The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

180 thanks " to her beloved regiments of the Guards " for their conduct at Alma and Inkermann and throughout the whole campaign. The muster of the brigade on the occasion, when of course every man who could would be present to hear such a flattering mark of his Sovereign's approbation real, was only 450 men, and since then about thirty have been sent away. Yet, in the midst of this universal sick ness, will it be credited that there is scarcely any medicine to be obtained in the whole camp. The French fired a few of their mortars to-day, by way of trying their range, and the result is that a furious sortie has been made this evening on their lines. It is im possible to ascertain particulars now, but that it has been a smart affair the heavy firing that was maintained for half an hour amply showed. Since then the Russian batteries have been tiring heavily, so from that we conjecture that thtir repulse has been unusually severe. The Simla arrived to-night at llalaklava with horses and mules for the use of the commissariat. She has also a small draft of French troops, and about 100 men for us. Few vessels out here have done so much real service to the expedition as the Simla. She is always going to and fro, never in the way and never out of the way. The Jura I t also come from Kamiseh. News Prom Eupatoria states that upwards of 22,000 Turks had already landed, and the rest were soon expected. Beyond Cossack out-pickets there was no appearance of an enemy round the town, the earthworks of which are being strengthened each day. In the Times' correspondence we read, under date of the oth instant : No bombardment yet—no fire opened, and yet the day generally assigned by rumour for the reopening of our attack has been passed and gone now twenty-four hours ago. The only great type of life and motion visible to me is " the navvy's barrow." That potent engine of civilisa tion is lying in stacks on the water's edge at Italaklava. The principal depot for the railway stores is in the horrible squalid space in the rear of the post-office. When the railway will be finished I know not; already there is a hitch, for it appears the survey had to be stopped yester day, inasmuch as the line crossed the road which the French are so busy and so successful in making up to wards the front from Kadikoi. After the expedition has left the shores of the Crimea, and has become a tradition among its people, the works of our unfinished railroad may serve to exercise the ingenuity of future Cimmerian antiquaries, and may form the only permanent mark of our presence on this bloodstained soil. The line of railway is nearly surveyed, but it has not yet been marked out be y and the mound outside Kadiekova, over the plain which leads up to the plateau on which our camp stands. The huts and tents of the 14th, and long rows of wooden sheds for the mules, and the tents of the sailers guarding stores, and the huts of the landing-wharf, are all crowded along the steep and at the edge of the bay on the other side of the town, so that the place alt)gether would give one the idea that he was looking at some great migra tory population just settled for a week, or had fallen across one of the mushroom canvas cities of Australia. Of course those who are nighest get first served to the huts, and are hest able to put them up. If Birnam-wood were formed of white deal boards, Macbeth would see his worst armpit ims realised could he but witness the moving forest of timber marching up to the front. He would behold literil y miles of men and of mules and ponies, all struggling along through the mud with boards, boards— nothing but hoards. In calm weather they get on well enough, but a puff of wind puts an end to all progress, and a strong gust lays men and horses in the mire. However, they are slowly working up towards the camp, but it can not be conceived by a person not on the spot how hard it is to take up even one hut, and what a great quantity of timber has to be moved ere the building is complete. The weather is fine, but cold. It is not transport we want; it is a road to put our transport on. From all I can hear there is no immediate prospect of our opening fire. THE MURDERER OF THE WOUNDED. The following is an extract of a letter from Con stantinople : I am not sure whether I told you before that the Rua. skin major who was taken prisoner at Inkermann, and convicted of murdering our wounded men, died the other day at Scutari, apparently couscience-stricken. His own brother officers petitioned to be removed from his society, as they would not associate with him, and he pined away and died without any apparent disease. THE MEDICAL COMMISSION FOR THE EAST. Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Gavin proceeded on Thursday, via Marseilles, to the East, being the two medical commissioners appointed— the former to superintend the sanitary arrangements at Balaklava, the latter at Scutari. They were accompanied by the third commissioner, Mr. Robert Rawlinson, civil en gineer, long associated with the late Board of Health, and favorably known by his elaborate reports on the hygienic condition of many of the principal towns in England, especially in the north. The sphere of his duties will not be confined to any one locality, but will extend over the whole area of our operations, in cluding Smyrna as well as Constantinople and the Crimea; and he will chiefly devote himself to the organisation of the labour which his brother commis sioners will require in the hospitals and elsewhere, as well also as to the supervision of everything con nected with whatmay be called the lay or non-medical services of the commissioners. Mr. Rawlinson will take wi h him as his secretary Mr. Taylor, a younger brother o' the secretary of the present Board of Health, Mr. Tom Taylor. But no officer of that department pro ceeds to the East, neither has any member of it. the least connection with, much less any control over the THE PRESS. commission, which is guaranteed against all inter ference, and is invested with the fullest powers to carry out whatever it may deem most conducive to the public interests. It is understood that the corporate authorities of Liverpool, on being applied to, have readily consented to place at the disposal of the com mission a large portion of their sanitary staff, includ ing the officer charged with the removal of nuisances in that town, so that a brigade of skilled scavengers and the necessary apparatus under his control may soon be expected to be at work wherever needed, whether in the camp, the harbour, or the vicinage of the hospital. ENLISTMENT OF FOREIGNERS. The Government of Great Britain have entered into a convention with the Sultan, empowering them to raise a military force not exceeding 20,000 men from amongst the subjects of the Ottoman Porte, to be employed in conjunction with the allied armies in the East. Steps have already been taken, and officers despatched to the Turkish provinces to raise 15,000 men. This force is to be levied, armed, clothed, fed, and paid by England, and entirely under her command. It will consist of two divisions of infantry and a cor• responding force of cavalry and artillery, and will probably be employed in Asia at the opening of the campaign. It is not intended to interfere with the peculiar discipline of so many of this contingent as shall happen to be Mussulmans, who will probably be under the command of regimental officers of their own faith and country. No doubt many foreign officers and men will be incorporated with this legion, and it is not unlikely that many Christian subjects of the Sultan will be found fighting in its ranks. The chief direction, however, will be intrusted to British or foreign officers of experience, selected here for the highest commands. Government are desirous to obtain for this service experienced officers, wbo are not otherwise employed. It is understood that arrangements are in progress, by which officers who have served in the East India Company's service will be enabled to join this corps on better conditions than they have hitherto been enabled to obtain. The Sardinian contingent of 15,000 men will be under the immediate command of the British Com. mender-in-Chief. They are nearly ready for embar kation in British ships, and will prove a most useful addition to our force in the Crimea. It is not unlikely that a Spanish and a Portuguese legion will be embodied under our command. The Northern Legion will be mustered and drilled in our own island of Heligoland, where every preps• ration is now making for their reception. MOHAMMED'S CARPET. Ox Friday the 26th ult., an imposing religions cere mony, which can only be seen every third or fourth year, was celebrated in Constantinople. At intervals of that length the carpet which covers the tomb of the Prophet at Mecca is replaced by a new one, and the sacred " cast-off" is then sent by the Chief Mollah of the holy city to Constantinople, to be placed in the chamber of relics in the palace of Top capon on the Bosphorus. On the day mentioned, the last received of these precious fabrics was carried in great state to its place of deposit, accompanied by a grand cavalcade, Sultan, composed of the the Sheikh-ul-Islarn, the Grand Vizier, and all the high functionaries of state. Bright, however, as was the day, says the writer of a letter from Constantinople, and glorious as appeared the ship-studded Bosphorus and the opposite Asiatic shore, the latter fresh and green-looking almost as in early spring, the pale, emasculated face of poor Abdul-Medjid—looking like the last of a doomed dynasty—struck the observer with a feeling of sadness which not all the tinselled glare of the passing cavalcade nor the loveliness of external nature could lighten or remove. Apparently hardly conscious of the homage rendered by the opening crowd, the melancholy and feeble sovereign passed slowly by, vouchsafing no more marked recognition of his people's salutations than a calm, effortless smile, which saddened, rather than gratified those on whom it fell. A gorgeously-carved and gilded coach, drawn by four splendidly caparisoned horses, contained the sacred covering of the Prophet's tomb, and as it rolled gently by, hundreds of the faithful bowed low before the precious freight it bore. MEI TING OF CONSERVATIVE MEMBERS OF PARMA ENT.—A very numerous meeting, comprising a large body of Peers, and nearly two hundred members of the House of Commons, was held at Lord Eglinton's house, in St. James's-square, on Tuesday. Lord Derby addressed the meeting at length. He alluded to the line of conduct pursued by him daring the late political crisis, and stated his views and opinions generally upon the position and prospects of the Conservative party. His lordship's speech was re ceived most enthusisstically; and a vote, expressing the entire and continued confidence of the Conserve tive party in their leader, was moved by the Earl of Stradhroke, seconded by R. Palmer, Esq., M.P. for Berkshire, and carri3d unanimously. TEE CONSERVATIVE PARTY in Stirlingsbire will bring forward Mr. Blackburn, as their candidate for ' the representation of the county. • SATURDAY, Sortip otorrtsponlltutt. FRANKFORT, Feb. 20. THE opinion here with the Russo-Prussians and throughout Germany is, that the original edition or the Palmerston policy proper has been " revue et conigee," and that the bold principle of the "Re menus sum" has been vastly modified. Neverthe less the old Whig sponsor and Lord John Russell are both Supposed to be adverse to that peculiar phasis of Anglo•Germanism that does not consort with the Whig doctrines of the Constitution, and not in keeping with the quotations from Magna Charta. Lord John Russell has a high reputation throughout the Continent, and his name is associated by foreigners with all the advantages of a free Govern- ment, and of which, in that sense, he is a fitting representative. But here his especial aptitude, as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Vienna Conference, ceases, and he is no match for the men he is about to meet, neither is his colleague, Lord Westmoreland. The "entente cordiale" with France was brought about by, and is dependent upon, Lord Derby, Mr. Disraeli, and the three hund red gentlemen of England in the House of Commons who follow those distinguished leaders. It is on this party that Louis Napoleon counts for real support; it is this party that alone, amidst the recent exhibitions of political profligacy, commands respect on the Con tinent from its olden renown, and from the general assurance of its unswerving integrity; it is of this party that the Czar remarked within the month, that, were it in power, the obstacles to peace would be materially lessened, that he could deal with gentlemen whose wont was synonymous with good faith. The French will be firm, and they have a further care in the German question, in which, according to the showing of M. Drouyn de Lhuys, they insist to have a direct interest. The dishonesty of Prussia, which precludes her from taking part in the Con. ference of Vienna, unless she fulfil stipulated condi. tions that must place her in a position distasteful to Russia, increases the diplomatic difficulties which a Minister more acute and less flexible than M. De Buol Schonstein would not fail to turn to account. Had M. De Buol a portion of the firmness of the late Prince Schwartzenberg, whose force of volition set aside Ferdinand, and placed Francis Joseph on the Throne, the Russian question would have been quickly solved. Felix Schwartzenberg, aided by the Archduchess Sophia, prevailed upon the placid Ferdinand and his devout Empress Marianne of Sardinia to make way for a young soldier. " Mein Kaiser," exclaimed the Archduchess mother, and, turning to the army, she added, "I commit your new Emperor to your care, for believe me he is a genuine soldier." The genuine soldier—and it was a truth—with his bold Minister, after the revolutions of 1848 and 1849, were about to read a practical and useful lesson to Prussia for her excess of perfidy ; but the Czar, in a private conver sation with the young Emperor, prevented the in tended chastisement, and the latter was compelled to conform to the will of him to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his kingdom of Hungary. The stern Schwartzenberg has been replaced by a vacillating trimmer, by no means equal to the critical emergency of the hour, and who has neither the will nor the nerve to act with decision. The Czar pointed out the Turkish provinces as fitting objects upon which the military ardour of his young friend the Emperor of Austria might find vent with pro priety. The advice was verbally given, and Austrian troops now occupy the principalities. With these important and private facts having immediate and direct influence upon the councils of Austria, neither England nor France can have diplomatic cognisance at the conference. Yet they are literally and strictly true. And the German union, or disunion, remains behind a distinct and separate embarrassment. Upon this point M. Drouyn de Lhuys has been explicit, and his simple words with their simple sense conjure up something more than the phantom of a French army, on or perchance beyond the Rhine, with another Napoleon at its head. If Lord John Russell be faithful to the olden declarations of the Whigs, he will have no scruple in dealing with the shreds and patches of the Congress of Vienna. The parliamentary doings in England are not o nly discussed here, but they are studied. The constitu tional cause is on its trial, and the opinion is fast gaining ground amongst its supporters, that, in a crisis, it is wanting in that prompt energy by w hich alone danger can be averted from a nation. Even the English chiefs, according to their view, are dis encumbering themselves of inconvenient princ iples. They give two examples. Lord Lansdowne, who in an earlier and purer day of Whig existence was eager to do convivial honour