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Leader (1850-1860), 28th April 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8

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      The War. The Fire From Our Batteries, At...

      the effect of the fire , which has been continued , with little or no interruption from the commencement , and has been superior to that of the enemy , who were evidently taken by surprise , and , except upon the extreme left , did not respond to the attack for nearly half an hour . This morning has been hazy , and for some time there ¦ was a drizzling rain ; but it is clearing this afternoon , and there is again a prospect of fine weather . The country yesterday was covered with water , and the ground was again very deep . The trenches were likewise extremely muddy , and their condition added greatly to the labours of the men employed in the batteries , who consisted , chiefly of sailors , artillerymen , and » ppers .

      ... .. They conducted their duties admirably , and I am sorry to say that the two former , particularly the navy , sustained considerable loss . I have not yet received the returns of the casualties beyond the 9 th instant , which are herewith enclosed ; but the death of Lieutenant Twyford , of the Royal Navy , a most promising officer , and greatly respected by all , has been notified to me ; and Captain Lord John Hav , who has taken a most active part in the gallant and distinguished services of the Naval Brigade , was wounded almost at the very moment , 1 believe by the same shot . I hope the injury he has received is not very serious , but the loss of his assistance even for a time is much to be regretted . The Russians have not shown themselves in any force

      in front of Balaklava . I have , & c , Raglan . The Lord Panmure , & c . Before Sebastopol , April 14 . My Lord , —Since I wrote to your Lordship on the 10 th . inst ., a steady and heavy fire upon the works of the enemy has been maintained from all the batteries of the Allies . The fire of the British artillery , chiefly directed against the Garden Batteries , the Barrack Battery , the Redan , the Malakhoff Tower , and the Mamelon , has been most effective , and the enemy ' s works have suffered very considerably , although they have , as usual , made a good use of the night to repair damages , notwithstand ^ ing that the vertical fire has been continued throughout the twenty-four hours .

      The practice both of the Naval Brigade and the Artillery has been excellent . The casualties have not been very numerous , but the loss has fallen heavily upon the sailors , as your Lordship will see by the accompanying returns , and the Royal Navy has to deplore the death of Lieutenant Douglas , who had served with great ability and zeal from the commencement of the siege . Lieutenants Urmston and D'Aeth , Royal Navy , and Steele , Royal Marine Artillery—all valuable officershave been wounded .

      The Royal Artillery has also to lament the death of Lieutenant Luce , who was ah officer of much promise ; and Lieutenants Sinclair . and LlEstrangc : ares among the wounded . The former has sustained several " severe injuries ; but I am happy to add that there is every hope of his recovery . They are both highly meritorious officers . Captain Crofton , of the Royal Engineers , who had in the course of the protracted operations before Sebastopol rendered most essential service , has also received a wound , which will , I fear , detain him from duty for a very considerable time . Our batteries and parapets continue to stand remarkably we ll , notwithstanding the very unfavourable state of the weather .

      The enemy ' s fire has been comparatively slack , but the practice good , and , owing to their having ascertained the range of our batteries with great nicety , several guns have been disabled in . both the right and left attacks . Towards the Tchernaya nothing important has been observed , but small bodies of men , from 150 to 500 , have been seen , with a heavy gun , and some ordnance carriages , moving along the Inkerman heights towards Mackenzie's Farm-road , near which it has been placed in position . Although the duties have been unusually severe -and arduous , both by day and night , during the week , they have been carried out with the utmost cheerfulness and zeal , reflecting much credit both on officers and men .

      The submarine telegraph has been safely brought to the Monastery from Capo Kalcgra ; and as soon as it is established at the former place , the engineers will proceed to convoy it from the latter to the iinmcdiato neighbourhood of Varna , where I hope if may bo in a state to act in a week or ton days from thia time . The first division of the 10 th Hussars arrived thia day at Balaklava . I have , & c , Tho Lord Panmure , & c . Raolan .

      392 The Leader, .[Saturday ,

      392 THE LEADER , . [ Saturday ,

      War Miscellanea. Polish Soldikrs In Tiik...

      WAR MISCELLANEA . Polish Soldikrs in tiik Sisrvioe op Fiianck . — A letter written from Saintea to tho Courrier de Marseille , jays : —• " I have already informed you that a number ol Poliah prisoners had enlisted in our army . On the 18 th , 188 of these volunteers left the Islo of Aix for Marseilles , where they are to embark . A detachment of 52 men ,

      with two women and three children , are proceeding to Bastia , to join the de " p 6 t of the 2 nd Regiment of the Foreign Legion , and another detachment of 138 men and two women will be conveyed to Constantinople , where they are to be incorporated with a Turkish legion in the service of France . " ' ' ¦ v . The Earl of Perth has published in the daily papers a letter in defence of his son , Lord Forth ( late of the 42 nd Regiment ) , whose conduct in the Crimea has been the subject of various unpleasant allusions . In this letter , the retirement or dismissal of Lord Forth from the servica is attributed to an altercation , with his

      colonel on being ordered to go into the trenches , his lordship refusing , on account of ill-health , to go until he had had his dinner . On being taunted with cowardice , he changed his mind . " This most unfortunate altercation , arising , I deplore to say , " writes the Earl , " in great measure from my son ' s inattention to his military duty , and want of subordination to the orders of Colonel Cameron , has been the foundation of the many anonymous , slanderous , and absurd falsehoods ^ which have been so uncharitably set about regarding him , and -which it was out of my power to deny until I had ascertained from various persons who were on the spot , and from Colonel Cameron himself , the truth of this most

      painful affair . " The Russiax Army at Riga . —A communication from Riga in the Daily Neics says : — " A regiment of Baschktrs , about 800 strong , has marched into this city , but will be sent on in a few days to watch the coast near the Prussian frontiers . Their head-quarters will be at Liebau . This is the first detachment of Asiatic troops that we have yet seen ; others are to follow . They come from Orenburg , a distance of 2000 miles , and have been nearly six months on the march . They are fine-looking- men , with small , scrubby horses ,

      longhaired but active . The men are armed with a lance , gun , sabre , and pistol , like the Cossacks , and wear a white caftan , embroidered with red , and lined with sheepskin . Their head-dress consists of a high fur cap with a red tuft on the top . The officers wear a uniform of blue and white , and their sabres , of the real Damascus manufacture , are richly ornamented and inlaid with gold . The movements of troops in this neighbourhood are going on with great activity . Sites have been selected for four different entrenched camps , which will shortly be commenced . "

      Hertfordshire Heroes . —Sir Edward Bulwer . Lytton , in recently delivering an address to the members of the Literary Institution of Buntingford , a small town in Hertfordshire , said : — We , in this county , have had our share in the national glory and the national grief . My nephew assisted to place in a soldier ' s grave the gallant and promising son of -that true country gentleman , Mr . Ddrae" Radclifte , who , like the Roman of old , is about to send forth another son to supply the loss his country has sustained . More recently , Major Powell , the distinguished son of a respected neighbour at Welwyn , and Ensign Clutterbuck , of a family which Hertfordshire has other causes to esteem , have also fallen . Honour to-their memories !"— , — „ „„ ... _

      What the Baltic Battering-vessels will have to Bear . —Lord Dundonald , writing to the Times , says : — ¦ " The iron-encased battering-vessels , whereon the vis viva of average shot of half a hundredweight shall be suddenly arrested , are subject , at the battering distance of 500 yards , to a Hhock equivalent to the crush of 60 odd tons' weight falling through 16 feet . How many such shocks will each iron-encased vessel's frame sustain ? As to the fragile steam-gunboats , they do not merit notice in operations of such magnitude . " Accounts from Lima ( Peru ) to the 11 th of March , received vid New York , state that a vessel , said to be Russian , but under Argentino colours , had been seized by the British Admiral on the Pacific station , and that a number of Russian sailors had volunteered to serve on board the British ships of war bound for Petropaulovski . ¦ — The Crimea is now flooded , and the Russian ! find the transport of troops and material extremely difficult .

      The Vienna Conference. The Times Of Frid...

      THE VIENNA CONFERENCE . The Times of Friday , in a telegraphic despatch from Vienna , says that the Conferences wore resumed on Thursday , inconsequence of the Russians intimating that they would mnke new propositions . These , however , were rejected by the Allies ; and M . Drouyn do Lhuys was to leave , it is said , on Friday . Wo read the following in tho Daily News : — " Tho record of tho recent Congress has been closed , and , nevertheless , the Austrian Government announced on Wcdnesduy , through its accustomed organ , the Correspondence , that 'the conferences are not terminated , but will continue without interruption , ' and that ' the language of the English and French plenipotentiaries is of u nature to second tho work of peace , ' The leading part in tho work which Lord Westmoreland is said to bo seconding is , of course , taken by Austria . The Independance of Brussels states that Austria is at thin moment seeking , aveo grand ddsir , to find a middle term between tho rejected proposition of tho Allies and tho also rejected counter-proposition of the Russian plenipotentiaries . Lord Pulmerston ' s statement that Russia made no counter-proposition related—says tho

      Itidcpendance—simply to the proceedings at the twelfth and last conference , when Prince Gortschakoff and M . Titoff having reported the rejection of the French and English demands , found that the whole circuit of di plomatic expedients had been travelled . " liord John Russell left Vienna on Monday .

      Mr. Layard At Liverpool. The Owners Of T...

      MR . LAYARD AT LIVERPOOL . The owners of the Liverpool and Melbourne " Black Ball" line of Australian packets , entertained Mr Layard on Saturday at a banquet on board the new American clipper ship , Donald M'Kay . Mr . S . Mackay , one of the firm , occupied the chair ; and among the guests was Mr . Nathaniel Hawthorne , lie celebrated American author , now a consul at Liverpool . Mr . Layard made a long speech , in which , after giving a sketch of his career , and of his introduc tion to public life , he touched upon the "Four Points , " which he did not think a sufficient object to struggle for . He said : —

      " Let us take the First Point , which is the most important . What are we going to pledge ourselves to ? Instead of giving Wallachia , Moldavia , and Servia one master , we are going to give them four—not truly four , because neither France nor England could have a voice in the subject ; you are going to place these three provinces under a double despotism—that of Russia and Austria . I know many of the leading men in Wallachia and Moldavia ; and you may have seen recently in the papers an expression of their feeling towards the Austrian Government . Not even the despotism of Russia is more feared there than the despotism of Austria ; and if you once admit Austria as a protective Power over them , you would ruin every chance of securing popular liberty , and would ultimately put an end to British industry in those provinces . ( Cheers . ) I have not so much interest in Moldavia and "Wallachia

      as in Servia . She ( Servia ) holds the most important position in the East . The Servians are a Sclavonic people , the same race as the Russians , one of the moat remarkable in Europe . I have been intimately acquainted with them ; I was there in 1842 , when the revolution broke out . I was in an official capacity there , and took "part in that revolution , so that I know what the Servians are . There is no race in the East more calculated to bring forward the energies of the-Christians in the East than the Servians . That province is _ the nucleus to which every Christian Sclavonic race looks in the East ; and if we knew our true position , and had statesmen at the head of affairs who understand their business , and have an intimate acquaintance with the subjects ¦ with which they have to treat , they would not sacrifice Servia to Austria and Russia . ( Cheers . ' ) In the first place , Russia had no protectorate over Servia ; she had merely

      a guarantee that the liberties of the Servians should be respected by Turkey . Why , the Turks never infringed their liberties ; but who did ? The Russian government . And who has also endeavoured to infringe them ? The Austrian government . You may remember the protest -which was published last year , and-which was-laid before ~ the _ . Houseof . J 3 ommonjS You well know the indignant feeling with which Servia viewed our countenancing an Austrian protectorate over her . If you keep her free , and do away with this wretched protectorate , I believe you will find in Servia a great means of regenerating the East . It is to Servia we must look for the true solution of this question ; and I therefore ask , if you place these people under this quintuple or quadruple protectorate , what have you done for civilisation ? What have you done for the rest of the Christians in the East ? What have you done towards a true solution of this question ?"

      With respect to the free navigation of the Danube , Mr . Layard said , that never could be secured as long as Russia retains the whole of the north bank . He denounced our having allied ourselves witli Austria , who , he enid , he had always prophesied would fail us ; and then passed to a consideration of the nature and tendencies of the present government , and of our parliamentary and military systems . "A calculation has been made of tho number of persons in the House of Commons who are either sent by rotten boroughs , or who have been sent to Parliament by constituencies which have no views of their own , but are compelled to send members of great fumilies ; and I believe it consists of only one-third of the House—enough , however , to turn any question . members

      There are nine members of the present Cabinet of tho House of Lords against four in tho Commons . Ot course , under thoso circumstances , every question w decided , both in tho Cabinet and in tho House , by tho voice of those who arc not tho representatives of the people . Jh that boing governed by ouraclvcs ? I say , decidedly not , and that tho system is bad and wise . Even under Lord Aberdeen's Government , tins stato 01 things did not exist ; at least we had a fair admixture ol members of the House of Commons ; but now , even in tho potty placo of Chairman of Ways and Means , Lprt Palmerston cannot go out of tho narrow circle ; ana , with the exception of Mr . Smith , wo have not one man that represents any class of what " wo may call tliepeopw of England . I say that it is scandalous , and cannoi exist . ( Cheers . ') . . . What have I heard in the heWtopol Committee every day ? I never can get beyond tW

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041855/page/8/