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

1050 gbe VreSSIS : (STAMPED.) TERMS OF FOU Per Annum .. • - • • Half-Yearly .. .. Quarterly .. .. Payable in advance. - . SI 6 0 .. 0 19 0 .. 0 6 6 Subscribers are requested to send their Orders through their sews Agent; if direct to the Office, accompanied by a remit. twee. Advertisements also must have areference or remittance. Money Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALFltun lvz, 110, Strand. London. rtgg4 LONDON, SA.TURDAY, NOV. 3, 1855. POSTSCRIPT.. THE BALTIC ELEET. Despatches from Dantsic of Thursday's date announce that the Lightning had arrived, and was to remain at that port further orders. The fleet was still at Nargen. The weather continues stormy. From Hamburg we learn that the Ajax and Hogue had arrived at Kiel. Other ships were expected from the Baltic. A letter from Berlin, dated the Ist inst., says : We have rumours of enforced changes in the higher ranks of the Russian officials. Count Kleinmichel, the Minister of Roads and Public Works. is to be replaced by General Tchertkine, from the Department of Mines. The disasters of the war have produced inquiries which are likely to lead to further changes of a remarkable cha racter. The presence of the allied fleets in the Liman of the Dnieper has produced great consternation. Their having troops and engineers on board is thought to prove an in• tention of making a permanent lodgment there. The return of Lord Gifford for Totness will proba blylbe unopposed. Thus, the first appearance of this ex-Conservative in the character of a Liberal will he made as the representative of a pocket borough, and the nominee of a Duke. A late nnmber of Lo Spellatore Egiziano, pub lished in Cairo, statesfthat the direct transit by the railway from Cairo to Alexandria, and vice venal, was to commence on the Ist inst. By letters from Bucharest, under date of the 19th we learn that Prince Stirbey has carried out his in - tention of resigning all public affairs into other hands, until such time as he shall have recovered his health completely. THE BALTIC FLEET. (From our Own Correspondent.) OFF NARGEN, Oct. 23. As the Baltic campaign of 1855 may now be con• sidered at an end, it may not, perhaps, prove un interesting to your readers to take a retrospective view of the past season. Let us first ask what pre parations should have been made, founded on the reports resulting from the experience of the naval and military commanders in the Baltic during the season of 1854. To Sir Charles Napier (whose many faults have made him so deservedly unpopular) must be given the credit of having recommended the use of vessels of light draught of water for the purpose of destroying the enemy's stores and arsenals, such as mortars, gun-boats, &c. The wiseacres in autho rity built what would doubtless have been suffi cient for the purpose intended had the Russians remained inactive during the winter months; but it has been a too common and unpardonable mistake throughout the whole of this war to have quite over looked what we should have learned by the occur. rences daily passing under our notice at the theatre of action, namely, that we have to deal with an un tiring and indefatigable enemy, who, as far as his resources have allowed him, has advanced step by step with us, who has neglected no opportunity of meeting new invention by new invention, and who is not so egregiously foolish as to see preparations being made to destroy his strongholds, without pre paring on his side to resist to the utmost our attacks from whatever quarter. or by whatever method, they are attempted. As a proof of this, Admiral Dundas is sent to the Baltic, and, in the course of time, the gun-boats and mortar-vessels join him off Cronstadt, his intention being to force his way to the north side of t h at islan4--when, to his astonishment, he found THE PRESS. that the enemy (a fact of which he appears to have been entirely ignorant) are mustered in a force nearly double his own, prepared to dispute his carry. ing out his intentions. This unexpected state of things rather staggered the commanders of the allied fleets, and tended much to damp the ardour of the crews ; for, being in perfect ignorance of the ap proaches to the barrier of piles which extends from the island to the shore on the north side—being unaware of the exact position of a very narrow entrance or passage made through the said piles (all of which it was the intention of the authorities deli berately to survey, had it not been for the unexpected Russian threatening force)—it was decided by a wise and perfectly justifiable opinion, that with our small force of vessels of light draft it would have been absurd to have attacked the enemy in their own waters. Three times the number of gunboats, and twice the number of mortars—and what was there to prevent them having been got ready ?—would have put the admirals in a position to have acted. As it was, they could do nothing—the force they bad being perfectly useless. So much for Cronstadt. What might have been done there still remains a matter which, perhaps, admits of question. But few who have seen the position can doubt that our flotilla would have held a most important point of attack had they succeeded in establishing them selves behind the barrier—a point from which, ac cording to our recent experience in mortar-firing, many maintain all Cronstadt and the Russian fleet could have been burnt, and from which the sea, even to the environs of St. Petersburg, would have been at our command. A few words as to Sweaborg, and I have done. The bombardment of that place has been so often described that I will not take up your valuable space by repetition. I will only say that a most unexpected blow was struck against one of the strongest fortresses of Russia, which must have shaken the prestige of the Czar even to the very heart of his empire—that dockyards, arsenals, barracks, two rne-of-battle ships, and immense ma gazines were burnt, destroyed, and blown up—and that awful loss of life was caused to the enemy, with a very trifling loss on our Side. Helsingfors was at our mercy; and there perhaps a mistake was made; but I affirm positively that feelings of humanity, backed, perhaps, by an ill-judged policy, prompted the course that was taken. As to the ships going in after the bombardment by the smaller vessels, I ask any person who is of opinion that they ought to have done so to study carefully the charge, to remark well the immense earthworks on the island of Bakholmen, to consider what object would have been gained by hammering batteries cut out of solid rock, without an army to land to storm the place, in case of the enemy deserting his guns. Let him consider well bow little we should have received in return for the loss of three or four ships, when the enemy, who, if driven from their guns, would return at leisure, and the damage done by your fleet would be never known. A moral defeat would have been the result. I have weakly endeavoured in this letter to show that as much as could have been expected from a fleet acting under orders from home has been done by the Baltic fleet this year; and that, if sufficient foresight had been used in employing enough vessels of light draught of water to place under the orders of Admiral Dundas, much, very much more would hare been attempted—and, I doubt not, executed. Let us hope that during the winter the Russians will not be able to keep pace with this great nation in building gun-boats, but that we may find the balance of force much in our favour the next time we approach his barriers in the Gulf of Finland. The gales of wind in the Gulf of Finland are per fectly fearful, but the cold has not yet set in. The admiral is still at Stockholm. Edinburgh is gone home. Vulture takes mails. grtlant. THE MURDER OF MISS HINDS . THE quarter sessions for the Belturbet division of the county Cavan were opened at Ballyconnell on Thursday week last by Mr. P. M. Murphy, the chairman, who in his address to the grand jury alluded in marked and severe terms to the horrible outrage lately committed upon that unfortunate lady. The learned gentleman opened his address in the following words Mr.llForernan and Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,—l deeply regret I am unable to repeat on this occasion those congratulations on the peaceable condition of the district which I have had so much pleasure in addressing to you for a considerable time back. I regret it the more because there is but one solitary case for your investigation during these sessions : this, however, only proves what experience has long taught us, namely, how fallacious a criterion the calendar, either at sessions or assizes, affords of the condi tion of society which exists among us ; and how strikingly exemplified has this observation been by the appalling event which has taken place ! He then alluded to the existence of Ribbon societies, and such secret confederacies, against which he spoke in words of solemn warning, and sketched SATURDAY, their history and their results with painful fidelity to truth : _ . ---- - Inquire, then, in the first instance, of any man, the old est and the moat experienced in the community, if he can point out one single benefit arising to any human being from this association. Now, let this question be fairly con siderel and canvassed in a candid spirit, and I pledge my experience there will be but one answer, and it is this— that misery, and misery alone, has been the result. Let us next examine the object of these associations. That object is clearly this : by the influence of terror and in timidation to establish an authority paramount to the law of the land, and, through the instrumentality of this machinery, to deter men from prosecuting their rights, whether for the recovery of lands or rents, or the execution of any legal process in connection therewith. This I conceive to be a succinct but perfectly aceui ate description of their objects. Now, suppose for a moment that these confederacies bad even a temporary success ; is it to be believed that any man having the power to cast his fortunes in any part of the world out of lie land would remain among us? What, then, won d be the inevitable result ? Why, that all the evi!, of absenteeism, which are so generally deplored, would be aggravated tenfold ; rents would be collected—of course they would—by the agents of absentees, and enforced with increased rigour; all avenues and approaches to the proprietor would be shut up, he would be far away in a distant land, while the poor cultivator, bound down by necessity to the soil, would be compelled to struggle op hi. adversity and distress, unregarded and unpitied; and, i f) complete the picture of this misery, in no respect overaidtvn, all these calamities would fall indiscriminately on thi3 iw nocent as well as the guilty. Now mark well, thni ie the result of the Ilibbonman's success—his complete success. Let us now turn to the consequences of his &Univ. Helm brought down the vengeance of the law upon his distrift ; he has stimulated the activity of every magistrate and policeman around him; he has compelled the Government to put forth all the terrors of the law, and, if fleet rgp found insufficient, he has induced the Parliament to forge new fetters for the Irish peasant. He it is who has revived the Coercion Acts, the Arms Acts, the Insurrection Acts. the Whiteboy Acts ; in fact, he it is that has drawn forth the sword that has long remained rusty in the scabbard to fall upon the devoted heads of his countrymen then, let him count the gains. He has turned the be of the landlord against the tenant, of the tenant against the land lord ; the kind and affectionate regard he has converted into the averted look of mutual distrust, and thee, perhapfl, he terminates his guilty career by becoming the informer against 'those very associates in crime whom he first seduced and afterwards betrayed. Is this an exaggerated picture, or is it the experience of every man among us? Trace the career and progress of the youthful Irish peasant who has been seduced into these illegal associations, and is met, perhaps, at some gathering or dance by some artful ' knave, who, at the very moment the unconscious boy con sents to take the unlawful oath, is gloating over the price he will receive for his betrayal. How many and many an artless lad has thus been inveigled ? His youthful vanity is first flattered by being " enrolled," as Itibhonmen call it, in this association. His young heart would then have re coiled at the bare contemplation of murder, but soon, through the vile companionship of wicked and dissolute associates, he becomes familiar with crime, the barriers of virtue are broken down, and, step by step, he descends in the paths of guilt. He is afraid either to advance or retire ; he is oppressed with terror at every step lie hears, and at length he terminates a wretched existence either by the hands of the hangman or the assassin. Who, then, that has a heart to feel, or a tongue to give his feelings utterance, will not join me in imploring all men to unite in crushing in the bud the reviving efforts of this hell-born confederacy. Of the cruel murder of Niss Hinds, and of the determined resolution of the law to search out the murderers, and punish every one who harbours or assists them, the learned chairman spoke shortly but with marked effect:— I purposely abstain from alluding to the circumstances connected with the outrage upon the hapless indy who now lies almost in view of this court a lifeless corpse. The sad story of Charlotte Hinds has reached every corner of the earth. She, poor mangled and mutilated victim, has just been released from the indescribable agonies of her seven deadly wounds; her bruised spirit has been summoned be fore that dread tribunal where one day assuredly she will be confronted face to face with her ruthless murderers. There is, however, one caution which I desire to circulate far and wide, it is this—that every man or woman who harbours or conceals, or assists in any way whatever in the escape of the murderers, does in fact by so doing become an accessory to the fact, or, in more intelligible language , an actual party to the murder ; and I have reason to know that the Government is intent on hunting out and punish ing to the utmost extremity of the law any man wbo bar bourn or conceals the assassin. Let every man, therefore, use his best exertions to bring those wretches to justice. In this way, and this only, can you wipe away the stain which has been cast upon this district, by the perpertraPpp of an outrage whibb, I will eay, amid all the dirk and Ma ma records of Irish crime, stands forth without a parallel. The court was crowded, and the address, ON' was listened to with breathless attention, crated the most profound sensation. At the conclusion of its delivery the grand jury and magistrates presented an address to the learned chairman, and requested a copy of his charge, as they considered its publicaticp would be attended with the most beneficial resultt The interest of the proceedings was heightened by the fact that during the delivery of the learned chair man's charge the coroner was holding his inquest in the immediate neighbourhood on the remains of the unfortunate Miss Hind*, Jp