The Press.
London, England, 1854-10-28 00:00:00

1014

A diary kept by a French officer, and published in
the Constitutionnel, gives a succinct account of the
proceedings of our allies to the 7th inst. :

October 12.—We have been informed that the Russian
army of observation is concentrating on the Upper lielbeck,
that it has received reinforcements, and that it amounts to
about 45,000 men. Our divisions are consigned to their re-
spective quarters, ready to take the field. The army is being
organised into two corps—the siege army, and the army of
observation. The first is engaged in reconnoitring the place
and landing its materiel, the second has installed itself on
the extensive table-land which separates lialaklava from
Sebastopol. That position is accessible only on two
points—the ravine of the Tschernaya on the north-west,
and the pass of Balaklava at the opposite extremity.
Sixteen large works, redoubts, lunettes, redans, batteries,
but, above all, the steep sides of the table-lend, defend it
from the pass to the Tschernaya, and the latter is guarded
by the English. The investment, however, is far from
being complete, and a convoy, escorted by five battalions,
has just entered the plrce. A complete investment is out
of the question, with the force the allied armies have to
dispose of.
October B.—Our troops continue to land the siege
artillery, and at the same time to work at the lines defend-
ing the table-land, on which the army of observation is
encamped. The latter has moved towards the pass of
/3alaklava. The English appear to attach little importance
to these works of defence, and have constructed no intrench-
meuts. But, on the other hand, they are landing guns from
the fleet, some of which are of an enormous size. They have
just tried two cylindro-conical howitzers, which have set on
fire the roof of one of the Russian barracks. The alarm
bell is ringing in the town.
October 4.—The same works, favoured by magnificent
weather, are continued. We enjoy here the climate of Italy.
A Zouave, taken prisoner, has escaped from Sebastopol. He
states that sixty English and French marauders, surprised
by the Cossacks, had refused to work at the fortifications of
the place, and been removed to the interior of the country.
Seeing a chance of escaping, he had consented to work,
had concealed himself in a hole, and succeeded at night in
reaching our advanced posts. The Russians, he says, are
very fond of the French, and treat them with kindness, but
they entertain a different feeling towards our allies. A
Russian officer, disguised as a Turk, has been arrested in
our camp. Last night a squadron of Lancers sallied out
of Sebastopol, with the intention of surprising a post of
Zouaves. An engagement ensued, and the Lancers were
repulsed. It was the first dark night we had since our
landing, and, for the first time, the weather was rainy.
Two Zouaves were killed.
October 5 —At two o'clock p.m. the tattoo was beaten.
The garrison made a sortie along the coast on our left.
The whole army was in an instant under arms. The
Russians, seeing that we were on our guard, retired into the
place. Their guns, as on the preceding day, have kept up
an incessant fire on our reconnoitring parties. In the even-
ing a convoy, said to consist of 4,000 men, entered Sebas-
topol. It was to draw our attention to another point that
the garrison had feigned a sortie.
October 6.—We are still living in expectation. The un-
avoidable tediousness of our preparations cannot be helped.
The Russians, however, will lose nothing for waiting. The
four fleets are rapidly landing their heaviest artillery, and
if they continue at the present rate the fire will be opened
with 1,2u0 guns. Fancy the tremendous uproar they will
cause when they all come into play. We may dance to that
delightful concert, for English ladies are not wanting in our
camps. The Captain of Engineers, Schmitt, had his thigh
carried off by a cannon-ball while effecting a reconnaissance,
and expired an hour afterwards. The French army loses
in him a brave and intelligent officer, and will share the
grief of the two brothers of the worthy captain, who are
serving here in its ranks.
October 7, at Noon.—Ten battalions of Russian infantry,
and sixteen squadrons of the relieving army, have shown
themselves at the north-western extremity of our lines,
close to the telegraph. Our advanced posts are on foot,
and crowds of curious persons line the high grounds. It
is so long since we beheld our adversaries on the Alma !
Twenty rounds, fired by the British artillery, drove them
back a little, but they still remain within sight.
Another French officer writes as follows, under date
of the Bth :
Our operations proceed with rapidity. The trench was
opened on the 3rd, and by the Bth the first parallel was
finished. The works proved less difficult than we had ex-
pected, after our first examination of the spot. At first,
after removing the superficial earth, we came upon a tnfa
rock, which, however, was of no great extent. Last night
our engineers traced the lines of a powerful battery of
thirty-five guns. The position of this battery is at the ex-
treme left, behind the Quarantine Port, and near a laza-
retto ; it will protect the first parallel, and sustain the at-
tack on the left. We hope to get it completely established
in eight and forty hours. Work in the day is made diffi-
cult by the enemy, but we make good use of the nights.
The other works will commence to-morrow, that is to say,
judging from all appearances. The left battery is likely
to have the honour of opening the fire ; it will occupy the
enemy, and thus protected we can continue our further
approaches. We shall have 200 pieces of artillery. The
Russians have also a large number of guns, and those very
heavy. They have fired red-hot shot, which has done us
no great harm. Hitherto we have found no indications of
the mines by which the environs of Sebastopol were inter-
sected, as we are told. Any mines that they may have
made can hardly extend further than 250 metres. The
cholera is sensibly declining.
Later details reach us viA Vienna, having been
transmitted thither from Constantinople, where they
were received, on the 12th inst., by the steamer Ajaccio,
which left the Crimea on the 10th. The preparatory
works for the siege were then continuing without

~.~-•L.

TXIE PrtESS.

interruption. The Russians were making extraordi-
nary efforts to fortify themselves, literally adding de-
fence to defence, and had brought into requisition all
the heaviest artillery of their fleet; but their works
were thrown up in haste, and without art, and could
not hold out long, as they were completely com
manded by the guns of the allies, and besides had
not had time to become consolidated. The Russians,
however; had received some reinforcements, and were
expecting more. Prince Menschikoff had gone towards
Perekop to hasten the march of those expected. In the
evening of the 7th nine French battalions invested
the place on the side of the attack. In the night of
the 9th the trenches were completed, thirty guns from
the French fleet and 1,000 sailors were to be placed un-
der the orders of Captain Rigault de Genouilli ; amongst
the guns were fourteen mortars throwing shells of
100 lbs., and sixteen of 30. The materiel of the Eng-
lish was magnificent, but not superior to that of the
French. The English were to attack a tower on the
western side, which defends the bottom of the port.
This tower would, it was said, be soon destroyed, al
though the Russians had thrown up earthworks
around it, and had even had recourse to the almost
incredible expedient of painting it of an earthen
colour. The besiegers were within about 700 yards
of the ramparts, but it was necessary for the guns
to he within 300 or 400 yards, in order to be able to
make breaches for assaults. The lire was to com
mence with 200 guns, and no one doubted the tre-
mendous results which would soon be obtained.
The Russians disquieted the siege works by inces-
sant discharges of artillery during the day ; but their
aim was not very correct, and the soldiers made
jokes on seeing their shot and shell flying about.
During the night the besiegers worked without being
interrupted. Some sorties, or rather some false sor-
ties, had been atttempted by the Russians, as a diver-
sion, but all were repulsed. The armies, as already
stated, are divided into two corps, one to carry on
the works of the siege, the other to protect them, and
watch the enemy.

THE COMMANDERS-IN•CHJEF.

The Siècle states :—" After the death of Marshal
de St. Arnaud, Lord Raglan might have claimed the
command-in-chief, for he is invested with a rank to
which we have not now an equivalent in the French
army. He is a general, that is to say, higher than a
lieutenant general or a general of division, and lower
than a marshal. Under the first empire there were
four colonels-generals of cavalry, a first inspector-
general of artillery, and a first inspector-general of
the engineers, who were higher in rank than generals
of division, and lower than marshals. It has been
thought better, in order to avoid any unpleasant feel-
ing, the commands should remain independent under
the reserve of a previous concert between the gene-
rals-in-chief. For this purpose French officers have
been placed on the staff of Lord Raglan, and Eng-
lish officers on that of General Canrobert."
In a Constantinople letter of the 10th, published
in a Vienna journal, we read :
General Canrobert acts in perfect accord in all things
with Lord Raglan. The two commanders have made the
last summonses to Sebastopol to yield, so as to prevent the
effusion of blood. A messenger has besides been sent,
with a flag of truce, to the commander of the fortress, with
the proposition to send away the women, children old men,
and sick, and to hoist a flag on the hospital in order that
it may he spared. We are assured that the allied coin-
manders have resolved to respect the town itself, but to
bombard the forts and batteries, the public establishments,
and those of the Crown.

THE BATTERING TRAIN.

Never was a siege in the course of which such
heavy guns will be used on both sides. The English
siege train comprises about 38 32-pounders, 30 56-
pounders, 30 68 pounders, 18 84-pounders, and about
a dozen 12 and 13 inch mortars, with six Lancaster
guns throwing 96-pound solid shot. The Terrible
and Retribution have each given four 68-pounders of
113 cwt., and having a range of from 3,800 to 4,000
yards. The Trafalgar, the Sanspareil, and the
Diamond have also landed some of their• heaviest
metal, and two long-range Lancaster guns have been
landed from the Arrow, and two from the Beagle,
which recently arrived from England. There is no
possible combination of which stone and mortar is
capable which can resist the concentrated action of
such guns as these. The Russians, however, are not
deficient either in range or weight of metal ; some
of the finest and heaviest guns used in modern war-
fare will be found in the fortresses of Sebastopol. In
no respect is it wanting in the defences to be ex•
pected from a first-class fortress of such enormous
strength and paramount importance.

ACTIVITY OF THE BESIEGED;
The enemy employs day and night in increasing
their means of defence. The entrenchments, stock-
ades, and batteries which they have thrown up round
the east end of the town, and which can he plainly
seen from our camp, are tremendous. Every day
sees the completion of some new earth battery and
the commencement of another. The prisoners
whom we have taken say that the commandant
is making the most strenuous exertions to render

~:

_ SATURDAY,

our attack ineffectual, and that the troops' are
determined to fight to the last man. All the
inhabitants, without exception, have been com-
pelled to work at the trenches eight hours out of the
twenty-four. Those whose age and constitution
unfits them for the labour have been told-off in
parties for the conveyance of the wounded to the
hospitals. Many large furnaces have been made
for the purpose of heating shot, in case of an attack
from our fleet, and the Russian sailors not on the
vessels are to work the heavy guns. Every man,
woman, and child, is put on rations both of food and
water. _

THE BLUE JACKETS AT WORK.
The working of the heavy siege train at first pre-
sented a slight difficulty to our commanders. The
troops of the line know less than nothing of their
management, and even our best artillerymen would
be at sea in conducting for the first time artillery of
such heavy calibre. To meet the difficulty, 150 sai-
lors were drawn from each English three•decker, and
100 from each two-decker, and formed into a division
about 1,100 strong, divided into two brigades of 600
each, officers and men. The division was placed
under the charge of Captain Lushington, of the Album,
and each brigade commanded by Captain Moorsom,
and Captain Peel, of the Diamond. " Jack" seernea
highly delighted at the prospect of serving ashore at
the siege, and, girded with his revolver and cutlass,
took up his quarters in the tents on land with as
much sang froid as if it was his natural sphere of
action. Soon, however, the native jollity of the tars
broke out, and uproarious singing was kept up in
their different tents until near midnight. The way
these fellows got up the ships' guns was perfectly as-
tounding. An iron gun, eleven feet long and weigh-
ing 113 cwt., seemed nothing to them. They volun-
teered to fist it along, and they literally did so, tying
ropes to its stand and dragging it by their force over
the hills. I have seen fourteen horses and all the
apparatus of the artillery barely moving a gun which
fifty sailors have dragged after them at a trot To
the troops lying under cover of the hills round Sebat.
topol the Russian batteries give no peace night or
day. Round shot and shell are perpetually coming
over the hills and falling near our men. If the
enemy was sure of our locale this would he a serious
inconvenience, but as it is the firing does little
damage. No two men can show themselves without
some of the forts giving a practical intimation that
they had better remain under cover. Owing to this
perpetual cannonade, no one but those actually on
duty are allowed to go forward to the outlying pickeLs,
as such indiscreet curiosity not only endangers
the lives of the parties themselves, but, what is of
more consequence, of the troops behind them. Three
nights ago a shell was dropped right into our lines,
killing two men and dangerously wounding two more
who were asleep round a large fire. No doubt the
glare of the embers served to direct the missile. Be-
sides this loss, we have had many men more or less
severely wounded by splinters from shells. Fortu-
nately the Russian mortar practice is of the worst de-
scription, or our losses in this way would be more
severe. Numbers of their shell fall to the ground
without bursting; they are nearly all ten, twelve,
and thirteen inch.—Morning Herald.
CAMP DEMANDS AND SUPPLIES.
I will give a price list, with the list of articles most in
requisition in the camp—perhaps it may encourage the effia-ts
of some enterprising trader. The teetotallers will be sad
to learn that, owing to the prevalence of disease and the
badness of the water, brandy and sherry are in great de-
mand, and 6a. a bottle is asked and cheerfully given. That
is a long price, considering the ships take their goods out
of bond or buy them at Malta. Salt, pepper, and curry-
powder are articles continually inquired for, and not to be
had at any price. Maltese cigars sell at 10s. the hundred.
Loaf sugar, no supply. Arrowroot biscuits were much in
demand, and could not be had. A small parcel came in
the other day ; they sell at hi. a piece. Soap, no supply.
Flannel shirts are in enormous demand, and so are flannel
jackets, but none are to be had at any price. It is the
same with lucifer matches. I was witness when halta-
crown a box was offered and refused. In short, any one
sending out a general cargo of good and useful things.
always keeping an eye on the severity of the winter here,
would be a benefactor to the army and part of the navy.
and pocket large profits at the same time. But the
strangest want, which startled even me, is that of books.
The army are not generally considered to form an impor-
tant part of the reading public, but of this I am certain
that if any speculative bookseller were to send out a cargo
of good, cheap, light books, he could safely demand, and
men out here would gladly pay, nn advance of 30 per cent.
on the London price. Our army are likely to remain long
in quarters wherever they are—at least so long as the men
who have hitherto managed the war continue in the dm-
charge of their kindly offices. The majority of the thou-
sands of officers out here expected marches and operations
on a grand scale—plenty to do—little spare time—boo
added to the baggage would lumber it and be a bore. They
now find themselves for weeks and months shut up in
camps, with no food for the mind except here and these an
old newspaper. They cried out for books in Bulgana. ;
they will again raise the same cry when once settled le
winter quarters in the Crimea. Books are not to be has
at Constantinople—the most illiterate of capitals. Parcels
from Malta and England have a knack of seldom, if avian

OCTOBER 28, 1854.

coming to hand. They pass through the offices of Pera
and Galata agents, and get thrown into comers, knocked
about, and lost in some way or Lther. The few hooka—no
matter what they are—belonging to officers of various regi-
ments, go the circuit of whole divisions. I have now in
my possession—and to borrow it cost a vast deal of per-
snasion--a copy of Mr. Routledge's edition of Bulwer's
" Last of the Barons." This book has been read by every
officer of the 33rd Regiment, and some of them have read
it twice. It was then passed over
.to the Engineers, and
they read it to a man, and then gave it up to the Ordnance,
who, having done with it, let me have it for a week. I
have seen men hard at work reading CulverweV's tracts on
health, and a treatise " on the hotmeopathic treatment of
diseases in children " has actually been studied by a score
of young lieutenants, all of them bachelors, and likely to
remain so for some time to come. A general cargo of sta-
tionery, with memorandum and sketching books, and the
books published by Routledge, Cooke, and Bohn, with
Bentley's and Colburn's Standard Library, would find a
ready sale in the Crimea winter quarters. So would the
New Quarterly Reurcm,-because it gives a capital digest of
current literature. In short, any, books—good, cheap, and
light—would benefit us and thn importer, no matter
whether our winter quarters are ih the Crimea or at
Scutari.—Lefler in Daily News.

WEAR AND TEAR.
Their faces, yellow with the accumulated dirt and
sweat of many days, have a haggard and careworn
look. Their clothes, which they have not pulled off
for weeks past, defy the brush ; they must look
soiled, dusty, and seedy. Frizzy hair, deep set eyes,
and the feverishness of uncleanliness are the order
of the day with the men and with most of the subalterns.
I defy the most water-loving man to wash his person
and his clothes when there is hardly water enough
to drink. Take off the wardrobes of the generals and
some of the more favoured among the staff officers,
and rely upon it there are not a dozen clean shirts
in the army. An officer told me he had not washed
his hands for a week; as for washing his face, that
s too great a luxury to he thought of. The appear-
wee of the hard-working gallant officers of the line
aid guards is certainly most unusual to home ideas
o' a British officer in full uniform, and, but for the
seriousness of the situation, it would even be ludi-
crous. Landed with no luggage hut what they could
cam they have worn their full-dress coats for the
la& three weeks; they have marched, and fought,
an( slept in them. Of course, the scarlet bears but
a faint resemblance to what it used to be, and the
gold lace and heavy gold epaulettes are but dingy
remniscences of their former selves. Trousers hope-
less!) impregnated with Crimean mud and dust, and
bootsthat seem to mourn the glorious blackings of
auldlang syne." A shako or cap much the worse
for weir, and sometimes for tear—a red shawl, useful
and alnost necessary, in defiance of regulations and
orders rom head-quarters, protecting the waist—a
soiled htversaek, with rations, biscuit, or any small
luxury tie officer contrived to buy in the shape of
fowls, eggs, honey, or Russian bread, slung around
his shoulders—a "Colt," with belt and case girded
round his vaist--and, perhaps, if the foraging expe-
dition had )een of more than usual prosperity, a live
goose, gre.sied tightly by the feet, hanging from his
hand. Oh, or the mantle of Fortunatus, to place
such an aim all at once into his London haunts,
and among tie old familiar faces! Put him down
in Pall-mall, as Piccadilly, or on the swelling carpets
of the Junior• Cnited Service Or, better still, mount
him on a rouge Crimean pony, accoutred with a
Tartar saddle aid bridle, and let him all of a sudden
make his appearance in Rotten•row, heaven knows
what fireside geir.lemen and ladies would think of
him, for what the) would take him, and how they
would treat the gallint man glorying in his goose !
Daily News.

THE SUNKEN SHIPS AT SEBASTOPOL.
The Russian ships sink in the port of Sebastopol
have been so disposed as to form two barriers, each
composed of three ships, and having between them a
passage for a single vessel, which passage is tempo-
rarily closed by chains. It is not impossible to
penetrate into that port by that narrow passage, but
it is very difficult. The part of the vessels which
remains above the surface of the sea has been
daubed over with pitch, and loaded with inflam-
mable matters, which it is tripposed will be set fire
to should the vessels of the allied fleet attempt to
enter.

Messrs. W. G. Armstrong and Co., o:* Newcastle-
npon-Tyne, are busily employed executing an order
from the Admiralty for the construction of apparatus
for blowing up the Russian ships of war which now
obstruct the entrance of the harbour of Sebastopol.
They are twenty-five in number—thirteen large and
twelve smaller. Each consists of three water-tight
cylinders, of different sizes, placed one within the
other, so as to form three distinct compartments.
The innermost cylinder will be filled with fine gun-
powder, the space between it and the next with
ordinary blasting powder, and the outer one left
vacant. A galvanic wire will be inserted in the in-
nermost cylinder to communicate with the battery.
The larger apparatus will weigh three toss each, and
when charged four tons, Prior to their being shipped

THE PRESS.

off to Sebastopol the effect of one of these machines
will be tried upon a sunken wreck at Tynemouth.

THE DESCENT ON YALTA.
On the representation of the French generals, communi-
cated to the British commander-in-chief, a joint expedition,
consisting of the French ships-of-war Napoleon, Pomona.
and Megere, and the English ships Sanspareil, Tribune,
and Vesuvius, was directed on the 2nd of October towards
the little town of Yalta, on the south shore of the Crimea,
for the purpose of obtaining bullocks and othernecessaries,
including wine, for the use of the French troops.
This expedition arrived off its destination at nine cm.
on the 4th, and, meeting with no opposition, landed the
detachments of marines and small-arm men, and took pos-
session of the town. Little Government property was
found in the town, the Russian employes having removed
themselves and everything that was portable some days
previously. Timber for the construction of platforms was
brought off and landed at lialaklava, and thirty-five tons of
Government coal were seized and sent on board the 1"c•
mini,. Neither wine nor bullocks were to be found, and
so far the expedition was un coup manqué. At eight p.m.
the detachments were embarked, and on the morning of
the Oth were re landed under the command of one of the
French captains and Captain the Hon. S. T. Carnegie, of
the Tribune. They marched some distance inland without
meeting any of the objects of which they were in search,
until they came to a small chateau of Prince Woronzoff,
where they piled arms and rested.
The country through which the detachments marched
was marked by a high extent of cultivation, and scenery as
beautiful and diversified as any in the world. Tobacco and
vines appeared to cover the soil ; apple and walnut trees
grew in profusion, laden with fruit—their boughs bending
to the ground; and the chateau itself was placed in a most
picturesque situation, the gardens laid out in the English
style, with every appurtenance that good taste, aided by great
wealth, could devise and execute.
The forest, extending to the seaside, was the home of
many hundred of fallow deer, ornamental walks were traced
throughout, and the well known liberality of the owner has
extended even to the formation of a small detached hospital,
containing eight beds, and furnished with all the medical
comforts that were required to render it complete.
This residence must not be c3nfounded with the princely
palace of the same owner at Aloupka. It was apparently a
shooting•lax. used but rarely, but bearing evidence of great
refinement, even to luxury:

A guard of English tuari- nes was placed over the house,
to prevent pillage or destruction, and this measure was
successful, but a good deal of damage was done to a maga-
zine of stores for domestic purposes, which was forced open
and searched by our allies. The English had with them a
commissary, sent expressly by Lord Raglan, with a large
sum of money, in order to pay for everything that was de-
manded, but nothing could be found in the shape of pro-
visions worth asking for or carrying off.
The troops returned to the town in the afternoon, and,
finding all solicitations useless to procure either wine or
bullocks, re-embarked at eight p.m and the ships returned
to their respective stations.--Correapondent of Chronicle.

TO THE WOUNDED.

We have been told that the increased civilisation and
humanity of modern times will greatly mitigate the
horrors of war. To a certain extent this is undoubtedly
true. Our list of Russian prisoners proves it. On the
Danube the Turks made no prisoners, and the Russians
equally got rid of such encumbrances by the summary
method of the bayonet. I felt proud of my country when
I saw little groups of English soldiers tenderly nursing
wounded and dying Russians on the field of Alma the day
after the battle, partienlarly when my indignation was
hardly calmed at the well-proved stories of ferocious feeling
manifested by these same wounded. Notwithstanding the
ingratitude of these poor Russian slaves, an English
doctor, to his eternal honour, volunteered to remain behind
and endeavour to alleviate the sufferings of 700 wounded
Russians who had been removed from the field of battle on
the south bank of the Alms to the deserted village on its
north bank.

Dr. James Thomson, assistant-surgeon of the 44th
Regiment, and his soldier servant, deserve to be held up as
heroes. For four or five days they, and they alone, had to
wait upon and support this enormous mass of severely
wounded men. The task was in many respects a most
dangerous one. As we have seen, the patients themselves
were not to be trusted. The Cossacks might also at any
time make prisoners of them on the retreat of the allied
armies. The dead were festering in heaps around the
sick and dying. These two men frequently had to bury a
horrible mass of carcases and fragments before they
could get at some poor wounded wretches. In this way
they must with their own hands have dragged out and
buried some 200. There was no food of any kind for the
sick, so the soldier managed to drive in a stray bullock,
and with the aid of some Russian convalescents ( their
misfortunes seem to have humanised them) he killed it
and made some soup for them. At length her Majesty's
ships Albion, Vesuvius, and the screw•transport Aron
arrived. The whole crew of the first landed and removed
the wounded on board the Avon, while the l'e•uvius
guarded the shore. In the midst of this humane occupa-
tion a Russian force of some 4,000 or 5,000 men ap-
proached the village, and the sailors were obliged to hasten
on board, as it was beyond the range of the ships' guns.
However, 340 wounded were put on board the Avon under
the charge of their heroic preservers, Dr. Thomson and
his servant. About forty were left behind, arid many of
these poor fellows, who had previously seemed unable to
walk, endeavoured, with all their might, to hobble after
their more fortunate comrades. The next day the Avon
proceeded with them to Odessa. Now, surely, when the
Humane Society rewards a man who saves one single
individual, society will not fail to do something for two
men who, ender such dreadful trials, saved the lives of
340,—Letter in Tines,

101

ARRESTS AT VARNA.
A letter from Varna, of the 10th, in the Lloyd of
Vienna, says:—
Two commissioners of the Porte, and two agents of the
English and French legations, arrived here in the night.
They immediately put themselves into communication
with the English and French commanders, and made
minute searches in the houses of several Greeks and
Armenians residing in the town; after which fifteen per-
sons were arrested and sent off to Constantinople. Corn-
missioners charged to make similar searches were sent at
the same time to Erdeueh, Tiliboh, Salonica, Trikola,
Vodena, Kutapa, Trebisoude, Ilattouni, and even to Smyrna
and Damascus.

It is understood that these arrests have been
made on information obtained when Prince Mena-
chikoff's carriage containing correspondence was
seized at Alma.

THE ISTHMUS OF PEREKOP.

The Varna correspondent of Lloyd writes :—" As I
have more than once stated, the allies have not lost sight
of Perekop, and 35,000 men, French and Turks, under
Achmet Pacha and General Bosquet, will take care
of any Russian reinforcements which may attempt to
reach Sebastopol from that place." Cavalry rein-
forcements were to leave Bourgas without delay.

THE BALTIC FLEET.
Her Majesty's screw steam-ship St. Jean d'Aere,
101, has arrived at Kiel, as the precursor of Sir
Charles Napier's squadron. The St. Jean d'Aere
had been on shore at the island of Fehmern, but is
not damaged.
Sir Charles Napier was expected at that port im-
mediately.
During the latter part of November the fleet will
leave the Baltic, and may be expected home by the
sth of December.

THE DANUBE.
Letters from Galatz state that the allies are about
to form a large war magazine at the Sulina mouth
of the Danube. Very shortly (so runs the rumour)
French troops will be disembarked at or near Sulina,
in order to support in flank Omer Pacha's movement
against Bessarabia. The works constructed at this
mouth of the Danube are described as of an exten-
sive and formidable character. Three small war-
steamers continually paddle up and down to observe
the Russians, the obstructions to navigation for-
merly placed there by the enemy having been long
since entirely removed. A dredging-machine is,
moreover, in constant operation, and the long-abused
channel of the river grows deeper every day.
The astounding fact that the Russians have ven-
tured to recross the Danube in great numbers, and
that they have actually never entirely ceased to
occupy the smaller fortresses on the right bank,
namely Tultscha, Isatchka, and Matachin, is fully
confirmed by an official report received from the
Turkish head•quarters of Said Joussouf Paoha, at
Ibraila.

The Copirte Zeituttg's Correspondenz says :
We are informed by letters from Ibraila, of the 10th,
that nearly 30,0(() Russians have recrossed the Danube,
between Tultscha and Isatchka, and occupied several points
in the Dobrudscha, which are of strategical importance.
The vanguard of this force is already at Babadagh.
Isatchka, Tultscha, and Matachin are in the hands of the
Russians, and they are fortifying themselves at Babadagh ;
they are also constructing a bridge between Isatchka and
Tultacha. The Russian troops stationed at Kilia, in Res•
sarabia, are to take np the position of those that are now
on the Danube, which latter, we are told, are to be pushed
forward into the Dobrudecha.

THE REINFORCEMENTS.
Detachments of the Guards under orders for the
Crimea left London on Thursday morning, a
little before nine o'clock, by the South-Western
Railway, for Portsmouth, for embarkation in
the Queen of the South. The troops, both officers
and men, appeared in the highest possible spirits,
and, as they passed along, were enthusiastically
cheered by the crowds which had collected to witness
their departure. This force comprises 787 men, 18
officers, and 15 non-commissioned officers, of the
Grenadier, Coldstream, and Fusilier Guards. They
embarked the same evening.
On the 22nd 500 men of the 10th French Regi-
ment of the line embarked at Marseilles in the Sinai
for Varna, and at the same time a detachment of the
foreign legion embarked for Hargis.
A letter from Malta of the 21st says that various
transports, with troops, had arrived, and left fur the
East.

The Wrangler, 4, screw, Lieutenant-Commander
Rich, at Portsmouth, has received a telegraphic
message from the Admiralty to complete her defects
with every possible despatch, and proceed to the
Crimea.
The armament now building to operate against the Rus-
sians in the Baltic at the opening of the spring campaign
includes thirty-five vessels, namely—five floating batteries,
the decks covered with iron plates, eight inches thick, and
their exterior with one hundred plates four inches thick,
rendering them perfectly ball and bomb proof (these vessels
will be armed with eta of the Long-range puts oa the Lan'

Mr

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