The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-07 00:00:00

TPIE TUffKISII• CONTINGENT.

KERTCH, Nov. 26.—The arrival of this force at
this late season puts an end to the slightest chance
of active operations this year on their part against
the enemy. General Vivian, instead of heedlessly
wasting most precious time in the delicious halls
and bowers of the Russian summer palace on the
banks of the Bosphorus during the summer months,
now comes forth with his men to ensconce them
for the winter in the Crimea. Most are still under
canvas. &low -leas set in; and the Turkish Con-
tingent will be housed and hutted probably next
January;. In the meanwhile sickness and the in-
clemency of the weather will do its work of deci-
mation, far greater than the sword of the hussar or
the lance (4-the cossack, who occasionally show in
the neighbourhood. Lieutenant-General Vivian,
no doubt, while Adjutant-General of the Madras
Army, was most efficient at the red-tape and pen-
and-paper business ; but the utter waste and reck-
lessness incurred in this force completely place his
capabilities and ideas on a par with those of the
ancient race of generals of 1793, who led their men
to disgrace and defeat.

No wonder that robbery, rape, and plhndering
of all description have become the order of the day
in Kertch' from the indecision and wish on the part
of the Lieiitenant-General to soothe a few old
Pashas, by overlooking the most horrible atrocities
ever committed by the hand of man on the part of
the Osmanli soldiers now beion,ging46 the Turkish
Contingerit.
What little remained of Kertch, from its first
sack by the Allies, once one of the most beautiful
towns in the universe, is now a scene of the greatest

misery and desolation, from the atrocious and
villanous excesses of every description by the troops
__. ____.

under Gen. Vivian—the roofs and flooring of the
best houses torn up and burned for sheer wanton-
ness and a passion for destroying property which

ought to have been available fora future slay.
The arrival from Bnyukdere of a fresh supply of
those heroes was the signal for a fresh display of
the same conduct, consisting of every crime in the
calendar, on the unfortunate few of the poor resi-
dents who could not escape with their more fortu-
nate neighbours to a secure place of safety. A
minute portion of some of their soldier-like propen-
sities I will now relate for the edification of John

Bull, who has the gratification of raying for those

scoundrels.

A few evenings hack two of those heroes, a cap-
tain and a private, attacked a small house occupied
by two old ladies above 60 years of age, and plun-
dered them of all the money and valuables they
possessed. They then attempted a horrible crime,
when, an alarm being given, they escaped with their
spoil. The next day the fellows came again, when
an outcry being raised, one scoundrel drew his
sabre, and cut ono poor woman's head asunder,
while the other smashed her skull with a huge
stone. The wretched woman being released from
her misery in a very short time, the fellows made
towards their camp as if nothing occurred, no looker
on daring to notice it for fear of meeting the same
doom. Those murderers belonged to a regiment of the
Contingent that. arrived only a few days back from
Buyukdere, and, though officially reported at head-
quarters to the Deputy Adjutant-General, Turkish
Contingent, Lieut.-Colonel (local) Crewe, a captain
in the Madras army, no notice or endeavours what-
ever were taken to find out the assassins, though
this gallant officer of the Madras army, who never
saw a shot fired during his career, if lte perceived
au officer out of regimentals in the camp or street,
would order him to return at once to his quarters,
under pain of being placed in arrest and reported
to the Lieut.-General commanding, making a fuss
perfectly ridiculous to soldiers, while no notice is
taken of assassins such as I have described.

It is well known that the wealthy portion of the
Russians inter their dead with their rings and jewel-
lery attached to their persons, and it was brough t
under the notice of the authorities that the graves
and tombs in the burial-grounds were exhumed
and the dead bodies exposed to every indignity by
the atrocious rapacity of the Turkish soldiers re-
_ _

cently arrived. A small picket of the 71st High-
land light infantry, a corporal and six men-250 of
whom are quartered in Kertch—were patrolling
the town near the churchyard the same evening
the woman was murdered, when tTey were fired
upon by those sacrilegious vampires ; they soon re-
turned the fire, a yuz bashi on the spot and
wounding others. N'ot the least notice was taken
by the contingent authorities of the conduct of
those men, unless to hush the affair, if possible,
from becoming public ; while the non-commissioned
officer and men of the 71st, for their gallant con-
duct, were thanked in regimental orders. The
morning after this affair, Reschid Pacha, who com-
manded a brigade of Turks previous to General
Vivian's arrival, had the consummate impertinence
to send his interpreter with a written order to
Captain Hope, commanding the 71st, to place the
picket in close arrest, previous to their being tried
by a court-martial for shooting one of his officers.
The gallant captain, the moment he read the order,
crumpled it up, stating to the interpreter there
was no answer, but to tell the Pacha how he treated
his orders, and would continue to do the same with
any others he might send on the subject. Peaceful
measures with these demi-savages will never teach
them their duty towards society—nothing, I am
convinced, but the strong iron hand of military
discipline held over them will ever bring them to
order. No temporising or half-measures of mis-
placed affected feeling towards a Turk can make
him act towards you in any other way than a half-
suspicious feeling that you have some design to-
wards him, to better yourself out of his superiority
as a human being—a fellow little better
in intel-
lect than the larger species of a baboon, as far. as
'1
his moral or human feelings go, where a Ch •
st=
is concerned.

A slight commotion was caused in the
market-
place of Kertch on Friday last. The-circumstances
are as follow :—The provost marshal, Major
Guernsey, and the commandant of the siege de-
fences Major Hill, R.A. were walking in the
neighbourhood of the chief pay-office on the heights
of Kertch, the former looking out, as was his duty,
for squalls—or, vulgarly speaking, to see what was
going on, in the vicinity of the late dreadful mur-
der. At some
distance ocf, on a hill, lie espied
five Turkish soldiers suspiciously watching a house
belonging to an old man, a Russian, and five chil-
dren ; they soon entered, and, as usual,
knocking down the man and children, putting them
in fear of their life ; then plundering became the
order of the day. The provost-marshal coming up
to the house changed the scene. Two of the fel-
lows, coming out of the gateway laden with the
spoil, immediately dropped it and bolted ; the
other three were caught in a trap in the yard, with
all the articles they could carry away ; two of them
escaped, but the third was secured by the provost-
marshal, and taken to the guard, where he re-
ceived three dozen lashes, which he most richly
deserved, amidst a commotion of Turkish officers
and soldiers, of all descriptions and grades, who
appeared dreadfully annoyed that this person was
not allowed to go free as they wished—foras toknock-
ing down an old man and children, putting aside
a little 'outing, in their eyes constituted no crime.
However, the chief leader of the mob outside the
prison was a captain of the same regiment, the 7th
Turkish Contingent, quartered at Fort Paul, near
five miles off from where the delinquents were
caught. After the fellow received his punishment
he was let free, when an attack was made by a mob
of over three hundred, headed by the above officer
with a drawn sword ; stone throwing and other
missiles were vented on the unfortunate provost-
ind as
his revolver out, and, covering a fellow that nearly
cool
provost-
marshal and his assistants, who were knocked down,
and would to a certainty have been murdered on
the spot,
the t, if
saying
nf
go r i isn)
a ers a m
, withcu cpresenceuaber,had
not pulled
broke his arm with a stone, shot him through the
lungs—repeating the dose to two other indivi-
duals, by clipping a fellow's ear and shooting
a Turkish soldier through the neck, which nearly
settled him. The valiant heroes soon cleared the
streets. The captain, who caused the row, threw
himself flat on the ground the moment he saw
Major Guernsey's pistol pointed towards him, who
had magnanimity enough not to shoot the scoun-
drel as he lay on his back floundering like a turtle
and growling for mercy ; he merely took his sword
and broke it. The provost-marshal was wounded
in the head and his arm nearly broken ; one of his
serjeants was cut and bruised ; a corporal of the
71st also had his arm severely cut from a sabre.
The affray was witnessed by Major Hill, R.A.
Captain Geo. Swaby, 39th Regt., Major F. Miller,
BOth Regt., and Captain Walker, of the East India
Company's service, who all deposed before a court
of inquiry that, but for the coolness and intrepidity
of that officer, all the Europeans would have been
murdered on the spot to a moral certainty. He
only acted in self.defence, and they would have
done the same. Indeed the latter officer, riding
up at the moment, cut down a Turk with his
sword, while in the act of felling one of the ser-
jeants with a stone.
Now what follows is a sad reflection on giTing
unlimited power to parties not, I may say, having