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Leader (1850-1860), 28th October 1854, Edition Country of 2, Page 2, THE WAR

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      Th 1010 The Leader. [Saturday, *^^—^^ ^^...

      th 1010 THE LEADER . [ Saturday , *^^—^^ ^^ , ^__^__— **

      The War

      THE WAR

      Sebastopol. The Week Has Passed Without ...

      SEBASTOPOL . The week has passed without a single official ( English ) communication from tlie seat of war . The Vienna telegraph , with its usual fertility , has done its best to supply the anxious requirements of the public for intelligence . The-fact of the opening of the bom - bardment on the 17 th has reached this country only from a Russian source , i . e ., v / d St . Petersburg ; but the statement , though having such an origin , may be accepted as true . In the beginning of the week we were obliged to be content with such items of news as these : The Moniteur gives the following news as having been transmitted by the Minister of Prance at Vienna to the Minister of Foreign Affairs :

      " The English consular agent at Varna wrote on the 16 th to Mr . Colquhoun , at Bucharest , that he had jus t received a letter , dated the 13 tti , from the Sebastopol heights , containing these words : ¦ ' We open the fire with 200 guns ; the place cannot holdout longer than five days . ' Mr . Colquhoun transmits this news to Lords Westmoreland and Clarendon , but with e-very reserve . " ¦ Understanding Mr . Colq . uhoun ' s informant to mean that the allied armies were on the point of opening their fire on the 13 th , his statemeut would agree with a telegraphic inessage from St . Petersburg , stating that the bombardment had not commenced at that date . .

      The Vienna Lloyd has accounts from the Crimea , in which mention is made of a somewhat lively skirmish which came off on the road near Khaut , on the 6 th iiist . An English picquet of 120 fell in with a party of Russian horsei 20 » strong . The English are said to haye at first given way , in order to allure the Russians to a more convenient spot , and then suddenly to have attacked the enemy , and , after a brief combat , pursued him to the trenches of Sebastopol . The Russians had ten men killed and several ¦ wounded ; the English lost but two . Letters from Odessa of the 18 th state that the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Michael have passed through Hicolaieff , da their way to Kichenev , in Bessarabia . Seventeen battalions of the Turkish army are marching from Shumla on Varna and Pravadi .

      The following Russian official despatch , dated St Petersburg , the 20 th , is published in the Kreuz Zeitung : — " Prince Menschikoff announces that on the 14 th of October all was going on well at Sebastopol . " The Austrian papers assert that Russian reinforcements had entered the Crimea . The next day we were favoured with very moderate accounts : — " Advices from the Crimea of the 13 th state that the trenches were opened on the night of the 9 th . The allies were 700 metres from Sebastopol . Earthworks were still heing thrown up . It was thought that the firing would commence on the 15 th . The Russians fire without effect . They have attempted various sorties without result . "

      The English batteries were ready j the French batteries were not completed . The allies lose from four to five men daily . On Wednesday , something more important wag made public . As thus : — "Eupatoria was retaken by the Russians on the 9 th . Various transports , with troops , have arrived , and left for the East . " " Advices from Sr . PETrcRsttTmo' of the 21 st state that intelligence had been received from Prince Monachikoff to the effect that the bombaiumont of Sobastopol commenced on the 17 th , by land and soa . The ¦ bombardment lasted till nightfall . FSvo hundred Russians wore put hors do cojnbat . Admiral KLorniloff—ho commanded at Sinopo—was killed . On the Jt 8 tli the- bombardment was renewed on the land eiAc , but not from the sea . "

      This is the Russian account , for -which -we are , of course , obliged , in the absenco of any other information .

      Tho Fxonch Public Has Been More Fortunat...

      Tho Fxonch public has been more fortunate than ours , for there haa beon a publication of official despatches . Thus : — Tho French minister of War has received from General Canrobort . the following dispatch : 44 Head-quartern , boforo Sobastopol , Oct 1 ( J , 18 f > 4 . 44 Wo opened tho trenches during tho night betweon tho 9 th sind 10 th . The enemy , who did not seem to expect na at that point , did not disturb tho work , - which wo actively pursued . 1 hopo wo Hhnll linvo by tho day after to-morrow ( tlio 15 th ) flovonty guns in battery . Since ton . thin morning a hot i \ vo h « s been directed upon us at intervals , but without any huccohs . Our loss in almost nominal . Tho works of the JCngliah army proceed on » , parallel with our own . 41 Tho weather , for a whurt time very bad and very cold , bus fortunntoly turned out lino nguin . "

      The French Charge * d'Affaires to His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs : — " Therapia , Oct , 18 . " Two -vessels of war—one French , the other English —arrive from Constantinople , coining from the Crimea ; they bring news of the -15 th from Sebastopol . It appeared certain that the fire of all our batteries will be opeaed on the 17 th . The two fleets were to lend their aid to the land troops , and there was every reason for believing that the ships would be usefully employed on an important point . It was not doubted that the place would be soon reduced "by the power of our artillery . The general situation was very satisfactory , and the sanitary condition of the troops excellent . " Paris , Thursday Evening .

      On the-departure of the steamboat on the 16 th from Constantinople , all the disposable troops of the garrison were about to embark for the Crimea . Several steamers had arrived from Balaklava with men . who had been wounded in repelling a sortie made by 30 , 000 Russians from Sebastopol . With respect to Menschikoff ' s reinforcements , the Pays seems to expect that they will come up in time , and anticipates a pitched battle " independently of the siege operations . " After repeating news from Germany to the effect that Menschikoff certainly went northward , after the battle of the Alma , to put himself at the head of troops collected together some time since at Perekop , and that he would advance to the aid of Sebastopol with an army amounting altogether to 76 , 000 mien , the Pdys says : —

      " Tor our own parts ¥ e are convinced that Prince Menschikoff will try this last effort , and to us it is evident that when , after the battle of the Alma , he kept the open country instead of shutting himself up in Sebastopol , he had no other object and no other strategetical plan . Let him come on . He will find at least an equal force , composed of the victors of Alma , ready and desirous to meet him . It is not too much to presume victory when we consider tie excellent conditions under which we shall give battle . The very slowness , the prudential slowness , with which the siege operations are conducted , is a proof that Lord Raglan and General Canrobert have calculated all chances , and have no fear of an attack from . Prince Menscbikoff . "

      The Journal de St . Peterslourg , of the 15 th , announces that by an ukase Prince Menschikoff is appointed Commander-in-Chief and Governor of all the Imperial forces in the Crimea . The same ukase appoints General Tcheodjeff , hitherto commanding the 6 th corps , to the command of all reserve infantry troops ; and gives the 6 th corps to General Prince Gortchakoff IIL , a brother of the hero of the Danube . A letter from St . Petersburg thus describes the last ceremony in which , the Czar figured in public : —

      " The reserve of the Imperial Guard , composed of 30 , 000 men , has just been placed on a war footing . The Emperor has reviewed them , and has availed himself of the opportunity to bless , at the head of his troops , the two Grand Dukes Michael and Nicholas , who , it is said , are to join the active army . The benediction took place with much pomp . The two Grand Dukes went on their keees to receive it , and all the troops also knelt . " A despatch of the 23 rd states that the Czar's eldest son , the Grand Duke Alexander , had left St .

      Petersburg to join the guards on their march to Warsaw , their new head-quarters . The same city is also the head-quarters of the Grenadiers , under General Rudiger , and of the active army in Poland under Marshal Paslriewitch . A Vienna journal computes that on the arrival of the Guarda at their destination , the troops concentrated on the Austrian frontier -will amount to 166 , 000 men , viz ., 80 , 000 infantry of the line , 48 , 000 infantry of the Guards , 22 , 000 Grenadiers , and 16 , 000 cavalry , besides the usual proportion of artillery .

      The Invalide Itusse , which hitherto has not taken tho least notice of tho slight affair on the Almn , or the seizure of Balaklava , published on the 14 th inst . an extraordinary supplement , for the purpose of announcing " News from tho Black Sea . " We subjoin tho Znvaiide ' a news , which appears to refer to one of tho flying visits made by our steamers to various points of tho Russian coasts , for tho purpose of distracting tho onomy during tho more sorious operations before Sobastopol . In tho construction of his story tho writer a ppears to havo stri ctly followed traditional models—tho lighting priest , tho efficacious cross , and tho " ono man wounded , " being voryianri Uar expedients in this class of Russian literature

      —On the 22 nd of September ( Oct . 4 ) , at six o ' clock m tho morning , four atenmors of tho enemy , two of which wore under tho English flag , and two wore French approached tho Nicholas bnttory , provisionally eroded on Capo Otohnkoff , hi order to defend tho entrance to tho ostnary of tho Dnieper . Tl . o Lieutenant-Colonel of Horao Artillery Uolovatohoff , who commands tho dotaolunont cantoned near Otohakoff . immediately took , mewuroa for ropolllng tho enemy , whom ho received with red-hot , balla ilrod from tho battery . A flotilla of live gun-bouts , Ihon at Olahnkoff , under tho command of Commander Kndogourofl ' , opened xta flra at tho aamo time . Tl » o steamers of tho onomy .

      armed ^ ia great number heavy guns , rained , for three hours and a half , baUs , bombs , and rockets on our battery , but ^ nthout much injuring it . They themselves , after being damaged , found themselves compelled to retire , one after the other , from out of the ranee of our guns . At ten in the morning all was over the inhabitants of the shore saw distinctly the steamers of the enemy make for the island of Berezane , and there bury their dead . On our side , one soldier alone waswounded , and four received contusions . " In his report , Lieutenant-Colonel Golovatcheff , comthe detachment

      manding of Otchakoff , testifies to the unshakable firmness of the company of the sixth reserve battalion of the regiment of Litomir Chasseurs which manned the battery under the command of the second captain Tereshoff ; he in particular highl y praises the coolness and courage of Ensign Kryloff , of the field artillery ,-who directed the battery , as likewise the selfdenial of R . P . Gabriel Soutkovski , priest of the Otchakoff church , who repaired spontaneously with the cross in his hand to the battery , and where he blessed its defenders under the enemy ' s fire , and whom he even helped to load their pieces . "

      Departure of Reinforcements for the Guards in the Crimea . —On Thursday , in obedience to orders issued by the Commander-in-Chief , the detachments of the three regiments of Foot Guards under orders for embarkation to join the service companies of their respective battalions in tlie Crimea , were paraded In their respective barrack-squares , viz ., 80 for the third battalion of Grenadier Guards , 50 for the first battalion of Coldstream Guards , and 100 for the first battalion of Scots Fusilier Guards ; making a total reinforcement of

      230 . ^ The detachments having been inspected , the respective commanding officers addressed the men ; and precisely at eight o'clock the Grenadiers marched from the Wellington Barracks to the terminus of the South-Western Railway . The Coldstream Guards and Scots Fusiliers , who met in Trafalgar-square , marched along the Strand to the railway terminus . The embarkation was to take place on Thursday afternoon at Portsmouth , on board the General Screw Company ' s steam-ship Queen of the South , which vessel will immediately proceed direct for Balaklava , Crimea .

      Madame Sr . Arnatjd . —The Emperor of the French has written a letter of condolence to Madame St . Amaud , which has teen published in the Moniteur . In its non-official part the Moniteur announces that the Council of State was occupied , by order of the Emperor , with a bill to grant a pension of 20 , 000 francs to the Mare " chale St . Arnaud as a national recompense . The Council of State was also to raise the pension of the wife of the late Marshal Bugeaud to the same amount .

      TITB NURSES FOR THE "WOUNDED . The first detachment of nurses for the wounded in the Crimea , numbering thirty-seven , under the superintendence of Miss Nightingale , left London on Sunday night , accompanied by Mr . and Mrs . Brambrige , and a clergyman . They arrived at Boulogneon Monday . The authorities there had received orders to give them every facility for proceeding . They received a very warm reception ; the porters and hotel-keepers refused to receive remuneration for services and accommodation . One of the journals states

      that" Miss Nightingale is a lady of family and fortune . She is the daughter of Mr . Nightingale , of Emly-park ^ near Southampton , a gentleman of great accomplishments and high connexions . She has devoted herself to tho education of the more humble of her sex , and i & described as a lady . of the most remarkable accomplishments , and of a loftiness of purpose little understood in . general circles of society . " A number of Miss Sellon ' s sisterhood , and several of tho members of tho different societies of Sisters of Mercy in England and Ireland , have also taken their departure on tho same philanthropic errand . As yet tho principal event of the siege has boon a sortie of the Russians on tho 12 th , which has been sufficiently magnified . It is thus described by the correspondent of tho Times : —

      Contrary to their usual custom , tho Russian batteries wore again silent last night . This silence -was so ominous that wo fully expected a sortie from tho fort , and it was also rumoured thnt the Russians said to bo in our rear would attack Balaklava , while tho Greeks wore to aid them by setting iiro to tlio town . Tho information on this point was so positive that tho authorities , roaortod to tho extreme measure of ordering tho Greeks , — -men , women , and children—to leave tho town , umL tho order syas rigidly carried into effect era evening-Captain Gordon , J . I . R ., commenced tho formation oC our right attack soon after dark . 400 men woro

      furniwliod from tho 2 nd and light divisionn on the worlts , andtttrong covering partion woro sont out in front and ir » roar to protect them . The working party w « h divided into four companies of 100 men each , and they worked on during tho night with such good-will thnt ore morning No . 1 party had completed 1 ( 50 yards ; No . 2 , 78 yarda ; No . 8 , 5 ) 5 yardu ; No . 4 , i ) 0 yardtt—in nil , ' MS yiirdw of trench randy for conversion into battorios-TIioho tronchoa are covered very perfectly . It wbm intended thnt n party of » iniilnr HtroiurtU nhould bo employed on tho loft and ociitro , but owing to ono of Hioho Occidents which unavoidably occur , in night-work , tho

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28101854/page/2/