The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

132 THE SIEGE. Letters from the camp before Sebastopol to the 23rd ult. have been received in London, but convey little information. The Times correspondent writes on the 22nd : A mild, still day—cloudy, dull sky—thermometer, 4R deg. On sach a day as this our army could make great efforts and lay up abundance of stores in the commissariat tents, but we are met again by our enemy the mud, and the quag mires into which it has converted not only the roads but all the tracks over the waste towards Sebastopol are nearly impassable. There is no great advantage gained by the withdrawal of Lipraudi's army from the command of the upper road from Balaklava, except that it has left a shorter path open to those mea encamped on our right. The coating of snow, which has been beaten down into a sort of concrete under foot, is pierced with holes of varying pro fundity, but generally deep enough to take in the pedestrian above the tops of his boots and to break a horse's leg. The great mantle of deep snow has nearly disappeared, but it has left shreds and patenes on the plains and iu the crevices in the hill sides, where it still lies fresh and white, and in the beaten paths, where it is trodden into blackish, dirty slabs. This looming some soldiers were sent down to the quay, which was fast becoming absorbed by the waters of the harbour and ground away into the sea, and set to work repairing it by throwing large stones into the pools. It is said that the French officers complained that their fatigue parties sent down to assist us in getting up shot and powder were exposed to the additional labour of plunging through filth knee deep. Numbers of large steamers come in here every week and shoot into the sea excellent roadstuff, in the shape of cinders. It has been suggested that the captains of these steamers should be ordered to keep as much of these cinders as possible, and to send it on shore in their boats, where a few men could easily lay it down ; but no one is " responsible " for car rying out the suggestion, and every day one sees the cinders of the newly-arrived steamers shot into the harbour, within a few yards of the spot where he is standing over the ankles in mud. The Morning Post publishes a letter, dated on Jan. 23rd, from which the following are extracts : There is an utter want of news of any interest by this post. At the dawn of morning, on the 21st, a smart sortie was made on the extreme left of the French position, where a new battery has been established at the head of Quarantine Bay. It was foreseen early by our allies, and attacked the instant the enemy issued forth. The Russians were repulsed after a smart contest, in which, I am in formed, thirty of the French were killed and seventy of the enemy. Alter the return of the party to Quarantine Fort a heavy cannonade was opened on the French lines, and maintained until nearly daybreak. The French guns re plied with equal vigour. Since this affair nothing of the most remote interest has taken place. A most perfect calm prevails both in our lines and the Russians. This cessation of hostilities leads all here to expect that some thing tremendous is impending; and it is mysteriously in titnated by those who are supposed to know the progress of affairs that ere many days are over something of vital importance will take place. A most marvellous change has come over the weather during the last two or three days. The snow has disap peared, and we have now a fine, mild, warm atmosphere, without auy immediate prospect of a change for the worse. The wind has a tendency to the north-east, which may bring back the cold, but no rain is to be feared, which is all we dread at present. Advantage has been taken of the change of weather to get up considerable stores of provi sions at the midway depot ; and a large quantity of ammu nition has also been forwarded. But. in spite of full ra tions and the change in the weather, sickness is still terribly prevalent among all our troops, and I think the number invalided this week will be rather over than under 2,000 men, thus making a total of 5,000 in twelve days. The men are now sinking under the fatigues and privations to which they were subjected a month or three weeks ago. The Trent arrived at Italaklava on the evening of the 20th, with 300 mules on board for the use of the commis sariat. They are all in good condition, and some of them in particular are remarkably fine animals, standing up wards of sixteen hands five inches in height. The 900 cost on the average 451 each, and to us, in point of the work they will do, are worth almost any money. On the same evening (20th), the Gorgon, steam-sloop, came in with one hundred men for the 2nd Battalion of Rifles, and about two hundred convalescents from the hospital at Scu. tari. The condition of the latter is really deplorable. 1 am told on good authority that not more than fourteen or twenty at the outside are fit for any duty. The others will merely go to swell the numbers in our already over-crowded hospitals. The Queen of the South, I am assured, has one thousand tons of powder now actually on board. There are several such powder vessels now in lialaklava harbour, where we are so overstocked with ammunition of all kinds that there is no room to land it. It would he more than sufficient if only two ammunition ships were here at one time, when one could be put at the head of the harbour and the other at the month ; at present they are anchored among the other transports. Some drafts of the 34th and 40th landed yesterday. The 14th is not likely to land for some days. There are rumours that Osten-Saeken, with 40,0(K) men and 90 guns, is advancing with all speed by Perekop to Eupatoria. All the garrison and inhabitants of the town are entirely dependent on the supplies we send by sea, as the Cossacks have cut off all the cattle which the country people used to drive in and sell. DISORGANISATION OF THE ARMY. The Times Commissioner of the Sick and Wounded Fund writes as follows from Scutari on the Ist instant : lib. THE PRESS. The accounts which are received here as to the health of the army become more dismal day after day ; and they are only too drearily confirmed by the rate at which the arrivals of sick take place, and by the condition of the men when admitted into hospital. Only two days ago I met an officer holding a high position in the service, who had just returned from the Crimea. He spoke without the slightest reserve of the state of matters there—said that as an organised efficient force the army no longer existed, that all discipline and order had disappeared, that the men had ceased to salute their officers as they passed, and it was quite a conmon thing to see them selling indispensable articles of warm clothing in order to buy nn. It would take many mouths to bring back to a proper state of efficiency those who were still fit for duty, so thoroughly demoralised had they become. As for the sick, not only the regimental hospitals, but the tents were full of them, and many of those who still stuck to work were quite unfit fur it. It was impossible, lie declared, to believe the state of the army as to disease, unless one went up and examined into it closely. THE GREEN COFFEE. The continu;tri;siieOiCoffeeberii es green and unusable, notwithstanding the incessant remons trances and the ministerial assurancei on the sub ject, is stated in a letter of January 22, from the camp. The writer says : We are astounded, on reading our papers, to tlnd that our authorities in Londou believed on the 22nd of I )ecember that the coffee issued to the men is or was roasted before it was given out ! Who has hoaxed them so cruelly ? Around every tent there is even yet a fair sprinkling of green berries trampled into the mud, which the men could not roast. There is, however, some attempt made out here to roast toffee at last. Mr. Murdoch, chief engineer of the Sanspareil, has mounted some iron oil-casks, and adapted them very ingeniously for roasting coffee ; and they have just come into play at lialaklava. Ido not believe that at the time the statement referred to was made, one ounce of roasted cuffeee had ever been issued from any commissariat store to any soldier in the Crimea. CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE HOSPITALS. A letter from Constantinople, dated January 29th, says : The weather here has been for many days as warm and cheerful as spring ; but yesterday the cold and rain re turned. Heavy, incessant showers have once more over spread with mu.l the drying street, and driven back to their homes the unfortunate Perotes, who were expecting a little liberty, after three months' confinement in their narrow and comfortless dwelling. For about a week the city was delivered from the intense cold and the biting north winds which made Constantinople as full of coughs as London at the same season, and filled the hospital tents of the Crimea with nearly double the usual number of sick. During ten days the mortality in the camp before Sebastopol and in the hospital at Scutari diminished con siderably. The deaths in the Crimea were not more than from twenty-five to thirty a day, while the daily loss in the hospital here was hardly more than half of what it was in the earlier period of the month. The cold strikes down the dysenteric patients like a thunderbolt, for the poor fellows are thoroughly weakened by long suffering, and cannot bear its deadening effects. Within the last two or three days the increasing dampness has again raised the mortality at Scutari. On the 27th the burials were seventy, and a still higher number were interred the day before. Up to the present moment we have no very late news from the camp ; but it is to be feared that corresponding increase of sickness will have taken place there, since the malady seems to follow the same laws in both places. REINFORCEMENTS. On Saturday, the :17th, arrived the fine screw steam-ship St. Jean d'Aere, of 101 guns, with up wards of Out) troops, drafts from the 17th, 30th, 33rd, 41st, 47th, 49th, 50th, 55th, 58th, 83rd, and 08th Regiments. Lord Rokeby and Major-General Barnard are among the passengers, and will at once proceed to the Crimea to enter upon their respective commands. This fine vessel will be a most useful addition to the fleet of Sir E. Lyons, and it is to be hoped that the able admiral will shortly have a suffi cient force of screw line-of-battle ships to enable him to carry out any plan of assault with which his courage and genius may inspire him. In the opinion of many men of experience, it is, after all, to a combined land and sea attack that the fall of Sebastopol will be due, or, at least, that such an attack promptly executed would save the thousands of lives which must he sacrificed during a long siege and in a desperate assault. AN ORDER from the Lords of the Admiralty has been received at Portsmouth and other dockyards for the whole of the ships now under repair or refit which formed part of the Baltic fleet of 1854 to be expedited in their refitment., as they are required to be ready for service by the end of February, and to as,emble in the Downs by the first week in March, where it is deemed probable the fleet will be in spected by the limperor and Empress of the French, en route from France to England to visit Queen Victoria. Rear-Admiral Martin, Superinten dent of Portsmouth Dockyard, is reported to be the intended commander-in-chief of this fleet, and Rear- Admiral Michael Seymour second in command. THE officers of the General Post office in London, including the letter carriers and messengers, have subscribed 4801. N. 10d. in aid of the Royal Patriotic Fund. SATURDAY, jortign ant (tolonial 3nttiligtnte. FRANCE. The Emperor gave a grand ball, the first of the season, at the Tuileries, on Thursday. A grand dinner, it is said, is in contemplation, to come off at the Palais Royal, at which all the members of the Bonaparte family are to meet. The day after his arrival in Paris Prince Napoleon was received by the Emperor in a most cordial manner. All the Ministry and the principal funs. tionaries of State have felicitated his Imperial High ness on his return. The French Court has gone into mourning for three weelN on account of the deaths of the Queen Dowager and the reigning Queen of Sardinia. The Paris journals contain an order of the day from General Canrobert, acknowledging the bravery of the troops engaged in repelling the Russian sortie of the lbth ult., with the promotions and decorations in consequence thereof. The formation of three corps d'arrnie—one for the Baltic, a corps of observation in the north of France, and a third corps for Austria—is considered almost certain among military circles in I'aris. The Zottaves in camp before Sebastopol are in great delight at the high honour paid them by the Emperor. He has ordered that forty picked men out of each company shall be selected to form a body, to be called " Zouaves of the Imperial Guard," and the regiments are to be eligible henceforth to serve in France. The Moniteur publishes the address of Vice Admiral Bruat to the French fleet, in communi. eating the thanks of the British Parliament for its great assistance in the transport and landing of the allied forces on the coast of the Crimea, and during the siege of Sebastopol. The Emperor has promoted Captain Jehenne, of the Henri IV., to the rank of Rear Admiral for his brilliant services. Rear• Admiral Fourichon has been appointed to the command of the two naval divisions on the west coast of America and the Pacific. Rear• Admiral Jehenne replaces Admiral Fourichon as commandant at Brest. The appointment of M. Magne, hitherto Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works, as Minister of Finance, in the room of M. Bineau, who retires on account of ill-health, has been officially announced in the Moniteur. The last returns of the Bank of France are looked on as highly satisfactory, showing that the war has not checked commercial affairs, as the discount accommodation both in city and country has considerably exceeded that afforded the previous. year. Gold medals have been given to a number of per sons, among whom are several Sisters of Charity, for their zeal and devotedness during the late visitation of the cholera. AU STRIA. An outrage has been committed by Russian soldiers upon the Austrian flag, which, though originating probably in mistake, is expected to lead to some important consequences in precipitating the collision between the two countries. A letter from Galatz of the 25th ultimo thus details the occur rence : Eight Austrian commercial vessels have arrived at Galatz. They were received by the Russians with a brisk fire, which wounded some men, and killed the pilot of the Austrian brig Cleederwven. The ships were then subjected to a most rigorous search. The Austrian consul had re ferred the matter home, and very grave consequences were expected to follow. The imperial decree of Nov. 2, which ordered the whole of the army to be placed on a war footing by the end of January, has been punctually executed. At present, all the reserves have arrived at their several corps. In consequence of the new arrange ments, each regiment has been raised from 4,600 men to 8,000. Vienna letters state that the whole of the Austrian army has received orders to be prepared to march. A German journal of great credit says :—" Austria's first corps d'arrnie consists of 67,600 men and 144 guns; her second of 121,000 men and 186 guns ; her third of 286,000 men and 252 guns ; her fourth of 119,400 men and 104 guns; in all 594,000 men and 688 guns. Her reserve in two months could be raised to 200,000 men, by comprising the frontier regi ments." The Austrian Government is employing 12,000 men, under the direction of military engineers, in executing a railway from Dembica to Boschina, to join the Warsaw line. It is most anxious to have this line completed without delay, as it will be of great utility in military movements. General Hess has also been indefatigably inspecting the formation of the new railways, and the making of main roads and cross roads. Bridges have been built whereverthey were wanted, and all the old roads thoroughly re paired. At Tarnow 500 men are working on the railroad in spite of the frost and heavy falls of snow. , i