The Sun. — London, England, 1854-12-25 00:00:00

THE BRITISH EXPEDITION . CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, DEC. 4.—lf any of our great geologists want to test the truth of their theories respecting the appearance of the primeval world, or are desirous of ascertaining what sort of view Noah might have had when he looked out of the Ark from Ararat, they cannot do better than come out here at onec. The whole plateau on which stands " the Camp before Sebastopol "—the entire of the angle of and from Balaklava round to Kher son and thence to the valley of Inke rman—is fitted at this moment for the reception and delectation of any number of ichthyosauri, sauri, and crocodiles —it is a vast black dreary wilderness of mud, dot ted with little lochs of foul water, and seamed by by dirty brownish and tawney-coloured streams running down to and along the ravines. In some deserted London enclosures, where rubbish may he shot, in the outskirts of the great metropolis, about St. John's-wood, where the town and coun try have long joined battle, and have laid waste the fields for which they contended, where heaps of earth and mysterious holes and pitsful of water, and rotten timber and tumuli of decayed bricks, attest the baffled assaults of civilised man, and his great protagonist the builder, in his attempt to get a material guarantee from nature ; in the bed of the Thames, at very low tides, I have seen, and every one has seen, something on a small scale like that which is presented for many a weary mile by the ground on which Briton and Gaul are contend ing against the Muscovite and his old ally winter. Something like only, for in such places there is but little sign of life, and here all is motion and activity. " Chaos has come again," or rather has just de parted from the scene. A grand plateau of bog, varying in depth from a foot to two feet, extends from the valley of Inkerman to the sea at Bala klava. It is trodden into holes in every direction I y the hoofs of mules, horses, and camels. It is scarred deeply by the wheels of carts and arabas, and the white tents dotting its surface, and a few scattered white farm-houses, and the snug quarters of Lord Raglan, contrast strongly with the black profound amid which they rear their straight out lines. All over its surface are strewed the carcases of horses and miserable animals torn by dogs and smothered in mud. Vultures sweep over the mounds in flocks ; carrion crows and " birds of prey obscene " hover over their prey, menace the hideous dogs who are feasting below, or sit in gloomy dyspepsia, with dropped head and dropping wing, on the remnants of their banquet. It is over this ground, gained at last by great toil and exhaustion, and loss of life on the part of the starving beasts of burden, that man and horse have to struggle from Balaklava for some 4 or 5 miles with the hay and corn, the meat, the biscuit, the pork, which form the subsistence of our army. Every day this toil must be undergone, for we are fed indeed by daily bread, and onl y get half rations of it. Horses drop exhausted on the road, and their loads are removed and added to the burdens of the struggling survivors ; then, after a few ef forts to get out of their Slough of Despond, thepoor brutes succumb and he down to die in their graves. Men wade and plunge about, and stumble through the mud, with muttered imprecations, or sit down on a projecting stone, exhausted, pictures of dirt and woe unutterable. Sometimes on the route the overworked and sickly soldier is seized with illness, and the sad aspect of a fellow-countryman dying before his eyes shocks every passer-by—the more because aid is all but hopeless and impossible. Of in huge sailors' boots, purchased at Balaklava for about 5 times their proper price, trudge on earnestly in the expectation of being able to carry back to their tents the pot of preserved meat or the fowl, bought at a fabulous cost in that model city of usurydom, ere the allotted portion of wood under the cooking-tins has been consumed. It re quires a soldier's eye to tell captains from corporals now, mounted on draggle-tailed and unkempt ragged ponies covered with mud. The pride and hope of our aristocracy, of our gentry, of our manu facturing bourgeoise, of our bankership, and ship ping owners, and money-owning and money making classes, with dubiously-coloured faces, tat tered and bepatched garments, and eccentric great coats and bead-gear, are to be seen filing up down the filthy passes, between Balaklava and the camp carrying out ligneous hams, or dishevelled turkeys, strings of onions, sacks of potatoes, Dutch cheeses, almost as fatal as Russian bullets, bread, the worst varies of " Goldner," bottles of wine and brandy, crocks of butter, and assortments of sausages, from the economical but nasty saveloy up to the be silvered and delicate Bologna. They are de cidedly "disreputable -looking." The liveliest sus picions of Bow-street would be excited at their ap pearance in court. They are hairy and muddy; as the police reports would say, in short, " wearing the air of foreigners," but the vast majority of them are the noblest, cheeriest, bravest fellows in Europe — men who defy privation, neglect, storm, and tem pest—who, in the midst of difficulties, rarely de spond, and never despair, and who comfort end animate by the brightest examples of courage and high valour, of constancy, and unflinching resolu tion; the gallant fellows around them. The painful reflection which ever occurs to one is, what necessity is there for all the suffering and privation created by this imperfect state of our com munications ? Why should not roads have been made when we sat down before the place ? Their formation would have saved many jives, and have spared our men much sickness and pain. Had there been the least foresight—nay, had there existed among us the ordinary instincts of self-preservation —we would have set the Turks to work at once while the weather was fine, and have constructed the roads which we are now trying to make undermost disad vantageous conditions. The wretched state of the country is caused by the attempts of the men to get on good ground out of the trodden paths, and as the earth is so " sticky," the holes made by the horses' hoofs hold water, and it is soon all in nearly the same condition, the depressed portions of the surface being of course worse than the ridges. '\Ve must now do our best to retrieve the serious disasters that have been brought upon us by carelessness ; there is n• excuse whatever for what has occurred, and, in addition to the evils created by the disturb ance of the communication which we struggled for so arduously between the camp and Balaklava, we must reckon this the most formidable of all. The siege operations have been sometimes com pletely—sometimes partially—suspended, and the attack on Sebastopol has languished and declined. Neither guns nor ammunition could be brought up to the batteries. The number of heavy guns, the q uantity of shot, shell, and powder landed on the beach daily, under the superintendence of Captain Anderson, R.A., are enormous, but they lie there with no present prospect of their being moved to the point. The Russians have been emboldened by our in activity to prowl about at night, and beat up the advanced posts. It is no wonder that men who may have carried a considerable load from Bala klava to the camp, and who may be sent out after a scanty meal to pass 12 hours in a ditch, sometimes are less vigilant than they ought to be for the safety of the army. In some such way was it that the pickets of the 50th were surprised the other night in front of the right attack, and indeed report says some of the men were bayoneted by the Russians as they lay in their blankets. The officer on duty will barely escape censure, for somnolence on the part of sentries in front of the enemy is not com patible with the se curit y of a camp. It was just at the time that the reliefs came down that they were attacked, and the Rifles, who were moving at the time and repulsed te Russians have spread a pleasant mot " that the s relieved the 50th, and we relieved the Russians." There are many points on which a little attention and care would save great trouble to the men, and husband their strength. For instance, the coffee which is served out to the men is the green unburnt berry. The men have neit her roasting nor grind ing apparatus. The top of a mess tin is mad Stones o do duty for the one, and is spoile d ; a couple of are used in lien of the other, and spoil the coffee ; but the hards hi p of roastin g and grinding the berry over small bits of sticks, and in wet and storm, can only be known by those who try to get a breakfast by adopting these conditions of obtaining it. Why not send out good coffee ready ground in handy tins i Surely it is not worth while to practise eco nomy on such a dear article as a soldier. The French are generally provided with coffee mills and roasters, but even when they have no such apli ance experience has suggested a hundred means of supplying the deficiency. These are not " grumbles," but honest complaints against the perpetuation of remediable grievances. The want of clothing, the want of fuel, the want of shelter, the want of food, which have cost t he army and the n ation so dearly, might, I sincerely and solemnly believe, have been obviated by a small exertion of ordinary " prevoy ance." The articles which are arriving to-day in the Belgravia should have been here long ago, we and the supplies we a re expecting daily, ago, a nd are late. They will be of service only to those who have survived, or have maintained health and strength under cold and wet. We have tents, but cannot g et them up to the camp. There is a great deficiency of hos p ital marquees, and, horrible as it is to think of such a thing, it is no less true that, according to information received from no doubtful source, five men of a battalion of the Guards were found dead outside one of the tents within the last thirty hours. The decks of the Avon were a terrible sight to behold, covered with sick and woun Ih ded av m e he en and as thickly as they could be stowed. that ere she sailed the authorities hold an investi- THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVEN ING, D gation on board the ship in reference to certain charges that had been made respecting a deficiency of medical attendance and of medical comforts for her wretched cargo, but the result is not known to me. Many sick and invalided officers went down in her, among others Colonel Lake, R.A., on his way to England, and Captain Collings, 33d Regi ment, for Scutari. As the weather was fine to-day great exertions were used to get up guns to the front, and seven guns, 32 pounders, of 65 cwt., were dragged up by 20 horses to each carriage to the artillery park, and will soon be transferred to the front. Our advanced parallel, or rather a trench, which has been continued by a single ap proach from the trench before the right attack, is now within 300 yards of the earthwork of the Rus sian works, and is filled with our best riflemen. i It will not be possible to op en embrasures n the parapet owing to the nature of the ground. The mortality among the Turks has now assumed all the dimensions of a plague. Every sense was offended and shocked by the display, day after day, in the streets, of processions of men bearing half covered corpses on litters at the busiest hour of the day, and Colonel Da vene y at last busiest o or rather granted permission, that the Turks should bury their dead on the hill-side, over the town. Yesterday, ere evening, upwards of 70 bodies were carried to their bong home, and deposited in shallow graves, not above a few inches deep, and were left with a shovelful or two of earth and pebbles over them, as close together as they could be packed. To-day the same process is going on. The dead are frightful to look upon—ema ciated to the last degree, with the faces and heads swollen and discoloured, and drops of blood stealing down from nose and ear ; there they are, lying out on ranks on the hill- side, while the living, who seem soon about to follow them, dig their graves. I can count thirty-five bodies already on the ground, and it is early in the day ; over the hill-sills come men bearing more litters. Ere the body is interred the clothes are taken off and laid at one side, an officer in attendance decently washes the corpse with water, pours a little of the same fluid down the throat, and composes the limbs, and, after a few words of prayer, the Mussul man is placed beside his fellows. As the result of such a mode of burial would be the outbreak of some all-destroying pestilence, the Commandant of the place has ordered it to be discontinued, and the Turks must in future bury their dead outside the town in the valley, in graves four feet deep. DEC. s.—The whole of the works of our new attack have been completed, and are now awaiting their armament. Owing to the cessation of rain we have been enabled to get up to the artillery park five guns of position and three 13-inch mortars. The scarcity of rations continues except among the Guards, the Marines and Rifles on the heights, and the Highland Brigade near the town of Balaklava.. Lieut.-Colonel de Butte, and his recently arrived drafts for the Scots Fusilier Guards, are stationed on the extreme French left, between St. George and Cape Chersonese, and are engaged in the ma nufacture of gabions, there being abundance of brushwood in the neighbourhood. This detach ment is about eight miles from the head-quarters of the Guards on our right. While the army is in such a state of prostration from the want of officers that serious consequences would ensue if we had not a reserve of able and ex perienced men of every grade at home, it is matter of great congratulation that a . general so distin guished, energetic, and skilful as Major-General Pennefather has every chance of recovering from the serious illness under which he bas been labour ing. He has been brought down to Balaklava from the camp, and I am told his medical men think there is nothing to apprehend, and that he will before long be restored to the division he so ably commands. The number of applications sent to Lord Raglan for leave to retire, to sell out, or to go on half-pay, is said to be very great. The Duke of Wellington had to contend against the same evil in Spain. It is said, but Ido not know whether there is any good ground for the assertion —and I am inclined to think there is none—that after Lord George Paget's name appeared in orders as having received permission to retire no less than 180 applications to sell out or go on half-pay were sent in to the Commander of the Forces. Some of these have, it is stated, been acceded to—that is, Lord Raglan has sent them to the Commander-in- Chief of the army, with rather sarcastic recommen dations that the permission sought for be granted ; others have been refused, insmuch as the Colonels of the regiments to which the applicants belonged did not approve of the application. If reports be true, indeed, some of these gentlemen were "no great 1055,," and the army is well rid of them. One young person, who recently retired, and who be longs to the nobility, to whose gallant conduct here he offered a striking contrast, had been publicly rebuked by his commanding officer for his disor derly and pusillanimous behaviour ere lie retired. The following order was issued to-day, respecting the action at Balaklava on the 25th of October, and the affair at Inkerman on the 26th of October : " GENERAL ORDER. " Head Quarters, before Sebastopol, Dec. 5, 1854. " The Commander of the Forces has the highest satis faction in communicating to the army two despatches which lie received yesterday from the Minister at War, his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, expressing the Queen's ad miration of the conduct of the troops engaged in the ac tion at Balaklava on the 25th October, and her Majesty's gracious approval of the ability, promptitude, and bravery with which the attack made by a numerous force of the enemy upon the position of the 2d Division, on the 26th of the same month, was repulsed by Lieut.-General Sir De Lacy Evans and the gallant troops under his coin !nand. (No. 147.) " War Department, Nov. 14, 1854. " (Received Dec. 4, 1854.) "My Lord,—l have the honour to acknowledge your Lordship's despatch No. 85, dated before Sebastopol, October 28th,' in which you give an account of a battle fought on the 25th of that month in front of Ba laklava. " I have laid that despatch before the Queen, and I have received her Majesty's command to express to your Lordship her a,dmiratio3 of the gallantry and conduct of the tioops engaged upon that occasion. Her Majesty has learnt with deep concern that the repulse of the enemy was not effected without a heavy loss of the di vision of Cavalry, more especially of the light brigade ; but the brilliancy of the charge, and the gallantry and discipline evinced by all, have never been surpassed even by British soldiers under similar circumstances. "To every officer, non-commissioned officer, and pri vate engaged in this severe encounter with vastly supe rior numbers, the Queen desires me to communicate, through your Lordship, her approval and thanks. Her Majesty has not failed to remark the distinguished service performed on this occasion by Major-General Sir Colin Campbell. Her Majesty has especially noticed the brilliant conduct of the Division of Cavalry under the command of Lieut.-General the Earl of Lucan, and is deeply sensible of the gallant services of the Earl of Cardigan and the Hon. Brigadier-General Scarlett who ( commanded the two brigades of cavalry, and so nobly I sustained the honour of that distinguished and impor tant arm of her Majesty's service. " The conduct of the 93d Regiment uuder the com mand of Colonel Ainslie, merits the greatest admiration, and materially tended to the repulse of the enemy from the position which was so vigorously assailed. " I have the honour to be, my Lord, " Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant. "NEWCASTLE." " General the Lord Raglan, G.C.8., &c." (No. 148.) " War Department, 14th Nov., 1854. "(Received Dec. 4, 1854). "My Lords, --In acknowledging yaur Lordship's despatch, No. 86, under date of the 28th October, I have to express to your lordship the Queen's gratifica tion at the manner in which the attack made by a nume rous force of the enemy on the 26th of that month upon the 2d Division of the British Army was repulsed by Lieut.-General Sir De Lacy Evans and the infantry un der his command. " The attack appears to have been well planned and rapidly executed, and the greatest credit is due to Sir De Lacy Evans for the ability, promptitude, and bravery with which it was defeated. " The Queen has received the intelligence of this gal lant exploit with high approval. " I have the honour to , be, my Lord, " Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, " NEWCASTLE." " General the Lord Raglan, G.C.8., &c." Among the other orders are— (No. 2.) " The 90th Regiment will, for the present, be at tached to the 2d Division, but this is to be considered on ly as a temporary arrangement. (No. 3.) " An officer will accompany all parties which go down to Balakla,va, who will make a written report upon re turning, stating especially the time occupied in the jour ney down, the time spent in Balaklava, and in the jour ney back, besides any remarks he may think proper to make. (No. 4.) ac ' t‘ a C s ap E ta x i t n ra G . A H . D u z e . , 3toStllrtigeag;mdieerit, is permitted.loenertsir toJohn Campbell, Bart., until further orders. (No. 5 ) " Dbputy.A ssistant Commissary General Webb is at tached to the 2d Brigade, Light Division. (Ice. 6 ) " Leave of absence is granted, on medical certificate, to the undermentioned officers :—Captain E. Rose, 7th Royal Fusiliers 6th to 26th December ; Lieutenant W. Hesketh, 46th Regiment, 6th to 16th of December; very These iilt histories o l r i e t s tl t e inz,and t h o o f w t r h i e t t e road nre to go on board ship at ts ßalaklava." graphi cally done) will furnieh some light for the reading . h ead- quarters staffduring the wiii4 T - 11 erevenings. _..ivi p (iC or o ts . (it 3) willbebe hard work on the officers, in to c b a o m oZ , as all grand however, ot for paper is scarce. Lynceus himself could 71 a huts ro g w r a h n i d c h luxuries,l iave b madeen expensive write in the and candles luxuries must be. The paymasters of regiments who have been living in Balaklava for some time past are in great dudgeon at being ordered out with their regiments, and they aver with gr eat show of reason that it will be quite impossible for them to keep their books and accounts in tents in weather like the present. It will be found, I think, that many of these gentlemen will be sent home on sick certificate, or that their books will not be in a very satisfactory condition at the end of the winter. Our commissariat officers, who are fur nished with marquees and considerable comforts, such as tables, chairs, and pigeonholes for papers, &c., complain nevertheless of the difficulties they experience in going through their duties. Shortly after the storm of the 14th, I met one of these gentlemen coming out of Balaklava, his face ra diant with a joy which could not beeasily accounted for at the time, seeing that it was cold, wet, and the roads were knee deep. " Congratulate me, I beg of you, said he, " every blessed paper, return, book, or account I bad in the world was blown away yesterday into Sebastopol, and I'm happy." The annexed memorandum, which, for profes sional readers, will have sereoly less interest, has been published for the information of the army :-- " MrntonANnum. "Camp before Sebastopol, Nov. 23, 1854. "At ordinary siezcs, and in proportion as a fortress is small, and on old systems of construction, the fire of besiegers dispeised, tirailleurs may be very effective. "The system can never be so influential before a place like Sebastopol, on account of its size, the force of the garrison, the extensive front presented in every direc tion, and the rocky nature of the soil ; still many great advantages may be obtained by the judicious employ ment of riflemen. " Some spirited efforts have been made at times, by different parties, under officers who have taken an inte rest in this kind of service ; but in general its principle does not seem to have been attended to in our service, and the application of it is reported to be very irregular in the trenches, and frequently. neglected altogether, when it might be most useful, partly on account of its nature and effective power not being thoroughly understood— one very common mistake made being, that when a smart fire of artillery is opened upon the riflemen, the fire ought to be discontinued, whereas, in general, it should be the more persevered in. "A few principles on this service are here submitted, and it is recommended that special bodies should be organised for it in each division, under a persuasion that the generals in command of them would find the arrangement very generally useful, even independently of the duty in the trenches, where, however, a portion should be always on duty and actively engaged. " It is an ordinary proceeding at sieges to employ select bodies of marksmen against the artillerymen of the garrison. With the old musket, they posted them selves at different distances, not unusually exceeding 200 yards from the enemy's batteries, and their effect was such as very commonly absolutely to silence the guns immediately opposed to them. " With rifles, and the modern Mini 6 in the bands of good shots, the effect may be produced at much greater ranges. " The French applied these means of annoyance uni versally, and with system ; the men should be selected for being good shots, energetic and spirited, and volun teers • they should have officers of the same qualifica tions '(though not necessarily good shots) and of intelli gence ; the service when well executed, is to be entitled to great credit. " In order to protect the trenches from the effects of the fire of the garrison, and to close with the artillery as early as possible, it is a practice to establish parties of such riflemen in different order, in distinct pits, sunk at night, 50 or 100 yards in front of the besiegers' works, where usually two men in each pit remain all day, un der cover of the earth excavated, and some sand bag loopholes, firing at every favourable moment. "They have no covered communication with the trenches, but as individuals, run occasionally across, to and fro, without much loss. " The pits may be from 5 to 10 or 20 yards asunder, and with practised men the service is continued actively and effectually in spite of any opposition. When the artillery in front open fire upon them, it is a sure sign that it is suffering from the fire, and encourages the parties to increased exertion, and the contest usually ends in the early superiority of the musketry. " Dispersed as these men are, and well covered, the direct fire of shot, shell, or grape, has its real effect on them, while their fire on the gunners is very destructive. Any period of heavy convergent fire, from different directions on small portions, may render it proper that they should keep close till the storm is over, but always in readiness to resume their work as opportunities offer. "These men are supplied 'with larger quantities of ammunition than others, although the consumption will not always be very great, as it is by steady aim and attention to the practiae, rather than by quick indiscri minate firing, the greatest effects are produced. "The continuous trench is far more favourable to this service, when it can be obtained, than detached pits ; the parties have more freedom of action, can support one another, and the whole being lined with sand-bag loopholes, the enemy never knowing where the men are, nor from whence to expect the shot. " The longer ranges, for which the rifles and Minids are serviceable, renders this more practicable ; the value of this particular service will be greatly enhanced by the superior expertness of the soldier as marksmen. (Signed) "J. F. BURGOYNE." Yesterday Admiral Dundas issued the following " Memo." " A return carefully made out is to be immediately sent to me from each of the ships and vessels engaged in action with the defences of Sebastopol on the 17th Oct. last, containing the following - particulars, viz., the names and seniority of the commander of each ship of the line, the name and seniority of the commander of each sloop of war, the names and seniority of all lieutenants, mates, assistant-surgeons, second masters, passed clerks and gunners, and boatswains and carpenters of the second and third class ; also the names of all medical officers in charge of the surgical duties, who were actually engaged in action on board their several ships on the 17th Oct., 1854." It will be observed that there are two classes of officers omitted from this memorandum, namely, " masters" and " engineers." Some of the masters surely deserve promotion, and unless it is to be un derstood that the officers who have received the grade of Master can no longer hope for any advance ment, they ought to get their deserts and obtain some share of the honours so liberally showered on other classes 'of naval officers. Why are engineers exclude 1? It is admitted by all the officers com mandinc, st e amers on the 17th of October , tha t the zeal, ° coolness, and energy of these gentlemen who were exposed to the destructive effect of shell and shot, without the excitement of action, and ran imminent risks from the explosions of shell near the boilers, were most conspicuous, and contributed greatly to the efficiency of our attack. We trust the attention of the authorities will be directed to the claims of these officers, and that they will take into their consideration the merits and claims of another set of officers,, who are placed in a very doubtful position, and are likely to fall to the ground between two stools—l mean those officers detached on special service from the ships, or en gaged on shore in the trenches dur in g the attack of the 17th October. As an instance of what has occurred already, and to illustrate the injustice of " selection" in such cases, I may just mention the following circumstance. On 17th October, Mr. Courtenay, First Lieutenant of Arethusa (1844), was engaged in the trenches before Sebastopol. The Second Lieutenant, Mr. Hood (1846), was at Eupatoria, in command of the Rocket Battery. The Third Lieutenant, Mr. Bowden, junior to both these officers, is "made" because he happened to be on board his ship, and is put over the head of two officers who were unfortunate enough to be on special service elsewhere. There are many cases of this kind, and the authorities will, it is to be hoped, regard with a favourable eye the claims of ofh cerslike Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Hood, Lieutenant Pym (who with Lieutenant Jull, of the Firebrand, was also at Eupatoria), and will consider that those en gaged in the trying coast service and in navigating the Black Sea for the last year, in every vicissitude of weather, such as Mr. Read, of the Caradoc, ought to participate in the rewards bestowed or about to be conferred on the fleet for the 17th October. As to the Royal Marines, they seem to be " nobody's children" just at present. DECEMBER 6. Last night at 12 o'clock there was a great stir down in the valley of Balaklava. The hoarse hum of great crowds of men was heard by the picquets, and they reported the circumstance to the officers of the French regiments on the heights. Lights were seen moving about in, the redoubts occupied by the Russians since the affair of the 25th October. It was supposed that the enemy had received re inforcements or were about to make a dash at our position before Balaklava. The Hospital Guards and the invalid battalion were at once turned out, and the French shrouded in their capotes grimly waited in the lines the first decisive movement of the enemy. The night was cold, but not clear, and after a time the noise of wheels and the tramp of men ceased, and the alarm was over. By morn ing, however, we knew the cause of it, for about, 5 o'clock a.m. an outburst of flames from the re doubts in which the Russians had hutted themselves illuminated the sky, and at the same time the fire broke out in the cottages on the slope of the hill be fore Komara. When morning came the smoke was seen ascending to heaven, and the Russians were visible in much-diminished numbers on the high plateaux of the hills near Schorgooa and Komara. The faint rays of the morning sun played on the bayonets of another portion of the force as they wound up the road towards Mackenzie's Farm, and passed through the wood over the right bank of the Chernaya. The reason of this retreat remains unknown to us as yet. Perhaps the Russian gene ral was informed by his spies that the French had landed at the north side of Sebastopol, and were marching on his flank, and the story of the land ing is universally believed, and' is utterly untrue. It is more probable, however, that the severity of weather and want of, shelter forced him to abandon the position in the valley. The French pushed down, their cavalry and peizecl the plain. They found dummies (mock guns) in the embrasures, the Russians having carried off all their artillery. The Vladimir and a small but heavily-armed steamer ran out of Sebastopol to-day, rounded the Quarantine Point, and fired broadsides along the French lines, but on the approach of the Valorous, Terrible, and a French steamer, they retired un der the guns of the forts and went back to their anchors. DEC. 7.—A warm fine day, bright sun,. and clear sky. This is indeed a treat, for though it is the pre sage of wintry snow and frost, even that would be a delightful change. It would d% the roads and entice us to feed our men and arm our batteries. Certainly it will also do service to the Russians, for it will permit them to get up their supplies. The fire to-day was not heavy or well sustained on either side, but there was more than one severe battle be tween the riflemen, French and English, and the Russian carabineers. At 3 o'cleck three strong battalions of infantry, of the 2d division, consisting of Chasseur regiments and accompanied by 9 field-guns, proceeded down from the height on the rear of our right and made a reconnaiss:lnce en force along the valley of Bala klava up to the Turkish redoubts. They halted at the base of the hill, generally held by our videttes, and threw forward a very strong line of skirmish ers, which spread All across the plain, and advanced with caution across it. The main body of infantry and the guns followed. Four Cossacks showed themselves above the summit of No. 4 redoubt, and as the French advanced a body of horsemen came in sight and gave us a plain demonstration that our hopes were unfounded, and that the Rus sians were still in possession of a portion of the valley. Three battalions of infantry were visible in the gorge of the Chernaya. The French, however, pushed on, the Russians drew back up to Komara, and our Allies occupied redoubts Nos. 1,2, and 3, where they made preparations for defending them selves for the night in case of attck. DECEMBER 8. We had a severe frost last night, and we are rapidly getting up guns and mortars to the front ; if this weather lasts all will soon be well. THE BLACK SEA FLEET. KARANCH-BAY, Dec. 7.—1 have just returned from Yalta, where her Majesty's steam-ship Ardent landed 73 men, women, aid children, belonging to the Greek villages about Cape Chersonesus and orifou thes Sebastopol. When I left the fleet th e thr ee - deckers we re j ust k Admiralincomtpo Karatch Bay. anymoaprhoicg proceed theird with wa t y h out u t London towards the Bosphorus, n preparing t Now, besides the Furious, there is the Terrible, and the Fu the Tribune, Miranda, Stromboli, Spitfire, Beagle, Arrow, and Lynx here, not omitting several trans ports, among them the " Lord Raglan," lately got off the shore at Katcha. The Agame mnon , Algiers. Rodney, and Vengeance are still at the Katcha, be sides the Valorous and Fury. Day and night an English and a French steamer are off the entrance of Sebastopol, watching any movement which may take place in the enemy's fleet. They are regularly relieved like sentries. The Hannibal arrived yesterday .with a company of artillery and a detachment of marines. Last night two Russian steamers came out of Sebastopol, and opened a heavy enfilading fire against the French works directed against Quaran tine Foil.: The Valorous and a French steamer soon forced them to retire. The weather has at last assumed a more favour able aspect, and the steadiness of the barometer seems to indicate a change for the better. FRENCH JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE. The following is a continuation of the journal kept by the special correspondent of the Constitu tionnel, and appeared in that journal yesterday (Sunday) : TIIR SIC. BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, DEC. 8. You will have seen by my last letter of November 25, that the torrents of rain which tormented us almost in cessantly ever since November 4, put a stop to the siege operations. This interruption was, however, only rela tive, for the works in the trenches, and batteries of the second parallel, were never at any time wholly discon tinued. Now (since 4th of this month) that the weather has become fine, the I ororks are almost finished and in a part armed. In fact they await but the finishing touches to be in a state to open their fire. When, then, we do recommence firing, which we shall do in a few days it the fine weather continue, we shall have something like 250 pieces (including mortars) in action, many of which are 13 inch guns. Bear in mind, also, that we have approached touch nearer to the place, and then you will form a just idea of the respective positions of ourselves and Messieurs lee Busses, and will be persuaded, as we. all are here, that the capture of the southern part of the town is almost a fait accompli. You will perhaps say that the Russians also have not been idle, that they have loads batteries, barricades, mines, and what not ; true they have, but all their recent works have been done so loosely, sa hastily, and so entirely without any system, that after the terrible cannonade which will precede the assault, they will not be worth seriously taking into ac count. Only yesterday I went through our trenches, and I was struck like everybody else with ahe precarious s t a te of the Itustean e ntrenchments. I of our men universa ll y excellent, notwithstanding the unparalleled fitigu - s a nd dreadful weather they have found th e spirit had to contend with. We receive almost daily from Pr i sone rs and deserters confirmation of the miserable and demoralised state of the enemy, both on ac count of the repeated checks they have experienced, 1 , and also in consequence of their insufficient and bad food, .and the want of proper shelter. Their huts, formed merely of branches of trees, without any roof, are wholly inadequate to protect them against the cold and wet . of this time of the year. The 12th division (Liprandes), which hitherto occupied the positions before Balaklava, evacuated them the day before yesterday and retired beyond the Tehernaya. They burnt their barracks and took away with them the Turkish guns which they cap tured in the affair of Nov. 25. This movement was be gun in the night of the sth, and finished by ten o'clock the next morning'. There is no other apparent object for the movement than the bad health of the Russian troops, or a concentration of their army upon some other point of the Crimea. On the 6th, at 2in the afternoon, two Russian vessels, ono of which the famous Wladmir, sailed out of the harbour in the direction of Streletzkaia Bay, protected throughout their course by the quaran tine fortifications. Their object seemed to us to be to reconnoitre the positions of our left, and to do some damage if possible to the Caton and another of our steamers, at anchor in the bay. But the Megre aviso, which was en vidette before the port, having signalled their manoeuvre, our vessels in Kamiesch Bay got up their steam, and prepared to make for the enemy. How ever, the distance from the port of Sebastopol to Stre letzkaia Bay being very short, the Russian ships had time enough to approach the bay, driving the little Megre (which only carries two guns) before them. They began to fire upon the Caton, which bravely responded. While this was going on we saw the English frigate Ter rible, rush like an enraged lion upon the Russian ships. They had already received somewell-directed bullets from the Caton, and as soon as they saw the Terrible coming they sheered off as fast as they could under the protec tion of their batteries. I never saw a more splendid spectacle than the advance of the Terrible. She flew like an arrow. Although the Russians ran away too soon for the Terrible to co me up w i th t h em, s h e s ent two rattling broadsides afte r th em, and brave l y s t ee d the fire of the batteriee which op ene d upon h er v igorously. In spite of his precipitat e flight the enemy must have s ustained some loss both f rom the Caton an d th e Terrible. The only loss in th e w h ole affa i r on th e side of the allies was two men on b oard the T err ibl e . I must not forget to say that th e --- 1 " - e ere allantly followed the Terrib le and blazed away with her two guns as resolutely as if she had been a great ship. The Grand Dukes Michael and Nichola s are quartered in the fort No. 4, t he next g g fort to Fort Michel, on the northern side of the harbour. Towards the Tchernaya there are four vessels anchored, three of which, the Constantinople, Pat is, and Twelve Apostles, are disarmed in great part, and almost without crews. The Tchesma is in Carenage bay, and is armed and manned. Beside her is the iron steam frigate Elbrousse. Then comes the Codul, sta tioned near St. Paul's Fort. This ship comes to anchor every night at the extremity of Southern bay to protect the entrance to the town on that side. Besides the above the Marie (transformed into an hospital ship), an unfinished screw line-of-battle ship, the Wladimir, and some small steamers, constitute the whole Russian fleet in the Black Sea, after the sinking of the ships now under water at the mouth of the Sebastopol harbour. Add that but two vessels out of the whole lot are armed, and the picture will be complete. Passing to theirland forces —their army is stationed between the Belbec and the Tchernaya. They carefully watch the roads to Sim pheropol and Batchi-serai, wherein are th e i r ma i n re sources for provi s ions. Their force is reduced daily by sickness. In the present state of the roads in Russia it will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring up a second body of reinforcements in carriages. Their army, at the very utmost, inluding the garrison and the crews of the vessels, cannot exceed from 60,000 to 75,000 men. Treating the northern fort as a citadel, they with that extraordinary spirit of imitation which character ises' their milit ary t ac ti cs must needs ha ve an entrenc h e d know will be impreg nable camp on the B e lb e c and Tchernaya positi ons . Th e y fancy, beca use th e pl a teau of Cape Che rson i s impreg nablenable ainiso. L our h e a t n t d h s e , m th g a o t tohne.ir campWewell enough that once the town taken, the famous northern fort won't hold out a fortnight, deprived, as it will be, of water and everything else, the moment our horses set foot upon the Simpheropol road. This is the real state of things. We are receiving reinforcements daily. The English will very soon have 20,000 wooden huts, all made in England. We hive provision:. a , cured for four months to come, and want fur neither wood nor water. The disposition of the army is excellent, and in spite of everything, the general health of the men i s goo d . Gi ve us a few fine days, such as to-day, and you will see whether, with the man who commands us, we shall be , long before we take the town. It will cost us much, i doubtless, but it will be done, and " Vive I"Empereur.' f M. Digby Seymour, M.P., is appointed Recorder of Newcastle•upon-Tyne. This appointment renders neces sary a new election for the borough of Sunderland. SCUTARI, DEC. 10. The following officers are at present in hospital at Scutari : Brigadier-General Adams. Captaix: Adams, 49th Regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland, Grenadier Guards. Lieute unnt-Colonel Halkett, Coldstream Guards. Colonel; Walker, Scots Fusilier Guards. Lieute , a ant Colonel Haly, 47th Regiment. Captai a Cameron, Grenadier Guards. Captain Morris, 17th Lancers. Lieutenant Trevellyan, 11th Hussars. Ensign. Lewis, 20th Regiment. Captai o Rowland 41st Regiment. Captai o Meredith, 41st Regiment. Captai rt Bligh, 41st Regiment. Captai n. Gould, 63d Regiment. Lieutenant Johns, 63d Regiment. Captain Bamford, 63d Regiment. Ensign.. Fraser, 631 Regiment, at Keellali. Lieut.- Colonel Daubeney, C. 8., 55th Regiment. Captai a Brown, 55th Regiment. Lieutc a: a';'Twysclt n 55th Regiment. C tptai.] King, 55th Regiment. Lieute a ant Ellis, 4th Dragoon Guards. Assist: - t-Surgeon Nott. Lieute tant Stephens, 21st Regiment. Liente want Clarke, 21st Regiment. Ensign Owens, 331 Regiment. _ _ Captain'. Butler, 20th Regiment. Captai i Shipley, 7th Regiment. Lieuteaz,nt butler, 7th Regiment. Captain Sykes, 4th Dragoons. Lieutenant Hartopp, Ist Royal Dragoons. Lieutenant Aldridge, 21st Regiment. Lieute) &ant Smith, 95th Regiment. Captain. Mande, Royal Artillery. Captain. Ingleby, Royal Artillery. Captain Harris, 63d Regiment. Captain. White, 17th Lancers. Lieutenant Wallis, 33d Regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Mauleverer, 30th Regiment. Captain Rose, 30th Regiment. Major WMahon, Staff. Colonel Warren, C. 8., 55th Regiment. Lieutenant Rotheram, 20th Regiment. Lieutenant (or Ensign) Bennett, 20th Regiment. Lieutenant Radcliffe, 88th Regiment. Captain Shuckburgh, sth Fusilier Guards. Lieutenant Bennett, 33d Regiment. Lieutenant Newingham, 63d Regiment. Lieuten ant Morgan, 63d Regiment. Dr. Moore, 6th Dragoon Guards. Lieutenant Hobson, 7th Fusiliers. Captain Aldvrorth, 7th Regiment. Captain. Crosse, 88th Regiment. Lieutenant Baines, 88th Regiment. Lieutenant Lempriere, Royal Engineers. Assistant-Surgeon Fyffe, 30th Regiment. Lieutenant Hobbs, 30th Regiment. Lieutenant Streatfield, 44th Regiment. Major Sluarp, 20th Regiment. Major Whimper, 55th Regiment. Captain Gubbins, aide-de-camp. Captain Vialls, 95th Regiment. Captain Baddeley, Royal Artillery. Captain Hume, 55th Regiment. Captain Campbell, Ist Royal Dragoons. Captain 3lPonnell, 92d Regiment. Captain Boldero, 21st Regiment. Lieutenant M,Donnell, 95th Regiment. Lieutenant Fitzroy, 41st Regiment Lieutenant Hopson, 7th Regiment Lieutenant Coney, 7th Regiment Lieutenant Sayer, 23d Regiment Lieutenant Curry, 19th Regiment Lieutenant King, 21st Regiment Lieutenant Buller, 57th Regiment Ensign Cahill, 49th Regiment Lieutenant Greenwood, 33d Regiment Lieutenant Bush, 41st Regiment Brevet -Major Erskine, 33d Regiment Captain Sargent, 95th Regiment Captain De Horsey, Grenadier Guards • The nominal return of deaths at the hospitals from the 4th to the Bth inst. inclusive is as fol lows :- Lieutenant H. C. Harriott, 41st Regiment, wounds, Dec. 8. Private Walter Rhodes, Grenadier Guards, feloris, Dec. 5. Corporal Thomas Moreton, 23d Regiment, diarrhoea, Dec. 4. Sergeant John Forsyth, Ist Battalion Rifle Brigade, wounds, Dec. 4. Private Charles nagger, 20th Regt., diarrhoea, Dec. 4. Private Chas. Eggington, 95th Regt., diarrhoea, Dec. 4. Private Wm. Taylor, 4th Regt., diarrhoea, Dec. 4. Private George Lynn, 634 Regt., diarrhoea ' Dec. 5. Private James Burrows, 55 th Reg t., diarrh oea, Dec. 5. Private Samuel Bendel], Royal Artillery, diarrhoea, Dec. 5. Private Thos.Whitson, Gren. Gds., contusion, Dec. 4. Private Henry Pettet, Coldstream Gds., vulnus, Dec. 4. Private George Smith, 21st Regt., vulnus abdomen, Dec. 5. Private Joseph Keep, 49th Regt., compound fracture, Dec. 5. Private Mark Clarke, 23(1 Regt., diarrhoea, Dec. 5. Private John Foker, 63d Regt., wounds, Dec. 5. Corporal John Daniels, Scots FusilierGds., diarrhoea, Dec. 6. Private James Bunting, 05th Regiment, dysentery ; Dec. 5. Private William Kenning, Grenadier Guards, vulnus, Dec. 6. Corporal George Gunyon, 95th Regiment, wounds, Dee. 6. - - Private John Tarlton, 34th Regiment, Diarrhoea, Dec. 6. Private Charles Madge, 17th Lancers, dysentery, Dec. 6. Private John Moxon, 13th Light Dragoons, pleuritis, Dee. 6. Private William Marley, 17th Lancers, diarrhoea, Dec. 7. Colour-Sergeant Patrick Glynn, 88th Regiment, wounds, Dec. 6. Private George Clarke, 33d Regiment, pneumonia, Dec. 6. Private George Grier, Scots Fusilier Guards, diar rbce, Dec. 6. Private Edward Stofer, 95th Regiment, diarrhoea, Dec. 6. Private William Vere, Royal Artillery, wounds, Dec. 6. Private George Halloworth, Coldstream Guards, dysentery, Dec. 6. Private Henry Judd, Scots Fusilier Guards, diarrhoea, Dec. 6. Private Robert Wicks, 20th Regiment, diarrhoea, Dec. 7. Private George Finn, 63d Regiment, wounds, Dec. 7. Private Joseph Garside, 47th Regiment, dysentery, Dec. 7. Private John Wilmott, Ist Battalion Rifle Brigade, wounds, Dec. 7. Private Joseph Fallow, 2d Brttalion Rifle Brigade, diarrhoea, Dec. 7. Private James Sullivan, Ist Regiment, diarrhoea, Dec. 8. Private Robert Reed, Scots Fusilier Guards, vulnus, Dec. 8. Private John Stainer, 95th Regt., diarrhoea, Dec. 8. Private George Alder, Royal Artillery, fever, Dec. 8. Sergeant William Deegan, 77th Regiment, fever, Dec. 8. Private William Greatreaks, Greadier Guards, fever, Dec. 8. Private Joseph Moore, 13th Light Dragoons, diarr hoea., Dec. 3. Private James Glover, Scots Fusilier Guards, febris, Dec. 8. Private Richard Godson, Ist Regiment, diarrhoea, Dec. 7. The number of burials was 17 on the sth, 10 on I the 6th, 10 on the 7th, and 16 on the Bth. THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN AND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANIES.—A final meeting, con sisting of managers, deputed by the London and North Western, Great Western, South Staffordshire, Shropshire Union, Shropshire Canals, the Duke of Bridgewater's trustees, &c., and other interests, was held at the Queen's Hotel, Birmingham, on Saturday last, to arrange and determine the_ increase of rates which is to commence on lines running north of London on the Ist of January, 1855. The discussion was understood to be chiefly in reference to the goods traffic upon trunk and branch lines, which have hitherto been considered as competing railways. The result was that after the' date named, goods of all descriptions, viz., manufactures, minerals, luggage, parcels, and all the varieties of articles, whether manufactured or in the raw state, will be subjected to a large increase of charge for conveyance. Similar ar rangements have been made with regard to the passen ger traffic. The Lord Chancellor has presented the Hon. and Rev. Frank Sugden to the Vicarage of Brignall, diocese of Ripon ; the Rev. James Hugh Bacon to the Vicarage of Baxterley, diocese of Worcester ; the Rev. Cyril W. Wood to the Vicarage of Aswick, and the Rev. E. Ed- munds to the Vicarage of St. Michael's, Southampton. CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.—To-day the provision with respect to dogs being used for the purpose of draught will come into force. Dogs are not to be used through. out the United Kingdom to draw trucks, barrows, &c., under penalties. DEATH OF THE REV. RICHARD DILL, OF BALLYKELLY. .---We regret to announce the decease of this much esteemed minister, which took place on Tuesday last. For some time past Mr. Dill had been in a declining state of health, and had retired from all ministerial duty.—Banner of Ulster. SNOW F O WLS.—Numerous flocks of these winter visitants are now seen about our shores—in some cases so large that they number many thousands of birds. These snow- buntings, as they are termed, come in large flights to the Scottish coasts at this season of the year, and many of them fall a prey to hunger and the fowling piece. —John O'Groat Journal. AT COURT. —A person recently returned from Europe told his friends he had been presented at Court there. gi D o you see the Queen there ?" asked one. " Well— no—l didn't see her 'zactly, but I zeed one of her friends —a judge. Yer see," he continued, "the court I wa s presented at happened to be a police court. — American Paper. LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.—The British and North American Mail team-ship Asia, Capt. E. G. Lott, sailed this forenoon for Boston, with the usual mails, about 120 passengers, and a full cargo of valuable mer chandise on freight, Amongst her passengers was Ge , ;Aral money, UNDED. TIZE CRIMEA. STATE OF TB (From the Times.) What remains of more than 50,000 men, the best blood of this country, which now represents, 3,000 miles from home, the glory, the influence, the courage, and the ability of our race ? The England of European his tory is now in the Crimea. We have defied the largest army in the world, and, if we have not backed our chal lenge with quite sufficient strength or promptitude, we have at least made an effort beyond all former example. At this moment it would be rash even to conjecture the fate of those hardy survivors of the 54,000 men. Do they still maintain the unequal fight—chilled, drenched, famished, utterly neglected ? - Has a slight aggravation of their many ills--a drop of the thermometer some de grees below zero, or a few inches of rain, extinguished them altogether, - or left scarce enough for a safe retreat ? Or may we dare to hope that desperation itself has urged the brighter alternative, of a dash at the city, with a somewhat less cost of life than would attend an other month of inaction ? After the dreary, and ever still drearier, history of this siege, we cannot hope as much. Yet, if that has not been done, what is the other alternative It is, that the army is now in a worse condition than ever it was. We say this deliberately. The reinforcements and supplies that have been sent out would up to this, December 23, only keep the army numerically at the inadequate force at which it landed, setting the certain drain by death and sickness against the reinforcements, and the consumption of food and material agairst the supplies. But, if that army is numerically no larger, it is physically and morally much worse. It is true we have been making immense efforts lately, but no one can say how much everything has been re tarded, even at home, by the pressure and by the elements. With the westerly gales of the last few days, nothins , but the most powerful steamers can get down the Channel or out of the port of Liverpool, nod many sailing vessels and screw steamers of moderate capacity are weather-bound. Not a rail, not a "navvy, and but a few "huts," have yet left these shores. Immense quantities of warm clothing, of potted meats, and Christ mas dinners, and we know not what besides, are still in our harbours. With such weather as we have had, one cannot but have great fears for the many heavily-laden vessels that are out at sea. At all events, if the army should want supplies at this moment, we are unable to send them. All this is bad enough ; but, dark as the picture may be at this end of the passage, it is worse at the other, because more hopeless. There is no use disguising the matter. We are not speaking from our own correspondence only. We are not saying what we think alone; We say, on the evi dence of every letter that has been received in this country, and we echo the opinion of almost every experienced soldier or well-informed gentleman, when we say that the noblest army England ever sent from these shores has been sacrificed to the grossest mismanagement. Incompetency,. lethargy, aristocratic hauteur, official indifference, favour, routine, perverseness, and stupidity reign, revel, and riot in the camp before Sebastopol, in the harbour of Balaklava, in the hospitals of Scutari, and how much nearer home we do not venture to say. We say it with extreme reluctance—no one sees or hears anything of the Commander-in-Chief. Officers who landed on the 14th of September, and have been incessantly en gaged in all the operations of the siege, are not even ac quainted with the face of their commander. It has always been imagined that the Duke of Wellington's personal appearance was a familiar thing to every sol dier in his army. He is related to have said no man was fit to command an army who could not ride well a cross-country. People talk of his eagle eye, his ener getic voice, his calm manner, as if he were personally known throughout his army. Is all this a myth, or has war so changed that a campaign or even a battle can now be transacted in an office by means of aides-de.camp and orderlies F If the staff itself made up for the invisibility of the commander, we should not complain of a military fiction bearing a strong resemblance to the privacy and inviolability of the Crown. But, unfortunately, the staff is said to consist of young gentlemen whose honour and courage nobody can doubt, but who are devoid of experience, without much sympathy for the distresses of such inferior beings as regimental officers and privates, and disposed to treat the gravest affairs with a dangerous nonchalance. Unfor tunately, too, all the results agree too nearly with the fact of an invisible commander. Had the eye of a general fallen on the confusion in the harbour of Bala klava, on the impassable state of the road from that place to the camp, on the miserable condition of the camp, on the state of the trenches, on the unprotected state of the right flank before the Battle of Inkerman, and before that, on the circumstances under which the fatal charge of Balaklava took place, we can hardly suppose but that so able a man as Lord Raglan un doubtedly is would have prevented such errors and neglects. We only echo the feelings of every letter from the seat of war. In the officer and the private alike we find a quiet, resigned, unimpassioned conviction that the whole affair is bungled in the most hopeless and horrible manner. Everybody perceives it in his own state, in the fate of his comrachs, in the condition of the camp, and in the progress of tie siege. Young gentle. men, bred in every luxury, and with an ample store of every military comfort, were still at the last date wearing day and night nothing but the threadbare clothes and worn-out boots in which they landed on the 14th of September. They had no means of getting up the things lett behind in the transports. What becomes of everything sent to- Balaklava nobody knows, but wh.le they are rotting, thousands are perishing for want of them. Everybody can paint outsomething that should be lone, but there is nobody to order it to be done ; and 50,000 men, or what now remains of then), are drifting with their eyes open, but h and-bound, spell-bound, towards ' destruction. Do any of the letters, or any of the regi mental officers returned from the war, give a different account ? On the contrary, does it not come within everybody's knowledge, es it does in ours, that the let ters handed about in private circles, and not published, lest, they should prejudice the writer in the eyes of his superiors, give a far more gloomy account than any let ters that we have ventured to publish ? The burden is forced upon us, and we must spak out. Good nature is a pleasant thing iii its way, but, if Eng land is ever to be ruined, it will be by unseasonable good nature, by unlimited condonance, connivance, indulgence, and all the softer forms of virtue. England has not be come what it is by good nature, nor is good nature the one sole element of our social and commercial system The period for good nature is over in the Crimea, and sterner qualities must now be invoked into action, unless we would throw away the last chance that remains for redeeming the character of this country, now in fearful jeopardy. Send out some man with competent ad ministrative powers to the necessary basis of our ope rations Constantinople. Give him the command, of the hospitals, that present so scandalous a con trast to the French hospitals ; the command of the post-office, and of transports waiting for orders ; and give him also the ordering of such supplies for the army as can be procured in that neighbourhood, and which the French have not obtained before us. Nobody has yet had command of this important station who was fit for anything else than to be the figure-head of his own ship. There is Sir Charles Trevelyan, for example, who pos sesses the administrative power of 50 old admirals. Why not send him as High Commissioner to the Bo . phorus ? Send somebody to Balaklava with a head on his shoulders and a competent staff, so competent, both in numbers and ability, that the whole work will not immediately change hands on the death or removal of one man • and let everything sent for the army, the offi cers or the privates, be addressed to this officer, who shall be answerable for its delivery. Must we stop here ? Shall we be true to the statements we venture to make above, if we imply that Constantinople and Balaklava are the only places wanting reform ? No, we shall not ; so we will proceed. If Lord Raglan is the man he is thought to be—and nobody doubts his high courage, his perfect coolness, and his great ability in his former employments,—he wants better instruments. He wants better coadjutors and staff,—men who will supply that übiquity of which the chief is incapable, tell him everything, convey the wants of the army, take orders, and see that they are executed. Send out men who will save the army not from the Russians, though they are formidable enough, but from despair, which is weighing down the spirits of every one, and an utter distrust in the arrangement of the expedition. It will be of little use to send out reinforcements by thousands unless we take steps for their better management. As it is they march to their graves, and begin to perish by scores from the hour they land. Misrule receives them on the beach, and wearies them, worries them, drenches them, shivers, them, and so destroys them, till a few spectral figures are all that remain. The soldiers of the Pen'n sula, when they saw the Duke of Wellington after an absence, used to exclaim that his face did them more good than the arrival of ten regiments. Such a head, or coadjutors equivalent to it, is what we want for the Crimea. .. - Chief. And we know that letters actually rectiied from the Crimea have expressed impatience and irrits. . .; tion because the army has not ere now been led on'to, ;: storm Sebastopol. But the critics, though anlinet - ed by. the sane amiable spirit which inspires the unemployed' - - leaders of an opposition to carp and cavil at every net • of more fortunate rivals in office, and disparage their - abilities, have been at least modest and gentlemanly in their language. And it can be said in extenuation of the murmurers in the camp, that raw soldiers, expe riencing for the first time the trying severity of a winter campaign, and incapacitated both by position and lack of experience, to estimate the full strength of the ob• stacles opposed to them, may chafe at delay, and pro. test that they would prefer death as the result of a brief fierce struggle to the risk of lingering disease - and an inglorious end. But the General who is responsible for the issues of the war—to whom is entrusted the assertion of England's honour—dare not listen to such rash and headstrong counsellors. True, the ranks of our army in the Crimea were at one time thinned to a hazardous extent true, the necesity of bringing up fresh siege artillery and additional stores of ammunition bas caused delay—true, the roads in the Chersonesus have been for a time al most impassable on account of the deep mud —true, disasters have been occasioned by storms in the Black Sea ; but what would be the fee ings of remorse and self-condemnation of the Commander-in-Chief, were be, in a fit of despondency, under these accumulated diffi culties, to it rifice 5,000 of Lis bravest soldier s (the very lowest estimate of the loss of life a storm of Sebastopol would occasion, by those who have urged him to set all on the hazard of a die), and to be taught in the course of a few days by the arrival of Mr. Peto's navvies with their rails, and of fresh supplies of men, ammuni tion, and artillery, that be had been causelessly prodical of the best blood of England ? There are times when it is the duty of a general to cheer on his me n to the onslaught ; there are a l so t i mes w h en it is his duty to check and curb their headlong ardour though they strain like greyhounds in the slip. This is the most difficult and thankless task that can devolve upon a Commander-in-Chief. The murmuring of those who see nothing but what is passing in their immediate vicinity is a venial fault ; but for tho se who, standing remote from the scene of act ion, can overlo ok the whole • tions at home, in the Cri mea, and on the seas between —who, from t o f o n r o m t beinga comparat i vely e s truggle, are in a wh j u d gm e n t—to echo and exaggerate these compl aints , is condition injustice to the leaders of our army and treason to the national cause. We do not complain of the publicity that has bee n given to complaints from the camp. But for that publi city we do not believe that such strenuous efforts would have been made to repair errors, and improve the defec tive organisation of some important departnients of our army. But we are entitled to demand that the home public—and, above all, those who aspire to heleaders and mouthpieces of the home public—should make-these revelations the means of effecting needful reforms, - not a mere excuse for inflated declamation and malignant per- sonalities. The difficulties with which Lord Raglan - has lad to contend ought to be taken into account. He.has an inefficient commissariat, the natural consequence of the department having only recently been trans ferred from the inappropriate control of the Trea sury to an extemporised War Department. He has a medical staff and subordinate officers, all whose means and appliances have been systematically cur tailed for years, in consequence of crude and mis taken notions among men in office of what constitutes real ;'economy. He has an army brave and well disci plined, but not seasoned to those hardships and priva tions which in time of war try the constitution of the soldier. Are we to infer that Lord Raglan is not aware of these deficiencies, and is not anxiously seeking a re medy, because he does not run hither and thither through camp,fithdeinghis griefs a cacklingna annoyances to every likeahenabout t man fr olayani abets ni That he has been exerting himself to remedy the disad vantages accruing from the inability of our young' Sol diers to endure with impunity protracted exposure to wind and weather has been made evident in the oourse of the debates on the Foreigners Enlistment Bill. It is he who has urgently drawn the attention of Ministers to the speed with which ouryouthful soldiers are transferred from the camp to the hospital, and the necessity of en rolling seasoned veterans under our banners, whose em ployment may give time to habituate our English - levies to the influence of climate and exposure. Is it likely that while urging this point he can overlook the ne cessity of providing proper shelter for his army, im proved organisation of the transport and commissariat service, and augmented means of medical assist once ? Is it a fault that instead of wasting time in comforting assurances to those who have repre sented what was amiss, be has been corresponding with Ministers with a view to amend it ! The charac teristic taciturnity of the Duke of Wellington exposed him,during the earlier years of the Peninsular campaigns, to numerous imputations of the same kind as are now poured forth against Lord Rag!an ; the Duke's pub lished despatches prove that while assailed by these calumnies ho was straining every nerve to procure sup plies for his soldiers. That example ought to teach modesty to our fireside critics, now censuring Lord Raglan, who has too much business on hand to have leisure to tell the whole world what he is doing and planning. A day will come when history shall deliberately sera• tinise and expose all errors that have been committed in the course of the war, and appOrtion to every man con cerned his share of tl►e blame. Nay, at a much earlier day it will be the duty of the Legislature to institute such inquiries. But the duty of the present hour is action, not inquiry. Enough it we can at this moment repair delays and oversights by bringing to bear upon all who take part in the management of the war sxch a pressure of public opinion as will compel them to exert themselves to the utmost. Common justice, com mon decency, common regard for the national interest, demand that no matt shall be condemned unheard, or upon fragmentary, partial, anonymous delations. (From the Daily News.) If -Englishmen retain that love of fair-play which used to be the boasted characteristic of the nation, the mendacious calumnies vomited forth by the Times on Saturday against Lord Raglan must have excited an all pervading sense of disgust and indignation. A grossly exaggerated picture of mismanagement in the army of the Crimea is wound up by the unblushing falsehood : " No one sees or hears anything of the Commander-in- Chief." The imperturbable sang froid of Lori Raglan under fire at Alma excited a burst of generous admiration from the late Marshal St. Arnaud; at Balaklava he was pre sent, the inspiring and directing genius of the scene ; at • Inkerman he was in the heart of the melee ; scarcely a letter reaches us from Sebastopol in which mention is not made of Lord Raglan's reconnoitring expeditions. And yet the Thersites of Printing House-square shame lessly affirms that he is nowhere to be seen. The Ther sites of old, with all his base malignity, did not raise his shrill discordant voice to be heard within the walls of Troy ; but our Thersites screams with the conviction that every word he utters is heard, and eagerly dwelt upon in St. Petersburg. How the Czar and his Minis ters must congratulate themselves when they hear the E n glish General thus calumniated in his absence by English demagogues. They will remember the destruc tion brought upon Athens by similar calumnies vented against is general: by the very refuse of the citizens. Can it be the self-pilloried hero of the A g amemnon' s masthead at his dirty work again ? Can it be one whom British soldiers once looked° up to with pride as the eloquent champion of their reputation whenever it was assailed ? Be the slanderer who he may, his assassin-like stab at the absent, and the unpatriotic pandering to the interests of the enemy, must expo se him to the loathing and scorn of every true-hearted Englishman; if ever his unlucky name shall transpire. We rn have indeed heard of military critics at boe, w ho edify their privileged coteries of gapingadmirers . by demonstrating that Lord Rrglan possesses the qua lities of a General of Division, not of a Cortanander•in. TliT SCREW' STEAM-SHIP AHPILION. The Amphion remains waiting orders. A suorey on Ler boilers and machinery was held at Sheerness on Saturday, her last voyage, has been underway for 200 days. This ship, left the Downs on the 13th of March last, and proceeded to Wingo Sound, arriving there on the 18th. On her leaving Copenhagen on the let of April her first employment was cruising off the coast of Courland, to intercept Russian vessels on their way home. She was employed on that duty up to the 28th of April, on which day she entered the ice in the Gulf of Riga, cutting her way through it, in company with the Cruizer, and there captured the Russian bark Carolina, and the Gebroders ; the ice was very thick at that time. A number of paddle-wheel steam-tugs were sent out from Riga to tow the merchant vessels then in the ice into safety. In consequence of the thickness of the ice neither the Amphion nor the Cruizer could get near to them. The Amphion was repeatedly fired on from the forts. All the shots from them felt short. The Am phion then left Riga Bay and proceeded to Faro Sound to coal, and immediately returned to the coast of Courland, for the purpose of intercepting neutral vessels with contraband of war and destroying Rus sian property. On the 15th of May the Amphion's boats proceeded into Libau, and succeeded in get ting eight Russian vessels. The Ainphion, was afterwards present at the operations before Bo marsund. Her boats, under the command of her gallant commander, her first and fourth lieutenants, and Mr. A. G. Bogle, mate, were the first to land on the Russian soil, or rather mud, close under the Russian batteries, and the last-named gentleman had the honour of hoisting the first English Jack on the Russian soil at Bornarsund. On destroying the forts she returned to her former station, her commander being senior officer on the coast of Courland. On the large screw-ships being recalled to Kiel this ship formed one of the flying squadron under Captain Watson, of the Imperieuse, cruising at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, until late in November, at which time considerable bodies of ice had formed, nearly closing the Gulf. She then re turned to Faro Sound with the flying squadron, on the Ist of December, the ice having then set in throughout the Gulf. She left Faro for Elsinore on the 3d of De cember, and arrived at Elsinore on the 7th, where they found eight ships belonging to the flying squadron. All the officers of the flying squadron were invited to par take of the hospitality of Messrs. Deacon and Reynolds, the English Admiralty agents there, who gave a magni ficent ball, which was numerously attended by all the elite of the surrounding country for many miles round: In return, on the following evening, a ball was given by all the officers of the squadron, to which all the youth and beauty of Elsinore, Copenhagen, and the sur rounding neighbourhood were invited. More than 250 met in the Assembly-rooms. Dancing commenced at 9 p.m., and w as kept up with the greatest spirit until five a.m. next day, when the officers left to proceed on board their respective ships, preparatory to proceeding home. The Ampbion weighed the same day at 10 a.m., passed the Scaw on the 14th, arrived off Orfordness on the 18th, and at Sheerness on the 21st. Mr. Powess, midshipman on board this ship, had a most miraculous escape from being killed or drowned. As be was ascen di n g the futtock shrouds to go in to the foretop, the ratline he bad hold of broke, and he rolled down thefore rigging, fallipg overboard. The leadsman at the time was taking a cast of the lead, the ship going through the water at least six knots. Fortunately, the lead line got entangled with one arm, taking two or three turns r ound the arm, and the p oor y oun g fellow was to wed, some times under water and somet imes abov e , until the aycouldbe stop on ped board . h boatAewas was quickly as very much h uresdt w e . On being broughtd, (but recovered i n a few days. During the period this ship wa s cruisin g off the coast of Courland ship'sleoxwae she captured .a small Russian vessel and took her in tow, but she fortunately sprung a leak, and her crew, consisting of two men and a female passenger, wer e taken on board. The woman app eare d to have the greatest confidence in the security o f h er position, and , as far as it was possible to un d ers t an d her, she ex pressed her heartfelt thanks fur all the kindness shown. She continued to be th e i r messmate f o r 10 days, and became quite domesti ca t e d . Sh e was at length taken ott board her Maje s ty' s s hi p A rc h er , b o und for Memel, previous to which a very liberal subsc ri p tion was g ot up among the officers, and presented to her in the uame of the mess. TWO PERSONS IOUND DilOWNED.—Yeaterday infor mation was received that a man of respectable appear ance had been found drownedin the London Docks. A bunch of keys and some articles marked H. Freeman were found on the body, whiph was removed to the dead-house to be owned and for an inqnest. Also that of a nother man apparently about 35 yearset in the Thames, off the Bishop's walk, Lambeth:- 'lt now lies ,at the beth dead - house. 4 t, .~'.~:, P- 7 h - : f! I l