The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-12 00:00:00

AND GI

Dardanelles ope:

f the four nations ; implying, in point o

that if the Russian Black Sea fleet is not destroyed

Astopol, that supremacy and that power
be counterbalanced as they best may by the Britisi

)n of Si

In other words, the note of the

an Count implies that, in the 1

,ent condition of

affairs, his master is disposed to go " shares" with the allies
srtition of Turkey, the old division of the " sick

ty," which the disinteres

ited Autocrat was

so desirous of securing at the commencement of the fray.
With foreign war-ships cruising under the walls of Con-
id fully a third of his subjects looking for

tantinopli

protection at the hands of forei

potentates, the
sovereignty of the Turkish SULTAN would exist merely
in name. If a treaty, based on such principles, were for a
moment entertained, who will have been humiliated ?
How much better would it have been to adopt the

original MENSCHIKOFF proposition at once ! It is not easy
to conceive that any proposal so founded will be seriously
iations of any sort, in the present posture
of affairs, are to be looked on with extreme suspicion,
more particularly so as we have been already so far hood-
winked by Austrian and Prussian diplomacy, as to lead to
most if not all of the disasters and disappointments which
have hitherto attended our operations in the present war—
which have led to the slaughter of our brave troops at
BalakLava, and at Inkerman—which have aided the Rus-
sians in their protracted resistance at Sabastopol, and in-
volved us in the disadvantages, sufferings and sacrifices,
consequent on a winter campaign iu the Crimea.

made ; but negot

Notwithstanding the interest attached to the period
fixed for the meeting of our Legislative Assembly, at a
time which, of recent years, has not been customary, all
eyes, and nearly all attention, are still directed towards the
Crimea, where so many of our gallant brethren are en-
gaged in sustaining and exalting the national renown.
Individual and combined benevolence seem disposed to
lavish all their stores, and exhaust their ingenuity in
collecting and transmitting for the comfort and solace
of our brave troops those items of consolation which
can be conveyed in warm clothing and savoury dain-
ties, the whole rendered doubly welcome, and more
than doubly dear, by the kindly and considerate
spirit which has led to their collection and accompanies
their transmission. Each county vies with its fellow
in transmitting the staple comforts and preparing the
culinary dainties for which the district is renowned, as
presents for our army in the East. A Crimean Army
Fund has been instituted for the purchase or other procu-
ration of articles of general use. The noble example of
the Patriotic Fund for the relief of war-made widows and
orphans, and other indications of liberal self-taxation for
the comfort of our soldiers, and of those near and dear to
them, speak with more than trumpet-tongued eloquence
of the hearty sympathy and genuine anxiety entertained
by all classes towards our valiant soldiers. But, alas !
they speak in almost equally astounding terms of some-
thing more. They tell us, also, in language which cannot
be misunderstood, that these necessary elements of toler-
able existence have not been provided in sufficient abun-
dance by those-whom the public have deputed and confided
in to see that all essential provision be duly made for the
comfort and health of the robust—for the care and suc-
cour of the sick and wounded—for the nurture and suste-
nance of the bereaved. On voluntary private benevolence
and philanthropy have devolved many of the cares whieh
a wise government ought to have taken upon itself; and,
even with the aid of large and liberal and well-considered
private bounty, much—too much, it is to lie feared—yet
remains to be done, nay, to be discovered, in order to
assuage the sufferings and mitigate the hardships of our
brave campaigners.

An interest, if possible, still deeper than in those referred
to, concentrates itself in a consideration of the actual con-
dition and future prospects of the allied army in the
Crimea. Up to the 27th of last month, reinforcements to
the number of 9,000 men had reached the allied army in
front of Sebastopol, and more troops are daily arriving.
In course of the present week, OMAR PesnA, with 40,000
Turks under his command, will embark at Varna for the
Crimea; a large additional contingent of French soldiers
will, it is said, immediately pass over into the same terri-
tory, the arrival of which, along with those already con-
centrated in that peninsula, will enable the allies effectu-
ally to bar relief from being thrown into the fortress of
Sebastopol, and give them complete military command of
the Crimea.

Many conflicting statements and irrelevant opinions
have of late found their way into print, relative to the cli-
mate of the Crimea. According to some of these, a Cri-
mean winter is of dreadful severity, while others represent
the winter as trifling, and the climate as delightful. To
an English ear it must sound somewhat singular to hear
that both opinions are in a considerable degree correct.
The southern portion of the peninsula, protected from the
north winds by a barrier of lofty mountains, and exposed
to the sunshine of the south, enjoys a genial climate, tem-
pered to a considerable extent by the sea breezes of the
Euxine. In this portion is situated Sebastopol, and in its
immediate vicinity our troops seem destined to pass the
winter. The northern portion of the peninsula, exposed
to the angry biting blasts which sweep the Russian steppe,
extending to within the Arctic circle, has a winter of
Siberian severity. These northern blasts, occasionally
invading the southern portion of the peninsula through
the hilly gorges, cause sudden diminutions of tmpe-
rature, and give rise to those destructive squalls, of
tornado-like strength and polar fierceness, which have
from the earliest ages been remarked as characteristic
of the unstable Euxine, of the sudden power and unex-
pected violence of which our unhappy fleet experienced
such fatal proof about about the middle of last month.
The prevailing wind in the Black Sea is from the north-
east, which in winter is not only piercingly cold, but fre-
quently loaded with moisture, occasioning thick fogs and
snow. Very late in summer it is visited by breezes,
which not unfrequently swell into tempests, from the
south, and these occur again in January, February, and
March.

Of the sad disasters which accompanied the terrific hur-
ricane of the 14th of last month, it is impossible to disguise
the truth that many of them occurred through careless-
ness, and not a few of those marked by the most fatal con-
sequences might have been avoided by the exercise of
ordinary prudence. Warning of the coming storm, which
ought to have put all upon their guard, was given by a
scowling and angry sunset on the 13th, succeeded by a
falling state of the barometer the following morning.
These indications of the approaching tempest were unob-
served, or, if observed, unheeded ; so long a track of fine
weather led to the belief that the evil reputation of the
Black Sea weather was a slander ; and some of the
weatherwise among the sufferers were impressed with a
belief that "it never blew home." An easiness of cre-
dence in such an opinion lulled many a gallant sailor into
a treacherous repose, which was broken only by the rude
and ruthless hand of death. The whole tragedy was a
repetition of the old story, " a surprise"— an appellation
of seemingly peculiar aptitude to proceedings in the
Crimea. Of all the stately fleet at Balaklava, the flag-
ship alone, it seems, shifted her anchorage, and obtained a
good offing ; her example was not followed, and the indis-
cretion has cost the country dear ; but why such a matter
should have been left to discretion at all is part of the
" surprise and mystery." If the weather indications
were such as to induce the Admiral to shift his ground
for safety, were they not also sufficiently strong to
induce him to order his example to be followed. The
most deplorable portion of the loss which occurred to us
was that of the Prince, a noble ship with numerous navi-
gators and a cargo of inestimable value on board, consist-
ing of medical stores, and not less it is said than 40,000
suits of winter clothing for the army, and vast quantities
of shot and shell; ship, cargo, and crew, were all en-
gulphed in the sea, and all irretrievably lost. The arrange-
ments and management of this ship appear to have been
marked by blundering from the commencement. She
carried out the 46th Regiment to Balaklava; and, besides
the soldiers, she had on board the clothing and medical
stores, in addition to a large quantity of shot and shells.
The medical stores were intended for the hospital at
Scutari, and ought to have been left there as she passed
outwards to Balaklava. The medicines, however, which
were needed at Scutari, were buried under the ammu-
nition, and could not be got out of the ship till these
latter had been delivered. She therefore proceeded, sol-
diers, stores, and all, to Balaklava, where fortunately she
landed the military in safety. A week after she had ac-
complished this, she still remained outside the harbour
with her cargo on board. In this position, while attempt-
ing to bring up, she let go her anchor, and, as if the whole
had been under the direction of PETER SIMPLE, the cable
proved to have been unclinched, and the sea being deep,
the anchor, cable and all, was literally "let go." Another
anchor and cable were then " let go," and lost in the same
manner ; a third anchor, of smaller dimensions, which was
still remaining, brought her up and held her, but was no
ground tackle for securing her in the fearful sea and hur-
ricane which raged on the 14th ; she was driven from her
anchorage, and dashed to pieces on the rocks, being, ac-
cording to one account, reduced to fragments little bigger
than chips. Many noble ships belonging to both the
British and the French fleets were lost in this dread strife
of the elements ; and many more were crippled and dis•
masted in this terrible and unexpected storm, during the
continuance of which much heroism and bravery were dis-
played, which ought to be acknowledged and honoured ;
and, alas, many a foul deed was perpetrated on the help-
less victims by the Russian hordes. Though outstripping
the enemy in bravery and prowess, in a proportion con-
siderably more than five to one, neither our soldiers nor
our sailors are any match in murder for these ferocious
children of the CZAR.

The SOLTLE squabble and the Ostend congress of Ameri-
can ministers have not as yet passed quite away. The
press organs of the American filibustering party take up
the case of SOULE violently as a pretext for assailing
France, with which they say America has a long score of
arrears to settle. They urge the present as a favourable
moment to push for redress, and say that Congress must
defy France, in which event they maintain that Britain
will stand off The object of the rupture thus pressed is
not to heal the wounded vanity of SOULE, but to serve as
a cloak under which to seize and annex Cuba, a thing
which they say must be done immediately, at all hazards
and at any cost. They add also that the present is an
opportune juncture for America not only to secure Cuba,
and pave the way for ultimate possession of St. Domingo
and the Sandwich Islands, but also for effectually inter-
fering in European politics. True, these daring national
felonies are not openly advocated by the American execu-
tive ; but we have of late had too frequent illustrations of
the mode in which popular feeling, as evinced by the
popular press, acts upon the national operations, not to
view this contemplated breach of national morality with
some degree of alarm. It also further appears, if rumour
is to be credited, that an attempt will be made to coerce
the Dutch settlement in Java into an admission of Ameri-
can traders on the same principle applied at .Zupan. An
irrational and seemingly insatiable appetite for extended

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