The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

NNE

680

THE WAR.

THE ARMIES.
The embarkation of the French troops at Calais
was successfully completed by Wednesday evening,
having commenced on Saturday last. By daylight
on Thursday the whole squadron had cleared one of
the harbours, and were on their way to the Baltic.
General Baraguay d'Hilliers sailed in the imperial
steam-yacht the Reine Hortense. The whole force is
estimated at somewhat over 5,000 men, exclusive of
superior officers and the general staff. The Made
states with much positiveness that a second division
of French troops will shortly be sent to the same
destination, and will be joined by 6,000 English.
The plans of General d'Hilliers are still kept secret,
but there seems good reason to believe that his
troops will occupy the Aland Isles. Before sailing
General d'Hilliers issued the following address to
the troops of the expeditionary force :
" Soldiers,—lt is from Boulogne that fifty years since
the glorious army left which, under the orders of the
Emperor Napoleon, beat the Russians at Austerlitz,Eylau,
and Friedland, and gained the peace of Tilsit.
" In the campaign you are about to undertake you will
show yourselves worthy sons of those valiant soldiers, and
inspired by those great souvenirs, without pretending to
such grand triumphs, we will prove to our Emperor and to
France that we know how to justify their expectations."
The British army in the East still lingers in the
neighbourhood of Varna, the only advance move-
ment that has been announced consisting of a
transfer of camp from Aladyn w Devna, about nine
miles off. This was effected on the Ist inst. ; and
on the Bth, the latest date to which advices reach
the bulk of the force remained at that place. Sir
De Lacy Evans had, however, pushed his division
(the second) somewhat further on, and detachments
of light cavalry under Lord Cardigan were feeling
their way towards the Dobrudsclia, and had made
reconnoitring expeditions for sixty or seventy miles
beyond Devna. The country is described as a scene
of complete abandonment and desolation. Cossacks
and Bashi•Bazouks have made it a desert, and Lord
Cardigan is stated to be at times very hard set to
find food for his men.
At Devna the camps are scattered over the neck of
a valley formed by the range of hills between Aladyn
and Devna on the one side, and by rising grounds on
which the light division was encamped on the other.
A deep stream of water runs through the meadows
close by, and turns the wheels of a Bulgarian mill
which had been kept busily at work grinding flour.
The village of Devna is about a mile and a half dis-
tant. It is a collection of huts thrown on the plain
at random, built of mud or loose stones, and covered
with a rude black thatch of straw or rushes. Many
of the inhabitants remain in their houses, and the
country people bring in milk, eggs, and poultry in
limited quantities. The country around Devna is a
kind of circular basin, of the diameter of two miles,
or thereabouts, formed by a sweep of hills of mo-
derate and irregular elevation, and consists of a light
sandy soil, with a few patches of barley here and
there, amid a waste of brightly-coloured weeds and
scrub, acacia, and brushwood.
Admiral Dundas visited Varna on the Bth, to confer
with the generals. Two days previous Omer Pacha
came over from Schumla, attended a grand review,
and was afterwards present at a council of war. He
brought news that the Russians were retreating on
Brailow, and wag believed to have consulted Marshal
St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan concerning an advance
of the allied forces. No orders to that effect had,
however, been issued when the last accounts were

despatched.
A body of English sailors and a company of Sap-
pers have been sent from Varna to Rustchuk. The
latter were to be employed in building abridge across
the Danube, under cover of a powerful Turkish force.
The sailors were to man the captured vessels belong-
ing to the Russian flotilla.
The French troops at Adrianople were coaching
towards Varna. Marshal St. Arnaud had returned
to Constantinople on the 10th. The statements
given in the Moniteur that many thousands of the
allied forces had joined Omer l'acha are now known
to be premature.
The squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral
Bruat joined that of Vice• Admiral Hamelin, in
the roads of Baltschik, on the tand instant. It
carried 0,000 men of the 4th division of the army
of the East, who in one single day were disembarked
under the walls of Varna. The rapidity with which
this movement of the troops and the analogous ope-
rations were accomplished by different vessels of the
Imperial Navy, and the ready assistance which the
army hail in all cases received from the marine,
formed topics for a complimentary address issued by
Marshal St. Arnaud to his soldiers. It was believed
that these troops will be employed against Anapa, in
the neighbourhood of which Admiral Lyons, with a
steam squadron, has been lately cruising.
The Sulina mouth of the Danube is occupied by
British and French troops. The Russian batteries
between Sulina and Odessa were first silenced, and

THE PRESS.

then, after the enemy had been driven away, occu-
pied and repaired by the English. The Russian
coast has been closely reconnoitred, from the Kilia
mouth of the Danube to the mouth of the Dneister.
Three steamers of the allied fleets gua, d the mouths
of the Danube, to prevent the escape of the Russian
river flotilla. This flotilla, threatened on all sides,
was wandering up and down the Danube in despair of
safety. It must either be destroyed or fall into the
hands of the allies. The navigation of the river was
completely re-established, and the steam-boat of the
Austrian Lloyd's had arrived at Galati.
Brigadier Brown has completed the telegraph be-
tween Schumla and Varna, via Pravadi. A tele-
graph is also to be erected between Schumla and
Adrianople.

THE FLEETS.
The allied fleet in the Baltic, which had remained
for several days at Baro Sund, sailed thence on
Tuesday for the Aland Isles.
The cholera was fast disappearing. It is stated
that all idea of attacking Cronstadt this season has
been abandoned by both admirals.
From the Black Sea we learn that the fleets were
still at Baltsehik on the 9th inst. The Turkish
fleet had returned to Bujukdere for repairs.
The proceedings of the Firebrand when attacking
the Sulina batteries are reported in an official letter
from Admiral Dundas to the Admiralty. Captain
Parker, the despatch states,
" on the 28th and 29th ult., assisted by the Fury, com-
pletely destroyed the strong and well-built batteries at
the Sulina. The lighthouse, the private houses, and the
quarantine establishment were un, but the fear of
damaging them by the use of powdertouched and fire rendered the
work of destruction of the batteries very severe and heavy
to the crews of the Firebrand and Fury."
THE WAR ON THE DANUBE.
The last intelligence from the banks of the Danube
announces that the Turkish troops were fortifying
themselves at Giurgevo, so as to render that place
an important strategical point. It is announced
from Vienna that the great mass of the Turkish
army is marching towards the mouths of the Danube,
and that Giurgevo is held merely by a division.
Omer Pacha has sent a corps, under Halim Pacha,
up the Aluta, which will endeavour to turn the right
flank of the Russo-Wallachian army.
A letter from Orsova of the 13th, in the Press of
Vienna, says :—" Mehemed Pacha occupied on the
Bth Czernawoda, in the Dobrudscha, after a combat
which lasted five hours, and ended by obliging
the Russians to retire to the left bank of the Da-
nube."
The Russians were continuing their concentra-
tion upon Bucharest. Their forces ti.t Frateschti are
already 70,000 strong, with artillery in proportion,
and are receiving continual reinforcements. The
whole garrison of Brailow was marching to Bucharest.
The Russian troops were returning from Moldavia
into Wallachia, where they were cutting down all the
crops of wheat.
The Russian loss at Giurgevo, on the 7th and Bth,
was 900 killed and 2,100 wounded. Omer Pacha
states his own loss in the engagement was 1,700
killed and wounded.
The Lloyd states that, during the march of a
corps of Russian troops between Bucharest and
Kimpina, the heat was so excessive that the soldiers
fell in the road from fatigue, and a number of them
were attacked with cerebral congestion. Out of
6,000 men who had left Bucharest only about one-
half reached their destination.
THE ARMY IN ASIA.
An important victory in Asia is announced in
letters from Constantinople of the 10th inst. Kerim
(or Hezim) Pacha had surprised 12,000 Russians in
the mountains near Ardahan, and defeated them
with the loss of 6 guns and 400 prisoners. At
Batoum, also, the Russians have been repulsed by
the Turks.
Advices from Abasia state that Kissel Bey, one of
Schamyl's officers, had surpriQed a Russian convoy at
Sakhumbi, and killed, or made prisoners, the whole

escort.
On the 9th inst. a severe engagement took place
at the ford of Clomunda, near Nicopolis, between
Sall Pacha and General Popoff, when the latter was
seriously wounded, and compelled to retreat. On the
following day Sall Pacha occupied Turnal, and re-
opened commun cations with Iskendov Bey.
Four thousand Turkish troops to reinforce Selim
Pacha have been despatched from Varna to Cir-
cassia.

THE REINFORCEMENTS.
Detachments of the 4th Light Dragoons embarked
on Monday and Tuesday from the Keyham Docks,
under the command of the colonel, Lord George
Paget, for Varna.
The Medway left Southampton on Wednesday
night for Woolwich, to take in there the heavy bat-
tering train destined to the East.
The steam gun vessels to operate against the
Russians in the Baltic are rapidly approaching com-
pletion, the Arrow, Curlew, Wrangler, and Beagle
having been launched in the port of London. The

SATURDAY,.

first three are nearly ready for sea. The Swallow,
launched at Devonport, is being brought forward_
with all expedition.
The total amount of men and horses of tbe British,
and French armies that had landed or touched at
Malta up to Saturday, the Bth inst., from Zak, March„

are--
English troops-31,473. Horses, 4,928.
French troops-46,272. Horses, 7,428.
Forming a total of allied troops of 77,745 men.

At the siege of Silistria the Russians had an army on.
the right bank of the Danube which at one time amounted
to 60,000 men. They had 00 guns in position, and threw
upwards of 50,000 shot and shell, besides an incalculable
quantity of small-arm ammunition. They constructed
more than three miles of approaches, and sprang six mines,
yet during fifty days not one inch of ground was gained, and
they abandoned the siege, leaving the petty fieldwork
against which their principal efforts had been directed a
shapeless mass from the effects of their mines and bat-
teries, but still in the possession of its original defenders.
The Vienna Wanderer gives some further information as
to the protracted action of the 7th and Bth July at
Giurgevo. The Russians were beaten at all points. Oue
party of them retired in the greatest disorder to Frateschti,
others northwards towards Calugereni, and eastwards
towards the Argis. From 7,000 to 8,000 Russians, of the
division Chruleff, took up a position, on the evening of the
7th, on an extensive plain on the slope of a hill a short
distance from Bucharest. During the light on the banks
of the Danube, which continued till late in the evening, a
division of the Ottoman forces landed about three miles
above Giurgevo, and surrounded the above-mentioned force
of 7,000 to 8,000 Russians. At the same time (about
midnight) 8,000 Ottomans crossed over to the left bank of
the river, below Giurgevo. Thus the engagements went on
simultaneously at three points—namely, on the shores of
the Danube and partly in the town ; below Giurgevo, with
the aforesaid 8,000 Ottomans ; and finally to the north,
where the combat with 7,000 Russians was the bloodiest.

A ROYAL QUERIST.
Some time since the King of Prussia sent for M.
von Hinkeldey, President of Police, with whom the
following dialogue took place :
"The King--Hinekeldey, tell me honestly what impres-
sion do you think it will make if I were to give orders for
the mobilisation of the army?
" M. von Hinekeldey—Will your Majesty allow meta
premise my answer by first putting an important
question ?
" The King—l don't want your questions. I want your

answer.
" M. von Hinokeldey—Then I hope your Majesty will,
at least allow me to give my answer a twofold shape.
It is this: Tf your Majesty mobilises the army against
Russia, I will be responsible for it the measure will make
the best possible impression : if your Majesty mobilises
the army for Russia. I cannot be responsible for anything
at all.
" The King—Very well, Hinekeldey, that's all I wanted
to know."

EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
The following regulation for the exchange of pri-
soners has been published at St. Petersburg :
" It has pleased his Majesty the Emperor to ordain that
the following rules shall be observed in all exchanges of
prisoners of war. First, in case the Turkish general should
propose an exchai.ge of prisoners of war, only Turks by
birth shall be exchanged against Russians. Second, should
the proposition emanate from the commander of the French
troops, the exchange can only be made with respect to pri•
Boners French by birth ; and in like manlier, should the
English commander make such a proposition, only Eng-
lishmen by birth can be exchanged for Russians."
This order is, of course, aimed at the foreigners
who, from Omer Pacha downwards, have rank in the
Ottoman army, and comes from a Sovereign whose
best generals are Germans, and whose best troops
are kidnapped Poles, Circassians, Georgians, and

Tartars.
An English steamer arrived at Odessa on the 10th
inst. with thirteen officers and 200 privates, to be ex
changed against the crew of the Tiger. As the Rus-
sian Government had only given permission to ex-
change eight officers, it was not known whether th,
Governor of Odessa wculd on his own responsibility
liberate the other five.

It is stated that the Austrian War Department
has entered into a contract for the term of two years
with the aeronaut, Eugene Godard, for the supply of
balloons at the chief stations of the army on the
south-eastern frontier. He has also to instruct the
officers in the management of balloons, and to render
personal services for the purposes of military obser-
Nations.
A theatrical representation was given on the 28th
of June by Lord George Paulet, the commander of
the Bellerophon, on board his ship off Varna, under
the patronage of the Duke of Cambridge. His Royal
Highness occupied, of course, the seat of honour, an
arm-chair in the front row, which included all the
great folks within hail of Varna. The ship was
rigged into a theatre in the most ingenious way.
The scenery was good and well managed—the ladies'
parts being taken by midshipmen and boys of the
ship. Two of the pieces were The Lottery Ticket,
and Diamond Cut Diamond, both of which (the