The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Major-General Torrens, home; Major-General Lord
de Hos, home : Major• General Earl of Cardigan,
home; Major-General Pennefather, reported to be
coming home ; Major-General Adams, dead ; Major
General Goldie, dead ; Major-General Tylden,
dead; Major-General Straugways, ILA., dead. There •
fore, of the sixteen officers of the second, or major
general, rank, nine have become non-effective—seven
only being now left at their duty. Consequently
thirteen officers must have been taken from the com-
mand of regiments to take the places of the non-
effective divisional and brigade commanders.

The following letters from Lord Raglan were pub-
lished in the Gazette of Tuesday and yesterday :
Before Sebastopol, Dec. 18, 1855.
Nothing has occurred since I had the honour
to address your grace on the 13th instant.
The weather, which was then fine, changed on
the following afternoon, and from that time to the
evening of the 16th it hardly ceased either to rain,
hail, or snow.
The night of the 16th was particularly severe;
but it cleared up yesterday, and to-day it is again

drY-
The bad days above mentioned have, however,
rendered the communications more difficult, and
materially retarded the movement of supplies and
stores.
The 89th and 17th Regiments have arrived from
Gibraltar, and will take their place in the 3rd and
4th divisions this day.
A considerable portion of the warm clothing has
been received, and is in course of issue ; and the
men are most grateful to her Majesty's Government
for having provided for them what conduces so
essentially to their comfort.
I have the honour to transmit returns of the
casualties between the 11th and 16th.
December 23.
A great deal of rain has fallen in the last forty-
eight hours, and the weather has again become very
inclement.
The only occurrence in the siege operations has
been a sortie made by the enemy on both our
right and left attack, during the night of the 20th,
the one being conducted silently, the other with
drums beating and shouting ; the first being probably
the real object of the advance, as nearer to the
Inkermann heights.
Owing to the extreme darkness of the night, the
enemy were enabled to come very near the right
attack without being perceived, and, having made a
sudden rush upon the most forward parallel, they
compelled the men occupying it to withdraw, until
reinforced by a party under Major Welsford, of the
97th Regiment, when it was regained possession of,
and the Russians retired, not, however, without oc-
casioning some logs in both killed, wounded, and
missing, Lieutenant Byron, of the 34th Regiment,
being amongst the latter.
On the left attack, the enemy were met with
great gallantry by Lieutenant Gordon, of the 38th
Regiment, who, when supported by the covering
party of the trenches, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Waddy, of the 50th, succeeded in at once driving
them back. But here too, I regret to say, the loss
was still more severe. Major Muller, of the 50th,
fell mortally wounded, and 1 am concerned to add
is since dead, and Captain Frampton and Lieu-
tenant Clarke, both of the 50th Regiment, are
missing. Sir Richard England speaks in high terms
of the gallantry and vigilance of these troops, and
of the distinguished conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel
Waddy.
I inclose the return of casualties to the 20th in-
clusive.
Two regiments of French cavalry, under General
D'Allonville, made a reconnaisance on the 20th,
towards the ground recently occupied by the enemy
in front of Balaklava ; while the 42nd Regiment,
a detachment of the Rifle Brigade, under Colonel
Cameron, 42nd Regiment, and a battalion of
Zouaves, made a corresponding movement on the
extreme right. The latter saw only a picket of
Cossacks, which retired upon their approach ; the
former exchanged shots with the enemy, and ascer-
tained that they had scarcely any troops on the left
bank of' the Tschernaya.
December 26.
I have nothing to report to your grace to day.
The rain which prevailed on Saturday was suc-
ceeded by snow on Sunday, and it was almost the
worst day I ever saw. At night it froze, and the
frost has continued ever since, without being severe;
but it has not as yet tended to dry the ground, still
in a lamentable state.
Every effort is making that the state of the roads
will permit to bring up ammunition and the materials
of siege, and General Canrobert is, in this respect,
affording UR every possible assistance.
The garrison keeps up a heavy fire upon our
trenches, particularly at, night, and your gra.,!.o will
regret to gee, by the returns which 1 inclose, that we
daily sustain some casualties.

December 30.

Since 1 wrote to your grace on the 26th the wea-
ther has been somewhat more propitious, but the
state of the ground is hardly more satisfactory.
The 18th Regiment has arrived ; and I have like-
wise the honour to inform you that we are daily
receiving vest supplies of ammunition, warm clothing,
and huts for the army. The utmost efforts will be
made to disembark all those stores ; but the difficulty
of effecting this desirable object is very great, owing
to the very limited extent of the harbour, its crowded
state, and the narrow entrance to the town, and
want of space on the beach, the rocks on the north
side rising directly out of the water, and there
being, consequently, no accommodation but on one
side.

The Russians continue to withdraw from the
valley of the Tschernaya. whilst they have constructed
defensive works on the heights above, which would
imply a difficulty of maintaining their troops in the
field.

A reconnaissance wa.s sent out this morning by
General Canrobert towards the river, in co-operation
with a portion of Major-General Sir Colin Campbell's
force on the extreme right of Balaklava, the result
of which is not yet known.
I inclose a list of casualties from the 25th to the
2Sth.

RAGLAN•

THE ENGLISH CAMP.
The Times publishes the subjoined letter, dsted
" Heights of Balaklava, Dec. 24th "
I assure you the social kindnesses shown by the people
in England for us who are blown and rained upon in the
course of duty in the Crimea are appreciated most
thoroughly by all of us. We are now more oornfortsble—
hutted in various ingenious ways, chiefly by burrowing
under ground, the treacherous tent canvas (treacherous
as far as wind is concerned) forming a roof stretched
amen( spars from the wrecks. This roof stands rain
well, but melting snow searches through it. A general
order appeared yesterday, advising us that a sheepeltia
jacket and two pairs of woollen drawers and socks would
be issued immediately to each officer and man, and I have
sent in a demand for them. And now 1 will give yon
some idea of what has lately been going on among us.
Since I last wrote (at which time we had two days of
almost summer weather) we have had all sorts of eceeu-
tric atmospheric changes—bitter cold, followed by com-
parative heat—sunshine and hail----snow and rain; the
whole interspersed with various modifications and wind,
from a gentle breeze to a severe gale. These sudden
changes are most remarkable: morning will gradually
reveal to us a glorious sunrise, when the evening of the
same day will find us enveloped in thick murky mist, out
of which will spring hurricane and Mill. While I am
writing the aspect of the heights is as chill and miserable
as any Russian can possibly desire. fogs blow up in
quick secession from the castellated crags below. It is
difficult to walk upon the soft, yielding mud around ns,
and heavy falls of rain and tremendous gusts of wind
have it all their own way. Such heavy [anises of felling
rain as came dowu upon us last night 1 never saw ex,
ceeded, even in the tropics.
Last Monday was St. Nicholas-day, the name-day of the
Emperor, and a great fête day for all the Russians. Upon
this day we thoroughly expected to be attacked, and
particular instructions were issued on the occasion. Every
preparation was made on the previous night, and Captain
limndling's troop of horse artillery was ordered to the
front. before five o'clock in the morning we were all at
our posts, devoutly wishing that our Mends iu the valley
before us was on their way to us, and about to take that
licking which sooner or later they must receive—but uo,
the grey of the morning came gradually upon us as
usual, and daylight reveal to us the Russians quiet in
their camp. No work did they do upon that day ; the
breastworks, at which they had worked for days as busy as
bees, remained in stain quo for 24 hours, and it appeared
pretty evident that the Ivloakoos had given themselves up
to a general holiday and carouse, at which, no doubt, the
accustomed " gin and prayers" was the distinguishing
feature of the Russian relaxation. During the day we
remarked a high erection of wood, round which the troops
were formed, but whether the thing was a crow" or a gal-
lows, a religious ceremonial or the final punishment of
some unfortunate Pole who had perhaps attempted to run
away, we could not exactly determine, and the ()pillions on
the subject were divided. Inflamed by their dole of spirits,
it was thought that the next morning might be chosen by
the Russians for their attack, but this again passed quietly
by, like its predecessor. The main body of the Russians
in our front is upon the opposite aide of the Tschernays,
this side being principally occupied by Cossacks and a
battalion or two of infantry in the right rear of the village
of Namara. Our spies tell us that all the villages to the
eastward are also occupied by troops, who have ill-tnated
and turned out the original inhabitants—principally
Tartars.
The rain is at this moment descending in torrents.
Some of our new dwellings have been rather insecurely
built, too much earth being heaped upon the roof. Dour
unfortunate " Bono Johnntes " were smothered the other
day by the fall of such an one. Two Riflemen had a
narrow escape from a similar fate a short time ago ; and
the other day, as a marine officer was listening with glee to
the wind blowing over and the rain pattering upon the top
of his hut, with his feet ranged on either side of his fire-
place, owing to a landslip down came the side of the hut;
rafters and beams quickly followed, the comfortable bur-
rowing plane became a mass of ruin, and its ocaupsats
half smothered, had a very narrow esc.ape.

I have just heard the news of the day before yesterday
at Eupatoria. 10,000 Turks had disembarked there,
10,000 more were about to disembark, and Omer Pacha
was shortly expected there with 20,000 more, making in all
a force of 40,000 of Omer Pacha's people, and therefore
fighting Turks. General Cannon had arrived at Eupatoria
in command of the force of Turks disembarked, and he
has several English officers in the same service upon his
staff.