The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-27 00:00:00

THE WAR.

Ir not formally announced, facts and circumstances go far to
warrant the conclusion that active hostilities, at least on a
great scale, have ceased for the winter, in the southern por-
tions of the Crimea. The chief attention seems now directed
to securing the allied armies from the effects of those atmo-
spheric contingencies which, during last winter, were more
fatal to our brave countrymen in arms than even the attacks
of the enemy. While extensive preparations are being made
to prevent a recurrence of those disasters, detachments have
been engaged in expeditionary exploits, in which many gallant
deeds have been performed, and much damage has been in-
flicted upon the enemy. Among the most recent and important
of these has been the destruction of vast quantities of grain
and forage, of last year's crop, on the shores of the Sea of
Azoff. These enormous supplies were stacked in six tiers,
stretching along nearly two miles of the coast, and guarded by
about 4,000 cavalry and infantry, notwithstanding which, the
whole was destroyed by skilfully-executed manoeuvres, under
the direction of Captain Sherard Osborn and Commander
John J. Kennedy, who landed their men, under cover of the
gun-boats, on three different points, and succeeded perfectly
in the object of their enterprise, with casualties amounting
only to six men wounded.
At Kinburn, the advantage gained has been admirably sup-
ported. The garrison has been, as far as practicable, devoted
to preparing themselves with winter quarters. A club-room
is to be constructed, which will be supplied with newspapers
and other periodicals; and one of the officers has been deputed
by his comrades to proceed to Constantinople to purchase
shoes and articles of clothing suited to the climate; and also
fowling-pieces and other implements of sportsmanship. Game
is said to abound in the neighbourhood of Kinburn, and
allured by the desire to possess some of it has been the cause
of several of our officers falling into the hands of the enemy
while engaged in the chase.

In Asia likewise, the prospects of the Russians appear to
be daily becoming more and more desperate. So heavy were
their losses on the 29th of September as to render a close
investment of Kars by them an impossibility, and a large con-
voy of provisions had recently entered the place. At the time
when the latest intelligence left the expeditionary force of
Omar Pasha, a serious engagement between it and the
Russians, numbering about 12,000, was considered imminent.
In the present state of matters, almost the only reliable
sources of information are the official despatches which are
transmitted from head-quarters to the War-office, and com-
municated by the head of that department to the public. The
correspondents of the various journals being mostly resident in
the vicinity of Sebastopol, where little or nothing of immedi-
ate moment is in progress, are of course dependent nearly, if
not altogether, on rumour and gossip for such details of these
expeditions as they are enabled to furnish.
Writing from the camp of the allied armies on the Tcher-
naya, on the 6th instant, the correspondent of the Times
says :

To-day is the 6th, the first of the two days for which the
Russian attack has been predicted, but there is no sign of
Russians, and the camp is as silent as it was noisy last night
•
THE ANNIVERSARY OF INKERMAN.

The sth of November, the anniversary of the battle of Inker-
man, which probably will be likewise substituted by most
people in England for the memory of Guy Fawkes, has been
celebrated in the English camp by bonfires. A number of tar
barrels, which had been brought back by the soldiers from Se-
bastopol, where a great quantity of tar has been found, were
broken open and set on fire. In these were dipped pieces of
rags fastened to sticks, and thus torches were improvised,
which were swung about and thrown up in the air, giving to
the scene from afar the appearance of some pyrotechnic exhi-
bition; but when you came nearer it looked like a war dance
of cannibals, or the valse infernale in Robert le Diable, with
yells substituted for the music. When seen quite close it
formed a picture a la Rembrandt, but the subject reminded
one more of the fantastic paintings conceived by the excited
imagination of some Spanish painters of the monastic school
of terror than the placid scene of the Dntch master, except
that no painter could have given on his canvas the life which
animated the scene. The main group, in the middle, stirring
up the tar-barrels—the frantic attitudes and leaps of those
around, swinging about their torches and throwing them into
the air, and in the background the guard turned out to prevent
disorder, and forming a picturesque contrast in their dark grey
coats with the glaring figures of the chief actors, completed a
most extraordinary scene. The Light Division began the joke,
which was soon taken up by the other English divisions, until
the whole English camp was one blaze of light, and the air rang
with shouts and hurrahs. But it was not only outside in the
open air that the anniversary of the battle of Inkerman was
celebrated. It was kept up likewise in the huts and tents,
and many were the applications for an hour or two's leave to
keep the lights burning. A sort of confused noise, contrasting
with the usual silence of the night, left no doubt that the so-
lemnity was kept up to a late hour. If the Russians did not
remember their defeat as well as we did our victory they must
have been sorely nuzzled at these signs of excitement prevail-
ing over a part of the allied camp, especially if they really had
the intention of venturing on an attack some of these days.
Their telegraphs, as far as we could see from the glare of the
bonfires, were as busy.

MOVEMENTS AMONG THE FRENCH TROOPS.
Since Saturday last, a strong body of French troops has
pitched its camp in the neighbourhood of Inkerman, and was
reviewed the next day by Marshal Pelissier. A great number
of French have arrived lately in the Crimea. To every regi-
ment a draught of 450 men has been sent out, so that, not-
withstanding the casualties which have taken place up to the
end of the siege, the number of French has not only not
decreased, but rather the contrary. Besides these reinforce-
ments which have been added to the old regiments, a strong
new division, that of Chasseloup-Laubat, and the brigade
Jamin have joined. The Garde Imperiale was reviewed
yesterday previous to its departure for France. It is stated
that the regiments forming the first four divisions which came
out are likewise going, with the exception of the Zouaves and
the Legion Etrangere. The Zouaves will be strengthened by
volunteers from other regiments whose time is up, and who
desire to be re-enlisted for another period.