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Leader (1850-1860), 17th March 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 245, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER'S MANIFESTO . The following is a verbatim translation of the new Ozar ' s Manifesto , of which we gave an abstract last week : — ' " St . Petersburg , February 18 ( March . 2 ) . " By the grace of God , We , Alexander II ., Emperor and Autocrat ^ f AU the Russias , King of Poland , &c , &c , " To all our faithful subjects make known : " In his impenetrable ways it has pleased God to strike us all with a blow as terrible as it was unexpected . Following a brief but serious illness , which at its close was developed with an unheard of rapidity , our muchloved father , the Emperor Nicholas Paulowitch , has departed life this day , the 18 th February ( March 2 ) . No

      language can express our grief—which will also be the grief of our faithful subjects . Submitting with resignation to the impenetrable designs of Divine Providence , we seek consolation but in Him , and wait from Htm alone the necessary aid to enable us to sustain the burden which it has pleased Him to impose upon us . Even as the much-loved father , whom we mourn , consecrated all his efforts , every moment of his life , to the labours and to the cares called for by the well-being of his subjects , we , at this hour so painful , but also so grave and so solemn , in ascending our hereditary throne of the

      Empire of Russia , as well as of the kingdom of Poland , and of the Grand Duchy of Finland , which are inseparable from it , take , in the face of the invisible and ever present God , the sacred pledge never to have any other end but the prosperity of our country . May Providence who lias called us to this high mission , so aid us that , guided and protected by Him , we may be able to strengthen Russia in the highest degree of power and glory ; that by us may be accomplished the views and desires of our illustrious predecessors , Peter , Catherine , Alexander the Much-Loved , and our august father of

      imperishable memory . " By their well-proved zeal , by their prayers ardently united with ours before the altars of the Most High , our dear subjects will come to our aid . We invite them t ° do so , commanding them to take , at the same time , the oath of fidelity both to us and to our heir , his Imperial Highness the Cesarewitch Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrowitch . " Given at St . Petersburg the 18 th day of the month of February ( March 2 ) , of the year of grace 1855 , and the first year of our reign . ( Signed ) "Alexander . "

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      We hare been without any news of importance from the seat of war this week , excepting the intelligence , derived from Paris , of the firing of Sebastopol by the French ; and this comes to us merely in the form of a bare announcement , without any details from which we could form an opinion as to the ulterior effect of the exploit . Peace still remains as doubtful as ever ; and what may be the policy of the new ltussian Emperor is as yet quite inexplicable . "

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      WAR MISCELLANEA . Sebastopol . on Fire . —The Moniteur , on Thursr day , contains the following telegraphic despatch : — " Port of Kamiesch , Montebello , March 7 . " The news of the death of the Emperor Nicholas arrived at Kamiesch the 6 th inst ., at 7 o ' clock in the evening . For some days we have been throwing rockets into the town , which have succeeded in setting fire to it in different places . Two Russian officers have deserted and sought refuge in the English lines . The siege works are pursued with activity . " Despatches from Balakxava , of the 3 rd , state that the railway now extends half-way to the camp ; that the position of Balaklava had been strengthened ; and that the weather and the health of the troops had improved .

      Engagement bktween the French and Russians . —The Journal de Constantinople gives details of a fight which took place on the 23 rd of February before Sebastopol . A battalion of Zouaves carried by assault the plateau of Malakoff Tower , spiked eighteen guns , and drove the enemy out of their trenches , retiring ultimately before a body of 8000 Russians . In this heroic struggle . ' 380 French were put hors de combat . General Monet was wounded in both arms . The Pressc of Constantinople estimates the Russian loss at 1000 , and reduces the French loss to 250 . Some journals say that General Monet received fivo slight wounds while dispersing a Russian column , which attempted to cut oft" his retreat .

      Tub Blockade of tub Danube . —A supplement totho London Gazette of Friday , March 9 th , publishes the official notification of the raising of the blockade of the Danube on and from the 18 th of February last ; and adds , " It ia hereby notified that the cruizcrs of the allied fleets arc , and will remain , stationed off the mouths of the Danube , to capture any vessels laden with contraband of war destined for the use of the enemy . "

      Thk Grand Duke Michael . —The reported death of the Grand Duke Michael before the walls of Sebastopol is not true . The Russian Command in thk Crimea . —The Kreuz Zeitung says : — "AdmiralPrince Menschikoff , Commander-in-Chief of the Russian forces in the Crimea , was , on account of his ill-health , and at his own request , relieved of his command by the late Emperor Nicholas . The entire army of the south has been placed under the supreme command of Prince Gortschakoff . The commanders at the separate theatres of war are General Von Osten-Sacken in the Crimea , and General "Von Luders on the Pruth . "

      The Patriotic Fund . —A Toronto paper states that the Six Nation Indians on the Grand River , deeply sj-mpathising with the sufferers by the Avar against Russia , have contributed the sum of 100 / . sterling towards the Patriotic Fund . It appears from the same source that many of the municipalities of Canada intended to petition the Provincial Legislature to double the amount ( 20 , 000 / . ) already voted and remited , and that meetings were being held from one end of the province to the other to promote individual subscriptions in aid of the fund . letter of the 27 th ult

      According to an Odessa ., m the Militarische Zeitung , the Russian troops are to be formed into two armies about the middle of this month—one under the command of General Osten-Sacken , occupying the banks of the Tchernaya ; and the other , under General Read , operating against the Turks at Eupatoria . The Navigation of the Danube . —The Moniteur of Tuesday says that the Russians have withdrawn their permission for the free navigation of the Danube . General de la Marmora has left Paris for Turin to take command of the Piedmontese army , which is about to embark for the Crimea .

      The Military Convention -with Sardinia , which has just been signed , provides that the King of Sardinia shall furnish a contingent of 15 , 000 men , which he undertakes to pay and provision and France and England guarantee the integrity of the Sardinian territories , and engage to defend theni against any attack during the continuance of the present war .

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      THE SEBASTOPOL COMMITTEE . Mr . Clay , the owner of three steamers hired by the Government as transports , was examined on Friday week befere the Sebastopol Committee . In answer to the Chairman , he stated that the harbour was in a most filthy condition , from the dead bodies of horses , camels , and sheep floating in it ; that the roads were almost up to the knees in mud ; that the men in the cavalry camp were ragged , dirty , and overrun with vermin , and that they ate their food raw , though , " in spite of that , they seemed pretty jolly , and full of pluck—as many as were left of them ;" that the condition of the Trench troops was much better ; that he had been told twenty of the sick had

      died .. on _ one day . on board the ship Monarchy , and that the legs had dropped off some of the ffdsf-bitten men , and been thrown overboard . He spoke of the state of the horses as being miserable . They had been shipped so badly , that many died in consequence . The private exporters from Hull adopt such a mode , that in one thousand horses shipped for St .. Petersburg and Riga , there was not a single death . They are enabled to lie down ; but the Government horses are boxed up in a space two feet three inches wide , and cannot lie down at all ; so that if the voyage lasts six weeks , the horses are that length of time without lying down . The harbour was very badly organised . He saw no

      illtreatment of the Turks , nor did he know how they were fed . They died rapidly , and he supposed they were badly fed . The cavalry horses were treated as well as they could bo under the circumstances ; those of the Scots GrayB were picketed in rows about three or four feet apart , with their heads tied down . Their manes and tails appeared to have been gnawed or eaten . The captains of transports could have cleared the harbour in a week if they had been pros vided with the means . He knew a gentleman named Priest , part owner of two vessels in Constantinople , one loaded with hay from Cork , the other with stores from Woolwich . They arrived on the 4 th of February . He had seen a letter stating that on the 12 th of

      February they were still detained there because they could get no orders . At this time Lord Raglan was complaining of the want of hay , and ho had seen a letter in the Times stating that the artillery horses were suffering from the want of hay on the 15 th of February . Admiral Boxer was a very intomporate old mun , and used to give very strange orders . Every one thought him a Btrange sort of man to have a command . It wus the duty of the captains of transports to report tjieir arrival to Admiral Boxer , and to apply to him when they wanted coals . Ho would toll them to look for coals themselves , and get them where they could . The Rev . E . G . Parker said ho was chaplain to

      the First Division of the army of the East . Speaking of the hospital-marquees , he observed that in one there was a tub in the middle of the tent , upon which two or three men would be sitting while he was engaged in his ministerial duties . Those scenes could have been prevented if there had been constructed , as he believed there had been since , tents adjoining the marquee for the use of the patients . He believed , too , that now the patients who were too weak to move were supplied with bedpans . The bodies were carried to the grave wrapped up in blankets , which were removed when the bodies were placed in the earth . The blankets were taken away in consequence , as he was told , of the graves having

      been opened for the sake of the blankets . In answer to a question whether it might not have been wild animals which disturbed the graves , the witness said there were wild dogs , but they were too well fed upon the flesh of dead horses and camels to need to tear up the earth to obtain food . In reference to the Commissariat as it affected the F irst Division , he stated that they were well supplied , the Commissariat officer attached to that division ( Mr . Blackwood ) being an excellent officer . Fuel was very scarce , but he had never heard that the men ate their food raw . At first the men obtained fuel by pulling up bushes and roots from the ground ; but they were soon consumed . When the snow caine , it of course increased the difficulty of collecting wood ; but the snow never remained long on the

      ground . He had no doubt that want of fuel had increased the sickness and sufferings of the troops , and also their living in bell tents , where fires could not be maintained . In December , the Guards mustered 1350 . He knew that they were now reduced to 312 men . The men sometimes did duty in the trenches , as he had been informed , two nights out of three . He had never in his life seen Lord Raglan in the hospital tents ; nor the Quartermaster-General , nor the Adjutant-General , nor , as far as lie knew them , any member of the staff . He had made representations at head-quarters as to the state of the sick ; but he believed they were not attended to . He had heard that the Jason , with 2000 or 3000 great-coats on board , carried the m three times to and from Constantinople .

      On Monday theDukeof Cambridge was examined . He said i the condition in which he found the raenof his division at Scutari was that of perfect good order ; but still the commissariat operations were not ^ is satisfactory as he ^ ould have wished . The troops were not actually in want of provisions , but only now and then . The supply was not so regular as could have been wished . The forage for the horses was often very irregular . Personally , his Royal Highness reconnoitered some twelve or fourteen miles of the country round Varna , and should have imagined that there was an opportunity of furnishing the horses with food from thence , and that they might have

      obtained a large supply . His division encamped further from the water than the light division did , thinking it objectionable to be so near . He had no opinion as to the salubrity or otherwise of the place from the medical officers of the division , but consideringtliey ' were" obliged to encamp near the water , they took up such ground as they thought most advantageous under the circumstances . When they were there , their horses were not very regularly supplied . They were well supplied as regarded barley , but not as regarded hay . There was at first a deficiency in the attendance of medical men . He attributed the sickness at Varna-to the climate ; not to

      mismanagement . The men had no tents , nor had the officers . In fact , nobody had any thing . ( Laughter . ) He , personally , had a sort of dog-kennel tent . The men remained quite uncovered from th 14 th of September to the 14 th of October . While out , the First Division were never a day without rations , with the exception of being a little short of rum ; but they always had bread and biscuit , and from the latest accounts he had received their supply was good now . He attributed this not only to the caTe and circumspection of the officers , but to the energy and activity of the commissariat . He was very well served by the commissariat himself . Those of that body attached to his division were particularly good men . Notwithstanding this assertion , his Royal Highness shortly afterwards said ho attributed the ant of

      general ill-feeding of the men , and the w forage for the horses , to the heads of commissariat department . There could not bo two opinions on the subject ns to the troops having been very much overworked—worked beyond their strength—and no men could be worked to such a degree without being seriously affected in their health and physical strength . Much of this illness and fatigue waa owing to the want , of roads and conveyances . 1 hey had to carry things themselves that ought to have been brought up for them . Ho did not know whether the baggage animals had any supplies of food when they arrived . AH he could say wag ., that his baggage animals had not , and that he was obliged in consequence to shoot them down . In his own division ho had to shoot twenty-four ammunition ponies , on one morning , at the ond of October , owing to the dreadful

      Untitled Article

      Mabch 17 , 1855 . 1 THE LEADER , 245

      Untitled Article

      THE WAR . _

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 245, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/5/