The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-08 00:00:00

DECEMBER 8, 1855. THE WAR. THE intelligence now received from the camp is necessarily confined to details of the domestic ar rangements of the army. General Codrington ap- pears to be instilling no little vigour into the administration of affairs. New regulations restrict ing the hitherto unlimited entry of strangers into the camp have been issued ; robberies and malpractices are suppressed with a strong hand ; and drunkenness at last appears to have been brought within bounds. The weather up to the 20th ult. still continued fine and dry; the winter clothing had been issued to the men; the hutting was progressing rapidly; and the army, healthy and well cared for, promised to pass this winter in comparative comfort. The Russians still occupy their old positions, and daily add to the impregnable fortifications on the heights. There were rumours in the camp, from Russian deserters, that a retreat is intended, and the evacuation of Simferopol now in progress; but the movements of their troops would seem only for purposes of relief or inspection, as their most advanced posts were still hold by strong bodies of men. The large timber rafts captured off Kinburn, and moored off the fort, had broken from their moorings in a fresh breeze, and been carried out to sea and lost. At Kertch the position of affairs seemed scarcely satisfactory. The Russians were evidently concen trating their forces in some strength, and an attack upon Yenikale, at the first favorable opportunity, is not improbable. At Eupatoria, on the other side, although a strong Russian force of 70,300 men was believed to be in the neighbourhood, no attack on the town was ap prehended. On the 20th November, we learn that General d'Allonville's spies had returned again with the intelligence that the evacuation of the Crimea was really intended, and that a strong force of cavalry and artillery had reached Karagourt to re connoitre. On the arrival of the Euphrates at Marseilles on the 4th, the following telegraphic despatch was for warded : Admiral Lyons continues to cruise near the shore of the Crimes to survey the point of Kertch, against which the Russians seem to be preparing an attack during the winter. They are fortifying Arabat. and are concentrating in its environs 80,000 men, whilst 15.0(5) more are sent towards Genitchi in order to re-establish communications between the mass of the army of Prince Gortschakoff and the in tenor of Russia by the road over the Spit of Arabat. The guns of the boats and steamers of the allies, and of their floating batteries, zan reach the Russian convoys along the whole route and across the whole breadth of the Spit, unless maritime operations are suspended by the freezing of the Sea of Azoff. Accounts from Kertch state that the Russian cavalry which had been in the neighbourhood of that place, have retired into the interior. Five gun-boats are still cruising in the Sea of Azoff. Three hundred sail of merchantmen are lying wind bound in the Sulina mouth of the Danube. On the recal of the Marine Brigade to England, Admiral Lyons issued the following memorandum : Royal Albert, off Sebastopol, Nov. 18. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having directed me to send the battalions of Royal Marines under your command to England, I cannot allow the officers and men to quit the Black Sea without expressing my warmest approbation of their admirable conduct and bearing throughout the memorable events of the last thirteen months. Wherever this noble corps has been employed it has called forth the approbation of the generals in command, and the manner in which the officers and men overcame the trials and difficulties of the last winter was the theme of universal admiration. The late Lord Raglan, Sir James Simpson, Sir Colin Campbell, and Brigadier-General Spencer have repeatedly borne testimony to the exemplary conduct of the battalions, and it will be my pleasing duty to bear similar testimony in my report to their lordships. I have already had the pleasure of expressing my ac knowledgments to Colonel Hurdle, who so ably commanded these battalions until his services were required at his divisional head-quarters, and I only regret that you have not had a longer opportunity in command to reap some reward for the invaluable assistance you have invariably afforded to your late commanding offic LYONS, er. E. Rear-Admiral Commander - in Chief. THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER TO THE ARMY OF THCRIMEA. In addition to a rescript personally addressed to Prince Gortschalcoff, thanking him for his labours, the Emperor Alexander before leaving the Crimea addressed the following order of the day to his army : Brave Soldiers of the Army of the Crimea,—By my order of the day of the 11th September, I expressed to you my feelings of sincere gratitude for your services in the defence of Sebastopol, services which have acquired for you immortal glory. But it was not sufficient for my heart to thank you from a distance for the heroic acts of courage THE PRESS. and devotedness with which you have supported, to the admiration even of your enemies, a terrible siege of nearly a year's duration ; it is here, in the midst of you, that I wish to express to you the sentiments of my sincere gratitude. I have felt an inexpressible satisfaction in seeing myself near you, and the brilliant condition in which I have found the troops of the army of the Crimea at the time of the late reviews has surpassed my expectations. To see you, and find myself in the midst of you , ha s been a great hap , piness to me. I thank you with all my soul, for your merits, for your brilliant actions, and for the virtues which are so deeply rooted in you. They guarantee to me the maintenance of the glory of the Russian arms, and the ardour with which my brave army will always be ready to sacrifice itself for their faith, their Czar, and their country. In commemoration of the striking and glorious defence of Sebastopol, I have founded, for the troops who have taken part in the defence of that fortress a special silver medal, which will be worn at the breast with the ribbon of St. George. Let this medal be the manifest sign of your merits, and let it inculcate on your future companions the high idea of honour and of duty which forms the unfailing support of the Throne and of the country. Let the name of my ever-to-be -regretted father, united to mine on this medal, be a pledge to you of our sentiments, and render inseparable in your hearts the faithful remembrance of the Emperor Nicholas I'aulowitch and of me. I am proud of you as my father was. Like him, I have confidence in your tried devotedness anti • in your zeal for the accomplishment of your duty. In his name and in my own I once more thank the brave defenders of Sebastopol and the whole army. ALEXANDER. Simferopol, Nov. 13. POSITION OF AFFAIRS. Although the weather was fine for the time of year, yet all thoughts of any further movements in the camp have been entirely given up. The for midable positions of the Russians, and the impreg nable ones of the allies, render any chances of attack on either side very problematical Our positions are impregnable, and to have any chance against us a regular siege would be necessary. The Rus. sians know it well ; the only idea they can have is to attempt to surprise us, and the thing is not possible. The only thing that remains fur them is to change the theatre of war. The expedition to Kinburn has given the Rus sians a sufficient indication, and they therefore work at Nicolaieff with the utmost ardour. It is General Todtleben who directs the works, and you know what he has done at Sebastopol. At Eupatoria an important affair is out of the question. The Russians have choked up the wells, and, besides, they have a considerable force. General d'Allonville, tempted by his first success, wished, before engaging in a new action, to ascertain the resources of the enemy, and you know that on the occasion of his great reconnaissance lately he stumbled on eighty guns and an army of 60,000 men. He has therefore judged it prudent to undertake nothing in that quarter. The campaign is regarded gene rally as over for this winter, and we must wait for spring.— Letter from Constantinople of the 20th. MOVEMENTS OF THE RUSSIANS. No proof of a decided retreat has yet been dis covered, although there have lately been visible con siderable movements and changes in the disposition of the Russian army : Yesterday we observed that the whole of the enemy were in motion along the plateau, and from an early hour in the morning till two o'clock in the afternoon their bat talions were marching to and fro, but it was evident they were only changing their troops, and that the regiments which left Mackenzie were replaced by regiments from the camp in the rear. The new corners at the spur huts seem to be better dressed, to be taller men, and to wear darker coats than those who were relieved by them, and this ap pearance, which, atter all, may be ideal and deceptive, has given rise to the notion that the troops so close to us belong to the Imperial Guard. Their various camps are rapidly losing the look of snowy neatness of canvas, and are being converted into dingy rows of huts. We can see their telegraphs at work with the greatest facility, and to-day I can make out the flag s with my glass. It is a pity one cannot get the " Imperial Code Book of Signals," and a dictionary. They have • considerable quantity of cattle feeding among the brushwood at Inkermann, and their works on the north side, rapidly attaining prodigious sod gigantic dimensions, indicate every intention of hold ing their position. They fire seldom in comparison with their former abortive cannonade upon the town ever since the French have ceased to reply to them, but they do not hesitate to waste a shot or shell on a horseman riding near Fort Nicholas by the water's edge, or coming down the s treets enfiladed by their fire; and at night they fire at any light in the ruins of the city.—Times coo., Nov. 24. The correspondent of the Daily News, alluding to the rumours of retreat and evacuation, states : The rumour received confirmation from observation of some of the enemy's movements on the north side of the roadstead. On the 22nd instant several large bodies of troops were noticed marching along the heights towards the eastward. They appeared to be in heavy marching order, and accompanied by a baggage-train. No other troops were seen to come in to fill their place, so that it had not the character of being simply a relief of certain battalions. About the same time, including the day pre vious, there was a cessation of firing from the north side, which lasted about thirty hours. This, however, was actively resumed on the afternoon of the 22nd instant, and has been continued as usual since, with the exception of a few hours this morning, when a flag of truce was hoisted, and some communication took place between the two sides of the harbour. On examining the enemy's positions to day, both on the north side of the roadstead and on the 1161 Inkermann plateau above the Tschernaya valley, no indi cation of departure could be distinguished. In the latter situation, although at a considerable distance towards Mackenzie's Farm, the clearness of the atmosphere per mitted a Russian battalion to be plAinly visible ; and the character of the movements, as well as the glitter of the bayonets in the sun, showed that the troops were at drill. — D. News cur., Nov. '23. Deserters from the Russians came in so frequently as to excite some surprise. They all speak of the Emperor's inspection of the army, and allude to an expression he made use of, that "he hoped they would prove worthy of their fame now they were going to march": — About the movements of the Russian army the deserters seem to know nothing. The expression which they say the Emperor used in his speech, namely, that they are going to march, puzzles them as much as it does us ; whether they are marching forwards or backwards is to them as much a mystery as to us. In the meantime they confirm that (with the exception of the 4th and sth divisions of infantry, which, as I wrote some time ago, have gone northward) the bulk of the army still remains in its old position, the llth, 12th, and I:itl► divisions on the Severnaya or north plateau, the lath and 17th on the Mackenzie ridge, and the rest on the plateau of Korales, keeping the lielbeok aril the Katscha. On the Mackenzie ridge there are still the twenty-one pieces of heavy artillery remaining. A Russian gunner who deserted says that there would be no great difficulty in case of au attack. but the good fellow seems to forget the run up hill for more than a mile which an attacking party would have to perform before it could close with the enemy on the ridge. The roads leading to the heights are all cut up or obstructed. The Russian field artillery has received orders to draw back from the front, and twenty men of each battery will be sent into the interior to drill recruits during the winter. This looks as if the Russians were preparing for a quiet winter. MOVEMENTS AT EtPATORTA. MI hopes of any attack upon the Russian positions seem to be at an end. Hutting and housing are the sole occupation of both French and English in the town, and since the coup de•n.ain of sleep and cattle, General d'Allonville did not appear disposed to attempt any further reconnaissances. On the 20th November, however, the correspondent of the Daily News intimates that an action with the Russians was - _ not improbable : Some French spies came in late last evening from the neitzhbourhood of Simferopol, bringing the very doubtful intelligence that the Russians were rapidly preparing to evacuate that town and the surrounding districts, prelimi- nary to a total withdrawal from the Crimea. The same individuals announced the approach also of a strong cavalry and artillery force of the enemy in this ditection from Karagourt, and orders were accordingly sent round at half past ten o'clock last night for the brigade to be saddled up and ready to start at a moment's notice at daylight this morning. General d'Allonyille has already left the town with a strong force of his own troops, and both the Egyp tians and ourselves are momentarily expecting the order to follow. It is not expected, however, that there will be any collision, the Russian object being in all probability to reconnoitre, and not to give battle in open field. As the steamers anchor, however. is already heaving up, 1 have no time to add a note of what. may take place, but shall do so by the next mail.—D. News eor., Nov. 20. THE TURKISH CONTINGENT. - - This force, which at length has been sent on active service, seem to have been despatched from Constantinople without any requisites for the season of the year and the locality they were going to. Without huts or winter clothing, the men are suffer ing and becoming demoralised. The correspondent of the Daily News, writing from Kertch, details nothing but a series of atrocities and barbarities ex ecuted by these men upon the unfortunate inhabi tants. An attack by the Russians would possibly test their value as troops and bring them to order and subordination. The cavalry of the contingent, which has been lying idle so long at the Bosphorus, was lately despatched, at the earnest request of General Vivian, to Kertch. We subjoin an account of the result of the expedition On Monday, the 19th of November, a fleet of steamers and transports were been arriving, one by one, in Italaklava roads, where it remained the whole day, not anchoring, but, with steam up, moving to and fro. With the exception of a solitary boat, which passed to the shore, no communica tion was held with the port. Next morning the mysterious fleet was gone. What could the armament be that it con tained, on what important errand was it bound? It was the cavalry of the Turkish Contingent : it had arrived from Kertch ;it had sailed for the Bosphorus. The following is the history of its wanderings :—General Vivian, in his ex posed position at Kenai, greatly needed his cavalry, and wrote for it to join him. Gene nd Shirley hastened to em bark his force, he and his officers hugging the belief that they would at last see som e service. Large steamers and transports, expensive ships, costing the Government 10(W. to 2001. a day, conveyed the force, which, owing to bad weather and contrary winds, reached Kertch only on Thurs. day, the 15th of November. What does it hear on arriving? Every one is calling out for cavalry. There is abundance of forage in the country around. Only three days before the Cossacks had been rick burning within three miles of the place. The ca valry are delighted to hear they have arrived just at the right time ; but their hopes are soon dashed. A report spreads that there are no means of landing them, and