On this page
-
Text (3)
-
506 THE LEADER. [Saturday ,
-
John Bitooatit, the Puoiltbt, has commit...
-
THE WAR. The newsrifrom the Crimea this ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Rfhe Intelligence From The Crimea Is Of ...
barrier to stop the migration—as well try to stop the path of a troop of Hamster rats . There is something that Americans will attend to more than politics , and that is material enterprise . To cultivate land and to push trade , are the first of all objects in America i mad me ^ derive bo small portion of the benefit in those vast crops from the Republic as well as from :, fiie British colonies , ¦ which supply our markets , anxfl help to render us independent of Ifcoesia .
The state of firMnce in Eharope is rather curious . Our own Funds are up 4 or 5 per cent , since the depression in April . Amongst the Funds that have decideddy kaprawed . have been-rfeitase of Portugal and Sardinia ; . the PbrtugaeseslightLy rising from a very low state , those of Sardinia standing decidedly at a rather high figure . Austrian finance has been not in a hopeless state only since her
union with the Western policy . On the other hand , as we have already seen , Russian credit fails , notwithstanding the reported wealth of the Czar and the gold mines within his dominions ; while the Cortes of anarchic Spain were lately sitting in darkness , because the faithful Commons of that uncomfortable country could not pay their gas bill .
The Administrative Reform movement continues ; we have meetings in Lambeth , Marylebone , Southwark , Rochdale , Oxford , Merthyr , and Exeter . At most of these places the corruption arid decay of aristocratic government , and the necessity for further Parliamentary Reform , are alluded to ; but , indeed , the same kind of movement against constituted Redtapery is extending itself in a variety of directions . The Times announces that Government are about to
effect a grand concentration of the public offices around Downing-street as a centre ; the offices now being scattered over a zigzag line of more than four miles in length . The appointment of Mr . Phink , the barrister and friend of Poland , to be permanent secretary for the Admiralty , has opened Bath to be canvassed by an Administrative Reformer , which Mr . Phinn probably would have been , if he had not now retired from all political action .
The most curious kind of reform , however , is that pointed out by Archdeacon Sincxaik , in an address to the clergy of Middlesex , which has created unfeigned astonishment—not for its statements , which are true enough , but for its naivete , and candour . The Archdeacon lectures the clergy on their deficiencies of language , study , and knowledge , to which lie ascribes their failure to influence their congregations . Is there , then , to be a self-reform of the State Church ? or is the Archdeacon only the Cassandra pointing to the cause of its decline and fall ?
The correspondence between Lord Aberdeen and Lord John Russell respecting the removal of the Duke of Newcastle from the office of Minister of War has been published for the gratification of a scandalous world . It does not throw much new light on the subject . Lord John takes false ground , standing on the sham plea that the War Minister ought to be in the House of Commons , instead of saying that he thought the Duke
incompetent and Lord Palmerston competentthe ground which he took after his secession . Why this dodging and shuffling ? Can it have been that Lord John had originally promoted the appointment of the Duke , from jealousy of his old rival PAiiMEnsTON , and that afterwards something transferred his jealousy to the DukeP In this case he would be naturally driven to the false plea . There is something more to come out yet , before all is accounted for .
506 The Leader. [Saturday ,
506 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
John Bitooatit, The Puoiltbt, Has Commit...
John Bitooatit , the Puoiltbt , has committed suicide . Tho cause of tho act is not known . Ho cut his throat at a betting-house , in Broad-court , Drury-lano . Jbssy Licwakh , one of tho heroines of Burns ' n poetry , died a . t Dumfries , on Saturday last , nearly eighty yearn old . She was the widow of a Mr . Thomson , whom ehe married somo years after the poet ' p death .
The War. The Newsrifrom The Crimea This ...
THE WAR . The newsrifrom the Crimea this week is of the most important kind . Since the receipt of the intelligence announcing that the Allies had landed , and Joad driven back the Russians frona * be heights of Hhe Abna , we hasee had no such . exciting and at the same time gratifying intimation . Balakl « vsa and Inker man mrere merely negative in their results , and ^ vere saddened by the frightful aHmigliter of our countrymen . But tb © recent eveitte at the seat < af ^ hostilities < vr $ L be < of the greatest and most positive service , and are uncheq . uered as yet by a single casualty .
A second expedition to Kertch haying heen sent out with greater promptitude than might have been expected , the troops landed on the Queen's birthday , and the Russians , seized with a panic , fled without striking a blow , destroyed three of their steamers , together with about thirty transports and trading vessels , and blew up their fortifications on both sides of the Straits . They also burned their magazines , containing , according to the report of the French Admiral , 160 , 000 sacks of oats , 360 , 000 sacks of corn , and 100 , 000 sacks of flour . In the evening , the
allied fleets entered the Sea of Azof , of which we are now masters . Some vessels and about fifty guns fell into our hands . Our success was complete ; and , moreover , it was bloodless . Sir George Brown was the commander of this expedition ; and on the 24 th ult . he destroyed a foundry near Kertch , where shot , shell , and Minie balls were manufactured . At 1 p . m » on the 25 th , he readied Yeni-Kaleh , the batteries of which are now in our possession . In the advance , Sir George Brown placed the French on the right , the English on the left , and the Turks in reserve .
Later intelligence , received on Thursday b y the Admiralty , states that on the 22 nd of May ( which ie manifestly an error , since the earlier despatches make no mention of any operations before the 24 th ) , the Russians , on the appearance of the allied squadron before Bordiansk , burnt four war steamers and considerable stores of corn ; and that on the 23 rd ( probab ly the 28 th ) , the forts of Arabat were bombarded and the powder magazines blown up . One hundred and six merchant vessels ^ it is added , were destroyed , and only one small Russian steamer remained in the Sea of Azof . Arabat is some way to the westward
of Kertch after you have entered the Sea of Azof , so that our supremacy in those waters is plainly something more than merely at tbe outskirts . In addition to the foregoing , a circular from Lord Panmure states that intelligence has been received from Lord Raglan , who announces that , according to a report of Sir George Brown , dated the 28 th , the troops continue healthy ; that five vessels laden with corn , which had run into Kertch , ignorant of the place having changed hands , have been captured ; and that the number of guns taken by the Allies exceeds one hundred .
But this is not all . On the 25 th of Mny , the French occupied the line of the Tchernaya ; when the Russians , who were but scanty in numbers , made a very feeble resistance , and rapidly retreated to the hills . According to the latest accounts , the enemy have not made any demonstration against this new French line of operations . The Tchernaya may therefore be considered as fully in our possession . It must be confessed that the Allies have admirably redeemed their -wretched blunder on the occasion of the first expedition to Kertch ; though we may think ourselves lucky that the Russians did not exhibit their usual quickness and energy in profiting by the notice we had given them , and , by
erecting new works and moving up fresh forces , render Kortch a small Sebastopol . Such remissness on their part was by no means to be expected , nor , we must add , was there much reason , from past ex . porience , to believe that the Allies would act with such promptitude . The two opponents have , indeed , changed their characteristics for once ; and rumour attributes the transformation to the " rough and ready" disposition of the now French Commandcrin-chicf . Be this as it may , wo have been agreeably surprised . The most dubious must admit that our chances of taking Sebastopol are now greatly increased . With Kertch in our hands , one of the chief Russian sources of supply , both of ammunition and of food , is cut off ; a means of communication with
the main land has been taken from them ; and an approach iB made towards blockading the enemy in their own peninsula , threatening their buso of operations in the rear , and reducing them by the double action of the sword , and of famine ? . The occupation of the Tchornaya menaces them in another direction ; and if , as some anticip ate , Onmrl ' acha should advance from Eupatoria , they will bo still further distracted , nnd called upon to copo with dangers upon ovory side . And , indeed , it in evident that thoy are alr ready greatly disheartened . We read that their attacks have recently been mudo with an unusual languor , and that the men onuo even rcfuRcd to renew an assault winch wan evidently hopeless ; accounts which arc conflrinud by the Hpiritloss way in which they retired from Kcrtch ami the Tchernaya .
Even this , however , does not sum up the whole nf ma rttEant successes ; for the French have seized some important works in front of the Flagstaff Bat tery . TEais brilliant achievement is thus described iairwo Sesptrtches from General Pelissier . Tw fi «? ( dated * te 2 acd ) says ; — nrst " The < finenay fead formed between the Central Bastion and the aea a large p lac e d ' armes , where they intended assembling considerable forces , in ordei to make im portant sorties against us . On the night of the 22 nd we . attaokgfl vtbese works , which were defended by al most efl & * # he gaxrason . The icombat was very severe and lasted , almo « t Ihe wherfe , ni ght . We have taken and occup iad the half of the wodks , and I hope to be able to announce . to you to-morrow that the remainder were taken the night before . "
In the other despatch , dated ten o ' clock at night of the 24 th , General Pelissier sayB : — " We have happ il y comp leted las t ni ght the capture of the works attacked the previous day , and we occupy them . The enemy , who in the first attack suffered enor m ous losses , yielded more easily . Ours , t hough severe , have been less than theirs . The anniversary of the birthday of her Majesty Queen Victoria was cordially celebrated to-day with our allies . " A later despatch informs us that our allies have
d e finitel y established themselves in the works thus taken . The losses of the Russians in these affairs is believed to have been 5000 or 60 O 0 killed and wounded . General GortschakofF confesses to 2500 in conn ex i o n with th e str u gg le on the 22 nd alone . It w ou ld also se em that , on the ni ght of the 23 rd , the Russians directed a sortie against the French lines , probably in the hope of regaining their lost position . Recent accounts state that they appear to be retiring from the plain .
The cholera has made its appearance in the camp ; and comp laints are made of a deficiency of water , while that which is obtainable is bad . But at present the health of the troops is better than it has been yet ; their sp irits are admirable ; and our recent successes will add double zest to their work and treble strength to their arms .
THE FRENCH ATTACK OF THE 22 lO > . In th . e , D € bats , Colonel St . Ange thus writes of the attack on the Russian works so successfull y made by o u r allies on the ni ghts of the 22 nd and 23 rd .: — " The works in question had been dug and constructed between the Central Bastion and the Quarantine Bay . It will be easy to explain the locality , if the reader has seen one o f those pla n s o f S ebastopol no w so common in shop windows . The general enclosure of Sebastopol is divided by t he grea t ra v i n e of the militar y harbour . We have only to consider here the part comprehended between this ravine on th e eas t , and the sea on the west . On the extreme ri ght rises the great Flagstaff Bastion , a culminating poin t ; then to the left , in going towards the sea , we come to the Central Bastion , so called - by the besiegers because it faces nearly the centre of the line that we are considering ; further on lie the bastion and the batteries that command the Quarantine Bay .
" On this side , our t roop s alread y occupy the external part of the Flagstaff Bastion , the cemetery near the Quarantine , and lastly , but quite recently , the counterapproaches that lie between this latter point and the Central Bastion ; that is to say , we apponr to l > e now in possession of all the chief external parts on the extreme left of the siege works . , We ought to explain how they proceed at these attacks to establish themselves in the conquered work . The attack is the alFair of the battalions previously assembled in the trench ; there is not much firing , everything is carried at the point of the bayonet by a sudden charge . Behind the attacking troops march detachments of workmen armed with spades and pickaxes , and having muskets slung at their bucks ; t hese are acco m panied b y sappers and miners of tho engineer corps , commanded by their officers . As soon as tho attacking troops have dislodged the enemy , they
proceed to make good their own lodgement there . r H » s the workmen and tho suppers work indefatigably to effect while the battalions keep tho repulsed enemy in check . The object to bo now effected is to turn the work aganiut tho besieged , that is to say , to g ive it the form or tho direction of a siege trench while preserving every I "" of tho en e my ' s work conducive to that end . Tho workmen hore are entitled to quite as much merit « s »» c attacking battalions , for they find thoiiiKol \ 'us equally exposed to a lire of grapq and muaketry ; and that , too , without tho powerful distraction of oxeitomont wlucn men feel when under lire and charging with tho bayonet . Tho ollicora of Engineers on theso oocuaiun * an to m admired for their cool courago , as thoy point out tm work to bo done , and trace out tho direction to no t . niwn , iu order that tho men Hufl ' or lunst from tin' ' " "
may tho enemy ' s flro . Thoy are active and courii ^ oufl , ^' thoy aro nlno a « passionless as if thoy wore worhmtf tho P ol ygon . . (] c " ( Amoral Pollnaior haa inaugurated hi * ndvcut to chief command by a vigorous demons ! m I ion , w » " fc nnidouco with boIdncwM . We « oo that tlm aUW" * " topol is being carried on with energetic ? cioiiHiatency i ' auccosHivo progress ought to prove to Europe tiwit powers alliod in arnut before the walls of tfebnul'M " . ' V not lot go their hold , and that thoy will eutl by aciucv » i b
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1855, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02061855/page/2/
-