The Press. — London, England, 1856-09-20 00:00:00

908 British Museum, the National Gallery, and similar places of recreation on that day. It has been ar ranged that the association is to havo a share in the proceeds of to-day's fete in aid of these objects. DINNER TO CRIUEAN SOLDIERS AT PORTSMOUTH. THE PORTSMOUTH CRIMEAN DINNER has been a most successful affair, and comprised two distinct features—a dinner to the men on Tuesday, and another to the officers on Wednesday. To the pro• prietors of the London Tavern, on both occasions, was intrusted the important duty of providing a substantial English dinner for some 2,500 Crimean men—soldiers, sailors, and marines—and about 300 officers, and the commission was carried out to the credit of Portsmouth and the satisfaction of all. The tents were raised upon the Governor's green, just within the seafront battery, and were commo diously and tastefully arranged. A gallery for the ladies ran across the centre of the building. The town throughout the day wore quite a holiday air; banners floated from some of the public buildings and private houses, the church bells were rung, and guns fired at intervals. At one o'clock, the hour fixed for the dinner, the men belonging to the fleet and the several regiments were marched to the pavilion, under the command of their• respective officers, and preceded by bands of music ; and when they as sembled within the building the scene was extremely animated. Dr. Engledue, a gentleman resident in the town, and held in high esteem, had been unani mously elected by the managing committee to preside on the occasion, and be assumed the chair at one o'clock, supported on his right and left by Lord George Lennox, Sir George Seymour, Vice Admiral and Commander in-Chief; the Rev. J. P. 31`Gliie, vicar of Portsmouth ; Admiral Supetintendent Martin, and several of tl e municipal authorities. The dinner was an exceedingly substantial one, consisting of (among other viands) cold roast, boiled, and corned beef, venison pasty, all in plentiful supply, with hot potatoes and bread. Two quarts of porter formed the specified allowance for each man, but, in fact, they had it ad libitum, and to each of them were given two ounces of tobacco after the repast. Mr. Nightingale, the father of Miss Ni4litingale, contri buted a hamper of game to the festi al, with a choice selection of 11.)wers to decorate the tables. Sir F. Baring, Mr. 'Tharles Osborne of Far•eham, and others of the gentry, sent similar presents. Almost the whole of one side of the pavilion was open to the public, and several thousands of them, assembled on the ramparts, had a distant view of the proceedings in the interior. After dinner the usual loyal toasts were drunk, with tremendous etithusiastn, and amid the thunder of a royal salute from the batteries. The health of " The Duke of Cambridge and the British Army " was responded to by Sergeant-Major &Callum, of the Royal Artillery . Jt was a day they would always remember with pleasure. The manner in which they had been welcomed to their homes would help to make them forget the hardships they endured in the service of their beloved Queen and country—a country they were proud of for its benevolence —a Queen they should ever revere for the deep sympathy she had fel• in their sufferings, whose honour it was their privileges as well as their right and duty to defend; from which duty they had never shrunk, and never would shrink, while there was a sabre left in Old England and an arm to wield it, a musket with a hand and heart to use it, or a piece of artillery and men to serve it. Sb iuld they ever again have to tight the battles of their Queen and country, they would stand their ground, and, should am munition fail, they would again resort to stones, as they did at lnkermann. and try what virtue there wns in a British bayonet. He wished, in conclusion, to acknow ledge the obligations his brave comrades and himself were under to the navy for their support throughout the cam paign They were with the army at the Alma, and did good service on the enemy's Mink; they were with them again at Inkermann, and rendered valuable assist ance there; and they were with them during their arduous trench duties, to their own great credit and the glory of old England. Other toasts, "The Navy," " Miss Nightingale," and "The Memory of the Dead," followed in due older, when the men broke up, shortly after three p.m., highly delighted with their entertainment. On Wednesday evening the officers' dinner was given. Between two and three hundred officers of the army, navy, and marines were present. Lord George Lennox occupied the chair, and was sup ported by Major General Sir Harry Jones, Commo dore Keppell, Sir William Williams, Sir Richard Dacres, and other distinguished officers. After the usual loyal toasts, Lord GEORGE LENNOX, in a brief speech, proposed the health of the army : He knew not which moat to admire, the manly bearing of the British officers when surrounded by sickness and death in their worst forms, their gallant and heroic con• duct at the Alma and Inkerm►nn, or their patient en durance fur months and months in the trenches before Sebastopol When the British army planted their standard in the Crimea they did so with the determination that nothing should more it but peace, end they showed the THE PRESS. enemy that he need never hope to conquer British soldiers led by British officers. He hoped they would join him in drinking a bumper, with three times three, to the health of our brave army who fought in the Crimea. The toast was drunk with enthusiasm. Colonel Nortcorr, C. 8., of the Rifle Brigade, senior regimental officer present, responded to the toast, and in doing so eulogised the heroic valour and the noble endurance of the whole army in the Crimea; but especially the infantry, which he designated the vertebra° of the lion. He compared the good fare of which they had just partaken with that on which they subsisted for months in the Crimea, when a leg of mutton was a thing not to be realised, and, point• ing to the ladies' gallery, said, the feeling that most sustained the troops in the exhausting trench-work and their heroic conduct in actual fight sprang from thoughts of their mothers, sisters, and wives at home, the memory of whom never forsook them. " The Navy," " The Royal Marines," and " Miss Nightingale " were urunk and responded to with warm enthusiasm. Sir F. BARING, M.P., then proposed the health of Sir Richard Dacres, and the Royal Artillery. Sir RICHARD DACRES in reply said:— To the gallantry and skill of the field artillery, while op posing the superior metal of the enemy's guns at Alma and Inkermann, he could bear ample testimony, as one who shared in those victories as a lieutenant•colonel. Since the latter action he had, as commanding officer, fre quently expressed his admiration and thanks fur their energy, zeal, and devotion. The able manner in which the difficult duty of conve►•ing ammunition to the trenches was executed during the early part of the siege, the patient endurance and soldierlike spirit with which the privations and hardships of the first winter were encountered, the promptitude with which the horse artillery, and the field batteries recovered their efficiency when the severest of their distresses were past, and finally, the guarantee so splendidly given of their fitness to commence another campaign when at the conclusion of the war they marched past the Russian general in splendid order on the same plains that had been the scene of their achievements and sufferings,—those considerations called forth his warm and heartfelt recognition. With r•garl to the siege.train, such an opportunity of displaying their soldierlike qualities could scarcely present itself again. Their discipline had been tried by an eleven months' siege —their energy by enormous difficulties and labour—their endurance by ter rible hardships—and their steadiness by tremendous and sustained cannonades. Anna all these trials their conduct had been admirable, while their skill had been attested by the enemy's ruined ramparts and dismounted guns. Those who after such services are permitted to return to their homes must always consider the siege of Sebastopol as the must glorious epoch of their lives. Dr. ENGLEDUE proposed the health of Sir Harry Jones, and paid a high tribute to his chivalric cou rage, on the 18th of September : At the assault he was on a bed of sickness, and, con• trary to the advice of his general and his corarades, he caused himself to be placed on a litter and was carried into the trenches; and I believe, if his duty had consisted in leading the immediate assault on the Redan, he would have caused his litter to be carried there also. Major• General Sir HARRY JONES bore testimony to the noble manner in which the working parties and the guards in the trenches conducted themselves, adding that during the numerous times he went into the trenches he never heard a word of complaint on the part of any soldier there, however great were hi• labours and privations . It should be borne in mind that the men who thus suffered and toiled were not fresh soldiers, but soldiers borne down by fatigue unknown before in any army. As to'the Naval Brigade, they stood nobly to their work. It was not necessary to call them up ; the difficulty was to call them down. It was not with them as with his friend just now ( pointing to Captain Peel, who had been called up to respond to the previous toast)—it was not " Peel, get up," but " Peel, get down." They made several im portant movements towards the trenches rather than stand idle in their batteries. Nothing could exceed the accuracy and beauty with which their fire was directed; and the great success attending the efforts of the French to get possession of the Malakoff was influenced by the material assistance they derived from the British batteries. Pro- Serly speaking, he himself o ught n o t t o h ave b een a t ebastopol, for he was one of the old good-for-nothings who served in the Peninsula; hut he endeavoured to serve his country in his old age, and he was glad to find that his services had not beeeu forgotten. General CANNON, in replying for "The Turkish Army," gave a brief sketch of his services with that force : I joined the Turkish army some three years ago under Omer Pscha—a great commander, and a man of great ability and talent, who had collected that army, it will be remembered, from all parts of the empire, clothed it, dis ciplined it, and fed it—for he had no treasure chest, nor any commissariat. Nevertheless, he organised an efficient army of 100,000 men, with which he crossed the Danube. It was then that be was kind enough to intrust me with the common' of a detachment, 6,000 strong, with which I was instructed to harass the Russian army before Silis• tria. In obedience to those orders I was for several da)s on the Russian flanks, supported by six gallant English oScers, whom the liberality of the British Crovernuient had sent out to aid and co - o p era t e w i t h me , an d w i t h their aniMance my detachment naanetuvred gonad the be. SATURDAT, sieging army, and occasioned them considerable los*, but hearing at length that the garrison was in distress, I, with• out orders, threw myself in, by a flank march, to their relief. You remember the Arab Tabia redoubt—that tells of the gallantry of that Turkish ban►. At Silistria I found two of my countrymen—Captain Butler and Captain Nasmyth— by their example and daring leading the Turks and en• couraging the Turks everywhere; they were the life and the soul of the garrison. I do not wish to detract in the slightest degrea from the gallantry of the Turkish officers —but I must in justice to those two gallant British soldiers say that they were the very soul of the men who maintained the Arab Tabia and Yenikale batteries against the Russian force. When I arrived in Silistria I found the Turkish soldiers in those batteries had been three weeks unrelieved, with their muskets cocked in their hands, the Russians being within a few paces of them. The original battery was entirely gone—destroyed by the enemy's shot, but the position was neverth e less maintained with a courage that was under the circumstances surprising. The Russians approached by zig zag works, and sprung a mine under the defences, which they blew up, and then charged; the Turks met the charge, bayonet to bayonet, anti you know the result. Again, at the battle of Giurgevo, a force of only between 4,000 and 5 000 Turks crossed the Danube and attacked and beat 15,00) Russians in the open field. Six British officers served with the Turkish force on that day, three of whom found a soldier's grave on the field. Sir William Williams and other officers returned thanks fur various other toasts, before they finally broke up. ANTI - SLAVERY MEN IN SOUTHERN STATES. THE pro-slavery men in Kansas appear to be carrying on the war against their unarmed antagonists with all the vigour and ferocity usually reserved for enemies better able to defend themselves. The following account of the treatment two Methodist preachers lately met at Rochester at the hands of the pro. slavery party clearly illustrates the fact that the free-soilers have ferocious savages, not civilised enemies, to deal with. The letter from the Rev. W. Sellers is addressed to a brother missionary. He writes : I had appointed Saturday, June 14, to commence a series of meetings in Rochester, and had written to several ministers to come and assist me. On Wed nesday or Thursday previous a pro-slavery man named Sims was shot by a free-soil man (one Har desty), because Sims attempted to drive him from his home or kill him. I arrived in Rochester on Thursday, about twelve o'clock. Soon after my ar rival I was waited upon in Brother Strock's store by a committee of three individuals, who said they were authorised by the citizens of Ro chester and vicinity to inform me not to p eacb again in Rochester, and endeavoured by threatening to extort a promise from me to that effect, declaring at the same time that this Noith Methodist preaching would not be tole• rated longer in the county. I asked them for a few names of the citizens who had given them this au thority; they had no names to give; I have better friends in Rochester. I then asked them if they claimed to be American citizens. They said I was a fool, and had better promise not to preach again in Rochester. I told them I would nut make that pro mise ; that I was guilty of no crime, had viclated no law, and would obey God rather than men. I asked them what rights or privileges they claimed as Ame rican citizens, by virtue of their citizenship, that were superior to other American citizens. At this remark, without giving me an answer, they left the store, muttering that force would be used in order to stop me. I bad some pastoral visiting to do in the country, and, after attending to that important duty, on Satur day morning I started for Rochester for the purpose of holding my meeting at the time appointed. As we rode into town we observed groups of men col lected at the corners of the streets, engaged in con versation. The excitement appeared to be general. I rode through the village to Brother Strock's stable to put up my horse, and Brother Holland, who was in company with me, went immediately into Brother Strock's store. I came into the store in ten or fifteen minutes, and found several of my Rochester friends and some from the country who had come to attend the meeting. Old Brother Holland (a sainted martyr now) was standing near the front door. One of the leaders, with several others of the mob, were standing near Brother Holland and myself, having in their bands a late number of the Western Christian Advocate, containing the report of the majority of the Committee on Slavery in the General Conference. I told them how that matter was ad justed, but all to no purpose; we were abolitio ists still, and I must promise not to preach, or else be mobbed. I said I would not do it. About this time the mob began to collect in front. of the door. I suppose there were from 95 to 100 of them—some from Platte county, some from Buchanan, some from Savannah, and others from the vicinity of Rochester Some were armed with revolvers, others had knives