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Leader (1850-1860), 13th October 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 3, OCTOBER 13, 1855.] THE I1ABEB. 976

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      The War. Oxmssa^Ift Once More Menaced By...

      a superior officer , on whom reliance may be placed , the LldK are « ll on half rations , and , having no more bread ar ? 8 upp lied with biscuit . Even on this fare they Savenofr mo ^ than wiU last for a month . All the cavalry of Anatolia have been sent away for want of roraxei and th « four squadrons of the troops of Arabistan which rentaia are obliged to go out every day and face the enemy ' s cavalry , and thus procure a little forage at the price of their blood . The army of Kara is now composed of about 10 , 000 men , who have received no pay for the last two years , and who are almost without ammunition , clothing , shoes , or military chest . There

      are with it scarcely any inedical men worthy of the name , and no medicines of any ' kind , and yet the heroic feelings of these soldiers keep them firm to their post . It would be unpardonable for such men to be any longer abandoned . The Russians have lately received three pieces of heavy siege artillery ; they have eight others at Soubatan , a few leagues from Kars , and also expect some from Alexandropol . Their intention appears to be to do the unfortunate garrison of Kars the honour of a siege en rhjlc . "

      The Journal de ( Jonstantinopp a report that a squadron of the African Chasseurs had been surrounded near Yeni-Kaleh by six Russian squadrons , but cut a passage through them with the loss of only fifteen men . Kifaat Pacha , the bearer of decorations of the order of Medjidie and magnificent arms sent by the Sultan to the Allied Generals-in-chief , has left for the Crimea- Kertch now appears to be the destination of the Anglo-Turkish contingent- A portion had actually sailed for Varna ; but eounterorders caused them to return . The English officers are highly indiguant at their forced inaction .

      The Russians seem to be concentrating a large body of men between Odessa and >« ' icholaieff . Along the Moldo-Wallachian frontiers , says a letter from Galatz , are now stationed the militia ' of the empire , who evea occupy the fortresses of Bessarabia . The regiments which , shortly after the fall of Sebastopol , were procee ding to the Crimea , and were countermanded , are now again ordered to renew their march ; and reinforcements are constantly sent . The utmost activity , also , is visible at Sweaborg , which the Russians are making every effort to repair . The Baltic " season" is nearly over ; but we read as follows in the Alonitcur : —

      " In a letter addressed to the Minister of Marine , under date of October 2 , oft" Nargen , Rear-Admiral Pe " naud , commanding the French naval forces in the Baltic , give * an account of an expedition made in the Gulf of Bothnia by the mixed corvette the D'Assas and the English steamers Tartar and Harrier . These three vessels have captured all the Hussiau vessels , to the number of eleven , anchored ofl" Biorncborg , a small town situate on the Finnish coast . Among these vessels is a little paddle-wheel . steamer , which is now employed on the blockndo . Ki ^ ht other vessels , discovered afterwards in the Fiords , have been also captured . This raises to 2500 tons the loss sustained on this occasion by the commerce of the enemy . ' '

      Further details continue to reach us of the fearful losses sustained by Russia on the memorable 8 th of Septomber . In a despatch from ( Jeneral GortschakoflT , the Russian Commander says : —" The general loss of the garrison on the Sth of September was 4 superior officers , 55 subalterns , and 2625 men killed ; wounded , 20 superior officers , 2 <) C subalterns , 5 S 2 fi men ; contused , 9 superior officers , 38 subalterns , 1138 men f missing , 24 officers and 17 . J 9 men . " The Jnvalule liuase states that the Russians lost 1500 on August 17 th , and 1000 men per day on every day following up to September ftth . Among the officers killed wore Generals L . ysscnko , Bousscau , and JoiiKseroflT . Such is a part , and only a part , of the price Russia lias already had to pay for her criminal obstinacy ; and far more will be yet exacted .

      A MODERN HPAUTAN . The following is an extract from a letter of an officer of the Light Division : — " . Sebastopol , Sept . 1 H . — By thp way , I must givo you the history , in a few words , of a fow hours in the life of a hero , and , depend upon it , of a future grent man if ho liven . Ho is in the next regiment to us , and I have the details from n wounded sergeant of ours who lay next him during the day and night of the 8 th . I allude to young Dunham Massy , of the 15 > tli — 1 believe the youngest oHlcor of the nrmy . He is now known as Redan Massy , ' for thorp are throe of the snmo name in the , regiment . This noblo bov , in tho abiscncu of his

      cousin , led the grenadier Company , and was about the first man of tho corps to jump into the ditch of tho Redan , waving liia Hword , and calling on his men , who nobly Htood hy him , till , left for nearly two hours without support , and seized by a foar of being blown up , t . hoy-retlred . Voting Massy , borno aluii ^ c , endeavoured to disongngo from tho crowd , ami stood almost alone , facing round frequently to the batteries , with head erect , and with n culm , proud , disdainful eye . Hundreds of nhot were aimed at him , and at last , when loading «" climbing the ditch , ho was struck and his thigh brokon . Doing ' tho last , ho was of courso left there . Now , listen to thia . Tho - wounded around woro groaning , and woino oven loudly vying out . A voice called out , faintly ut

      first , loudly afterwards , ' Are you Queen Victoria ' s soldiers ? ' Some voices answered , ' I jam ! I am !' ' Then , ' said the gallant boy , * let us not shame ourselves : let us show those Russians that we can bear pain , a ? well as fight , like men . ' There was a silence as of death , and more' than once he had it Tenewed by similar appeals . The unquailing . spirit of that beardless boy ruled all around him . As evening came on , the Russians crept out of the Redan and plundered some of the wounded , at the same time showing kindness , and in some cases giving water . Men , with bayonets fixed , frequently came over the body of young" ) Massy . One fellow took away his havresack . Sometimes he feigned death . At other times the pain of his wound would not

      permit him . A Russian officer , with a drawn sword , came to him and endeavoured to disengage the sword which the young hero still grasped . Seeing that resistance was in vain he gave it up . The Russian smiled gently and compassionately on him , fascinated , probably , by his youth , and by the bold , unfaltering glance which met his . When the works of the Redan were blown up in the night by the retreating Russians the poor boy had . his right leg fearfully crushed by a falling stone . He was found in the morning by some Highlanders , and brought to his regiment almost dead from loss of blood . Great was the joy of all at seeing him , as he was about to be returned as ' killed' or * missiDg . ' ' Dangerously wounded' was substituted , but he is now doing well . '

      SEBASTOPOL IX RtJTNS . A young officer in the navy writes as follows to bis relations : — " 1 have been to see Sebastopol ; and to describe the state of it is almost and , indeed , utterly impossible . It Is a frightful den ; the last two bombardments have made frightful havoc in the town ; it can only be compared to a sieve , it is so riddled with shot and shell . The buildings look quite perfect from our batteries , but once near them you lind them nothing but mere shells . Nothing remains of the inside but confused piles of rubbish —no staircase , no floors — nothing remains except an unseemly mass , nor is there a single door or window to be seen in any of them . In walking through the town ,

      wherever you could turn , nothing but dead bodies piled on top of each other met the eye , and a horrid stench saluted the nose ; and , what was more shocking still , there were casks filled with arms , legs , hands , toes , and fingers piled regularly away in heaps . Butalthoughthisisthe ease with Sebastopol Proper , it is quite different with the batteries ; and , had the Russians half as many mortars as we had , we should never have seen , to a dead certainty , the inside of this strong hold , as the enemy would have been able to shell our men as fast as they came up . But I must give you an idea of the strength of this place . The batteries consist of a solid rock , with huge pieces of granite laid regularly , with enormous wet sandbag * , one helped above another to au incredible

      thickness . This was their parapet , with embrasures just large enough to allow their guns to protrude ; and behind these parapets , and between each guv , irere holes of sufficient size to hold from forty to fifty men comfortably , cut out of the rock , and huge trunks of trees laid transversely , with regular layers of sandbags piled up to the height of tho parapets . When the fire became too hot for them , they used to leap into the holes , and , once there , they were comparatively safe . In each of these retreats they had regular cooking utensils and bedding , and on the least alarm they could rush out / iiid run up their guns which had been withdrawn ; and if any had been damaged they could dig up fresh ones , as they always had a reserve buried in the ground beside each gun , of which they must have had an immense number , as a vast amount of broken guns lie beside each embrasure . When our men entered the

      Kodon , they found a quantity of soup made of bread and meat . One of the men of our ship found a camp-kettle in the Redan , aud brought it down to the ship , and we have the pleasure of drinking Russian coffee , likewise brought from there . Tho reason why the French got iuto the Malakhon' so cleverly was , the Russians were playing ut cards at tho time ; they were at once overpowered by the French , and tied by the Redan , -where they received a murderous volley from our men , and were attucked by a vnst number of bayonets , which left the most of thorn dead on tho spot . Our men were repulsed three different timos at tho Itcdau . Nor could tho English and French together tnko it till it was abandoned by tho Russians ,, and , although our men succeeded in taking and ontering it , tho first moment they did so , a cry arose that tho plneo was undermined , which so surprised and stoggeirod our men that it was tho chief cause of their being ropulsed . '

      October 13, 1855.] The I1abeb. 976

      OCTOBER 13 , 1855 . ] THE I 1 ABEB . 976

      War Miscf.Ll.Anea. Tim King Of Sardinia ...

      WAR MISCF . Ll . ANEA . Tim King of Sardinia has conferred the grand cross of Uio Military Order of Savoy on Marshal l \ tli » sier , on (¦ unorul Simpson , and on Gouoral Delia Marmora . I . akcik French Ukinfoucicmicnts contiuuo to depart for tho Crimea . " On Sunday last , " says tho imU ' jxandant of St . Onior , " the division of General Ohasaeloup Laubut received orders to hold themselves in rendinesH to proceed to tho Crimea . No sooner was tho intelligence known at Hulfaut than tho noldicrs illuminated tlio camp , lighted Jl'tuv dejoic , and assembling in their canteens , drank to tho health of tho Kmporor . A number of

      officers immediately waited on the General to express to him their joy , and tell him how pleased they were to take the field under his command . The division consists of the 81 st , 44 th , 33 rd , and 69 th Regiments of the Line , and the 16 th battalion of Chasseurs of Vincennes . It is unquestionably one of the finest in the army . " The Tchernaya . —The banks of this river Jiave been fortified in a formidable manner by the French . The Black Sea . —The OesterreicMsche Correepondenz says that , at the request of the firm of Goprewich , France and England have allowed neutral vessels "to carry on the corn trade in the Black Sea , under suitable reserves .

      An American Surgeon , resident in Sebastopol during the siege , writes home to his friends an account of the interior . There is nothing in his statements of which we are not already informed ; but the spirit of the letter is curious . The writer evidently sympathises with the Russians ; and always says " we" and " , " as if he felt himself fully identified with them . Nicholaieff . —The idea of creating a new steam , navy at Nicholaieff to replace the Black Sea fleet , pompously announced by the Russian organs , seems likely to prove a failure , for it cannot remain a secret that the resources of the country are not of a nature to admit of ships of war being built with the celerity desirable .

      There are no stores of dry and seasoned timber at Nicholaieff suitable for ship-building . Whenever a stock is required , the 'M ' -nster makes a contract -with some favourite , or whoever pays him the most handsome bribe , who makes an advantageous sub-contract , and thus the affair may pass through the hands often or a dozen different perBons ,- « ach of whom make 3 a pretty picking of a . Government contract ; and when at length the timber is floated down the Dnieper from Tip the country , it is found to be quite green , full of sap , and generally cut at the wrong time of the year ; consequently , perfectly worthless , and totally unfit for immediate « se . —Daily News Correspondent .

      The Beard Movement rN the Crimea . —One of the Scots Greys , writing 1 to his friends , says , " As for myself , I have got as much hair on my face as would make a tidy door-mat ; there is no shaving here . " The same writer speaks of the " Jack Tars " as having then : faces " as hairy as a badger . " General La Marmora and the Newspaper Correspondents . —An order of the day issued by the Sardinian Commander-in-Chief points out certain alleged inconveniences arising from newspaper correspondents writing on the movements of the army , and threatens punishment to all military men or civilians who shall communicate with the press .

      The Danubian Principalities . —The Austrians are , it appears , quitting the frontiers of Wallachia , to take up their winter quarters in the towns in the interior . A letter in the Presse d'Orient states that they have recently received large supplies of munitions' of war . Decline of the War Fever in St . Petersburg . — Since the departure of the court from St . Petersburg , great discontent at the progress of the war has been openly expressed . A feeling of gloom and depression is universal , and it is said that pamphlets of an anti-war tendency have been privately circulated . The peasants seek to escape the conscription , and soldiers are continually deserting . Such at least are the assertions of the St . Petersburg correspondent of the Paris Presse , to which the late repeated disasters of the Russian arms give great continuation .

      Health of the English Army . — Recent reports from Dr . Hall exhibit a marked improvement in the health of the men , owing partly to the cessation of tho arduous night duties , which , now that the town is in our hands , are not required . Cholera has nearly disappeared , and there is no increase in the other forms of bowel complaints . French Movements . —In the French camp , the principal movements executed by the troops are the following : —The entire of the first corps , commanded by General do Sailed , has marched into the plain , and taken up a position beyond Baidar . One divieion only of that corps has remained at Sebastopol . The head-quarters of the first corps are at Baidar . General M'Mahon , who has resumed hia command , has descended with the third corpe into the valley of the Tohernaya ,. where he has established his head-quarters . Tho division of the Imperial Guard has returned to its former encampment . —Letter

      w * me J ' resse d Orient . French Masons and Carpenters have left . Lyons for Sebostopol , to assist in repairing the buildings . Sevastopol will evidently become tho centre of operations in tho Crimea . It is proposed to extend tho railway to the interior of tho place . Mr . Boattie , tho director of tho road , has been examining the ground through which tho line might pass in tho direction of Inkcrnmu . The Russian prisoners state that tho retreating garrison have thrown into tho port five hundred or six hundred brass guns , and they oven mention tm spot where thov are immersed . Divers will bo « J"P « ° Z ?« to ascertain tho correctness of tho "tfj . " "'" * ££ admirals woro desirous to know "J- ' i ^ jL ^ Zl by tho sunken ships ; hut tho result of tho T ^ , ™^ riS ^^ ixr ^^ r ^ is- ^ : Si ' h ; s bsss ^ mses

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 13, 1855, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13101855/page/3/