The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-20 00:00:00

Xabal nnb tilitax ntelligtnct.

GENERAL SIR JAMES SIMPSON, G.C.8., General Lord
Rokeby, and Colonel the Hon. Wm. L. Pakenham,
C. 8., who have been for some weeks engaged in
investigating the claims for the Victoria Cross (the
Order of Valour), have for a short period discon-
tinued their meetings at the Horse Guards. We
have reason to believe that their labours are com-
plete up to the 38th Regiment of Foot.
THE ROCKET SHEDS AT WOOLWICH ARSENAL, in
consequence of the fatal explosion some months
since, and the recommendation of the coroner's jury
that such sheds should be isolated and remote from
other buildings, have been removed from the labora-
tory square to the Arsenal marshes.
THE FLOATING BATTERIES.—On Wednesday last
experiments were carried out at the Government
practice range, Woolwich, in the presence of the
select committee of Royal Artillery officers, in order
to test the resistance of timber encased with four-inch
iron plates, the combined substance being exactly
equal to that of the floating batteries. The result
proved that these vessels would not be able to endure
a heavy cannonade of 68-pounders. A target com-
posed of timber and iron plates, and weighing thirty
tons, was subjected in the first place to fourteen
rounds of 68 pounders, fired from a distance of 600
yards. This cannonade splintered the timber, and
ten rounds were then fired at a distance of 400
yards. The result was entirely destructive to the
timber-work, and the iron plates made by the new
rolling process were splintered and broken. The
last shot fired want completely through the target,
timber and iron included. The iron plates made
by hammer were found the most cohesive and
enduring.
MAJOR-GENERALS Sin GEORGE ANSON AND
NICHOLAS HAMILTON will, it is stated, have the
colonelcies of the 55th and 82nd Regiments, vacant by
the deaths of Generals Butler and Milman.

THE LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY have published a
memorandum restricting mess expenses in the gun-
rooms of her Ala)ehty's ships to eight guineas en-
trance, and I/. 10s. per month. No wines but sherry
and port, or "of the value of sherry or port," to be
drunk.

CHAIMES LAMB, Esp., 'half-brother of the Earl of
Eglinton, died at his shooting quarters at Lochflne-
side, on Thursday week. His remains have been in-
terred in the cemetery at Greenock. His body was
followed to the grave by the Earl of Eglington and
Viscount Ingestre. 111 r. Lamb died from the effects
of injuries received by the bursting of a shell ♦bile
he waa serving as a volunteer before Sebastopo!.

SATURDAY,

RUSSIAN NOTE ON THE REASSEMBLING
OF THE CONFERENCES.
THE Russian memorandum on the Bolgrad and Isle
of Serpents questions, made public last week, was
originally communicated to Count Walewski, the
French Minister of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by
the following note, in which the French Government
was invited to promote the reassembling of the Con.
ferences:—

Monsieur le Ministre,—By order of the Emperor my
august master, I had the honour of addressing to your
Excellency a note, under date of Sept. 19, repeating the
invitation already verbally given, that you would be a- good
as to propose to all the Cabinets that signed the treaty of
l'aris to reassemble their representatives in conference at
Paris, fur the purpose of definitively regulating the ques-
tions which remain in suspense concerning the execution
of the treaty of March 30.
The Government of his Majesty the Emperor of the
French, acceding to this request, did not fail to make it
known to all the Courts which had signed the treaty of
Paris.

A month having since elapsed, in expectation without
any result, 1 have received orders to place before the eyes
of your Excellency the inclosed memorandum. which gives
a complete summary of the situation of affairs. It states
anew the high importance which the Court of Russia at-
taches to a prompt and complete solution of all the points
in dispute, explains the course this Court has taken in
order to legally arrive at this conclusion, and points out,
lastly, the serious inconvenience which would result from
any furthur procrastination.
In fact, the demarcation, of the new Bessarabian frontier,
defined in principle by a preliminary convention signed on
the 30th August, awaits a final decision only on two local
difficulties that require solution, so as to complete the task
along the entire extent of a line three•fourths of which are
already traced. But it is not only the execution of the
20th article of the treaty of peace that has remained in sus-
pense. This European transaction remains unfulfilled in
more than one of its essential conditions.

In virtue of the 11th article the Black sea is neutralised.
Its waters and its ports are formally and for ever closed
against the military flag, save the exceptions mentioned in
the 11th and 19th articles.

The 10th article in the Convention of the Straits annexed
to the treaty maintains the ancient rule laid down by the
Ottoman empire, whereby the Straits of the Dardanelles
and of the Bosphorus are closed against foreign vessels of
war so long as the Porte is at peace.
The additional and transitory article added to the general
treaty establishes that the stipulations of the convention
aforesaid shall not be applicable to vessels of war employed
by the belligerent powers for the evacuation by sea of the
territories occupied by their armies ; bnt it expressly de-
clares that the said stipulations shall resume their entire
effect, so soon as the evacuation shall have been completed.
Now, down to this day, three months after the evacuation
by sea has been terminated, all these stipulations still re-
main without effect.
Finally, the Articles 23, 24, 25, and 27, relative to the
principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, remain unexe-
cuted, by the fact that a foreign armed force is present in
the Danubian provinces—a military occupation which is
not in accordance with the regulations of the 81st article, con-
cerning the entire evacuation of the Ottoman empire. The
term of six months, before assigned for the carrying out of
this evacuation, dating from the day when the ratifications
should be exchanged, has expired.

The expiration of this term now reminds all the con-
tracting powers of the obligation, imposed upon them in
common, to take care that the salutary work of a general
pacification shall be maintained, which has become a new
pledge of prosperity and repose for Europe.
The Emperor my master orders me to perform this
duty, and to appeal with confidence to the Government of
his Majesty the Emperor of the French, with the view of
hastening the moment when the representatives of the
Courts that signed the treaty, reassembled in conference at
Paris, shall have to deliberate with common accord for the
faithful carrying out of all the stipulations in the treaty
which have hitherto remained unexecuted.
I have the honour, &c.,
(Signed) liticNxow.

THE lIET. ARTHUR PENRHEN STANLEY, Canon of
Canterbury Cathedral, has been appointed to the
office of Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History
in the University of Oxford, vacant by the decease of
the Rev. Robert Hussey.
AN ECCENTRIC PHILANTHROPIST, named Boulanger,
a gentleman, residing in the Rue d'Alger, at Paris,
died a few days ago, and in his apartments were
found no fewer than ninety five different wills, or
codicils of wills, written on scraps of paper, on the
backs of old letters and circulars, in the most in-
formal and confused manner. By these documents,
M. Boulanger bad bequeathed a large part of his
fortune, which was considerable, although he lived
in a very parsimonious way, to a number of persons
who were not connected with him, and whom he
had never seen in his life. It was his habit, when-
ever he heard, or read in the newspapers, of any
remarkable instance of virtue or self-sacrificing
courage in real life, to take his pen and immediately
to write, upon the first piece of paper thet came to
hand, a bequest in favour of the person named; and
he laid the strictest injunctions upon his executors
and heirs, to take care that these legacies should all
be paid without dispute or delay,

DECEMBER 20, 1856.

ittraturt.

Letters from Head-Quarters ; or, the Realities of
the War in the Crimea. By an Officer on the
Staff. Two Vols. London : Murray.
WE hasten to direct the attention of our
readers to this striking work. We do not pre-
tend to have mastered its contents, but we
have studied it enough to feel satisfied that it
is by far the most authentic end coinprehen•
sive account of the war in the Crimea yet
given to the public. The author was attached
to Lord Raglan's staff, from the departure of
the British army from England until Lord
Raglan died, after the unsuccessful attack
upon Sebastopol, June 18, 1855. He had thus
opportunities of obtaining exact knowledge on
all leading events; and he has now spoken
out with freedom highly honourable to his
spirit. As he has chosen to conceal his
name, it is not for us to establish his iden-
tity. He states that he was selected by Lord
Raglan at Varna to convey despatches to Omer
Pacha. That is one circumstance of proof.
He states that he returned to England shortly
after Lord Raglan's death. That is another.
He leaves other footprints of his identity in
different parts of his volumes which will
scarcely leave any curious investigator in
doubt. Suffice it to say, that we have perfect
confidence in the author's veracity ; and that
his book is exactly the one to convey to the
English mind the whole plain, unvarnished
truth on the leading incidents of the war.
And first, as to the character of Lord Rag-
lan. We all know how cruelly that great,
good, and magnanimous commander was
maligned. If there is any respect for truth
in the mind of the British people—any admi-
ration for true heroism—any sense of shame
for undeserved wrong—a perusal of these
volumes must powerfully turn the tide
of sentiment in his favour. The wrong
which was done him can never be re-
paired. He died with a feeling of bitterness
at his heart that his conduct was misunder-
stood, and his services unappreciated by his
country. This feeling did not lessen his
courage, did not impair his resolution, but it
helped to break him down. "Ambition should
"he made of sterner stuff." While he was
exhausting his energies to maintain the
strength and spirit of his army, during that
dreadful winter passed on the bleak heights
of lialaklava, he was harassed by reports that.
the Home Government intended to recal him.
Only those who have gone through these
volumes will be able to understand the terrible
difficulties with which he had to contend.
He triumphed over them, but the struggle
helped to kill him. It is noticed about the
time of the attack of the 18th June, how
rapidly " he had aged of late," though his intel-
lect was as clear, his spirit as high, his heart
as firm, as it had ever been. He was grievously
disappointed by the failure of that attack ;
and the more so, as lie saw that the failure
was principally owing to departure from the
scheme of attack which he had previously
arranged with General Pelissier. On the even-
ing of the repulse news came that his beloved
sister had died in England. Just afterwards
his comrade and friend, General Estcourt,
sank from illness. His own constitution had
been severely tried by anxiety, and the cease-
less work of the war. On the 26th of June,
"after writing all the morning his numerous
despatches and letters," he was compelled, for
the first time since he assumed the command
of the army, to yield to indisposition. He
never rose more. On the morning of the 28th
it was thought he was much better ; at noon a
fatal change occurred, and at half-past eight in
the evening he died :

The principal chaplain to the forces went into his bed-
room shortly before his death and read the service, and
after, when all was over, a prayer was offered up by him,
in which all most earnestly jAned. Nothing could have
been quieter or more peaceful than his death-bed—so
calm, and without an effort. It was scarcely possible to
tell the moment when his sprit fled to rest. 1 need not
tell you the grief of all present ; it can better be imagined
than described.
By nine o'clock it was known to the generals of the
114liali army that Lord Raglan was no more, and they all
immediately came up to head-quarters to express their
sorrow, and gaze once more on the features of him whom
they all loved and revered. His death has created a pro-
found sensation in the army; now that he is gone, every