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    THE LEADER. [Satphday, '- r ,O/L ' ¦ ¦ ....

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    Notes Of The Siege. Most? Interesting Ac...

    leaving 8060 to relieve them . We are undertaking thesSge of-a town with a garrison of ^ OO ^ men , our rear Sflank menaced with a force of 40 , 000 more . They are superior in guns , position , and everything else , irTuvingirhouses , well 8 uppUed with clothing , food , and everything necessary for the ^ preservation of health , whUe we areobliged to keep our men , who were until the last week nearly naked , without a shirt on their backs , a shoe or sock on their feet , exposed to the wet and cold for twelve hours at a tune in the twnches , ancle-deep in the slush , and , when , in the advanced works , unable to move or stand upright from the constant fire of the Russians . Can it be wondered that these men should say that they would rather die than back to the miserable camp ? The tents all leak , and

    eo Piemen are lying fifteen together in a place where no English gentlemen would put their pigs . The only rations are salt meat , and of that for some time they have only had half quantities . The pitiful gill of rum even can be seldom issued regularly . The Commissariat do all they can , I believe ; but the wear and tear of animal power dragging up those dreadful arabas is so great , with the roads as they have been—two feet deep in the heaviest clay , —that without a constant importation , we shall be brought to a stand-still ; forage , too , is very scarce , and the wretched animals are dying all over the country . The Turkish drivers are dying fast . I see no end to matters till we send an army of 70 , 000 men to Perekop , for supplies of every description are continually coming in .

    " Now there are very few guns serviceable ; all the large ones are disabled . I would not desire a better fortune than the money that their shot and shell would fetch as bid iron . For acres the ground is literally covered with it , which shows what immense preparations the Czar has made . They have a great advantage over us , for the diameter of our guns of the same nominal calibre is smaller than theirs , so that our shot will fit their guns , but theirs , with the exception of 241 b ., are too large for us . "I think I have given you a pretty long yarn about our very exhilarating prospects here . ¦ One thing" is certain—we have put our foot into itj and can't go back . If it were not for the French , we should be all on our way to Moscow ; but they are magnificent soldiers , and show us an example in every arrangement . "

    AT > MIBAX BRUAT IN SBBASTOPOL . Lately , after a severe attack of gout , Admiral Bruat called someof f his officers into his cabin , and said , " Gentlemen , a good idea has just occurred to me—it is , to go quietly in , and ourselves visit the channel of Sebastopol . We shall so be able to judge for ourselves what its situation really is . " The proposition was joyfully accepted , and in the middle of the night several of the boats of the Charlemagne put off and entered the channel . The boats went through every part of it , and the admiral touched with his own hand the chain which closes the entrance

    of the military port . Everything was managed so d & v _ eriy _ on _ the . j > artj > 0 ^ a single Russian sentinel was aware of their approach . But day began to break while the boats were still far down in the harbour , and the alarm was immediately given . A terrible fire was then opened all along the fortifications of the channel , and it was under a fearful shower of projectiles of every description that the boats made their way out . Fortunately , not a man was wounded , though the longboat of the Charlemagne was somewhat damaged by the enemy ' s shot .

    SHOOTING A GUN . An . officer of the Boyals says : — " Our last 68-pounder on the left attack was disabled two days ago in a curious manner . It was a ship gun , and the sailors had loaded , and were standing by ready to fire , when a shell from one of the Russian guns entered the muzzle . The concussion sent our gun off , and at the same time the enemy's shell burst inside the gun , tearing two or three feet of the lip to pieces . I saw the gun yesterday in the trenches , all jagged and splintered . Not one of the eight sailors was touched . Our guns present a very melancholy spectacle ; some burst , others with trunnions broken off and placed hora de combat in ever } 'possible manner ; but if we have fine weather , and the beasts , of which 500 are coming from Constantinople , arrive , I hope we shall be able to open flro again with more effect than on the first days . "

    THE TOWN OF SBPASTOPOX .. JThe same officer says : — " The streets are , I believe , barricaded and trenched la every possible way , and , with their apparently inex-*^ g ^ W ^ supply of powder , shot , and shell , we shall have " r ^ ^ £ ? w * * 1 tnem i ° ven when once inside the P" » oe » ,. They are working night and day , and we can see plainly long strings of arabas and dromedaries passing and repMrtng to and from the city . With a telescope you can see pUufiy the people walking quietly along tho streets , while the town , with the exception of a few barracks , or large houses on tho outflide , is perfectly uninjured ; and if it was not for the reports of the rifles and the occasional discharge of a gem from our batteries , no

    one could tell there was a , hostile army before the place ; all the magnificent arsenals and buildings near the docks are perfectly uninjured . " WHAT TBOOPS WON INKEBMAN ? An officer of the Guards complains of misrepresentation at head ^ quar-ters : — ¦ ¦ " Our Brigade are ^ aa very much annoyed at Lord Raglan ' s despatch of Inkerman ; independently of his saving so little about the Guards , the despatch was not at all correct . He mentions that the 20 th and other rerfmente of the Second Division supported ; they ought to have done sobut never did . The fact was , General

    , Pennefather , who commands the Second Division , wrote the whole of the despatch sent to England , and , of course , only mentioned his own division . Lord Raglan knew nothing about the fight at all , and , unfortunately , the three senior officers of the Brigade of Guards were wounded , and consequently no despatch came in from us . The Duke of Cambridge quarrelled with Lord Raglan , so he said nothing to him about it ; but there is a great deal of talk about the whole thing here , and much displeasure . Lord Raglan is getting fast into bad odour with the whole army from his total carelessness of everything ; there will be a great outcry against him

    before long . " PBISONEB IN SEBASTOPOI .. The following is from the letter of an English prisoner ( 20 th Regiment ) in the hospital inside Sebastopol : — - " I have got the opportunity of writing to let you know where I am . I was taken prisoner on the morning of the 5 th , I was close to that battery on the hill . When the Russians advanced up to the battery I was hit by a musket-ball on the right ear ; at the same time a stone or a pieceof shell hit me on the body and knocked me down . Before I could get up again I had my firelock

    taken from me , and was hit on the head , which left me insensible for a time . After they drove our men down the hill , seven or eight of them pricked me with their bayonets , and hit me with the butts of their firelocks ; one was going to fire at me , but the others Would not let him . They dragged my belt off and took me over the bridge , where their wounded were , while ( till ) night . Then they took us close to the harbour on the right ^> f the town into an hospitals I am getting quite well now . The officers are very kind to us . We have lib . of bread , some soup with a little piece of meat in it , and a glass of tea per day ; " ~

    BUS 3 IAN BEINFORCEMENTS AND FOBCE IN THE CRIMEA . The Morning Chronicle thus sums up the military power of Russia : — "If any faith can be placed in letters addressed to and intelligence received by German journals , from Odessa , considerable bodies of infantry are being pushed down to the Crimea from the Bessarabian army , and their places filled up by reserve brigades and by divisions from General Paniutin ' s ( 2 nd ) corps , hitherto stationed in Volhynia , whilst the latter are relieved by divisions of the first corps and corps of Grenadiers .

    —a ' -The-7 th , 8 th ,-and-9 th-divisions ,-forming-the third corps , now commanded by General Read , in the place of General Osten-Sacken , removed to the fourth corps , are said to have marched , through Odessa on their way to Perekop , in successive columns of brigades , whose movements are to be aided by waggons , principally famished by the German colonists dotted over the intervening steppes , in the same manner that they aided with 2000 waggons in the transport of the fourth corps , immediately previous to the . battle of Inkerman . Taking the Russian returns at their value on paper , the three divisions , each of sixteen battalions , would give 48 , 600 bayonets , including the 3 rd battalion of Rifles . But the utmost average amount of effective combatants does hot

    and cannot exceed 7000 men , half of them being recruits of the hist eighteen months' levies . The actual force of the three divisions , when they reach Sebastopol , will therefore be about 82 , 000 bayonets , with 140 fieldpieces ; that is , if the fourteen batteries of the corps can keep up with the infantry . To this corps is attached the third division of light cavalry , consisting of the 5 th and 6 th Lancers , and 6 th and 6 th Hussars , each of eight squadrons , or about 3200 effectives . It has also fourteen field-batteries of ten guns each , divided into three brigades , one of which is horse of two battories . A position battery of 12 or 18-pounders is attached to each foot brigade . Tho corps has further a battalion of Sappers , and six battalions ( or

    rather strong companies ) of field-train ; so that Us total amount may be set down at 44 , 000 effectives . Supposing this corps to join the Crimean army , and allowing 25 , 000 men for the service of the place and forts , Prince Menschikoff will have 65 , 000 bayonets disposable for outside work , with at least 12 , 000 horse , and 800 field pieces . Of the Danube army , originally under Prince Gortschakoff , only the second brigade of the fourteenth , and the whole of the fifteenth division , -will remain in Bessarabia . Common reason shows , therefore , that tho places of tho six divisions , moved or moving from thence to the Crimea within the last two months , have boon filled up by troops from Volhynia and Podolia , ao as to give at least 60 , 000 effectives to Princo Gortsohakoff's force . " Having a knowledge that Princo Meiwchikoff will

    shortly be enabled to dispose of the above-mentioned force of 90 , 000 bayonets , of course the British and French Governments must be fully aware that it is for them to take such precautions as shall place the allied commanders in a position , to attack or defend upon tolerably equal grounds . "

    ¦ ¦ ' ¦ THE WOBKINO CLASSES' AND THE WAB . .. The following resolution -was passed at a meeting of the working classes and seamen of South Shields , held last week : — " That this meeting , believing the present war with Russia to be a just and necessary war , urge upon her Majesty ' s ministers to conduct it with vigour and determination , and without compromise , believing such a line of policy to be the most effective to produce a solid and satisfactory peace ; arid we resolve to the best of our ability to assist in the support of the widows and orphans of the brave fellows who have fallen and may fall'inthe battle , or who may die in the execution of their duty , by subscribing to the Royal Patriotic Fund . But at the same time this meeting cannot but express

    its surprise that , whilst fuU and adequate governmental provision exists for the widows and orphans of officers who may fall in . their country ' s service , that no similar fund is provided for the widows and orphans of soldiers and sailors , and trusts that speedy steps will be taken to remedy so palpable an injustice ; and that this meeting is of opinion that the only safe and effectual guarantee for the peace of Europe and the establishment of civil and religious liberty on the Continent , are the restoration of Polish independence and the extension to the oppressed and down-trodden peoples of the Continent of those great rights of humanity , liberty of speech and liberty of conscience ; and does protest against our Government binding the English people to maintain either Austrian or any other military despotism in their present oppressive form . "

    COUBTES 1 ES IN THE CAMP . The Paris correspondent of the Daily News says : — " A French officer who came from Constantinople by the last mail told me a story from Sebastopol which , though at first suggestive of a smile , leaves a deeper and better impression behind . In the beginning of the campaign some officers of the Guards invited several officers of General Bosquet ' s division to dine at their mess . The French officers , sent a deputation to decline the invitation in the most delicate and friendly terms possible . Most of them they said had little or nothing beyond their-pay to live upon ; they could- not return hospitality in the same style that they knew it would be offered to them , and they felt certain that English

    officers would understand their scruples , and not press them to accept civilities which some at least among thennumber might feel as laying them under the weight of an obligation . They would eagerly seize every occasion to grasp the hand of an English officer , would be delighted to join in a promenade and a cigar , but upon the whole thought it best to abstain from entering upon a course of ^ dinner giving . Against such an excuse of course no remonstrance could be made , and the English officers merely expressed _ their regret ^ thatjthey could not SetT soT " much " of " tHeir comrades in ~ armadas they fiad hoped to do . But after the battle of Inkerman the English mess in question had lost their plate and china ,

    their cellar , their potted meats , hams , preserves , and other luxuries , and , owing to commissariat difficulties but too notorious , found it difficult to procure the most ordinary rations . When these misfortunes became known in the camp the French deputation of officers renewed their visit , and said , with comic good humour , that since the fortune of war had removed the inequalities which originally constituted their only objection to an interchange of feeding , they hoped the English officers would condescend to take pot luck with them . This spxritnel invitation was naturally accepted , and the delightful fraternity which prevails between the two services was thus cemented by another link . "

    A HERO OF THE 49 TH . " I remained uninjured for four or five hours and fired about one hundred shots , almost every one of which told mortally on the enemy . At some time they were within fifty yards of us . At last , a musket ball passed through the fleshy part of my thigh ; the blood rnn profusely . I could not retire , for their artillery was shelling the ground in my rear , and masses of infantry were advancing ; so I sat down and tied a hankerchief round my wound , during which time our artillery ran out of ammunition , and the enemy quickened their advance . I loaded my rifle and picked up a patent revolver ,

    dropped by n wounded officer , when , just about ten Xards from me , there were four Russian soldiers and an officer creeping through the brushwood and massacreing all tho wounded that they came across . Fortunately there was only one of them loaded , as I soon found out by his placing his thumb on the lock of his firelock . Crack wont my rifle , and down he fell . One of the others noticing this came running up with his bayonet fixed , followed by the other two . I saw plainly that I would have no chance with the whole , so I threw my firelock at the foremost like a lance , and stuck the bayonet through his heart . I had three still to contend with , one of which was loading , which I had no chance to do . I took this

    The Leader. [Satphday, '- R ,O/L ' ¦ ¦ ....

    THE LEADER . [ Satphday , ' - , O / L ' ¦ ¦ . ' - ¦ . . ' ¦ ¦ .... ¦/ ; - .- ' - ¦¦ ' ¦ ¦¦¦ - . •¦• . - •¦ - ' - ' ' " . , ————i ^^——¦ w ^^^^ t ^^ " ^^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 6, 1855, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06011855/page/4/