The Press.
London, England, 1855-02-03 00:00:00

J tx. 13.—T he Russians, who had been very active inside the

- - town during the day, sod who had lighted great watchfires
on the north side of the place, illuminated the heights over
the Tschernaya with rows of lights, which shone brilliantly
through the darkness of the cold winter's night, and were
evidently with all possible pomp and ostentation celebrat-
ing the opening of their peculiar new year. Lights shone
from the windows of the public buildings, and our lonely
sentries in the valleys and ravines, and the enfans perdu.—
the French sharpshooters lying in their lairs with watchful
eye on every embrasure before them—might almost fancy
that the inhabitants and garrison of the beleaguered city
were tantalising them with the aspect of their gaiety. At
midnight all the chapel bells of the city began ringing,
and it was evident that a religious ceremony of extraordi-
nary solemnity was about to take place. On our side the
sentries and pickets were warned to be on the alert, and
the advanced posts were strengthened wherever it was
practicable. About a quarter past l o'clock this morning
the Russians inside the line of works gave a loud cheer.
The French replied by opening fire, and the Russians iu
return instantly began one of the fiercest cannonades along
the front of their position which we have yet heard. It
reminded one of those tremendous salvos of artillery which
the enemy delivered on two or three occasions before we
opened our batteries last October. The earthworks flashed
forth uninterrupted floods of flame, which broke through
the smoke as lightning through the thundercloud, and
revealed distinctly the outlines of the buildings in the
town, and the lines of defences swarming with men. The
roaring of shot, the screaming and hissing of heavy shell,
and the whistling of carcasses filled up the intervals be-
tween the deafening roll of cannon, which was as rapid
and unbroken as quick file-firing. The iron and stones
passed over our lines uninterruptedly for more than half
an hour, and the French, whose works to our left are less
protected by the ground than ours are, had to shelter them-
selves closely in the trenches, and could barely reply to tl •
massive volleys which ploughed up the parapets of their
works, but their en/ate perdu. never lost an opportunity of
sending their balls into the embrasures. In the meantime,
while the firing was going on, a strong body of men had
been pushed out of the town up the face of the hill towards
our works in front and on the flank of the left attack. As
it was expected that some attempt of the kind would be
made, one of the steadiest sergeants in the service was
posted here with twelve men. Every reliance was placed
on his vigilance and on his strict attention to his duties,
but, somehow or other, the enemy crept up on the little
party, surprised, and took them prisoners, and then ad-
vanced on the covering parties with such rapidity and sud-
denness that the parties of the Sixty—th, and of the
Twenty—at regiments. which were on duty in the trenches,
were obliged to retire almost without firing a shot. They
rallied, however, and fired, and, being supported by the
regiments in rear, they advanced, and the Russians were
driven back close to the town. In this little affair one
officer and nine men were severely wounded, six men were
killed, and fourteen men are now missing. The French
had to resist a strong sortie nearly at the same time, and
for a short time the Russians were within the parapet of
one of their mortar batteries, and spiked, it is said, two or
three mortars with wooden plugs, but the French soon
drove them back with loss, and in the pursuit got, inside
the lines of the Russians' advanced batteries. The sol-
diers, indeed, say they could have taken the place that
night, if they had been permitted to do so. At 2 o'clock
this morning all was silent once more, and the allied
armies had opened their new Russian year on Crimean
soil.

From this it would appear that ammunition was as
plentiful in Sebastopol as it has ever been. The
cerrespondent of the Morning Post, under date of
January 16th, shows how the extreme fatigue of our
men favours these sorties :
The Russians, on making the charge. came on with the
cry of " Raki, raki!" and appeared half drunk. The Omtli
regiment were asleep, with the exception of the sentries
(who, it is feared, were not far otherwise). The men are
so harassed with duty in the trenches, that as soon as they
take their posts they curl themselves up in their blankets,
and down they go to sleep. The weather, though bitter
cold, does not prevent but rather encourages their drowsi-
ness.
The active effective force of our army appears to
be correctly given in the same letter, as follows :
The intense labour our troops are subjected to has led
to the French general issuing an order that 1,000 of our
allies should be granted in order to give the British some
relief. Nominally speaking, the strength of the English
of all ranks exceeds 40,000 men, but of this there are
16,232 sergeants, drummers, and rank and file sick, leaving
available not more than 13,000 for the trenches and pickets,
after other necessary casualties are deducted. The daily
duty for the 24 hours requires about 7,000 men, so that
you may judge what arduous work the men have to par•
form.

FEBRUARY 3, 1855.

All accounts concur in representing the state of
the army as deplorable. The Times correspondent,
under date of January 10, writes :

The 68rd Regiment had only seven men fit for duty
yesterday. The 46th had only thirty men fit for duty at
the same date. A strong company of the 90th has been
reduced by the last week's severity to fourteen file in a
few days, and that regiment, though considered very
healthy, lost fifty men by death in a fortnight. The Scots
Fusilier Guards, who have had out from beginning to end
1,562 men, now muster, including servants and corporals,
210 men on parade. Many other regiments have suffered
in like proportion. Lieutenant Dent, of the 9th Regiment,
who was in command of a fatigue party engaged in car-
rying up provisions to the camp, became so unwell on the
way that he could not keep up with his men, and was
found dead in the snow. The day before yesterday, as
one of our officers was passing by a French camp, he was
hailed by a captain into whose tent the body of an English
officer had just been carried. It was frozen and cold.
Another letter, in the Morning Post, says that in
consequence of the reduced condition cf the 63rd
they had been ordered down to Balaklava:—
The 63rd Regiment cannot furnish sixty men under
arms, so reduced are they by sickness. They have been
ordered to move down to Balaklava, and the ltith Regiment,
at present stationed there, is to replace them on the
heights. The 63rd will do fatigue duties at Balakiava.

As supplies of clothing and food are serving out,
however, the spirits of the men revive, and on the
16th, the latest date, it was hoped that the condition
of the remnant of our army was slightly improving.
Under date of the 14th January we read :
The issue of warm clothing to the troops is nearly com•
plated. Every man will have clothing, and some will be
left. The description of clothing seems to give general
satisfaction. One instance of complaint, I hear, is in
reference to some socks, but, generally, everything Inas given
satisfaction.
But under same date we read that there seemed
little chance of the huts being got up until summer
came on:—

No great progress has been made in hutting the men.
A few huts are landed, and some are on their way up to
the front, but very slowly, owing to the want of transport.
1 am afraid it will be summer before the whole army gets
properly housed. In the meantime the regiments are
sadly exposed, the sick particularly. The medical officers
say that it is impossible to effect cures here. The light
division is very badly off. Tn some regiments nearly two
hundred men, besides those at Scutari, are sick.

The Robert Lowe had arrived with detachments,
amounting to 700 men. At Balaklava everything
continued in a lamentable state of confusion :

When a vessel arrives with stores she is frequently
ordered to sea again in all haste. The stores are crammed
into lighters, and are shoved on the beach. Oftentimes
they are partially lost, or are taken off by marauders, or
find their way into divisional magazines where they are
never heard of, unless by some lucky accident. Now,
this is no exaggeration. I know of one case where an
officer was sent down again and again to the coal depot,
but could get no one to attend to his requisition ' • at last
his men took the law into their own hands, and carried
off forty sacks of coal, to keep themselves and their master
alive. Many followed their example, and the coals went
merrily. Again, a vessel—say the Golden Fleece—comes
into the harbour with blankets, great-coats, and such arti-
cles for the army. She is ordered to discharge and pro-
ceed with all haste to sea again. Captain Heath sends
lighters alongside, and the stores are put into them. The
men in the lighters go away at dinner-time, and mean-
time the Golden Fleece obeys orders, and goes off to her
destination. On ber return to lialaklava the captain de-
mands a receipt for the stores he has put into the lighters.
" Wbat stores ? We know nothing at all about them. We
never received them." A search is made, and some of
the stores are found in one magazine, and others in an-
other, but part of them are not forthcoming. Hales of
great-coats have been seen lying, I suppose under some such
circumstances, under the rain in open lighters, for twenty-
four hours together at a stretch in the harbour.—Timee
Correspondent, Sebastopol, Jan. 10.

At Constantinople, as we hear by a letter dated
thence, 18th inst., the confusion is equally great:—

I went the other day to the Custom-house at Constan-
tinople to hunt for some things which I had ordered from
Marseilles immediately after my arrival here, and which
have only now come to hand. A spectacle of more hope-
less disorder than that establishment presented it is im-
possible to imagine. Amid mountains of packages I
could distinguish many addressed to officers by their
friends at home, which have been probably lying there
for weeks, and which it is a chance if they will ever see.
Some had been smashed either intentionally or through
earlessness, and cases of preserved meats and other crea-
ture comforts had rolled out of them, and were going to
pieces on the mud floor. The interior of the building
being crammed, the surplus was left exposed on the wharf,
where the snow had covered everything several inches
deep. Ido not recollect ever to have witnessed such a
scandalous waste of valuable property ; and what made the
spectacle more annoying was to observe that a very con-
siderable proportion of the packages were for the Crimea
or Scutari.
The supplies for the caUlp seem abundant, if they
could only be readily transferred from Balaklava :
The quantities of provisions required and constimed by
the army are almcst fabulous. This very week notices
have been received by the commissariat of the following
supplies being on their way to us :—Ship No. 1.-
100,0001 b. of salt pork, 178,0001 b. of salt beef, 170,0001 b.

THE PRESS.

of biscuit, and 9,000 gallons of rum. Ship No. 2.-
121,0001 b. of biscuit, 4,000 gallons of rum, 00,000 lb of
salt meat, and 80,0001 b. of bay. Ship No. 3.-143,0001 b.
of biscuit, 4,000 gallons of ium, 89,0001 b. of salt pork,
89,0001 b. of salt beef. and 88,0001 b. of hay. Ship No. 4.-
33,0001 b. of biscuit, 10,000 gallons of rum, and 108,000 lb.
of hay Ship No. 5.-282,0001 b. of biscuit, 208,0001 b. of
salt pork, and 210,0001 b. of salt beef. This looks very well
in the way of supply, but consumption is enormous too.
In one division which I know of 210 gallons of rum are
drunk every day, and it is all required. The consumption
of the whole army must be about 1,000 gallons daily.
Waste is prevented as far as possible, but it does un•
doubtedly take place.—Time Correspondent, Sebastopol,
Jan. 10.

In spite of all difficulties, large supplies of ammu
nitiun were reaching the British camp :

The preparations for oar renewed bombardment and
cannonade are progressing rapidly. Upwards of fifty fine
new 82-pound guns, thirteen of the largest sized mortars,
and some very heavy siege-guns are all up at the depot,
and elsewhere, and can be placed in the new batteries at a
very short notice. Up to the present date about 14,000
shot and shell of all sorts have been conveyed from Bala-
klava to our artillery parks, and in that number is not in-
cluded 4,000 naval shells (with brass fuses). When the
batteries open each gun will be provided with 300 rounds
of ammunition. There is one mortar at Balaklava which
weighs four tons. How it is to be got to the front is not
very easy to determine. A Polish officer who deserted re-
cently has given us moat lluable information respecting
the range of our batteries, and there is reason to believe
that when our fire reopens the effect will be so tre-
mendous that the destruction of the place will be in-
evitable in a very short time.—/b. Jan. 15.

It is doubtful, however, whether any serious assault
is really intended until the spring, as At present,
from the depth of snow on the ground, operations
against the town would be impracticable. The fol-
lowing paragraph from the Post correspondent indi-
cates a prudent resolve on the part of our allies

The French general has stopped all reinforcements
coming up for the present farther than the Bosphorus.
The object of the commanders is to have their men as
strong as their present circumstances will admit for the
ensuing spring. They have enough to maintain their pre-
sent position until favourable weather for operations
sets in.

SECOND EDITION.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

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