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Leader (1850-1860), 24th November 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1120

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      1120 THE LEADER . [ No . 296 , Saturday ,

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      officers However sad such an event is , we must still congratulate ourselves that the consequences have not been more serious and disastroiis . As nearly always happens in similar cases , it is difficult to ascertain the cause of the first explosion . This is certainly a very lamentable accident ; but our stores are so considerable that the resources of the army are not in the slightest degree affected by it . " With reference to this melancholy event , Lord Panmure has received the annexed telegraphic despatch from General Codrington , dated Nov .

      16 th . — " A very heavy explosion of a store of powder at the French siege train took place at about three p . m . yesterday ; it communicated fire to our siege train close to it , where there was no powder , but some naval live shells , most of which were removed ; but the loss of life and damage done is considerable . The great explosion threw shells over the camp of our siege train , the huts of the Firat Brigade being seriously damaged , but not by fire . All officers and men were on the spot at once , and worked with good will and energy , and I saw all safe when I quitted at seven p . m . " Killed . —Deputy Assistant-Commissary Yellon , R . A ., and twenty-one non-commissioned officers and men . *

      " Wounded . —Lieutenant Dawson , R . A ., lost his leg below his knee ; Lieutenant Robert , dangerously in the arm ; Lieutenant Eccles and Assistant-Surgeon Reode , Second Battalion Rifle Brigade , slightly ; one hundred and sixteen brigade commissioned officers and men , of whom forty-seven slightly . " Missing . —Four rank and file . "

      DESTRUCTION OF STORES IN THE SKA . OP AZOFF . The following telegraphic despatch , dated the 18 th of November , from Sir Edmund Lyons , has been received by the Secretary of the Admiralty : — Varna , 7 15 p . m . " Captain Sherard Osborne reports that on the 5 th and 6 th inst . a flotilla tinder his orders , in the Sea of Azoff , destroyed enormous quantities of grain and forage , of this year's harvest , which was compactly stacked in six tiers , extending two miles along the coaat , near Gheisk liman , ready to be conveyed partly to the Crimean army , after the formation of the ice in the Gulf of Azoff , and partly to the ai-my of the Caucasus , and which the enemy thought secure from any naval attack .

      " By the skilfulness of the arrangements , and the manner in which they were executed by Captain Osborne , in which he was ably seconded by Commander John J . Kennedy , the enterprise was effected in the most brilliant manner , by landing on three points , under cover of the gunboats of the allies , in the face of not less than 4 , 000 cavalry and infantry . Our Iosb amounted to only six wounded . "

      A RUSSIAN ACCOUNT OilTHE BATTiE OF KARS . The following account is from the letter of a Russian officer : — " The main attack of our troops , which were put into motion on the night of the 28 th to 20 th September , with the entire storming apparatus from Tschirotlitschai , was directed against that point which is to Kara what the Malakhoff , with the KornilefF Bastion , was to Sebastopol—viz ., the Sohorakh group of hills , with their enormously strong fortifications . The dark squares of our men moved like huge shadows silently and noiselessly over the plain . In the east at length a white streak announced the break of day , and a oold breeze came sweeping along . The

      action began on the Sohorakh heights , and it was here , that Death gleaned the first-fruits of his harvest . General Maidel had received instructions to climb these heights and to take the fortifications , let it cost what it might . He was closely followed by Generals Kovaleveki and Prince Gagarin , with their storming columns ; but a murderous oross-firo made such fearful gaps in our close masaeB that even those who had got up high on the hill , ay , had even attained the edge of the fosse , were obliged to turn back . At this point , Kovalevaki and Prinoe Gagarin were each of them hit by two balls , and General Maidel was first of all slightly and then seriously wounded . He also was obliged to leave the field . The officers were compelled to expose themselves so much in ordor to bring their

      columns through that fearful firo . Only Maidel ' s Caucasian battalions , under the command of Colonel Tarohanoff , sucoedodin penetrating into the fortified position of the Turks , and for a moment kept possession of it ; but iu vain were all their attempts to storm the central fortification from that point . It was in vain that a numbor of guns was brought up to their support ; the fearful fire of the enemy prostrated both gunners and horses . Tho Caucasians endeavoured to hold their ground until tho reserve under General Bronieweki came to the assistance- of their thinned ranks ; but this General received a serious wound , and so did hie successor in command , Colonel Ganeeki . With a view to faoilitato tho storming , General Basin , « rho hadjoined the day previously , wna ordered , in

      conjunction with General Baklanoff , to storm Tchakhmakh from the side opposite to us . He took three redoubts , together with twelve guns that they mounted , and eleven stand of colours and pennons , and for many hours held out against a murderous cross-fire of artillery , but without , however , being able to advance any further . The Turks defended themselvea most obstinately and undauntedly under cover of their works . A sultry day succeeded to the coolness of night . The struggle had already lasted five hours , and the men were exhausted . An exterminating cross-fire from the upper and lower rows of the fortress , lying one above the other like stairs , continued to devastate our infantry and artillery . At length it became necessary to decide upon a retreat , else the army would have been entirely destroyed . This was executed in such a way that , by the skilful arrangements of General Kaufmann , all pursuit was made impossible to the Turks , who were already preparing for it . The failure of the attack is attributed to the loss of officers , but it is not to be denied that nevertheless our troops did their very utmost ; but the Turks fought with an invincible obstinacy . At the calling over of the muster-roll in camp , more than a third ( some say a good half ) were wanting of those who , the night before , had stood in the front before the storm began . The whole of the following day was occupied in collecting the killed and wounded , and we now stand in our former blockading position . Many officers who are only slightly wounded have remained in front , bo as not to leave their regiments quite without officers , or merely under the command of subalterns . The Emperor ' s body regiment of Carabineers ( Erivan ) has suffered most of all ; all its officers ( thirtytwo ) have been either wounded or killed ; the next is the Grand Duke Constantino regiment of Grenadiers , which has lost three commanders of battalions killed , while four other majors received wounds or contusions ; in addition to them the regiment is minus twenty-eight officers killed and wounded . " A Caucasian Demonstration . — Major-General Filipson , the Ataman of the Tschernomora Cossacks , gives the following additional particulars of the expedition of the Allies to Tainan and Phanagoria : — " Simultaneously with , the appearance of the Allies , a numerous body of mountaineers assembled at Gastogaja . On the 1 st of October , at four o ' clock in the morning , they advanced against the Dschiginski Battery . The enemy , among whom there were two columns of regular troops ( probably Turks ) , took possession of the bank of the Kuban at the spot where the ferry is , and opened a violent fire of small arms . On the bank of the Kuban and Dschigi , which lies somewhat higher , the mountaineers stationed two pieces of artillery , with which they commanded the Dschiginski Battery . The action lasted two hours , until at length the enemy relinquished his purpose of forcing a passage over the river , and withdrew to Gastogaja . We hear that Sefer Bey , Pacha of Anapa , was the leader of the mountaineers in this action , in which about 4 , 000 men , cavalry and infantry , with two guns , each drawn by six horses , took part . At four o ' clock iu the afternoon of the same day , smaller troops of mountaineers showed themselves near Fort Warenikoff . Single horsemen approached the fort and examined it with their glassea . Towards evening , however , they all retired iu the direction of the river Psebebs , where their watchfires reddened the sky the whole night long . On the following day , about 3 , 000 mountaineers approached the fort again and fired upon it , without their fire being returned by the Russians . It was not till October 3 rd , when tho mountaineers repeated the same manoeuvre , that they were received with grape and canister , which soon induced them to withdraw out of range . This detachment is said to be under the command of the son of the Pacha of Anapa , Karabatyi Sonoko . " QUY PAWKBS AND INKERMANN DAT IN THE CRIMEA . To-day is the 6 th , the first of tho two days for which the Russian attack haB been predicted , but there is no sign of Russians , and tho camp is as silent as it was noisy last night . The 5 th of November , the anniversary of the battle of Inkermann , which probably will be likewise substituted by most poople in England for the memory of Guy Fawkes , has been celebrated in the English camp by bonfires . A number of tar barrels , which had been brought hack by the soldiers from Sebnstopol , where a great quantity of tar hna been found , wore broken open nnd sot on fire . Jn these were dipped piocoB of rags fastened to sticks , and thus torches wore improvised , which were swung about and thrown up in the air , giving to the scene from afar the appearance of soino pyrotechnic exhibition ; but when you came nearer it looked like a war dance of cannibal ? , or tho vedae infernaXe in Robert It Diahk , with yella substituted for the muBio . When aeen quite close it formed a picture a la Rembrandt , butr the subject reminded one more of tho fantastic paintings conoeivod by the excited imagination of some Spanish painters of tho monastic school of terror than the placid scenes of-the Dutch master , except that no painter oould havo given on his canvas the life which anifaated the scene . Tho mniu group iu the middle stirring up tho tar-barrola , the

      frantic attitudes and leaps of those around , swinging about their torches and throwing them into the air , and in the background the guard turned out to prevent disorder , and forming a picturesque contrast in their dark-grey ? coats with the glaring figures of the chief actors , completed a most extraordinary scene . The Light Division began the joke , which was soon taken up by the other English divisions , until the whole English camp was one blazing light , and the air rang with shouts and hurrahs . But it was not only outside in the open air that the anniversary of the victory of Inkermann was celebrated . It was kept up likewise in the huts and tents , and many were the applications for an hour or two's leave to keep the lights burning . A sort of confused noise , contrasting with the usual silence of the night , left no doubt that the solemnity was kept up to a late hour . —Time * Tchemaya Correspondent . THE CZAR AT ODESSA . When the Emperor Alexander was at Odessa , he visited the Cathedral , and was addressed as follows by the Archbishop Innocent : — " Pious Sovereign , thou hast scarcely put on the crown of thy ancestors when it has pleased Providence to surround it with thorns . Our bodily eyes are not accustomed to see such an ornament sparkle on the head of kings ; but the eyes of faith see in it , with piety and respect , a souvenir of the crown of Christ . Has it not been , in fact , such crowns that the most pious kings and princes have worn since David , Jehosaphat , Constantino , Vladimir the Great , until Dimitril , our hero of the Don , and finally thy patron , Alexander Newsky ? " Have courage , and let not thy soul become weak at the sight of those smoking brands , " said the Prophet to the warrior king Akakz , when the two kingdoms of Israel and Assyria united against him in an unjust war . How closely do these words of the prophet apply to us and our enemies ! This unhappy France ! Is she not , in truth , the brand which for half a century has carried fire throughout the entire world ? And the proud , but to-day abased and jeopardised Britain ! What is she , if not the other brand , which , after being extinguished for two centuries , recommences to smoke in the midst of a yawning gulf ! And we also will say with the Prophet , ' Let not thy soul grow weak at the sight of those two smoking brands before us . ' At a sign from the Most High , the winds abate and the rain falls to fertilise our fields . These brands depart , and Russia , protected by God , recovers herself for the joy of her chief and for the well-being even of her own enemies . " Enter , then , O pious Sovereign , the temple where thy august father lately came in the depth of the night to raise towards Heaven his thanks for having escaped the tempest and shipwreck . Enter , and in thy turn raise with us thy prayers to the King of Kings for the cessation of the tempest which now rages both upon sea and land . May Heaven grant that this temple may again Bee thee kneeling before God , but then only to render acknowledgments and to give thanks . Amen , " DEATH OF MAJOR-GENERAIj MARKHAM . This melancholy event occurred on Wednesday morning . Although taking place not at the seat of war , but in London , we record it in this division of our paper , because the deceased ' s name was for the last few months intimately associated with the Crimea . He was tho son of Admiral John Markham , and the grandson of Dr . Markham , Archbishop of York . He was in his fiftiejth year , and had earned his chief fame in India . A few days before assuming the command at Peshawur , to which he had been appointed , he was recalled , in order to take the command of a division in the Crimea . The gallant officer at once set out , and performed tho journey to Calcutta in the unexampled space of eighteen days during the hot season ; nnd it was from the excessive fatigue of that journey , and the subsequent contrast of the Crimean olimato , that tho seeds of his fatal illness arose . On his arrival in the Crimea , ho took the command of the Second Division , previously commanded by General Pennefnther , and was present at the last attack on the Rodnn . He was just able to see Sebastopol fall , when his health becamo so precarious that he was ordered homo . Since then ho has never rallied , and is now among the list of departed heroes of the war .

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      WAR MISCELLANEA . The New Quartermaster-General in the Crimea . —A military correspondent of the Timca writes to complain of tho appointment of Lieutenant -Colonel the Hon . P . Herbert to the office of Quartermaster-General in the Crimea , in place of Sir Riohard Airoy , who has retired . Colonel Herbert , says tho writer alluded to , does not possoss tho scientific < 3 u * ^' tions indispensable for bo important a post . 11 * ' miral Lyons were to signalise that a Russian column was in sight , ' bearing half a point coat ol north from his ship , would this so-called Quartormastor-Gonorai be ablo to determine tho direction and the distance of this column from his own position ? "Would fco even know the number of degrees that half ft po » u *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1855, page 1120, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2116/page/4/