The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-24 00:00:00

MARCH 24, 1855. THE WAR. The latest telegraphic advices from the camp are of the luth inst. They report that the weather was favorable. Lord Raglan had sent Lord Biughersh to Sebastopol to announce the death of the Emperor Nicholas. The Russians did not believe it. The French continued to throw rockets into Sebastopol. The siege-works were advancing. Sickness was on the decrease. The morale of the troops continued ex cellent. On the Bth Omer Paella sent a messenger with a flag of truce to Prince Radziwill, who com mands the Russians in that quarter, to announce the death of the Emperor Nicholas. The siege-works were nearly complete. It was estimated that the southern portion of Sebastopol could not resist the fire that would be opened upon them for more than five days. Previous despatches stated that the weather was fine and mild. A bright moon impeded operations by night. The French had not renewed their attack on the Russian work near the Malakoff Tower. There were 8,000 Russians at Tchorgoun. The Russians were advancing towards Inkermann, and were constructing new batteries. The Engli , h posi tion is well fortified. At a council of war, held on the 4th, it was resolved to recommence active operations. General Burgoyne remains in the Crimea, at the request of Lord Raglan. A continual fire was kept up between the French and Russians. The Russians are said to have received reinforcements. Advices from St. Petersburg state that the follow ing despatch had been received from General Osten. Sacken In the night between the 10th and 11th we erected a new redoubt about three hundred yards in front of the Koruilott' Bastion. Our (Russian) works were carried on with success. The following despatch appeared in a supple mentary Gazette published on Thursday : Before Sebastopol, March 8, 1855. My Lord,—The enemy continue to manifest great activity it, preparing the work which 1 mentioned to your lordship in my despatch (No. 187 ), and are now bringing up platform timber and guns for the equipment i id armament of it. Vast convoys are daily observed arriving on the north side of the town; and 1 learn, from information entitled to credit, that the road leading from Simferopol is covered with waggons laden with provisions and munitions of war. This morning three British guns, placed in a battery overhanging the Tschernaya, opened upon two small steamers anchored at the head of the harbour, and, after a fire of about an hour, obliged them to take refuge behind a point. One of them appeared to have sustained con siderable damage, and is supposed to have been deserted by her crew. The weather was fine yesterday, and is particularly so to-day, and the country is becoming quite dry. I have reason to hope that the sick are deriving material benefit from this change. I have established a convalescent hospital on the heights immediately above Balaklava, near a tine spring of water. The Inspector-General of Hospitals entertains great ex pectations of the advantages that will result from placing the huts in so healthy a locality. Lieutenant• General Pennefather has resumed the com mand of the second division ; and is, I am happy to be able to report, looking remarkably well. RAGLAN, The Paris papers contain a despatch from General Canrobert, respecting the successful attack made by the French troops upon the Russian outworks on the night of the 23rd ult. The Zouaves behaved most gallantly in this short but violent struggle. The loss is represented to have been great on both sides. According to our letters from the camp the good people of England have gone to the extreme in send ling out things. The place is now overstocked, and capital clothing is going begging; everything is to be had. On the 3rd of March the effective strength of Omer Pacha's army at Eupat"ria amounted to 35,000 men, with 1,000 horse and four complete batteries. The troops of all arms still expected were rapidly arriving. Supplies were very abundant. The Malta Mail announces that five and twenty steamers were expected to be sent to Genoa for the conveyance of the Piedmontese contingent to the Crimea. THE BALTIC. The naval campaign in the Baltic is about to re open. The flying squadron of British steamers, under Captain Watson, left on Tuesday afternoon, being preceded to sea by the Queen in the Fairy, the royal yacht. On the Queen's proceeding, the entire fleet fired a royal salute. The squadron con sists of the Imperieuse, 51; the Euryalus, 51; Arrogant, 48 ; Tartar, 22 ; Esk, 21; Archer, 14; Conflict, 8. On leaving the squadron, the Queen's yacht hoisted the signal, "Success; farewell!" Her Majesty was loudly cheered, and the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. The Great Belt is open at the north, south, and seat; also from Knudshovet to Slipshaven. Corsoer THE PRESS. is still icebound. The Sound ice is broken up on the Swedish side. Elsinore is open and ships have arrived. Ice still remains between Ilven and the Danish coast. Kiel harbour is partially open; Buelk quite. A storm from the north-west has rapidly dissipated the ice. MEDICAL REPORT. The following official report of the health of the army, from Dr. Hall, Inspector-General of Hospitals, ants dated March 2nd, was transmitted by Lord Raglan to the War-office with the last despatches : I will offer a few observations on the weekly state up to the 24th of February, and may premise that the result of the sanitary condition of the army up to that period is by no means so satisfactory as the previous improvement during the week of fine weather that we had had led me to anticipate; but, though the unfavorable change in the weather, from the genial warmth of spring to the bitter cold of winter, which took place on the 20th, had an injurious effect on certain classes of disease in weakly sub jects, still there is sufficient improvement remaining to enable us to look forward with confident hope to the future ; and T am the more inclined to indulge this hope from the favorable change which has taken place in the type of fever prevailing in the General Hospital at Balaklava, in the 99rd Highlanders, and some other regiments, from low typhoid to that of a remittent, and even intermittent form. This afternoon 100 patients were to be removed from the General Hospital at Balaklava to the convalescent es• tablishment on the Ostend of the old castle overlooking the sea ; and when the remainder of the huts are erected, which I expect they soon will be now, I look for the hap piest results to follow, from being able to place from 400 to 500 convalescents there, in place of sending them down to the crowded establishment at Scutari. In case of our having wounded men, I should wish of all things to keep them in so desirable a locality, and, by a very little labour, the road up to the huts from the town could easily be made practicable for ambulance mules, and this, I am informed. the commanding royal engineer has been ordered to carry into immediate effect. The position of the huts I think promises every advan tage ; they are placed on a dry ridge overlooking the sea, sufficiently removed from the noise and stench of the town, and not too far from our stores and resources. There is a running stream in a ravine close at hand, of easy access, and fed by a spring higher up in the hills, which could easily be led to the huts themselves by means of gutta percha tubing. Out of 422 patients treated in the General Hospital at Balaklava between the 18th and 24th of February, only three casualties have occurred, which, I think, may fairly be termed a low rate of mortality, considering the class of patients that are generally sent in there for treatment— men brought down from camp and found too ill to embark when they arrive at Balaklava. Bowel complaints continue to be the most prevalent class of diseases ; but I think they are not so serious as they were a short time ago, nor is scurvy so manifest as it was since the issue of lime-juice daily as a portion of the men's ration. Lately, I have instructed the medical officers of regiments to inspect the men for the purpose of detect ing this complaint—skin diseases—and seeing that the men are clean in their persons, and change their shirts and flannels at stated periods. The last weekly report is favorable. In the fourth division, which is the only report I have at hand in my hut, only 138, out of 2,598 men in pecced, bore any traces of scurvy; and this is one of the divisions which was as much or more affected with it than any division in the army a short time ago. If the issue of fresh meat could be insured, together w .th vegetables and T am quite satisfied, now that the men are warmly clad, and will soon be better sheltered, a manifest improvement will take place in their health ; and, if the military operations carrying on would only admit of some longer exemption from duty, a still greater improvement would be observed. 1 am inclined to think our greatest difficuhies and miseries have been surmounted, and we may now look for ward for better and more cheering times. It was wonderful to see the cheering effect the few fine days had on the health and spirits of the men ; and, as the winter may now he considered nearly at Mn end, I am fall of hope and confi dence. THE present regulation war rocket, an invention of Sir William Congreve, is destined, in all proba bility, to go speedily out of use. The long wooden taillike appendage which constitutes an effective portion of the missile, and without which it has no directive flight whatever, has ever proved a sad drawback to the general efficiency of the weapon. Congreve rockets are most erratic in their flight, and can never be depended upon for hitting a target, even of considerable size and at very moderate dis tances. In the new war rocket (the invention of Mr. William Hale, and now being extensively manu factured for our service) there is no tail whatever, accuracy of directive flight being imparted by an in genious application of the rifle principle, the rocket undergoing rotation as it pursues its course. An other great improvement in the manufacture of these rockets consists in the application of hydrostatic force instead of the monkey hammer hitherto em ployed for driving the rockets with their inflammable composition. Not only is the process mote expedi tious, but it is also more safe, accidents having fre quently occurred, owing to ignition of the rocket composition by heat developed from andcienly-com pressed air, the result of monkey driving. The longest known flight of any missile whatever has been accomplished by one of these new rockets, being almost four miles. 277 SEBASTOPOL INQUIRY COMMITTEE. THE following is among the evidence gi% en before the committee this week. Dr. ANDREW SMITE, head of the Army Medical Board, said : He had had thirty years experience as an army surgeon, and in medical hospitals. He then described the system pursued in the medical department of the army generally. On the 10th of February last year he received the first communication to make the necessary preparations to pro vide all medical necessaries for the first section of the army of observation to the East, consisting of 10,000 men, going out to Malta. He hereupon issued an order to the niedical department for all that was required, and by the %.2tul of Feb ruary the medicine stores were all ready to sail. The uten• ails, hada, and general ihniiture, were all furnished by the Hoard of Ordnance. lie received no bill of lading or invoice from the shipping authorities of the Ordnance at the Tower. The commander-in-chief applied to the Ord nenee, the Ordnance to the Admiralty, and the Admiralty supplied the medical comforts The medical stores were consigned to the medical officer at Malts, but they did not reach there for six or eight weeks, the medical officer having gone on to Constantinople with the army. The medical stores after considerable delays reached Constanti nople on the loth of May. On hearing the army was increased to 25,00 U strong, be made an application on the 25th of March for additional supplies, which were placed in one vessel, with proper officers in superintendence over them. He represented to the commander-in-chief that the army medical department were ignorant of the Oriental country, and he suggested that medical officers should be sent out to inquire into the diseases and sanitary condition of the country, and how far it was advantageous for an army to encamp in particular localities. Several officers did go out and explore the coast of the Black Sea and the entire country, but the authorities would not send out en gineers to co operate in this undertaking. Witness re ceived after the lapse of two months voluminous reports from these officers, describing all that was required con nected with the face of the country and its physiology, and a copy was lett with the principal medical officer of the army and Lord Raglan. No arrangements were made the hospitals until the arrival of the troops, though Dr. Guth rie recommended to the commander-in-chief that hospitals should be established at Malta, in proportion to the nunibe of men going out. The uncertainty of the army moving from station to station prevented this being done to a very great degree at first. After the troops moved from Malta, Mr. Calvert received authority to establish hospitals, and to spend for the purpose, with General Brown, any' money that might be required. The French contrived, in some way or other, to possess themselves of all the best build ings for these establishments. A hospital medical staff was sent out, in expectation of hospitals bring requited, in February, consisting of twenty-four, but they were WU mately increased to fifty-six, on the army moving further east. A portion of this staff arrives' at Constantinople before the troops. The supplies of medicine sent out to Malta were calculated to last six months. The medical officers had power to purchase additional medical supplies in foreign countries, but they were all sent from home; and this was the invariable practice of the service. He would not hold himself responsible for anything sent out but the medicines. The Ord. nance were taken by surprise in these matters, in a state of peace, and were compelled to purchase stores in many instances not by contract, from not having the stores in hand, and there being no time to Woe. He had not made,nor did he direct any inquiries to be made, as to medical supplies to be procured from the markets in the East, it being expected that the rtipplies sent out would be sufficient. His arrangements for regiments taking the field were as follows :—On the 3rd March he issued a circular to each surgeon of a regiment ordering that he should complete his medicine chest, which would be suffi cient for a regiment eight hundred strong for six months. He caused panniers, es in the Peninsula, tube prepared, filled with medicines, to be carried on horseback, for each regiment where medicine chests c o uld not be conveyed. If it was the truth that only medicine chests were found at Varna he could not account for it, unless it was the fault of the surgeons in leaving the panniers behind. The large medicine chests would be conveyed by carts. Regiments' hospitals were established at Constantinople, as soon as the force arrived, on a small scale ; hut the general hospital was not established until dune. Preparations to establish the barrack hospital began in August. It was not at first expected that the sick and wounded would go to Scutari, but to Verbs, and the preparations at first were made at the latter place. Ile considered sufficient authority had been given by the Government to Lord de Itedcliffe to supply all the necessary supplies forthe sick rind wounded. He had information from Scutari as to the state of the hospital at the time that Mr. *Donald applied to him for letters of introduction, but he told him that his irritation would be supererogatory—that every means had been taken, and that there was an ample supply of every comfort that was required. If it had been represented before the committee that there was a greet want of medical comforts, all ha could say was that he had despatched all provision) , and stores that were necesesry ; ewl be considered the medical authorities out there hail everything they wanted. He ion - gested to Mr. M'l) o nald that the best way to apply his fat would be to the poor fellows discharged from the hospital, but he advised him not to give them money, as they would only obtain drink. It was the duty of t he medical officer to have provided against, or to have prevented, the want of medical comforts, or the state of things described by Mr. M'Donald and Mr. Stafford. if they had had the means. He could not positively say whether all the suffering and misery was caused by the conflict between the superior medical men and the nreeyers. He knew that the o p tu nrw ee e rs y7ro bu d t iol ques tionatbee authority e of o t tli be eers med i leal ho would give evidence as to this. The conflict of authority ,: , ._ °' ~.