The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-30 00:00:00

RUSSIAN DARING.

A story is afloat that a few nights ago three boats, taking
advantage of the darkness, quietly crossed from the north side,
and entering the Karabelnaia port, proceeded towards some of
the sheds on the Dockyard-quay. Having arrived at the
stairs, some Russians landed, and; finding they were unob-
served, removed a certain amount of stores, with which they
got back safely to their own side of the roadstead. This feat
might be accomplished with the greatest ease, unless the
sentries were on the alert. The guard, which previous to this
occurrence was a subaltern's, has since been increased to a
captain's guard. Whether captains, such as are now not un-
frequently met in some of the regiments, with little more than
two years' service and experience, and mere striplings in years,
are much more likely to take the necessary measures to pre-
vent the recurrence of similar deeds on the part of so cunning
an enemy as the one to whom we are opposed, is a matter for
the consideration of military authorities.
HEALTH OF THE TROOPS.

The troops continue remarkably healthy. Their duties are
comparatively light. Excepting the guards for the divisional
staff establishments, the usual regimental guards, and those in
the part of Sebastopol occupied by the British, they are chiefly
employed on fatigue duties ; such as making the military roads,
collecting stones from the batteries, building walls and enclo-
sures for the commissariat stores, or stabling for the animals
belonging to the Land Transport Corps, draining the camps,
repairing the water tanks, collecting gabions from the trenches
or enemy's works—these being the only wood issued at present
for fuel—or other employments of a' like nature. There are,
consequently, few night duties, and this is, doubtless, one cir-
cumstance which is greatly conducive to the present sanitary
condition of the men. The younger soldiers are being in-
structed in drill, and many of the regimental parade grounds
present the appearance rather of what might be expected to
be seen at an encampment in England, than under the walls
of Sebastopol. The Highland Division are making prepara-
tions for changing their ground near Samara. The brigade
will move about a mile further in the direction of Baidar, and
the other regiments will take up positions, though not so far
from the site of their present encampments, towards the same
point. In consequence of the departure of the Ottoman troops
for Asia, the greater part of the outpost duties, which were
formerly performed by them, will now devolve upon the men
of the Highland Division.
IMPORTANT CHANGE IN THE POSITION OF
THE ALLIES. .

Notwithstanding the uncertainty which has followed the
rumours current in relation to the manceuvres of the con-
' flicting forces, some considerable alteration in their relative
positions appears certain. On this subject, the correspondent
of the Times, writing on the 13th inst., from the camp on the
Tchernaya, says :
After I last wrote to you, a considerable change took place
all along our line. It is one of those changes which, without
materially altering the relative positions of the two parties,
serves to determine more distinctly their respective situations,
and thus puts an end to the vagueness and uncertainty which
must have struck every looker-on as the characteristic feature
of the epoch which has elapsed since the fall of Sebastopol.
First of all, on the line of Sebastopol itself we seem evidently
to have changed sides with the Russians, and to have become,
from an attacking, the attacked party. In the last few days
the time of the siege seems to be again revived, and the sound
of siege guns which, since the Bth Sept., only at long intervals
' interrupted the silence, is beginning again to tire the ear with
its monotony. The Russians have eonstructed and armed a
series of new batteries, and have opened a brisk fire from them
' against the few French batteries which have been thrown up
to annoy them while they were working. On the Tchernaya
and on the Baidar line, on the contrary, our position has
changed by are advance of the Sardinians and the French. The
Sardinians, who had hitherto only a small detachment on the
other side of the Tchernaya, have, since Wednesday last, the
10th instant, taken up a position on the plateau running along
the left bank of the Tchouliou river, as high up as Upa. The
next day a battalion of infantry and a squadron of cavalry went
up to Ozembash, and made the round over the plateau leading
down towards Aitodor. There is very little to be seen of the
Russians in that neighbourhood. They have entirely left the
left bank of the Tchouliou, and their most advanced Cossack
videttes are down on the road where it approaches the gorge
formed by the Mackenzie plateau, or Ackyar, and the rocky
eminence of Mattgup Kaleh. This latter has the most extraor-
dinary appearance, being, as it were, torn away from the two
ridges between which it stands. It presents a close resem-
blance to one of those steep, rocky eminences, rising abruptly
from the plain below, and on which the former rulers of India
loved to erect their so-called impregnable mountain fortresses.
Of the old castle, supposed to be erected by the Genoese, only
a ruined tower is seen from this side, built quite close to the
edge of the rock, and intended probably more as watch-tower
than as a defence, as, from its elevated position, overlooking
the whole country around, it is peculiarly fit for that purpose.
A similar kind of watch-tower, but smaller, is seen about the
middle of the Mackenzie plateau, overlooking the valley of
the Tchernaya, the plain of Balakfava, and the plateau of the
Chersonese, down to the sea. It seems the ancients under-
stood the importance of these ridges as well as we do, and that
they were quite aware that their possession gave the mastery
of the interior of the Crimea. Besides the road which runs
through the defile formed by the Mackenzie ridge and the
rock of Mangup Kaleh, there are two roads which lead up from
the Tchouliou valley to the Mackenzie plateau. The one to
the right branches off from the Aitodor road, and runs up on
the last projecting spur of the ridge ; the other leads up through
a break in the steep cliff, and seems the better of the two ; both
are occupied and fortified by the Russians, but only on the first
there seem to be guns. From the high ground above Ozembash
you can see behind the plateau occupied by the Russians. It
appears to the eye like a gentle slope bounded by another pla-
teau exactly similar to the first, but, if possible, even steeper.
The inhabitants of the villages seem to be well enough satis-
fied with the change from Cossacks to French and Sardinian
soldiers, only, as may be naturally supposed, they are in a
great fright lest. the Russians should again return; their
__ti,-14.ar-..,0-cotaac6s, treat. they try, as best
they can, to make a precarious livelihood by bringing up
to the French and Sardinian camps whatever they have
left—fruit, eggs, fowls, and sheep. Unfortunately there is
not much remaining. The loss which they most feel is that
of their cattle, which makes it impossible for them to plough
their fields. Although the ground all around is considerably
broken up, whatever can be cultivated seems very good, and
is, as they say, more than sufficient to feed the population;
but they have had no harvest this year, having been prevented
from sowing by the services which they had to perform, and
then by the final loss of their cattle ; so they are obliged to
bring grain and flour from the villages on the banks of the
Upper Belbek, which have not suffered so much, as they
supply not only these villages, but likewise those in the
valley of Baidar, where you continually meet natives bringing
back provisions. Those of the valleys of Baidar and Var-
noutka have hit on another means of subsistence. They carry
wood to Balaclava in their arabas, and bring back what they
want from there. The business is not unprofitable, as they
get for an araba load from 7s. to 9s. Thus you see, instead of
the Crimea supplying us with provisions, we have to supply
the inhabitants. The only exceptions are the villages on the
Belbek, which the French entered the same day as the Sar-
dinians advanced. The French can draw at least, for a time,
their whole supply of fresh provisions for them ; besides, they
have found there a large quantity of hay which the Russians
left behind them when they retired. By this recent move
the French have come close to the Russian positions at Albat
and Airgul-.-there, if at all, the Russians must make their
stand. According to the accounts one hears, the Russians
have thirteen infantry divisions opposite to our lines. One
which guards the fortifications on the north plateau, and two
at the first Inkerman lighthouse, whose camp can be plainly
seen with the naked eye; two others distributed on the
Mackenzie ridge; and eight which guard the series of pla-
teaux from Baktchi-Serai down to Aitodor, and river
courses of the Belbek, Katcha, and Alma. As long as we
had not advanced to the Upper Belbek there was a kind of
neutral ground between us and the Russians, but now we
close upon them. Fot-Sala, which is now in the possession •
of the French, is only about nine miles from Baktchi-Serai.
From other and in not a few distant sources we learn that
the positions of the two opposing forces are such as to cause
the most lively expectations in repect to their immediate
future.

PROBABLE RETREAT OF THE RUSSIANS.
BERLlN,Wednesday.—lt is reported here that Prince Gorts-
chakoff has represented to the Emperor Alexander that there
are great difficulties in his present position, and asking for
instructions as to whether he shall risk a decisive battle or
evacuate the Crimea. The Emperor has thereupon sent
Generals Benkendorff and Hackelburg to the Crimea to make
a personal inspection, and upon their report future movements
depend.
The Times' correspondent writes :

Private letters from officers of the French army state that
the Russians will avoid as much as possible giving battle in
or out of their entrenched positions. Some of the officers are
even of the opinion that Prince Gortschakoff, seeing no possi-
bility of keeping his communications open and regularly
receiving supplies, was actually preparing to evacuate the
Crimea. A confidential letter, addressed by the Russian
General-in-Chief to Prince Paskiewitch, is said to mention
such a movement as probable, if not unavoidable.

A letter from Sebastopol of the 9th, in the Semaphore de
Marseilles, says :

The Russians keep firing from the north on our position,
but without doing any material damage, and the general
opinion in the camp is, that the fire is only intended as a blind
to conceal the retreat of General Gortschakoff. It has, in fact,
been remarked that the Russian forces diminish every day,
and it is known by means of spies that they have decided on
concentrating their forces towards Simpheropol. It is every
day expected to see the Russians terminate their work of
destruction by blowing up the Northern forts.

The Courrier de Marseilles, of the 21st inst., publishes the
following letter, dated Sebastopol, the 7th inst.:—
We have been informed that the Russians intend to con-
centrate all their forces on some point of the Crimea, proba-
bly at Simpheropol. It is added that the evacuation of the
northern part of Sebastopol has been for some time decided,
and we have ourselves observed that the Russian troops occu-
pying those heights are gradually diminishing in number.
We, nevertheless, still perceive a few battalions, occupied in
erecting field-works and batteries ; but this may be a blind to
deceive the allies, by making them believe that they do not
intend to evacuate their position. Whatever may be the point
of concentration chosen by Prince Gortschakoff, should the
winter be mild, that is rainy, their army must inevitably perish,
for we positively know that they have not opened a single
new road, and that all those existing in the country have been
rendered almost impracticable by the recent rains. This ac-
counts, no doubt, for the Russian soldiers wearing heavy
boots in the summer as well as in the winter. If, on the con-
trary, the winter be rigorous—that is, if ice and snow cover
the ground—it will be impossible for them to travel over the
country in sledges, and to receive provisions. Marshal Pelis-
sier continues to advance into the interior, slowly, it is true,
for it is necessary to construct roads for the passage of the
artillery and heavily-laden waggons. The plan of the generals-
in-chief is not known. They appear intent on advancing as
far as possible, but the execution of this plan must depend on
circumstances. The same secrecy is observed with regard to
the destination of the expedition about to sail from Kamiesch.
It is believed, however, that it will proceed to the peninsula of
htTTidra, in order to keep in check the forces concentrated at
eholaiefl and Perekop. This, however, is a mere surmise, for
111 secret is so well kept, that the commanders of the different
ships are ignorant of it themselves, being directed not to open
their sealed orders until they reach a certain distance at sea.