The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

APRIL 28, 1855. There was a slight sortie last night upon the French, who are sapping up towards the Flagstaff, It was instantly repulsed, with a loss of ten or twelve ki ll ed to the Russians. There is no new feature in the canonade of today, beyond that our advanced 84. pounder battery is doing considerable havoc to the works of the Malakoff. Colonel Dickson, R.A., one of the most active and indefatigable of our artillery officers, is perpetually superintending the progress made by this advanced work. The (Jaraduc goes today to Constantinople to fetch up Lord Stratford de Redclitie. The reason for his lordship's visit at this particular time has, of course, given rise to all kinds of conjecture. The weather still continues very unseasonable. We have nothing but dull skies, strong north-easterly winds, and heavy rain. The Times correspondent, writing on the 13th, gives the following account of the state and prospects of the siege:— Up to the present moment our batteries have succeeded in establishing a superiority of fire over the Russians, but it is not very decided, and the silence of the enemy's guns may arise iu some measure from want of ammunition, or from confidence in the strength of their earthworks. It would seem, indeed, as if our fire was almost thrown away on the enormous mounds of earth cast up at the Redan and before the Round Tower and Western Batteries. The whole of the parapets of the Redan and Round Tower are jagged and pitted with holes several feet deep, where the shot have sunk, the sharp angles of the embrasures are knocked away, and the abattis in front is considerably damaged here and there, but the real strength of the place is unimpaired ; and, as long as the Russians can find new guns, fresh supplies of ammunition, and men to fight the batteries, we are not one inch nearer to the town than we were last October, so long as we rely alone on the fire of our artillery to make us masters of it. There are great differences of opinion among those officers to whom I have spoken respecting the chances of an assault, but there can he little doubt but that an attack on the Round Tower, the Mamelon, and the two earthworks on the north side of Inkermann, which are called by the French the batteries I Avril and 2 Avril, would be attended with success, if made with su ffi cient force, although the loss of life would be very considerable until guns could be got up to reply to the fire of the north forts, the shipping, and the bastion face of the Redan. Far he it from me to arrogate to my self the smallest military knowledge, or to pretend to criticise the operations of our generals, but I use the words of many officers when 1 say that these places are not in vulnerable, and that the possession of them would most materially conduce to a successful termination of all our labours. It may be that our generals see some surer and less bloody path into Sebastopol. They may well hesitate to sacrifice the gallant fellows who must fall in such an arduous and terrible undertaking as the storming of these positions ; but, if Great Britain has set her heart on the reduction of the stronghold which has already cost her so much precious blood and treasure, she must be content to pay the price to the last farthing. THE CRIMEAN TELEGRAPH. The completion of the electric chain of communi cation between England and the Crimea has been announced in Parliament, and places the commander of the army before Sebastopol within a few hours distance of the War-office and Downing -street. The accomplishment of the last and most difficult link in this chain—the sinking of the submarine cable between Balaklava and the western shore of the Black Sea— is thus described by the correspondent of the Morn ing Herald in his letter of the 13th inst.:— Amidst all our warlike preparations I must not omit to mention the completion of a design which is now likely to ranK as high as a valuable auxiliary in war as it formerly did as a triumph of peaceful and scientific industry—l mean the submarine electric telegraph, which was this day completed between the shore at St. George's Monastery and Cape Kalerga, near Varna. To Captain Spratt, of the Npiyire, belongs all the honour of the completion of this most arduous undertaking. The wire, to the length of 377 miles, was stowed away on hoard the Argus. The Terrible attended to give assistance, and Captain Spratt, in the ~S'pii,fire, commanded the whole affair. The vessels left Cape Kalerga on the afternoon of the 10th, and, keeping over the bank which crosses the Black Sea, dropped the wire in seventy fathoms. They passed Sebastopol yester• day night, and brought the electric cable s.ifely to land at St. George's Monastery early this morning, having payed out on the passage 301 miles of the telegraph without the slightest accident. This submarine telegraph is longer by upwards of 2(X) miles than any other in existence. The wire from Kalerga to Varna, a distance of twenty miles, is not yet laid. It will also be submarine, and completed in the course of another week. Even now messages from the allied head•quarters will reach Paris or London in a few hours, and, when the wire is all laid, in something less than a second. The telegraph will to-morrow be carried into head querters, where one to the trenches is already laid down, so that the feld•ofilcer in command during the night will at the same moment announce a sortie to Lord Raglan and to the Prime Minister in llowning•street. The first mes sage was sent from Kalerga, and contained the important intelligence that " Corporal Somebody was not well, and had just taken a dose of castor-oil." The reply from the Monastery was—" Hope it may do him good. Our bom bardment is going on most successfully." Before I con clude I must mention a singular phenomenon, which will puzzle electricians to account for. When the Argus left Kalerga she bad the coil of 370 miles of wire stowed away in her hold. As she moved to sea messages were repeatedly sent down from the old castle on the heights of Kalerga, where the eud of the wire vas secured; but though the THE PRESS. wire was in perfect connection and in good order, as was proved by the messages all reaching the .4r us, it was im possible to transmit an answer back to the shore. As the ship increased her distance from land, the wire gradually gave faint intimation of returning powers; and at last, when 100 miles of it had been laid down, the messages were easily sent backwards and forwards. The scientific gentlemen sent out in charge of the telegraph were utterly unable to account fur this phenomenon. Tug BALTIC FLEET.—The following vessels arrived at Elsinore on Wednesday :—Magicienne, geyser, Snap, Snapper, Cuckoo, Gleaner, Pelter, and Princess Alice. The latter broke her connecting-rod while on the voyage. The Cuckoo proceeded. The first Ba_tic capture of 1855 has been an nounced. The vessel was the Afgran, Kenewich, from Lubeck, with a cargo of coals, which was cap tured off Libau on the 17th inst. by her Majesty's steamer Desperate, and has been brought into Memel. SEBASTOPOL INQUIRY COMMITTEE. THE Duke of Newcastle bas been the chief and almost the only witness examined before the committee during the week. His grace's evidence occupied the entire proceedings of Monday and the two following days. From the extremely voluminous details pre sented in this mass of testimony we can only extract some few of the most striking points : Examined by the CHAJRMAN.—Was War Minister from the beginning of the war with Russia until the retirement of Lord Aberdeen from office. The powers and duties of the War Minister, in a state of peace, when conjoined with those of Secretary of the Colonies, were generally speaking of a directory character; the whole of the details were en tirely conducted by the Horse Guards and the other mili tary departments. The Secretary of State had to recom mend the amount of force to be voted by Parliament in the coming year, and the leading points of that description, but the whole of the details were managed by the military de partments. During a state of war on the Continent, as to the general directions of the war and the number of forces tc he sent, it was difficult to define the duty of the Secre tary of War, who became responsible for the direction of everything. He was at a loss to say what would not come within that scope. He determined upon the quantity of troops, and every order of the kind ; those things were determined upon after mature deliberation, but he was the responsible Minister. Those powers were not changed by the separation of the offices beyond this, that the Secretary of War being relieved from the duties of Colonial Minister, was able to devote his sole attention to the duties of War Minister: no increased powers were given. The relations between the Minister of War, the Commanderin-Chief. and the Secretary-at-War were these—that every direc tion of the war was in the hands of the Secretary of War ; the duties of the Commander-in-Chief applied more to the discipline of the war. With respect to appointments, he did not submit to her Majesty the names of the officers who were appointed to commands—that was done by the Commander-in-Chief. Supposed that was the case in the instance of Lord Raglan, but the names were invariably submitted to him as Secretary of State fur War. As to Lord Raglan's appointment. that was mentioned to him by Mr. Sidney Herbert privately at first. In some instances there had been a departure from the proper practice in this respect, but he would rather not give the names of the offi cers. There were three cases of gentlemen who were norai rutted by the Commanderin-Chief before he was made ac• quainted with the fact. Those three persons continued in command; but he was bound to say that those three nomi nations were made through inadvertence. The first instance was the appointment of Lord Lucan, and sub sequently the appointment of Brigadiers Ton-ens and Golding. By Lord SEYMOUR.—As regarded the commissariat and the provisioning the amount of troops sent out, he expected them to carry out the necessary arrangements for the sup ply of the requisite provisions and means of transport. As regarded the stores, he looked to the Master General of the Ordnance and the Board of Ordnance to have the supplies of stores in the sante way as they were required. He did not divest himself of all care on that matter, with the exception of the commissariat, which was an indepen dent department. He made constant opportunities of ascertaining what were the stores required, and the occa sions were frequent in which he ordered the quantities to be doubled. Of the medical department he could not say much ; it did not come under his notice early. By the CJIAIIIMAN.—The first order for sending out the troops was given on the 9th of February. When the ex pedition was first sent away it was intended to send an ex pedition to Turkey. The expedition was undertaken with the immediate object of protecting the Turkish empire from the invasion of Russia. The steps taken by the Government were as early as the beginning of January. Sir John Burgoyne loft about the 28th of January, and made an accurate inspection of the country. lie re commended where lines should be thrown up, at Constan tinople and elsewhere. Soon after, Major Dixon, an eminent officer of the royal artillery, selected by reason of his knowledge of the Turkish language and the manners of the country, was sent over with three other officers. They were instructed to examine with reference to the sa lubrity of the different localities, and to ascertain what par ticular spots would be safe for the encampment of the troops as to their health, where the climate was wholesome, and where water could be easily procured. The officers ex ecuted the duties with which they were intrusted, and Major Deehatin subsequently niade a reconnaissance of the Danube and of Bulgaria. ltirections were given to the commissariat, on the 7th or Bth of February, to inspect the condition of the country as to its means of supplying food to the army. He himself did not receive any informa tion from the commissariat direct ; at that time they corresponded with the Treasury, and from them be received any communications which were made. Vast supplies of all kinds were sent nut from this country. Mr. LATARD.—Who were the responsible persons fbr providing provisions —were they the commissariat officers? The Duke of Newcastle.—lt was the duty of the commis sariat department to provide stores and transports ; but his impression was, that there was a great difficulty subse quently in providing transports, although there had been none in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. The CHAIUMAN.—Was that difficulty reported to you? The Duke of Newcastle.—No, not till I heard it from a private source. The CHAIRMAN.—When you heard that the siege of Silistria was raised, how soon after that was another expe- dition determined upon ? The Duke of Newcastle.— When the Government re• ceived intelligence of the raising of the siege of Silistria by telegraph the matter was considered, and he thought that it was on the 22nd of June he wrote to Lord Raglan to prepare for an expedition to the Crimea. The CHAIRMAN.—Was that a peremptory order, or did it allow of any discretion to Lord Raglan ? The Duke of Newcastle.—He would prefer reading the instructions sent out to him • but as lie was then an e x - Minister, and not knowing t he feelings of the Govern ment on the subject (although he presnmed from the circumstances under which the committee wore appointed they wished for the fullest inquiry ), he did not know how far he was allowed to depart firom the usual custom by reading it. Sir JOHN PAIHNOTON.—Do you consider the production of that document will in any way operate injuriously to the public service? The Duke of Newcastle.—l do not think it is for me, as an ex-Minister, to say what may be the effect of the pro duction of documents that I may consider necessary to exonerate myself. if the committee call for them I will read to them the instructions that were given to Lord Raglan both as to the siege of Sebastopol and those given to him on the 10th of April. The room was then cleared, and, on readmission, the Chairman requested his grace to read the instructions. The noble duke then read two despatches. One en joined upon Lord Raglan the necessity of losing no time in ascertaining by inquiry the amount of the Russian force in the Crimea and the strength of the fortress of &bare topol, and by every means to prevent the advance of the Russians on Constantinople, and then left it to himself to consider the propriety of making offensive operations in the Crimea, as no result could be of so much importance as the taking of Sebastopol. and the destruction of the Russian fleet in the flack Sea. The other despatch was dated the 20th of June, two days after the Government had heard by telegraph that the siege of Silistria had been raised. That document was issued from the War Depart ment, and required him with the allies to concert measures for the siege of Sebastopol, unless he was of opinion, from information that had come to his knowledge upon the spot, and was unknown to her Majesty's Government, that 6,141 an expedition could not be undertaken with a reason able prospect of success. To Mr. Layard.—That despatch was submitted to Lord Hardinge before it was sent. In sketching out a campaign it was not necessary to consult Lord Hardinge. The CHAIHMAN.—I suppose your grace has Lord Raglan's answer? The Duke of Newcaatle.-11 have no general answer ; but 1 have an answer to that portion of It relating to Perekop. That answer was dated July 10, from Varna. That. des patch contained allusions to the French army, and although there was nothing in the despatch that he thought the French could object to, yet he did not think it fair to read extracts, as he thought the whole of it should be read or none at all. The production of the document wa■ not pressed. The CHAU/MAL—State the first time it was determined to winter in the Crimea. The Duke of Newcastle.—Tt was net en aot of determi• nation, but one of necessity? but 1 was informed that the army would winter in the Crimea after the battle of baker mann. The CHAIRMAN.—When the resolution was taken to winter in the Crimea, what steps were taken ? The Duke of Newcastle.—The additional steps taken was to order a large quantity of wool clothing, wooden huts —and, indeed, everything that was must likely to conduce to the comfort of the army; but it was determined to issue warm clothing even before it was known that the army would winter in the Crimea. The Cu tiTßldAti.—When was it determined to issue the warm clothing? The Duke of Newcastle.—As early as the month of August. Immediately after the prorogation of Parliament I ordered a large quantity of all the warm clothing that could be got in the manulacturing districts, except furs. Those orders were issued to the tirdnance, and a large quail tity of that clothing was lost in the Prince. that left this country in October. Those were extraordinary articles, and were an additional supply to the ordinary clothing, They consisted of 40,1100 pairs of blankets, a large quantity of clothes, jerseys, mite, and other articles for winter quar ters. They were articles not required for an army in the winter in barracks. By the CYFAIRMAN.—DirectIons were given to form depAts for food at Constantinople, and he believed there were some there. They were ordered. From the moment of certainty of the army wintering in the Crimea, he save directions for an increased supply of every article of pro vision and fuel to be forwardei in oontinual streams. From time to time he urged the question upon the commissariat as to the supply of fresh meat, when he found that supply fail ; but at the siege of Sebastopol the army war supplied by the comniimarint, which was nut under his charge until the 22nd December. It was responsible to him, but not