The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

1138 Original yettiers from itt (crintta. (From a Correspondent.) CAMP, THIRD DIVISION, Friday, Nov. 16. YESTERDAY the camp was the scene of a most fearful accident. At four o'clock in the afternoon the entire magazine of the French siege-train was blown up. It is impossible for words to convey an adequate idea of the appalling nature of the explosion. It is probable that at no period of the history of gun- powder has so large a quantity been ignited at one instant. Those who had their eyes turned in the right direction were first made aware of the cata strophe by a light streak of flame reaching to the skies, and apparently springing from the very bowels of the earth. This was instantly succeeded by the dense column of black smoke, with the cauliflower- shaped head, whose appearance has been familiar to all who witnessed the many explosions attendant on the recent evacuation of Sebastopol. Then fol- lowed a shock so tremendous that the ground literally reeled with all the semblance of an earth quake, to the distance of eight and ten miles from the centre of destruction; and before the con',ulsion had subsided a shower of stones and shells, the latter as far off as two miles, fell thick and furious around. The black column of smoke was now turned into a lurid cloud; and what little wind there was rolled it slowly and continuously from the spot in a southerly direction. Thousands of rockets darted like flashes of lightning hither and thither about it, marking their jagged paths in pale blue relief against the dark mass behind, while an incessant feu de joie of shells kept up a roar like the opening of another bombard ment. As a pyrotechnical display it could not have been surpassed, save that it occurred an hour or two too early for its full effect to be perceptible. But, as you may imagine, it was but for a moment that one could pause to admire the grandeur of the scene ; thoughts of the killed and wounded filled the hardiest with horror and dismay, and many a gallant fellow paid dearly for a noble but premature effort to rescue those immediately involved in the flames. It was not for more than an hour that it was possible to approach within seven hundred yards of the spot. Sir William Codrington, attended by one aide-de camp, was on the ground in an incredibly short time ; and soon afterwards the chariot-and four of the French Commander-in-Chief, with more daring than prudence, dashed recklessly through the glowing ruins. Both applied themselves at once and vigorously to issuing the necessary orders and direc tions ; and it is mainly due to their promptness and decision that the evil spread no further. The park of the French siege train was situated on our extreme right, and to the extreme left of their own right attack. In immediate juxtaposition lies our own siege -train, a portion of the magazines of which necessarily shared the same fate as the French, a few seconds only after the explosion of the latter. By far the greater portion, however, was stowed about a quarter of a mile off, in an old wind mill, the situation of which was, of course, emi nently critical ; and every effort was made to shield it from the fiery missiles. The course pursued was a good one, and, providentially, successful. It con sisted, in the first instance, in covering the top with wet blankets, and afterwards in keeping them con stantly soaked with water, carried up in relays of buckets. I am unable to procure a correct report of the killed and wounded. Our loss must have been heavy, and that of the French still more severe. I regret to add that the surgeons report rather unfavorably of the nature of the wounds that have come under their treatment. Gun carriages and other stores in the immediate vicinity were, of course, wholly destroyed. Tents and wooden huts that were just too far off to be ignited were, in most instances, cut into shreds by the storm of shells and falling debris. So that this morning the neighbourhood presented a scene of utter desolation. Numbers of dead horses strew the ground in attitudes of severe suffering. All over the camp glass and crockery were thrown down by the shock, and in Balaklava itself a window is reported to have been broken. Certain it is, that the ships in the harbour were sensibly affected, and officers and men hurried up on deck to trace the cause. The Russians, too, were roused into a more than ordinary alertness at their guns, utterly, however, unattended by any ill consequence. We may, how ever, feel very thankful that they were prevented by an arm of the sea and the deep ravine of the THE PRESS. Tschernaya from profiting by our consternation. Had the accident occurred ten weeks ago, the conse quence might have been infinitely more serious. (From another Correepondent.) CRIMEA, Nov. 14. THE last few weeks have wrought wonders in the aspect of the country occupied by the camp of the allies. Every day one is in danger of losing one's way from the disappearance of some familiar object or well-known track. It is true the " eternal hills" afford landmarks enough to the traveller by daylight, but in the dusky evenings and dark nights the most experienced are often puzzled to trace their route, and many have found themselves, when they least expected it, at the bottom of a ditch, which only owed its existence to the excavation of a few hours ago. Great as was the change from the wooded hills and glowing vineyards of September, '54, to the literally barren waste of September, '55, I doubt if the transformations of the last two months are not more striking. The one was gradual, and so syn chronised with the advance of the season that it seemed little more than the lasting effects of a severe winter ; the latter, instantaneous, magical— cooking houses and canteens spring up like mush rooms in a single night—tents are metamorphosed into wooden huts—macadamised roads and well-cut drains intersect, ramify, reticulate, and decussate the camp into more shapes than Euclid ever dreamt of in his definitions of plane figures. Rapid, however, as these improvements have been, it must not be imagined that they were all completed in a day. All revolutions, however salutary, involve an interim of anarchy and confusion; nor has the British camp proved an exception to the rule. And though the main road from Ralaklava to head-quarters was opened on Saturday, and everywhere things are rapidly emerging from their chrysalis state, yet here and there you may still see lines of unfinished roads strewed with heaps of earth and metal. Confused masses of stones, door-posts, sheet iron, bricks, and window-frames (all "luted " from Sebastopol), still mark the site of some officer's future mansion. Nor is it an uncommon sight to see a land-transport cart, laden with commissariat supplies, hopelessly en tangled in a labyrinth of obstacles, or fairly capsized in some unforeseen drain. The French have been much amused at the energy with which their allies have set to work to make themselves comfortable for the winter. Nor have they been idle themselves — far from it: their works, though scarcely so solid, are as likely to do them good service for the four or five months during which they are required, as OUT own. Occasional shots are still exchanged between the north and south sides, tbough with little damage to either party. Along the Mackenzie heights, too, you may occasionally see the smoke of a harmless discharge across the Tschernaya against the lines occupied by our allies. In short, the idea of any active demonstration this winter appears now to be mutually abandoned. The recent appointment of our new commander in-chief has occasioned general surprise, as he was scarcely considered "in the betting." We do not, however, look upon him, as the Times newspaper would wish us to, as " the general who failed at the Redan." In fact, one great source of congratulation to us is that the appointment, for once, appears to have been made independently and in the very face of that journal. I need scarcely say that the remarks of that journal on the subject of the recent assault of the Redan have occasioned universal dis gust among all thinking men, not even, I am told, with the exception of its " Own Correspondent." SIR DE LACY Everis has addressed a letter to the Times this week, in reply to the attacks last week upon Colonel Percy Herbert, by a writer signing himself " Palmam &c." The gallant general in terse and vigorous terms appealed to the distinguished and arduous services of Colonel Herbert as sufficient proof of his fitness for the post, and concluded his letter in these terms : But I shall only add that, after all, I am not sure that he himself desires this appointment, respecting which he has been so unfoundedly aspersed. I incline to think he would prefer a brigade, which, should he succeed to the command of, I am certain he will handle, take care of, and fight as well as any brigadier in the army. COLONEL TURK, the Hungarian officer in the British service, lately seized in Wallachia as a deserter to the Sardinians, in 1848, by Count Coronini, is ac cused by the Austrian Government of having em bezzled several sums of money before he deserted from his regiment. The charge is regarded at Vienna by the English authorities as false, and as a trick to retain the colonel in prison. THE EMPRESS OP RUSSIA'S subscription for the wounded Russian soldiers is said to have reached an amount of 1,300,000 f. SATURDAY, THE WAR. The news from the camp has been limited this week to explanations of the details of the late explo sion. Everything appears to have settled down for the winter, although there is some slight ground for believing that an attack upon the north forts is not improbable. The expeditionary force returned from Kinburn have at length landed, and all hopes of an. expedition to Kaffa have been given up. Sir Edmund Lyons, following the French fleet, had left the Black Sea with a portion of his fleet for Malta. General Vivian at Kertch had been reinforced with cavalry, and was considered capable of holding his position against the Russians. The Russians, on their side, appear content with making capital shell practice at every individual who shows himself in the streets of Sebastopol : beyond that they show no signs of enmity, their whole occupation being in pro. paring for winter and hutting their men. OFFICIAL DESPATCHES. Lord Panmure on Thursday received a despatch from Sir William Codxington,containing the details of the late explosion, of which we publish full accounts. in other columns of THE PRESS. Sir William Cod rington's returns show one officer and twenty DOD commissioned officers and men as killed; fear officers and 119 non commissioned officers and nets wounded and missing. Lord Panmure received on Tuesday a despatch from Sir William Codrington, K.C.8., inclosing ad ditional reports from Brigadier-General Spencer, relative to the operations before Kinburn, and Bri gadier-General Lord George Paget, detailing the proceedings of the last reconnaissance from Eupatoria on the 27th of October ; and, finally, of Lieutenant Colonel Tottenham, commanding the English cavalry in the coup de main of cattle on the 3rd ult DESPATCH FROX GEN. CODRINOTON. Sebastopol, Nov. 13. Having so lately assumed the command of the army, L have not sufficient materiels, nor do I consider it necessary,. to write a separate despatch. The return of the troops from the expedition against Kinburn was announced to your lordship by electric tele graph, on the 9rd instant 1 do myself the honour to transmit the copies of reports. received from Brigadier-General Hon. A. Spencer, giving a , more detailed account of the proceedings of the force under . his command than he had hitherto been able to make, andi two reports from Brigadier• General Lord George Paget,. with an account of two reconnaissances that were made by the allied cavalry from Eupatoria. W. CODRINOTON, General Commanding.. THE OPERATIONS AT EINBURN. General Spencer in his report commences By explaining the difficulties of tae landing, and. the preliminary steps taken by the allied forces is order to insure their own position, and to construct a line of field-works in case the fort should not submit to. the fire of the fleet. He then continues The bombardment from the ships commenced on them afternoon of the 15th, but from the state of the weather-itt was discontinued; and on the 16tl► they were unable to resume it from the same cause. By the morning of the 17th, the field-works thrown up by the troops were, as far as circumstances would admit of,. very defensible, although too extensive. The outlying pickets had also thrown up small intrenchments at their respective posts; that morning at daybreak I made a recon naissance with the detachments of French and English cavalry and the 57th Regiment. The weather becoming. thick, the infantry returned after a march of four miles out.. The cavalry proceeded to the village of Paksoffka, a few: miles further, which they found deserted; at 10 a.m. the , ships opened fire, and at three o'clock the forts surrendered,, with about 1,400 prisoners; 17 officers and 739 men were given over to me by Gereral Bazaine, and were subsequently sent on board her Majesty's ship Vulcan, to proceed te• Constantinople. On the following imorning the forts at Otchakoff were blown up by the enemy. French and Eng-- Bah commissioners were appointed for the taking over of the materiel found in the forts of Kinburn, and for the. temporary division of the place. On the 19th I moved tbe- English camp to the immediate neighbourhood of the fort,. and occupied the southern shore. The ground is here nearly level with the sea, and so perfectly smooth that it is easily protected by ships on both flanks. On the 20th the English force, with the exception of the 21st Regiment,. who were left to do the duties at Kinburn, joined the French in a reconnaissance under General Bazine. The troops carried three days' provisions, and the commissariat were able to carry three more. We halted and bivouacked than night at the village of Paksoffka, about eight miles' march of sandy soil. The French occupied a village at a short distance. We had no tents, but the weather was fume, and there was plenty of wood and hay, and a large supply o V cabbages and other vegetables. The inhabitants had all left. On the 21st halted. The Nlowing day, with the cavalry, artillery, and three battalions, I accompanied General Bazaine, with a part of the French force, to the village of Skadoifka, about five or six miles ; country very open, with occasionally deep sand ; always plenty of water in the villages. Having burnt the village, we returned that day to Palmlike. The detachment of Carebineere, .. _. , . , . _ ~,. ~ wONA