The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-06 00:00:00

JANUARY 6, 1855.

I feel in consequence much depressed, worn out, and
exhausted. A severe chronic complaint I am subject to
having been also extremely aggravated during the cold
nights we latterly had in camp, and which are now be-
coming more frequent and severe with the advancing winter
season. I should not, however, been so prolix, for in
your lordship's letter of the 31st you were pleased to refer
to some of these circumstances as follows: " Nothing can
have been more satisfactory than the whole of my inter-
course with you, and it is painful to my feelings to see it
interrupted. But unfortunately no man can command
health, and you have had to undergo not only great fatigue,
but anxiety of mind, since your division has occupied the
important position it now holds, and so gallantly maintained
under your directions a few days ago."
Such expressions of approval from your lordship are
indeed a great happiness to me to have received.
About a month ago, when the generals of divisions were
surutuoned to headquarters to receive a communication,
your lordship may recollect my mentioning that I had only
been able to attend by taking ammonia and other stimu-
lauts. During the occasional northerly winds I was obliged
sometimes to have my tent for twenty-four hours together
wholly closed, and gave and received orders through my
unopened tent doom. Some also of your lordship's staff
will remember how often iu bringing me orders they found
me on my bed, or rather in my blankets, on the ground,
when I ought rather to have been, if 1 could, on horseback.
1 was well aware, though others may not have been, that
this invalid condition prevented my attending to many
things which I knew it was urgent 1 should have person.
ally seen to and executed.
Under these circumstances, instead of asking your lord-
ship fur longer leave, which 1 ant sure you would grant, I
thick it the inure proper course to solicit your lordship's
permission to resign my staff appointment with this army,
the very arduous executive duties and responsibilities of
which my impaired health and want of strength render me
no longer adequate to. And I trust that the several
wounds I have received, and the services 1 have faithfully
endeavoured to perform iu various parts of the world, will
be deemed to render me deserving to close at length my
active duties, when unable to continue them with justice
to the public service or to myself.
I have now only to repeat my expression of warm grati-
tude for the uniform kindness and indulgence 1 have been
treated with by your lordship.
And have the honour to remain your lordship's most
humber and obedient servant, Ds LACY EvANS.
To General the Lord Raglan, G.C.13.
The following is Lord Raglan's reply, dated Nov.
13, 1854, at night :
My dear General,—Your letter of the 11th only reached
me this afternoon, when I was engaged preparing my
despatches for the mail, and I have not until now found a
moment to reply to it.
' It contains what is, to me, and will, I am sure, be to
the second division, and many others, your gallant com-
panions in arms, most painful intelligence—your desire to
be permitted to resign your staff appointment with this
army, which your impaired health and want of strength
render you disqualified for in your own estimation. Every
man is the best judge of his own feelings and bodily powers,
and I am grieved to have to acknowledge that you may be
right in your impression of them ; but 1, and those whom
you have so recently commanded with such advantage to the
public service, know that your mental faculties and gallant
spirit enabled you, no longer ago than the 26th of last
mouth, to meet the enemies of your country in the field,
and successfully to repel a most powerful attack on the
position occupied by the second division.
I view the loss of your assistance with the deepest regret,
but I cannot ask you to stay after the statement you have
brought before me of your sufferings from illness, anxiety
of mind, exposure to the weather, and over-fatigue. You
will be at. liberty to go when you please, and be assured
that you will carry with you my best wishes and those of
all with whom you have been associated. I trust that
English air and the comforts of home life will gradually
restore you to health, and enable you long to enjoy the re-
putation yout services have acquired for you.
I cannot elope my letter without sympathising with you
on the destliki your first aide-de-camp, Captain Allix, who
appeared to me to be a most promising officer, and fully to
deserve your confidence and good opinion.
Believe me, my dear general, very faithfully yours,
RAGLAN.

. Fs the cant phraseology of America, Maine is the
Star in the East ; New Hampshire the Granite
State ; Vermont the Green Mountain State; Massa-
chusetts the Bay State ; Connecticut the Land of
Steady Habits; New York the Empire State; Penn-
sylvania the Keystone State; Virginia the Ancient
Dominion; North Carolina the Turpentine State;
South Carolina the Palmetto State; and Ohio the
Buckeye State (from the buckeye tree, common in
it). The Vermonters are called Green Mountain
Boys ; the people of Ohio, Buckeyes; those of Ken-
tucky, Corncrackers ; those of Indiana, Hoosiers ;
those of Michigan, Wolverines; those of Illinois,
Suckers ; and those of Missouri, Pukes. New York
is the Empire City; Philadelphia the Quaker City;
Baltimore the Monumental City ; New Orleans the
Crescent City ; and Washington the City of Magnifi-
cent Distances.
OUT of eighteen Custom-house officers stationed
at Gravesend, who voluntarily offered to accede to the
proposition of Government to proceed to Balaklava
for the purpose of assisting in the commissariat de-
partment there, twelve have been selected. They
are to receive as pay 7s. ad. a day and rations, and
be still borne on the Customs' books.

THE PRESS.

ortign 6firrtsponblutt.

Frankfort, Dec. 31, 1854.
I NEED not observe that the towns cf Frankfort
and Mayence are garrisoned by Austrian and Prus-
sian troops, and although the higher military autho-
rities exercise extreme vigilance over their respec-
tive corps, even when partaking of the social enjoy-
ments of life, yet they[cannot.suffocate thought, nor
effectually stop the ready member of its utterance.
"Si pensa poi si parla, e si parlara " was once, said
by the Princess Belgiojoso to Lord Normanhy, in
reply to an advice of caution. Both Austrian and
Prussian officers are given up to their profession of
arms. They consider themselves belonging to a
body that depends upon their personal exertion as
officers to be maintained in efficient service, and
they perform their regimental duty with scrupulous
exactitude. The wearing their uniform is not con
sidered a bore, but a mark of honour, and the mili•
tary governments are willing to adopt any innovation
of dress when proved to be conducive to the greater
comfort and efficiency of the soldier. The fighting-
dress of the Austrian seems to be perfect. His
double-breasted frock-coat, short, and fitting easily,
and without strain to the figure, with,.a trouser of
sufficient fullness, leaves his muscular energy free
for development, and the close helmet, handy cart-
ridge, and short sword, complete his useful equip-
ment. I have seen some of these soldiers run races in
their uniforms without the slightest inconvenience.
The Englishman, with his iron stock, tight coatee,
and straitened pantaloons, would not be able to
disport himself in so free a manner.
The officers, absorbed by their profession, con-
verse freely on military topics, and have watched
the progress of the-Crimean war with eager atten-
tion. They respect the French as an enemy, but
without any unfair rancour will not consent to regard
them in any other light, and this is more especially
the case with the Prussian. The name of Napoleon
conjures up the hereditary animosity, and at the re-
doubted name " ils se dressent,". as the French say,
and according to American vernacular, " lock all our
doors." They are firm Orleanists, and regard Lord
Aberdeen as a tutelary angel, and a sympathiser in
their anti-Napoleonic tendencies. The Prussian
fraternises cordially with his English comrade, as he
styles him, but the 'Austrian is less inclined to make
common cause with his old ally of 1814. Both ser-
vices waited with anxiety for the first collision be-
twixt the Anglo-Frank and Russian armies, and after
the battle of Alma were loud in their praises of the
valour and personal prowess of the allied troops.
Still they held to the opinion that the soldiers of
Russia, of whom they thought highly, had not been
sufficiently tested. The battle of Inkermann, and
the mode in which it was fought, called forth their
deepest admiration, and the unflinching and un-
exampled fighting of our Guards for many hours
against overwhelming numbers, with tlie brilliant
support of the French, has in their mind settled the
question of military supremacy. The charge of
French and English together, so animated and de-
cided, inspired them with a mixed feeling of conster-
nation and approval, and the thought evidently
uppermost in their minds was how soon it might be
their fate to stand against these indomitable batta-
lions. Hitherto the Austrians and Prussians have
doubted the sincerity of the "entente cordiale" be-
twixt the Anglo-Frank allies. They bad an idea
that jealousy would weaken the alliance betwixt the
soldiers, and they clung to the hope because they
had been so instructed that the imperial throne of
France was transient, and that England was Or-
leanist at heart. The thanks of the English Parlia •
went to the armies of France, on which they set
great value, have totally obliterated any lingering
notion that the seeds of disunion can be sown be-
twixt constitutional England and imperial France.
Both the services concur in anathematising the
infamy of that Ministerial abandonment and neglect
to which the English soldiers have been exposed.
They can hardly credit the truth of the accounts
given by the papers, and nothing but the admissions
of the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Sidney Herbert
could have persuaded them otherwise than that they
were the exaggerations of party. To them the per-
mission of such conduct by the country said to be
free, which consent is argued from the continuance
in office of the Peelites, is to them wholly inexplica-
ble. They say, and properly, that in their countries
Ministerial disgrace would have instantly followed
the first proof of a faulty system, and they cannot
understand how a Minister, with the open acknow-
ledgment of guilt, can be allowed to browbeat an
entire nation. Their inference is that, with all our
boast of constitutional freedom, there is still a power
greater than the Constitution. And some risk is ran
by the conduct of the Peelites of England adopting
this AllBtrO-PrUSlSitill opinion.
An old officer of experience, on pointing to the
champaign country betwixt the Odenwexcl and the

Tannus mountains, remarked, " May God avert
that yonder .fine country should become the battle-
field of France and England against the nations of
the North; and then who would be friends, and who
enemies?" The doubt expressed was in allusion to
Prussia. One thing must he laid down as an axiom,
that nothing will tempt a Prussian to side with
France in war. He would rather die. Nor is he less
averse to fight against England. The pressure of
circumstance might induce the Austrian to do either
the one or the other, for that nation will follow the
course which she shall judge most consonant to her
interest irrespective of any feeling.

The Prussian proper sets little value on his
Rhenish brethren, in proof of which, when 1 had
occasion to talk of the Prussians of Cologne, and
thereabouts, the officer to whom I was speaking ez•
claimed, "What, those fellows : Prussians did you
say' l'hisht !" and he kicked a stone that lay in
his path to about twelve yards distance. "Ce sont
les marchands de vinj du ltoi mon maitre, et celui
la nest guere mieuz," pouting to the plat of the
Duke of Nassau. Both Austrians and Prussians
have the most supreme contempt for the principali-
ties of their petty rulers—in fact, the enthusiasm for
the fatherland is a perfect fiction as regards them.
The mission of Herr Von Usedom to England
has been largely speculated upon, and is supposed
to have had other objects besides that of the Vienna
treaty. Poland, Greece, and the Rhenish provinces,
are fruitful of consequences to the powers of central
Europe, and there is a growing feeling of insecurity
that checks any straightforward movement on the
part of the two dominant Sovereigns or Germany.
In the end one must be a loser and the other a
gainer, and each is well aware of the exact position
of the other. They are now sensible that the parti-
tion of Poland was a fatal mistake, and that they
helped to destroy their own barrier against Russia.
In the meantime secret emissaries prowl about, and
there is a constant communication with Brussels and
Vienna.
The Belgian Constitution, in regard to the freedom
of the person, is of an elastic nature, and depends
upon the perfect or imperfect acquaintance of the
Minister with the valve of French woras ; for arrests
are made and parties receive an order to quit the
territory without any recourse to the " tambour
battant" of the Constitution. Two persons of the
highest order of exiles, who bad been residing at
Brussels "en retraite," were lately joined by a third
from this place, and all three left for Paris by a night
train. They were stopped at Lille, and marched off
to prison. All the travellers by that convoy were
rigidly searched, and it was supposed that documents
of the highest importance were seized. The persons
arrested were neither French nor Germans.
A curious circumstance occurred on the Rhine
during the last autumn. The King of the Belgians,
Lord Lansdowne, and Mazzini were in the presence
of each other at the same moment. Mazzini scanned
the King from head to foot. As nothing loses by
retail, it was confidently asserted that Kossuth was
with the Italian. Such was not the case, as that
honest guardian and expert financier never exposes
himself to the risk of capture, and on the other hand
the daring of Mazzini is without bound.
P. F.

fortion anb dolonial 3ntelligtut.

FRANCE.
New Year's•day in Paris was celebrated as usual
by a "reception" among the imperial family, all the
members of which who were in the capital proceed-
ing to the Tuileries to present their congratulations
to the Emperor and Empress. The family dinner
party, which usually takes place at the Tuileries on
New Year's-day, was held at the Palais Royal, the
residence of Prince Jerome, the Emperor being too
fatigued to preside on the occasion at his own table.
The Senate being in the course of the day presented
to the Emperor, with the customary formalities,
the President made a complimentary speech, in
which he said:—
Each year, sire, appears to have for object to add to the
grandeur of your reign. That which has just ended has
given, under your auspices, a new character to the policy
of Europe ; even in the midst of war you have obtained
an alliance which strengthens our country, and striking
proofs of friendship which do it honour. Since your
Majesty will, by an exception with which it is deeply
affected, authorise the Senate to depart for a moment from
the ordinary ceremonial of this day, allow me to express to
your Majesty our confidence in your government, our
gratitude for the heroic co-operation of England, and our
patriotic solicitude for our brave armies, who so gloriously
support in the East the intentions of your Majesty and
the honour of the French name. The year which has new
commenced will not be less propitious, for there is happi-
ness in the policy of upright and loyal princes.
The Emperor replied :
I thank the Senate for the sentiments which it ex-
presses to me through the organ of its President. I shall
always rely on thsco-operation of UK bent' at everything

...NUMNIMI

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