The Press.
London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

thanks " to her beloved regiments of the Guards " for their
conduct at Alma and Inkermann and throughout the whole
campaign. The muster of the brigade on the occasion,
when of course every man who could would be present to
hear such a flattering mark of his Sovereign's approbation
real, was only 450 men, and since then about thirty have
been sent away. Yet, in the midst of this universal sick-
ness, will it be credited that there is scarcely any medicine
to be obtained in the whole camp.
The French fired a few of their mortars to-day, by way
of trying their range, and the result is that a furious sortie
has been made this evening on their lines. It is im-
possible to ascertain particulars now, but that it has been
a smart affair the heavy firing that was maintained for half
an hour amply showed. Since then the Russian batteries
have been tiring heavily, so from that we conjecture that
thtir repulse has been unusually severe.
The Simla arrived to-night at llalaklava with horses and
mules for the use of the commissariat. She has also a
small draft of French troops, and about 100 men for us.
Few vessels out here have done so much real service to
the expedition as the Simla. She is always going to and
fro, never in the way and never out of the way. The Jura
I t also come from Kamiseh.
News Prom Eupatoria states that upwards of 22,000
Turks had already landed, and the rest were soon expected.
Beyond Cossack out-pickets there was no appearance of an
enemy round the town, the earthworks of which are being
strengthened each day.
In the Times' correspondence we read, under date
of the oth instant :

No bombardment yet—no fire opened, and yet the day
generally assigned by rumour for the reopening of our
attack has been passed and gone now twenty-four hours
ago. The only great type of life and motion visible to me
is " the navvy's barrow." That potent engine of civilisa-
tion is lying in stacks on the water's edge at Italaklava.
The principal depot for the railway stores is in the horrible
squalid space in the rear of the post-office. When the
railway will be finished I know not; already there is a
hitch, for it appears the survey had to be stopped yester-
day, inasmuch as the line crossed the road which the
French are so busy and so successful in making up to-
wards the front from Kadikoi. After the expedition has
left the shores of the Crimea, and has become a tradition
among its people, the works of our unfinished railroad
may serve to exercise the ingenuity of future Cimmerian
antiquaries, and may form the only permanent mark of our
presence on this bloodstained soil. The line of railway
is nearly surveyed, but it has not yet been marked out be-
y and the mound outside Kadiekova, over the plain which
leads up to the plateau on which our camp stands.
The huts and tents of the 14th, and long rows of
wooden sheds for the mules, and the tents of the sailers
guarding stores, and the huts of the landing-wharf, are all
crowded along the steep and at the edge of the bay on the
other side of the town, so that the place alt)gether would
give one the idea that he was looking at some great migra-
tory population just settled for a week, or had fallen across
one of the mushroom canvas cities of Australia. Of
course those who are nighest get first served to the huts,
and are hest able to put them up. If Birnam-wood were
formed of white deal boards, Macbeth would see his worst
armpit ims realised could he but witness the moving forest
of timber marching up to the front. He would behold
literil y miles of men and of mules and ponies, all
struggling along through the mud with boards, boards—
nothing but hoards. In calm weather they get on well
enough, but a puff of wind puts an end to all progress, and
a strong gust lays men and horses in the mire. However,
they are slowly working up towards the camp, but it can-
not be conceived by a person not on the spot how hard it is
to take up even one hut, and what a great quantity of
timber has to be moved ere the building is complete. The
weather is fine, but cold. It is not transport we want; it
is a road to put our transport on. From all I can hear
there is no immediate prospect of our opening fire.
THE MURDERER OF THE WOUNDED.

The following is an extract of a letter from Con-
stantinople :
I am not sure whether I told you before that the Rua.
skin major who was taken prisoner at Inkermann, and
convicted of murdering our wounded men, died the other
day at Scutari, apparently couscience-stricken. His own
brother officers petitioned to be removed from his society,
as they would not associate with him, and he pined away
and died without any apparent disease.
THE MEDICAL COMMISSION FOR THE EAST.
Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Gavin proceeded on
Thursday, via Marseilles, to the East, being the two
medical commissioners appointed— the former to
superintend the sanitary arrangements at Balaklava,
the latter at Scutari. They were accompanied by the
third commissioner, Mr. Robert Rawlinson, civil en-
gineer, long associated with the late Board of Health,
and favorably known by his elaborate reports on the
hygienic condition of many of the principal towns in
England, especially in the north. The sphere of his
duties will not be confined to any one locality, but
will extend over the whole area of our operations, in-
cluding Smyrna as well as Constantinople and the
Crimea; and he will chiefly devote himself to the
organisation of the labour which his brother commis-
sioners will require in the hospitals and elsewhere,
as well also as to the supervision of everything con-
nected with whatmay be called the lay or non-medical
services of the commissioners. Mr. Rawlinson will take
wi h him as his secretary Mr. Taylor, a younger brother
o' the secretary of the present Board of Health, Mr.
Tom Taylor. But no officer of that department pro
ceeds to the East, neither has any member of it. the
least connection with, much less any control over the