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Leader (1850-1860), 26th May 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 486, Untitled Article

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      waft the result of an intimation that the Emperor hieoseif waa coming out to take the command , and that in the meanwhile all operations were to be stopped- But this is manifestly improbable ; and the more probable reason seems to lie in the vacillating a » d fuseycharacter of the late Commanderin-Chisf of the French army . The Morning Herald correspondent says that the message was conditional , and . only to the effect that the expedition was to be abandoned if the details were not already arranged- Should this be true , the chief blame falls apon those who so mislead their instructions ; but , whomsoever be the guilty party , there is no concealing the fact that disappointment is a weak word to express the feeling of the men . This is better described by saying that it is a mixture of despondency and rage .

      The French still retain possession of the works which were taken by them on the 1 st and 2 nd of May , and which now form a vast place d ' armes , the parapets of which are cannon-proof . General Gortsehakoff , in a recent despatch , says that in the sortie on the night between the 11 th and 12 th inst . his men spiked some English guns . It will be observed that Lord Raglan makes no mention of this . STATE OF BALAK . I .. AVA . The Sanitary Commissioners have examined the hospitals in . front , but , so far as I can hear , they had nothing important to suggest of a practical nature . The soil is saturated with decaying aiumal matter . I have

      slept lately in a sunken hut in -which a corpse lies buried , with only a few inches of earth between its head and my own . Within a yard and a half of the door of my present abode are the shallow graves of three soldiers , a little earth heaped up loosely over them , raided with scanty lime , which does not even destroy the rank vegetation that springs out of them . Nearer still is a large mound , supposed to contain the remains of a camel—rather a large supply of noxious , gases ; and further away , at the distance of about one hundred and eighty yards , are the graves of the division , where hundreds of bodies lie lightly covered as close as they can pack . In front of the hut are two mounds , about ten feet distant , containing the buried offal of the butchers ;

      and on the left are the remains of more camel ? , and of God knows what beside , which emits pestilential odours when the sun shines . Among one of the most useful improvements in Balaklava must be reckoned the filling in of the end of the harbour . It bad become a horrid swamp , hideous and nauseous to every sense—where water and land had contended for the mastery , and at last effected a compromise in the form of the most abominable mud , blended with floating offal from the ships , the debris of drowned animals from the sea and starved animals from the land , decayed vegetables , and slimy nastinesses unutterable . Thanks to Admiral Boxer or Colonel Harding , this devil ' s quagmire has npw been covered over with gravel and with stones , and stakes have been driven into the sea so as to form a quay all along the top of the harbour . The slough is covered over , and a hard , clean , solid bit of ground

      takes its place , banked up at the sea side , and nt for leading goods and stores on from boats with shallow draught of water . The facilities of the piers constructed under Admiral Boxer ' s direction on the west of the harbour of Balaklava are invaluable . The seamen under his orders have blasted away the solid rock which rose almost precipitately from a depth of ten or twelve feet from the bottom up to the height of several hundred feet above the sea , and have constructed a broad road winding along under these rocks from the top of the creek half-way down the harbour towards the sea . A branch rail runs along the centre of this road from the depot at the end to join the main line at the head of the harbour ; and very fine jetties have boon also constructed , under the same authority , alongside which large vessels may lie with safety , and where horses , gans , &c ,, can be discharged even from such ships as the Himalaya with the greatest ease and rapidity . —Times Coi'respondent .

      THE FJOJiT ON MAY 10 . About one o'clock this morning , the camp in front w * e roused- up by an . extremely heavy fire of muaketry and repeated cheering along our right attack . The elevated ground and ridges in front of the * Third and Fourth . Divisions were soon crowded with groups of men from tbo tents in the rear . It was a very dark night , for tho moon had not yet risen , and the sky was overcast with clouda ; but the incipient flashing of email arms which lighted up the front of tho trenches , the yell of tho . Russians ( which our soldiers have christened " tho

      Inkerman screech '') , tho cheers of our men , and the Volume of tho fire , indicated the position , und showed thftfca aonteptof no ordinary severity was talcing place . Thwe . is an earnestness und reality about the muaketry on euch occasions which boa a language of its own that cannot be miatakou . Tho regularity und precision of tho feu . de Joia , tho platoon or filo-firing of our reviews , havo litUo kin with tho' passionate } intunso , and startling bwrete of rifle and musket , and give but an imperfect nptiou of the deadly rattle und fitful roll of email arms in . aotfpn , where every man is loading and firing as vixpi « Uy tut JUe can ,, and where tho formation of tho lino is

      altering every moment . For a mile and a half , tlie darkness was broken by outbursts of ruddy flame and bright , glittering sparks , which advanced , receded , died out altogether , broke out fiercely in patches in innumerable twinkles , flickered iu long lines like the electric flaeh along a chain , and for an instant craters of fire . The musketry , having rolled incessantly for a quarter of an hour , began to cease at intervals along the line . Here and there it stopped for a moment altogether ; again it burst forth . Then came a British cheer , which thrilled through eA ^ ery heart . " Our fellows have driven them back ; bravo ! " Then a Russian yell , a fresh burst of musketry , more cheering , a rolling volley subsiding into splattering flashes and broken fire , a ringing

      hurrah from the front ; and then the Russian bugles sounding " the retreat , " and our own bugles the " cease firing ; " and the attack , after half an hour's duration , was over . The enemy were beaten , and were retiring to their earthworks ; and now the batteries opened to cover their retreat . The Redan , Rouud Tower , Garden Batteries , and Road Battery , aided probably by the ships , lighted up the air from the muzzles of their guns . The batteries at Careening-bay and at the north side of the harbour contributed their fire , and the sky was seamed by the red track of innumerable shells . You could see clearlv at times the ground close around you

      from the flashes of the cannon . The round shot tore the air with a harsh roar , and shells burst almost in volleys along our lines . The Russians were avenging- themselves a 3 beat they might for their repulse ; and the extent of their mortification and anger might be inferred from the vigour and weight of their cannonade . The instant they began to fire , our ever active allies , the French , on our right , opened from their batteries over Inkerman and from the redoubts , to draw off the Russian guns from our men ; and our own batteries also replied , and sent shot and shell in the direction of the retreating enemy . —/ cfem .

      THE KEKTCH BLUNDER . Men and officers in the Sebastopol front do their duty , and their merit is the greater because they do it without the slightest hope of success . Not that the army despairs of taking Sebastopol - it only despairs of taking it by pitting our engineers against those of the Russians , and staking the lives of our troops upon the result . The work in the trenches is deadly , more especially at night , when , amidst the din of the siege , the round shot comes among us unheard and unseen . The gallant line regiments that support the batteries are giving proof of the highest courage of which human nature is capable . It is not a battle , not the movement , the excitement , the fury of a conflict , which probes a man to the heart , but

      this standing or crouching in utter darkness to be shot at ; awaiting death , which may come at any moment and in any shape , without moving a hand or an arm—without being able to do anything in self-defence . And yet that is the condition of the officers and many of the men who do duty in the trenches . It is a necessary duty , but in most sieges the generals are sufficiently prudent and humane to make this time of severe probation as short as possible . Our troops , and those of our allies , have for nearly six months borne with the ordeal . Hence our hopes of the Kertch expedition : hence our deep mortification at it 3 unseasonable return . There is no concealing the fact that , now that the Russians are warned , they will make such preparations as will astonish the troops that are

      sent out to set right what has been made wrong in the last few days . And yet , as matters stand , Kertch is the key to Sebastopol . . . . On this locust-eaten land , we have an enemy numbering perpaps 150 , 000 men , and a fortress which must be provisioned from without . We have it in our power to cut off the enemy's supplies of victuals , of ammunition , of men : the capture of Kertch gives us the command of tho Sea of Azoff , and our destroying Odessa stops grent part of the supplies from Bessarabia . Our threatening Perckop threatens tho Russian basis of operations and also their lino of retreat .

      If we take Kortch , tho Russian generals must either evacuate the Crimea altogether , or lead thoir columns that were driven back from Inkerman against tho lines of Balaklava and Inkorman , now bristling with cannon . If they do neither , they must aoo their troops starve in this country . Through Perekop alono-r-ospociully beforo tho time of harvest—they can hardly manage to provision Sebastopol . They must either fight a battle , with tho ground and all other chances against thorn , or they must fly ; or , if they starve , and wuit until wo occupy Porokcfp , they must surrender at discretion .- ;—Daily News Comcapondcnt .

      DJUWPATCIIKS FROM LOIW ltAGLAN . Before Sobastopol , May 8 , 1855 . My Lord , — Th . 0 enemy assaulted our advanced parallel on tho right attack on the night of tho Oth instant , and some actually got into tho trench ; but they wore speedily driven out and ropulsod with tho utn % . st gallantry by tho detachments occupying it , of tho 00 th and 4 J ) th Regiments , under Captain Williamson and Lieutenant Gubbins , of tho former , ' and Lieutenant Koch fort , of tho lattov , who , unfortunatoly , was sovoroly wounded ; and I regret to huvo to add that several valuable non-coinmissionod ofiicors und men were killed und wounded on the occasion . On tho Bamo night , Captain Arnold , of tho 4 th Foot ,

      was wounded and taken prisoner , whilst posting the advanced sentries on the left attack . * The loss of the services of this officer is greatly to be lamented . He had done his duty unremittingly , and in the most spirited manner , throughout the operations of the siege . I inclose the return of casualties to the 6 th instant . I have heard that six ships , having on board Sardinian troops , have arrived in the Bosphorus . •' I have , &c , Raglan . ' P . S . I have the satisfaction to announce- to you the arrival of the first detachment of the 12 th Lancers . The Lord Panmure , &c , &c . Casualties . — 9 rank and file , killed ; 1 officer , 2 sergeants , 35 rank and file , wounded ; 1 officer , 1 sergeant , 2 rank and file , missing . Before Sebastopol , May 12 , 1855 .

      My Lord , —I do myself the honour to acquaint your lordship that General do la Marmora , with a portion of the Sardinian contingent , arrived off Balaklava on the night of the 8 th instant , and he came up to headquarters the following morning . The very unfavourable state of the weather since the 9 th . has prevented any material part of the force being landed ; and it has been found necessary to send the vessels that brought it , and which could not be got into the harbour , to Kasatch Bay , until it should moderate . Five troops of the 12 th Lancers landed on the Oth from the Himalaya , which performed the voyage from Alexandria to Balaklava in ninety-four hours . The enemy made two serious assaults upon our most advanced parallel of the right attack on the night of the 9 tb , but were on each occasion most nobly met , and repulsed with considerable loss .

      The arrangements of Colonel Trollope , who had charge of the right attack , and Lieutenant-Colonel Mundy , the field-officer of the trenches , were most judicious ; and Captain Turner of the Royal Fusiliers , and Captain Jordan of the 34 th Regiment , are reported to have done their duty in the most gallant manner . They opened a powerful fire on our trenches on the following night , and exposed their columns to a heavy musketry fire from the troops on duty . They did not , however , reach the parapets , nor indeed come very near them .

      Last night , a very determined sortie was made upon th , e advance of our left attack . The enemy moved forward in two columns from the Woronzow road . Our advanced sentries having slowly retired , the guard of the trenches was prepared to receive them , and consequently drove them back in the most determined manner . A few Russians only got into the parallel , and five were left dead close outside . The conduct of both officers and men was admirable ; and it is with deep regret that I have to report tho death of Captain Edwards , of the 68 th Foot , and that of five roen-I have also the pain of saying that the wounded amount to thirty .

      Owing to the great quantity of rain which has fallen during the last few days , the service in the trenches had again been most arduous and severe upon our men , who deserve all praise for their energy and untiring perseverance . I enclose the returns of casualties to the 10 th instant . I have , &c , Raglan . The Lord Panmure , &c , &c . Casualties . —1 sergeant , 9 rank and file , killed ; 2 officers , 1 sergeant , 66 rank and file , wounded . Naval Brigade : 1 killed , 4 wounded .

      THE BALTIC BLOCKADE . Notification ( From the . Gazette . ')—By the Hon . Itiehard Saundcrs JDundas , C . B ., Rear-Admirul of the Blue , and Comroandor-in-Chief of her Majesty ' s ships and vessels employed and to bo employed on a particular sorviee . It is hereby notified that , on tho 28 th day of April last , the entrance to the Gulf of Finland , from Hango Heart , in lit . 59 . 46 N ., Ion . 22 . 58 E ., to the Dagcrort Lightbouse , in hit . 58 . 55 N ., Ion . 22 . 12 E ., and that all ltussiaii ports , roads , havens , and creeks , from the Dagerort to the Filsnnd Lighthouse , in Int . 58 . 25 N ., Ion . 21 . 50

      E ., were placed in a state of strict blockade by a competent force of her Majesty ' s ships . And it is hereby further notified that all meusurcH authorised by tho laws of nations , and tho respective treaties botweon her Majesty and tho different neutral powers , will bo adopted and executed on behalf of her Majesty and her ally , his Majesty the Emperor of tho French , with rospcet to all vcMsels which may attempt to violate the said blockade . Given on board her Majesty ' s ship Duko of Wellington , at Boa , in tho Fttnorn Bolt , this JJrd day of Mny , lH < > 5-( Signed ) R . S . Dcndah .

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      WAR MISCELLANEA . Russian Loasics . —Lord Lunadowno said tho other evening , in tho Iloiiao of Peers , that the RiiHsian ^ loan eiiiLio tho commencement of the war had been 2 17 , 000 men . Tho following arc further dotuild . In tho month of January hint , a report was presented to tho Kinpuror Nicholas , Hinting tho lost ) of tho army at 187 , 000 men , including thono who died under tho aovority of tho loiitf

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      ? Intelligence has since boon rccoivod of tho death vi Cnptuln Arnold .

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      4 ^ T H E LEADE H . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 486, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2092/page/6/