The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

APRIL 21, 1855. teries and guns the Russians will always be able to main- Lain the present relative position with respect to the allied armies, unless our artillerymen are able on every occasion to eatablish a sulsenority of lire. Our approaches almost lead us to the advanced Ruasian works. On Sunday the the a ngiiah engineers threw up a trench within 55 yards of the Garden Battery. 'fhe sentries posted along its front entered into that kind of rough joking with the Rus sians which is popularly called " chading," and the pickets were not more than sixty yards from each other. Although the Russians had a hie of double sentries in front of this work. numbering at least two hundred men, they did nut attempt to disturb our operations. This indifference arose either from confidence in their own strength and contempt of the enemy or from negligence and want of military en terprise. Their principal efforts for the last two days have been directed to the French works on tile right, which they shell incessantly. Our sillies do not care to return the fire. Trey are busied in making their approaches ant preparing their batteries. The itussisns sometimes use very heavy charges of powder, and peupel their shot with extraordinary force. As an instance of this I may mention that the day before yesterday atid-pouud snot from tue Ream' passed right through the parapet of our battery, where it was from eighteen to twenty feet thick, and struck down, but did not kill, a gunner inside the work. They have some excellent artillerymen, and their practice with different charges of powder is very good ; but their shell firing is indifferent, principally owing to their bad fuses. It might be sup posed that, with all our advanced mechanical skill, we should have the best fuses in the world; but the fact is that great complaints have been made respecting some of the articles of that kind supplied to our gunners. We have, I am told, fuses made in 1798 and 1801; but, old as these are, they are better than the fuses of 1853 and 1851. To-day the greatest activity was displayed in lialaklava. The quays swarmed with labourers engaged in piling up shot and shell and loading the railway carriages with am munition, of which immense quantities were sent up to the front. The first human cargo—one of sickness and suffering—was sent down to Balaklava to-day. Four waggons, filled with sick and wounded soldiers, ran from head-quarters to the town in less than half an hour. The men were propped up on their knapsacks, and seemed very comfortable. What a change from the ghastly processions one met with some weeks ago, formed of dead or dying men, hanging from half-starved horses, or dangling about on French mule-litters ! _ The usual immense quantity of ammunition of different kinds reached camp to-day. Scarcely a shell of any de• scription is left at the ordnance wharf, and the vessels con taining them now in harbour have been ordered to land theta with all speed. To-day one of the new French batteries near Inkerinann, which has been carefully masked since its c.mstruction, nearly three months since, tired a few ahote upon the ships in the harbour, to try its range. Hardly had it done so when one of the line-of-battle ships swung and opened a tire of shot and shell upon the work, which in the course of a couple of hours did wort serious damage. The injury to the work, however, will no uoubt be repaired in the course of to-night and precautions adopted to guard as much as possible against any further da nage. The inqu ry by General Simpson into the state of the army during the winter is still proceeding on board the Goitenburgh at Balaklava, and several most important wit nesses have been examined. This inquiry, made on the spot, will in one day collect more real facts against our military administration than the House of Commons com mittee in the course of a month. Provision device are in course of being established along the coast of Asia Minor, for the regular supply of fresh meat and vegetables, and General Folder is also about to establish most extensive depUts in Wallachia, on the banks of the Danube. The arrangement of the latter plan re quires the utmost ability and experience, and Mr. Crook shank, one of the ablest of our commissariat officers, has been selected for the duty. APRIL 3.—Laat night we had some heavy firing between the allied and Russian batteries—the French advanced work against the Flagstaff, and our right attack against the blame Lon batteries. No particular results followed, except that each day it becomes more and more apparent that the hlamelon will prove a thorn in our side unless speedily stormed. Two new guns have lately been placed in it, but are not yet opened. From the advanced work in the middle ravine continued skirmishing went forward between our men, the French, and the Russian rifle•pits. The Russians maintained their ground; and, indeed, beyond sharpshooting, there was no attempt to drive them from it. The enemy are evidently on the qui vive, as large numbers of troops crowd their batteries now each night, so as to be ready on the instant. The Zouaves, it is said, with a party of Tirailleurs d'Atrique and Chasseurs de Vincennes, are to storm the Malakoff the night after opening fire ; and to the English has been allotted the Mamelon. These may be mere rumours, but they are universally believed here, and will very likely prove true. The plan of the assault is, no doubt, to con centrate the fire of our batteries upon the Malakoff works and Mamelon, and storm directly a sufficient number of their guns are disabled to enable us to do it with smallest loss. From the Mainelon the town cm be com•oanded at every point ; and, with the Malakoff towers in our posses sion, the Redan would be untenable to the enemy, and the dockyard at our mercy. Yet from the specimen of their ships fire which the French battery got yesterday, it will evi lently not all be couleur de rose—a mere walk over the course. Last night the Russian pickets were observed in the plain of lialaklava much advanced from their mual posi tion, apparently regarding our lines, which now by the full moon can be seen at night as clearly as in the day time. The camp of the enemy still continues about the Woronzow road. Both parties are evidently anxious to bring the affair to as quick a termination as possible, and both seem sonident of sumac THE PRESS. The weather still continues splendid, that is to say, clear hard frosty nights. with hot days; just like November nights and June days iu England. The men are in splen did spirits, but fever wakes great progress. In the ;loth Highlanders there are upwards of VW cases. Ae.un 4.—Lieut. Bainbridge, , was killed yesterday nosday ) in the trenches. As he was talking to one of the sappers employed in the works a shell came towards them from one of the enemy's batteries ; they both saw it, and the soldier went to one side of a traverse and Lieut. Bainbridge to the other The shell fell just at his feet and exploded before he could throw himself down, blowing his bray to atoms. The unfortunate officer only arrived a lot tnight ago from Ceylon. APRIL 5. • We have now nearly completed our fourth parallel. It is within sixty yards of the rifle-plus of the Russian., and it will be speedily armed %%ith cohurus, which will make the pita too but to hold the riflemen. A battery has been tnrown up for the express puruose of clearing the ground of pits in front of the Medan and Round Tower, and it is expected to open this evening. The enemy having found out the value of the Mamelou, are working at it night and day, though they must suffer greatly from our fire. The Russian working parties over the Tschernaya, close to their inir nch_dcain p, are busily engaged in making gallons, and their watch fires are distinctly visible from hathltoi and lialaklava every night. APRIL 6.—lt is exciting enough to look at the beleagured cit% and to watch the siege operations on a calm titie day. The ground in rear of the dark lines, serrated with black iron teeth which mark our batteries, is almost deserted. The soldiers are sauntering about in groups just below the cover of the parapets, and a deep greyish blue line denotes the artillerymen and covering parties, whose heads appear just above the trench. In front are the whitish wounds of the Russian intrenchments, and batteries with the black muzzles of the guns peering through the embrasures. The grey-coated Russians stalk about on the inner slopes of the parapets, busily engaged in carrying up gabions and repair ing damaged works. Suddenly a thick spirt of smoke bursts from the fare of the Mamelon, the shot bounds into Gordon's Battery and knocks up a pillar of earth, and then flies around throwing up a cloud of dust at each ricochet. Scarcely has it struck the parapet before another burst of smoke rushes out of one of the embrasurea of the naval battery, and a mass of whitish earth is dashed up into the air from the face of the Mamelon. Then comes another puff from one of the French batteries on the right, and a shell bursts right in the devoted work—" Bravo the sailors ;" " Well done French !" cry the spectators, and as the words leave their lips two or three guns from the Round Tower and as many from the Mamelon hurl shot and shell in reply at their assailants. A duel of this kind sometimes lasts all day with the occasional divertissement of a shell or nituid shot at working or covering parties on either side. The Rip-abuts tire very well, but they are not generally equal as at tillerymen to our men, nor is their practice so invariably A ,,,,.,. Tue French who are intent on checking their ap proaches, plough right by and enfilade their trench from night of the Mamelon to the rifle-pits. and make excellent shots. Now and then our sea-service mut tare speak out with a dull roar that shakes the earth, and after nearly a minute of expectation a cloud of smoke and dust at the rear of the Round Tower bespeaks the effects of their terrible missiles. About twelve o'clock in the day the Russians knock off work to go to dinner, and our men follow their example ; silence reigns almost uninter ruptedly for two hours or more, and towards four o'clock the firing begins again. Meantime our officers walk about or lounge on the hill-side, and smoke ant chat away the interval between breakfast and the hasty dinner which pre cedes the tum-out for twenty four hours' vigil in the trenches. Many a hospitable cigar and invitation to lunch is given, the latter with the sure confidence, and with the greater chance of a ready acceptance, now that the Crimean Army Fund has done its work, and that one is tolerably sore of a slice of a giant game-pie, to be washed down by a tempera e draught of that glorious Welbeck ale which has made the Duke of Portland's name a household word in our Every act of the enemy is closely scrutinised, stores and carts are seen coming in, and are duly reported. APRIL 7.—The bombardment will, it is said, begin on Monday morning. It is nearly a month since we were as sured everything was ready, but it appears now that every thing will not be ready till Monday next. There has been a conference of admirals and generals at Lord Raglan's quarters, at which the Field Marshal, General Canrobert, Sir Edmund Lyons, and Admiral Bruat assisted. It is rumoured throughout the fleet that they are to open fire on the forts as soon as the bombardment begins, not, indeed, with the idea of going close in, breaking the booms , or bursting throagh the barrier of sunken ships, but to draw off the artillerymen from the batteries, and distract the attention of the enemy. A number of French, and some few English vessels, have been despatched up the coast northwards, anlt it is universally expected that a portion of the Turkish 'fifty of Eupatoria will he detached to effect a formidable diversion on the north side of Sebastopol, at the very crisis of the conflict. There is no positive cer tainty that the bombardment will begin on Monday, the 9th of April, but the engineers and artillery dfficers believe it is the day. It is said we should have opened fire, or that we were ready to do so, yesterday morning, but that Lord Raglan (lid not wish to inaugurate Good Friday by salvos of artillery and by a sanguinary bombardment. STRENGTH OF THE BRITISH FORCE. The Times correspondent writes on the 3rd init..— As there have been many conflicting statements respect• inv, the strength of the army, I have procured the following returns, which, on a certain day now past, were accurate, and which show the strength of the British army last month according to the ration returns The Light Division, Lieutenant-General Sir George Brnwn.-7th Flisil , ers, 1109; Z 1 rd Font, 1574 ; lath Foot, 400; 88rd Regiment, 811; 84th Regiment, 809; 77th 371 Foot, 650; 84th Foot, 781 ; 90th Foot, 537 ; one wing 2nd Battalion Ride brigade, 795; total, effective and non effective, 5,480; non-effective, 1,000 men ; for duty, 3,800 wen. First Division, Sir Colin Campbell.—Grenadier Guards, 1,0.10 ; Coldstream Guards 840 ; Scott Fmiiliers, 815 ; 42nd Highlitudels, 04.10 ; list Highland Light Infantry, 878; 79th Regiment, 090 ; 93rd Regiment, 734 ; total. 4,697; non effective, 1,200; for duty, 3,500 men. The Naval Brigade, 1,000 men for duty. The Marines, 600 ineu fur duty. Second Division, Major-General Pennefather.-30th Foot, 499 ; 55th Foot, 0+17; 62ed Foot, 453 ; 1/sth Foot, 309—total, First Brigade, 1,948. 41st Foot, 880; 47th Foot, 331 ; 49th Fuut, 689—total, Second Brigade, 2,066. Artillery, H and B batteries (Turner and l'ennycuick'a), 300. Total ration strength of di%ision, 4,254. Number of sick in hospital about 650, leaving available, say 8,600 mat, of whom at least 860 are required for camp duties, for commissariat duties, for hospi'Al and of derly duties, as storekeepers, batmen storemen, servants, eto Third Division.-Ist li.o)ala, 586; 4th Foot, 504 ; 9th Foot, 4011; 14th Foot, 730; 18th Foot, 848 ; '2Bth Foot, 490 ; 38th Foot, 673 ; 39th Foot, 717 ; 44th Foot, 562 ; 50th Foot, 321 ; 811th F00t.576; total, 6,416 ; strength fur duty, 3,500 men. Fourth Division, General Sir John Campbell.-17th Regiment, 829 ; '2oth Foot, 411 ; 21st Foot, 007 ; 4 th Foot, 324; 57th Foot, 007; 68th Foot, 407; Rifle Brigade, Ist Battalion, 550; Artillery, 156; Ambulance, 101 ; Commissariat, 128; total, 4,120; strength for duty, 3,000. Cavalry Division. —l;oo men. Total strength, 2'2,600 men. Of these about 6,000 would only be available in extremis, and the ordinary strength of the whole army in bayonets would not exceed 16,000 men. THE BALTIC FLEET. The English fleet, consisting of one three-decker, eleven two-deckers, and three corvettes, passed the Great Belt on Wednesday afternoon, steering south ward. The Firefly proceeds with the fleet. The communications so long interrupted by the ice between the North Sea and the Baltic are about to recommence. The passage before Copenhagen has opened, and an English vessel arrived on the 9th at Elsinore, from Memel. EXPEDITION TO THE EAST. The Moniteur on Monday published the promised article, descriptive of the recent negotiations at Vienna, and the principles on which the French Government had instructed its plenipotentiary to treat. The foil ,wing are the pa-sages of most im portance in the document. Tracing the rise and pr..gress of the Russian system of aggression, he cites the instructions given by the Emperor Alexan der to Admiral Tichakoff as long since as 1812 : Russia, hating to struggle against France united to Austria, defined her invading policy much more precisely by the object she pursued and by the means which she employed. The plan of that policy is a revelation in itself. We borrow it from an authentic document recently published in the memoirs of a statesman, Admiral Tichakoff, to whom the Emperor Alixander gave the fol• lowing instructions under date of April 19, 1812: " The astute conduct of Austria, which has just allied itself with France, obliges Russia to employ every means in its power to disconcert the hostile intentions of those two powers. The most important is to turn to our account the military genius of the Slavonic people, as Servia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Illyria. who, once armed and under military organisation, would co operate powerfully with our operations. The Hungarians, dissadstied with the proceedings of their actual Govern merit, offer to us also an excellent means for alarming Austria, for making a diversion to her hostile ideas, and, consequently, fur weakening her resources. All these tribes united to our regular troops would form a very im posing militia, not only to provide against the hostile in tentions of Austria, but to effect a marked diversion on the right wing of the French possessions, and to give us a sure means of striking a blow iu the direction of Nisei' or Sophia. The object of the diversion against France must be to occupy Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia, and to direct their militia upon the most important points of the Adriatic, more especially on Trieste, Fiume, liocca-ditattare, so as to establish ,tliere, according to opportunity, relations with the English fleet, and to make every effort to fan into a flame the discontent in the Tyrol and Switzerland, and to act in common with those brave populations disaatiatied with their actual Government. Yon must employ every possible mean, to exhort the slave populations, to bring them to serve our object. For example, you wan promise them independence, the erection of a slave kingdom, pecu niary rewards for the most influential men among them, decorations and suitable titles for the chiefs and troops. Finally, you may add to those means any other you may deem expedient to gain them over most conformable to actual circumstances." Such were the views of Russia as far back as Iml2, not only against France. but against Austria. This incendiary plan could not have left the archives of St. Petersburg at a more fitting pigment to show to Europe, and especis.ly to the Cabinet of Vienna, the immense interest that evety one must have to put finally a barrier to a policy *big h completely jitat;fied by its means and ol t jects the foresigt.t, of the Emperor Napoleon 1. If the heirs of Peter the Great should ever dominate at Constantinople b y the Black Sea, Austria surrounded, embraced on all si des by the powerful arm of Russia, would be at the mercy of an enterprise such as the daring mind of the Emperor Alezan• der had conceived. Hungary, open to ite action by the Lieaube, would be gnu up to all the minitamsatts of its