The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

1000 THE WEEK. • ANOTHER week of great expectations, if not of great results, has passed. The allied Commanders having made every preparation and kept their secret, suddenly, on the sth and 6th, embarked a strong force on board the fleet at Kamiesch and Balaklava, which shortly after sailed for Odessa, arrived off there on the morning of the Bth, lay there for six days, and then suddenly slippedlover to the mouth of the lagoon which receives the waters of the Bug and Dnieper. There it landed a small force below Kinburn, and has since, we suppose, been busily employed in buoying the narrow channel, which will lead them off Otchakov, and nearer Kherson. There are so many movements open to an expedition of this sort, that it ie useless to speculate upon which is the most probable they will take. It is clear that the presence of the fleet off Odessa was designed to draw the attention of the Russians to the safety of that town, and thus leave the coast open on other points for attack; and the great advantage of a fleet off such a tortuous coast as that of Kherson and Taurida, is manifest in the rapidity with which a force can be .tarried from one spot to the other, tho' in this instance it does not as yet appear that the allied chide have availed themselves, to any great extent, of their advantage. The ships reached Kinburn, on Sunday last, in a few hours after leaving Odessa, but no landing was attempted before Monday, when an insignificant force only was disembarked, and towards evening the town and fortress at Kinburn were partially bombarded by a small squadron of steamers. On Tuesday the bombardment was renewed by the gun-boats, but with no decided result. It would appear from this that the fleet was not then prepared to enter the narrow and shoal channel of the Liman, which must be carefully sounded and buoyed before anv flotilla can start—a preliminary which the six days at Odessa should have afforded time for. Still, we have no doubt that Sir EDMUND LYONS will signalise his command by some daring and dashing enterprise which shall be a credit to .the Black Sea fleet. Nicolaieff is the great point to be hit Kherson is only a second rate town now to its rival Nicolaieff, and it remains to be seen whether or not Sir EDMUND Mora will manage to ' reach this great arsenal and dockyard of Southern Russia. The liffl culties and dangers of the attempt would be neither few nor trifling ; but thirty-five miles of a river have been traversed before now in the face of an active enemy lining the cliffs with his troops and field-pieces, and to steam gun-boats and a strong, light flotilla nothing of the sort should be impracticable, provided the channel is left open. The news from the allied camps on the Tschernaya and at Sebas topol is, on the whole, highly satisfactory. The health and spirit of the troops is excellent ; careful preparations are daily continued to meet the exigencies of winter; and if the home authorities only pay as much attention to forwarding supplies as the commanders in the camp do to the care of their men, our soldiers will pass this winter in corn parative comfort. The great question whether a blow is to be struck against the Russian army before winter sets in, seems likely to receive a solution in a few days. The main body of the French army, as far as authentic despatches inform us, has steadily advanced towards the entrance of the valley of the Upper Belbeck ; but a late despatch from Vienna asserts that the advanced posts of the French are within a few leagues of Baktchi-Serai, that the Russians were falling back upon their line of defence on the Belbeck. and that Baktchi-Serai lay open to the French. If this be correct, and the French Marshal is advancing upon Baktchi Serai, we may depend upon a great battle being fought shortly. But such an advance would appear hazardous in the face of a powerful enemy holding a strong central position. The extreme caution with which the allied Generals act make it clear that they have even now scarcely force enough at their command to attack the Russians with any certainty of success. The immense advantage of GORTSCHAKOFF'S position is now evident ; he is central and close, with the power of being vastly superior upon any eccentric point of attack, while the Allies are compelled to divide their forces, and at the best can only combine in one simultaneous concentric attack. With such distances intervening between their respective forces as at Eupatoria and Tschernaya, a simultaneous movement cannot be depended on ; add to this the dangerous proximity of a large army on the north side, which might at any moment of careless ness on our part once more cross the harbour and establish itself on the south side again, and it will be seen that there are many chances against any decidedly successful result being accomplished by the Allies at present. The heroic defence of Kars upon the 29th of September is another leaf in the scanty laurel of the Turks, and, like Silistria, proves how well, how nobly Turkish soldiers will fight when led by able officers. For this repulse of the Russians General WILLIAMS and his gallant Staff—Captain Lams, of the Madras Engineers, Captain TEESDALE and Captain Titomsos, of the 68th Bengal Native Infantry—deserve some marked distinction. Their bravery and devotion will no doubt be recognised by the Sultan, who is liberal in rewards to those fighting in his cause. The Russians attribute their defeat to the loss of many officers and some generals early in the day ; but it was solely owing to the superior spirit and dogged persistence of the Turks, who fought like lions, and, in spite' of the Russians, obtaining at one time a footing within the redoubts, drove them out headlong with frightful loss. The report that MOURAVIEFF had raised the siege, and was in full retreat, turns out to be utterly uptrue. Motauvutry ,is SATURDAY, clearly aware that he has nothing to fear from OMER PACHA, who, with 4,000 men at Batoum, and no stores or means of transport, is not likely to be in a position to advance to the relief of Kars before next spring. The Russian army has, therefore, remained quietly in its old position, and doubtless, after the severe lesson of the 29th, will wait for hunger and despair to do their work slowly but surely. If MOURAVIEFE can only enforce the siege for a few weeks longer, the fate of Kars is certain. The cruel attempt at murder which was perpetrated last Friday week in the County Cavan, reminds us that Ireland has not yet lost that unenviable reputation for savage atrocity which has clung to her peasantry since the time of Queen ELIZABETH. It is horrible to reflect that in these days, for no offence beyond simply that of exer cising the plain rights of proprietorship, a lady should, in open daytime, be dragged from her car, cruelly beaten till senseless, and then fired at in the face by a pistol loaded with slugs. We are told that months ago this poor lady was marked for murder ! Have we no police in Ireland to ferret out these villains who first inform their victims of their fate, and then coolly execute it upon them months afterwards in broad daylight? The extradition this day from Jersey of some leading refugees is a step in the right direction to put a stop to the gross breach of hospi tality which these incendiaries daily commit in propagating their revolutionary doctrines, and in inciting convulsion all over Europe. The impudence of these men in Jersey is especially worthy of remark —they dared to call our Queen to account for visiting the French Emperor. These gentlemen, forsooth, would limit the alliances and direct the Government of this country. There is no despotism under the sun so tyrannical as the democracy which such men advocate ; and it is a credit to the loyal inhabitants of Jersey to have taken the matter up in so prompt a manner. A meeting was hell last Saturday, loyal resolutions passed, and an interview sought with the Governor upon the subject. The result has been the extradition of the principal supporters of L'Homme—a step which it is not unlikely will be followed nearer home, unless more reserve is practised by those to whom we give refuge. The Baltic fleet is slowly returning to its native shores. Com ment is superfluous upon the results of the campaign of '55; but from such an enthusiastic trumpeter of its success as the Times has more than once proved itself, it is curious to read such expressions as the following, which we think betokens a change in the Baltic barometer : That so little has been effected here during two successive seasons will be, without doubt, unsatisfactory to the majority of your readers and of the British public. Taking an unprejudiced view of the operations of the powerful fleet which has congregated in this part of the enemy's territories, it must be admitted that not only have they fallen short of what was expected, but also of that which, if proper means had been forthcoming, might have been accomplished.—Times Baltic Cor. The " unprejudiced view "we may expect to see shortly taken. Will Admiral IIINDAB have the command next year? THE PRESS. FRAGMENT OF ONE OF THE LOST SPEECHES OF BOLINGBROKE. It is related of lir. Pitt (the younger) that when the conversation rolled upon lost works, Latin some said they should piefer restoring the books of Livy, some of Tacitus, and some a Latin tragedy, he at once decided for a speech of Bolingbroke.—Lord Brougham's Sketches. IT has been asked with an Infinity more of Gravity than answered with Alacrity for what this War is carried on? One might with Certainty suppose that to vindicate fully the Duty and the Necessity of carrying on a great War nothing more were needed in these days than to declare its final Objects ; for Wars have never, but by Barbarians, been waged upon a doubtful Speculation or for an unde fined Result, nor are we in the Times of the Buccaneers, that we should wait to have the Intention of an Expedition justified by the Amount of Value it brought back. Yet who might not fancy that we were transported back to such Times, if he had no other Guide than the Spasms of Defiance which he sees exhibited by Ministers, or the mysterious and uncertain Delivery by those journals, weekly and daily papers, designed to stir up the people to an aimless rage, as were the harangues delivered by the baser sort of Orators in the Ancient Commonwealth. Who could have expected that we should be told of the Destruc tion of an Empire in its position by Nature screened from the fear of Invasion, and, in its Poverty of moveable Riches, enabled to despise the Threat of Plunder? Who would have expected that we should have heard all this Sound about Counterpoise and Limitation, while every man except these Writers knows that to enforce a Limitation there must be a perpetual Counterpoise . 2 This is incredible, yet on that account, by an argument like that of the Roman Doctors, we must believe it quia impossibile est. I should rejoice to think that there was no Object of the War, as then I might hope that the very wantonness of its Continuance might cool even the =ism ardor by which the Mad ness is supported. But the Object is even on the Surface. When a Minister becomes all at once martial and furious, recounting the Deeds of the Troops, and bowing to the huzzas of the Multitude as though the Compliment was Incense to himself, you may then, without being a Soothsayer, discover that he feels his Place dependent on the continuance of War, at whatever sacrifice of Principle or Profuaioti of money. But what shall ho said if We find that t liis very