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

EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.

The correspondent of the Daily News writes under date of
the 23rd ult., that on the 21st an extensive exchange of pri-
soners was effected at Odessa. In addition to the mate,
boatswain, and two sailors of her Majesty's gunboat Wrangler,
who were surprised and taken a few weeks ago at Yenikale,
the Russians delivered up over one hundred and thirty-two
others English, and tlio hundred and eighty Turks, the latter
captured at various periods within the last two years in Asia
and on the Danube. The ceremony is described as follows :
About ten, a.m., on Sunday, Captain Methuen, accompanied
as before, and bearing with him his prisoners, rowed ashore,
and was received at the landing-pier in the Quarantine by
General Krusenstern, commandant of Odessa ' • Lieutenant-
Colonel Prince Mestschevsky, aide-de-camp to Count Strog-
anoff, the governor-general of Bessarabia ; and the chief of
police, with a numerous staff of attendant officers. As it was
necessary that the documents connected with the exchange
should be signed by Count Stroganoff, an orderly was
despatched to his excellency, who resides in a country house
on the outskirts of the town ; but, in the meantime, the
count himself came in, and was present during the remainder
of the proceedings attending the embarkation. In the
course of the conversation at this interview, the com-
mandant of Odessa put several incidental questions about
the recent capture of Kinburn, and, amongst others, in-
quired if any of our (English) floating batteries had been pre-
sent. On receiving an answer in the negative—the French
being the only ones he replied, in a tone that gave additional
of his uncomplimiierry estimate of
force to the expression
our allies' courage in naval operations, _
—alluding
pas de
grand courage pour un equipage
.cache" 11 to
.the
shot-proof construction of the batteries. 11e further inquired
the names of the two admirals, and was informed_ that,
.in
consequence of his recent promotion, M. Brunt, being senior
in rank, commanded in chief ; on which the general, turning
-to one of the others present, remarked in German, " Ist es
Moglich !" (Is it possible !) In the meantime the liberated
prisoners were being taken on board a small Odessan steamer,
and conveyed to the Colombo, in the roads, at the end of

which operation Captain Methuen and his party returned on
board their ship, pleased with the courtesy they had received,
all the prisoners—who seem to belong to every grade and rank
—speak in terms of high eulogy of the liberality and general
kindness with which they were everywhere treated. Even the
Turks, who, of course, fared worse, admit they were well lodged,
fed, and clothed. After having been variously scattered
about, the whole were collected into one depot at Voronetz, a
considerable town about 300 miles S.E. of Moscow. More
than one Voronetz " Miss Nightingale" ministered with all
woman's assiduity and tenderness to those who needed more
than common care. About a month before their departure for
Odessa, a party of about fifty English deserters arrived at the
former town. These deserters were, of course, universally
" cut" by the prisoners ; nor did they receive any of the kind-
ness so liberally bestowed upon the latter by the townspeople;
and to resent this, the scoundrels availed themselves of every
opportunity to abuse and otherwise annoy the captives.
There was, however, amongst them one remarkable exception,
whose case excited the merited pity of the prisoners, and which
deserves mention in print. The poor fellow had been a
colour-sergeant in the 79th Regiment, and had been led to
commit the rash act of desertion by having lost the regiment's
money,during a fit of drunkenness,at Balaklava,whither he had
been sent by his colonel to receive it from the commissariat.
Dreading the consequences of his misconduct, and fearing that
he would be charged with stealing the lost cash, and punished
accordingly, the poor man deserted under cover of the dark-
ness to Sebastopol, whence, after a short stay, he was sent on
into the interior. His wife and children are in London, and
the unfortunate fellow was pining away in broken-hearted-
ness for the rash act which he had committed, separating him
for ever from them as it did, and consigning him to deeply-
felt disgrace and wretchedness. In pity for the unhappy
man's contrition and misery, the prisoners invited him to
share in their games and other amusements ; but no effort
could induce him to mix with any of them, or abate his self-re-
proaches. Shortly before the prisoners left Voronetz, the
Russian authorities offered to the whole of the deserters
liberty to return, if they chose, but all—with one exception,
who declared he would rather go and be shot by his country-
men than remain as he was—declined availing themselves of
the permission. The poor sergeant was strongly urged by the
prisoners to accompany them, encouraging him to hope that
his case would be mercifully considered; but the wretched
man's sense of the deep disgrace he had brought upon himself
would not let him yield to their urgent advice.