The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-11 00:00:00

EMANCIPATION OF THE RUSSIAN

SERFS.

The ems of Cracow, of the Ist, says :—"lt
is reported hero that the contemplated reforms in
the kingdom of Poland have not taken place, in
consequence of the Prince of Prussia having ex-
acted, as a condition of the neutrality of Prassia,
the maintenance of the status quo in Poland.

"It is the positive intention of the Russian Go-

vernment to effect the immediate emancipation of
the serfs of the whole empire. The Emperor
personally is favourable to the measure, and the
land-owning aristocracy, who have been sounded,
offer no opposition.

" These nobles appear to fear that risings of the
peasants, such as have taken place in the south,
might be more dangerous in other province:,.."

MARSEILLES, DEo. 10.

The Bashi-Bazouks in English pay have com-
mitted excesses at Adrianople.
Others have revolted on board the Tancred,
but were arrested by the brig-of-war L' Olivier at
Smyrna. They resisted, and caused some deaths;
many were wounded.

PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 10.
The Duke of Wellington, 131, Captain of the
Fleet the Hon. F. T. Pelham, bearing the flag
of Rear-Admiral the lion. Richard Saunders
Dundas, C. 8., Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic
fleet, arrived at Spithead this evening, between 8
and 9 o'clock, four days from Kiel.
OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.
CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, Nov. 24.
Scarcely had the ink dried on the paper of my
last letter before the weather, which I had been
praising for its extraordinary fineness, suddenly
changed, and with a rapidity of transition only
known in the Crimea, as far as I am aware, rushed
from summer to winter. A strong wind, which
varied in direction several times before it settled
down to a southerly gale, commenced on the after-
noon of Saturday. Rain fell during the night ; to-
day it is falling in torrents, with every appearance
of holding out; the verge of the plateau is con-
cealed by the dense veil of drifting clouds ; the
ground is converted into the thick compost so fami-
liar to us last winter ; the camp is covered with
peels of water, and the gullies and drains are filled
with the rushing waters. But this rain is welcome
to us, for the scarcity of water, which I ventured
to predict many months ago and which sanitary
ccmmissioners and great philosophers proved to
their own satisfaction to be impossible, had become
a serious inconvenience for some time past. If one
was so fortunate as to get water to wash his face, CAMP OF THE ALLIED ARMIES ON
the proceeding was "a mockery, a delusion, and a THE TCHERNAYA, Nov. 26.
scare," inasmuch as the medium through which it . For the last two days, especially on Sunday, we
was performed was a thick pea-soup coloured fluid, had for the first time something approaching to
churned up from the bottom of the wells. The last year's November weather—strong south-
Fourth Division suffered considerably from this westerly winds, low heavy banks of clouds, sharp
cause, and no one who has not actually endured the snowers of rain, and real Crimean mud. But this
discomforts consequent upon the announcement of avant-garde of winter, so formidable last year, has
"no water to-day" can form a notion of the trouble, ceased to inspire fear and apprehension, especially
delay, and difficulty of supplying the want. The as regards this part of our position. All the
army is getting into better shape and form every Highlanders are in huts, so are the Piedmontese
day. Excellent warm clothing has been issued to and the French at Baidar. The French on the
the men, and so uniform is it in style that no one Fedukhine height; are indeed still under canvas,
can distinguish officers from men, unless by the dif- but not under the testes d'abri. They have got a
ferenco of style and bearing. Our allies are as to- great number of Turkish double terns, which, if
nished at the profuseness of our military wardrobe, properly screwed, are water-tight, while the poles,
which not only contains a waterproof suit, Lel net made of ono solid piece of wood, resist any wind,
and all, but fur coats and caps, cowhide boots, as was proved last year in the gale of the 14th of
tweed coats lined with cat or rabbit skin, &c., and, November. Even these tents, however, are gra-
for the officers, suits of sealskin, sold at moderate dually disappearing. As it is, more than three-
prices. The French only receive from their Govern- fourths of the allied armies on this side are in com-
ment an ordinary cloth capoto, and must buy any fortable shelter, whence they can brave storm and
waterproofs or furs which they may find necessary. rain. There is no want of provisions either. The
The sheepskin coats of last year are not in much Highland Division has not, in this respect, been
favour ; they have a very high odour, and are behind the other English divisions on the plateau
found 3be extremely sought after as residences by of Sebastopol, as every one can see from far when
objectionable insects of predatory habits. The huts he reaches the church of Kamara—now a Piedmon-
blown down by the explosion are nearly rebuilt, tose magazine. Pyramids of biscuit sacks, rows of
but the extent of canvas-covering which is still barrels with salt meat an.,l rum, piles of corn and
visible over the camp would astonish those who hay, are striking evidences of the foresight and
imagine all the troops are within wooden walls. diligence exhibited in collecting ample stores for
However, a good double tent well pitched and dug the winter, especially as the brushwood abounding,
out is more comfortable for one man than most huts all around dispenses with the transport of that im-
would be, as it is extremely difficult to stanch the portant item—fuel. The Sardiniansaud the French,
latter, and the former is always sure to be air and not including those at Bolder, have not thought it
watertight. For a sergeant's guard, however, a necessary tobform large stores ; they send to their
tent is very uncomfortable, because there can be depots at Balaklava and Kakiloi.
no fireplace in it which would not expose some of In the Sardinian army the soldiers have always
the inmates to be roasted, and stoves are found to two days rations in hand, and every battalion has
smoke with wood and coal, and to be dangerous to provide for the transport from the depots, winch,
with charcoal. The cookhouses offer guarantees while active operations aro going on, are always
for the health of the men, and with the blessing of supposed to be at the distance of halfa day's march
Heaven the army will not suffer any serious detri- Their system of transport differs, in this way, en-
ment from the severities of this climate, although tirely from the French. To the French army the
it would be too much to expect entire freedom from " train.' forms a distinct body, not permanently
some kind of privations on the part of an army can- attached to any division or regiment. The whole
toned on the open ground during a Crimean winter. care of providing for the army
rests on it, without
MONDAY.—The weather, ever capricious in the any participation of the regiments or divisions.
Crimea, is varying and mutable beyond descrip- Only when a body of men is detached from the
tion. The morning was obscure, but about three bulk of the army, at too great a distance to be
o'clock the wind hauled round from west north- daily provided for from the depots, a certain pro-
west to north, and brought with its clearer atmos- portion of the train is attached to it.
phere and intense cold. But the cold for the time In the Sardinian army, on the contrary, each
being got rid of the mud—that horrible, sticky, battalion has a certain number of carts and baggage
abominable, clinging, slippery combination of animals permanently attached to it. This regula-
earth and water which drives cleanly tent-owners tion is of course only calculated
.for warfare in tl e
mad, which defies Crimean scrapers, and makes civilised countries of Europe, with numbers of vil-
pedestrians walk on impromptu stilts, which dis- lager and good roads, where no tents are required ;
appear and collect at every half-dozen steps. But five two-wheeled carts form the complement of each
to-morrow's sun, if there be any, will deprive us battalion ; one of these is destined to carry the
of this cold comfort, and will make men think officers' luggage, and the rest are for the troops.
twice before they ride out to Kamiesh or Bala- The Piedmontese officers, having no bat horses, as
klava. The roads are not yet settled down, al- in the English army, are allowed one chest of 3
though a good deal of traffic has been driven upon feet by 2to carry their things in ;24 of these chests,
them by the mud, and the country is as unfavour- the number of officers in a battalion, fit exactly in
able to the progression of man or boast as it usually one of these covered carts, drawn by two mules,
is about this time of year in these parts of the besides the three days' rations for the officers,
world. The roads, indeed, even now, when we I which the soldier has to carry with him. In con-
have no trenches, no prospects of attack, no want sequence of the peculiar circumstances which must
of labour—the roads aro even now objects of much prevail in a campaign iu such an inhospitable
interest to us all. The whistling locomotives on country as the Crimea, this ratio has been augment
the railway—the Alliance, the Victory—which re- ed, and two carts are now allowed for the officers
call to us the familiar sounds of Wolverhampton or of each battalion. But notwithstanding this aug-
of Didcot, and make us believe for the moment we mentation, and the fact that the Corps del Trono
aro in a civilised country, are not to be taken as has to transport the officers' baggage, you will he
material guarantees for the possession of material surprised to hear that the Piedmontese army out
comforts in the coming winter. Trains may be here require only 1,200 baggage animals.
snowed up in the Crimea as in England, arid, de- There is no doubt that the Emperor Alexander
spite the efforts of Land Transport and Commis- has visited the Crimea. He arrived on the Bth
sariat, supplies of certain articles cannot be accu- inst. in Simpheropol. The reviews of the troops
mulated in any large proportion to the wants of the cannot have given him much satisfaction, for, if
army at the divisional depots. What do you think the accounts of deserters may be trusted, they are
of 319 sheep being killed in one day for a single by no means in a lsrilliant state. The regiments,
division of the army, and of that division requiring they say, are so reduced that most of them have
100 more sheep to be sacrificed before they had been melted down to two battalions, and, if the
" their pound of flesh" and their full allowance of orders which have been given to send 20 men from
meat rations ? But these roads are very good and each company iuto the interior to instruct recruits
give no just ground for apprehension of failure, are carried out, some regiments will altogether dis•
although it is the habit of some persons either to appear. The 33d infantry Regiment, Borodynsky,
sneer at them as being too Romanesque in gran- belonging to the 17th division—a regiment which
deur and solidity, or to prophesy their dissolution took part in the battles of Alma and Inkerrnan—
in the winter. Mr. Beatty, with small means at has already had an order to that effect. It will be
his command, has placed the railway on au excellent incorporated or rather divided among the other
basis, as far as wood, iron, and stone can secure it. regiments of the division, with the promise that it
The soundness of his judgment in laying out the should be reformed in times of peace. The artillery
line is confirmed by Mr. Doynes' adoption of a seems not to be much better off than the infantry,
course very nearly parallel to it throughout for the especially that part of it which is in front on the
grand main road between Balaklava and the camp, plateau. One deserter says that the horses were in
a tribute which has not been however unattended such wretched condition when the Emperor re-
by evils, inasmuch as the parallelism has given rise viewed them that he reprimanded the colonel pub-
to fears that the proximity of the one may interfere licly. The consequence was that the batteries,
with the safe working of the other. Mr. Beatty which were reviewed the next day on some other
goes home immediately, if, indeed, he has not point, had the best artillery horses brought up for
already gone, and I much regret that he has been the occasion from the batteries in the rear, where
obliged to retire from a post in which he rendered the horses were in better condition, having been
services not only to the army collectively, but to less exposed and fatigued.
many individuals in it, who will always retain a The field artillery, which is on the plateaux in
deep sense of his kindness and friendly assistance front of the Russian position, is, it is stated, only
in times of domestic difficulty about huts and waiting for the first rains, whenl all danger of an
transports. Already the mud is beginning to tell attack from the allies is supposed to cease, in order
upon our animals. I saw no less than seven dead to retire from their exposed position into the in-
mules and horses in ono little gully crossing the terior, where they can shelter their horses. If this
line of transport yesterday. Melancholy quadru- be true, it would imply that the whole time while
peds, with sore backs and rib-developed flanks, we were putting off expeditions and parading every
whom nobody cares to own, begin even thus early morning in order to be ready to receive the Rus-
to wander disconsolately about the camp and to sians these latter made similar preparations. There
crawl to the lee of sheltering walls. The Russians, is another circumstance which strengthens this SUP-
having made good roads between their camps, and position not a little, and this is—that the Russian
having established themselves comfortably on the inhabitants of Simpheropol were, some time after
other side of the Tchernaya, seem resolved to give the fall of Sebastopol, invited to abandon the place
us an uneasy time of it in Sebastopol, and never and to retire into the interior of Russia—a thing
ceased firing to-day from one end of the Bay to which many of them actually did in the expecta-
the other. I ventured to express an opinion al- tion of an attack from the allied armies. It would
most immediately after the capture of the south be a curious, and, perhaps, not altogether unprofit-
side, that the enemy's preparations indicated the able question, to inquire which party was more
e
intention of wintering where they lay. We have justified in its apprehensions • at any
been all too prone, not only in England, but out Russians reaped the benefit dour ludicrous, but
here, to calculate on advantages to be gained by rather expensive fight with shadows. rate, t
the privations to which Lie enemy would be ex-- The official announcement from St. Petersburg,
posed, or by imaginary wants to which they were which we saw in one of your last numbers that the
likely in our opinion to he subjected. But the Rus- Russian army in the Crimea is provided with pro-
sian is well supplied with all munitions of war and Visions for eight months is, if not literally, at least
with the means of subsistence. The whole trength 'to a certain extent, borne out by information

6 P. m.
The north batteries have been playing on the
south side with little intermission all day. This
forenoon they opened a cannonade on the French
near the little Redan, from the 12-gun battery at
Inkerman, and dispersed some working parties, but
did them no harm. They have kept up a fire ever
since at the rate of two guns a minute on the towns
and on the docks ; and as they direct their fire on
the houses, it would seem as though they wished to
knock over those buildings which would afford
cover to the allies. Nevertheless, the working
parties continue the process of demolition.

TUESDAY.

Last night the cold increased, and a hard frost
set in. The thermometer fell to 18 deg. this morn-
ing, and may have been lower (luting the night.
The water in bottles in my hut froze, oil thickened,
and wino became muddy, opaque, and filled with
spicula of ice. It is now snowing, and the camp is
of dazzling whiteness. There would be everypros-
pect of the snow continuing if we could judge from
the appearance of the atmosphere. The enemy
have renewed their fire this morning. E. would
seem as if they had received orders not to let the
allies remain in the town. Our batteries do not
reply, and beyond the annoyance to which our men
are exposed, it does not much signify whether the
Russians waste or save their powder and shot, as
they do no real damage.