The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-13 00:00:00

THE WAR.

INTELLIGENCE from the seat of war in the Crimea becomes
daily more meagre. Incidents of importance enough to arrest
the attention of the special correspondents of the daily jour-
nals are seemingly of rare occurrence ; and a nearly equal
scarcity of events is characteristic of the official despatches.
Under these circumstances speculation on probabilities and
retrospection of past occurrences fill to a great extent the still
voluminous accounts furnished by newspaper correspondents.
The Times' special correspondent, writing from the Fourth
Division Camp, on the 25th of October, gives the following
account of an

INTERCHANGE OF CIVILITIES BETWEEN
SOME BRITISH SAILORS AND THE
RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES,

The inhabitants of the little village of Karani (says he),
situate about midway between Balalilava and the Monastery
of St. George, who had remained tranquil in their habitations
during the whole of the siege of Sebastopel, receiving for a
part, if not for the whole of the time, rations from the allies,
to save them from starvation, expressed a wish, since the fall
of the place, to be transferred to a point of the Crimea occupied
by the Russians. Communications were made to the enemy
and arrangements made to that effect, and on Saturday last
they were embarked for Kaffa. Prince Victor of Hohenlohe
was in command of the vessel that took them, and was accom-
panied by Major Ross and by some other officers, who went as
amateurs. Hango not being yet forgotten, due precautions
were, of course, taken, and strict formality observed. Off
Kaffa a Russian officer came on board to arrange about land-
ing the emigrants. He remained to luncheon, and, on its
being intimated by some of the English that they did not ex-
pect to be allowed to land, he thought it possible they might,
and, finally, land they did. No sooner had they got on shore
than they were surrounded by a crowd, including a immber of
Cossacks, who came down full speed. .Each one of them was
forthwith elevated upon a high Cossack saddle—rather an
awkward seat for equestrians unaccustomed to such machines
—and away they went at a scamper. Everything
was done Cossack fashion—full gallop. 'they were taken to
the country-house of Prince Gagarin, about two miles from
shore, and were there courteously received by the Prince him-
self; a man of some 60 years of age, minus a leg, which he
lost when campaigning in the Caucasus, and who went about
on crutches. The Prince spoke French, and told them he
understood English. Chairs and a table were brought out
of the country-house (over which the visitors were shown),
and wine and fruit were placed before them, whereof they
partook. The conversation was well sustained, and, judging
from the account of it given me by an officer present, almost
cordial. Subjects connected with the war were not altogether
excluded, and incidents of the siege were related. In the
course of the conversation the Russian officer who had gone
on board said something to Prince Gagarin, in which the
English present distinguished the word " Kinburn." The
Prince replied by a passionate exclamation, unintelligible to
his foreign guests, and presently asked them what was the
latest news. " Nothing from England," was the reply, " but
in the Crimea the attack upon and capture of Kinburn."
The Prince appeared to feel the intelligence painfully, but
merely shrugged his shoulders, and remarked that it was " /a
fortune de la guerre." He informed them of rather a curi-
ous fact, which was, that by the great explosion of the French
magazine in the Manielon, at the end of August, persons in
Sebastopol were killed and wounded. When they returned
on board he sent them a supply of wine and grapes, which
they had expressed a wish to purchase before they knew that
they would be allowed to land, and requested some tea in re-
turn. Tea, cheese, and other things that it was thought
might be acceptable were sent to him, and thus terminated
this friendly little episode of the war. The officers returned
to Balaklava on Tuesday, much pleased with their trip. I
omitted to mention that they were permitted to see and con-
verse with two of the men of the 10th Hussars made prisoners
in the late skirmish at Kertch.

The same correspondent, writing on the 27th, in reference to
the state of feeling in the Camp, and • the anticipations as to
future events, says :

Now the excitement caused by the hope of offensive opera-
tions and by the uncertainty in which every one was kept
about his own movements has subsided, and all sanguine ex-
pectations of victories and rewards have sobered down, the
allied camp begins more and more to assume the character of
a cantonment. As visions of glory are:laid aside for the year,
thoughts of comfort begin to arise in every mind.
Naturally enough, comfort suggests the idea of home ; those
who cannot indulge in this are thinking of making their win-
ter establishment as snug as possible. There seems to be not
much faith in huts, so whoever can contrive it puts up a stone
house, which is the height of ambition of every comfort-seek-
ing individual. There was once a pleasant fancy, which arose
in looking at the white houses of Sebastopol, and theatres,
clubs, and even balls were not thought impossible for this
winter; but what with our shot and shell, and the bonfire
kindled by the Russians before they left the town, very little
beyond the four smoky and loopholed walls remains of most of
these dwellings, and the difficulty of quartering the army in
the town arises not so much from the fire of the north side—
although that would not have been without its drawbacks
either—but from the circumstance that it would require more
labour to repair those ruins than to make the armies comfort-
able on their old camping ground. But the ruins of Sebasto-
pol, although they are not available for quarters, are rich in
beams, planks, doors, windows, locks, and many other articles
which are eargerly coveted by everyone in the camp, and
especially by those who aspire to stone houses. Here, where
no fixed laws of construction prevail to the detriment of
originality, individual taste has full scope, and it is curious
to see how much more strongly this shows itself in the En-
glish than in any other corps. In the French and Sardinian
camps one pattern, with a few modifications, serves for every-
one, while in the English each man follows his individual
taste, and there are consequently as many different styles of
architecture as there are architects. This variety prevails
not only where individual taste is the lawgiver, but even
where the single regiments ereet works of public utility—for
instance, cook-houses.

The next best accommodation for winter, after the stonehouse,
is considered an underground hut; and whoever has the good
fortune of possessing one from last year trusts to it, and makes
only the necessary repairs, while others are in the course of
excavation. They require less labour and material than the
stone houses, so many who cannot get these latter content
themselves with the more primitive construction. Wooden
huts are the pis aller. Only those who cannot afford either
a stone mansion or an underground hut resign themselves to
wait for them. They are, however, late in making their ap-
pearance. Scarcely a single hut has yet been erected, beyond
those which existed last winter, so that many even of the old
regiments have not more than half-a-dozen of them ; in the
regiment* which arrived in spring and in summer there are
none at all.

Most of those which have stood since the beginning of this
year have to undergo a thorough repair. The new ones which
are sent out now seem not much better. I saw one the other
day which had been quite recently erected ; all the wood is
cracked and full of crevices, and the knots falling out fast,
leaving circular holes which produce a very pretty effect when
the sun's rays pass through them, but which do not promise
much comfort for the winter.

I have not seen the double-boarded ones erected, but all the
others require sundry contrivances to make them air and
water tight before they will afford much shelter. It is a pretty
general opinion that a double tent well excavated would be
much more comfortable. The latter has the advantage that it
is not so frequently chosen as a sporting ground by rats and
mice, which have increased incredibly since the fall of Sebas-
topol. It was not so much felt when there were plenty of pro-
visions still remaining in their old quarters, but since the
town has begun to be cleared out a grand migration seems to
have taken place in our direction, and cats are at a higher
premium now than ever.

Besides road-making and hutting attention is turned to
getting up provisions to the general storehouse erected behind
the Second Division, ss well as to the divisional storehouses,
so that any interruption of the traffic from unforeseen circum-
stances may not have any prejudicial effect on the supplies of
the army. Even the transport mules have a brighter prospect
before them than the few which remain from last year could
have anticipated, There are arrangements made in each divi-
sion for stabling them.
Thus, you see, care for comfort has banished for the moment
all other ideas. This is the case not only in the English
army before Sebastopol, but all along our extended line. From
all we can see, the last directions about the positions which
the allied armies are going to keep during the winter, have
been given, and all the movements going on are rather to re-
gulate the details than with a view of making any material
changes. The position chosen is certainly such that very
little fear can be entertained of any disturbance from the Rus-
sians. Both armies will be opposite to each other on a series
of heights, with only a few accessible points, and separated by
a kind of neutral ground formed in part by the Tchernaya
valley, which, as soon as the rains begin, will be a most effec-
tual barrier to an attack from either side, and on our right by
the low range of hills which form the banks of the Upper
Belbek before it enters the defile near Albaud. The road over
Alsn, which, as I told you in my last letter, the French were
constructing to connect their position on the heights of Ozem-
bash with the rest of the line, is progressing rapidly, and will
be available in a short time.
The apprehension of a Russian attack seems to have com-
pletely ceased for the time being, but the troops still turn out
for parade before sunrise. As a great part, principally of the
English army, has to go out every day for fatigue parties, this
is the only parade they ever have, and I suppose it is kept up
more for this than for any other reason.