The Express.
London, England, 1856-02-11 00:00:00

OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
CAMP, SEBASTOPOL, Jan. 28

Although a general belief prevails that the oondi-
tions of peace laid down by the Allied Powers have
been accepted by Russel& without exception or reeerve
-pur et net, et sans reserve—according to Marshal ,
Pelissier's despatch, yet it is known that no official
confirmation of the news was sent from the British
ambassador at Constantinople to General Codrington
by the mail which arrived on the 24th instant. The
steam transport Indiana, which arrived on the,
evening of the following day, brought private letters i
which stated that telegraphic intelligence had reached
Constantinople from Vienna of the terms having bees
accepted, and it was also reported by some of the par
angers that at the time of the Indiana leaving Load
Stratford de Redoliffe was holding an interview with
I the Sultan on the subject. Another mail has arrived
this afternoon, and the despatches brought by it may i
probably set the question at rest. The belief in a
cessation of hostilities being close at hand has given
Irise to various reports respecting the movements and
!destinations of the several divisions of the army.
Some of these are stated to be determined on in case
of peace being declared, but they are scarcely worthy
of notice at present.
The blasting et some further portions of the Kara-
belnaia Docks in charge of the English engineers
took place on the 26th inst. Some time after the
explosion, when it was supposed that all the smoke
and deleterious gases had been dissipated, some men
descended a shaft to proceed with the mining opera-
tions.
The shaft communicated with a gallery where
the poisonous vapours, as was proved by the effects,
were still confined, for the men had no sooner
reached the bottom of the shaft than they were seized
with violent coughing, and, in addition, the usual
symptoms which mark poisoning by charcoal gas.
The men who were brought into the open air soonest
recovered most quickly, but in the instance of one
soldier of the 48th Regiment, who was for some time
in the shaft, all efforts to restore animation were
fruitless. An example of great personal cou-
rage and disinterested energy is quoted in
connexion with the attempt to save the life of this
unfortunate soldier. A man of the 18th Royal Irish
Regiment, who was one of those to descend the shaft,
had himself been seized with giddiness and loss of
consciousness, and some time elapsed before he was
recovered. He had no sooner regained his senses,
however, than observing the absence of the man of
the 48th, who, he was aware, had gone into the shaft,
he seized a rope, and went on the perilous
errand of searching for him. He succeeded in bring-
ing him up, but it was too late: he was quite dead
from suffocation. Some detached portions of the
masonry of the docks still remain to be blown up.
I The French have completed their part of the task.
Our engineers explain that, by this piece-meal de.
struction, a more complete breaking up of the stria*,
turn and foundations of the docks has been ensured :
° the destruction on the French side, it is asserted, has
I not been so thorough and extensive.
A large number of men of the Siege-train Artil-
lery have left camp to proceed to England. It was
arranged that seventeen companies should return. In
' lorder to erasure all men going to whose health the
voyage and stay in England might be beneficial, the
weakly men and oldest campaigners were selected,
not only from the siege foroe, but also from the gun-
ners of the field batteries. These men were drafted
, into the companies of the siege•train going home,
and replaced by the more robust artillerymen from the
latter service. A double advantage will thus be
gained; the siege train companies who are no longer
required here will comprise men to all of whom the
, change to England will be beneficial, and the Artil-
lery force remaining in the field will consist of all
" strong and picked men.
On Saturday, the 26th, twenty-six men, chiefly
r belonging to the Light Division, who had been taken
prisoners at the final assault on the Great Reda°,
landed from her Majesty's steamer Firebrand,
at Komarek. They left Odessa on the morning of
the 23rd instant. They were accompanied by
' seventeen men of the 10th Hosiers who fell into
the enemy's hands at Xertob, by a few sailors,
and by one of the ship-stewards who acoom-
, panied Lieutenant Geneste, and was captured at
Hango. The Firebrand called at %Whiten on its
way to Hai:etch. The men who were taken pet-
, sonars at the attack on the Great Redan were hurried
mese the raft bridge early in the afternoon, imme-
diately after the failure of the attack. They met
, troops still coming over towards Fort Nicholas. As
. j they wooed the bridge to reach the north side, and
r I even after reaching Fort Michailoff on the north
r share, they were in frequent danger from oar shot
and shelL They were detained two days in an en-
closed fort ea the north side, immediately above Fort
Michailoff, and then removed to Simpheropol.
i After a short stay there, they were marched to
Elisabethgrad, where they were kept one month,
and then sent to Odeon. At Odessa they remained
until given up to the Firebrand. They appear to
have been on the whole well treated, more especially
daring the time they paned at Odessa. According
to reports brought by the officers of the Firebrand,
peace was confidently ewted by the merchants at
that poet when the vessel left.
It is to have to relate that another ease has
in the army which will lead to a general
court-martial far alleged murder. The two instances
which recently accerred, and which terminated in each
ewe in a verdict of manaleughteromeleed attn.
thee, the more so that the British faros has
hitherto been ssttt free from crimes of serious
magwitude. Bemembwing the circumstances under
wink this large army has been placed, it has been a
manse of favourable comment that no example of
capital psheisat has yet been furnished by it. It
is feared that the power to make this creditable ewer.
lion will shortly awe. If true as related, the circa.-
stances under which the serious offence alluded to has
occurred are of a very aggravated nature. A young
soldier of the 77th Regiment, under nineteen years of
age, but of very bad character, was placed in the hos-
pital of his meant for wounds inflicted by himself
on his hand, with a view to render himself unfit for
military service. He had been tried by a court-
martial
for selling some government property, and
had been sentenced to a certain punishment for this
offence. It was subsequent to this trial, that he
took a razor, and, drawing it across his fingers, tried
to mutilate himself so that be might not in future be
able to handle a musket. He was placed under the
surgeon's care for these wounds. With him in
hospital, was an artilleryman belonging to the
right siege train, who had been severely wounded
in the chest at the great explosion on the 16th
November last, by the bursting of a shell.
This artilleryman, whose injuries were very
severe, and who was recovering bat slowly,
was placed in a hut by himself, for the
advantage of better air and special treatment. The
soldier of the 77th, whose wounds across the fingers
did not prevent him from walking about, sometimes
went, it appears, into this hospital hut. On Friday
evening, the 26th, he went in and borrowed a small
tam of money from the artilleryman. The latter
kept his money under his pillow, and while handing
the alining or two which ke had been asked for,
showed at the same time a number of sovereigns
which he bed in his purse. The sight of this money,
twelve pounds, acted as the temptation to the
crime which followed. The following morn-
hag. taking an opportunity when all the hos-
pital attendant, were away from the hut, and
fancying apparently that his victim was asleep, the
77th soldier seized a bar of iron, and aimed a blow
at the artilleryman's bead. He was awake, however,
or roused, and bad time both to call oat " murder,"
and to raise his ana. The arm was broken, and a
second blow stunned him, but the alarm brought the
hospital sergeant to the but before the perpetrator ot
the crime could edeet his escape. A struggle ensued,
bat the villain was quickly sreared, and is now a pri-
soner awaitiag his trial for murder. The artilleryman
lingered till the afternoon of the day following
on which he was assaulted, and then died.
may be doubts raised on the trial to what extent this
soldier's death was owing to the consequences oldie
injuries he bad received at the time of the explosion,
and bow far attributable to the direct injuries re-
ceived ea the 26th but. ; but the apparently widest

motives of the aggressor, his previous very bad cha-
racter, and a feeling which appears to have been held
even by the commander-tn-chief, that the sea-
tenoe of the court-martial in a recent in-
stance was too lenient, may cause the ex-
treme penalty, should the court-martial Sod
the prisoner guilty of murder, to be carried into
effect. It is stated that the prisoner—who has not
long enlisted in the 77th Regiment—has acknow-
ledged to have enlisted for the purpose of escaping
from the consequences of a robbery he had committed
in England.
The weather has continued remarkably mild.
Southerly and westerly winds have prevailed. To-day
it has been blowing almost a gale, with great ad-
-1 vantage to the camp ground, for, excepting in places
I where the mud was very deep, the surface has be-
I come solid and dry, and capable of being traversed
by foot passengers, which scarcely was possible be-.
fore. The roads are in good order.