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Leader (1850-1860), 26th May 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 487, Untitled Article

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      marches and of sickness . A new report was presented to the Emperor Alexander in April , fixing the total loss of the army to March 31 at 250 , 000 . In this report , especial stress was laid on the effect of the marches , and some disastrous incidents were particularised . It was . stated that an entire company had perished under the snows between Odessa and Perekop , and another between St . Petersburg and the south . An entire battery had been lost in the same manner , with the men and horses . The guns were found after the thaw , and are again in use . —Daily News . Mi Fane , Officierd'Ordonimnce of the French Emperor , has , it is said , carried out to the Crimea a new plan of operations , concerted between the Emperor and Marshal Vaillant , and that it was the inability of General Canrobert to acquiesce in this plan that determined his resignation .

      Russian Supplies . —A letter from Odessa , of the 2 oth ult ., in the Danube , says : — " The heavy rain which has been falling here for some time past has rendered the roads quite impracticable . In an order of the day of the 22 nd , General Osten-Sacken has expressed the hope of being able to attack the enemy with success . General Liprandi has returned to the entrenched camp of Kamara . Not less than seven hundred waggons laden with balls and shells have been conveyed into Sebastopol , as well as 140 , 000 pouds of gunpowder ; the poud is about 351 bs . New works are being executed in front of the bastion of KornilofF , and sixty-two pieces of cannon are to be placed there .. "

      The Governor of Balaklava . —Amongst the Russian prisoners brought home in the Simla last week , was the Governor of Balaklava , who was taken prisoner when . Balaklava was first seized by the English army . In the confusion of the capture , the Governor lost his wife and daughter , and has never heard of them since . He appeared quite broken-hearted on account of his misfortunes . Denmark and Sweden . —Rumour states that the British and French envoys at Copenhagen and Stock " holm have received instructions to inform the Danish and Swedish Cabinets that their neutrality can be no longer acknowledged , and that they must declare openly either as friends or foes . In consequence of this demand , the Swedish militia has been ordered to be mobilised .

      Lord Dusdo ^ ald ' s Plans . —It is said , and , we balieve , is correctly said , by well-informed persons , that the scientific commission appointed to consider the feasibility of Lord Dundonald ' s plan for destroying the arsenals and fortresses of the Russians , have reported in favour of the project , subject to certain conditions , which will have to be decided by military engineers . —AthenoBum . English Prisoners op "War in Russia . —The Earl of Clarendon has published a list , received from an unofficial source , of some of the English prisoners at Voronetz , in Russia , who have been relieved from funds supplied by her Majesty ' s Government for this purpose , through the obliging intervention of the Danish Minister at St . Petersburg . The number of articles distributed has been 50 caps , 59 coats , 82 pairs of trousers , 143 shirts , 40 stocks , and 88 pairs of boots . Nkw Russian Works . —A new battery which the

      enemy has completed , to the left of the Mamelon , is intended for four guns . They have also run a boyau , or zigzag trench , on their right of the " Onorage Blanc , " down into the ravine , with the intention evidently of connecting it with that which runs from the left of the Mamelon , or possibly with the trench which connects the line of rifle-pits in front of the French parallel . The enemy has enlarged tho rifle-pits opposite the boyau , running from our advanced parallel . Every day , in fact , brings new moves , new devices , to defeat our exertiona ; but , notwithstanding , wo continue to advance our works . — Morninq Post Correspondent .

      Thk Allied Forcics . — The available force of the French is thought to bo about 100 , 000 men . Our own army is probably at least equal to its first strength ; tho Sardinian contingent numbers about 10 , 000 , or 12 , 000 ; and Omar Pacha has a powerful army of Turks at Eupatoria . Twos New Russian Lkvy is twelve in one thousand —~ not in one hundred , aa wo erroneously stated last week . The Health of this Troops continues vory favourable , la one of the . divisions in front , which , with tho regiments attached to it , numbers C 000 mon , there are

      460 aick only in tho hospitals , including cases of all kinds . A few cases have ocourrod not unlike cholora in some of tlvo symptoms ; but they have been alight in character , quite detached , and some of tho principal fcaturoa of that disease have boon wanting . Tho provailing cause of sioknosB is still fever . The sanitary condition of tho camps is now excellent . Tanks aro continuing to bo made , and ovory attention ia paid for the preservation and careful distribution of tho water . This ia a most necessary provision . Tho woather haa continued dry , warm , and favourable for oporutiouu in tho iiold . —Daily News Correspondent . T * ik Turkish Conotnchbnt to bo officered from tho Anglo-Indian army , and to servo under tho command of General Vivian , still remains in inexplicable idleness nt Constantinople . General Vivian , according to a letter written , by on . o who appears to epoak from hia own

      knowledge , has not once intimated his wish to see the men who have come to serve under his command , but , on the contrary , will hardly recognise any officer of his contingent whom he may meet as he strolls about the streets in his plain clothes , apparently doing nothing . One of the officers has- already resigned , and others , it is said , intend taking a run over to the Crimea on their own account , for some chance of active employment . General Vivian's omission to pay his respects to the Sultan , is looked upon as very ill-judged . Eutatoria . —The Trieste papers of Friday week publish the following despatch : —" 8000 Russians are menacing Omar Pasha . Their cavalry is endeavouring to cut off the Allies' communications by land . The bulk of the Russian army , 150 , 000 strong , having taken up a position near Simpheropol , is in non-interrupted communication with Sebastopol . " "We have seen no confirmation of the above ; which , at the best , is doubtful .

      The Turks and Tartars amusing- themselves at Eupatoria . —The fine mild weather and calm sea have already induced some of the more enterprising Tartars and Bashi-Bazouks to open the bathing season , and the beach presents now a complete contrast to its former appearance . The piers , not long ago the centre of activity , have quite a desolate aspect , with the exception of one situate in the middle of the town , where a large quantity of wood is daily landed ; but , if the piers are deserted , the whole extent of the beach is

      covered daily by hundreds of Tartar women washing their clothes , and higher up towards the quarantine building-, where the sand is deepest and the slope of the beach gentlest , by soldiers and Tartars washing themselves and their horses . After the long winter and the little opportunity which this place affords for copious ablutions , it is quite a treat for them to be once more in their favourite element , as you may judge from the joyful yells with which the beach resounds towards noon . —Times Correspondent . The Britisij Military Hospitals at Balaklava , Smyrna , and Scutari , are now in a comparatively excellent condition . Disease is diminishing ; the proportion of deaths is less ; and the comforts of the men are greatly increased . Still , many reforms remain to be affected ; and many of the details of management might pet be improved .

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      COUNT NESSELRODE'S VERSION OF THE VIENNA CONFERENCES . The Journal de St . Petersbourg of the 12 th of May contains a circular addressed * by Count Nesselrode , on April the 28 th , to the different Russian legations . This document—which occupies eleven columns of the Journal—gives a narrative , witli comments , of the recent negotiations at Vienna ; and , although the facts are only such as have already been published in our official history of the same transactions , it is not uninteresting to see them from a Russian point of view . We therefore annex a few extracts . After some general and preliminary observations on the sentiments with which Russia entered into the debates , Count Nesselrode

      observes" The sittings of the 17 th and 18 th of March were devoted to the question of the Principalities . It was settled honourably , loyally , and disinterestedly , as the late Emperor wished it . In his august thoughts he had essentially at heart to maintain the populations of Moldavia , Wallachia , and of Sorvia in the peaceful enjoyment of the religious and civil immunities which Russia had assured to them as the price of her blood shed for a century in tho cause of her co-religionists . " Their immunities remain intact . The protocols of Vienna 2 and 3 have served to consolidate their

      maintenance , under the collective guarantee of all the high contracting parties . By this guarantee , the privileged regime of the Principalities enters the domain of the law of public right in Europe . Hitherto the care of watching over the execution of tho engagements taken by the Porto in . her quality of sovereign Power fell upon Russia alone . Henceforth she will share that obligation with tho other guaranteeing Powers . This community of duties will put an end to that feeling of rivalry which tho exclusive surveillance exercised by Russia gnve rise to .

      " For too long a time public opinion had denounced that state of things to tho hatred of tho stranger under tho name of tho Russian protectorate . This is tho proper place to remind you that you will not find that expression used in any of our treaties—either in that of Ivtiinavdji , or in that of Bucharest , or in tho convention of Akcrman , or in tho treaty of Adriuuoplo . There could bo no question therefore of erasing from our acts a protectorate "which never existed . " Tho Vienna protocols , then , deserve appreciation as a permanent pledge of security added to tho bases upon which tho political and national existence of thoDanubian provinces roposes . Tho Imperial Cabinet has tho satisfactory conviction of having loyally accomplished that result with tho double object of assuring ou tho one hand tho wulfuro of those countries , and , on the other , of putting aside now causes of misunderstanding , rivalry , and perturbation from politics in general . " By protocols 4 and 5 it wus agreed to apply to tho navigation of tho Danube tho principles generally

      euttiblished concerning river communications by the acts oJ the Congress of Vienna . In virtue of that legislation , a mixed commission will henceforth have the task of res moving the material obstacles which have impeded the navigation , and on more than one occasion have given rise to the complaints of commerce . " Coming to the consideration of the Third Pointthe revision of the Treaty of 1841 , or , in other words , the limitation of the Russian , power in the Black Sea —Count Nesselrode observes that , in the preliminary meetings of the 28 th of December and the 7 th . of January , the Allies refused clearly to define their conceptions , declaring that the precise arrangements depended too much on the events of the war to allow of the bases being settled at once . " Public manifestations in France and England , however sufficiently betrayed the idea which lurked behind

      those words . It aimed at the destruction of Sebastopol . Doubtless , according to the calculations of the Cabinets of London and Paris , the military operations in the Crimea , going hand-in-hand with diplomatic deliberations , were to influence the issue of the Vienna Conferences . "When they opened , the anticipation was not justified by events ; and therefore the name of Sebastopol was never uttered . Russia is indebted for this silence to the heroic resistance of her brave generals , officers , sailor 3 and soldiers . Their noble devotion has been the most victorious means of negotiation . "

      The Russian Plenipotentiaries , as we all know , wrote home for fresh instructions with , respect to this Third Point ; and it now appears that the answer they received was to the effect that they were to abide by the instructions with which they were charged by the late Emperor ; so that it seems obvious that the reference to the young Czar for a confirmation of the policy already dictated by the master spirit -who had just left them , was merely a

      device for obtaining time . The instructions given by Nicholas were to the effect that Russia would not oppose the throwing open of the Black Sea to foreign vessels of war , provided she were alloAved a similar right of entering with her armed 6 hips into the Mediterranean , Having alluded to Lord John Russell ' s declaration that ' the only admissible conditions of peace would be those which should combine the honour of Russia with the security of Europe , Count Nesselrode

      proceeds" Lord John Russell cannot be surprised that the propositions made on the 19 th of April were not judged by the Imperial Cabinet as ' the best and only admissible ones . ' In sooth , to limit the number of vessels in the Black Sea while the naval forces in the Mediterranean remained without control ; to open the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to France and England while closed to the Russian flag ; finally , to stipulate the nomination of foreign Consuls in our ports without the Imperial government having it in its power to refuse them the e-xequatur — a right enjoyed equally by France and England , in the territories submitted to their rule;—surely these were not conditions of a nature to assure the blessings of a solid and durable peace to Europe ; for a transaction , to be permanent between States , must be mutually honourable ; otherwise it is not peace , but an armistice .

      " These considerations , appreciated in their exact truth , will complete the proof that in reality the combinations suggested by tho plenipotentiaries of France and England would liave offered fewer and less solid pledges for the peace of Europe than the plan drawn up by the late Emperor . He threw open the Black Sea freely to tho flags of all nations , thereby he put an end to the isolation of tho Ottoman Empiro , and to the apprehension caused in foreign States by the disproportion of the naval forces of the two Powers who have territory in tho Black Sea . By ceasing to be closed , it was made accessiblo to tho surveillance and observation of all other Powers . This did away , also , with tho fear of the presumed danger to which tho capital of tho Ottoman Empire might bo exposed by tho viqinity of our naval establishments . "

      The Russian counter-project is then described in detail ; the subsequent suggestions of Russia after the departure of X . ord John Russell are stated ; and , at the conclusion , the chief points are thus summed III" ) ., „ " Tho first was one of political rivalry . The Emperor took tho most exulted view of it ; ho resolved it in tho interest of tho welfare of the Principalities , tho prosperity of which Russia had promised to guarantee , tfho has kept , and will keep , her promise . " The second wan connected with general interests of commerce . Tim Kiuporor has decided in favour of the free trade of nil nations .

      _ , , , _ . " Tho third comer-nod , not only tho general balance of power , but touched nearly the dignity and honour of Russia It was tin . * that our august master judged ft . Tho national sentiment of tho whole country will respond tO ' tjIo fOiirth point was one of roligious liberty , of oivil . siiti . Jii , and Hoolal order for all Christendom . Ill the oyos of tho Imperial Cabinet , it is that which ought " no day to bo placed at tho head of a treaty of general peace worthy of toiiiff invested with tho sanction of all

      Untitled Article

      May 26 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER , 4 ® 9

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 487, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2092/page/7/