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

MARCH 3,1855. to be had ? Have live cattle suddenly ceased to exist that oar men cannot be placed entirely upon fresh previsions? Any amount of potatoes can be procured at Constantinople, and perhaps the very finest and cheapest lemons iu the world are to be had at Smyrna and Varna ; yet oar troops are dying for the want of them. Two cargoes of potatoes, and another of lemons or onions, would do more to save our men than all the jams and plum•puddings of ten Crimean funds. Surely it cannot be said that the appear ance of scurvy—when oar men were night and day exposed to damp, and living entirely on salt meats—took the authorities by surprise, as they cannot assert that, when once it did make its dreaded appearance, they were unaware that fresh vegetables were requisite to stop its ravages. The remains of the brigade of Guards are expecting each day to move back to Balaklava. lam not now aware of their precise strength, though certain that it is even lower than when I last wrote. If any regiments could have been saved by the unremitting care and tenderness of their officers this brigade would certainly have lost little. The conduct of the Guards' officers towards their men has set ti splendid example to the whole force, and has been the theme of many and most warm praises. I myself have constantly seen several of the officers starting down to Balaklava, in all weathers, day a'ter day, to much for any little comforts or articles of luxury which might minister to the cure of their sick men. It is this treatment and the care and sympathy with which they have entered into any plan which promised relief that lead the guardsmen to look up to their officers with a devotion and attachment which no peril shakes or privations lessen. Omer Pacha is now at F.upatoria, and the Russians are again intrenching themselves on the Alms, in case of his attempting a forward movement. The Turks must be better troops, and Omer Pacha a better general, than he is generally supposed, if he succeeds in driving the enemy from their post. I, however, cannot help thinking these rumours of intended movements are without the least foundation in fact. We are not yet within 100,000 men of the strength necessary to complete an investment of Sebastopol. Judging from what I see, it will be many weeks, and perhaps months, before the place is in our pea. session, and, if we succeed in taking it at all, it will not be while we have a large army in our rear, to storm our lines the instant we attempt to storm the town. Once the fine weather sets in the chance will be 100 to 1 against our taking it before next winter. The Times correspondent writes on Feb. 12 : Sir George Brown arrived to-day, and Lord Raglan went down to meet him, and returned with him to head-quarters. The weather has changed again. The sun is out, the rain is over, and a cold, drying wind, is blowing over the plain. The French are arming our right attack. The left attack is completely armed. There is no appearance of any con sulerable force of Russians either to the north of Sebastopol or over the heights of Italaklava. All danger of attack from Balder seems very trifling. It would be almost im possible for the enemy to deploy on the hills and in the ravines over our position, and the plain is impassable for artillery. The Tschernaya is now our great line of defence, and it is a line which defends itself. There is only one bridge over it, and that is not fit for the transport of either artillery or cavalry, and the banks of the river are so steep that bridges mast be thrown over whenever it may be desirable to send either arm across it. Towards hiker mann the whole valley is flooded, and turned into marsh and bog. A strong picket of cavalry is stationed at the rear of redoubts Nos. 3 and 4, to prevent the Cossacks cutting off stragglers. The best glasses cannot detect a trace of the guns which the Russians were seen bringing up the other day at the rear of Canrobert's-hill. The preparations to remedy our great error in the plan of our first attack proceed rapidly. It is now said that we ought to have stormed the Bedan and the Round Tower (Malakhoff) the very first day, as soon as our fire had nearly silenced their batteries. The French are in high spirits, and say they will be ready to march into the place in fifteen days. Our troops are in better condition, and huts are being erected on every side. ItA. man of the 88th Regiment, who had been take prisoner in a sortie a few nights ago, made his escape awl came into camp in a most miserable condition, his hands and knees being terribly cut and lacerated. He stated that he had crawled away over a place strewed thickly for a great distance with broken glass. His sufferings magnified the space, no doubt, but he said he had struggled on over a mile and a half of this awful causeway. The descrip tion he gave of the condition of the garrison would be en couraging to us if it could be altogether relied upon. The poor fellow said he had been very badly fed lately, and had had only a piece of black sour bread and a glass of weak wine for some time past ; the dead were lying in the streets, and fearful sickness was raging among the Russian soldiery. If such be the case, the extraordinary energy with which they labour at the works is the more astonish ing and creditable to them. They finish the face of the earthworks, and polish away the front of the parapets, and square the embrasures, as if they were cabinetmakers taming out Christmas presents. FEB. 13.—Tt blew half a gale of wind all night, and the rain fell till two p.m. in the day, but the wind was warm and the temperature agreeable. The roads are very heavy, and the country is not easily traversed. As to the condi- Ulm of the horses, it is really pitiable. It is now four or Live days that our cavalry and artillery horses have been without hay, and all they have had to eat has been the ration of barley, and now and then a little chopped straw. The reason of this is simple. No hay has been received Iry the commissariat in harbour; and yet it is stated that Mr. Filder wrote last September to the authorities at home eanse(l by filled in . V IlUer wlv LC Min ocitcussy,• ...... - -- - • tAI St we that it would be absolutely necessary for them to stud that nearly twenty thousand tons of the enemy's shot take steps to send out forage for the horses from England. lie in all directions in the rear of our trenches , b ut only THE Vacascr IS TIM HOI` gE or ! Aims, caused b y Whim is the result of our mode of doing business ?No their thirty-twos and sixty-eight pounders tit our ordnance. the death of the late Viscount Lorton, has been filled lisy is in harbour • the horses are subjected to heavy work, The sailors have been supplied with shot-ganges, and re• up by the election of the Earl of Portarlington to he without proper food ; and, at a recent board, the veterinary ceive (3d. each for all the shot of this size which they bring the new representative peer for Ireland. TILE PRESS. surgeons condemned no less than 140 horses out of the Royal Artillery alone. The mounted staff corps is now reduced to about twenty-eight effectives. The French workmen have made considerable progress with the new batteries on our right. On the left they were exposed to a heavy fire from four till half-past four o'clock, and the Russians blew up another French magazine inside the batteries. They at once opened fire along their lines with six tremendous salvos of artillery, and rushed up on their parapets and gave three loud ringing cheers. The damage done by the explosion was very insignificant, and before the Russians had ceased cheering, the French took their revenge by discharging a tremendous volley of heavy shells, which burst, on the walls of the Admiral% house, and silenced for a time the guns in No. 3 Battery at the Flagstaff Fort. The railway progresses very rapidly, and has now reached a point 300 yards from the town. The French mortar batteries are within 1,300 metres of the inner batteries of the Russians. A sortie of insignifi cant strength was made by the garrison last night, and was repulsed, as usual. The French lost five men only. The utmost secrecy is observed respecting our future operations, and much of the information one gleans is im parted "in confidence," is of dubious authority, and is generally of a nature to demand concealment. Any time from " this day week "to " the beginning of April may be taken as the period for the reopening of our batteries. Strict orders have been issued that artillery and engineer officers are not to give information respecting our works to any one but officers entitled to demand it, and infantry officers are not allowed to get any details concerning the works and armaments. These orders are so stringent that no officer, unless he be known to the sentries, is allowed to go through our lines above Balaklava ; and the restriction applies even to naval officers, and to all officers of regi ments not actually stationed on the spot. FEB. 14.—The great topic of conversation and gossip to-day is the recal of the Earl of Lncan from the command of the cavalry division. The circumstances under which this unusual exercise of authority has taken place are not very accurately known, except to a few officers to whom Lord Lucan has communicated them, but the prevailing impression among those who are likely to be well-informed is certainly to the effect that the step is not justifiable on the grounds set forth for taking it. In a divisional order last night Lord Lucan takes his farewell of the division, and assures them of his good wishes, and of the interest he takes in their future career. He paid a farewell visit to General Canrobert yesterday, lint he did not pay his res• pects to Lord Raglan before he departed. The noble lord has taken a passage in the Jason, which sails to-morrow for Constantinople, and he is accompanied by his son and aide-de-camp, Lord Bingham. The temporary command of the cavalry devolves upon Major-General Scarlett, bri gadier of the heavy cavalry brigade. FEB. 15.—A1l last night it blew a heavy gale, and many of the tents were scattered to the winds, yet in spite of the violence of the wind the heat of the atmosphere is almost incredible. The gale, which is from the southwest, strikes like a hot blast from an oven. Everything is parched under the influence of this siroc, which is described as being precisely like the harmatan that blows off the coast of Africa in summer. It seems something almost super natural to see a gale of extreme violence sweeping over the land, yet the air so close, dull, and oppressive as to hinder anything like very active exertion. Our camp ground, which the day before yesterday was a mere swamp, is now without a vestige of moisture, and the clay baked hard and white as in the heat of summer, whilst clouds of dust ob scure everything. Foreigners complain of the variations of the English climate ; but nothing can possibly exceed the rapidity of the alternation from heat to cold which we have lately undergone. The surgeons augur most unfa vorably for the condition of the sick while the atmosphere remains in this unsettled state. Orders from head-quarters were issued today warning all officers to impart no information of any sort or kind to unauthorised persons, and also that no strangers, or per sons unknown to officers in command of positions, be al lowed to pass the lines. Typhus fever has shown itself among the remnant of the Guards. This gallant but most unfortunate brigade now only musters 303 effective men. The still more un fortunate 63rd have been sent to the heights near Bala klava, where they muster to the number of some twenty men, principally oMcers' soldier-servants. Typhus also pre vailed to some extent among the 93rd Highlanders, but is now diminishing. 129 men were invalided to-day. FED. 16.—There was another sortie laatnight., which the French repulsed with a loss of thirty-five killed and wounded and missing. The Rnssians lost at least as many in their hasty retreat. The works on our right are in splendid order. The roads have dried so rapidly as to ad mit of the passage of artillery. The railroad is now corn• pleted for about 900 yards from the town towards Kadikoi. The division of General Bosquet on our right and in rear of our right flank was reinforced to day by upwards of R,OOO men, ao that it is quite probable the rumours we bear of a reconnaissance in force being likely to take place in a few days under his command are true, and that the mysterious disappearance of the Russians from onr rear *ill be explained and their present position ascertained. All the enemy's defences are in admirable order, and the general opinion is, that when we recommence the attack we shall discover more ordnance in their works than we now anticipate. All oar new guns are ready, and only wait a sufficient supply of shot and shell to begin their music. The labour of transporting the ammunition is very great. So bad are the roads that an artiUerywaggon, con stroctod for the purpose and drawn by four horses, can only make one trip a day with six thirteen-inch shells. It is in, and they have alrrady collected a considerable store of ammunition. The principal depitt from whence these are tiv;twn is in a deep ravine, near our left attack, called the " Valley of Death," and here round-shot, grape, and pieces of shell cover the ground sometimes to the depth of • foot or eighteen inches. From this store the sailors have accu mulated some large piles of shot, principally thirty-twos, and by their labours the toil of getting them up front Bala klava has been considerably abridged. Had the tramway only been thought of a m o nth ear li er we m i g h t h ave b a d all Woolwich Arsenal round the place by now. None can tell when we are to open fire_certainly not much before the end of this month, if even then. The condition of our camp to-day is miserable in the last degree. Not live per cent of the troops are hutted yet, and now that it is supposed that the severity of the winter is over, even the present attempts may not be persevered in. The Ralitklava railway is now nearly a mile in length. There is not a single division of the English army which could march a day's march to meet an enemy, if all their lives depended on it. For the transport of artillery, spare ammunition, baggage, and commissariat stores, each divi- sion would at the very least require 1,5410 horses, and fur such work the whole army could not turn out 300 effective. THE BALTIC FLEET. I The Hampshire Telegraph publishes, as being de rived from authentic sources, the following list of the vessels intended to form the gigantic armada of England, comprising, as Sir J. Graham announced, " one hundred pennants," which will he despatched in the course of the present year for service in the Baltic : Commander-in-Chief-Rear-Admiral of the Blue the Hon. Richard Saunders I)undas, C.B. Second in Command-Rear-Admintlef the Blue Michael Seymour. Third in Commani- Lambert Baynes, C.ll. Captain of the Fleet-The Hon. F. I'. Pelham. Tux Sursnxox.-Duke of Wellington (Flag), 181 guns, 700-horse power; Royal George, Captain Codring ton, C. 8., 102, 400; Exmouth flog), 91, 400; James Watt, Captain George Elliott, 91, 600; Orion, Captain Erskine, 91, 000; Cesar, Captain Robb, 91, 400 ; Nile, Captain Mundy, 01, 500; Majestic, Captain J. Hope, C. 8., 81, 400; Cressy, Captain Warren, 81, 400; Colossus, Captain Robinson, 81, 400; Sanspariel, Captain Heath, 70, 350; Blenheim, Captain W. H. Hall, 60, 450; Hogue, Captain Ramsay, 60, 450; Ajax, Captain Warden, 60, 450; Edinburgh, Captain Hewlett, 60, 450 ; Russell, Captain Scott, 00, 200; Hawke, Captain Erasmus Ommanney, 60, 200; Cornwallis, Captain Wellesley, 60, 200; Pembroke, Captain G. H. Seymonr, 60, 200; Hastings, Captain Catlin, 60, 200; Imperieuse, Captain Watson, C.B. 51, 360 ; Euryalus, Captain Ramsay, 51, 400 ; Arrogant, Cap tain Yelverton, 47, 300; Amphlon, Captain A. C. Key, 84, 300; Horatio, Captain Cochrane, 24, 250; Cossack, Cap tain Fanshawe, 21, 050; Pyladea, Captain D'Eyneourt, 21, 250 ; Esk, Captain T. F. Birch, 21, 250; Tartar, Captain Dunlop, 21, 250 ; Archer, Captain Heathoote, 17, 200 ; Retribution, Captain Fisher, 28,400 ; Magicienne, Captain Tatham, 16, 400; Clain, Captain Willcox, 16, 500; Samp son, Captain Brock, 6, 467 ; Dragon, Captain Stewart, (I, 560 ; Bulldog Captain W. K. Mall, 6, 500 ; Penelope, Cap tain Sir W. Wiseman, 18, 650; Lightning, Captain It. J. Sulivan, 3, 100 ; Vulture, Captain Glasse, 6, 470 ; Des perate, Commander White, 8, 400; Conflict, Commander Cumming, 8, 400 ; Cruiser, Commander the Hon. C. Douglas, 14, 60 ; Harrier, Commander Story, 14, 160 ; Ariel, Commander Luce, 9, 60; leaner, Commander Pullen, 17, 100; Basilisk, Commander the lion. F. Eger ton, (1, 400 ; Rosamond, Commander Crofton, (1, 286; Driver, Commander Rice, 6, 280; Janus, Lieutenant Kane, 4, 220; Locust Lieutenant -, 3, 180; Otter, Lieutenant W. A. J. Heath, 3, 120 ; Porcupine, Lieutenant Jackson, 8, 132; Zephyr, Lieutenant Bond, 3, 100; Re cruit, Lieutenant J. F. Day, 4, 160; Weser, Lieutenant Commerell, 4, 160. _ _ of the Blue Robert FLOATING fiATTERIES.—Attna, 16 guns; Glutton, 16 ; Meteor, 16 ; Thunder, 16 ; Trusty, 16. Horse power not published. MORTAR VESRET.S.—BIazer, 1 ; Firn, 1 ; Hardy, 1 ; Havoc. 1 ; Manly, 1; Mastiff, 1 ; Porcupine, I ; Surly, I. Horse power not published. STEAM GITN-noars.—Gleaner, 6; Pelter, 3; Pincher, 8; Ruby, 3 ; Tenzer, ; Badger, 3 ; Snapper, 3 ; Biter, 2 ; Boxer, 2 ; Clinker, 2 ; Cracker, 2 ; Dapper, 2 ; Fancy, 2 ; Grinder, 2; Hind, 2 ; Jackdaw, 2 ; Jasper, 2; Jack 2 ; Magpie, 2 ; Redwing, 2 ; Skylark, '2; Snap, 2; Starling, 2 ; Stork, 2; Swinger, 2 ; Thistle, 2 ; Weasel, 2 ; Pigmy, 2. Belleisle, 24, Commander Hosken, hospital ship. /Eolus, 42, ammunition magazine. Perseverance, store ship. Volcano, engineers' floating factory, Master Commander Dyer. The operations in the Baltic this spring will, it is officially stated, be conducted on a scale of extra ordinary magnitude. In addition to the naval forces of England, which are to consist of one hundred steamers, France will send fifty steam-vessels and a powerful land armament, which is now stationed (says Galignani) along the coast from Calais to Cherl,ourg. For the conveyance of these troops, and all tit war markt, the French Government have entered into a contract with an English company, the representative of which is at present in Pans, an arrangement which will have the advantage of leaving the vessels of war to officiate with all their power against the great Russian strongholds in the Gulf of Finland.