The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-18 00:00:00

THE APPROACH OF WINTER.

The Constantinople correspondent of the Times
announces the occurrence of severe gales, with all
the symptoms of the rapid approach of winter on the
shores of the Black Sea. He writes on Oct.2oth

We cannot but pity the situation of our unhappy troops
to-night. Wind, hail, anti rain are beating against our
windows, and, if these prevail in the Crimea, the troops
will pass a night worse than that of the 11th of Septem-
ber, when they first set foot on Russian ground. Some.
times, however, these tempests are merely local; the wind
comes down the Bosphorus as through a funnel, and Con-
stantinople is beaten by storms when the Black Sea is
sunny and calm. The vessels which came in to-day were
under reafed topsails, which seems as if the gale had ex-
tended to some distance from the Cyanean rocks, but
whether the weather is the ulna 200 miles away we
cannot tell.
On October 30th :

The Attaralian has just arrived, bringing four Russian
officers and thirteen privates prisoners ; also eight officers
and 193 men of the wounded British cavalry. Seven men
died on board. Unfortunately the wind is so strong, and
the sea runs so high, that they cannot be landed. Their
wounds are extremely severe.
He adds on the 2nd inst :
Five such days as those we have just passed through
are said not to have been known at Constantinople fur
many years. On the night of the 28th a strong wind began
to blow, and increased to a tempest within the next twenty-
four hours. It was accompanied by torrents of rain and
occasional storms of hail and sleet; and not only was
every calque driven from the Bosphorus and the Golden
Horn, but the steamers which ply between Constantinople
and the villages were obliged to discontinue their usual
traffic. The narrow channel of the Bosphorus was so
roused by the strength of the gale that the sea has iu many
places burst into the houses, the lower rooms of which
have been rendered uninhabitable. Rain has poured down
for five days in one incessant stream ; the roadri have be-
come almost impassable, and communication between the
different points of the environs is nearly impracticable.
The sympathy of the public will be raised for the unhappy
wounded who have come down to Scutari, and have for two
days been kept on board the steamers which conveyed
them, through the impossibility of bringing them on shore.
Nothing has arrived at the moment I write from the
seat of war. The chief cause of anxiety is on account
of the recent unfavourable weather, and that which may be
now expected during the whole of the month. Our men
are much warn out ; they are diminished in number to an
extent hardly credible, and any further hardships may
have had an effect the most deplorable. The last news
was dated the 28th. On the night following the rain set
in and has lasted ever since. The men must have been
exposed to the full inclemency of the weather. Their
camp is on a height., over which the fierce winds Must have
swept, perhaps blowing away their tents and leaving them
without shelter from the pitiless storm. The rain pouring
down—not in a drizzle, like that of an English November,
but in a strong steady stream—day and night, must have
saturated their clothing and placed them for days in the
same circumstances as on the first night of their landing.
Half the man are constantly on duty; they are alarmed by
continued " alerts" on their rear, the real force of the
enemy being unknown ; so that at night a few Cossacks
may disturb the rest of a whole division for hours
together.
THE BALTIC FLEET.

The Iriatur;a;rived—at Dauzic on Thursday,
having left the fleet at Kiel on the 9th. Sir Charles
Napier was expected shortly to leave for England.
On the 9th, being the birthday of the Prince of
Wales, the fleet celebrated the event by firing royal
salutes and dressing ship, not only with British
flags, but those of their allies the French and
Tarks. In the evening a grand ball was given
by the inhabitants of Kiel, which was attended by
about sixty officers of the navy, royal marines, and
marine artillery, belonging to the British squadron.