The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-23 00:00:00

DECEMBER 23, 1854.

of War for the time being in force ; and the restrictions
and provisions contained in any act for the time being in
force "for punishing mutiny and desertion, and the better
payment of the army and their quarters," in relation to
Articles of War made thereunder, shall be applicable to
such supplemental Articles of War as aforesaid.

ft. This set shall continue in force during the present
war, and until one year after the ratification of a definitive
treaty of peace.

The following letters have been received from non-
commissioned officers:—

Since I wrote last the camp has not been attacked,
except now and then from a little sortie of the Rus-
sians. They always get the worst of it. Unluckily
we have lost a most capital officer, Tryon, and every
one regrets the loss of him. Poor fellow, he died
doing his duty right handsomely. But, my dear wife,
all that the Russians can do goes for nothing with
our sufferings from the bad weather and worse ac-
commodation. The fellows die very fast from cold
and privation, and no wonder, for we seldom or ever
have a dry stitch on our backs ; but thank God we
keep up our spirits. I only wish to be at the Rim.
shins. I ought not to say we, for we can be of little
use. All the poor beasts are dying or dead. It is a
hard sight to see our horses starving under our eyes
and not help them ; but what can we do? Nothing;
and it is the most sad of all to me and all our men.
Just think, the horses that carried us so well through
all these dangers, why they seem like our friends ;
and we have been obliged to stand by and see them
trying to avoid starvation by eating the tails and
manes of the horses that had died first, and then
break loose and devour bits of blankets or rags lying
about the field. I don't suppose any one is in fault,
but it seems so cruel like. Don't be afraid for me.
lam doing well. Providence has mercifully pre-
served me safe through great dangers. lam thank-
ful from my heart, and trust He may spare me to see
you and the dear little Willie once again.—Yours, Sze.

lam sorry I have no brilliant news to tell. Since
I wrote lass, the enemy has been quiet, and prudently
abstained from rousing the British lion. Our con-
dition is most miserable; not that I wish to complain,
for I suppose it is all right and can't be helped, but
you have no idea what our sufferings are. Worked
and overworked day and night—no shelter—the
rain pouring and the wind blowing—shirtless, and
nothing but rags by way of covering—very short ra-
tions, and no fires to cook them with—God knows
how long this state of things may las►; but it is
quite clear that if it lasts long the army will be re-
duced to a fraction. Deaths from cold, wet, and
privations, are occurring every hour ; 01 died yes-
terday in one regiment. The last batches suffer the
most, for we are getting quite seasoned. One ship-
load of clothes has been landed, but it was found to
be so bad and rotten that the men soon returned to
their rags. The reason why our rations are so scant
is, I am told, because of the state of the road be-
tween this and Balaklava, from the effect of the
rains and the heavy siege-trains. Then we are all
so hard worked up here that it is difficult to find men
to send to Balaklava. The French are fine fellows,
gay and cheery birds. General Canrobert don't
seem to mind about the weather, for he is always on
horseback, riding about among his men. He is very
popular, too, with all of us.