The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-15 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 15, 1863.

fact that a single leak, if large enough, allowed
the water to fill the whole vessel. Removing, as
we have done, independently of armour, and by
the mere principles of construction in iron, the
liability to burn and the liability to sink, it re-
mains to be seen in practice whether any amount
of slaughter by one or two missiles can drive our
seamen from their guns, or compel the lowering of
our flag. And at the most, the skill which can so
handle ship and gun as to fire the first fatal shot
will still, under the new circumstances, maintain
its relative superiority. In this skill we have little
cause to fear defeat. Obviously, however, what
we have now more than ever to strive for is the
power of rapid movement combined with the
smallest bulk which will carry efficient guns in a
sea way. And more than ever, therefore, is there
reason to defer entering into further expenditure
on broadside frigates till the capabilities of cupola
ships are fully tested.
The influence of monster ordnance on the ques-
tion of forts and ships is no less interesting, but
scarcely so obscure as in regard to purely naval
combats. For the more unwieldly the gun, and
the tardier its discharge, the greater is the advan-
tage of that mobility which can select its own posi-
tion and time, and puzzle the opponent by a con-
stant alteration of range. Grant, to take the
famous illustration of Portsmouth, that all our
batteries are mounted with guns which by a few
successful discharges could send the Gloire to the
bottom, or into the air, still to a successful dis-
charge there are some conditions necessary, which
the Gloire could greet or withhold almost at her
pleasure. For before being sunk or blown up it
is necessary to hit, and as ships can move to their
stations with entire safety when darkness or
weather makes them invisible at a thousand
yard range, the size of the guns which
would be pointed at them if they could
be seen does not very much matter. The
game is in truth a very unequal one. The attack-
ing ships would need only light enough to distin-
guish the dockyard, an area of a quarter of a mile
square piled with stacks of timber and sheds of
cordage, tar, and stores. But the forts would
need light enough to make out low black hulls of
200 or 300 feet long, moving at uncertain ranges
above a mile away. To perform the exploit of
shelling the dockyard at such a risk would cer-
tainly be attempted, and probably with little loss.
For the big guns at most only so far modify the
conditions as against iron ships as the shell guns
modified them as against wooden ships. They
make the running the passage in broad day, by
slow vessels, a matter of great hazard. But to
swift vessels, in half light, or haze, they still leave
the exploit as practicable as the running the bat-
teries of the Plate or of New Orleans was to the
wooden steamers which performed the service. So,
on the whole, if it be granted that the new guns,
in French ships, will not wholly annihilate our
fleets, it must on the other hand be conceded that,
placed in our forts, they will not necessarily drive
away hostile cruisers. We must still come to
closer quarters, and trust to a yard-arm to yard-
arm or hand-to-hand combat, however mighty
the future missiles, or prodigious the future range
of guns may be.

POLAND.

The beginning of December has brought several
successes to the insurgents. On the 4th 400 Rue-
aims, from Jeudrzcjow, attacked Rembajlo's in-
fantry oorpa, near Mierzwin, in the palatinate of
Cracow, and were completely defeated, one of their
officers, Captain Fefer, and nine men being killed,
and ten severely wounded. After the battle the
Russians tied in disorder to Jendrzcjow, throwing
away their arms on the road. Itembajlo lost two
killed and five wounded. On the same day as
Rembejlo was fighting at Mierzwin, a body of
Polish horse engaged the Russians aboutfortymiles
further west, at Bzczekocin. This corps formed •
portion of General Bosak's detachment, and under
the command of that officer and of Colonel Chiui-
, clinski had proceeded on a cavalry rconnaissance,
the infantry remaining in the woods after their
victory at Ociesenk. The Russians consisted
of four companies of infantry and a
detachment of Cossacks and dragoons, under Colo-
nel Wlaslow. The ,Poles, numbering 350 men,
began the attack by a charge on the enemy's
cavalry, which retired behind the infantry, where
it was so strongly posted that the Poles did not
deem it expedient to continue the attack, and re-
tired to Raszkow, losing only two horses. Here
the Russians, having obtained reinforcements from
Zamowiec, attacked them with six companies of
infantry and a detachment of cavalry. After a
valiant resistance, in which the Poles were opposed
by overwhelming numbers, they proceeded in com-
plete order to Rakoazyn, and then joined Rem-
bajlo's corps, the Russians following them all the
way with more than ten times their numbers, but
not daring to come to any decisive engagement.
The coolness and courage shown by this small body
of horse in their perilous retreat were extraordinary,
and in all their skirmishes they lost but one
officer and two soldiers killed and a few wounded.
The /*rah& Rune of the Bth December gives a
long list of battles which took place in Poland
during the last fortnight in November, from which
it appears that the Russians had engagements with
fourteen different detachments in fifteen days. The
following are the detachments in question :—One
under Lenartowicz, in the district of Ostrolenka ;
one in the district of Pultusk ; three under
Syrewicz, OkuntieWski, and Puttkammer, in the
palatinate of Mazovin ; several under Krysinski, in
the district of Biala ; three under Kruk,Leniewski,
and Marecki, in the district of Rodzvn ; two under
Kozlowski and Eitmanowicz, in the district of
Lublin ; and two under Chiniolinski and Bosak, in
the palatinate of Radom.
On the 7th instant the Warsaw station of the
Warsaw and Vienna Railway was surrounded and
searched by the troops. General Lewazyn entered
the office of the railway himself, and arrested all
the officials of Polish extraction. It is said they
are to be sent to Russia and replaced by Germans
and Frenchmen—the Russians being too careless
and impractical to do the duties.
The severities at Cracow are daily becoming
more intolerable. Houses are entered and searched
by the police almost nightly, and patrols march
through the streets during the day, and arrest every
one without a passport. Nearly 200 persons have
been arrested within the last four days. Confisca-
tions of arms are constantly taking place. 3,500
weapons, one-half at least of which are fire-arms,
have been seized within the last month. The
Czas has appealed against the decision of confisca-
tion pronounced against it by the Austrian autho-
rities, and informs its subscribers that they will
continue to be supplied with political news. The
citadels of Cracow and Lemberg have been forti-
fied, and arms, ammunition, and troops are pour-
ing into Galicia from Hungary and other provinces
of Austria.