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

204 quiet time in the hospital is most valuable for our work, and many will, I hope, leave these walls better men for time and for eternity. Miss Nightingale and Mrs. Bracebridge continue their labours, and with the same success. England's army will ever bless them, and the kindhearted band who are with them ; and we cannot feel sufficiently thankful to Almighty God that He has put into their hearts not only to will but to do. We are extremely pained by the attacks made upon them in some of the newspapers; but no good work was ever yet begun without Satan stirring up some to hinder. Miss Nightingale never reads a newspaper, and these attacks never reach her. If they did her work and labour of love might be hindered, and herself greatly harassed. They are not more bitter than untrue. Miss Nightingale has ever shown herself a good and faithful member of the Church of England. Her great effort here has been to do the work of nursing she came out to do, and to bind, as far as possible, every one of her band to do that same work, and no other. The chaplains find her most anxious to help them in their work, and she allow; no book to be given out without our direct sanction. Those who fear any attempt at converting on either side here, may rest assured that the hospital is a most unpro• raising field for such work; and also that were it attempted, Lord Wm. Paulett, as commandant, would prevent a second attempt. We hear that her Majesty is about to have the graveyard here planted, and closed in by a wall. This will be a great consolation to us all, and those who have friends or comrades there will deeply feel this kind care for the bodies of those who are gone and for the feelings of those who remain. Four thousand of our poor fellows lie there. The spot is most beautiful, and the graves now stretch far along the shore. When I came here only thirty-four were there. May the Almighty in mercy spare me such another scene of death. I hope my letter is not too tedious to interest you, and believe me, &c. (From an O f ficer of the Guards.) Crimea, Feb. 9th, 1855. I am sure you will be glad to have a few lines from me, although you have so many letters from other quarters which must enter more fully into details which are interesting to you. I arrived here about a month ago in the Robert Lowe, in command of about 700 raw and undisciplined recruits of various regi ments, and, as youpay imagine, my command was by no means an agreeable one. You may believe that I was much shocked to see our poor fellows—the battalion which I saw parade 870 rank and file in February, 1854, and which has since received 330 recruits, is now reduced below 200 men fit for duty. During the last few days the weather has been milder, and there have been fewer fresh cases of sickness, but when a man once gets into the hospital-marquees he never comes out again. The men have no stamina to resist disease; they are fairly worn out. To within the last few days our deaths have averaged two a day, but we have got a number of men away, and latterly so many have not died here, but I do not think a day ever passes without one funeral. We have two hos pital-marquees quite full, and plenty of men waiting for room. I generally go into them for a few minutes every day, but I can do nothing except just ask some of the men how they are. On Sundays I read the epistle and gospel in one marquee, and the second lesson in the other, and say a few words to the men upon them, and conclude with some prayers from the *Prayer Book. This is of course much better than nothing, and I believe if one's intention is good, how ever unskilful, the attempt is not made in vain. There is a current report that we are to go to Bblaklava. One scarcely knows whether to rejoice or mourn over this contemplated change. It will be a great chance for the men to get oft* the severe duty in the trenches, and to be so near their supplies, but it is most miserable that we should be considered so com pletely hors de combat. We have not yet been able to spare man to get up one of the wooden huts from Bala klays.,although most regiments have got two or three, but if we are to move, why should we give the men this extra work? and it can only be done by the men and t te officers' horses : no one can help us over this indescribable road. I hope for peace, but do not expect it. This campaign will have taught the English people a lesson which I hope they may not soon forget, viz., that if they will be parsimonious in time of peace, they must learn patience in time of war. But I trust it will lead to an entire change of our military system, and that wo shall have a regu larly educated staff and a Commissariat, to a certain degree at least, prepared for duties in the field; then there will be no occasion to charge on individuals the failures which arise from our want of system. Wita,inm BURNETr, LH., after serving thirty three years as phief of the naval medical department, has placed bis resignation in the hands of Govern ment. Hie eneeessor has not yet been named. I'HE PRESS. THE WAR. The accounts of the defeat of the Russians at Eupatoria on the 17th ult., given in our latest edition last week, have been fully confirmed. Lord Panmure claused on Monday an official notification of the event to be published, but the details were much more fully given by the Moniteur in the following despatch : The Russians had eighty pieces of artillery, six regi ments of cavalry, and twelve regiments of infantry. The combat lasted five hours and a half. The loss of the Rus sians was 500 killed, with wounded in proportion. The Turks had eighty-eight killed and 2.50 wounded. They lost seventy horses. Selim Pacha and Ruston 13ey were killed. On the night following the Russians bivouacked without fires or tents daring intense cold. On the following morn ing they withdrew towards Simferopol. Four vessels of war took part in the action. Omer Paella commanded the Turkish forces. - - Despatches from Eupatoria of the 21st of February state that the Russians had made no fresh attempts. The town was in an excellent state of defence. Prince Menschikoff, reporting the affair to St. Petersburg, represents it as very trifling, a mere skirmish during the course of a reconnaissance. From Malta on the 24th ult. intelligence has been transmitted, said to have been received there by the Arabic frigate from Constantinople, to the effect that 45,000 Russians had marched for Sebastopol, under the command of the Grand Duke Michael, but had lost 20,000 by the ice thawing, and consequently de taining them on the road. The remainder had reached Sebastop , ll in a pitiable condition. The Vienna papers have published the following intelligence, from a Russian source, dated Sebas topol, Feb. 18: - A thaw has begun in the Crimea. Omer Pacha has his headquarters on board a steamer off Eupatoria. The garrison of Sebastopol made a sortie towards the coast, but was repulsed. Numerous desertions had taken place from the French Foreign Legion. English deserters de sire to enter the Russian service, and demanded to be treated as prisoners of war. General Niel returned to Constantinople on the 20th ult. from the Crimea. He is said to express great confidence as to the success of the siege. The following changes are to be made in the British army :—Sir Colin Campbell to have the First Division ; Sir John Campbell the Highland Brigade; and General Bentinck to command the Fourth Divi sion. The Brigade of Guards are to join the High land Brigade under Sir John Campbell. Sir George Brown commands the Light Division. The following official despatches from Lord Raglan have been published in the Gazette during the week:— Before Sebastopol, Feb. 10, 1855. I have nothing material or important to report since I addressed you on the oth. There was rain yesterday and the day before, and in the course of last night there was a considerable f all of snow, which remains on the ground; but it does not freeze, and the country is again saturated with wet. It is reported from the front that great activity prevails in the town and harbour of Sebastopol. February 13. I mentioned in my despatch of the 10th inst. that there had been a return of bad weather, and that the country was again saturated with wet. On Sunday it rained or snowed from morning till night, and the wind was very high, and though it was line yester day, still the ground was in a worse state than I had seen it for some time. The enemy has made no movement. Major-General Jones, Royal Engineers, arrived a few days ago, and is busily engaged in making himself ac quainted with the position occupied by both armies. Lieutenant• General Sir George Brown has also returned, and, I have great satisfaction in adding, in excellent health. His wound is healed, and, with the exception of not having entirely regained the full use of his elbow, he no longer suffers any inconvenience from it. He will resume the command of his division without loss of time. RAGLAN. THE SIEGE. Letters from the camp bring intelligence of the siege operations to the 12th ult. We subjoin the most interesting details, as given by the able corre spondent of the Morning Herald : Tile CAMP, FEB, 10. —A miserable change for the worse has taken place in the weather. All last night was stormy and cold, and accompanied by heavy falls of rain and snow. Owing to the extreme keenness of the wind, the latter eventually predominated over the rain, and early this morn ing the ground was covered to the depth of several inches with half-thawed slush, which, if it continues, will give us a repetition of all our past miseries. During the early part of to-day the temperature again changed, and the air became close, warm, and heavy. Such sudden and re peated alternations of hot and cold weather produce the very worst effects upon our debilitated soldiers, who are now in such a sickly condition that the least atmospheric change nearly doubles the daily average of hospital patients. It is not too much to say that our men just now are I scarcely fit to bear anything in the way of fatigue or varia- SATURDAY, Lion of temperature, and apparently the most trivial causes serve to swell our heavy sick-list still higher and higher. This morning Lord Raglan, accompanied by the princi pal members of his staff, rode into Balaklava to inspect the progress which the new tramway is making from that place. All the materiel has been disembarked, the railway yard formed, workshops for the engineers erected, and the stationary engines landed and tried. The ground over which the line is intended to pass has been surveyed, and a considerable number of the sleepers and rails already laid down. Of course, as fast as one part is completed, even if only a quarter of a mile in length, it will be used for traffic as far as it goes. The present very unfavorable weather may doubtless tend to delay the progress of the works, by rendering the ground extremely heavy; but still, taking all delays into account, I have little doubt but that the greater part of the line will be completed by the middle of next month, and the whole extended to the camp before the end of March. The movements of the enemy in the neighbourhood of Balaklava continue with the same activity, though from their apparently contradictory nature it is almost impossible to divine their precise object. At one time it would seem as if a considerable force was in the neighbourhood daring the night, but during the day there are sometimes double the number of pickets and outposts, and sometimes these are reduced to such a few as three or four Cossacks. From these and other contrarieties of au equally perplexing na• ture, our whole force at Balaklava is kept continually on the alert ; for, though none can foresee the enemy's inten tions, it is still evident that something of importance is going forward, against which it behoves us to be on our guard at all times. There is one step, however, which would save us a multitude of anxieties on the subject of the strength of our position at Balaklava, and that is, the mounting in battery of a few long heavy guns on the summit of the steep hill, or rather mountain, which forms the right of our position, and which is now occupied by the marines and Rifles. It is said that this headland is too steep to permit heavy guns being got to the top ; but surely in these days of mechanical perfection the means of raising theta could be easily found if only diligently sought for. For instance, what is there to prevent a gun being so lashed round with pieces of timber as to make it quite circular, and like a large roller? If this was done, and two cables pro perly secured at the summit of the hill and passed down under the gun thus covered round, and the ends brought back to the top of the steep, by hauling upon the ends, ord. nance of any weight could be safely and easily rolled up any eminence, especially the one in question, which is smooth and turfy. There is no doubt that by this means the gun could be raised, and a very few horses, or a simple windlass, would suffice to draw up the carriage after it. Two short howitzers are, and have been for some time past, in position at the Rifle camp ; but these have, at furthest, only a range of fifteen hundred yards, and the kind of ordnance wanted is long thirty-twos, of fifteen cwt., and having a range of thirty-five hundred yards. With one or two pieces of this description we might laugh at all the Russian generals in Europe, and hold lialaklava until — until Sebastopol is taken. It is said that a Highland division is to be formed and placed under the command of Sir Colin Campbell. If so, the 93rd, 42nd, and 79th, now here, will all require large reinforcements before spring. Though these regiments —stationed at Balaklava—have suffered none of the terrible privations which fell to the lot of those here in camp, they are still much reduced in effective strength, and united barely muster twelve hundred effective soldiers. A man of the 9th was found barbarously murdered three days since in front of the Turkish camp. The crime is generally ascribed to the Ottoman troops, but I doubt it, from the fact of his body being discovered in front of their line of tents. Had they merely carried it a few yards and thrown it into the mud of the highway, the chances are it would never have been seen. A bill has been issued from head-quarters, announcing the fact of the murder, and ordering the proper authorities to use every endeavour to discover its perpetrators. 11.—Nothing of importance is going forward in our camp at present. During yesterday and to-day the French have not fired ten rounds from their mortars, and the enemy has been equally pacific. All our guns, lam happy to say (with the exception of those to be mounted on the new battery at Inkermann), are now in position. All ord nance which had been used to any extent has been removed, and new pieces substituted. It is most fortunate that this labour has been completed, as the rain and snow since yesterday night have been incessant, and the aspect of the clouds threaten a long continuance. We are now only waiting for sufficient supplies of shot and shell to reach the camp to recommence the siege ; but I still remain confident in the opinion that it will at least be the end of the month before we are in a condition to open fire. Should the present unfavorable weather continue 1 fear it may be even longer. Already the roads are almost in as bad a state as in December last, and this must most seriously affect the transit of such heavy traffic as shot and shell. The Russians in the town have been extremely quiet . of late, and no longer show in the same numbers, promenading in and round their works, as formerly. The condition of our camp ground after the heavy rains we have had during the last forty-eight hours is unfortu nately very bad, and still more unfortunately this wet must add heavily to our sick-list. There are only a few huts up ; and these, as I have before said, are entirely filled wi'.h sick, and devoted to hospital purposes. if the wet should continue mach longer the roads will again be in such a state as to render the chance of getting up rations or pro imp of any kind almost as difficult as ever ; and it . 11Inow ossible to deny what the conseq uences must be if our troops are exposed to further privations. Scurvy and scorbutic dysentery are more or less rife in every regiment, yet the men still continue to get salt rations ; and salt is hardly a term by which to convey the extreme saltness of both beef and pork. Are there no such things as vegetables, NIP xi