The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-24 00:00:00

RUSSIAN MOVEMENTS.

The week, up to the 10th, had passed without any
attack, in spite of the assertions of the spies and
deserters :

If a decisive attack were intended, on the event of which
the evacuation or continued occupation of the Crimea was
to be dependent (as was asserted), to all appearance this
intention has been abandoned. A great movement of
troops was observed on the north heights towards the
Belbeck on the 7th instant. Bodies of infantry and ar•
tillery were seen to he going and coming in various direc•
tions, but the general impression was that the movements
were rather the evolutions of a review or inspection than
the preparations for a march. It was suggested that the
Emperor himself might have come over from Nicolaieff
to see the real condition of his armies in the Crimea.
The manoeuvres, whatever their nature, led to no change
in the distribution or extent of the camps which can be
observed from our position. The fire from the batteries

_ -

SATURDAY,

and forth of the north side has continued as active as it
was previously. A short time since, some parties of the
enemy were observed to be working in two of the retired
bays on the north side, at what seemed to be the construe.
lion of rafts, but the last two or three days these groups
have not been noticed.—Tines cur., Nov. 9.
The idea of an impending Russian attack, although it
has become fainter, is by no means given up, and every
shot which one of the batteries on the Mackenzie ridge
happens to fire brings it back again. In the meantime,
we can see the Russians making themselves comfortable
on the heights; rows of underground huts are dotted
about on every accessible point, and a new whitish line,
contrasting with the brushwood which covers the heights
all around, proves that they have thought of their com-
munications on the inhospitable plateau as well as we dd.
The weather is still quite mild, with scarcely any indi-
cation of the approaching winter season.—lb., Nov. 10.

- -
The fire from the northern batteries stir, contirued
brisk, but without much casualty to our men in the
town. A large fire observed in the last week of
October within the Russian lines is believed to have
destroyed an immense reserve of Russian stores.

THE TRANSPORT SERVICE.
Like the "Turkish Contingent," the "Transport
Service" in the East is a source of enormous expen-
diture, and not only so, but is the cause of a vast deal
of unnecessary expense in other branches of the
service. A striking instance of mismanagement has
lately occurred, in respect of the conveyance and
landing of huts for the use of our army in the East.
The correspondent of the Daily News, noticing the
arrival of a late cargo of huts at Balaklava, writes
.
I am informed by a very sensible officer, who was one of
those employed in the landing labour at BalaKlava, that, of
the vessels freighted with the huts, two had been emptied
at Constantinople and their cargoes transferred to two
other ships, which brought them on hither. The operation
of trans-shipping, however, had been so carelessly manage&
that, besides countless breakages, the various pieces of the
respective huts had been so jumbled together—part being
stowed away in one vessel and part in another—that on the
arrival of the whole in Balaklava it was found impossible
to fit together more than two-thirds of them, the remainder
being either smashed, or so hopelessly mixed up in marine-
storelike confusion as to defy any approach to a reduction
to intregral order. The steam-transport Tunning, too,
freighted in like manner with huts, was sent first up to
Kinburn, and after being kept knocking about there for
some days—l need not say with what useless expenditure
of coal and time—returned to Balaklava with her plauken
cargo. This, however, is only one of a hundred instances
I could enumerate, in which the most absurd and culpable
waste of ships' time and fuel is occasioned by the misman-
agement of the tr. naport agency at Constantinople, as I
may some day take occasion to demonstrate for the edifica-
tion of those whose double income tax and other war taxes
help to furnish the three millions a month at present
swallowed up by the charterage of our transport fleet. Un-
less it be the Turkish Contingent, which has become a
by-word for the wasteful outlay characterising its organi-
sation and management, I know of no other branch of the
public service connected with the carrying on of the war
in which the sea-transport department has in the remotest
degree a rival in its wholesale repudiation of economy.—
Nov. 6.
THE WAR IN ASIA.
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No further intelligence has been received this
week of the operations of the army under Omer
Pacha since the forcing of the Ingour. The Cologne
Gazette of this week contains the following estimate
of Omer Pacha's army and of his probable move-
ments:—
The army of Omer Pacha, with which he has now com-
menced his great operations against the Caucasian army
of Russia, consists, according to reliable information, of
not quite 36,000 men. About 15,000 of these are sta-
tioned in Batonm, Soukham-Kaleh, and Redout-Kaleh.
It was with 20,000 of his best troops that the Sirdar
forced the passage of the Ingour. With respect to the
Sirdar's operations in the valley of the Ingour, all we
know is from the short report of Ferhad Pacha, the
chief of the Tnrkish staff, with the exception of the well-
known telegraphic despatch. This latter officer occupies,
with twelve regiments of infantry and four regiments of
cavalry, the main road from Redout-Kaleh to Kutais.
Omer Pacha's attack was made from Soukharn-Kaleh
against the Russian position on the Ingonr ; yet in re-
ality it is Ferhad Pacha's diversion from the road along
the left bank of the Ingour that has compelled the
Russians to retreat from there, and fall back on the
heights of Kutais. By his advance along that road,
Ferhad Pacha covers the further movements of Omer
Pacha, who has two smaller rivers to cross yet before
he can effect his junction with Ferhad Pacha. Accounts
differ respecting the strength of the Russians near Ku-
tais ; but we learn that Prince Bebutoff is hastily col-
lecting there his reserves, that he may be able to make
head once more against the enemy in the defiles of
Kutais. The latest accounts received from Constanti-
nople give out that Omer Pacha has also brought up his
reserves ; and the opinion prevalent in Stamboul was,
that a second engagement will take place near Santredi,
where the roads meet that run from Kutais to Redout-
Kaleh and Shefketil.

THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT, through Count
Colloredo, has expressed to the English Government
its acceptance of the nomination of Sir H. Seymour
to the post of English representative at Vienna;
and expresses its regret at the departure of Lord
Westmorland.