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

THE WAR.

Official despatches frcm the Crimea to the 24th
have been received and pubnilied both in London
and Paris. The following is from Lord Raglan to
the War-office :

Before Sebastopol, Feb. 24.
The weather has improved since I wrote my despatch of
the 20th instant.
The snow is still on the ground, and the nights are
cold; but the wind has subsided, and we have to-day a

bright sunshine.
Considerable activity continues to prevail in the move-
went of the enemy's troops on the north aide of the har-
bour, and convoys of waggons are constantly arriving, and
the object of the Russians would appear to be to fortify
the heights extending to their left, and looking upon the
valley of the Tschernaya.
The troops of the garrison having lodged themselves on
the point of the spur of the ridge from lnker m mann over
new
the Careening Bay, at about 300 yards fro the
French parallel, on the extreme right, General Canrobert
determined to dislodge them, and this was gallantly effected
at two o'clock this morning by 1,600 men, under the imme•
diate command of General Monet, andse direction of
General Mayan, with, however, 1 regret say, sonic loss,
the consequence of the heavy fire which was brought to
bear upon the from te enemy's batteries and the ship-
ping while henry
h
were engaged in demolishing the works.
When this object was accomplished they withdrew to the
trenches, as had been their intention.
The gallant General Monet is, I am much concerned to
have to add, among the wounded.
Lieutenant-G'enend Sir George Brown has, I am happy
to say, resumed the command of the light division, in per-
fect health. The railway is getting on remarkably well
and the exertions of Mr. Beattie, who is superintending,
the work, are unremitting, and entitle him to great
ItsuLAN.

The following deapatch to the French Minister of
Marine appears in the Moniteur
Kamisch Ray, Feb. 24.
The Russians appear to have abandoned their positions
before Eupatoria, and in their retreat have set tire to the
villages they occupied.
In the night of thel22nl-23rd February the garrison of
Sebastopol had established some important works of
mach in face of our lines towards the plain
counter-apP
leading to Careening Bay.
The General-in-Chief caused these works to be carried
ou the night of the 23rd-24th February by the troopsof the
second corps. This affair reflects the greatest hnn our on
our troops, and augments, if possible, thei well-prove
superiority over the enemy. Our loss is said to be 100
wounded.
The attack of the French on the Russian outworks
is very differently reported to St. l'etersburg by
Prince Menschikaff, who says that, on the night of
the '24th, the allies attacked the left redoubt of the
fortifications in considerable force, and were re-
pulsed by two regiments, after having su a
loss of 600 men. He adds that the mining opera-
tions of the allies are suspended.
The Gazette and Moniteur contain some volu-
minous despatches describing the details of the
repulse of the Russians at Eupatoria on Feb. 17, by
the Turks and the allied frigates. The
The
results of
the encounter were related in our last paper.
Russian army amounted to '25,000 men. The battle
lasted six hours, and ended in the complete defeat
of the Russians, who lost 500 men killed and '2,000
wounded.
On the 19th of February Sir Colin Campbell
attempted a reconnaissance of the Russian position
on the Tachernaya. The snow fell heavy on the men
as they proceeded. and the weather became fearfully
cold. The expedition was obliged to return without
having made any effective discovery of the position
of the enemy.

SIEGE CHRONICLE.
The last mail from the Crimea has brought letters
of the 24th ult., four days later than by previous
arrivals. They communicate few facts of importance,
the allied armies being chiefly engaged in making
p-eparations for a renewal of the bombardment. The
following extracts contain the particulars of most
interest:—
BALAst.AvA, Feu. IR.—A number of ships' guns, mor-
tars, and ordinary siege ordnance have recentl
the y
northbeen
landed, with immense stores of ammunition, on
side of the harbour. Some of these are intended for the
defence of lialaklava itself, but the majority will go into
the new works in process of constructio at lnkong ermann.ls-
One 13. inch mortar, four Sinch ditto,n ten l
pounders, twerity.eight long 112. unders, and four
po
S4-punders, sti are here ; nd I believe it is not intended
thato any attempt should bea made to forward them to the
front until sufficient of the tramway has been completcted
to take them over the heaviest parts of the road.
now to do
In fa,
we have not sufficient horses in good c
more than forward some of the huts
of nd keep th
still e troops
well supplied with rations. Partiesmen are em-
ployed in carrying up 3•2• pounder shot; but the w-inch,
10. inch, and 18. inch shells are far too ponderous to be
transmitted in this manner. Ala inch shell, empty, weighs
1941 b., and a 10-inch one cwt.; so that except the 30 or 40
which,
are taken up daily by the artillery waggons, the
great mass must wait until the tram Is completed., or at

228

' east partially so. Whenever that is done it can take up in
one day sufficient shot and shell to supply all our batteries
firing incessantly with ammunition for three days and

The progress which this tram is making is perfectly
marvellous. It is now progressing at the rate of a quarter
of
amile
per day, including all the delays which arise from
bridging small streams, levelling and filling up inequali-
ties, d:c. Half the men are employed in laying down the
rails
and sleepers during the day, and the remainder work
all night in boxing up with earth and stones the spaces
left between each sleeper. As an instance of the rapidity
with which the work proceeds, a pile-driving machine was
landed one evening, and carried piecemeal up to where it
was necessary to sink piles for a stout wooden bridge
across a small, but very muddy stream, which runs into
the harbour. The machine was erected early the follow.
ing morning, and before that evening the piles were all
driven, the machine removed, the bridge finished, and the
rails laid down for the space of a hundred yards beyond.
The course of another week or ten days must see half the
line completed, and, as far as it goes, in operation. Even
forwarding the heavy guns and shells three miles will be,
of course, an immense assistance.—Herald Correspondent.
FEB. 19.—The drying winds continue, and the plateau
to the south of Sebastopol can be traversed easily on horse
or foot, even at the bottom of the ravines. With this fine
weather the good spirits and energies of our men have re-
turned, but I regret to say the warm wind which blew the
other day brought with it, or developed, the seeds of
typhus fever which broke out in several regiments lately,
and soon marked some of the strongest men as its vic-
tims. At the moment I write there is an appearance of a
change in the weather ; the thermometer is at 40 deg.,
and the wind is strong from the westward, with heavy
masses of clouds coming down along with it. The
trenches, however, are dry ; the men get all they want,
provisions are abundant; hay has arrived, and fresh
vegetables have been sent up to the front to check the
scurry. The progress of the railroad is extraordinary. It
is already completed out to the entrance of the village of
Kadikoi, to-morrow it will have passed through it on its
way out to the plateau, and on Wednesday it will be, in all
probability, used for the transport of a cargo of shot and
shell out so far from Baliiklava in the intervals of the
workmen's labour. The aspect of the town is greatly
altered for the better. The wretched hovels in which the
Turkish soldiery propagated pestilence and died have been
cleaned out or levelled to the earth, the cesspools and col-
lections of utter abominations in the streets have been
filled up, and quicklime has been laid down in the streets
and lanes, and around the houses. The sutlers have been
driven forth to a wooden world of their own outside the
town, and the number of visitors to the town diminished.
Indced, the railway, which sweeps right through the main
street, very effectually clears away the crowds of stragglers
who used to infest the place. It is inexpressibly strange
to hear the well-known rumbling sound of the carriages
and waggons as they pass to and fro with their freights of
navvies, sleepers, and rails ; it recals home more strongly
than anything we have yet heard in the Crimea.
FEB. 2L—On the north of the valley of Inkermann the
enemy are still prosecuting their earthworks, and are ap-
parently forming an intrenehed and fortified post of great
strength. The natural defences of this headland which
they occupy are so great as to make it a most formidable
position even if only held by 1,000 men, but the enemy
seem not content with leaving their bulwarks to nature,
and appear to be bent on turning the hill into a second
Gibraltar, to which fortress it bears a distinct resemblance.
Two hundred and seventy arabas entered Sebastopol by
the north side this morning. From the care with which
all were covered with tarpatilinga they were presumed to
contain ammunition. The fleet off Sebastopol report that
a good deal of bustle was apparent among the enemy's
works to the north.
The wind is still high and the cold intense, with every
prospect of its continuing so for some days. None of the
troops are hutted yet, with the exception of some fifty or
sixty men, who sleep in the hospital huts now that the
number of invalids is reducing. No regiment is butted,
nor is any progress making towards any huts being got up
at all for the general use of the healthy troops.
This ha
The sick-
ness, I am glad to say, is still decreasing. happy
result is attributed almost entirely to the fact of the men
being warmly clothed, and receiving rations of fresh pro
visions more frequently.
FEB. 22.—Lord Raglan rode out this morning through
the greater part of the English camp, and remained in-
specting different positions for two of three hours; 310
waggons again entered Sebastopol to-day from the north,
and the enemy are evidently exceedingly busy about some-
thing on that side of their defences. There seems no
additional reason for thinking that our fire
date , will
it soonwill be
re-
commence ; on the contrary, at the earliest
near the middle of March before we are in a condition to
do so from our new works at. liikermann.
FEB. 23.—.1118 weather still continues very cold, but the
sickness, 1 am glad to say, is gradually diminishing
The railway from lialaklava is making most rapid pro-
gress ; in fact, the village is fast disappearing beneath the
vigour with which the various sidings are pushed through
the few houses which yet remain here. The harbour of
the place gets into a worse state each day. .
Lord George Paget arrived at lialaklava this morning
from England. It is said lie returns to takecom.mand of
the light brigade of cavalry, or rather that wh
Cichorr is to
espon be
en a
light brigade of cavalry next spring.—Heraid dt.
Fan. 2.4, 4 A. 81.—1 was woke up shortly after two o'clock
tis morning by the cornrnencement
timf o. one most
furious cannonades we have heard e. the. sofi gee began.
The whole line of the linasian batteries from our left
opened with inconceivable force and nmse, and the Inker-
mann batteries began playing on our right; but the French
were most exposed to the weight of this most tetrible fire,
which shook the very earth, and lighted up the skies with
incessant lightning.flashes for an our and a half. Under

THE PRESS

cover of it a very strong sortie has been made, and for half
an hour the musketry rolled incessantly, with volume and
vigour enough for a general action. Our batteries were
silent. As no person, unless actually on duty, is pern4tted
to go beyond the iulying sentries and pickets, I cat at
this hour tell you no more than that the firing has now
ceased, and I have returned with the impression that a
very serious affair has taken place.
The cannonade lasted from 2.15 a.m. to 3.50 cm. In
much of the time they tired, as I counted fifteen guns in
thirty seconds, and sometimes the reports came in regularolid
salvos, and the flashes leaped forth in great flares of s
fire, so that it was impossible to tell what number of guns
the enemy were working.
TRADE IN BALAKLAVA.
The Daily News correspondent gives the following
account of the thriving trade driven by private ad-
venturers at Balaklava
The profits, even of honest tradesmen, may be compared
to those of the moneymaking period of San Francisco and
Sydney. 1 will quote a few examples to support my assertion.
A Maltese tailor, who for some mouths sold clothes and
mended them, has shut up his shop in the High-street,
Balaklava, and gone back to Valetta. Those who ought to
know say that he netted 2,0001. Abraham, a Jew, who as
a civil servant got wages to the amount of 1301. a year,
complained of the stinginess of his master, and struck for
higher wages. Sent away, he opened a shop in November
last. He, too, has retired from business with something
like 3,0001. or 4,0001. A French sailor, who had at one
time been a baker, established about three months ago the
first bakery in Balaklava. He got posseseion of two ovens
in one house ; he hired gangs of French soldiers to bake
for him, and to take their turns day and night. His ovens
were always either full of bread or heating for a fresh
supply. Gangs of French soldiers, too, foraged fuel for
him. In London his loaves would sell for 2d. or 3d. In
Balaklava they sold, and readily, as fast as they were shot
out, forts. Now, reckon the flour (from Varna and Con•
stantinople) as high as you will, and put a very high figure
on the price of labour, still a loaf which a London baker
can with profit sell for 3d. cannot cost the Balaklava baker
more than Is. So there is Is. profit on each loaf, and I
am credibly informed that above 1,000 loaves were baked
in the twenty-four hours. The week in camp has seven work-
ing days, and the profits of a week amount to '7,000 shillings ;
those of a month to 80,000 shillings, or 1,5001. The baker
has driven this trade about three months--profits, 4,5001.
There was no lowering the price of bread. Every one
deprecated such a nteasure. We were all afraid of the
baker taking offence and going away. At two shillings
per loaf, officers and officers' servants and Turks actually
besieged the house at the periods of issue, and the minor
grades literally fought for precedence. Meat and fowls
were sent to the baker, who managed to underdo them as
a special favour, whenever he could not well refuse con-
ferring it. Charge, one shilling ; and that shilling was
paid down with delight. In the last few weeks a second
bakery has been established, and now that the public are
on the safe side, Colonel Harding has interfered with the
price of bread, and fixed it at is lid. The baker grumbled
awfully, but bakers wronged have remedies known to
bakers only. The loaves are a little smaller and lighter,
and you may trust the Frenchman that his profits are the
same they were before. if the man holds out to the end
of the year, even supposing that competition should lessen
his gains, he nay retire on an independent fortune of
10,0001., and become a proprietaire in his own country. So
much for trade in Balaklava.
The late expulsion of the sutlers from Balaklava has
not induced them to leave the camp. They have requested
and obtained permission to form a colony on the rising
ground near Kadikoi, where tents, sheds, and wooden
houses are springing up in all directions. Mr. Oppenheim,
the first who came to relieve our necessities in October
last, has just finished building his large wooden house,
which is to be used as a store and reading-room. In spite
of the Crimean Army Fund and other charitable contri-
vances, Mr. Oppenheim's temporary suspension of business
caused by his removal to Kadikoi has been severely felt.
The fact is, the goods sent out by the funds are not readily
available. They are tied up by a systen of requisitions, to
be submitted, and signed, and approved in ever so many
ways. There is sending and writing from one to the other,
and if officers can buy things they do not like this system
of official begging. 4To make such " Funds " really effective
the goods should be sold at cost price, and an officer's
uniform should be his passport for obtaining any quantity
which one person can be reasonably expected to consume.
I know I express the opinion of many when I say that the
system hitherto acted upon does not meet the wishes of
the army; that it is wrong and thoroughly nn-English.
THE BALAKLAVA RAILWAY.
The progress of the railway from Balaklava to the
camp has been very rapid and successful. On the
16th ult. a mile of the road from Balaklava was laid,
and the chief surveyor expected to get up to Kadikoi
on the 19th. At that place was the first depot; and
there commenced the first incline which was to be
worked by engine power. From Balaklava to Kadi.
koi, a distance of nearly two miles, the road is nearly
on a level ; from Kadikoi to the French camp, half
a mile, there is an incline of one in fifteen; from the
French camp to head quarters, a mile and a half,
there is an incline of one in twenty-five. At head-
quarters the summit level is attained. The distance
from head-quarters to the trenches is about two miles
and a half, tolerably level.
The surveyor, his staff, and workmen, bad to rely
in a great measure upon their own unaided energies.
Lord Raglan is said to take a great interest in the
line, and Sir John Burgoyne was doing his best to
promote it; but, owing to the condition of the army,

SATIIRDAY,

no assistance could be had from it. The navvies in
general worked pretty well. Some black sheep there
were ; and the facility with which nun could be ob-
tained at Balaklava rendered it difficult to keep some
of them m hand. The great obstacle was the diffi-
culty of transport. The worn-out horses supplied by
the artillery were of no use. The horses belonging
to the railway corps had been landed, but had not
quite recovered from the effects of the heat and de.
fective ventilation in the hold of the vessel that con-
veyed them. It was a serious drawback to have to
unload the ships, and carry up the materials fbr the
huts and stables exclusively by manual labour. Halt
the men, however, were hutted, and the work was
fairly in progress.

THE ARMIES IN THE CRIMEA.
An interesting article on the relative position of
the hostile armies in the Crimea has appeared in
the Wats, from the pen of Col. St. Ang, iormerly a
staff officer in the French service. The following
are extracts from this paper :
We wish to depict the respective situation■ of the belli-
gerent parties in the Crimea, as matters stood when the
news of the death of the Emperor Nicholas would reach

them.
We think we may estimate the strength of the allies
encamped in the Crimea at 100,000 men, considering the
reinforcements continually sent during the last month
from France and Eaqland, and taking also into account
the arrival of the two French divisions which had been left
as a reserve at Constantinople. The Ottoman army under
the orders of Omer Pasha at Eupatoria ought to present
now an effective force of 40,000 men. And as the sending
of corps or detachments by the three nations to the Crimea
is going on at this very moment, everything induces us to
believe that the entire strength of the allied troops will
amount to 150,000 men in the course of the present month
of March.
The Russian army can hardly attain the same figure
before it shall have received the last reinforcements sent
through Perekop by the routes of Odessa, Nikolaieff, and
Cherson. This army does not appear at this moment to
amount to • 100,000 men, inclusive of the garrisons in
Sebastopol and the other strongholds of the Crimea. It
can only dispose of about sixty or sixty-five thousand men
for any strategical operation. It is an ascertained fact
that the Russians have suffered as much at least as our-
selves through sickness, the inclemency of the season, and
the want of provisions and forage. Ina climate something
like that of France, the winter has exhibited there, as
here, frequent vicissitudes of snow, rain, frost, and thaw.
The transports across the Crimea have been almost con-
stantly interrupted by the breaking up of the routes in a
country that does not possess a paved causeway.
The route from Balaklava now serves as a line traced
out for the railway. On one side of the French, a paved
way connects their camps with the Bay of Kamisch ; other
routes connect the different camps with one another, and
easy communications were established early with the
landing-points. Balaklava and Kamisch now witness on
their shores the erection of two towns of huts and tents,
where warehouses, field-hospitals, shops of every kind, a
host of suttlers, an entire military or nomade population,
fall of incessant activity, are installed. The French c3m-
missariat, with its special companies of soldiers of every
profession, has constructed ovens, where the bread for the
army is baked ; the bakers knead batch after batch ; the
military butchers, called " romaniers," cut up the meat for
distribution ; the.storekeepers house in large huts the sup-
plies of salted-meats, biscuit, sugar, coffee, rice, and
whatever military men call dry provisions; others, whose
duty it is to attend to the encampment and clothing, stow
away in good order a quantity of miscellaneous goods.
The regiments, by means of their own men on fatiguea
duty, receive from the commissariat these proviai them od
goods on delivering tickets previously given to by
the military intendants. The cantiniers set up coffee-
shops, even eating-houses, or shops where all sorts of com-
modities are sold at exorbitant prices, an.l articles of food,
which are bought by such individuals as desire to add some
European delicacy or another to their military rations.
In addition to the field hospitals, the bakehouses, ware-
houses, and canteens, you see on the same ground the
workshops of the artillery, the engineers, and the navy.
Here hundreds of smiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, and
armourers, every one of whom is a soldier, are at work.
Nothing can be more valuable during war-time, in distant
countries without resources, than these companies of work-
men in every branch of industry carried on by our mill-
tary commissariat, and the two scientific arms, the en-
gineers and the artillery. Our common foot-soldier even,
always 9, good hand at digging, is easily converted into an
active and ingenious workman, never at his wit's ends for
supplying his wants, and who can set up his bivouac
and his extempore kitchen in the best possible manner.
Were he to atop any length of time on the same spot, he
would soon have his kitchen-garden, as our soldiers actually
had at several encampments in Algeria, and which have
since grown into villages. We see, then, that a French
army carries with it all the arts and trades ; everywhere it
finds its resources in itself, and is in itself a complete
civilised body. This administrative, military, and indus-
trial system, these companies of workmen, all this orgam.
sation, in short, fails in the English army, and its so
of ours
ldiers,
so intrepid in the combat, have not the aptitude
for the various works of war, especially those of a siege.
But England knows this ; it has received the revelation of
what is defective in her military organisation. Enlightened
for the time to come by dear bought experience, she is
about to remedy that defect with the energy
.of a great
nation, that resolves not to be behind other nations, espe-
cially when her power and honour are staked in conjunc-
tion with France on the issue of a most serious war.
We have now to speak on the state of the siege-works,

bomb..