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

1000

THE WEEK.

•
ANOTHER week of great expectations, if not of great results, has passed.
The allied Commanders having made every preparation and kept their
secret, suddenly, on the sth and 6th, embarked a strong force on
board the fleet at Kamiesch and Balaklava, which shortly after sailed
for Odessa, arrived off there on the morning of the Bth, lay there for
six days, and then suddenly slippedlover to the mouth of the lagoon
which receives the waters of the Bug and Dnieper. There it
landed a small force below Kinburn, and has since, we suppose, been
busily employed in buoying the narrow channel, which will lead them
off Otchakov, and nearer Kherson. There are so many movements open
to an expedition of this sort, that it ie useless to speculate upon
which is the most probable they will take. It is clear that the
presence of the fleet off Odessa was designed to draw the attention
of the Russians to the safety of that town, and thus leave the coast
open on other points for attack; and the great advantage of a fleet
off such a tortuous coast as that of Kherson and Taurida, is manifest
in the rapidity with which a force can be .tarried from one spot to the
other, tho' in this instance it does not as yet appear that the allied
chide have availed themselves, to any great extent, of their advantage.
The ships reached Kinburn, on Sunday last, in a few hours after
leaving Odessa, but no landing was attempted before Monday, when
an insignificant force only was disembarked, and towards evening the
town and fortress at Kinburn were partially bombarded by a small
squadron of steamers. On Tuesday the bombardment was renewed
by the gun-boats, but with no decided result. It would appear from
this that the fleet was not then prepared to enter the narrow
and shoal channel of the Liman, which must be carefully sounded
and buoyed before anv flotilla can start—a preliminary which
the six days at Odessa should have afforded time for.
Still, we have no doubt that Sir EDMUND LYONS will signalise his
command by some daring and dashing enterprise which shall be a
credit to .the Black Sea fleet. Nicolaieff is the great point to be hit
Kherson is only a second rate town now to its rival Nicolaieff, and it
remains to be seen whether or not Sir EDMUND Mora will manage to '
reach this great arsenal and dockyard of Southern Russia. The liffl-
culties and dangers of the attempt would be neither few nor trifling ;
but thirty-five miles of a river have been traversed before now in the
face of an active enemy lining the cliffs with his troops and field-pieces,
and to steam gun-boats and a strong, light flotilla nothing of the sort
should be impracticable, provided the channel is left open.
The news from the allied camps on the Tschernaya and at Sebas-
topol is, on the whole, highly satisfactory. The health and spirit of
the troops is excellent ; careful preparations are daily continued to
meet the exigencies of winter; and if the home authorities only pay as
much attention to forwarding supplies as the commanders in the camp
do to the care of their men, our soldiers will pass this winter in corn
parative comfort.
The great question whether a blow is to be struck against the
Russian army before winter sets in, seems likely to receive a solution
in a few days. The main body of the French army, as far as authentic
despatches inform us, has steadily advanced towards the entrance of
the valley of the Upper Belbeck ; but a late despatch from Vienna
asserts that the advanced posts of the French are within a few leagues
of Baktchi-Serai, that the Russians were falling back upon their line
of defence on the Belbeck. and that Baktchi-Serai lay open to the
French. If this be correct, and the French Marshal is advancing
upon Baktchi Serai, we may depend upon a great battle
being fought shortly. But such an advance would appear
hazardous in the face of a powerful enemy holding a strong central
position. The extreme caution with which the allied Generals act
make it clear that they have even now scarcely force enough at their
command to attack the Russians with any certainty of success. The
immense advantage of GORTSCHAKOFF'S position is now evident ; he is
central and close, with the power of being vastly superior upon any
eccentric point of attack, while the Allies are compelled to divide their
forces, and at the best can only combine in one simultaneous concentric
attack. With such distances intervening between their respective
forces as at Eupatoria and Tschernaya, a simultaneous movement
cannot be depended on ; add to this the dangerous proximity of a
large army on the north side, which might at any moment of careless-
ness on our part once more cross the harbour and establish itself on
the south side again, and it will be seen that there are many chances
against any decidedly successful result being accomplished by the
Allies at present.

The heroic defence of Kars upon the 29th of September is another
leaf in the scanty laurel of the Turks, and, like Silistria, proves how
well, how nobly Turkish soldiers will fight when led by able officers.
For this repulse of the Russians General WILLIAMS and his gallant
Staff—Captain Lams, of the Madras Engineers, Captain TEESDALE and
Captain Titomsos, of the 68th Bengal Native Infantry—deserve some
marked distinction. Their bravery and devotion will no doubt be
recognised by the Sultan, who is liberal in rewards to those fighting in
his cause. The Russians attribute their defeat to the loss of many
officers and some generals early in the day ; but it was solely owing
to the superior spirit and dogged persistence of the Turks, who fought
like lions, and, in spite' of the Russians, obtaining at one time a
footing within the redoubts, drove them out headlong with
frightful loss.
The report that MOURAVIEFF had raised the siege, and was
in full retreat, turns out to be utterly uptrue. Motauvutry ,is

SATURDAY,

clearly aware that he has nothing to fear from OMER PACHA, who, with
4,000 men at Batoum, and no stores or means of transport, is not
likely to be in a position to advance to the relief of Kars before
next spring. The Russian army has, therefore, remained quietly in
its old position, and doubtless, after the severe lesson of the 29th,
will wait for hunger and despair to do their work slowly but
surely. If MOURAVIEFE can only enforce the siege for a few weeks
longer, the fate of Kars is certain.

The cruel attempt at murder which was perpetrated last Friday
week in the County Cavan, reminds us that Ireland has not yet lost
that unenviable reputation for savage atrocity which has clung to
her peasantry since the time of Queen ELIZABETH. It is horrible to
reflect that in these days, for no offence beyond simply that of exer-
cising the plain rights of proprietorship, a lady should, in open
daytime, be dragged from her car, cruelly beaten till senseless, and
then fired at in the face by a pistol loaded with slugs. We are told
that months ago this poor lady was marked for murder ! Have we
no police in Ireland to ferret out these villains who first inform their
victims of their fate, and then coolly execute it upon them months
afterwards in broad daylight?

The extradition this day from Jersey of some leading refugees is a
step in the right direction to put a stop to the gross breach of hospi-
tality which these incendiaries daily commit in propagating their
revolutionary doctrines, and in inciting convulsion all over Europe.
The impudence of these men in Jersey is especially worthy of remark
—they dared to call our Queen to account for visiting the French
Emperor. These gentlemen, forsooth, would limit the alliances and
direct the Government of this country. There is no despotism under
the sun so tyrannical as the democracy which such men advocate ; and
it is a credit to the loyal inhabitants of Jersey to have taken the matter
up in so prompt a manner. A meeting was hell last Saturday, loyal
resolutions passed, and an interview sought with the Governor upon
the subject. The result has been the extradition of the principal
supporters of L'Homme—a step which it is not unlikely will be followed
nearer home, unless more reserve is practised by those to whom we
give refuge.

The Baltic fleet is slowly returning to its native shores. Com-
ment is superfluous upon the results of the campaign of '55; but from
such an enthusiastic trumpeter of its success as the Times has
more than once proved itself, it is curious to read such expressions as
the following, which we think betokens a change in the Baltic
barometer :
That so little has been effected here during two successive seasons will be, without
doubt, unsatisfactory to the majority of your readers and of the British public. Taking
an unprejudiced view of the operations of the powerful fleet which has congregated in
this part of the enemy's territories, it must be admitted that not only have they fallen
short of what was expected, but also of that which, if proper means had been forthcoming,
might have been accomplished.—Times Baltic Cor.
The " unprejudiced view "we may expect to see shortly taken. Will
Admiral IIINDAB have the command next year?