The Press.
London, England, 1854-10-07 00:00:00

OCTOBER' 7, 1854.

lumps, being swamped upon the beach. Wood is now a
most valuable article, there being little or none of it upon this
open country. Yesterday a large remnant of wreck lay
upon the beach, but to-day it has disappeared, having been
bodily carried off by the Zouaves. During the afternoon,
the surf having somewhat abated, the disembarkation of
horses and artillery was resumed, and thirty guns (in
addition to those already landed) were disposable before
night. Several more bullock-carts have been captured,
and bullocks are driven in by the Tartars fur sale in the
camp. Water is the greatest deritleralam, there being none
within four miles (the lake is salt), and that very indif-
ferent; the value of a bottle of pure water far exceeds that
of a similar quantity of wine or spirits. Twu or three
Russian ladies travelling, and several soldiers, have been
taken to-day; the firmer, I suppose, have been politely
escorted to some village for security; but the capture that
excites the greatest admiration is that of several drome-
daries, fine, strong, aristocratic-looking brutes, who, treat-
ing the weight attached to them as nothing, appear as
though they would say, " We are the fellows to drag your
siege-train for you." The seamen assist greatly in the
landing of the horses, which they evidently regard as a
source of the greatest amusement. The troops are all
under canvas to-night. It is feared that the horses will
suffer greatly for lack of water. A fine capture is made of
thirty carts of flour (Government property), containing
in the whole 711) bags, on their way to Sebastopol; these
were taken by riflemen, but more titan the number cap-
tured escaped, owing to a want of cavalry. Some cartloads
of plums are also intercepted.
Sept. 16.—Still disembarking artillery and cavalry.
Owing to news which arrived in early morning, Lord Car-
digan proceeds northward with a force of cavalry to meet
reinforcements which are said to be on their way from Pere-
kop. It is said that a Russian courier has been taken,
and that upon him have been found despatches advising
the Sebastopol authorities to prepare instantly for rein-
forcements to the amount of 15,000 men. Ships and
steamers supply water to the army, who owe a great debt
of gratitude to Mr. Grant's condensing apparatus. Still
disembarking cavalry and artillery.
Sept. 17.—Captain Brock is appointed Governor of
Eupatoria, which place will contain a garrison of 500 Ma-
rines. The mayor of the town has been made prisoner,
owing to some tricks his worship has been guilty of. Still
disembarking. Spiteful joins the fleet from England with
despatches. Divine service is performed.
Sept. 18.—The Banshee leaves the fleet for Constantino-
ple at eleven a.m. ; and now, having given the principal
events of each day since we sailed from lialtschilt, I will
add a few lines to my diary. All is going on as well as
can be ; no opposition at all was offered to the landing,
and the line of troops encamped now exceeds six miles
inland. The first day of landing was the day of all others
to be chosen—not too hot, and the water perfectly smooth;
and that day all the infantry (20,000 men) were disem-
barked. The rain during the night was very unfortunate;
that first night on shore was a terrible night for the troops,
who, of course, were without tents. The rain poured down
with great violence ; however, now both officers anti men
declare themselves none the worse, but, if anything, rather
better for their ducking. The Zouaves, lam sorry to say,
have been guilty of many excesses, and have tended to
wean the country people from us. Meanwhile our troops
are not ;mmaculate ; bullocks and sheep have been seized,
and yesterday the regiments were formed in square and
addressed by their commanding officers on the subject, the
provost marshal being often alluded to. The Tartars
place the Russian force at 45,000 only. The most valuable
gift a naval officer can take to his friend in the army is a
hottle of water; wax candles, too, are greatly-prized gifts.
The troops are always under arms at daybreak ; they will
advance, most probably, to-morrow. Two deaths from
cholera have occurred in the 88th, and an officer of the
23rd Welsh Fusiliers has died from the same cause, but
these have been brought from Varna. This immense
flotilla of men-of-war and transports looks, from the shore,
like the masses of shipping clustered on the Thames
gathered to one point. At night, when their lanterns are
hoisted, the whole looks like a populous city lighted as far
as the eye can reach. The advantage of the portability of
the small French tents (where each man carries a third of
his canvas house) was exemplified during that first night
of heavy rain. The ships were all busy yesterday (17th)
in making canvas buckets for the use of the cavalry.
A sketch taken on the spot gives the following as
the position occupied by the allied armies on the 16th,
after their disembarkation. The English fleet was
on the left towards Eupatoria; then came the French
fleet forming the centre ; and then the Turkish fleet,
placed on the right. The English army and the
French army were disposed in such a fashion as to
form a triangle, of which the base was the sea, and
the point Vieux Fort, which is situated across the
road from Eupatoria to Sebastopol. The English
army formed the side of the triangle looking towards
Eupatoria, the French army that looking towards
Sebastopol. Behind Vieux Fort, and near the great
head-quarters, was the Turkish corps, a little behind
the French park of artillery. The English park of artil-
lery was a little on the left ; and still further to the left
the English cavalry. The French army had its first
division supported on Vieux Fort, then the 2nd division,
and then the 3rd. The 4th division was behind all the
others. The 3rd division, commanded by Prince Napo-
leon, was thus the nearest to the sea, and was conse-
quently the advanced guard in the march to Sebas-
topol. The French park of artillery was to the left
of the 4th division.

From a narrative of the proceedings given in the
French Dibats we learn that not only were the French
the first to land and place the tricolcur ,A 1 the
Crimean shore, but that the operations were conducted