The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-10 00:00:00

1066 stopped by the fire of a Russian battery. Of the appearance of the river at the entrance the Times correspondent writes The mouth is about five miles wide. The banks are high on both sides, and the brown steppe, studded with herds, farmhouses, and Cossacks, presents no object of interest. About three miles up, on the left-hand bank, there is a small village, and one of the largest farms 1 ever saw. Five miles up on the right.hand bank there is another village with two pretty churches. There are guard stations and lookout posts on both sides, as usual. The river is three or four miles broad up to the Spit, where it narrows considerably. On both sides the cliff is upwards of 100 feet high, and can scarcely be commanded by the guns of a ship. However, it was advisable to ascertain what defences there were on the lower part of the river till it contracted into within range from both banks. — Times cor., Oct. 20. The squadron were steaming slowly up, every one on board examining the coast, and admiring the nume rous farmyards, when as they neared a high bank, just over the Voloisk Spit, a small Russian battery opened fire : The Cracker had run on ahead, and the Grinder was just drawing on parallel with this high bank—we were all examining it--one officer was saying to the other, " Well! I wonder the Russians have not got a battery on that cliff" —when from a seam in its side, parallel with the water, a puff of white smoke spirted out, and the rush of a shot followed, and was terminated by a splash in the water close to the side of the Grinder. " Tell the Grinder he may give him a shot in ieply," cried Admiral Stewart, and little Grinder, with more valour than discretion, at once put down his helm and ran in to land, drawing as he did across the Stromboli, at which the enemy had opened another gun at the moment, but this shot fell short also. —lb. The Stromboli soon closed up with the gun-boat, and tried a shot or two at long range : The enemy replied. We heal d the shot coming right at us, and as it flew over the head of Captain Spratt, who was stationed at the foretop looking out for shoals, and plunged into the water 501) or 600 yards beyond us, it became evident that the Muscov had been playing the deep game of firing short to entice us well under his battery, so that he was trying extreme range, and had heavier guns than we thought. The Spitfire ' Cracker, and Grinder were now coming into play, and the former two matte some excellent practice, and struck the earth right and left of the battery. Stromboli was edging down nearer, and the captains of the guns were all with eye intently gazing along their guns. " Try two thousand yards." Away flew the iron messenger again, but he only told the Russians to bob their heads and keep out of his way, and flew behind them. The field pieces now took to firing shell, and studded the air above ns with smoke clouds, and the angry hum of the splinters was heard once more, but for the most part the) were too light to reach us. Whiz !—right across our crowded deck comes another round shot, and plashes into the water over our counters. The long gun at the bow sends a shot in reply right into them this time, at 1,700 yards, and the Spitfire follows the example. Whiz! whiz! two shot, one after the other, at the Stromboli, one dashing the water up in a pillar close to her sides, the other cutting the jib foot rope.—lb. As the sole object of the expedition was to ascer tain what defences the Russians had prepared to dispute the passage, Admiral Stewart, after a parting shot or two, returned down the river. The next day a small squadron of French gun-boats ran up to the Spit, and engaged the battery : One small gun-boat stood bravely in within 1,500 yards of the shore, the others anchored at 1,1400, and all engaged the guns in the breastwork very sharply. Their shot flew over the cliff, hit its face, knocited the water at its base into clouds of spray, and the Russians struck the water behind, before, at this side, and at that side of the vessel, but never hit mast, spar, or rope, and so the fight con tinued ; but the French aver they dismounted one gun at least, and drew down a great body of the enemy nefore they retired, which they did after half an hour's dalliance with the Russians, and then they anchored off the mouth of the Bug, close to us once more.—lb. The reason of the very limited advance of these expeditions up the river, appears to be want of suf ficient land forces to act with any degree of success against Nicolaieff : Had Marshal Pelissier listened to the earnest demands of Sir Edmund Lyons for 15,000 or 20,000 men, there would, indeed, have been some object of utility in such a reconnaissance, for the operations of our steam fleet might have mystified the enemy so completely as to enable us to land a force by a coup de main to destroy, though not to occupy, Nicolaieff ; but it appears that from the Spit below the confluence of the Ingul and Bug the town is 5,000 yards off, and is invisible, so that it would be necessary for a fleet showing a very natrow front and in very shoal and difficult water to force batteries, booms, sunken vessels, gun.baats, and get round into the Ingul itself before they could fire a shot on the place ; and meantime every vessel would have to run the guantlet of high banks lined with riflemen which their guns could not reach. Sir Houston Stewart, under any circumstances, would scarcely have been justified in allowing an experiment of the kind to be undertaken, more especially as its success could not have led to any result ; but it would not have been in his province to give permission, inasmuch as Sir Edmund Lyons was almost within sight.—fb. A letter from Vienna, of the 2nd, states upon authority : It is confirmed that the Grand Duke Constantine has the intention of defending Nicolaietf himself, in conjunc tion with General Todtleben ; and that GeneralfLuders has bbiihm. THE PRESS. taken the command of Kherson. The reserve division which was hitherto at Kherson has been transferred to Perekop. The correspondent of the Daily News, alluding to the apparent delay of the admirals in attempting a coup de main upon Nicolaieffi states that great dissatisfaction prevails in the fleet; and at the same times does not mention any of those certain difficul ties of booms and batteries which will have to be encountered : Since leaving Sebastopol I have had not a few opportu nities of mingling with the officers of the fleet, and from hardly lan individual of them have I heard any but such expressions of dissatisfaction, almost bordering on disgust, when animadverting on the marvellous hesitancy and waste of time with which the expedition has as yet been conducted. So again in this minor gun-boat affair. We have steamed some twenty-five miles, wasted four days, and literally done nothing whatever. So far as anything can be learned, there is as yet only one other (eleven•gun) battery, about five miles higher up the river than that which fired upon us ; whilst there is at the same time an average depth of more than twenty feet of water right up to the southern face of the town of Nicolaieff, off which our gun-boats and steam•sloops could safely lie, and shell the dockyard and other public buildings beyond, without being in any degree exposed to the fire of a heavy fort on the next bend of the river. - - - Our small force is closely watched on all sides by Cossacks, who appear to be pretty numerous, and any attempt at landing is unsafe The Cossacks are everywhere, and it is impossible to land, although there are great temptations offered to the sportsman by the enormous flocks of wild swans, geese, ducks, teal, and widgeon, which frequent the reedy borders of the sea ; and to the less fastidious and more substan tial tastes of those who, tired of salt meat, and with larders exhausted, sigh after the lowing line, fat bullocks, and poultry of the enemy. It is not safe to approach the shore —the telegraphs communicate every motion of the fleet, and no boat could go near the shore without its being known, and an ambush laid for the crew. The other day some of the crew of Lord Arthur Gordon took a boat, and landed some miles down the Spit, encouraged by the suc cessful result of a previous day's forage. They were at tacked by a body of Cossacks, who seized three of them and dragged them off into captivity, fastened to their horses' tails and saddlebows.—Times cor., Oct. 23. A reconnaissance had taken place on the 23rgand the troops had advanced a short distance towards Kherson, but beyond burning a few farms nothing of any consequence had resulted. Two splendid rafts of timbers had been found in the marshes of the mouth of the Dnieper : A huge raft of wood, 450 feet long and about 100 feet wide, and six feet deep, lay floating off one of the mouths, and the Spitfire was busily engaged in getting off a similar raft, which had been grounded among the reeds. The first raft, which is the larger of the two, consists, like the latter, of splendid pieces of white oak, of great length and thickness, intended for the dockyard of Nicolaieff. Jt is strongly clamped, screwed, and secured by ropes in every part, and a well-built and substantial house is erected on it for the use of the navigatots. The second raft is similar in all respects to the first in the quality and size of the timber, but there is no house upon it. It is calculated the value of the timber is at least 20,0001. They were, no doubt, intended for the Imperial navy, and would have been safe in Nicolaieff in a few days had we not forced the Otchakoff passage. The Spiteful took one raft in tow, and the Spitfire, after much hard work and tugging at the second, signalled, about nine o'clock, " The raft is afloat." No one superintended the operation on the part of the Czar save two solitary Cossacks, who craned over the rushes to look at it.—Titnes cor., Oct. 24. On the 22nd, Sir Edmund Lyons came round from Kinburn, and with the French admiral proceeded to inspect the coast towards Kherson. At Stanislaff they found evidence of the manner in which the Russians can throw up a battery on short notice: — At 2.30 the admirals returned from their cruise and stood in towards Stanislaff, which the French admiral is anxious to burn, particularly on account of the posts on the beach. As they approached, it was clear the enemy thought two British admirals did not fly their flags together for nothing. A strong body of infantry was drawn up on the heights among the houses, which were, no doubt, filled with riflemen, and a very considerable force of field artil• lery was collected in the rear in case the admirals and post captains determined to land and take Stanislaff by assault, and that the Danube and Spitfire should attempt to bom bard the place. It was really wonderful to see that the Russians had erected a solid compact-looking sand battery with five embrasures on the sandbank below the town, where no trace of such a work existed twenty-four hours previously.—Timer cor., Oct. 22. THE RUSSIAN RESOURCES. - In the neighbourhood of Kinburn, at least, the Russians do not appear to be in such danger of starving for want of good food as is generally repre sented. From Kinburn over the vast steppes of Kherson, far away on the left, nothing but herds of cattle, stacks of corn and hay, and homesteads are to be seen : The most prominent objects on the edge of this steppe, of which little can be seen from the deck of a ship, are the telegraph stations, farmhouses of great extent, herds grazing, Cossacks, and windmills. On ascending to the masthead the steppe is seen to extend in vast sheets to the horizon, its monotonous level being little diversified by the few tumuli and deep watercourses visiblefor many leagues. SATURDAY, The quantity of cattle, of poultry, and of corn and hay in stack, is prodigious, but the farmhouses are whle apart. At intervals of four miles or so there is a village to be seen of whitewashed houses, each with a church so like the other that it is hard to believe they are not built of past e . board by some ingenious Nuremburger. Times cor., Oct. 20. - - - In the immediate neighbourhood of Kinburn, the Cossacks were busily employed along the Spit in burning and destroying all the forage they could not carry off. Immense tires were seen burning over the south-east part of the country, and Sir Houston. Stewart went off with two gun boats to try and die cover the position of the enemy employed upon this. service : Just after church service, Sir Houston Stewart went et in the Cracker, attended by the Grinder, to examine the coast to the S S.E., aad ascertain the cause of the nume rous fires indicated by pillars of smoke in that direction. They were speedily invisible in the haze to the southward, and they in vain endeavoured to find out the position of the troops who were supposed to be advancing along tke Spit to destroy all the forage and provision in their way for forty miles, so as to make the country a barren waste, arid pre vent the enemy marching towards the fort without taking with them supplies. However harsh this measure may appear, it is a necessary operation of war.—lb., Oat. 21. While the admiral was away, a Russian officer of high rank, probably the Grand Duke Constantine, came down on the east bank of the Bug, and minutely inspected the allied squadron : Meantime we had seen a sight which led us to believe that his Majesty the Czar, or some of his Imperial family, was actually honouring our little squadron by a minute in. spection. Perhaps he was thinking how they would run for a marine Cesarewitch. It might, indeed, have been only a governor of Kherson we saw, but after midday there certainly did appear on the east bank of the Bug some great man on a big dark horse, followed by ten or twelve. officers mounted, and some few orderlies, and he rode over to the Cossack post, dismounted, and honoured us by a. minute inspection, which he interrupted from time to time. by a few words to those around him. Presently a Cossack: came galloping across the steppe at full speed, right to the group of cavaliers. When he approached he dismounted,. and, walking to the great surveyor of our navy, knelt down: and appeared to kiss his feet, as he banded him a despatch_ The great man read the missive, mounted his horse, and: rode off to the next post, followed by his suite, and the next we saw of him was that he was visiting the Cossack. post higher up the river, after which he proceeded along the road towards N:colaieff.—lb. EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS. ----- - During the stay of the fleet off Kinbnrn, the Colombo steamer was despatched (on the 19th ult.) to Odessa for an exchange of prisoners. Upon her arrival off the town a flag of truce proceeded at once on shore, and arrangements were made for the em barkation of the prisoners next morning : Accordingly, about 10 a.m. on Sunday, Captain Methuen,. accompanied as before and bearing with him his prisoners,. rowed ashore, and was received at the landing-pier in the- Quarantine by General Krusenstern, Commandant of Odessa; Lieutenant-Colonel Prince Mestacheveky, Aide-de- Camp to Count Stroganoff, the Governor-General of Bess arabia; and the Chief of Police, with a numerous staff of attendant officers. As it was necessary that the documents connected with the exchange should be signed by Count Stroganoff, an orderly was despatched! to his Excellency,. who resides in a country-house on the outskirts of the town; but in the meantime the count himself came in, and war present during the remainder of the proceedings attending. the embarkation.—D. News car., October 23. His Excellency appeared to be inquisitive on many points connected with the capture of Kinburn, andi conversed freely with the captain of the Coionlioni— In the course of the conversation of this intersissr, the' commandant of Odessa put several incidental question& about the recent capture of Kinburn, and, amongst others,. inquired if any of our English (floating) batteries had beeni present. On receiving an answer in the negative—the . French being the only ones—he replied, in a tone that gave additional force to the expression of his uncompli mentary estimate of our allies' courage in naval operations, 11 ne fats( pas de grand courage pour un equipage cache — alluding to the shot-proof construction of the batteries. He further inquired the names of the two admirals, anfli was informed that, in consequence of his recent promotion, M. Bruat, being senior in rank, commanded in chief; on which the general, turning to one of the others present,. remarked in German, It es miiglich (Is it possible ! )—lb.. During the proceedings no one was allowed to. walk beyond certain limits of the Quarantine Quay, and consequently little information concerning the, new fortifications of Odessa could be obtained. The prisoners amounted, in all, to 130 English, and 280' Turks, the latter captured principally in the Danube campaign of '54.5. Without exception, they all spoke well of the treatment they had experienced at the hands of the Russians. During their stay at. Voronetz, a town some 300 miles S.E. of Moscow, a party of English deserters arrived there : About a month, however, before their departure from Voronetz for Odessa, a party of about fifty English deserters arrived at the former town, and at once commenced a course of annoyance to their countrymen, which led to tl 0 withdrawal from the latter of the liberty they h ad previously enjoyed of free movement about the town and its neigh bourhood. These deserters were, of course, universally " cut" by the prisoners; nor did they receive any of the kindnesses so liberally bestowed upon the latter by the