aturday, December 30, 1854. 
[Gratis. 
THE NEWSPAPER. 
THE WAR. 
♦ 
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. 
From ft letter in the Courrier de Marseilles of the 22ud, 
we find that the French are slowly strengthening their posi- 
tion, au.:l extending their batteries and siege works. The 
army is anxious for the assault Tho city, properly 
speaking, has suffered little, but the suburbs of the marine 1 
and the Tartar quarter are destroyed. They are, it is true, I 
outside the ramparts. We cau see, from the heights occupied 
by the English, what is going on in the city. Notwithstand- 
ing all that has been reported, nothing indicates that con- 
fusion prevails within its walls. The most perfect order on 
the contrary, appears to exist there. The inhabitants quietly 
walk about the streets, troops move in every direction with- 
out any apparent anxiety, and on several points we perceive 
long lines of muskets piled up. No woman or child is any- 1 
where to be seen. The Russians carefully Vetch our move- 
ments, and are particularly alarmed at the progress making 
by the French in the direction of the Quarantine." 
The correspondent of the Daily News, dating from 
Balaklava, Dec. 6, after referring to the inactivity of our 
army before Sebastopol, as well as of the besieged, says 
“ These marks of a declining spirit on the part of the 
besieged unless it hides some deep plan — corroborate the I 
assertions of almost all the deserters during the last few 
days. They describe the condition of the garrison as lameu- ^ 
table. According to the statements of these men, the place 
ls untenable; a storming party of 12.0U0 might any day 1 
carry it with very little loss. On the other hand, there are 
unmistakeable signs of a determination on the part of the I 
commander, at least, to hold out ; at all events to baffle any ' 
attempt of ours to bombard the town into submission. The | 
works are carried on by day and by night ; mud forts and 
batteries rise up as if by enchantment. The fortress is I 
actually getting stronger under the operation of our siege, j 
Perhaps the day of storming is nearer at hand than we fancy. 
With the reinforcements already come up — the 90th Regi- ! 
ment landed two days ago, and the 7lst and 34th are off the 
harbour— with the 1st battalion of Grenadier Guards, the 
Fusilier Guards, and the troops announced as coming in the I 
latest English papers, and with the large reinforcements to 
the French army that are daily landiugatthe Chersonesus— 
wo certainly do not want numbers to assault the town, and 
at the same time to hold our Balaklava position.” 
A despatch from Sebastopol of the 14tli announces that 
on the 11th the Russians attacked the French outposts, and 
gained possession of the mortars, but were repulsed with the 
loss of fifty men. It is also stated that Prince Meuschikoff 
is ill, and that O.sten-Sacken exercises the coinmaud during 
the sickness of the Commauder-in-Chief. 
By news from Constantinople of the 16th, we learn that 
the Russians sustained a loss of 700 men in a sortie on the 
12 th. 
Tiie Times correspondent at Vienna, dating the 23rd, ! 
says : " Most reliable intelligence has been given me that 
scientific officers who have recently returned from the Crimea 
to Constantinople express their firm conviction that very 
shortly after the attack on Sebastopol Is renewed, a part, if 
mot the whole, must fall into the hands of the Allies. It Is 
believed that, after a tremendous bombardment, some of the 
forts will be taken by storm, but this last operation will 1 
hardly be attempted until all the reinforcements have been 
received. The landing-place of Omar Pasha's army is kept 
profoundly secret, but it is considered certain that it will be 
on the north side of the fortress.” 
MOVEMENTS OF THE BELLIGERENTS. 
Odessa. — The Ocsterreichische Correspond? nz has letters 
from Odessa of the 12th, stating that the fear of an attack I 
by the Allies is so great that new strand batteries have been I 
constructed and iutrenchraents made on tho land side. 
General Schabelsky, a most energetic man, has succeeded 
General Annenkoff as Governor. The rainy weather con- 
tinues, and the roads are so bad that it takes three days to 
travel fifty English miles in the Crimea. The garrison of 
'Odessa now consists of 50,000 men. Eight steamers have 
been taking soundiugs off Etchakoff; and it is feared the 
Allies will make a desceut on Kinbum preparatory to an 
attack on Perekop. 
Nkw Russian Coups. — The Emperor Nicholas has ap- 
pointed Colonel Arbusoff commauder of the new regiment 
of Riflemen of the Imperial Family. The corps, formed on 
the model of the French Foot Chasseurs, was reviewed by 
the Emperor, and has been sent oft* to the Crimea 
Letters from Constantinople of the 16th inform us that 
Turkish reinforcements were proceeding to the Crimea, in 
order to act in reference to Perekop. From the 13th to tho 
20th 8,000 English and French troops had passed Malta ; and 
the Royal Albert, having on board 1,500 iuod, had passed 
Constantinople. 
A deaptftch from Varna of the 17th states that 5,000 
Turks had embarked to the Crimea. 
The Ryssi.vN Armt. — T he Ost. Deutsche Post of Vienna 
has tho following from Odessa, 12th : — “ The great event of 
the day is the recall of the Grand Dukes Michael and 
Nicholas, which has been decided on. They will probably 
return to the theatre of war next spring with the Czar him- . 
self. It is stated that tho princes have been recalled because 
Priuce Meuschikoff complained at St. Petersburg that hi* 
plans wore thwarted by other influence. Prince Meuschikoff 
has received an autograph letter from the Emperor, in which 
the latter thanks the army for the fidelity and dovotedness 
which it has hitherto shown, and expresses a conviction that 
Russia, protected by so brave an army, need not fear for the 
whole world. But the letter contained remonstrances of a 
nature to prevent the recurrence of events similar to those 
of the 5th. The tone of the letter is so severe, that it is 
very clear that the result of that day has produced a very 
deep impression on the Czar. General Oateu-Sackeu arrived 
at the Russian head-quarters on the 7th, and immediately 
announced iu an order of the day that he had assumed tho , 
command of the 4th corps d’armde. Each division of the I 
active army has by recent aiTangeintfuts been made 32,000 ' 
strong, exclusive ef cavalry. Orders have been received that 
the Russians are to keep themselves strictly on the defensive 
in the event of any diversion being attempted by Omar 
Pasha in Bessarabia.” A lotter from St. Petersburg, iu the j 
Hamburg News, says “ The corps of grenadiers, as well os 
the corps of infantry, will be reinforced by two battalions 1 
for each regiment from the depots. This measure proves 
that there is no idea of peace." A despatch from the Times 
correspondent at Berlin, of December 24, states that, by an ! 
ukase dated the 13th a levy of 10 men in every 1,000 
throughout the eastern half of the empire is decreed. This ' 
levy will commence on the 15tli of February, and must be j 
finished by the 15th of March. The Jews are not exempt. | 
Another despatch, dated from Vienna, December 26, informs 
us that a Russian ukase ordains that whoever after a battle 
commits acts of cruelty on the wounded or unresisting shall 
suffer the punishment of death. 
Russian Troops in Poland. — The Augsburg Gazette has 
tho following from Vienna : — A well-informed agent, who 
has just returned from Warsaw, gives us tho following 
information : — The Grand Duke, the heir presumptive, is to 
arrive in Warsaw in January, and to pass the winter there. 
The Guards continue entering Poland, and it is probable 
that they are all there at present. Six regiments of cavalry 
are on the Bug, and part of the troops who were iu the 
governments of Lublin ami ltodan, to the number of 18,000, 
are passing into Volhynia. Troops are still marching from 
the north to the south. All the garrisons of Lithuania have 
received orders to march towards the south. The garrisons 
of Berdizeu, Constantinowen, Volhynia, Wuicka, and 
Mohilew, in Podolia, are all proceeding to the fortified camps 
of Kamiuiec-Podolski and Chotini. The vidottes of these 
corps advance quite close to the Austrian frontier. Other 
videttes are placed on the left bank of the Zbruck an l on the 
right bank of the Dneister. Below Czeruowitz, where the 
frontier is open, the Russians are constructing redoubts on 
the territory of Bessarabia. 
Russian Policy. — The Russian Government has forbidden 
the export of sheepskins for the remaining term of the war. 
An imperial ukase also prohibits the export of cattle, salted 
meat, fresh provisions, rope, sailcloth, and linen, from the 
porta of the Danube, Black Sea, aud Sea of Azoff. Notice is 
also giveu, that any Russian subject resident in the king- 
dom of Poland who shall quit tho imperial dominions with- 
out leave, will be punished by the confiscation of his estates 
and effects. The internal prospects of Russia are gloomy iu 
the extreme. Trade is paralysed aud money is scarce. Im- 
perials have advanced forty-two copeks. 
The French Marine. — The Journal du Havre announces 
that the Minister of Marine has ordered a new levy of all 
seamen having served less thau four years on board the 
ships of the Imperial navy. 
Egyptian Troops. — On the 8th iust., when the Tagus 
left Alexandria, 5,000 Egyptian troops were embarking for 
Constantinople. 
The Turkish Armt. — The correspondent of the Daily 
News at Vienna says : " Reliable information has been given 
me. that not more than 20,000 or 25,000 Turks will be left 
in the Dobrudscha and Moldavia, as all doubt as to the re- 
solve of Austria to defend the lines of the Pruth aud Danube 
against auy aggressive operations on the part of Russia are 
entirely removed.” 
OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA. 
Writing from the camp before Sebastopol, Dec. 4, the Time* 
correspondent says: — “ The whole plateau on which stands the 
camp — the entire of the angle of land from Balaklava round 
to Cnerson, and thence to the valley of Inkerman — is fitted 
at this moment for the reception and delectation of any num- 
ber of ichthyosauri, sauri, and crocodiles ; it is a vast, black, 
dreary wilderness of mud, dotted with little lochs of foul 
water, and seamed by dirty brownish and tawny-coloured 
streams running down to and along the ravines. A graud 
plateau of bog, varying in depth from a foot to two feet, ex- 
tends from the valley of Inkerman to the sea at Balaklava. 
All over its surface are strewed the carcasses of horses and 
miserable animals, torn by dogs and smothered in mud. 
V ultures sweep over the mounds in flocks ; carrion crows 
and ‘ birds of prey obscene ' hover over their prey, 
menace the hideous dogs who are feasting below, or sit 
in gloomy dyspepsia, with drooped head and dropping 
wing, on the remnants of their banquet. Horses drop ex- 
hausted on the road, and their loads are removed aud added 
to the burdens of the struggling survivors ; thou, after a few 
efforts to get out of their Slough of Despond, the poor brutes 
succumb and lie down to die in their graves. Men wade and 
plunge about, and stumble through tlie mud, with muttered 
imprecations, or sit down on a projecting stone, exhausted, 
pictures of dirt aud woe unutterable. Sometimes on the 
route the overworked and sickly soldier is seized with 
illness, and the sad aspect of a fellow countryman dying 
before his eyes shocks every passer-by — the more be- 
cause aid is all but hopeless and impossible." After giving 
us further incidents, as to the position of our army, 
ho says : — “ Why should not roads have been made 
when we sat dowu before the place? Their formation would 
have saved many lives, and have spared our inen much sick- 
ness and pain. Had there beou the least foresight — nay, had 
there existed among us the ordinary instincts of self-preser- 
vation, we would have set the Turks to work at once while 
the weather was fine, aud have constructed the roads which 
we are now trying to make under most disadvantageous cou- 
d'tious. The Russians take advantage of what Mr. Russell 
calls our inactivity,” to prowl about and heat up the ad- 
vanced posts. Tho pickets of tho 60th were surprised one 
night, and some of the men wore bayoneted as they lay in 
their blankets by the Russians. « Our advanced parallel, or 
rather a trench which has been continued by a single ap- 
proach from the treuch before the right attack, is now within 
300 yards of the earthwork of the Russian works, and is 
filled with our beet riflemen. It will not bo possible to 
opeu embrasures in the parapet owing to the nature of tho 
ground.” The mortality among the Turks, by the lost ac- 
counts was frightful. Processions of men bearing half-covered 
corpses on litters, wero passing throughout the day, till at 
last Colonel Daveuey gave orders that tho Turkish dead 
should bo buried on the hill-side beyond tho town. “ Yester- 
day (3rd iust.), boforo evening, upwards of seventy bodies 
were carried to their long home, and deposited in shallow 
graves, not above a few inches deep, aud were left, with a 
shovelful or two of earth and pebbles over them, as close as 
they could be packed. To-day tho name process is going on. 
The dead are frightful to look upon.” By a letter, dated tho 
5th, we learn that “ the whole of tho works of our new 
attack have been completed, and are now awaitiug their 
armament Owing to the cessation of rain we have been 
enabled to get up to the artillery park five guns of position 
and three 13-inch mortars. The scarcity of rations continues, 
except among the Guards, the Marines, and Rifles on the 
heights, and the Highland Brigade near tho town of Bala- 
klava.” An attack seems to have been contemplated by the 
Russians on the night of the 5th ult. Iu tho valley of Bala- 
klava the hum of great crowds of men was heard, and 
lights wero seen moving about, by the pickets. “ It was 
supposed that the enemy had received reinforcements or were 
about to make a dash at our position before Balaklava. The 
Hospital Guards and the invalid battalion were at once 
turned out, and the French, shrouded in their capotes, 
grimly waited in the lines tho first decisive movement of the 
enemy. The night was cold, but not clear, aud after a time 
the noise of wheels and the tramp of men ceased, and the 
alarm was over. Ere morning, however, wo knew tho cause 
of it, for about five o'clock a.iu. an outburst of flames from 
the redoubts in which the Russians had hutted themselves 
illuminated the sky, and at tho same time the fire 
broke out in the cottages on the slope of the hill 
before Kamara. When morning came tho sinoke was 
seen aseending to heaven, and the Russians were 
visible in much diminished numbers on the higher 
plateaux of the hills near Tchergom and Kamara. The faint 
rays of the morning sun played on the bayonets of another 
portion of the force as they wound up the road towards 
Mackenzie's Farm, and passed through tho wood over the 
right bank of the Tcheruaya. Tho reason of this retreat re- 
mains unknown to us as yet. The French pushed down 
their cavalry, and seized the plain. They found dummies 
I (mock guns) in the embrasures, the Russians having carried 
J off all their artillery, to the number of eighty-five pieces.’' 
From the 7th the weather has improved, becoming warmer 
: and drier ; in the nights, however, frost takes place. 
That the comforts which have now beou so plentifully for- 
warded were needed is proved by the following extract from a 
j letter recently received from n soldier in t'ae Crimen, dated 
1 )ec. 7: — “Our hospitals are all got quite full again ; it is quite 
a common occurrence to have to take a man to the hospital iu 
the middle of the night; the poor fellows get cramped in the 
iuside from the cold, which strikes to their very hearts. 
We have only one blauket to roll round us when we lie 
down, and our tents, owing to so much rain having fallen, 
are very damp. I have seen men, after a heavy rain in the 
night, wake up and find themselves in a puddle of water. 
Our men are in a shocking state here. The French are far 
before us iu every respect iu regard to the private soldiers’ 
comfort. The French have had warm clothing sent out to 
them ; our people have been talking about doing so, aud 
that is all. What is our boasted wealthy nation thinking 
about, allowing their army to remain iu such a wretched 
state as we are now in V’ 
Health of the Troops in the Crimea. — We learn, by a 
private letter from the camp, that, when the last mail left 
Balaklava (Dec. 3), there were about 3,000 sick. The mor- 
tality was considerable — 84 men died on the 3oth of Novem- 
ber; 114 out of the 173 wounded Russians, carried to 
Balaklava after the battle of Iukormun, had died. Cholera 
of a severe type was prevalent. Horses, mules, aud bullocks 
were dying by dozens. Forage was exceedingly short, and 
provisions, &c., generally were very scarce ; fowls, 8s. a 
couple ; ouudlos, 3s. per lb. ; jams, 5s. a very small jar. — 
Medical Times and Gazette. 
The Hospital at Scutari. — The Times correspondent, 
writing from Scutari on the 10th ult., says “ The number 
of invalids sent down here from the Crimea does not 
diminish, aud dysentery and fever have been, for tho last 
month, more powerful and fatal enemies than the sword. 
There are no less than 2,200 sick in hospital at Balaklava, 
aud steamers continue to arrive thence freighted with ns 
dismal cargoes of human suffering as if they had on board 
the wounded after some great battle. Three days ago the 
Avon came down with more thau 300 men, the vast ma- 
jority of them dysentery aud fever patients. At Balaklava 
the provision made for the sick aud wounded is stated, on 
unquestionable authority, to be in many respects deplorably 
! defective. The hospital arrangements at Scutari contiuuo 
! to improve; but tho increasing number of patieyts sur- 
rounds tho management of such vast establishments with 
I fresh difficulties. Iu the two buildings there canuot now bo 
! much loss thau 4,000 patients— au accumulation of suffering 
j for which it is impossible iu all respects satisfactorily to 
1 provide. Gangrene, I regrot to say, exists in many of tho 
