Vol. IV.— No. 97.] 
Saturday, November 4, 1S54. 
[Gratis. 
THE FI ELD O F WAR. 
MAILS FOR SCUTARI HOSPITAL. 
On Tuesday the 24th of October, the Postmaster-General 
Issued orders for a separate bag to be made up with letters 
and newspapers addressed to the invalids and wounded of 
the British army in Turkey ; and, in order that no delay may 
take place in their delivery, all such, instead of being ad- 
dressed “ Head-quarters,” should bear the superscription, 
" The Hospital, Scutari, Constantinople.” These mails will 
he dispatched on the evenings of the 3rd, 9th, I9th, 23rd, and 
29th, or, when the month has 31 days, on the 30th. The 
postage must be paid in advance. The next mail will be 
made up on Thursday, the 9th of November instant. 
Letters intends l for the Black Sea will be forwarded 
from Devonport on the 4th inst. (to day), if addressed “ Per 
her Majesty's screw steam despatch gun-boat Wrangler." 
THE RUSSIAN ACCOUNT OF OPERATIONS IN 
THE CRIMEA. 
( From the Journal de SI. Pettrsbourg). 
The Anglo-French conducted their united forces before 
Sebastopol from the north of that town to the. south, thus 
entirely changing the basis of operations. They attained 
this object by a flank march round the town. The organs 
of the foreign press cannot find expressions to praise suffi- 
ciently the skilfulness of this manoeuvre. Without wishing 
to detract from the merit of it, at least it is just to mention 
also, and to explain the operations of Prince Menschikoff in 
reference to the enemy. 
After the battle upon the Alma, the Prince, not finding 
a position strong enough upon the Katseha and the Belbec 
to give a fresh battle to the enemy, passed the Tchernaya, 
and concentrated his forces in a position to the east of the 
town, after having garrisoned the fort3 of the north with a 
sufficient number of troops. 
The enemy advanced, passed the Katseha and the Belbek, 
and reached the heights which surround the northern forts. 
The position of Prince Menschikoff was disadvan- 
tageous, inasmuch as it enabled the enemy to occupy 
the direct communications with the interior of the empire. 
It was therefore necessary to abandon that position, aud the 
prince achieved the object by a luminous idea, carried into 
effect in the most daring manner. He marched during the 
night of the 24th to the 25th of September towards Bakshi- 
serai, after having crossed the Tchernaya by a single bridge. 
He executed this march in flank in the course of the night, 
-and in the morning of the 25th found himself in the valley of 
Bakshi-serai place. 1 in the flank and the rear of the enemy, 
having his communication free with the interior of tho 
empire, and with the reinforcements which he expected. 
I The new position of the prince would have been annoying 
I the enemy if the latter had been desirous of attempting an 
! attack against the forts of tho north. For this reason the enemy 
did not make the attempt to attack the forts of the north. 
On the contrary, he adopted the resolution of changing the 
point of attack from the north to the south of Sebastopol, by 
turning the town to the oast. Lot it be permitted to us hero 
to throw a light upon some circumstances, which will enable 
an impartial judgment to be formed respecting the operations 
of the two parties. 
Prince Menschikoff had to march across mountains and by | 
one road, which from the point where Mackenzie's farm is 
situate was only at u distance of four worsts from the j 
advanced posts of the enemy. Indeed, the bivouac fires I 
were seen thence. The princo could not attempt to cover 
his march by the means which are usually adopted in such 
cases, for it was necessary, above all things, not to attract the 
attention of the enemy. In his position it was necessary to 
avoid a battle, which would have hindered the movements 
of his column. The prince marched with his train aud 
park of artillery. All these difficulties were surmounted, 
and our troops had, on tho morning of the 25th, reachod a 
point where the enemy did not suppose them to be. 
Our adversaries also executed, and almost at the same 
time, a flank march, but under much more advantageous cir- 
cumstances. From Belbek, and the plateau which they 
occupied on the 24th, they had only to gain Mackenzie’s 
Farm in order to attain the route leading by a descent to 
the Tchernaya. The enemy executed this movement with- 
out being perceived by us, for the point where Mackenzie's 
Farm is situated at a distance of sixteen worsts from the spot 
where our forces were stationed ; and, besides, it is also 
covered by woody mountains. 
If Prince Menschikoff had been desirous of attacking the 
enemy during the march, he could only have done so by 
one route, which, tor a distance of ten worsts, is upon an 
ascent from the Belbek to Mackenzie’s Farm. It would only 
have been necessary for the enemy to place a few batteries 
iu a good position upon the heights to enable him to check 
our attack for so long a time that the movement of the 
column could not be completed without danger. The 
enemy had the great advantage of marching without guns 
and artillery, which, in the meantime, had been quietly 
transported by sea to Balaklava. Whoever has marched 
with a troop, whether an army or a battalion, will appreciate 
the difference between advancing with and without a train of 
artillery. 
It was requisite that Prince Menschikoff should avoid a 
I combat during his movement, because the enemy was placed 
in an advantageous position for it. Our adversaries, on the 
contrary, marched in such a manner that they would not 
have been mcouvenieucod by an attack upon their flank, an 
attack which tho prince, from the nature of the territory, 
could not bring about without engaging in it under unfavour- 
able circumstances. 
ANOTHER RUSSIAN DESPATCH. 
(fly Submarine anti British Airgraph.) 
Bessarabia. 
In a despatch, dated Oot. 29, Prinoe Oortsclinkoff announces, 
from his head -quarters in Bessarabia, that on the 25th 
General Lipruudi took four English redoubts — 'outside 
Sebastopol. 
Eleven guns wero taken at the same time. 
Lord Cardigan lost half tho light oavnlry. 
Berlin. 
According to a Russian official despatch published in the 
Kreuz Zeitwig, dated St. Petersburg, Oot. 28, tho siege of 
Sebastopol continued uninterruptedly, but tho fortifications 
had Buffered but little. 
The attack on tho sea sido had not been renewed. 
The Russians had made a successful sortie, and a French 
battery of eleven guns and eight inortara had been destroyed. 
Lord Claiiricardo’s son, Lord Duukellin, had been taken 
prisoner. 
Paris. 
The Conslitutionnrl publishes a long artielo, accounting 
for the delay in the fall of Sebastopol, and giving a description 
of the enormous labour noeosaarily attendant on such an 
operation. Tho following is given by that paper as the 
weight of the inn 1 riel dc sb'-ge employed by the allies before 
Sebastopol. The total amounts to 4,521,234 kilogrammes, 
which is equal to 10,042,750 lbs. avoirdupois. This enor- 
mous materiel is divided as follows : — 
Cannon 266,530 kilog. 
Uun-carlngrs, ammunition, anti ba^ngc-wag- 
gons, Sic 588,470 „ 
Projectile* 2,510,442 , 
Powdcr 048,600 
Tho remainder is composed of n multitude of objects too 
numerous to bo mentioned. But it is to be remarked that 
in the above enumeration is not included the marine artillery, 
weighing 3,520 kilog. or 3,035 kilog. each gun, according to 
j whether they are thirty-six or thirty pounders. 
Although Sebastopol is far from being regularly fortified 
on the land side, the works are numerous, and the cannon 
of largo calibre, and the Russian fleet defends the ramparts. 
| Nearly 1,500 guns arc opposed to those of the allies, a num- 
ber far exceeding tho ordinary. Valenciennes, in 1793, sus- 
tained a siege of 45 days with 175 canuon ; Dautzic, in 1813, 
CONSECRATION OF ST. MARY’S CHURCH Rwavttqwa tqt a vn «— • i<wo 
