The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-21 00:00:00

LATEST NEWS.

BERLIN, MARCH 19.

Letters from St. Petersburg announce that after

the conclusion of peace, conferences will be held

to examine and discuss plans of reform in com-
mercial policy. The journey of the Emperor into
Poland is postponed until after his coronation.

There are indications of a bad feeling between

Russia and Austria.

CONSTANTINOPLE, MARCH 18.

Yesterday the guns of the French and allied
batteries, military as well as naval, announced to
Constantinople the happy event of the accouche-

ment of the Empress and of the birth of a Prince.
All the vessels in port were decked with flags.

MADRID, MARCH 19.

A slight disturbance has taken place at Lorca,

but the movement was not of any importance,

Differences of opinion continue to exist among
the democratic party. The Statutes of the Credit
Mobilier Company will soon be officially ap-

proved of.

OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.
(From the Times Correspondent of this day.)
CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, March 3.—1 have
more than once had to remark that there is a much
larger proportion of sickness in the Land Transport
Corps than in the rest of the army. lam not ac-
quainted with the exact number of men in the
corps, but, taking it at 7,000, which is probably
rather over than under the mark, the amount of
sickness must have been very considerable for there
to be, as there was a short time ago, a difference of
nearly, or quite, one per cent. in the average mor-
tality of the wholel army according as the Land
Transport was included or excluded. The mortality
of the army has been 4 per cent., and of the army
including the Land Transport Corps 5 per cent., or
thereabouts. It is evident that, owing to the na-
ture of their duties, the Land Transport men are
likely to be less healthy at this season than the sol-
diers of infantry regiments. The latter have little
to do, except take care of themselves. Their turn
of guard comes once in 15 or 20 days. They have
a pleasant and healthful amount of exercise ; when
put upon fatigue duty they by no means exhaust
themselves by the violence of their exertions. The
Land Transport men, on the other hand, have con-
stant and hard work, and, no matter how bitter
the cold, how heavy the rain, it must be done, for
the supply of the army depends upon it. In the
worst weather you see them following their toil-
some vocation, going down to Balaklava for stores,
into the Man for wood, across to Kazatch for
something else. They are particularly liable to
frost-bite when harnessing, driving, and riding,
and often wet through for hours together, or
plunged to their knees in mud while extricating
their carts from some piece of deep ground. Strong,
hardy men are required to hear up against such
exposures and fatigue. Unfortunately, little pains
appear to have been taken to secure such. One
is struck by the youth and apparently feeble
frames of many of the Land Transport men
one meats in camp and on the roads, and it is well
known to the surgeons that a bad class of men (bad
as regards their pysical strength and condition)
has otained admittance into the corps—men who
would not be accepted as recruits in an infantry
regiment of the line. Mere lads, of weakly consti-
tution, are doing work which would tax the strength
and powers of endurance of robust adults—at-
tempting to do it, I should rather say, for most of
them soon sicken under the effort. I know of in-
stances of recruits of this class, who, having come
out in November and December, hi.ve been nearly
the whole time in hospital, and are now at Scutari,
whence they will very probably be invalided home.
Other causes concur to fill the hospitals with men
belonging to this branch of the service. The sites
of some of the camps are ill-chosen and difficult to
drain ; in others the drainage has not been suffi-
ciently attended to ; heaps of manure are allowed
to accumulate ; some of the huts are overcrowded
and insufficiently ventilated. Considering the
short time that has elapsed since the new organisa-
tion of the corps commenced, great progress has
certainly been made, and can have been achieved
only by zealous and constant exertion on the part
of Colonel Wetherall and his officers ; but the ut-
most exertions of the best officers, most desirous to
get their own corps into good working condition,
must be unavailing to correct the original bad qua
lity of the recruits, the evil of which, while the
army is stationary here, is trifling compared to
what it might become on the march or in the field.
Most serious results might ensue in a campaign
from an ill-manned Land Transport, sickened by
dozens daily. This matter of recruits should be
looked to at home. As regards required improve-
ment of ventilation, drainage, removal of manure,
&c., these points will doubtless be attended to as
soon as possible by the Director-General of the
corps and the commandants of divisions. The
Land Transport Corps will probably be
among the last to leave the Crimea, should
peace be made ; and it is not too much to suppose
that, in any case, it will be here all spring, and
perhaps part of the summer. The sun has already
acquired considerable power, and a very few weeks,
or even days, may bring on weather in which the
evils of crowded huts, damp, and dung-heaps will
be far more sensibly felt than in the present com-
paratively wintry season. Every effort should be
made to guard against fever, which otherwise will
assuredly supervene.
Accounts from Kertch from trustworthy and im-
partial sources are highly satisfactory. Healthy as
this army has been during the winter, the Turkish
Contingent has far surpassed it in that important
particular, and this is attributed mainly to the
great sobriety of the men. They have been hard-
worked ; the amount of fortification they have
thrown up is described to me by eye-witnesses as
quite surprising ; but not a man was invalided in
three months, and up to the end of 1855 the average
of sickness was barely 1 per cent. There has been
no cholera at all. During the last three months of
1855 there were but 92 deaths ix the Contingent,
which is upwards of 16,000 men strong, exclusively
of the cavalry and of the depots on the Bosphorus.
This year scurvy has appeared among the Turks,
attributable to an insufficient supply of vegetables,
lime juice, &c., but although widely spread, it is
not severe, and measures were promptly taken
on the discovery of its existence to give the men
the sort of food the deficiency of which had
brought it on. Among the British troops at
Kertch there has been no scurvy. The Contin-
gent's hospitals are very good, and the Turks
have the most perfect confidence in their English
doctors—a confidence dating from last summer,
when the cholera was among them at Bujukdere
camp. The soldiers of the Contingent are generally
large, muscular, robust men ; their temperance is
remarkable. They are contented, docile, and seem
to like their officers. There are about 150 Turkish
cavalry at Kertch, whose appearance is good and
their condition efficient. It is well known that in
the unfortunate skirmish in which Major Sherwood
lost his life they behaved most gallantly against
very superior numbers. Not withstanding all the
calumnies that have been propagated against the
Turkish Contingent, its General, and its officers,
there can be no question that the experiment, as
far as it has yet gone, has been completely success-
ful. And there can hardly be a doubt that if they
had to take the field these 16,000 Turks, well led,
would fight as gallantly as did their countrymen at
Silistria and Kars.

Including English officers of the Contingent,
clerks, servants, the detachment of the 10th Hussars,
ckc., there is a Protestant congregation at Kertch of
about 500 souls. Service is performed in the of t-
mentioned building, which was a ladies' school, and
is now a cavalry barrack. By way of experiment,
it was once performed in the Kertcb. Cathedral.
Tho Russian priest's permission was asked, and be
made not the slightest difficulty, and attended him-
self, as did a large number of the inhabitants, to
witness the service. The building, however, was
not found convenient, and the barracks were re-
turned to. The Russian priest is an amiable and
enlightened man, and his heart was won by the esta-
blishment by the Rev. Mr. Boudier, who for two
months officiated as chaplain at Kertch, of a school
fur the Russian children. The expenses of this
establishment are defrayed out of a fund raised by
rates levied on canteenmen and certain classes of
shopkeepers, and the favourable impression it has
made upon the people is remarkable.
The good understanding between the English
chaplain and the Russian priest was perfect, and
when the former left, about a month ago, the latter
presented him with a bell, having their names
inscribed on it, which now swings in the little
wooden belfry of the church of the Second Division,
where its owner does duty. These are pleasing
and humanising incidents in the history of a war
which abounds in bloody and desperate episodes.
It is with the sincerest regret that I record the
death of a most amiable young man and gallant