The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-03 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 3, 1855. tures, and religious relics, the officers with their swords, the men with their belts and provisions ; but it is for bidden to enter the precincts of the shattered fortress, which is still covered with a canopy of black smoke, as the governor and a few desperate men are grimly watch ing till the troops come in to fire the mine and involve all in a common ruin. He has not surrendered, but he has been abandoned by his garrison, who did not desire the honours of such martyrdom as a few hours' further resist ance would have certainly insured. A gloomy and terrible picture. This fanatic old warrior, surrounded by dead and dying and wounded, waiting in his lair in darkness barely dispelled by the lurid light of the burning fortress tall his enemy comes near that he may destroy and be avenged! Heavy as the fire has been from time to time during the bombardments of Sebastopol, and the great throes of the struggle which began there just one twelve. month ago, it never was anything like that opened by the allied fleets in force, intensity, din, or grandeur.—Time Cor., Oct. 17th. The strength of Kinbum was nothing in comparison to the force brought against it:— As well as I can make out, there are in Kinburn Fort ay-one guns mounted en barbette, inside and in the out w irks, sit flanking guns in casemates, and twelve wortars, and of these twenty-nine are dismounted, smashed, or disabled in gun or carriage. In the Centre Spit Battery there are ten guns, of which two are disabled, and in the Spit, or North Battery, there are ten guns, of which three are smashed. We arrived just in time to prevent the latter work from assuming most trouble s •me dimensions, for the casemates were ready for nine sure guns, and the platforms indicated they would be of large calibre. The guns in Kinhurn were long eighteens and twenty-fours, of great weight and thickness, and some o' ancient date ; but they had a small park of guns inside ready for mounting. Some of the others were of IS5`l, and the piles of shot and shell and stores of ammunition of all kinds were enormous in proportion to the size of the p ace.—lb„ The success of the floating batteries at a range of 800 yards was satisfactory : The success of the experiment is complete. The shot of the enemy at that short range had no effect upon them! The balls hopped back off their sides, without.leaving any impression, save such as a pistol-ball makes on the target in a shooting-gallery. The shot could be heard distinctly striking the sides of the battery with a " sharp smack," and then could be seen flying back, splashing the water at v.rious angles according to the direction iu which they came, till they dropped exhausted. On one battery there are visible the dints of sixty-three shots against the plates of one side, not counting the marks of others which have glanced along the decks or struck the edges and angles of the bulwarks, and all the damage that has been done to it is the slight starting of three rivets. The men are all below, except a look-out man, in a shot-proof box on deck, and the casualties arose from a chance shot which came through the ports.—Tomes cur., Oct. 18. CAMP MOVEMENTS. The telegraphic despatch received by Lord Pan mure on the 14th, announcing that Sir Colin Camp. bell had been sent with a strong force to Eupatoria, appears to have been incorrect; for, on the 18th, the correspondents' letters inform us that the expedition was countermanded : The expedition to Eupatoria has been cancelled in con sequence of a telegraphic message from Lord Panmure, to the effect that the Russians meditated an attack. Inker inann is the quarter in which it seems to be expected. It is hard to say what the Russians think to gain by attacking us now. Of the expedition to Eupatoria the following are coun termanded—viz., the Highlanders, two batteries of artillery, and the company of Sappers. The cavalry has sailed. I have not yet heard whether they are still to go or be br iught back. They were ordered to embark several days before there was any question here of other troops going.— Times Cor., Oct 10th. Lord Panmure's " special information " was, how ever, not verified up to the 20th, at least according to lottets, and by telegraph certainly not up to the 23th In the hasty lines I added to my last letter, just before post hour, I mentioned that the projected expedition to Fupatoria was given up, an attack upon our own lines being expected. Accordingly, we since then have been turning out before daybreak every morning, and occa sionally at other hours Elso. Late on Wednesday night the reserve ammunition was warned to be ready early in the morning, as there was every probability of an attack. On Thursday forenoon the French were formed up in the Valley of the Tschernaya, awaiting a foe who cattle not. Yesterday, about noon, there were movements of troops, and it was reported that large masses of Russians were visible. Much note of preparation and clash of arms, but it nevertheless is the opinion of many here—some of them nersons whose opinion has weight—that our Mus covite friends have not the remotest idea of attacking us, and that Lord Panmure's information to a contrary effect, derived from Berlin, proceeds in fact from St. Petersburg, or at any rate from friends of our enemies, who desire to pravent us from taking advantage of what little fine weather remains to undertake fresh expeditions. If this be the case, how heartily the Russians and their under hind favourers must have laughed when they heard of the trip to Eupatoria having been abandoned.—Tines Cor., Oct. 20th. The Russians were making some slight prepara tion., apparently for attack, though the writer bel.eved them to be merely a ruse de guerre: — The enemy is said, to be clearing roads !through the brushwood down from. Mackenzie's Farm, (and to have THE PRESS. planted four guns to command the causeway across the marsh at the mouth of the Tschernaya. This loose as if they contemplated an attack iu force along our line, but 1 persist in thinking that their apparent preparations for action are made merely for the purpose of deceiving us. The Russians are the most patient and laborious people in the world for ruses de guerre of that kind. Of the result of the Kinburn and other expeditions, the Times correspondent is not over-sanguine ; for, although the weather now is fine, he considers the time of year too late for the expeditions to carry out their objects : Expeditions are quite the fashion of the moment, and, had we before us the prospect of two or three months' fine weather, we should be bound to suppose that an important combined operation was about to be entered upon. But, judging from precedent and probability, two or three weeks must close the campaign. At present the weather is all that could be desired. The sun, which in that little kettle, Balaklava harbour, is still oppressively hot, is tem pered on the heights by refreshing breezes; the ground is everywhere dry—the atmosphere pure and healthy. Never was our army, since its first landing, so free from disease as at the present moment. But this second summer may any day be brought to a close, and exchanged for a season of rain and tempest. It will be unusual, not to say extra ordinary, if such be not the case early in November. Brief time, therefore, remains for the expeditions to carry out their objects, whatever those be; but there will be abundant leisure, when the rain descends in the cascade like fashion common in the Crimea, and the wind shakes our huts and blows our tents about our ears, foi those in authority to regret the months wasted after the fall of Southern Sebastopol.—Times Cor., Oct. 15. In Sebastopol itself little was done. There was no sign of that " speedy retreat" from the north forts which was anticipated even by Lord Panmure ; and on the power of the Russians to supply the force in possession during the winter, opinions differed : On Wednesday the telegraph brought fresh information, originating in Vienna, to our head-quarters, to the effect that the Russians were about to abandon the north side. At present there are no visible signs of such approaching evacuation, nor is there any probable reason to assign for it, excepting one, which is that the Russians find it impos sible to supply their army during the winter. On this point opinions differ much. Some think that there will be no difficulty in bringing enough supplies by the road from Perekop ; others doubt that road being sufficient, and think also that the Russian means of transport will run short ln Sebastopol itself there is nothing new. The Russians continue firing at the town, with little reply from the French. They fire principally at Sebastopol proper, but now and then drop a shot or shell into Karabelnia, and sometimes take the flagstaff on the Mala koff for their mark. It is difficult to say why we spare them so much, unless it he that we soon expect them to walk away, and leave us their north-side forts in good order and condition, which would be expecting rather too much. There would be no difficulty in forming batteries of heavy guns, to knock some, at least, of their defences about their ears. Outside the town the French are hard at work levelling their siegeworks, tilling up trenches, ttc., though why they should take that trouble it is hard to say, unless they contemplate the probability of Sebastopol being garrisoned by the allies, and they, in their turn, besieged by the Russians.—Tines Cor., Oct. 20th. Hutting and draining were going on apace, and hopes were high that this Christmas, at least, would be passed in more comfort than the last. Still, with all this constant employment, and daily drill and exercise into the bargain, the drunkenness and in subordination of the army appears to be of a marked and increasing character:— The well-intended kindness of the " Queen's sixpence " is doing, I fear, much harm, used as it is by a very large portion of the soldiers as a means of excessive drinking. The consequence of this, and of the insubordination and many offences it leads to, is a large amount of punishment of various kinds—extra guards, atone carrying, and flog ging. The cartwheel (here substituted for the triangle ) is frequently rigged, and the provost-marshal and his assistants have plenty on their hands; but twenty-five lashes, or even fifty, are all insufficient to wean the British soldier from his favorite vice. I hear of regi ments in which there are literally scores of men under punishment of one sort or other for intoxication. One regiment was cited to me (I refrain from naming it) in which there were sixty offenders of this sort at one time. In another nine sergeants were broken for drunkenness. On Saturday there was an issue of back pay ( the extra sixpence), and I never witnessed a more disgraceful scene than was presented by the part of the camp in which I happened to be at about an hour before sunset on Sunday afternoon. I have no reason to believe that it was con fined to that part of the camp, but I mention only that which I and a military friend who accompanied me actually saw, as we leant against a railing enjoying the beauty of the evening. Half the men who passed along a track a little in our front were more or less intoxicated. Some were merely unsteady, others staggered and straggled out of the path. Some were pugnacious, and we saw two fights begin, which were only put end to by the arrival of a patrol. None, more than myself, would advocate every reasonable indulgence to an army which has deserved so well of its country as that, of the Crimea, displaying, as it has done, on repeated occasions, and for long periods, the utmost valour, fortitude, and patience. But if means are not found of checking the great drunkenness that at present goes on here, the result will he a grievous setnebil to the service. At the same time that I gladly record the physical well-being of the troops, I am bound to declare my conviction that they have never, since the oommence- 1043 ment of the war, been in worse discipline and subordi• nation.—Times Cur., Oct 15. POSITION OF THE FRENCH. The Memorial de la Loire publishes the fol lowing : Banks of the Belbeck, Oct. 11. We have advanced so rapidly for some days, and spent so little time in any place, that, it is impossible for me to give you many details. We have crossed with consider able difficulty the chain of mountains which separates the basin of the Belbeck from that of the Tschernaya. It was necessary to construct several roads to enable the artillery and provision-waggons to pass. These works were only terminated on the 11th of October. The Russians invaria bly abandoned their positions before our riflemen. This day they have halted on the heights that skirt the right bank of the Belbeck, and appear disposed to await our approach, for if they retired any further their communica tions with Simferopol would be intercepted. The divisions of Generals d'Autemarre, Pate, and d'Anrdle, and the cavalry division of General Morris, are encamped in the valley in front of the village of Ysughen, and others, the names of which have escaped my memory. Our advanced guard stretches out to the Belbeck, which we are to cross immediately. The fourth division of the first corps occu pies the ridge of mountains extending along the left bank of the Shunila, a little beyond Tchorgoun, thus planing us iu communication with the right wing of the Sardi nians. Four or five divisions of the allied army were expected to disembark at Eupatoria, and effect a junction with the corps of General de Salles by passing the Alma and the Katscha. Should that movement succeed the Russians will find themselves hemmed in between the sea and this vast semicircle, which will gradually narrow still more around them. Our success will then be complete. MOVEMENTS OF THE ItUSSIANS. From significant appearances here and there, it seems not improbable that before winter sets fairly in the Russians will abandon the north forts and concentrate upon a more central position round Simferopol:— There seems to be some expectation that the Russian intend evacuating the north side. They yesterday modes great Ere on their left of Fort Catherine. It is supposed they were burning stores. They had a large depot of coal just about the place where the fire was. On Saturday night the reflection of a great fire was visible from the camp, and still more plainly seen from higher points in this neighbourhood. It was in the direction of Itaktchi- Serai. We are still in ignorance of its cause.—Times Cor., Oct. 13. The fire of the north forth is well kept up with a reckless profusion of shot and shell : The Russians, as if to vent their rage at their recen reverse, continue to pound away at intervals at the ruins of the town they have been forced to abandon. They do little harm to us, anti might as well save their ammunition, which they often condescend to expend even on a single soldier whom they see wandering among the broken walls or across the plain. Yesterday our old friend Ililboquet long silent, opened his mouth, and sent a couple of shots either at the works by Trakttr bridge, or at something he saw moving in the volley below his muzzles. To-day the Russian guns are nearly mute, and the stillness contrasts strikingly with the uproar we were here so long accus tomed to. —/b. The fire from the Russian batteries on the north side exceeded, this afternoon, anything since the siege ter minated, and occasionally a round•shot has been thrown as far u the Redan; but from all I can gather, I should say it is like the fitful blaze of a candle before expiring, and that ere the cold and wet sets in, the enemy will abandon this portion of the Crimea. To-night there is a tremendous confiagiation in the direAion of Baktchi- Serai; an immense apace in the heavens has been for hours brilliantly illuminated, and it is considered by some, and I think not improbably either, that it may be caused by the destruction of cavalry stores previously to their retiring.—Morning Post Cor., Oct. 11. A letter in the Kreuz-Zeitung of Berlin, from the Sea of Azoff, dated the Ist Oct., contains, if true, some curious facts : Within the last few days upwards of a thousand wag. gone, each drawn by two horses, have passed through with corn and flour for the Russian army in the Crimea; be sides which they carry provisions and provender with them for three weeks' consumption, and are to convey provisions from l'erekop to Simferopol. It is said that the nobles have made a present to the Emperor of this large quantity of provisions, and placed the means of conveyance at his disposal. There can be no doubt of the existence of an unknown military road into the Crimea. with an organised system of relays of waggons and horses to transport the sick and wounded into the interior of Russia. In many part‘ of the coast of the Sea of Azoff the enemy have cer• tainly committed much havoc, but the quantity of grain destroyed is fortunately not so large as might have been expected, and the price of wheat has not risen in conse quence, but remains at the former price of 41 roubles per tschetwert.—D. News Berlin Cor. THE FORTIFICATIONS OF ODESSA. While the fleet was off Odessa, the fortifications of course were more or less examined. The correspon dent of the Times writes : The garrison of Odessa, augmented by some columns which we have seen, and by others possibly which came in without being observed, is busily engaged in throwing up earthen batteries, and in strengthening the defences of the fortress on the south-eastern angle of the town. As far as can be ascertained, the fortifications are not of overwhelm ing strength: but the enemy have some excellent ease mated works, nearly d flaw Beau, and several very wicked• M