The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

THE EXPEDITION BY SEA.

The quidnuncs of the camp seem to have been
taken by surprise on the morning of the 4th by the
order for the fourth division to prepare for immediate
embarkation. The Daily News correspondent
writes on the sth :

After much expectation, some delay, and the loss of
some favorable weather, an expedition has started. General
Spencer's brigade of the fourth division left cninp yesterday
morning to embark at Balaklava. Captain Johnson's bat-
tery of field artillery accompanied the brigade. These
troops are to be joined by a strong body of marines, and
the force will then consist of five thousand fighting men,
the whole being under the command of Brigadier• General
the Hon. Augustus Spencer, C.B. Dr. Gordon, the prin-
cipal staff•surgeon of the second division, goes in medical
charge. It was anticipated that the expeditionary force
would be much stronger, and the third division were fully
expecting to be ordered to take part in it. The French, it
is said, are to send ten thousand men.

The Times correspondent of the sth adds :

The exact number of French J do not know, but I have
heard that they will number fifteen thousand. We know
there is no water to be found there. Hence the small
number of horses taken. The Leander and Triton will be
obliged to supply the Indian and Charity with water. This
is a serious want. It is understood the men remain out
for the winter.

The light cavalry brigade was also under orders at
that date:—

The light cavalry brigade, under Lord George Paget,
C. 8., is said to be destined for Eupatorin, and it is evident
that a strung demonstration is intended against the Rus-
sian convoys westward of the Tchongar route into Russia.
—lb.

PROBABLE OPERATIONS OF THE EXPEDITION.
The expedition to Odessa and Kherson has called
forth an elaborate article in the Constitutionnel upon
the situation of affairs, and the chances of success
attending this expedition. The position of Nicolsieff,
according to this writer some distance up a shallow
river, precludes the possibility of its attack by the
allied fleet, and landing any force short of a very
powerful army is characterised as at least ha-
zardous:—

It is positive that the fleets cannot attack Nicolaieff.
The town can alone be carried by a land force disembarked
from the shipping. This disembarkation does not appear
judicious to us at the present moment, when the allies are
compelled to make face with their main strength to the
Russians on the Tschernaya and at Eupatoria. It would,
therefore, be hazardous to despatch the thirty thousand to
to forty thousand men that could be spared to a distance of
twenty-five to thirty leagues in the interior of the country,
where they would encounter the Russian army of reserve
which occupies these provinces, and also be deprived of
regular communications with the fleet which would have
transported them.

Still he admits that the presence of the allied fleets
in the lagoon of the Bug and Dnieper would seriously
interrupt communication between the Crimea and
the western provinces of Russia, destroy the timber
trade of them, increase the previous difficulties of
Nicolaieff, and lead at once to the fall of
Otchakov. A coup de main upon Kberson ife Con-
atitutionnel does not considerat all improbable :
Kherson is situated at the mouth of the Dnieper. The
river is broad, but contains sandbanks which render its
navigation to Kherson impossible for vessels of large ton-
nage, except at the period of the great rise, which takes
place in the spring. The allied ships would, therefore, not
be enabled to appesr before Kherson, but, on the other
hand, a distance of only five leagues separates that town
from the spot where the Dnieper flows into the sea, and
thus a coup de main, if undertaken at a favorable moment,
might be successful.

The value of Nicolaieff to the Russians is inestima-
ble since the loss of Sebastopol, and their prevision in
sestuing so inaccessible a refuge for their stores and

THE PRESS.

i+hips is another 'prod
their Government :

If Nicolaieff (continues the writer) be inaccessible to the
vessels of an enemy approaching from the sea, it is no
less in direct communication with the Euxine, and can
despatch thither the largest bulls that are launched from
its dockyards. The Bug is deep enough even at Nicolaieff,
to carry vessels of that description before they have re-
ceived their armament. The vessels launched at Nicolaieff
are neither armed nor equipped until they arrive at Gin-
bokoe At the latter point the river is deep, but owing to
the existence of sandbanks at its mouth, it is customary to
transport the ships full rigged and armed to the Black Sea
on a species of raft. The Russians employ the same
method on the Neva, in transporting to Cronatadt the ves-
sels constructed at St. Petersburg. It is therefore evident,
in the event of the allit:s taking to-morrow their departure
from the Black Sea, that on the morrow a Russian fleet,
armed and ready to engage a less powerful navy, would
appear in the Euxine, to the great astonishment of those
Who are under the impression of having annihilated the
Russian navy in the port of Sebastopol. It is therefore
certain that, unless the victorious powers adopt certain
measures, the Russian Government will possess on the es-
tablishment of peace a navy no less powerful than the one
it has lost, and one no less menacing to the Turkish empire.
PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING.
The English seem to have been principally busied
in road-maliing :
Actually the work of the army is one of preparation, not
for motion but for stagnation. The men are engaged on
great roads from the ports to the front, which will be per-
manent marks of the existence of the allied armies on this
spot for centuries ; in fact, with so much labour at their
disposal, our authorities are determined, if possible, to
atone for the apathy of last autumn. It must lie remem-
bered that the enemy has en equal amount of labour set
free for the accumulation of stores and the formation and
repair of roads, and that they can now cover the Crimea
with depots and fortified lines from Simferopol to the
Belbeck. The roads which we are making are almost be-
yond the requirements of an army of temporary occupation.
They are broad and well paved so far as they have gone—
in some places they are levelled through the lock, which
here and there can only be removed by heavy blasting
charges. The railway is now assuming an appearance of
great solidity. Beside it winds the central road, and from
tile new central depot. under Mr. Brew, which has been re-
moved from the Col de Balaklava to an open space in the
rear of the second division and between the Guards brigade
and the fourth division, there are divisional roads in pro-
gress, which will also communicate with the divisional
depots. When the railway is worked by locomotives, in-
stead of horses, the permanent way will endure much
better, and a great deal more work will be got out of the
line. All these preparations are being made to enable the
army to exist comfortably in its winter cantonments, to
bring up huts, food, clothing, and fuel, and to remove guns,
mortars, and materiel from the front. The trenches will be
left as they are, except in so far as the parapets will be
affected by the removal of the gabions which the men are
permitted to take away for firewood. For these peaceful
labours we have been blessed by the most lovely weather.
The days are warm, and the air is charmingly fresh and
pure.— l'imeit Gar., Oct. lst.

The French, too, have been busy road-making :
The French have now nearly completed the road across
the valley which connects the Feduikhine heights on the
bank of the Tschernaya with their main road from Kam ieseh,
which hitherto did not go further than the Col de Balaklava.
—lb.

The Piedmontese seem to have mainly occupied
themselves with getting ready huts for the winter :

The Piedmontese are busy with the railway and with
hutting. If one sees the huts gradually rising, and seem-
ingly without trouble, one cannot help making melancholy
reflections, remembering the difference from last year,
when trenches, and want of tools and materials made the
construction of the most wretched hovel appear a work of
gigantic efforts. But the difference suggests, on the other
hand, an agreeable prospect for the winter; plenty of wood
and leisure enough for the construction of a town. The
Sardinians have evidently followed in the construction of
their huts the system of Tartar sheds—sticks planted in
the ground, and interwoven with branches, the whole plas-
tered over with mud, and then the roof covered with earth,
or, if possible, with tiles collected from the ruined houses
in the neighbourhood.—D. News Cor., Oct. t.lnd.

The reinforcements which have been sent out,
according to the correspondent of the Daily News,
consist of more awkward recruits than good or effi-
cient soldiers :

I may not, however, omit to add that advantage of the
present lull is very wisely being taken by the com-
manders of most of the regiments, to drill their raw
drafts, who may be seen at all points along the front,
three or four times between sunrise and sunset each day,
obeying the stern behests of the drill-serjeants by the per-
formance of the simplest, up to the most difficult, pas
d'etereice. The rapidity with which very many of these new-
comers must have been passed through the hands of the
" soldier-makers " at their various depots may have been
justified by the exigencies of service out here ; but it cer-
tainly has had the effect of sending us, in many cases, very
awkward and inefficient squads.—D. News Cor. Oct. 4th.