The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-06 00:00:00

THE

W A R.

THE ARMIES.

THE military chiefs are gradually concentrating
towards the scene of action. The Duke of Cambridge
lingered in Vienna, as he had lingered in Paris, for
several days beyond the time fixed for departure,
but he actually left for Trieste on Sunday last, and
on Tuesday sailed thence for Corfu in the Lloyd
packet. At the island his Royal Highness was to
wait the arrival of the Caradoc steamer, and embark
in her for Constantinople. Lord Lucan left Mar-
seilles on the 28th in the Louepor for the East.
Lord Raglan arrived at Malta on the 25th, and sailed
in the evening of the same day for Gallipoli. He
was accompanied by Lord De Ros, Military Secre-
tary ; Rear-Admiral Boxer, Lieutenant-Colonel
Steele, A.D.C. ; Major Wellesley, Deputy Assistant
Quartermaster-General; Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon.
Raglan Somerset, the Hon. Captain Blackwood, and
Lieutenant Boxer. The departure of the Earl of
Cardigan from England was announced for Wednes-
day, but has since been postponed.
On the French side we learn that Prince Napo-
leon reached Syra on the 25th, and proceeded thence
to Constantinople; and that Marshal St. Arnaud, the
French Commander-in-Chief, sailed from Marseilles
on Saturday last, the 29th, in the steamer Ber-
thollet. The marshal would not wait for the Chaptal,
which required some repairs.
THE RENDEZVOUS IN THE EAST.

The detachments from the combined expeditionary

forces that have already arrived in Turkey are dis-
tributed between Gallipoli, Scutari, and Varna. At
the first-mentioned place it is announced that the
English and French Gcvernments have now aban-
doned any idea of maintaining any large number of
troops. Some ten or fifteen thousand men may pro.
bably be retained there as a sort of depot, and to
guard a military post which may become important
if the tide of war should approach nearer Constanti•
nople, but for the present the bulk of the allied
army is to be transferred upon points more proxi-
mate to the immediate scene of action. At the date
of the last advices there were at Gallipoli a battalion
of the Rifles, two companies of Sappers, the 44th,
50th, 93rd, 14th, and 28th Regiments.
The French have done wonders at Gallipoli, having,
after about three weeks' occupation, made it almost a
new town. They made broad streets, and paved
them, writing up the names of all the streets, and
numbering all the houses. Every fifty or sixty yards
they have er.cted lamp-posts, and burn large lamps
all night: they have made a large bazaar, published
a tariff of all the prices, and built a beautiful quay to
land the troops from the vessels. " That quay
alone," say the Turks, "would have taken us three
years to accomplish."
The entrenchments at Boulahir (Plajor), near
Gallipoli, were commenced on the 20th ult, when
the plans were traced by French engineers, assisted
by Lieutenant-General Sir G. Brown. The works
will be constructed half by the English and half by
the French troops, 2,000 men of each army being
employed. The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora,
and the Gulf of Saros are all open to these works,
and a very small force could hold them against an
invading army, which would run the risk of having
its communications cut off in the rear, and could be
hampered on every side by an enemy in command of
• the sea.
At Scutari splendid barracks were built or cleared
for the occupation of the English forces, a first de-
tachment of which arrived in the Himalaya. These
consisted of the 41st and 53rd Regiments, and were
followed in a day or two by the 47th, 49tb, rth, and
88th, in the Niagara. The French troops arrived
late, and, by the last accounts, only four thousand of
their troops had reached Constantinople. A military
commissariat has been formed in that capital by
General Baraguay d'Hilliers, composed of Turks,
Englishmen, and Frenchmen, who are to provide for
the material wants and for the billetting of the
foreign troops.
The English Government have sent despatches
to Constantinople advising the establishment of a
Polish Legion in Turkey, to operate against the
Czar.
From Varna the latest intelligence is of the 18th
ult. Generals Brown and Bosquet are already at
that important place, where the following troops are
expected to arrive by the 4th of May:—The 33rd,
4!/nd, 49th, and 97th, English infantry regiments,
and the whole of General Bosquet's division, con-
sisting of the Bth and 50th regiments of the line,
the 7th light and the 3rd Zouave regiments, two
r tie battalions, three field and two mountain bat-
teries.
Voluminous particulars of arrivals and departures,
movements and preparations, reach as from Malta
by every mail. Eleven of the transport-vessels, with