The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-01-28


government on the enc hand and Vice. Admiral Sir
Cnaries Napier on the other, In reference to the
character and results Of the operations In tae Baltic
NO secret thas Sir Charlhs does not consider
mh Justice has been done him BY some members Of
the government, In reference to the amount Of els
crenon ~ was empowered to exercise and the with
noiolnR OF permission to undertake cersain enter
prizes when they were proposed to him. Sir Charles
Napier, viewing the ordsr to strike his flag az de-
noting disapprova Of his condu i, has demanded
court martial for the purpose Of its being thorough.
win be acceded to. In all probability it win be re
fused on the ground that as Sir Charles has re-
ceived NO censure, direct or implied, from the Ad-
miralty, in reference to bis performances in the
NEW wARLIKE INVENTIONS.
A new shell was lately tried at Vncennes, aud
was pronounced failure. IL burst too soon
Some accidents are said to have been occasion
ed BY this msh8p. The French government Ia
leased BY applications from inventors Of new
weapons OF dess uction. Among other schemes
IL Is proposed to realize steam cannon called the
Architonetrno, minuielv described In Ms. by Leon
ardo da Vinci, dated 49O which may bs seen in the
collection of the Institute of France. Leonardo at
tributes the merit Of this invention to Arch nedes
Many CT the suggestions mads are under the consd
Grafton Of the military commssiors. Some new In
ventions have bean sar ctioned, aud will shortly be
brought out practically. At st. Chamons the m suu
facture OF q new sDecies OF cannon on the princi
pal Of the Mimic rife is going on rapidly. These
guns will 1t Is affirmed, do good execution at dis
DESPERATE FINANCIAL STRAITS OF RUSSIA
Another new financial measure Just published will
confirm my former statement of the desperate state
OF the Russan treasury and show to what straits
the Gear ID put to find money for carrying on the
war; II appears in the shape of an imperial ukase.
and Ieves an annual tax Of 500 silver roubes (near
ly fSO) on all manufactures Of tobacco and segars
and In order to restrict such abrcations from being
carried on as hitherto In private houses for their do
nestle consumption, tax Of 800 silver ronbles Is
imposed such private establishments. IL must be
gratifying to the Russians to get an official Insight
Into the mysteries OF their government exchequer
from the following preamble to the ukase:-"In con-
sequence OF the imperative necessity OF improving
our Frances in the present critical state Of affairs
by imposing new taxes on our lege subjects, we,
Nicholas," c.-Correspondence Of Tendon Neros.
THE LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW ON THE CARS
ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOUR POINTS.
An article on "The Conduct OF the War; In the
new number Of the Quart1iy RsUis,c, winds up with
the following opinions on the rev peace gotta
hons:-Just as these sheets were being printed of,
we received the intelligence that Russia mad &C
cepted the -Four Points. II our article had been
written with knowledge Of this circumstance, we
shopld have endeavored to enforce the same views
we have already expressed, and should not the less
have urged the .propriety Of some change In the
cabinet We believe, indeed, that there will be
greater need than ever for vigilancs and firmness
We dread the diplomacy of Russia more than her
device for detaching Austria from the alliance
and for paralyzDg our preparations for the next
campaign. Hostilities, It Is affirmed, are not
TO be INTERRUPTED but We are alarmed
lest the government should repeat their for.
mer errors, and, lulled into false security
by the negotiations, should relax in their efforts to
provide ornaments against the spring. Any such
suspension In efforts would be the height Of fol-
~ and false economy. The mere pecunisry cost of
preparing for war 10 vastly less than that of wa.
itself, and should Russia really yield to demands
1t will only be because we hold ourselves in rea3i
ness TO exact what she refuses. In ignorance of
the guarantees that will be asked of her, and the
amount OF the indemnity which will be required for
the expenditure We have incurred, we can give no
opinion upon the conditions OF peace proposed by
our ministers. We trusted them to provide for the
contingencies of war, and found ourselves deceived.
II, taking advantage Of the secresy with which the
negotiations must be conducted, they should az Ain
and assent to inadequate terms, they will not we
venture to predict, be able to withs and the storm
of Reproduction which is justly duo to men who,
through weakness and incapacity, have betrayed
their country.
THE IsTHMUs OF PEREKoP.
CORES pendent OF tue London Morning Chronicle
thus explsns why the allies have not thought it
prudent 10 occupy and fortify the Isthmus Of Pers
kop:-
First cf all, our M. d. evidently reckors on the
command of the sea his base OF operations
through theSs inter-; and II four miles OF surf in
Karhinit Boy should be iaconvenient in westerly
wind, why n few gUn-boats will ket open the com.
munichtion through the Straits OF Kertch, the Sea
OF Azof, ard the Putrid Sea- He has, however.
made no provision for the command Of the ice, by
which the sess, both east and west u the sthmus,
are close curing the winter, by which the swallow
Sivash IN made as practicable for the march of the
Russians rs the dry land, and the isthmus itself
ceases, In strategic sense TO be an isthmus at all.
But suppose this trifng obsta lie Of the ice re-
moved Gas It doubtless would be by the energy Of
Derby ministry, there are still some difficulties in
the way OF !" those few gun boats" which are 10
Russians themselves, besides their steamers at
Kertch, are supposed to have In the Sea OF AZof o
feet Of gun boats, adapted TO the peculiar naviga
tion Of that very shallow sea- believe we have not
drsught TO pass Yeniksle, even II we had pilot to
navigate them through that tortuous strait. Tae
channel has thirteen feet Of water, and Is so mar
that vessel can enter the sea OF Azof with out
being exposed to the fire Of two heavy batteries at
Kertch and one at YenikAle.
But supposing we had steamers once pc refal
enough TO silence these batteries and light enough
to float in the Sea Of Azof and shat these steamers
after destroying the enemys guDboats, and luckily
escaping the prrils OF an unknown navigation In
shallow sea- full OF shifting sands to succeed In
reaching the narrow channel which communicates
with the Svache-What then WHAT would have been
gained by all these risks They would still be 100
miles (by water) from Perekop, and would remain
100 miles off since the Svsche, iastsad Of being ma
vgaDle for gun boats, is merely q shallox lagoon
in many places forbade, 'and in 5others positi-
vely dry, except during eastery wind. In the Russ
campaigns against the rartars, II WAS three times
forded at as many different spots by RUSSIAN
column, which thus turned the boosted lines OF
Perekop, and appeared UNEXPECTEDLY in the rear OF
the Tartar Khan, who had relied on that defence.
The probability 10 that the R1sssns will by this
time have brideed over the channe Of Yense (only
100 metres wide, which, on the closing OF the
Sea Of Azof by the ice, would thus become the
readieet passage for the corn OF Berdlansk and Ma
rianpol. Nor could there be much difficulty in
connecting the peninsula with the mainland at any
Of the fofdable points between Yenisei and Pere-
kop-the point Of Schoungar for instance,
which Ia within some miles OF Perekop, where the
Russian column crossed.
IL is by no means my intention 10 deny the strate
gical vaue Of Perekop altogether, the i'm portAnce
OF holding IL, but simply 70 show that military
operation OF this nature Ii not TO DO undertaken in
this easy diiefanfe fashion, aud that, during the
frosts the isthmus II, In o strategic sense no stn-