The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

intent, and a compass in his hand, spent long hours in
elaborating the plan, and he sent it to Constantinople en-
tirely written with his own hand, and without having pre-
viously communicated it to anybody. The Emperor dis-
trusted the observations which Marshal Valliant would not
have failed to proffer, and which he would have impatiently
listened to.
In England, it is said, the conception was received
with the greatest delight:—
The venerable Lord Aberdeen, whose utter want of fore-
sight reminds us so much of M. de Kaunitz, was enchanted
with the boldness of the conception ; the excellent Duke
of Newcastle smiled beforehand at the infallible success of
the allied armies; Lord Palmerston had but one fear—
that of not being able to prove to the Emperor with whit
eagerness England accepted his plans, and how much she
admired his genius.
The Marshal St. Arnaud displayed, it is asserted,
" une activite fabuleuse" in carrying out the design.
o
Fr e first time, we have here what appears to be
a trusthtworthy account of the celebrated council of
war at Varna :
The council of war assembled at Varna in the beginning
of the month of August—the 10th, if our memory serves
us. Marshal de Saint Arnaud presided. He had previously
made Prince Napoleon and Generals Canrobert and Boa-
quet acquainted with the plan agreed upon between him
and the Emperor ; it was the plan elaborated by Napoleon
Il T. himself. It was dated from Biarritz; for it was from
that place that, at that critical period, Napoleon 111. sent
his orders and dated his proclamations.
The marshal communicated to the council the idea of

the expedition
All eyes were turned towards General Raglan. His fore-
head bore the impress of care, and his face expressed for a
few minutes previous all the indecision of his mind.
Lord Raglan put forth as an objection the want of know-
ledge respecting the Russian forces, and respecting the
state of the place on the land side. The maps afforded
no indication. The roads, rivers, and natural obstacles
were unknown. It was a disadvantageous battlefield.
The English general specially remonstrated, on the score
that the army was in want of cavalry, whilst the Russians
were very well provided with excellent horses. That was
not war on equal terms.
Vice-Admiral Hamelin treated the matter with more
animus. According to his opinion the expedition, under-
taken under such circumstances, looked very much like
on
an
adventure l'rince Napole
then spoke for nearly three-quarters of an hour. We must
state here that he expressed at the same time his opinion,
and that of General Bosquet and the Duke of Cambridge,
whom he had seen the day before, and with whom he had
consulted and agreed.
The prince disapproved of the expedition in its principle,
in its execution, in an absolute manner. The Empe
but trorhe
's
authority was, doubtless, very great in the matter;
Emperor, at Biarritz, was not in a position to understand
the practical difficulties of the enterprise
Marshal Saint Arnaud was very sharp in his reply to
Prince Napoleon, and made a few cutting allusions to his
ideas and to his well-known connections. The prince In-
terrupted him to tell him that he chose as he thought
proper his personal friends; and that, as to
rests his idFrance
eas, he
derived them from his sympathy with the inte of
and from the national tradition of the first empire. No
one had a right to sit in judgment upon them but himself.
..... • • . Notwithstanding these judicious ob-
jections, Lord Raglan wound up by giving an affirmative
vote; General Bosquet did the same. This was a grave
error. The four noncontents who remained were Admiral
Hamelin, Admiral Dundas, the Duke of Cambridge, and
Prince Napoleon.
The subsequent events of the campaign are too
well known to need recapitulation here. After Alma,
when the decision was taken that it would be imprde
u-
dent to attempt to carry the fortress by a coup
main, the difficulties in which the allies were placed
became obvious :
If the hand of a man becomes entangled in a pie
vice c
of
e of
machinery, his entire body must follow—the radical
the expedition corrupted all its details. The principle was
false, and the consequences must be fatal. The idea, con-
ceived in Paris, without any practical action, was bad. The
results it might have brought could not be good. From
the 24th of September, the words of the Vice-Admiral
Hamelin had become a fact, " We are sailing at all hazards
for an adventure," and the fruits of the Anglo-French
bravery at the battle of the Alma were already lost.
In noticing the exact reports conveyed to the Em-
peror after the bombardment had been attempted
and failed, we have an explanation of the phrase,
so much commented on at the time, " les avis
timides"
The Emperor was fully acquainted with the most minute
particulars, and with every circumstance and every detail
which could possibly enlighten him as to the actual position
of affairs. He took no notice of these things—he smiled
at these representations with a most deplorable mistrust—
and one day he replied publicly to them by the phrase of
"timid counsels," which struck directly at Admiral Ha-
melin and prince Napoleon, and indirectly at Marshal
Valliant, who more than once expressed his doubts, both
to the Emperor and Prince Jerome, of the success of such
an enterprise.
It has not before, that we recollect, been auth
tatively stated that the sth of November—the
day of Inkennann—had been positively fixed on by
the allies for the assault to take place, whatever
might be the state of the breaches in the fortifies
tions on that day. Shall we refer the Russian attack
to a knowledge of the design of the allied com-
manders, or to pure accident?

THE PRESS.

----------
After Inkermann, it is asserted that Lord Raglan
saw but two courses—" to continue the siege and
await reinforcements, or to re-embark—an extreme
measure, but the principle of which was admitted
by the two Governments at the starting of
the the ex-
pedition." General Canrobert opposed re-
embarkation, and the siege was continued. But accord-
ing to this authority, the total force of the allied
army, with all the reinforcements it has received,
does not now exceed 64,000 fighting men, a powerful
force, nevertheless, if we consider the materials of
1 which it is composed. The conclusion of the writer
is remarkable :
The expedition is condemned; the first campaign has
been disastrous.
The Emperor knew the truth, the whole truth, as to the
worth of Marshal Saint Arnaud—as to the merit of General
Canrobert—as to the importance of the fortifications of
Sebastopol—as to the dangers of an invasion of the Russian
territory—as to the perils of every winter campaign in t
country under the 45th as under the 57th degree of lati-
tude. It is for him to advise .......
The two Governments are fettered,i and are therefore
ces, a-
potent : they will not obtain by r present allianor
by their alliances to come, the fruits whioh they expect—
they will not drive Russia to a peace.
The sum total of the losses to this time by the enemy,
by diseases and cold, exceeds 45,000 dead,
and and 30,0
00
already more
put hors-de-combat. They know all this, ave
acknowledged it.
The continuance of this state of things will loosen the
cordiality of their alliance, and end by dissolving it : they
will destroy each other.
All the advantage of this war—so full of hope in the
beginning, so burthened with happy chances—will be for
despotism, ever represented by the old Coalition.
Prussia knows it ; Austria, her fears once calmed, will
see it in her turn; and Russia will seize the opportunity
to remind them, not in vain, of the past.
The game is not lost; it can be recommenced upon
another basis—upon new conditions, with better elements.
The path followed up to the present time is wrong, and
leads to an abyss : it must be altered.
The expedition to the Crimea is a madness ; it must be
given up.
The remarks on the allied commanders give the
impression that Lord Raglan is too formal for his
post, and General Canrobert too limited in his views.
General Bosquet is indicated as possessing military
genius of the highest order.
The fact of the publication of this pamphlet
—of the enormous sale it has obtained—of its fear-
less tone—and of its important revelations--mark
an epoch in the reign of the Emperor Napoleon.
It would be vain to attempt the suppression of
closures with which every political circle is now
ringing. The censorship of the French press is
baffled, and the memoir of this " Officier General,"
erroneous as it is in many particulars, and evidently
published from most factious motives, may be destined
i to have some serious result on the political situa-
tion of France.

THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
THE following is a list of the London and provincial
journals whose consumption of stamps, according to
the return just printed, exceeded or approached a
million during the course of last year:—

ENOLLND.

Bell's Life
Daily News
Evening Mail
Ezpress 841,000
Globe 850,000
Illustrated News 5,627,000
Leeds Mercury
Lloyd's Weekly London 5,572,000
Liverpool Mercury
Manchester Guardian
Morning Advertiser
------- Chronicle
---- Herald 1,158,000
----- Post 832,000
News of the World 5,673,000
Reynolds's Weekly 2,496,000
Sun
Times
Weekly Dispatch 1,982,000
----- Times

L_