTON. Lord Panmure received on Wednesday the follow jog despatch upon the reported drunkenness of the army from General Sir Wm. Codrington, K.C.B. Sebastopol, Dec. 27, 1,855. Your lordship has referred in several despatches to drunkenness in this army. Reports of all sorts seem to have been circulated, statements read, descriptions made, until it was apparently believed that this army was com posed of drunkards, and immersed in riot and vice. 1 took the opportunity of expressing myself strongly to your lordship that this would prove not to be the truth. I now state, in confirmation of this opinion, that returns are in my possession from every regiment of all cases of drunkenniss tried by court-martial, as well as those settled at the regimental orderly rooms for three months It was during this time that arrears of field allowance, more than J. each man, were received as back pay. besides 10,000 men receiving additional working pay ; and yet the result is that, including artillery, sappers, and infantry, the number of crimes of drunkennes ( and these are many more than the men drunk) is a little above one man in two days per company, estimated at 100 men. No doubt there are many facilities in all these open and crowded camps for drunken men to get in without being seen. They do so, and escape observation. But suppose we double or treble the amount of these numbers—which are taken from official returns—and I suspect the army will bear a comparison with many towns, many villages. many populations of Great Britain. It is easy to give, it is as easy to read, a minute, a ludicrous. or even a filthy description of a drunken man, and it seems seizPd upon as the type of the whole. The fathers and mothers, the wives and sisters in England, are fully persuaded we do nothing but drink, and the good character of the army is forgotten in a few sketches from nature. _ _ That such need not be the case with those who know anything about the matter will, I think, be proved by the statement now made to your lordship. W. J. CODRINGTON, General Commanding. A despatch arrived on Tuesday stating that the final operations for the destruction of the docks had been delayer). : Sebastopol. Dec. 2.5, Notwithstanding the recent severe weather, the therm°• meter a few nights ago having fallen nearly to zero, the general state of health of the army has continued good. The roads are in fair working order; and though the effi ciency of the locomotive engines was impaired by the frost, the damage has been made good. The final operations on the docks have been somewhat delayed on our ride by the influx of water, and by the freezing of pumps. The tire from the forts on the northern side of the har bour continues, and it is at times heavy; but the casualties, I am happy to say, are few. THE PRESS. There has been no movement of importance on the part of the enemy in our neighbourhood of late. A, detach ment of French troops surprised a Cossack post near Teillon, a few days ago, killing several men, and taking the rest prisoners. The general drill of the army makes good progress. W. J. CODAINGTON, General Commanding. A despatch from Lieut.-General Vivian, at Kertch, giving the details of the late skirmish between a foraging party of the Turkish Contingent and a strong force of Cossacks, was also received on Wed nesday : Head Quarters, Kenai, Dec. 21. I have with much regret to report to you the death of Captain R. S. Sherwood, of the cavalry of this force. This officer was engaged in a skirmish, that took place on the 1 Ith inst. between a detachment of our cavalry and a party of Russian cavalry ; his gallantry in this affair was most conspicuous, as is reported to me by the officer who commanded the detachment. Captain Sherwood was severely wounded, and was carried off by the Russians; and, as I have since learnt, died on the 19th from his wounds. I deplore his loss, for he was an intelligent and very promising young officer. I have reason to believe that the treatment he received from the Russians was most humane and considerate. R. J. H. VIVIAN. Lieut.-General, Commanding Turkish Contingent. DESPATCH FROM MARSHAL PELTSSIER.. The Moniteur of Wednesday contained the follow ing letter, addressed by Marshal Pelissier to the Minis ter for War : Head Quarters, Sebastopol, Dec. 254, 1)435: Monsieur le Marechal,—l have the honour of sending you an account of another ooup-de-inain, executed by the volunteers of the division of Autemarre, during the night of the 26-27th instant. . . Having been informed that a post. consisting of eighty infantry of the Smolensk regiment and of twenty Cossacks of the Don, was placed upon a mamelon, situated at . - 0:10 metres from the defile of Cardonne Bell, General Aute. marre authorised Lieut. Colonel Lacretelle to make an attempt to carry the same with the two companies of eclairetsra added to our outposts. The icy state of the ground, which so mach impedes the marching of men in this difficult country, was several times nigh proving an obstacles. Nevertheless, the under taking succeeded; eighteen Russians were attacked and killed on the spot with the bayonet, while attempting to defend themselves ; and eighteen others were made prisoners. At night the Cossacks retired on Kokloz, two only re maining in the outpost. These were taken by our men, who besides have brought away thirty arms of all sorts. The captain wbo commanded the enemy's post was killed. We have had neither killed nor wounded. Captains Pichon and Nehlich directed this coup-de-main with their accustomed vigour and intelligence. They highly praise the conduct of their troops. Ps.zassts.a. THE CAVALRY AFFAIR AT RERTCH. The gallantry of the Turkish Contingent troops in the first encounter with the Russians under very dis advantageous circumstances is worthy of note. A foraging party on the 161,11, bringing bay and straw front a place five miles distant from the town, was harassed by parties of Cossacks. Major M.DOnald, in command of a convoy force of eighty Lancers, beat hack the Cossacks for a couple of miles, when he was suddenly surrounded by some four hundred dra goons : This unexpected discovery left no option but to fall back on the farm, and this Major Pl)onald accordingly at tempted to do, but the Russian horsemen gave rapid chase, and, with their long pieces, kept up a galling fire, to which the short carbines of the pursued could make no effective reply. Better mounted, too, they succeeded in outflank ing our men, and by this threatened to make prisoners of the whole. The moment was critical: but Major M•Donald, with a courage above praise, resolved to imitate the desperate bravery of the 10th Hussars some months ago under nearly similar circumstance+, and to cut his way through. or fall in the attempt. Forming his little squa dron, therefore, he dashed forward at their head against the gleaming barrier of hostile sabres, and, being admi rably supported by his men, hewed open a way for nearly the whole, with a cost to the Russians of some twenty killed and wounded. But the enemy speedily recovered from their confusion, gave renewed chase, with a firing fire as before, and again turned the flank of the hard-pressed Turks and their British leader. The escape which hail been hoped for from the first desperate effort now seemed impossible ; but, with a heroism even greater than before, Major 31`Donald determined to make one more blow for the lives and freedom of his party. Pulling up for a moment, he hastily formed and again rushed restre a Mere against the enemy. A tierce hand-to hand fight then took place, and after some twenty minutes of as desperate sabre ing and lance-thrusting as the present war has yet seen, the heroic Scotchman and forty of his little band again cut a passage through, leaving, I deeply regret to say, poor Captain Sherwood, his second in command, and as many more. dead and dying in the enemy's hands.---D. News cow. Kertch, Dec. 22. THE WAR IN ASIA. THE SURRENDER OF KARS. Fresh particular; of the siege and fall of this now famous town daily reach Constantinople. The heroism of the garrison, and the unselfishness of the townspeople, under their terrible sufferings, have scarcely been surpassed in the annals of modern warfare.:— , `4 9 Although numbers (writes the Tina correspondent) were daily dying from starvation. no excesses occurred ; in the batteries, where there were always three days' pro. visions, the famished sentry paced about within reach ( f them, without allowing himself to be overcome by the temptation. It was the story of Tantalus a thousand times, but more nobly repeated, for it was moral courage, not physical impossibility, which prevented them from satisfying the cravings of hunger. The inhabitants then:. selves were scarcely behind the troops in the display of un selfishness. While they had anything left themselves they shared voluntarily with their defenders, and deprived them e selves even of their beds to give comfort to some poor fellow in the hospital.—Letterfrost Constantinople, Dec. 27. It had always been the intention of General Williams at the last moment to cut his way through the enemy, but his men were so utterly exhausted from want of food, that at the last council of war held to discuss the possibility of such a movement, Kerim Pacha, " one of the best awl bravest of th Turkish commanders," declared that his soldiers could not march with their muskets for half a roils, they were so emaciated Not only was the town without food, Litt, since the repulse of the Russians, there was only ammunition for three days for the guns in position! The Turkish authorities, accord ing to the Tillit4 correspondent, are principally to blame. The chief of the ordnance department, Halett Bey, and BTabir Pacba, the commissary• general, grossly neglected their duties, and, in spite of every requisition and entreaty from General Williams, threw difficulties in the way, made pre text after pretext for not finding supplies or stores ; and although the depots at Erzeroum were so full of ammunition and grain that Selina Pacha requested the Government at Constantinople not to forward any more, Tahir Pacha objected to use donkeys for the transport, as it would be a d i sgrace to the im perial army ; and though during the siege many per sons offered to take grain into Kars upon their own risk, Tahir Pacha found some economical pretext or other to prevent them doing so, In the medical, as well as in every other, department the same treachery or peculation had left the town utterly unproyide,d. Instead of the necessary drugs, the cases seat out were tilled with inferior cosmetics, utterly useless ; while for surgical instruments, such as are required for military hospitals, an incredible quantity of cheap obstetric instruments came to hand. Now that Kars has fallen, the Turkish Government seem deter mined tc act with some energy. Seliru Pacha, Tahir I'acha, Haleit Bey, and the drug contractor, are all to be tr'ed by court-martial, and ate charges against them thoroughly investigated. LAST DAYS OF THE DEFENCE OF EARS, A letter from bars, of the god of December, says : The last moments of resistsnce were marked by heroism. For a long time, each soldier on duty had been, in the habit of receiving only half ration, and on this& reduction was soon made for the inhabitants. The portion for eachataa diminished from day to day. The last distribution of provisions took place the 23rd of November. Five times the quantity of provisions would have been necessary to appease the hunger of the soldiers and the inhabitants. They had no longer a morsel. The men sank without uttering a word; and withdrawing from the public gaze to conceal their pangs and to beguile their hunger in a sort of stupor, to which their sufferings had granted a cessation of some instants. A third of the garrison, inhabitants, and soldiers, lay stretched on the ground. and awaited, without a murmur, their last moments. The rest triad to keep life up as best they could. On the ttsth, when the convoy of provisions brought by the Russians entered the town, the enemy were astonished that it was not attacked by the populace, but only a small number of persons surrounded the waggons The Rus sians were soon finished with them, and waited some time for the rest of the inhabitants to come up, but no one came. After some search they learnt that the soldiers and inhabitants were so exhausted as not to be able to leave the houses. They, therefore, resolved to go from house to house to distribute the provisions personally. The great part of the sick were suffering from inflammation of the intestines, and among some the malady had made such progress that they could not eat their rations, but died beside the food they bAd so eagerly longed for. On the 2.4 h the enemy took possession in form, but their defini tive entry was postponed to the :if►th. The first care of the Russian officers was to organise an interim Adminis tration, to preserve the town from disorder. The number of sick amounted to near six thousand, and the greatest activity and zeal were displayed in attending to them. Oa the even ng of the saute day the officers of the regular troops were informed that they should quit Kars on the Ist of December, and that they were to proceed to Alexan dropol, where they should be provisionally detained. They were al'owed to make their preparations in perfect liberty. In the meantime the volunteers, the Redifs. and Bashi-Bazonks, quitted freely the town. pursuant to the terms of capitulation. On the hat, the officers left. as had been announced, and the Russians definitively occupied the town. The general officers h d terminated their pre pir ations. The commander-in-chief, Vassif Paella, and tie nerala Hussein Pacba and Kerim Pacha, General Wil li ims and his staff among whom were remarked Colonel La he, Major Teesdale, kCaptain Thomson, and his seen"