The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-22 00:00:00

SEPT. 22, 1855. tainly is strange that the Russians have never attempted to cut out, or at any rate disturb, most seriously our cruisers, who anchor daily almost within range of the guns of Sweaborg and its surrounding islands. For example, the Amphion daily shows the most utter contempt for the euemy, anchoring almost wherever she likes, and if a fort fires at her she returns the fire and passes on at her leisure. No sortie has been made by the Russian vessels at Cronstadt since I last wrote, and the hopes of getting a slap at them are fast dying away. Admiral Seymour continues at Seskar, two ships of his squadron being constantly cruising off Cronstadt. Mr. Galbraith, a mate of the Geyser, has been tried on the serious charge of being below in his watch during the night previous to the bombardment, the Geyser having the guard on the right of the mortar vessels for their protection. He was sentenced to be dismissed the service. The weather is very changeable and bad, strong winds and heavy rains being prevalent. All quiet in the Gulf of Bothnia. The poor are suffering frightfully from the want of salt and other necessaries of life. Even at St. Petersburg salt is selling at four shillings a pound, and they appear, from what we can gather, to be perfectly unable to procure such things as sugar, coffee, and groceries. It is affirmed that another year's blockade will force the Russians to come to terms. If we could only stop the Memel trade, there can be no doubt we should soon make them advance overtures to us, but while that iniquitous proceeding is allowed to go on the blockade cannot strictly be culled an effective one. It is generally believed that the admiral will blockade with his whole force (excepting, of course, the gun-boats) until late in the season, and keep a strict watch on the enemy in every hole and corner of the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia. Our gun-boats will be a great loss, but the weather after this month is not at all adapted to their manoeuvres. The Austerlitz (French liner) has gone home. All well in the fleet—thanks be t , Providence. The late Russian fleet in the harbour of Sebastopol consisted, before the battle of the Alma, of five ships of the line of 120 guns each, eight of 84 guns, one of 80 guns, four frigates of 80 guns, and five corvettes and brigs of 18 and 20 guns each. In all 108 sail, mounting 2,200 guns. Lord Panmure has intimated to Lord Hardinge that two regiments of the Foreign Legion are now entirely at his disposal for field service. THE Moniteur de 1 'Armee compares the actions which have led to the fall of Sebastopol with the battle of Moskowa The battle of Moskowa was fought on the 7th of Sep tember, 1812, that is to say, fortythree years all but a day before the one that now occupies us. At both periods, the forces in presence, along the entire line, were nearly the same, since Napoleon had only 140,000 men to oppose to 160,000 Russians. Lastly, at Moskowa the attack was directed against formidable positions, behind which the Muscovite army had intrenched itself, after a continued retreat from Smolensk, and these intrenchments bristled with a numerous and formidable artillery. The principal redoubt was carries by storm after a furious combat, which decided the victory. The total amount of the losses sus tained by the French army was more than 28,000 men disabled, of whom were nine generals Killed and thirty nine wounded. The Russians lost 50,000 men, Recoill ing to Colonel Boutourlin, and this, too, was the estimate of Napoleon, when he visited the field of battle on the bllowing day. THE Trieste Zeitung states that during the battle of the Tschernaya a large dog, belonging to Colonel Metmaun, of the 73rd Regiment of the Line, break ing his chain, burst into the ranks of the combatants, and, having saved the life of a sergeant and a private, made three Russian prisoners. Though struck in the foot by a bullet, the brave beast still continued the contest, and, throwing himself upon a Russian officer, hurled him to the ground, and detained him there till he was captured by the French. After the battle, the animal's leg was carefully dressed by a surgeon, and it is said that he will receive a medal as a reward for his fidelity and valour. THE vestments worn by the Archbishop of Paris and the clergy at the " Te Denm" at Notre Dame, on Thursday last, were the identical robes which were presented by the Emperor Napoleon I. to the clergy of the cathedral at the baptism of the King of Rome. A DETACHMENT, consisting of two hundred of the Army Works Corps, as organised by Sir J. Paxton, took their departure on Monday for the Crimea, by the South-Eastern Railway to Dover, and will then proceed to Marseilles and the overland route. The men were loudly cheered on the departure of the train by several hundred persons who had assembled in the vicinity of the station. The train also carried a vast number of artificers' tools, with several large tents to accommodate sixty men each, made of strong canvas, and other necessary articles for the comfort of the men. This detachment will be followed by 250 others, all first-rate workmen, on the 25th of the present month. Sir J. Paxton and many influential gentlemen were present at the station to witness the departure, and were evidently well satisfied with the good spirits and satisfactory appearance of the men. THE PRESS. lortign 6ffrnsponbtnct. FRANKFORT, September 16. "L'AVENTURE de la Crimee " is the expression which M. de Bismarck Schonhausen has hitherto been wont to adopt in ridicule of the siege of Sebastopol by the allies. The term of irony is not original, and has been gathered from the pages of the Gazette Nouvelle de Prune, or Journal de la Croix, the official organ of the royal and Russian camarilla. Henceforth this unworthy Prussian improper and contemptible Russian proper must seek some other word to suit the sympathies of Russian favoritism. The question is not of the northern or of the southern side of the town. Sebastopol, " toute entiere," in the words of the Indipendance Beige, has fallen. The prophecy of the Russian princess at Paris, that the " virgin " fortress would outlast the century in its untainted state, is nullified, and the citadel is reduced to her own level, with honour unstained in each case. It is in the nature of things that they should fulfil des tiny. What the effect may be on German politics is matter for conjecture. _ The Duke of Saxe Cobourg Gotha has appealed to Prussia and to Austria against the decision of the Diet, which would constrain him to break his oath to the Constitution, by authorising a return to the " droits equestres " according to the law of the Confederation prior to 1848. Both sovereigns have refused to interfere, and have urged him to be passive in his duty and obedience to the Diet, which, accord ing to M. de Buol and Manteuffel, has the power to absolve princes from the constitutional oath delibe rately and solemnly given. This refusal of the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria has been fol lowed, on the part of Austria, with a notice to Germany that the Diet is to be reinstated in the powers possessed before the reforms of 1848. Here is the proof. The Lloyd of Pestb officially declares : " Le gouvernement Autrichier a lintention de porter prochainement devan t la haute Diete la question de revision de la Constitution fiderale, dens lee seas des propositions qui avaient déjà ete faites avant 1848." Now, the revision of the federal Constitution mewls simply that the reforms granted at the period of 1848, and which laws are now alike obligatory upon the governor and the governed, shall be abrogated by a Diet representing the sovranic princes alone, with out any interference by the governed. It is hardly possible to conceive that Austria, with her ally of Prussia, divided into two distinct parties, German and Russian—with Hungary ready to rise at any moment—with her own powerful Schlave population directly opposed to her in favour of Russia—and with a certain war in Italy, can be so utterly blind to her interest of the hour as to seek an open conflict with the German people? But so it is. And, to avenge herself of the one source from whence the punish ment of despotic evil emanates, the official Gazette Autrichienne of M. de Buol thus vents its displea sure : England has been unsuccessful in making the Austrian army her mercenaries; and as the idea of a pacific solu tion has already commenced in France, the policy of Eng land, alarmed thereat, holds up the revolutionary torch in order to spread hatred and discord, and to finish the work which was for a time checked in 1848. England may decree laurels to Piedmont; Austria will be as little moved thereby as by the hollow phrases of the English journals. Austria, like the whole world, knows the value of British faith and England's friendship, and that she is ever ready to let slip her mad dogs upon those who refuse to hunt for her. The indignation of Austria at the substantial incorporation of constitutional Sardinia with the European system, and its treaty offensive and de fensive with England and France, can be well under stood. In Italy it is about to bear fruit, which fruit will be speedily ripened by the risen sun of the Western powers. Be it noted that "la pensie d'une solution paciflque " in France is proclaimed at the very moment of the fall of Sebastopol, and when the heavy losses of the French, and their unflinching gallantry and determination, are practical evidences of a mood essentially not peaceful. Austria is deeply sensible that the power of France on the Danube, under any provision of peace, is about to be nationally enlarged. For this there is no Austrian hindrance, and "the material guarantee" will be held by France in a mode even less palatable to Austria than to Russia. It is the support., the frank and honest support, of England to Imperial France that has extracted from chagrined Austria the abuse of England, that, if she dared, would be bestowed upon the " gros bataillons " of Napoleon. The position of the house of Lorraine is not moderately critical. If it declare for the Western powers, then, and in that case, the nationalities become instantly and practi- cally Russian; per contra, a common cause with Russia will make Hungary and Italy throw them. selves upon the assistance and safeguard of Western Europe. 899 The circular of Count Nesselrode accepts, uncon ditionally, the explanation of Austria officially signi fied upon the present complication of continental policy. The words of Count Nesselrode, in speaking tor his master, are significant- The aged Minister remarks : " The Emperor Francis Joseph.cannot con template any chance combination of events that would induce Austria to make war upon Russia. Russia hastens to express her reliance upon his word." In large accordance with the spirit and the sense of the Nesselrode circular, M. de Benkendorf, the military and Russian envoy at Berlin, assured Count S—b--g, without any reserve, that the Czar had long possessed and fully counted upon the word of honour, solemnly and privately pledged by the Emperor of Austria, that he would not, and that he would never, join the Western powers in armed oppo- sition to Russia, whatever might be the pressure of circumstance—whatever might be the result- This pledge was given before the Conferences of Vienna took place ; and Lord John Russell has the satisfac tion of knowing that he played one of the most derogatory parts that a political " rut ano "—in the Italian sense—was ever called upon to enact and to endure. It is never a pleasant task to expose the absurdi ties of others ; when, however, such exposure may afford a lesson and an example to what extent a course of systematic wrongdoing may injure intellec tual perception, it becomes an act of morality and necessity. In a conversation held at the house of a cam atilla leader at Berlin, Count V. F. expatiated freely and fully on the enormities of the French, as national and natural enemies to European peace. He advanced seriously, and in detailed explanation, the opinion that when the " fontanelle de sang " in the Crimea should have sufficiently exhausted France and drained her resources, it would be a wise and protective measure for Prussia and Germany, in cluding Austria, with their confederated army of 1,500,000 men, to aid Russia in dismembering the Gallic kingdom. "D'abord," observed the Count V. F., "la Bourgogne nous appartient, et ]'Alsace aussi et la Lorraine, et le Luxembourg—pourquoi pas ? Coute qui coute it faut absolument se defaire de ce gredin d'Emporeur avec ces gros bataillons ; " and we must place a large frontier kingdotn,'"la Belge grandement allongie, par exempla," between Germany and France. Now, these words were uttered by a personage of high family, belonging to a " maison princiere," and in the hearing of, and in consentaneous agreement with, Messrs. De Stahl and Niebuhr, the willing coadjutors of the King in the interest of Russia—in fact, the leaders of "la Croix." If the want of common sense be patent, not less so is the animus that dictated the folly. It is clear the will is not wanting to perfect the wish, and pervades, without a single exception, the entire " parti de la Croix." This anecdote is a fact, and the words retailed were uttered within ten days of the fall of Sebastopol. It will now be for the heroes of "la Croix Prussienne" to determine whether and when they will undertake to encounter, aggressively, the heroes of the Legion of Honour and of the Malakoff, bearing in memory that the Napoleonic campaign of 1814 was the act of Napoleon I. single-handed against)Europe—the greatest military achievement on record. Prussia and the allies were united and sup ported by England. At this present moment Prussia is disunited, the nationalities are expectant and rising, Italian, German, and Hungarian, and France has the support of England against those who oppose the just balance of power according to race, nation ality, and enlightenment. The solemn idiotcy, or the deep crime, of the above conversation, propounded seriously and with a view to results, suffices to demonstrate the motives which direct the Cabinet of Berlin. J. E. L. SIENA, September 15. WHEN valour, cool and determined, is on trial, and when that trial has certified its truth, the estimation resulting from the possession of such heroism as sumes a firm and respectful character. Passion, from its volcanic impulse, may spur even the most timid into a momentary display of courage, but the evaporation of false spirit dispels the propulsive force, and gradually reduces excitement to the abject level of harmless inanity. In this wise may be dis tinguished the intrepid and intensified gallantry of disciplined troops from that prurient ebullition of violence that propels democrats and demagogues, and incites them to do battle with the dagger of the assassin rather than with the sword of the patriot hero. The instruments of warfare exemplify the nature of the combatants. The constitutional Italian meets his enemy in broad day on the field of battle; the Mazzinian republican waits for the night, dogs his victim—politically guilty no doubt, but still a • victim—and strikes him foully on the threshold of his home. Prince Liclinowski, Field• Marshal Count