The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

228 ' east partially so. Whenever that is done it can take up in one day sufficient shot and shell to supply all our batteries firing incessantly with ammunition for three days and The progress which this tram is making is perfectly marvellous. It is now progressing at the rate of a quarter of amile per day, including all the delays which arise from bridging small streams, levelling and filling up inequali ties, d:c. Half the men are employed in laying down the rails and sleepers during the day, and the remainder work all night in boxing up with earth and stones the spaces left between each sleeper. As an instance of the rapidity with which the work proceeds, a pile-driving machine was landed one evening, and carried piecemeal up to where it was necessary to sink piles for a stout wooden bridge across a small, but very muddy stream, which runs into the harbour. The machine was erected early the follow. ing morning, and before that evening the piles were all driven, the machine removed, the bridge finished , and the rails laid down for the space of a hundred yards beyond. The course of another week or ten days must see half the line completed, and, as far as it goes, in operation. Even forwarding the heavy guns and shells three miles will be, of course, an immense assistance.—Herald Correspondent. FEB. 19.—The drying winds continue, and the plateau to the south of Sebastopol can be traversed easily on horse or foot, even at the bottom of the ravines. With this fine weather the good spirits and energies of our men have re turned, but I regret to say the warm wind which blew the other day brought with it, or developed, the seeds of typhus fever which broke out in several regiments lately, and soon marked some of the strongest men as its vic tims. At the moment I write there is an appearance of a change in the weather ; the thermometer is at 40 deg., and the wind is strong from the westward, with heavy masses of clouds coming down along with it. The trenches, however, are dry ; the men get all they want, provisions are abundant; hay has arrived, and fresh vegetables have been sent up to the front to check the scurry. The progress of the railroad is extraordinar y . It is already completed out to the entrance of the village of Kadikoi, to-morrow it will have passed through it on its way out to the plateau, and on Wednesday it will be, in all probability, used for the transport of a cargo of shot and shell out so far from Baliiklava in the intervals of the workmen's labour. The aspect of the town is greatly altered for the better. The wretched hovels in which the Turkish soldiery propagated pestilence and died have been cleaned out or levelled to the earth, the cesspools and col lections of utter abominations in the streets have been filled up, and quicklime has been laid down in the streets and lanes, and around the houses. The sutlers have been driven forth to a wooden world of their own outside the town, and the number of visitors to the town diminished. Indced, the railway, which sweeps right through the main street, very effectually clears away the crowds of stragglers who used to infest the place. It is inexpressibly strange to hear the well-known rumbling sound of the carriages and waggons as they pass to and fro with their freights of navvies, sleepers, and rails ; it recals home more strongly than anything we have yet heard in the Crimea. FEB. 2L—On the north of the valley of Inkermann the enemy are still prosecuting their earthworks, and are ap parently forming an intrenehed and fortified post of great strength. The natural defences of this headland which they occupy are so great as to make it a most formidable position even if only held by 1,000 men, but the enemy seem not content with leaving their bulwarks to nature, and appear to be bent on turning the hill into a second Gibraltar, to which fortress it bears a distinct resemblance. Two hundred and seventy arabas entered Sebastopol by the north side this morning. From the care with which all were covered with tarpatilinga they were presumed to contain ammunition. The fleet off Sebastopol report that a good deal of bustle was apparent among the enemy's works to the north. The wind is still high and the cold intense, with every prospect of its continuing so for some days. None of the troops are hutted yet, with the exception of some fifty or sixty men, who sleep in the hospital huts now that the number of invalids is reducing. No regiment is butted, nor is any progress making towards any huts being got up at all for the general use of the health y troops. This ha The sick ness, I am glad to say , is s till decreasing. happy result is attributed almost entirely to the fact of the men being warmly clothed, and receiving rations of fresh pro visions more frequently. FEB. 22.—Lord Raglan rode out this morning through the greater part of the English camp, and remained in specting different positions for two of three hours; 310 waggons again entered Sebastopol to-day from the north, and the enemy are evidently exceedingly busy about some thing on that side of their defences. There seems no additional reason for thinking that our fire date , will it soonwill be re commence ; on the contrary, at the earliest near the middle of March before we are in a condition to do so from our new works at. liikermann. FEB. 23.—.1118 weather still continues very cold, but the s i c k n ess, 1 am glad to say , is gradually diminishing The railway from lialaklava is making most rapid pro gress ; in fact, the village is fast disappearing beneath the vigour with which the various sidings are pushed through the few houses which yet remain here. The harbour of the place gets into a worse state each day. . Lord George Paget arrived at lialaklava this morning from England. It is said lie returns to takecom.mand of t he light brigade of cavalry, or rather that wh Cichorr is to espon be en a light brigade of cavalry next spring. — Heraid dt. Fan. 2.4, 4 A. 81.—1 was woke up shortly after two o'clock tis morning by the cornrnencement timf o . one most furious cannon a des we have heard e . the . s of i ge e began. The whole line o f the linasian batteries from our left opened with inconceivable force and nmse, and the Inker mann batteries began playing on our right; but the French were most exposed to the weight of this most tetrible fire, which shook the very earth, and lighted up the skies with incessant lightning.flashes for an our and a half. Under THE PRESS cover of it a very strong sortie has been made, and for half an hour the musketry rolled incessantly, with volume and vigour enough for a general action. Our batteries were silent. As no person, unless a ctuall y on duty, is pern4tted to go beyond the iulying sentries and pickets, I cat at this hour tell you no more than that the firing has now ceased, and I have returned with the impression that a very serious affair has taken place. The cannonade lasted from 2.15 a.m. to 3.50 cm. In much of the time they tired, as I counted fifteen guns in thirty seconds, and sometimes the reports came in regularolid salvos, and the flashes leap ed forth in great flares of s fire, so that it was impossible to tell what number of guns the enemy were working. TRADE IN BALAKLAVA. The Daily News correspondent gives the following account of the thriving trade driven by private ad venturers at Balaklava The profits, even of honest tradesmen, may be compared to those of the moneymaking period of San Francisco and Sydney. 1 will quote a few examples to support my assertion. A Maltese tailor, who for some mouths sold clothes and mended them, has shut up his shop in the High-street, Balaklava, and gone back to Valetta. Those who ought to know say that he netted 2,0001. Abraham, a Jew, who as a civil servant got wages to the amount of 1301. a year, complained of the stinginess of his master, and struck for higher wages. Sent away, he opened a shop in November last. He, too, has retired from business with something like 3,0001. or 4,0001. A French sailor, who had at one time been a baker, established about three months ago the first bakery in Balaklava. He got posseseion of two ovens in one house ; he hired gangs of French soldiers to bake for him, and to take their turns day and night. His ovens were always either full of bread or heating for a fresh supply. Gangs of French soldiers, too, foraged fuel for him. In London his loaves would sell for 2d. or 3d. In Balaklava they sold, and readily, as fast as they were shot out, forts. Now, reckon the flour (from Varna and Con• stantinople) as high as you will, and put a very high figure on the price of labour, still a loaf which a London baker can with profit sell for 3d. cannot cost the Balaklava baker more than Is. So there is Is. profit on each loaf, and I am credibly informed that above 1,000 loaves were baked in the twenty-four hours. The week in camp has seven work ing days, and the profits of a week amount to '7,000 shillings ; those of a month to 80,000 shillings, or 1,5001. The baker has driven this trade about three months--profits, 4,5001. There was no lowering the price of bread. Every one deprecated such a nteasure. We were all afraid of the baker taking offence and going away. At two shillings per loaf, officers and officers' servants and Turks actually besieged the house at the periods of issue, and the minor grades literally fought for precedence. Meat and fowls were sent to the baker, who managed to underdo them as a special favour, whenever he could not well refuse con ferring it. Charge, one shilling ; and that shilling was paid down with delight. In the last few weeks a second bakery has been established, and now that the public are on the safe side, Colonel Harding has interfered with the price of bread, and fixed it at is lid. The baker grumbled awfully, but bakers wronged have remedies known to bakers only. The loaves are a little smaller and lighter, and you may trust the Frenchman that his profits are the same they were before. if the man holds out to the end of the year, even supposing that competition should lessen his gains, he nay retire on an independent fortune of 10,0001., and become a proprietaire in his own country. So much for trade in Balaklava. The late expulsion of the sutlers from Balaklava has not induced them to leave the camp. They have requested and obtained permission to form a colony on the rising ground near Kadikoi, where tents, sheds, and wooden houses are springing up in all directions. Mr. Oppenheim, the first who came to relieve our necessities in October last, has just finished building his large wooden h o use, which is to be used as a store and reading-room. In spite of the Crimean Army Fund and other charitable contri vances, Mr. Oppenheim's temporary suspension of business caused by his removal to Kadikoi has been severely felt. The fact is, the goods sent out by the funds are not readily available. They are tied up by a systen of requisitions, to be submitted, and signed, and approved in ever so many ways. There is sending and writing from one to the other, and if officers can buy things they do not like this system of official begging. 4 To make such " Funds " really effective the goods should be sold at cost price, and an officer's uniform should be his passport for obtaining any quantity which one person can be reasonably expected to consume. I know I express the opinion of many when I say that the system hitherto acted upon does not meet the wishes of the army; that it is wrong and thoroughly nn-English. THE BALAKLAVA RAILWAY. The progress of the railway from Balaklava to the camp has been very rapid and successful. On the 16th ult. a mile of the road from Balaklava was laid, and the chief surveyor expected to get up to Kadikoi on the 19th. At that place was the first depot; and there commenced the first incline which was to be worked by engine power. From Balaklava to Kadi. koi, a distance of nearly two miles, the road is nearly on a level ; from Kadikoi to the French camp, half a mile, there is an incline of one in fifteen; from the French camp to head quarters, a mile and a half, there is an incline of one in twenty-five. At head quarters the summit level is attained. The distance from head-quarters to the trenches is about two miles and a half, tolerably level. The surveyor, his staff, an d workmen, bad to rely in a great measure upon their own unaided energies. Lord Raglan is said to take a great interest in the line, and Sir John Burgoyne was doing his best to promote it; but, owing to the condition of the army, SATIIRDAY, no assistance could be had from it. The navvies in general worked pretty well. Some black sheep there were ; and the facility with which nun could be ob tained at Balaklava rendered it difficult to keep some of them m hand. The great obstacle was the diffi culty of transport. The worn-out horses supplied by the artillery were of no use. The horses belonging to the railway corps had been landed, but had not quite recovered from the effects of the heat and de. fective ventilation in the hold of the vessel that con veyed them. It was a serious drawback to have to unload the ships, and carry up the materials fbr the huts and stables exclusively by manual labour. Halt the men, however, were hutted, and the work was fairly in progress. THE ARMIES IN THE CRIMEA. An interesting article on the relative position of the hostile armies in the Crimea has appeared in the Wats, from the pen of Col. St. Ang, iormerly a staff officer in the French service. The following are extracts from this paper : We wish to depict the respective situation■ of the belli gerent parties in the Crimea, as matters stood when the news of the death of the Emperor Nicholas would reach them. We think we may estimate the strength of the allies encamped in the Crimea at 100,000 men, considering the reinforcements continually sent during the last month from France and Eaqland, and taking also into account the arrival of the two French divisions which had been left as a reserve at Constantinople. The Ottoman army under the orders of Omer Pasha at Eupatoria ought to present now an effective force of 40,000 men. And as the sending of corps or detachments by the three nations to the Crimea is going on at this very moment, everything induces us to believe that the entire strength of the allied troops will amount to 150,000 men in the course of the present month of March. The Russian army can hardly attain the same figure before it shall have received the last reinforcements sent through Perekop by the routes of Odessa, Nikolaieff, and Cherson. This army does not appear at this moment to amount to • 100,000 men, inclusive of the garrisons in Sebastopol and the other strongholds of the Crimea. It can only dispose of about sixty or sixty-five thousand men for any strategical operation. It is an ascertained fact that the Russians have suffered as much at least as our selves through sickness, the inclemency of the season, and the want of provisions and forage. In a climate something like that of France, the winter has exhibited there, as here, frequent vicissitudes of snow, rain, frost, and thaw. The transports across the Crimea have been almost con stantly interrupted by the breaking up of the routes in a country that does not possess a paved causeway. The route from Balaklava now serves as a line traced out for the railway. On one side of the French, a paved way connects their camps with the Bay of Kamisch ; other routes connect the different camps with one another, and easy communications were established early with the landing-points. Balaklava and Kamisch now witness on their shores the erection of two towns of huts and tents, where warehouses, field-hospitals, shops of every kind, a host of suttlers, an entire military or nomade population, fall of incessant activity, are installed. The French c3m missariat, with its special companies of soldiers of every profession, has constructed ovens, where the bread for the army is baked ; the bakers knead batch after batch ; the military butchers, called " romaniers," cut up the meat for distribution ; the . storekeepers house in large huts the sup plies of salted-meats, biscuit, sugar, coffee, rice, and whatever military men call dry provisions; others, whose duty it is to attend to the encampment and clothing, stow away in good order a quantity of miscellaneous goods. The regiments, by means of their own men on fatigue a duty, receive from the commissariat these proviai them od goods on delivering tickets previously given to by the military intendants. The cantiniers set up coffee shops, even eating-houses, or shops where all sorts of com modities are sold at exorbitant prices, an.l articles of food, which are bought by such individuals as desire to add some European delicacy or another to their military rations. In addition to the field hospitals, the bakehouses, ware houses, and canteens, you see on the same ground the wor kshops of the artillery, the engineers, and the navy. Here hundreds of smiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, and armourers, every one of whom is a soldier, are at work. Nothing can be more valuable during war-time, in distant countries without resources, than these companies of work men in every branch of industry carried on by our mill tary commissariat, and the two scientific arms, the en gineers and the artillery. Our common foot-soldier even, always 9, good hand at digging, is easily converted into an active and ingenious workman, never at his wit's ends for supplying his wants, and who can set up his bivouac and his extempore kitchen in the best possible manner. Were he to atop any length of time on the same spot, he would soon have his kitchen-garden, as our soldiers actually had at several encampments in Algeria, and which have since grown into villages. We see, then, that a French army carries with it all the arts and trades ; everywhere it finds its resources in itself, and is in itself a complete civilised body. This administrative, military, and indus trial system, these companies of workmen, all this orgam. sation, in short, fails in the English army, and its so o f ours ldiers, so intrepid in the combat , ha ve not the aptitude for the various works of war, especially those of a siege. But England knows this ; it has received the revelation of what is defective in her military organisation. Enlightened for the time to come by dear bought experience, she is about to remedy that defect with the energy . of a great nation, that resolves not to be behind other nations, espe cially when her power and honour are staked in conjunc tion with France on the issue of a most se rious war. We have now to speak on the state of the siege-works, bomb..