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

The Times correspondent writes on Feb. 12 :

Sir George Brown arrived to-day, and Lord Raglan went
down to meet him, and returned with him to head-quarters.
The weather has changed again. The sun is out, the rain
is over, and a cold, drying wind, is blowing over the plain.
The French are arming our right attack. The left attack
is completely armed. There is no appearance of any con-
sulerable force of Russians either to the north of Sebastopol
or over the heights of Italaklava. All danger of attack
from Balder seems very trifling. It would be almost im-
possible for the enemy to deploy on the hills and in the
ravines over our position, and the plain is impassable for
artillery. The Tschernaya is now our great line of defence,
and it is a line which defends itself. There is only one
bridge over it, and that is not fit for the transport of either
artillery or cavalry, and the banks of the river are so steep
that bridges mast be thrown over whenever it may be
desirable to send either arm across it. Towards hiker-
mann the whole valley is flooded, and turned into marsh
and bog. A strong picket of cavalry is stationed at the
rear of redoubts Nos. 3 and 4, to prevent the Cossacks
cutting off stragglers. The best glasses cannot detect a
trace of the guns which the Russians were seen bringing
up the other day at the rear of Canrobert's-hill.
The preparations to remedy our great error in the plan
of our first attack proceed rapidly. It is now said that we
ought to have stormed the Bedan and the Round Tower
(Malakhoff) the very first day, as soon as our fire had
nearly silenced their batteries.

The French are in high spirits, and say they will be
ready to march into the place in fifteen days. Our troops
are in better condition, and huts are being erected on
every side.
ItA. man of the 88th Regiment, who had been take
prisoner in a sortie a few nights ago, made his escape awl
came into camp in a most miserable condition, his hands
and knees being terribly cut and lacerated. He stated that
he had crawled away over a place strewed thickly for a
great distance with broken glass. His sufferings magnified
the space, no doubt, but he said he had struggled on over
a mile and a half of this awful causeway. The descrip-
tion he gave of the condition of the garrison would be en-
couraging to us if it could be altogether relied upon. The
poor fellow said he had been very badly fed lately, and had
had only a piece of black sour bread and a glass of weak
wine for some time past ; the dead were lying in the
streets, and fearful sickness was raging among the Russian
soldiery. If such be the case, the extraordinary energy
with which they labour at the works is the more astonish-
ing and creditable to them. They finish the face of the
earthworks, and polish away the front of the parapets, and
square the embrasures, as if they were cabinetmakers
taming out Christmas presents.

FEB. 13.—Tt blew half a gale of wind all night, and the
rain fell till two p.m. in the day, but the wind was warm
and the temperature agreeable. The roads are very heavy,
and the country is not easily traversed. As to the condi-
Ulm of the horses, it is really pitiable. It is now four or
Live days that our cavalry and artillery horses have been
without hay, and all they have had to eat has been the
ration of barley, and now and then a little chopped straw.
The reason of this is simple. No hay has been received
Iry the commissariat in harbour; and yet it is stated that
Mr. Filder wrote last September to the authorities at home