The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

little town of Dardanelles, to rescue a prisoner, one of
their native officers, who had been confined for violating
the wife of a dragoman. Having effected his release, they
proceeded to the house of the general, where they de-
manded the man's arms. These, after some parley, being
given up to their threats of violence, the late prisoner very
coolly loaded his pistol before the windows, and then joined
his comrades, who marched through the town in the three.
tion of the civil hospital at Renkoi. At five o'clock the
next morning they presented themselves before a farm in
the Troad, belonging to the English consul, and seized
whatever they could lay hands on. The brigands carried
off about twenty sheep, several horses belonging to the
Land Transport Corps which were down there, and about
6,000 piastres which were in the house. After this for a
time their movements were unknown, but information was
received in a few days that they were en route for Smyrna.
Meanwhile a Turkish guard had been sent to the hospital
and village, and the ladies brought back to Dardanelles,
where the consul received them into his house. Since
then, however, the Bashis have again made their ap-
pearance at Renkoi, and plundered several houses ; and
now it is supposed they will disperse in small bands
among the mountains, and become the terror of the
neighbourhood.
SIEGE CHRONICLE.

Further letters from the camp have arrived,
bringing intelligence to the 14th instant. Writing on
that day, the Daily News correspondent gives the
following view of the state of affairs:—
- - -

The events of the past week have not been marked by
any striking features. The French works destined to act
against the shipping in the roadstead and the approaches
against the Malakoff have been steadily advancing. The
new batteries in our position have also been making favor-
able progress. The enemy had maintained a very deter-
mined opposition to these advances, and, especially from
the direction of the Hellen, had kept up a constant
discharge of shell and grape against our working parties.
It was determined, therefore, to make the attempt of
silencing some of the guns of the Redan, as well as of in-
terrupting the works known to be in progress there ; and on
the 10th instant, a tremendous fire was opened against it,
and maintained nearly the whole day. The fire of the
enemy against our working parties has been less active
since that date, but it is doubtful whether any of the
enemy's guns were injured. On the extreme left great
tranquillity has been preserved.
The general health of the troops engaged in the siege
operations continues excellent. Dysentery and fevers are
the prevailing diseases. Cholera appears almost to have
entirely quitted the front of our position, although it still
clings to some peculiar situations. The temperature has
continued very high.

The subjoined extracts are from the camp diary of
the Times correspondent:—

Jory 10.—This morning we were roused by a pretty
heavy firing on the Redan, which, commencing at daybreak,
lasted for nearly four hours. About eight o'clock it gradu-
ally died away, and for the remainder of the day the occa-
sional booming of the guns was heard as it has been heard
daily for many months. The cause of this morning's
activity was that the Redan was impeding the construction
of the heavy battery by which the British hope to reach
the shipping, and either to destroy them or force them to
leave the position which they have held with such obstinacy,
and which they used with such effect on the 18th of June.
It will be remembered that on that day the Russian vessels
moored in double line across the harbour, fired broadsides
on the advancing allies, and mowed them down with more
fatal effect than even the works of the Malakoff and Redan.
The French especially suffered much from this terrible fire,
which was sustained during the whole action, and General
Pelissier, though by no means a cautious commander, is
understood to shrink from sending his troops to be a second
time exposed to such a reception. The general opinion is
that no new attack on the Malakoff ought to be hazarded
until the fleet is dislodged from its position, and driven
into a part of the harbour where it will be ineffective against
the allies. Of course I say nothing of the means by
which this is to be effected. At present everything seems
to betoken on both sides the busy preparation for a deter-
mined attack and stern defence. On our part it is only
the repetition of what has often been described—the cease-
less landing of shot and shell on the encumbered wharfs
of l3alaklava, the toil of waggons and of strings of mules
along the parched and thirsty road, while the wind carries
its clouds of dust before it, enveloping whole convoys, and
making them invisible for minutes together, or whirling
along in et'dies with a spinning pillar of dust like a water.
spout. The monotony of the trenches is relieved by the
conviction that a few days will see a renewal of the efforts
which were unsuccessful three weeks ago. The French
are making visible progress in their sap towards the
Malakoff. Half way between this stronghold and the
Mamelon, where our allies are firmly established, a long
trench is visible, which shows how far they have advanced
in the interval since the last attack. The Russians have
made no serious attempt to retake this latter position,
although the night before last they made a little sortie, in
which some sharp fighting took place, the end of it being
that the Russians retired after somewhat interrupting the
French works. But the enemy is, no ioubt, much more
actively employed in strengthening the Malakoff itself,
which he must feel to be the key of Sebastopol. Should
this now celebrated hillock fall into the hands of the
allies, no ingenuity or obstinacy of defence can delay the
capture of the southern side beyond a few weeks. There
is every reason to believe that the Russians are day and
night at work deepening the ditch and constructing abattis.
A very large body of troops is constantly under arms, and
every means are used to avoid a surprise like that which
gave the French such easy possession of the Mamelon.
But it seems to be not alone the Malakoff and Redan
which the enemy is strengthening. The Russian engi-
• neers are evidently constructing works on a very high

S A.TURDAY,

scale behind the fortifications with which we have been
brought in contact. The whole harbour is alive with boats.
Craft of all shapes and sizes are continually crossing and
recrossing, carrying gabions, faseines, and trunks of trees
for the construction of abattis, as well as provisions and
ammunition. They discharge their cargoes and imme-
diately return for fresh ones, each boat seeming to make
some twelve or fourteen trips a day. The ships' boats
seem all to be employed at this work, which is no doubt
performed by the sailors. The large supply of wood
yielded by the forests of the Crimea has been one of the
chief aids to the defence of Sebastopol. Fuel for the
steamers and for cookery has been obtained in abundance,
and the want of coal has probably been little felt. Treta
felled and brought a distance of ten or twelve miles form
the strong abattis, six feet high, which is one of the chief
defences of the itedan. Fascinea for the works have been
obtained from the same quarter, and are brought in vast
quantities.
The great number of arabas captured by the French in
their expedition across the Tschernaya would seem to indi-
cate that large means of transport exist in the peninsula;
but the forage for sustaining the beasts which draw the
Russian carts and the herds of cattle with which the gar-
rison is supplied with meat must now begin to fail. In
the spring and early summer the country is covered with a
rich long grass, which is sufficient for all the purposes of a
most extensive transport and commissariat. As June
draws to a close this begins to wither, and, although the
present summer has been more than usually cool, and the
north winds have kept the atmosphere moister than is
usually the case, yet in the vicinity of our camp such a
thing as a green blade of grass is hardly to be found, except
close to the Tschernaya. The other streams of which the
Russians have possession are of much smaller volume than
this river, and the steppe to the north is without doubt
entirely dried up. Hence will arise difficulties in the
means of sustaining their army which will try all the skill
and energy of our enemies.
The camp is healthy enough, and it is probable that the
summer will pass away without any of that sickness to
which the nation has looked forward with such forebodings.
The heat is by no means equal to what has been the
general temperature of the country in former years; in
fact, both here and in Turkey the summer has been cool,
and fever and diarrhcea have prevailed to a less extent
than usual. Belaklava has been, it is true, much afflicted
with cholera, but the scene of its greatest ravages was the
top of the harbour, where many thousand Turks lie with
only a few inches of light mould between them and the
air, and where the bodies are often laid bare in all their
hideous ghastliness by one of the thundershowers of the
Crimea. The vessels outside the harbour were tolerably
free from the disease, and since the crowd of transports.
which lay touching one another in the narrow and land-
locked port has been somewhat thinned the place may be
said to have become tolerably healthy. If a low and sultry
village like Balaklava be free from disease in the middle
of July, there is little cause for melancholy forebodings as
to the health of troops encamped on a lofty plateau, ex-
posed to every breeze that blows, and far removed from n
too prolific vegetation. Last year the seeds of cholera 111141
fever were brought to life by encampments in wooded
Bulgarian valleys, in the vicinity of fetid morasses. or
within the limits of a crowded and filthy seaport. 'the
disease thus engendered was brought by the two armies to
the Crimea, where privations and fatigue caused it to ex-
tend its ravages far beyond the season at which they gene-
rally cease. Before Sebastopol the allies are encamped on
a spot where no deleterious emanations can reach them,
except those engendered by the necessary irapurites of a
camp, and these, through the care taken in burning or
burying all offensive matter, have as yet had little 'fleet
on the health of the troops. As to fever, the usual season
for it is June, and this month is now passed without ally
unusual sickness in the camp. It is therefore to be hoped
that the autumn will pass away without any serious
calamity.

JULY 11.—To-day heavy shelling from the Redan.
Lieutenant Monsell, 30th Regiment, was killed in the
trenches. The French are fast completing their battery
at the. Ouvrages Blanca. I have to relate the melancholy
deaths of two gentlemen connected with the commander-
in-chief. One is Colonel Vico, French Commissioner at.
the head-quarters of the British army, and holding the
same situation which General Rose holds with General
Pelissier. The death of Colonel Vico was caused by
cholera, which has struck down so many of the notables.
of the camp within the last few weeks. Mr. Calvert, a
gentleman well acquainted with the Russian language, and
employed as interpreter and confidential agent to the
commander-in-chief, is also dead. People are beginning
to fear that the pretty little farmhouse where Lord Raglan
established himself on his arrival before Sebastopol must
be placed on a spot more than usually subject to malific
influences. Certainly, fatal cases of disease have followed
one another with a rapidity unknown in other ?arts of the
camp, and the impression which might be made on the
minds of people at home by the deaths of several distin-
guished officers in succession would convey too unfavorable-
an idea of the state of the army in general.
JULY 12.—Nothing new to-day. The French and Turks-
have finally returned from their reconnaissance, and the
country about Baidar is again in the hands of the Cossacks.
The quantity of cattle driven in by them is very great.
The beasts, though not of the large size we are accustomed.
to in England, are finer and better fed than those obtained
in Asia Minor—at least, as we see them after a voyage
across the Black Sea. An attack on the Russian position
is considered all but hopeless. Nature seems as if she
had constructed the plateau they occupy as a vast defensi-
ble position, which 50,000 men may hold against four
times their number. Of the reduction of Sebastopol
proper before the winter I have no kind of doubt. That
the Russians will hold out with all the obstinacy of their
character, even after the destruction of their ships and the
capture of the Malakoff, msy be expected; but the posses

JULY 28, 1855.

sion of a new position, commanding the harbour and the
bridge of boats which crosses it, must eventually cause the
enemy to retreat. The Russian generals, though brave
and determined on an obstinate defence, may fairly receive
credit for the possession of prudence and forethought. As
long as a place can be held with a chance of success, or
even of damaging the enemy, they will hold it; but all
their proceedings give reason to believe that they will not
allow their troops to be cut to pieces merely for the credit
of having made a desperate resistance, and held, without
advantage, for a short time longer an untenable position.
When they see that their retreat is seriously endangered,
it is not improbable that they will altogether abandon the
southern side, which they can hardly hope to hold should
the allies be able to command the harbour. They no doubt
count at least on being able to prolong their resistance
until the winter sets in; if that be impossible, they will
most likely withdraw to the northern side, which it may be
impracticable to lay siege to before the spring of
What may be done during that time to strengthen the
works we may judge from the industry and skill with
which they have laboured in the defence of Sebastopol
proper.
To-day Major-General Barnard was appointed chief of
the staff, in the place of General Simpson. Rumours pre-
vail that a new commander-in-chief is to come out from
England. Whether this be true F have not yet learnt, but
it is to be hoped that the Peninsula and Waterloo, at
twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, will not be the
only qualification.
The Commissariat, both in the Crimea and at Constan-
tinople, is making laudable preparations for a regular
supply of provisions during the coming winter. Depots
are to be established at Ismid and Sinope, and a regular
transport service will be organised between various places
on the coast and the port of Balaklava. Sheds for 4,000
cattle will be constructed near the camp. The chief dOll.
eulty will be in the land transport, which will require all
the care of the authorities to render it complete when the
season of mud and snow again recurs. The railway is not
as firmly laid as could be wished. The late storm washed
it away in several places, the sleepers being merely placed
on the soft yielding soil, which after the heavy rains of
November becomes a mass in which horses' hoofs sink to
the depth of eight or ten inches. A Commissariat should
have its own transport at its own command ; but under
the actual system requisitions must be made on the Land
Transport Corps, who even in the present summer weather
often cannot supply mules, other requisitions having been
made on them for carrying up ammunition. Some persons
go so far as to prophesy for the army as great an irregu-
larity in provisioning as was the case during the past
calamitous winter; but the very fact that these dangers
are foreseen and discussed is a warrant that they will not
recur. At any rate the crushing burden of overwork will
not press on our men, for we have the French on all sides
of us to take part of the labour of the trenches. • singular
fact elicited by Sir J. Macneil, but known to all acquainted
with the army, is, that during the winter every man cooked
hie own food. The cold and weary soldier, creeping back
from the trenches, found hie junk of salt meat, which he
must light a fire to cook, often with wet wood, probably the
work of more than an hour. The consequence was that he
often devoured the food in its raw state, or contented
himself merely with ruin and biscuit. A better system has
begun to prevail with regard to cooking, which, it is to be
hoped. will be developed and perfected before the return
of inclement weather.

JULY 13.—Last night the Russians kept up a tremendous
fire. It has been blowing a gale for the last twenty-four
hours, and the wind bore the sound of the heavy guns
towards us, so that the very ground shook. lam sorry to
say that the battery which the French have constructed
between the Mamelon and the Malakoff has been knocked
to pieces by the powerful fire of the latter fort. A colonel
and about thirty officers and men were put hors de combat,
and the siege works have received a decided check. In
fact, as the allies advance to the actual defence of the place,
they must expect to meet more elaborate works, and ob-
stacles heaped on one another with all the care which nine
months of preparation admit. Even now the enemy are
strengthening the Malakoff every day. It is not what it
was on the !nth of June, and a fortnight hence it will not
be what it is now. The battery at the White Works, how-
ever, still goes on, and its effect will be proved in a few
days.
JULY 11.—Nothing new up to eight o'clock this morning.