AVAR ITEMS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, Issue 69, 24 November 1855, Page 3

AVAR ITEMS.

The Crimea.— The Journal de Constantinople publishes a letter from Balaclava, Hated the 18th July, which states that considerable preparations were being made there for the reception of the Duke of Newcastle, who was shortly expected, but it was not known whether his Grace would accept the military honours intended to be paid him, as he is no longer in r.ffice. and is rather visiting the Crimea as a private individual. The letter states thai several tourists had recently visited Balaklava, but in consequence of having neglected xa provide themselves with a permission to land, they have been obliged to leave without doing so. Mr. Cal vert, the chief interpreter attached to the staff of General Simpson, had just died, after a bhort illness. Present State of Sebastopol. — The Odessa correspondent of one of the Parisian journals furnibhes the following letter, received from a Russian merchant, still a resident in Sebastopol :— "My prolonged silence has made you believe I was neglecting you. Not at all ; but 1 was obliged to emigrate and abandon my quarters for a subterraneous habitation, or rather cellar, whither I was driven, whether or no, by the shot and shell of the enemy. My house suffered from the shot from the beginning of the bombardment of the town ; the windows were broken and the roof knocked into holes, but we managed to hold on, though in a continued panic. However, about the middle of June two shells fell, one into the kitchen and the other into the warehouse, and levelled them both to the ground. The enemy recommenced a murderous cannonade on the I7th, at nine in the morning. I was writing in my office when a 06 pounder from the French battery opposite Bastion No. 4, passed through two walls and the stove, and fell just at the third. Ten minutes afterwards a shell of 2 cwt. burst in the midst of the court. After that it would have been madness to tlrnk of stopping. In fact, by the evening the house was in ruins from top to bottom. Shot, f-hell, and rockets were crossing in every direction. Very many of the bouses that survived the bombardment of the last nine months are now in ruins. A great number of the inhabitants were killed or wounded while hastily carrying whatever they could into mines and pits. The cellar in which I now am is dug out of the rock, has no window, and but one means of egrega or ingress. My furniture consists of a table, that is, of a cask turned on its end, while a hmaller one serves me for a stool. My bed is of primitive simplicity — a bundle of hay, covered by a rug. The warehouses and shops are removed into Fort Nichola". The are |>la.cco in a lo^ipj corridor on the groundfloor, which is vaulted over. The public offices — those of the governor, the port, the magistracy, the police, the customs, &c. — are all in the same fort. One of the buildings is also appropriated to the dispensary, the guard-bouse, the head-quarters of General Osten-Sacken, and of General Kisiner, the commandant of Sebostopol; and the troops a?e quartered in the upper stories. In short, the whole town has moved into Fort Nicholas.

Making Lancaster Shells. — The first step in the process consists in making a plate of iron about 2 feet square and 1 inch in thickness red hot in the furnace. While in this state, it is conveyed to a machine which rolls it into the form of a cylinder, the edges ldpping over, and being securely welded by ihe action.of a steam-hammer. The C) Under is then again heated to redness, placed upon a mould of the required form, and put under a Bteam-Hfcinmer, which, by repeated blows, closes up one end. In this state the incipient bhell is conveyed to another set of hands, who, again beating it, subject it to the action of a machine, which, by enormous pressure, gives it something of its destined conical form. After again visiting the furnace, the .••hell becomes the object of the delicate attention of a machine among the most ingenious that has ever been constructed. In the centre of a circular iron stage is a small wheel-like receptacle, into which the shell is dropped. The men in attendance then cause a huge iron haml to descend upon the shell, the fingers of which, grasping the red-hot mass, force it down to the bottom. Beneath the well are four other masses of iron, which keep moving with a sort of tremulous motion, and act as the human hand in ultimately bringing the shell into its final form. They press it, coax it, and handle it in the most endearing manner, much in the same way as a baker would mould a loaf into shape. Having finally given the required form, water is thrown into the well, and the shell withdrawn. In this state the front end of the shell has been brought to a sharp point; in the next stage this point is cut off, and a gun-metal "bush" is fitted into it, for receiving the fusee. The shell is now heated for the last time, and submitted to the pressure of a pair of oval-*haped dies, which squeeze it into the elliptical form necessary to fit the bore of the gun. Each shell weighs, when charged with powder, about 100 lbs., and their cost is stated to be from 50s. to 60s. each. When made by hand, they are said to have cost the enormous sum of £30 each. About 200 shells per day is the average rate of working of the different machines.

Russian Difficulties. — The following fact will Rive an idea of the difficulties the Russians have to encounter in sending supplies to the Crimea. The Government of Poland has just called on all persons who have carts and horses unemployed, to convey a vast quantity of gunpowder from the arsenal of Wilna to Perekop. The price offered is unusually high — 7 sjlver roubles a poud (the poul is about 38 lbs.), or nearly 79-f. the 100 lbs. The carriers are to undertake to deliver tbeir load at Perekop within three week?.

The Duke of Cambridge. — We are assured that there is no truth in the paragraph which was promulgated by a contemporary, that the Duke of Cambridge was appointed to lake the command of the Foreign Legion. His royal highness is not aware that he is to fill thnt command. It is, however, now decided that the duke does not return to the Crimea, orders having been sent out to Scutari for the duke's grooms and horses to return to England ; also the valuable charger presented to the duke by the Sultan. The duke's stud of horses and groomß have been stationed there ever since the duke left for England, in expectation that when his health was thoroughly re-established he would return to the seat of war.

Sir. Charles Napier and Lord Dundonald. — Sir Charles Napier having received an invitation to attend a meeting, to be held in Edinburgh, in favour of Lord Dundonaltl's plans, has sent a letter, in which he says — "I fear it is quite useless attempting to move the Government to do anything useful in the Baltic. So far back as last June, I gave Sir James Graham a plan of attacking Sweaborg with success, and in July I also sent him a plan of attacking Cronstadt: and I believe he was also in possession of Lord Dundonald's plan at the same time. No attention was paid to his lordship that I know of; and the only attention paid to mine was, acknowledging it as a clear and able report. Relative to Lord Dundonald's plans, his lordship has done all he could to induce the Government to adopt them. He communicated his secret to me, and I have done all I can with different members of the Government in vain, to induce them to carry them out. I think it is now too late to get things ready this season. Uncertain weather will soon commence in the Gulf of Finland, and the operation is of too great importance to be undertaken without ample time to carry it into execution." Omaii Pasha at Head-Ql-arteiis.— Omar Pa»ha is at his head-qtiarterp, near Karnara. It is difficult to imagine a spot more romantic than the

one the Ottoman general has chosen. It is situated on a slope which looks down to the sea, and is in the shadow of the Cape Aia, which rises perpendicularly from the Euxine to a height of 700 feet. In the hollow, near the Pasha'a head-quarters, a Tartar Bey has pitched his sent. He fled with lua family either from the severity or threats of ths Russians, and made bis submission to the Turkish general. His conduct is perhaps not wise, as ha will ]o«e the whole of his properly, which will bo seized by the Russian Government, while the Turku will leave bim to die in a dilch directly he has ceased to be useful to them. It is singuhr thing, lhat while the French and British troops consider their most harrassing work to be the duty in the trenches, the Turks, who are equally interested in the war, and will be the most benefitted by it success, do not take any share in actual siege operations, and are no<v amusing themselves with the playful work of foraging, or actually sitting in indolence for hours together, following the shadows of their tents as they move from west to east, smoking stolidly, or grinning at the antics of some mountebank comrade. Omar moves here and there without object, merely that his army may seem to be employed, but its actual services are of little importance. ' The Doings before tub Malakhoff. — The Times' correspondent writes on the 21st July : — " Amid the returning heat which has followed the stormy weather of last week, the operations of the siege are being pressed forward by ihe French' on our right with indefatigable industry. There ia nothing in what goes forward which can strike a stranger; stagnation seems to reign in camp and trenches; even the heavy firing of a few days since has for the most part died away ; yet every day an advance is made, and evrry day sees the allies nearer the crest of the Malakhoff, which it wilt now require all the courage and tenacity of the Russians to hold. The Mniakhoff and Mamelon stand on nn elevated plateau, while the ridge that joins them is itself higher than the land around. It is along this ridge that ihe French sap extends in a zigzag to within lfO yards of the hill which the Russians bold. As the incline is somewhat steep,the French working parties are already out of the reach of the Russian guns, which cannot be sufficiently depressed to be used against them. They therefore can work on without danger, except from the liflemen, who hold every spot of vantage, and use their best endeavours to pick off every enemy who shows a part of his cap within their ranger but 08 these can be replied to by French marksmen, while the guns of the Mamelon are hourly thundering againt>t the Russian ttrongbold, theadvantage is clearly on the 6ide of the French. I 'I'he latter have also ;hro%vn a email battery of I field- pieces at the extremity of their sap, which 1 have hitherto prevented the egress and formation of Russian troops for a sortie against them. These guns entirely command the points on which the Russians are in the habit of leaving their* woiks. and they consequently have been reduced to reply to all the advances of their enemy merely by fires of rotuketry from the embrasures. The day before yesterday, however, a few Russians straggled out here and there, making their way by dodging behind clumps of earth aod bushes, until they had reached about 80 yards from the parapet, when they threw themselves on their faces and began digging up earth for cover. Tbe French seemingly did not observe the movement, aDd our people, not catching sight of tbe venturesome Muscovites until they were actually fixed in the position they wished to attain, fancied them to be French. By this means the Russians have established rifle pits in front of the French sap, where they will do the usual amount of damage unless they be speedily driven out.

The Fleet before Cronstadt. — The Times' correspondent furnishes a diary embracing the etents before Crcnstadt from July 1G to 23 : — The powerful naval forces of the allies, which within the last few days have been augmented to forty sail, compiising sixteen steam line-of-battlo ships, two steam frigates, four mail steamers, four mortar vessels, and fourteen gunboats, after a strict reconnaissance for a period exceeding three weeks of the north bhore of Cronstadt, weighed anchor at 7 a.m. of the 14 th instant. Rumours of an early movement, which bad been prevalent for several days, were confirmed in the afternoon of the 13th, by a general signal being made to prepare for sailing; and it was generally supposed that by far the greater portion of the fleet would proceed down the Gulf of Finland, a small squadron remaining off Cronstadt to watch the movements of the enemy. But two hours had barely elapsed after the anchors had been weighed on the morning of the 14th, before the three admirals, Dundas, Penaud, and Seymour, parted company in their respective ships, the Duke of Wellington, the Tourville, and the Exmouth, with the Austerlitz and Merlin in attendance, en route for Nargen. The Euryalus bad been sent in advance at 4 p.m., with four mortar-vessels for the same destination. The remainder of the allied squadrons having been placed under the orders of Rear-admiral Baynes, immediately after the departure of the three senior flag officers, anchored about four miles N.W. by W. of Tolboukin lighthouse, where they are to remain until further orders. I have good reasons for stating that the separation of the three admirals from the main bulk of the fleet is rofrely temporary, and has occured in consequence of Rear-admiral Penaud having conceived a plan for an attack on Revel, the practicability of which Rear admirals Dundas and Seymour have gone to ascertain by personal observation. The defences of Cronstadt and Sweaborg have been so considerably augmented by the enemy in all respects during the last twelve months, that they are unassailable by the present maratime forces of the allies, and, however much it is to bo regretted that during the lapse of time between this and the previous campaign, thenaval authorities at home have not devised the means of furnishing a proper class of vessels of war to insure a successful attack on these strongholds, it must be acknowledged that it is now too late to attempt it. In the fleet are many seamen formerly Baltic cruisers, well acquainted with the sudden changes of the seasons. They slate, as the result of their experience, that after the middle of August favourable weather cannot be depended on off Cronstadt, and that gales of wind and violent storms may then be of frequent occurrence. Tba division of the fleet under the orders of Rearadmiral Baynes will mott probably therefore in a few weeks be compelled to sffk a more safe anchorage, or cruise on and off this port, until absolutely compelled to proceed down the gulf of Finland as far as Nargen island, there to Temain until October, when it will be necessary for tba larger class of ships to mske the passage through the Great Belt before the winter has fairly set in. Notwithstanding the vigilance of our cruisers in the gulf of Bothnia, the people of Finland occasionally receive considerable supplies from the Swedish territories, by means of a small class of coasting vessels, which during the brief duration of twilight manage to cross the gulf unnerceived. The commander- in-chief, in conjunction with Rear- admiral* Penaud and Seymour, had made a close reconnaisance of Revel aud Sweaborg, They approached the former port within half a mile of the forts, and ascertained that the defences have been materially strengthened by the construction of various earthwoik*, in which have been placed some of the largest guns from the stone baiierie*. While standing close in to Sweaborg in the Merlin, three of the infernsl machines, containing a' much larger quantity of gunpowder than those deported off Cronstadt, were exploded, hot without tflVct. the utesrotr having just previously passed orer the precise spot

t i l 11—1 \*^mmm*^m^^^^^™ i ■ ■ ■ i imi i hitbi i ■ r i i » i i ■ where they were laid dmvn. No epidemic disenne ti prevalent in any of tl.e ships of the fleet. Tbe average numbrr on the sick list is under 4 per cent. The majority of cases are of a trifling nature. Weather extremely fine ; temperature in the shade, 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thk Key of Sebastapol. — The French have puihed their worka almost to the abattia of the Malakhoff, and are so near that a man may throw a stone into the Russian position. The almttis is described to be a truly formidable obstacle. It in formed of trunks of oak and beech from the woods of tbe Crimea, and ia more than six feet in height. Attempts will no doubt be made to destroy it with shot and shell before making any fresh assault. The Russians may still be observed to be continually at work on this position, which is now the recognised key of Sebastapoi. They have also been engaged lately in repairing the woikf of the Redan, which bad suffered much from the continual fire of the English batteries.

Skittles in the Camp.-— The he: lth of the' men is still excellent, and their spirits do not in« tho least suffer by the length and wearisomeness of the siegr. The sutnmrr is cool, and as the Russians of late have made very few sorties, the nights are parsed without much hardship in the trencher. When formed in marching order to descend tbe oft trodden ravines which lead to the batteries, there ia neither despondency nor unwillingneis; the laugh and the joke accompany their step\ t.heir air is brihk and alrrt; how different their appearance in tbe gloomy season of lan December I The noise of i-kittles is to be heard on every side, and tbe regimental bands, with sadly diminished numbers indeed, but still effective for amusement, give tho various popular airs to which we are accustomed at home. Cathcart's lull is every evening the lounge of hundreds of idlers, who, stretched at length on the dried grass, or bitting on the piles of stones which enclose many an honoured grave, look down on the beleaguered city, and watch the fhshes which burst forth from the Marcelon, Milakhoff, or Redan, with a lazy indifference. Tub Foreign Legion.— Recruiting for the foreign legion, according to the reports of the government agents from all quartern, goes on tnoit satisfactorily, notwithstanding the scarcely concealed repugnance of some governments, and the open hostility of other?. Great numbers of recruits are constantly arriving at the central depot at Heligoland, where a considerable number are still being trained and organized. Another batch is quite ready for removal to Dover or Shorncliffe, where it is expected that a sufficient number wdl be soon organised and equipped for active service abroad. With respect to the destination nf the foreign legt m , some uncertainty prevails; but we aro informed, on good authority, that a division to the number of 5,000 men is intended for the Baltic, and that the men selected for this expedition will be principally natives of Northern Germany, and of Poland, as being more al la to withstand tbe rigour of the climate than tho?e from the tomb of Europe, who wdl be employed in the Crimea and on the Danube.

Tub Baltic Infernal Machines British Mads.— We (Leader) are credibly informed, that when the infernal machine which exploded on board Admiral FJundas'rt ship was seen by a marine officer, he instantly detected that it had been made by a person resident near London, and proved this to all present. The fact was imrardiately transmitted to the government, but they have refused to institute any inquiry whatever into the subject, nor have they taken any measure to put a atop to thia traitorous assistance to Russia.

Thb Last "Infernal Machine."— A Paris correspondent write*, under date of Tuesday afternoon:—" At the instant of closing my letter I hear of soma experiments which are to be made to-night at Vmcennes with a balloon intended to be used at tbe bombardment of cities. The inventor claimi the power cf directing his balloon wherever he wi«hes. It is to be charged with shell*, which are to he fired by an electric wire at the moment of descent. The experiments this evening will take place in the i resence of the Emperor. The balloon on this occasion will be «harged with rockets only, in order to prevent accident."

How thb War grinds Russia.— ln making these- obff rvitions, nays the Times, ia illustration of the sufferings of Russia by the war, we rely on the facts collected by M. Tengobortki, a gentle* man of high reputation in the Russian service, whoie valuable statistical wo>k has recently been Jranidated in this country; and some of the results at which wa arrive are so remaikahle as to deserve attention. Let us take in the first instance the corn trade, which is unquestionably tbe most im portant element in the national wealth of Russia, is corn forms mora than one-half in value of the whole annual produce of the soil. The triennial average value of th« export of grain is about 20,000.000 of roubles. But there is no country in which the value of grain varies more than in Husiib, owing to the inequality of climate, the difficulty of conveyance, the iromenre distances between the corn markets, and tho want of capital to support the trade. Rye has sometimes varied within a few years from 1 to II roubles the thetvmt, and wheit from 2 roubles, 19 copecks, to 13 roubles. These fluctuations in price affect in ■ most disastrous manner 1 the primary Bgricultnral interests of tbe empire, and tbe natural corrective of excessive lowneia of price is the export trade. " A stagnation in export, therefore," says M, Tepgoborshi, "especially in years of abundance, cannot fail to produce a very considerable fall of price in tbe bonne market. In the southern "governments, and in several of those where the grain it abundant, and which have river coramunitatieni with the Btdtic and White Sea, prices can he supported at their natural level on/j/ in so/or ai fieri is o demand at the seaports. Tbe provinces \ of New Russia are thus situated, and, whatever raty be the progress of their internal welfare, the protperitf of their agriculture will always in a gre*t rat More depend on tbe activity of the Black Sm commerce." In 1843 no less than 3 422 ves«el« entered the Russian Baltic and White Sea poita, md the quantity of grain exported exceeded the corn eiports of the United States. Nearly the •bole of this commerce is now stopped, and tbe machinery of foreign credit by which it was carried on is altogether annihilated, and will probably j nirer be restored. Let us now turn to the import trade of Riistia, which is even more ruined than hereiportt, and to the effect of the blockade on the industry of the country. M. Tengobomki fairly ttatvi tbe difficulties against which tbo Rus<iin manufacturer has to contend, and which •ccount for the fact that, with tbe exception of the commonest articles of linen, all purchases made at St. petmburj? and Moscow, even in times of peace, are fully 60 per cent., and in many caiei SO or 100 per cent., dearer than they would be in Germany ; md thin difference of price on manufactured goods will, of course, be atill more in favour of thia conntry. Tbe causes of this dearneat are, iccording to M. Tengoborski,— " the scarcity of capital and high rate of interest; the great distance and the difficulties of coromunica-. tion ; the dearneM of «be agents of fabrication, as machinery, chemical productions, and colouring mtUrrft imported fcom abroad; the dearneaa of iron, »hicb renders the conttruciion of all sorts of machinery md tools very exntnme; the dearness of fuel in »oroe industrial districts, where it has to fr« fetched ffprt a great distance j water-power is yars, owing to the )evel expanse n( the conn fry, so thtl.it >9 generally necemry to have recourse to •Uam— arery ciptntive agenl when it is necessary.

to import from abroad the engines, the coal, and the head-workmen, as well as the raw material used in the cotton mills'." It was evident that all these difficulties have been enormously aggravated by the war. The scarcity of capital was in some degree remedied by large advances from England, or long credits in this country, which are at an end. The majority of the skilled workmen who had been brought to Russia from England or Fiance at great cost to set going these establish, ments, have made their way home. The machinery imported cannot bo repaired. The coal imported from Great Britain or Belgium to the north of Russia is excluded altogether : during a considerable part of last winter St. Petersburg could no longer be lighted with gas, and the large iron foundry and machine ;vo>k« at Katbarinenhoff are stopped from the same cause. One of the great impediments to the progress of Russia is the want of iron. She produces, indeed, a considerable quantity of iron of a good quality, manufactured with charcoal, some of which is at times exported; hut there is no civilzed state in which iron is so dear or so scarce. Nine- tenths of the cart and I waggon wheels of every description are without tires a »>d all the asles are of wood. Again, her production of lead hardly exceeds one thousand tons, which is not a seventh part of the quantity required for military and domestic purposes. It would be very easy to multiply these examples by showing the stoppage and rise of price which have tal'en i>lace in all articles of colonial produce and of luxury ; but we have confined ourcelves to some of the commodities which are most essential in the the conduct of military operations. We have no doubt that all the stores of war required for the use of an a r ray or a foi tress, such as cannon, projectiles of all soriß, arms, ammunition, and machinery used in the construction or transport of these ponderous articles, are considerably dearer in Russia than in this country : and one of the advantages which ought, if properly used, to give us a decisive superiority over the enemy is, that we are able to bring into the field an unlimited power of steam, iron, and mechanical ingenuity against a Bystem of warfare which has not materially improved in the last fifty years.