The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

The loss on the side of the Turks is returned at
310 killed and wounded, of whom sixty-eight are
killed, and four missing; while that of the enemy
does not appear to have been ascertained. Up to
the present time, writes Major Simmons, 347 have
been buried, of whom are eight officers, among which
the prisoners report there are two colonels.

DEATH OF ADMIRAL BRUAT.
The French Minister of Marine received on Tues-
day the following despatch from the chief of the
staff of the Mediterranean squadron :
On board the Montabello, at sea, Nov. 20, 1855.
Admiral Bruat died yesterday, the 19th of November, at
three in the afternoon, from an attack of cholera.

The departure of the late Admiral Bruat for France
called forth a most gratifying and complimentary
letter from the deceased officer to Admiral Lyons :

consider it, my dear colleague (said this letter), a
duty, and the moat agreeable duty I could have t.l perform,
to add to the congratulations of his Excellency the Minister
of Marine my personal thanks and the expressive► of my
gratitude for the very loyal and willing support which you
have never ceased to give me. I beg of you, my dear col•
league, to be the interpreter of my sentiments to the
officers and crews of your squadron.
•

Admiral Lyons replied in equally expressive fermi
of friendship and esteem, while the closing paragraph
of his letter anticipates a home-welcome for his
brave and accomplished colleague which a sudden
and disastrous death denied :

Your excellency (observes Admiral Lyons) is kind
enough to say that you leave us with regret. We are fully
convinced of it, and are deeply touched by it; but it is not
in the nature of things that this separation should be so
keenly felt by you as by us, for we remain on these shores
while every league which increases the distance between
us brings you nearer to your country and to your families,
who are already preparing to receive you with open arms,
and to thank you for the noble actions you have accom-
plished.
THE NEW COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

General Simpson officially announced his resigns.
Lion of the command on the 10th ult., in the order of
the day, dated " Head-quarters, Nov. 10th," informing
the army of the appointment of his successor.
General Simpson briefly thanks the army for its good
conduct while under his command :
In resigning his command, the general desires to express
to the troops the high sense he entertains of the admirable
conduct of the officers and men of this army during the
time he has had the honour to serve with them. In taking
leave of them he tenders his best thanks to all ranks, and
offers his earnest wishes for their success and honour in
all the future operations of this noble army.
General Codrington on assuming the command
issued the following general order to the army on the
following day :

Headquarters, Sebastopol, Nov. 12.
I have assumed the command of the army, in obediem
to her Majesty's orders. It is with a feeling of pride, and
with a feeling of confidence in the support which I know
will be heartily given to any officer honoured with such a
commission.
The armies of France and Sardinia are united with us
on this ground. We know their gallantry well, tor we have
seen it ; we know their friendship, for we have profited
by it; we have shared difficulties, dangers, and successes,
the groundwork of mutual esteem ; and all will feel it our
pleasure as well as our duty to carry on that kindly inter-
course which is due to the intimate alliance of the nations
themselves.
Our army will always preserve its high character in the
field. The sobriety, the good conduct, and the discipline
which it is our duty to maintain, are the beat sureties of
future success ; and I trust to the efforts and assistance of
all ranks in thus keeping the army to be an instrument of
honour, of power, and of credit to England.
W. J. CODRINOTON, General, Commander of the Forces.
A farewell address to the light division was also
issued by Sir William Codrington, and read to each
regiment on parade. The gallant general alludes to
the arduous services they have undergone together,
and asks them to continue in the " true line of disci-
pline, order, and good conduct."
THE GREAT EXPLOSION.
The tremendous explosion of the magazines on the
15th appears by the latest letters from the camp to
have completely occupied the attention of the whole
army. It was of so appalling a nature, and so terrific
in its force, that for the first moment men and
officers could scarcely comprehend the nature of the
catastrophe. But, after a trifling period of uncer-
tainty, the truth forced itself upon their minds by the
dense columns of smoke which rolled out across the
country, and the fury of the fire which threatened
destruction to the whole encampment.
The special correspondent of the Daliy News
describes it in the following terms
To say that it equalled in violence the combined salvoes
of a thousand parks of artillery might seem extravagant ;
and yet the simile would but feebly convey an idea of the
volume of thundering sound that shook the earth for
miles around, tearing down the most substantial masonry
and wooden huts, and levelling tents as by the sweep of
some invisible giant-arm. I had seen the explosions on
and after the Bth of September, which so many pens have
since described ; but no half-dozen of them together would
have equalled this one, either in force or sound. Over an
sass of nearly half a mils from the spot of its omarronoo,

1139

the air was one huge column of powder, smoke, and cut-
up earth, up into and athwart which igniting or exploding
shells and rockets ever and anon darted and flashed by
hundreds, spreading destruction to nearly everything ani-
mate and inanimate within a radius of more than a thou-
sand yards. Heavy siege-guns were wrenched from their
carriages and thrown many perches from where they
had been standing, whilst the carriages themselves, torn
asunder, as a strong man might rend bird-cages, were
flung high into the air, and fell in scattered fragments far
away amongst the surrounding tents. It seemed, also, as
if whole piles of round-shot and grape were similarly
caught up into the air and showered far and near, for I can
personally testify that, more than 500 yards from the scene
of the explosion, they and pieces of burst shell fell and
ploughed up the earth nearly as thickly as if all the Rus-
sian batteries on the north side had been transferred to
Inkerniann, and brought into random play against the
light division at the time. This may sound extravagantly,
know : but it no more than describes the terrific, but
happily brief, storm of missiles vomited around on all sides
by this disastrous blow up.—D. News coo.
As soon as it was perceived that the great English
magazine had not exploded, an effort was made to
save the building containing the powder ; and here
one of those cool and daring acts for which English-
men are pre eminent was achieved by Lieutenant
Hope, of the 7th Fusiliers, and a small party of volun-
teers
Immediately after the first great explosion, however,
when it was ascertained that the windmill itself—which
forms our main magazine in this part of the camp, and
contains some hundred and eighty tons of powder—had
escaped, General Straubenzee, who commands the brigade,
hurried up to the tents of the 7th Fusiliers and asked if
any of the men would volunteer to mount the wall of the
mill and cover the roof with wet tarpaulins and blankets
as a protection against the thickly-flying sparks and burn-
ing wood. Now, the concussion had literally thrown the
roof off the old building, and there it stood in the very
centre of the spreading flames, exposed every minute to a
thousand chances of instantaneous destruction. Hardly
anything could exceed the danger attending such a labour
as the general proposed, but, notwithstanding, Lieutenant
Hope (senior) and twenty-five men at once responded to
the brigadier's appeal and proceeded to the powder-
crammed building. A sergeant and some men of the
Rifles, with also a party of the 84th Regiment, were in-
duced to accompany them ; and, within ten minutes from
the first great blow-up, Mr. Hope was on the walls of the
mill piling the wet coverings over the exposed powder-
boxes—exploding shells and burning wood trying through
the air in perfect storms the while. Whilst the officer and
some half-dozen of the men were thus employed, the re-
mainder carried water to throw upon the blankets and bare
rafters of the mill, and in little more than half an hour this
vast pile of powder was as well protected from the thickly-
flying sparks and rockets as it could be, short of entire re-
moval from the scene of the conflagration. The danger,
however, was still great, for a shell might at any moment
penetrate the textile coverings and send the whole into
the air, spreading around destruction and death, compared
with which the injury already done would have been as
nothing. The troops, were, therefore, kept as far as •
possible from the scene of the fire till late in the evening,
when it had so expended its fury as to give less ground for
apprehension.—lb.
Lieutenant Hope was publicly thanked by the general
on next day's parade.
So great was the hurricane of shot and shell sent
into the camp by the explosion, that many dreadful
accidents of course occurred, while at the same time
some of the escapes were miraculous :
Major Strange had only just stepped out of the door of
his hut when two thirteen-inch shells dropped through the
roof and exploded on the very chair he had been occupy-
ing. Every board of the little dwelling was sent flying
into the air, as was the case with the hut next it, and yet
out of this tornado of wooden splinters he escaped with-
out a scratch. Another, which occurred in the 88th
Regiment, distant nearly half a mile from the spot, was
scarcely less so. A shell passed through the roof of the
canteen, knocked a bottle out of the hand of the canteen
man's wife, and, rolling off a yard or two, burst and
destroyed the whole concern, without seriously wounding
any of the eight or ten people in the place at the time.
A soldier was leading, in the camp of the 2'.lrd Regiment,
a valuable charger belonging to Major Robert Bruce. A
shell burst, disembowelling the horse and tearing him
into nearly two parts, but the soldier escaped unhurt. Two
of the large marquees occupied by the sick men of the
regiment were torn by shells, and a round-shot passed
through one of the wooden huts, in which were several
patients, finding its way out close to the head of one of
them, who was perfectly disabled from moving; yet none
were injured. —lB.
Of the accidents, one of the most painful was the
case of an English artilleryman, who, without re-
ceiving any bodily injury, either from the force of the
explosion or by the sudden shock, has been rendered
idiotic:—
He attracted general attention as he was led by, bare-
headed, between two of his comrades, uttering silly excla-
mations, and quite lost to consciousness of all that was
passing around him. He seemed to be possessed by a feel-
ing that he was in England, for all his rambling remarks
referred to home; while a smile on his face, vacant and
unmeaning as was its expression, seemed to show that he
had at least as much satisfaction as be was any longer
capable of enjoying.—lb.
The cause of explosion will probably never be
positively discovered, as the wilful or accidental per-
petrator must have been destroyed at the moment.

1140

There were several impressions in the camp on the
subject :

The first impression—and a very general one—seemed
to be, that the train had been laid and the depot blown up
by a Russian emissary. When it was discovered that the
English magazine was safe—long a conspicuous object—
and the difficulties of such an undertaking were considezed,
this idea was dispelled. Then it was said that a Zouave,
excited at having received punishment, had set fire to the
siege ammunition. But even if the supposition of such a
mad and fiendish act could be admitted, the well•known
caution and strict rules of the French administration

prevented it from being entertained. No one at any time
was admitted into the French depot without he was en-
gaged there on duty, or was accompanied by a French
edlicer. The more probable story is one that was told by a
French artilleryman, that some live Russian shells were
being emptied at the depot, and the gunpowder contained
in them collected for storage, and that the ignition of one
of these must have led to the firing of the principal maga•
zine. Smoking was forbidden within the precincts of the
depot, but some soldier may have been guilty of the act
unobserved and a spark fallen in the gunpowder. A com-
mission of inquiry will no doubt be appointed to investigate
the subject. —lb.
The Russians, from the heights of Inkermann,
appeared to enjoy the catastrophe:—

The explosion and subsequent fire attracted the notice
of the Russians encamped on the north heights and along
the range overlooking the Tschernaya valley. They ad-
vanced in considerable numbers towards the edge of the
Inkermann cliffs, and stood in evident delight at the
spectacle presented to their view. Presently the French
opened a fire upon them from the guns of some batteries
which, it is said, were previously masked, and of the exist-
ence of which the enemy was in all probability unaware.
The Russians were at once driven back, and they appeared
to retire in such haste that little doubt was entertained of
the French shot having found their way among them.

THE WAR IN ASIA.
Some details of the passage of the Ingour by Omer
Paella have reached us this week direct from the
Turkish camp. The Russian position, although well
selected, appears to have been in part cleverly turned
by Otner l'acha, who erected batteries facing the
main position of the Russians to engage their atten-
tion, while he passed the river two miles lower down.
This flank movement, combined with a gallant front
attack at the right moment, decided the fate of the
day.
Previous to the battle, the swampy nature of the
country threatened seriously to impede the operations
of the army :

I found myself surrounded by a miscellaneous concourse,
straggling by devious paths through the tangled underwood,
or ploughing their way through the deep mud. There
were infantry and cavalry in long lines winding between
the magnificent oak and beech trees of which the forest is
composed—Abatrians on wiry ponies dodging in and out,
and getting past everybody—mules and pack horses, in
awkward predicaments, stopping up the road, on whose
devoted heads were showered an immense variety of oaths
by their drivers, who in their turn were sworn at by the
rest of the world. There were some battteries of artillery
which looked so hopelessly imbedded that nothing short
of British energy, as impersonated in the young English-
man who commanded, could have extricated them.
There were broken-down baggage-waggons and broken-
down mules, and everything but broken-down men. Here
and there a Pacha was squatted by the roadside indulging
in his nargilleh, enjoying his " kief," and watching placidly
the exertions of his troops.—Times cor., Oct. 29.
The banks of the Ingour were at length reached
at the point where the fortress of Ruchi was held by
a powerful Russian force. Nothing was known of the
real strength of the enemy, either in guns or men,
but their position was well chosen, and defended by
stockades, abattis, and thick brushwood. On the
afternoon of the sth, Omer Pacha reached the
advanced guard, immediately inspixted the position,
and ordered the construction of two batteries to enfi-
lade the opposite bank, and commenced the passage
of the river. The batteries were thrown up, with the
loss of one mar, in the course of the night, and the
next morning, at eleven, the troops got under arms
and advanced to the attack of the Russian position :
In the morning the order came for the troops to get
under arms immediately, and at eleven o'clock a.m. we
crossed one branch of the river about two miles lower down
without opposition. We now found ourselves upon an
island five or six miles long and about two miles broad,
across which the troops marched. Three battalions of
rifles, under Colonel Ballard, were put forward to line the
woods, through which we advanced by a narrow path.
About one o'clock we reached a large field of Indian corn,
and heard the rifles hotly engaged with the enemy in a
thick wood in our front. The Russians were soon driven
from this across the river, and opened fire from behind a
battery upon the wood, of which the rifles had now taken
possession. Meantime, as the leading columns of the
Turkish army showed itself upon the plain, a battery con-
sisting of five gnus opened upon them, which was speedily
replied to by our artillery. A path was formed under
cover of a steep bank, under which the infantry advanced
to the support of the rifles in the wood, who had been sus-
taining and replying in the most determined manner to the
tremendous fire which the enemy had been concentrating
upon them. Sufficient credit cannot be given to the gal-
lantry of Colonel Ballard, whose steadiness and courage
were infused into those under his command, and contri-
buted largely to the successful issue of the affair. While
this was the position of affairs opposite the battery, Omer