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

THE WEEK.

A WEEK of so great excitement, of such eager inquiry for intelligence,
of questioning and debating, rejoicing and doubting, we, whose recol-
lection scarcely can go back to Waterloo, have never known. On Saturday
night the intelligence that a great battle had been fought and won in
the Crimea, first circulated in the metropolis. The Lord Mayor
announced it from the steps of the Exchange, and in crowded theatres
it was the most welcome part of the evening's entertainment. On
Monday morning the Park guns were fired, and message after message
speeding along the electric wires announced that Sebastopol had
fallen as a consequence of the battle of the Alma. Tuesday brought
confirmation of the report, and few doubted it. Wednesday,
though still the telegraph was busy in its transmission of lies, men.
began to reason on probabilities, and there was general disbelief
But, up to the hour when the Extraordinary Gazette was issued, the
country at large believed that Russian pride and power were effectually
humbled, and that Sebastopol was in possession of the allies.
That these reports of the fall of the great fortress, and of the total
destruction of the Russian fleet and garrison, should have prevailed
for nearly a week is a proof not only of extraordinary credulity on the
part of the public, which would be intelligible, but of credulity on the
part of high officials and acute journalists almost without parallel. The
City men alone were not deceived. The funds didnot rise, and for once
the decisive announcements in the Times failed to gain credence on the
Stock Exchange. Nor is this surprising. When the accounts came
to be analysed they were all found referrible to the authority of a
wandering Tatar who was in search of OMER PACHA.
This Tatar arrived at Bucharest on the 30th September, the very day
when our Government despatches announcing the battle of the Alma
had reached Belgrade. This seemed suspicious, as very little time
was left for the receipt of further arrivals from the Crimea. More-
over, none of the Consulates at Bucharest received any advices of the
astounding tidings which the Tatar loudly proclaimed. How could
this be accounted for? It was suggested that their despatches
might be in the packet addressed to OMER PACHA, but such a course
would be unusual. Besides, the Ministers of the Porte are not
usually the most prompt in communicating intelligence, and, when
first hours and then days passed without authentic confirmation of
the Tatar's story, it seemed more probable that his tale should be
false than that the various embassies at Constantinople should be so
remarkably remiss in the transmission of news of such vast im-
portance.
What gave colour to the opinion that the intelligence was fabulous
was the fact that the report of the fall of Sebastopol prevailed even
before intelligence was received of the battle of the Alma. Thus in
the Vienna letter, dated Sept. 29, published in,the Times of Wednesday,
it was stated :
" Yesterday afternoon it was whispered that two forts had been taken by the allies
and in the evening several Greek firms, which are notorious for their caution, bought up
stock," &c.
This referred to transactions on the 28th, and from that date the
" two forts" figured in all the despatches announcing the glorious vic-
tory of the allies.
Lastly, it seemed highly probable that, if the events had occurred
as stated, some confirmation of them must have reached us via St.
Petersburg. On Wednesday a despatch from that city, dated the
3rd, announced the receipt of advices from Prince MENSCHIROFF to the
26th, stating that he had retired to Baktschi Serai without opposition,
whereupon it was insisted that the despatch must have been dated the
20th and not the 26th, as it took eleven days from Sebastopol to St.
Petersburg. But an inspection of the distance soon showed that six
or seven days is sufficient to transmit despatches from one point to
the other, and hence it became highly probable that what took place
at Sebastopol on the 26th would be known at St. Petersburg on
the 3rd.
In future there is less likelihood of any fabulous reports obtain-
ing such general currency. We now know with tolerable exactitude
within what time we may expect news of importance. The despatches
from our camp at Bala Cleve, dated the 28th, reached London about
noon on the sth—a period of seven days only—and, with this fact be-
fore us, it is the more suspicious that acute journalists should have
thought it possible that the great European capitals should have
known nothing of an event of such magnitude as the capture of the
Sebastopol defences, twelve days after it occurred, except through the
gossipping revelations of a wandering Tatar in search of OMER PACHA.
The sober details from Bala Cleve are not likely to be very welcome,
falling, as they must do, so far below public expectation. The tele-
graphic messages of the week, with a little filling up, would form a
grand theatrical spectacle. A comic man bringing in Prince MENSCHI-
'OFF prisoner, with a halter round his neck, a vivandiere heading a
column of infantry and boarding the Twelve Apostles, with all the
thunder of those innumerable guns from ships, and forts, and heights,
which one of our daily contemporaries described in that forcible article
wherein the voluptuous NICHOLAS, in the midst of his Sybarite Court,
was so graphically described, would make up a magnificent tableau.
But the cravers for excitement and the caterers to it may find som e
thing to comfort them in the latter part of the Government despatch—
the allied forces were about to march on Sebastopol, and it is to be
feared that there will be desperate work still before the place is won.
The force which MENSCHIROFF has at his disposal can be little inferior
to that of the allies There must still have been a numerous garrison
in Sebastopol when lie rested with his army on the heights of Alma.
If he has 20,000 men with him at Baktschi Serai, it is proballe that
80,000 or 40,000 guard the lines of Sebastopol. From his position his