The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-22 00:00:00

LETTERS FROM THE CRIMEA.

less diffi-
The Times' correspondent, writing from Sebastopol under
date of 4th January, says
We have had a heavy snowstorm last night and this
morning. The fall has ceased, but the snow lies several inches
deep on the plateau, On the white surface the irregular col-
lections of huts have something the appearance of groups of
farm buildings, while the more distant tents, dingy in compa-
rison with the dazzling whiteness of the ground, might be
taken for heaps of hay or manure. On all sides, at the dis=
tance of about three-quarters of a mile, our horizon is
limited by a haze a few shades grayer than the snow,
and semi-transparent, so that figures are dimly seen
walking within it, The wind howls drearily round
the huts, but the snow lends light to the foreground, and the
temperature is milder than it has been for the last few days
—far milder than it was on the 2nd, a piercing day of frost,
wind, and sleet. Fatigue parties, in their short fur-lined
coats, their heads protected by those black 'sealskin caps
the shape of which reminds one of pictures of Russian travel-
ling, bring up firewood on their shoulders to the different
commissariat stores, and a considerable amount of snowballing
goes on among them in the intervals of their toil. Here and
there carts move slowly through the deep snow, in which,
hard by my window, some Tartar dogs are now disporting
themselves, apparently quite in their element. The winter
piece is complete, and not unpicturesque. But it suggests a wish
that the whole, instead of part only, of our army had more
substantial shelter than tents against the sharp wind, the drift-
ing snow, the bitter cold that will attend a return of frost, and
the chilly floods which a thaw must inevitably bring. Well pro-
Ovicitxl in most essential respects the soldiers certainly are well
cii,. icfl mid well fed; but it seems strange That by this time they
should n.:t all have been hutted. Huts are getting up, how-
ever,pidity ; along the road to Balaklava, one
datty meetswith gtirtees,alar:,,
of
men
bringing.up
ihe planks on their
shoulders, and it is to bd Doped that befpre the heavy rains
set in there will be few uncle canvass. The amount of labour
that has been expended on this British eamp in the Crimea
is enormous. It would have built a city of no mean aspect in
some more faymred situation, where mrterials were
ealt to obtain and easier of transport. It lies built
su a
rfac towe
n—
a scattered and irregular one, spread over a large in
vapy B
P
grousi CPc§ tll9,
. _

are not a few of stone—small, but snug and well-built edifices,
quite able to resist even Crimean rains and winds, and fitted,
many of them, with' fire-grates from Sebastopol. If the army
were to quit the Crimea, leaving its stone and earthen' huts
standing, many a Tartar would find a better dwelling than he,
perhaps, had ever before enjoyed, and would marvel at the inge-
nious and comfortable contrivances of the invader. Some of the
stables, too, are wonderfully perfect and well contrived, and
must have cost an immensity of labour. I rode down, a day
or two ago, into the valley towards Karanyi, where the heavy
batteries are, and saw some truly admirable stables. The
stalls were paved ; there was a clean path down the centre ;
there were racks for the hay and well-made wooden mangers,
bound and striped with the iron bands that confine the com-
pressed trusses—excellent mangers—economical of corn, and
which the horses cannot bite. It had been found that the
horses sometimes pushed out the planks of the stable huts;
so stone Walls were built up outside to a sufficient height to
prevent this. In short, although some of the men were still
under canvass, the horses of the artillery in question could
hardly be better cared for, and the condition of those I saw
corresponded with the pains that had been taken to protect
and preserve them. •
The health of the camp continues good. As far as I have
been able to ascertain, the average amount of sickness does not
exceed, if it quite reaches, 10 per cent. But a large proportion
of the cases are of a trifling nature, and the mortality is small.
We must be prepared to expect some increase when the rains
return ; but we may venture to hope that this will not be
great, since the men are well provided, and, as it appears to
me, in excellent condition and good spirits. The bringing up
of planks from Balaklava, and the other necessary fatigue
duties, give them sufficient exercise to keep them in health_;
for the recruits there is squad and adjutant's drill, when the
weather permits ; and drunkenness, from all I can learn, is
much less rife than it was last autumn. lam assured that
the average amount of punishment for drunkenness having
lately been computed, was found not to exceed a half per cent.
per diem—a small per centage—to which, however, must be
added a somewhat larger one for men who get drunk and es-
cape punishment. There can be no doubt that in the autumn
issues of back pay, and the difficulty of transmitting money,
aggravated the evil.
A letter from Marseilles of the 17th inst., in the Constitu
tionnel, says,—

"Among the pessengers who embarked this morning in the
Clyde, for Alexandria, were Count Dumonceau and Viscount
Desmanet, who have been sent on a mission by their Sove-
reign, the King of the Belgians, to the Viceroy of Egppt.
Four Sisters of Jesus also took passage in that packet for
Alexandria, whence they are to proceed to Bombay, their
place of destination." --
MARSEILLES, Jan. 18.—A telegraphic despatch, received
here last evening, announcing that the Russian government
had accepted purely and simply the Austrian ultimatum, pro-
duced quite a panic this morning on the corn-market. Wheat
fell 4f. the hectolitre, and there are few purchasers to be found
•
even at that reduction.
The Journal de Constantinople has a long paragraph about
the construction of a canal from the Danube to the Black Sea
setting forth all the advantages to be derived from such au
undertaking. The Imperial firman which grants the right of
constructing this canal to a company formed by some finan-
ciers of London, Paris, Vienna, and Constantinople was signed
on the 4th of January.