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

30 tare, Mr Churchill, guinea the town, with all the superior officers of the regular trwips,accompanietl by an escort, on their way to Alexandropol. RUSSIAN PROCLAMATIONS IN ASIA.. The proclamation by Prince Bebutoff calling upon the noblesse of the Transcaucasian provinces to arm their dependants and the peasantry against Omer Pacha and the Turks, has appeared in the Invalide Rasse, together with an additional proclamation by General Mouravieff Illustrious Princes and Nobles,—You know that upon the great men of a country rest the foundations of the social lite, and that they always precede their inferiors in the trials to which peoples are subjected. A trial now awaits your country, where the Christian faith has been established since the time of the Ap3stles, and where hostile forces have always succumbed before your fidelity to the czars. The reason for which the enemy has risen against our Emperor, the only orthodox Czar in the world, is not un known They have envied his power, they have been jealous that he, full of love for men, conformably to the law of the Saviour, should demand for the Christians living in Turkey relief from wrongs and sufferings. Three powers, calling themselves Christian, have consulte 1 with the enemy of Chris iRIIB, and have proposed to overturn the gran leur of Russia, and so to destroy the protection be. neath which we now repose. The Turk, in entering your sacred country, pollutes it. He threatens to destroy the law observed steadfastly by you in the course of eighteen hundred ye irs; he menaces to destroy all upon which your prosperity rests ; the church where sleep your illustrious ancestors ; the houses which shelter your wives, your children, and your property ; the distinction of classes by which the high are distinguished from the low, and which has been from all time your privilege. The enemy has not remembered that in your prayers to the Almighty you utter these words, " Make my heart pure, oh God! and raise up my spirit in distress; " he h s forgotten that your faith has been watered by your blood, and aft the prosperity of your families rests in your own hands, which here never proved unfaithful. Our Govern ment is persuaded that there is not one amongst you who cannot discern falsehood from truth, and defeat the snares of the enemy. Faithful to the Emperor and to his ser vice, yon have often shed your blood in circumstances where the danger was lt.ss imminent. Now the enemy is before you ; he has already crossed your frontiers ; he seeks to afflict the heart of the Emperor by your misery, the loss of your property, and the destruction of your faith. The time of trial, sent by the impenetrable decrees of God, has come ; the hour in which the soil, desecrated by the feet of your enemy, must be purified—that soil conse crated by St. Andre and the holy martyrs—the hour in which the ashes of your ancestors, lying in your temples, must he protected from sacrilege ; your personal dignity be maintained intact ; your wives, children, and pro,erty be defended from outrage and violence ; thus honouring the precious traditions of your fathers ; and showing your fidelity towards God and His anointed, our Monarch. Arm, every one of you! Ann the peasants and your servants ; unite yourselves to the victorious troops of Russia, who have shed their blood for you. Show the enemy that you are the children of those noble Imeritiens, Gouriens, and Mingreliaus who were never vanquished in the times of old. It now depends upon you that this war with the enemy becomes the cause of the entire people, and be waged throughout the length and breadth of the country. In every shrub, in every hollow, behind every stone, pre pate his death, in order that the indefatigable adversary of our faith may learn at last that he is unworthy to be buried in Christian and consecrated ground ; let him know that you will bury h►m where the sound of church bells is unheard—in the spots which serve only for the lair of savage beasts. Salvation to you, in the name of the Lord, illustrious princes and noble gentlemen ; raise above you the victo rious sign of His cross, and, ►uarching under its protection, drive the enemy from your territory. The Lient.•Gen. Prince BEM TOFF. The following is the additional proclamation issued by General Mouravieti•— In my absence from Tiflis Lieutenant• General Prince Bebutoff, at my orders, addressed to the noblesse some words full of honour and truth. The moment is come in which you must !move before the entire world that 3nu are the true sons of those fathers who fought for some centu ries in defence of the faith and the sacred ties of the domestic hearth. You must prove that it was not in vain that Russia shed for you her purest blood, and that you are worthy of the sublime and holy affection which the heart of the Emperor bears for you as his orthodox children. I am fully convinced that you will all respond to Prince Bebutoffs appeal, accompanied by the benedictions of the priests, who will unceasingly offer up prayers in your be half. I am convinced. too, that the example of the glorious nobility will be followed by all the other classes of the ii.habitants of Imeritia, Gariel, and Mingrelia, by the bourgeois, as well as by the freemen and the serfs. Your cause is glorious, and agreeable to God, and the whole world is watching you. Arm, brothers, and crush, in the name of God, the perfidious wiles of your im• placable enemy. " The cross on yonr b reas t, an d swor d in hand," as said the Emperor Nicholas, of imperish- able memory. " God is with us, who shall make us afraid?" The Lieutenant of his Majesty the Emperor in the Caucasus, Aitla•de-Camp General AIOURAVIEFF. Kars, Nov. 30, 1855. THE PRESS. Letters from Erzeroum of the 12th state that the Russian army took up ►ts position at Kars on Monday, the 3rd of December:— The troops have been quartered in the town, and a small division of about two thousand men, consisting of Coss•Tks and Irregular Kurds, has been left at Sobanly Dagh, where it occupies the fortifications erected in the month of June last by General Mouravieff. Terri Keni, a village some fifty-four miles from Erzeroum, on the road to Kars, is likewise occupied by the Russians, who have collected there large stores of wheat, flour, and barley. It appears that the Russian general is apprehensive of Selim Pneha coming to attack Kars, for he has concen trated all his forces on that spot, and has left at Alezan dropol only a weak garrison, hardly strong enough to do the duties of the citadel. _ _ The Turkish forces, under the orders of Selim Paella, are still encamped in the mountains of I)eveh Boynoti. There is no fear oldie enemy's attempting now a coup-de main against Erzerouno : the exhaustion of his troops and the state of the roads forbid it. DESTRUCTION OF THE DOCKS OF SEBASTOPOL. [The following account of the demolition by the French en• giueera of the first of the five docks of Sebastopol, appear'.d in the letter from the camp of the cortespoudent of the Daily News, Dec. 24.] One of the five celebrated dry docks in the Karabelnaia suburb of Sebastopol was demolished by the French en gineers on Saturday, the 22nd of December, at 2 p.m , by the explosion of mines. The destruction of the dock was fully accomplished, the blast having almost instantane ously reduced the massive fabric into a ruined and con fused heap of stones. The intention of destroying a por tion of the docks was not known in camp until an early hour of the morning of the same day. The six companies of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, which for the last month or five weeks have been quartered in the Karabelnaia, assisting in the necessary preparations for the destruction of the three docks in rear and the part of the basin in charge of the English engineers, were moved up at five a.m.. before daylight. Their departure was thus unobserved by the enemy on the north side of the roadstead. it was considered prudent to march these men up to camp, in case the Russians might think proper, after the explosion, to direct a heavy fire on the suburb, and to avoid all risk of casualties, should any of the buildings fall from the concussion. This movement was a sufficient intimation that the explosion of part of the docks was at hand. but in addition all servants and men on fatigue, going into the town for wood, were early in the morning stopped at the Redan, and subsequently a cordon of sentries was drawn around to prevent officers or any person from approaching within the neighbourhood of the docks where there was the slightest chance of danger from the explosion. As it turned out, however, these precautions proved unnecessary, for the mines were so laid that the effects of their explosion were confined to a very limited sphere of action. The dock selected by the French engineers for demolition on this occasion was the one placed to the west of the lock through which vessels formerly entered into the great basin. in addition to this dock, the French have to destroy another dry dock on the east side of the entrance lock, the lock itself, which, with its sides and foundation of cut masonry and magnificent floodgates, has the appear. ance of another dock, and half the basin. It is understood that the engineering operations are completed for the demolition of the whole of these structures, and that the object in demolishing one portion only was to test the accuracy of certain calculations with regard to the quantity of gunpowder necessary for effecting the desired result. The quantity actually employed is said to have been a little over 2,00 pounds English, or 1.000 French kilo grammes. The French engineers have followed a some what different plan from the English engineers for the destruction of the docks. They have trusted principally to galleries carried across and beneath the bottom of the dock. They have also, however. parallel with each side, a horizontal gallery, to blow out the foundation and lower part of each side wall. In the docks to be destroyed by the English, perpendicular shafts have been sunk at fre quent intervals along the sides, for the purpose of blowing the whole of the sides inwards. Latterly, also, galleries have been constructed beneath the toundations of the bottom of each dock, so that their demolition must be very effectual. Arrangements have been made for firing the English mines by a voltaic battery. The French mint* on Satur day were fired by means of trains of laid gunpowder and fuses. The report of the explosion was by no means loud. It was heard in camp, but was generally sup posed to be the bursting of some of the Russian pro jectiles among the buildings of the town. Nearer to the scene of the explosion a tremulous agitation of the ground was felt, and this was followed by the peculiar compressed sound—more like the rumbling of distant thunder than the usual report of gunpowder fired from within metal which always accompanies subterra• nexus discharges. Simultaneous with the noise of the blasting, the air over the situation of the dock became thickened with smoke, atones, and rubbish. A large quan tity, among which were masses of considerable size, rose perpendicularly upwards, while at the same time a shower of masonry was hurled from each side upwards and curving towards the centre. The greater portion of these blocks and fragments of stone appeared to fall downwards into the vacant space of the dock ; scarcely any were observed to fly far besond its limits. A dense cloud of smoke filled and rested over the place of ruin. and this continued hanging over it for a considerable time, for there was no breeze to waft it away. No sooner had the explosion oc curred, the crash of the falling masonry had scarcely died away from the ears, when the sharp reports of several SATURDAY, shells about the docks and neighbouring buildings told that the eimmj had been no unobservant spectators of the scene. They hoped to hit some of the troops, whom they suspect, L i to be in the neighbourhood of the explosion, the nature of which they no doubt understood, but, as usual, fired aim out effecting any injury or causing casualty. R ep „ rt says that all the preparations will be completed for the demolition of the three docks to be destroyed by the English in the course of a week from the present date. The arrangements would have been finished already had it not been for the large quantity of water which has found its way into the shafts and galleries excavated for the recep tion of the blasting powder. It appears that the reason of the water having entered so copiously into these exeuva tions, while those connected with the French mines hi v;+ remained dry, is their relative position with regard to the termination of the Karabelnaia ravine, between the Ma a. koff and Redan hills, and at a short distance from the dockyard wall. The three docks in charge of the Engl ai are separated from the end of this ravine—where an et of , mous amount of water had collected and formed an immense pond or reservoir—only by an artificial causeway, constructed at an enormous expense of labour by the 'ins slabs during the formation of the docks, and through this earth the water gradually percolated. Under ordinary cir cumstances the water of the middle or Karabelnaia ravine would drain through the soil and find its way to the Kant beluaia creek or harbour, and in this direction the w ter collected in the shafts has now had to be conducted, atter much labour, by pumping and other means of drainage. It would have been more easy to drain, the shafts thronith the great basin into which the three docks open; but this would probably have led to flooding a portion of the Ft ench works. When the time shall arrive for the destructs,,, of the English portion of the docks, it is hoped that then , destruction will be as complete as that of the French dock already demolished; and if the three are demolished at the same instant the effect will be proportions sly more striking. I have heard it stated that the floor of the ilock just destroyed by the French engineers has not been so effectually and completely broken up as it was anticipated, it would be by the explosion, but I hardly believe that this can be ascertained while it remains encumbered with the ruined masonry at present heaped over its surface. THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER, when at Xicolaieff, is said to have desired a French officer, taken prisoner, to be brought into his presence. When presented, the Czar, according to the officer's account, conversed with him, and asked him many questions relating to the war, at the sane time avoid ing, however, all embarrassing subjects. On dis missing I•im, the Emperor shook him by the hand, and said, " I give you a hand which will soon, I hope, be a friendly one." THE EMPEROR or THE FRENCH, at the first Court ball at the Tuileries, on Tuesday night, paid marked honour to the Crimean generals present. His. Majesty gave his arm to General Bosquet—who is or was a stern Republican—and walked , up and down the room with him for some time. It is said that •he Emperor plainly intimated his desire to have the gallant general by his side in the probable campaign, of '56. PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF, at the Russian Embr,y at Vienna, lately gave a dinner to the Austri - 4 ,1 1 Field Marshal, BRIM Hess, and other office.ta of high rank in the Austrian army. The Prin.*, in pro posing the health of Baron Hess, is related to have dwelt with peculiar emphasis upon the excellent un derstanding between the Russian and Austrian armies. Baron Hess, in his rept), omitted all notice of so pointed a political allusion, and the Austrian Emperor is said to have expressed extreme indigna tion at the Minister of a foreign power hinting that the army disapproved of the foreign policy of the State. THE KING or PRUSSIA, in his reply to the Letter of the Emperor of Austria, it is reported at Vienna, states that he will counsel the Czar to accept the present conditions of peace, but can de no more, as he is resolved to maintain the position which he at present occupies. The King is also said to have complained that Prussia was not invited to. aid tit drawing up the propositions, and asks for explana tions as to their objects and motives. Colonel Mau teuffers mission is also said to be in some way or other connected with an intended appeal on the part of Austria. THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S AIDE-DE-CAMP, Captain von Rauch, left Berlin on a private mission to St. Petersburg simultaneously with the departure of Colonel Manteutfel for Dresden and Vienna. Cap tain von Rauoh is supposed to b ear an explanation of Colonel Manteuffel's mission to Vienna. COUNT O'DONNELL, aide•de-camp to the Emperor of Austria, left Vienna on the sth instant on a poli tical mission to the smaller German Courts. THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT, it is affirmed in mili tary circles in Vienna, has declined the offer of tha Western powers that an Austrian officer of high military rank be permitted to attend the council of war at Paris. PRINCE Bonne° lately passed through Berlin, for St. Petersburg, bearing important despatches front the American Gove , nrnent. Russia, it is well known, has entered into heavy contracts in America for the delivery of steam machinery and general war ma terials.