10 FEBRUARY 1855, Page 9

,fortign not Colonial.

Faaarce.—The camp at Boulogne is now called " the army of the Rhine" by the journals. It is stated that the troops there will be in- creased to 200,000; that the officers have received orders to be in readi- ness to march at a short notice; and that the Emperor, with General Schramm for a Lieutenant, will command them in chief. The Augsburg Gazette confidently states that the military convention between Austria and France, now ready for signature, stipulates that a French army shall be brought to the Russo-Polish frontier, marching by Milan and Lay- bach, and thence by railway.

For some time M. Bineau, the Minister of Finance, has suffered from a lingering illness which prevented him from doing duty at his post. He had recently expressed a hope, in a letter to the Emperor, that he should be able to resume his duties in June; but subsequently his medical at- tendants have reported that they could hold out no hope of his ultimate recovery. Under these circumstances, Al. Magne has been appointed to the Ministry of Finance ; and M. Rouhcr to that of Public Works, in the place of M. Magne.

General de Wedel accompanied the resident Prussian Minister at Paris to the Tuileries, on Sunday; and, at a private audience, the General pre- -aented letters to the Emperor from the King of Prussia.

GERSCANY.—M. Drouyn de Lhuys has addressed another note to the Cabinet of Berlin, dated January 29. The following analysis of the document has been sent from Berlin.

"The Cabinet of Paris is desirous that the question should be placed in a clear light; although still of the opinion that the accession of the Cabinet of Berlin to the treaty of the 2d of December is preferable to any other step, it has taken into consideration the susceptibilities it has given rise to.

"If Prussia would propose to France and England a treaty distinct from that which she refuses to sign, entailing upon her, it is true, the same final i obligations as upon Austria, but drawn up in her point of view, as she pre- tends the treaty of 2r1 December was drawn up in an Austrian point of view, the French Government would be very happy to take her offers into very serious consideration. But it still awaits a reply to its overtures, which tes- tify, in the most formal manner, its desire to come to an understanding with the Cabinet of Berlin; and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs constantly ' reminds the Prussian Envoy at Paris, that if there are regretable delays, the French Government is not responsible for them.

"It is therefore an unjust accusation to say, that as regards the treaty of the 2d of December, France keeps Prussia in ignorance of its sentiments, and, relative to the general situation of Prussia, in an isolation which in the first instance it endeavoured to prevent and afterwards to put an end to.

"The Cabinet of -Berlin now alleges that the first Vienna protocols im- posed upon the Powers who signed them the obligation of concerting toge- ther' and that that engagement subsists. That engagement—I will allow it without hesitation—resulted from the meeting itself of the plenipotentiaries of France, England, Austria, and Prussia, to deliberate in common upon the affairs of the East. The protocols were the first form under which that happy entente was exhibited. Then came a moment when, if not by a ca- tegorical declaration, at least by an indubitable fact, the Prussian Cabinet, by the twice-reiterated non-appearance of its representative at the confer- -eines to which he was invited like his colleagues, and where these latter waited for him in vain, refused to place itself upon the same ground as Aus- tria and the Western Powers. To give less eclat to that regretable dissent, the majority decided not to consign it in a collective act, and proceeded to the exchange of the notes of the 8th of August. This was a second form of entente, which was not relished any more than the first by the Berlin Ca- binet. Nor has France hitherto been more successful with the last and de- finitive form—that of a solemn alliance. It is thus proved that Prussia has not consented to sign either protocol, note, or treaty. "It would assuredly be giving a strange bearing to acts signed a year ago by that Power to maintain that the entente which they proclaimed ought to be interpreted in such guise that a single Cabinet might by its op- position obstruct and even stop dispositions deemed good and necessary. In the documents invoked by the Berlin Cabinet, the mutual promise is con- tained not to treat separately with Russia without a common deliberation, nor on a basis contrary to the spirit which presided at the first conferences. That text has nothing to embarrass the Cabinet of Paris.

" France, England, Austria, and Prussia, evidently wished to give each other mutual securities. The two first were belligerent Powers ' • the two others might become so ; and it was quite natural and perfectly loyal that they should engage themselves not to treat the one without the other, or at least without informing each other beforehand. Now, in the present in- -stance, the question is not the concluding a separate engagement with Rus- sia. The question is, however faint our hopes may be in this respect, to examine in how far the reestablishment of a general peace is possible, and, should the last chance fail, to carry on the war with the aid of Austria. The alliance of the 2d of December has no other signification.

"It results, therefore, that the three Cabinets who contracted that alli- ance have engaged themselves, in the hypothesis of the failure of the future negotiations, to make common cause against Russia; that is to say, they will first hold the same language, and then proceed to the same acts. The notes of the 8th of August and the treaty of the 2d of December are the fruits of those preliminary deliberations prescribed by the protocols of the conferences, and in which, as I have shown, Prussia declined to take part. To attend the negotiations, it would be requisite for her to place herself upon the same line as France, England, and Austria ; and that there should be no doubt either as regards the spirit in which she would come or as to her -ulterior conduct.

"The Berlin Cabinet cannot suppose that its language and its attitude in 'Germany give to the Allies under this double aspect all the guarantees de- sired, and it must not therefore be surprised, that, until it has replied to our -overtures, and accepted toward France the same position as Austria, the Cabinet of Paris should follow, in accordance with its allies, the regulation of an affair of which the Cabinet of Prussia no longer seems to take the same view, but in which, if its cooperation is wanting, the fault cannot certainly be attributed to them."

M. Manteuffel addressed a circular despatch to the German Courts, dated January 17 : it merely states that a preliminary understanding had been come to at Vienna, between Russia and the Allies; and that should the efforts at' Vienna fail, the Government of Prussia will only consider themselves bound by the stipulations of the treaty of the 20th of April, a if we are in a state to exercise on the course of the negotiations that influence which we think we have a right to claim on account of our revious participation in the conferences of Vienna, and in virtue of our Zuropean position."

In a recent debate in the Second Chamber of Bavaria, on the credit for extraordinary expenses connected with the army, Count frallerstein called upon the Minister to declare that he would go with Austria on the Eastern question. M. van der Pfortden declined to .4 e haiteiitions'Uf-ihe

Ministry, and claimed the vote as a quest* !if confidence. On the report of the Committee, the Chamber reduced-the sum demanded by the Government from fifteen to six millions; alliii(t3g that that sum would

suffice to enable the Government to fulfil its f at duties. ' Preparations for war are now active in HaN t nies with Austria, who joius,hp6fft The Gazette d' Augsbowy states that, accordinglidyks' total forces of Russia now in the field amount to 695,000 men ; an tat before the lapse of six months a reserve force of 200,000 bayonets will be established. These troops are distributed over a vast space of territory in Europe and Asia. To this Russian army Austria can oppose one no less redoubtable. The first Austrian army is composed of 144 cannon and 67,600 bayonets; the second of 186 cannon ai.d 121,000 men ; the third of 252 cannon and 286,000 men ; the fourth of 54 cannon and 119,800 men; together, 594,000 bayonets and 686 cannon, without counting the reserve, which in two months, including the frontier regiments, will ex- ceed 200,000 men.

THE CRIMBA.—The accounts received this week from Sebastopol add little to our information. According to the telegraph, the Grand Duke Nicholas has arrived in Sebastopol, having left the Grand Duke Michael sick at Charkoff or Cherson. The Russian army is said to have been in want of supplies; but the deserters showed no signs of suffering from that cause. In the English camp, some huts had been carried up; and one account states, that not only had the survey for the tramway been completed, but that the construction of the road itself had been com- menced.

The military incidents are not of great importance ; but the Russians are growing more resolute in their sorties. La Press*, of Paris, publishes an extract from a letter, dated the 22d January, describing one of these encounters— "The Russians have modified their system of attack. Their sorties, which were from the beginning and until last month executed in a slovenly and irresolute manner, are now admirably conducted. In the attack on the 15th they displayed great intrepidity. The snow appears to have excited their warlike ardour and military recollections. Perhaps it is solely owing to the change of their commanders, which, according to the deserters, is very fre- quent. Towards eleven o'clock on the night of the 14th, our advanced pickets gave notice of the approach of the enemy. There were then in the trenches two companies of the Ninety-fifth Regiment of Infantry, and two others of the Seventy-fourth, under the orders of Commander Roumejoux. Our works are so near the Russians on that point that they came down upon us nearly as soon as the news of their ap- proach, with extraordinary boldness ; their officers marching at their head. We coolly awaited them, and when sufficiently close we charged them with the bayonet. A dreadful melee ensued ; but the Russians' un- able to resist when attacked with the bayonet, were speedily driven back, notwithstanding the strenuous exertions they made to maintain themselves on our line and penetrate into the battery. The melee continued during their retreat, which does honour to their officers, three of whom were killed at the first rank."

The writer further notices that the Russians " are no longer the men we had to contend with at the beginning of the aiege," and that now they are "adversaries by no means to be despised." Another charac- teristic of the sorties is that a special corps of Russians use lassos to snare their foes, like cattle.

[From a Supplement to the London Gazette, Feb. 6.; Lord Raglan to the Duke of Newcastle.

"Before Sebastopol, January 23, 1855. "My Lord Duke—Nothing has occurred of importance in our front ; but the enemy has occasionally opened a fire upon our left attack, and Mr. Spalding, a fine young man, an acting mate of her Majesty's ship London, and in charge of the battery, was unfortunately killed by a round shot the day before yesterday. His loss is deeply deplored. • I enclose the return of casualties to the 21st instant.

"The weather has become milder ; but the country is still in a dreadful state from melted snow. The army is well supplied with warm clothing; and if the Commissariat were adequately provided with transport, and the huts could be at once brought up, there would be no other cause of suffering than the severity of a Crimean winter, and the duties imposed of carrying on a siege in such a climate at this season of the year. "I have, &o. RAGLAN."

Return of Casualties from 19th to 21st January. 44th Regiment of Foot-1 rank and file killed. 89th Regiment-1 rank and file killed ; 1 rank and file wounded. 2d Battalion Rifle Brigade-1 rank and file wounded. Total-2 rank and file killed ; 2 rank and file wounded.

State of the Camp.—"I am sorry to be unable to report any better news as to the sanitary condition of our own troops. The everywhere abounding slush which followed the thaw has, I need hardly say, not added to their comforts, and dysentery was rather on the increase than otherwise. Every- thing, however, that official care and energy could accomplish was being done to reduce the discomforts to a minimum ; and if the improvement in the weather which has now set in here extend Northwards, Balaklava and its neighbourhood will, before the present month is out, be the scene of much less physical wretchedness than has unfortunately fallen to the lot of the allied army hitherto."—Morning Chronicle Correspondent at Constan- tinople, Jan. 25.

" A few of the huts are being erected in camp. They have been brought up from Balaklava wholly by the exertions of individual regiments. In some instances the commanding officer has sent in the men in large bodies, as large as could be spared from their duties in the trenches,. and each man has returned with one or two planks ; hat horses assisting in bringing up the heavier parts. There are thirty-three horse-loads to each but. Many of the regiments have not yet been able to get up a hut, the men having been employed in bringing up clothing, blankets, or rations ; and from the Third Division, on the extreme left of the camp before Sebastopol, to the Second Division, on the extreme right, no regiment, as yet, has got more than two huts in course of construction. Very little of the warm outer clothing has vet been issued ; but the mild weather which has prevailed the

last few days has rendered this of less importance. Buffalo robes have been given out for use in the tents. It is a matter of regret that the huts have not been sooner erected, if only for the preservation of these and other valuable articles issued to the men. It is almost impossible, amidst the mud and damp of the tent ground, to take such care of these things as their could value demands. On the partial wooden flooring of the huts their protection be easily arranged. The huts for the officers have not yet arrived, nor has the warm clothing intended far the officers. Officers, however, have been permitted, by application at the Quartermaster-Generars office, to obtain articles of the soldiers' warm clothing instead of those expected for them- selves, when desirous of doing so. The Commissariat officers have not yet 'been able to obtain a sufficient number of transport animals to enable them to supply the regiments in ramp with complete rations of food or rum ; nor have they yet been able to comply with the general order desiring them to furnish the troops with rations of charcoal or other fuel and light. The troops quartered near Balaklava have been so far fortunate that they have been able, by their nearne-e to the port, to avail themselves of the abundant supplies in store there."—Daily ,News Correspondent, Jan. 22.

"The English army is no longer an army; it only bears the name. Of the 56,000 men which the British Government sent to the East, there re- mains at this moment not more than 10,000 to 11,000; and even those are not all able to carry arms. I must add, that there are, moreover, about ]0,000 in the hospitals of Constantinople, and 1000 in the ambulances at Balaklava ; the remainder are gone to their long home. A sad result of the two principal vices in the English army : the officers, with few exceptions, have forgotten how to conduct a campaign, and the administration for the supply of provisions is absolutely null."—From a French Officer.

State of Balaklava.—"The representations which have been so forcibly -urged at home respecting the dire confusion prevailing at Balaklava appear .likely to lead to some more orderly system, both as regards the arrangements of the shipping in the port itself, and the means of traffic and movement in the narrow streets and crowded wharves of the town, and the roads approach- ing them. Nearly all the shops are to be closed ; and the Maltese, and Greeks, and others who have been making small fortunes by their exorbitant charges for their wares, are to be turned out. They are to continue their shopkeeping, if they choose, at the neighbouring village of Kadikoi. This will leave the thoroughfares in the town more open, will (dear spaces for the more ready transaction of business., and prevent much of the crowding which has previously interrupted the disembarcatien and conveyance of stores. Two new piers are to be constructed, and various other improvements to be effected, which, if speedily carried into execution, will cause much of the in- convenience and suffering which have resulted from their neglect up to this time to be forgotten' and ranked only among the things that were."—Daily News Correspondent, Jan. 22.

Desertion and Demoralization.—"Desertions have taken place to the enemy both from the French and from our own ranks ; but there is a great disposition to exaggerate them. The deserters from the French have gene- rally belonged to the Foreign Legion ; the deserters from the English have generally been from the young draughts and from regimentsjust sent out. I have already mentioned the case of a man in the Ninety-third, who was killed by the enemy as he approached their pickets, in the act of desertion. A soldier of the Nineteenth was since killed by his own comrades as he was escaping to the Russians from the third parallel. He had hinted to one of his friends in the same company that it would be a good thing to go over to the Russians. His suggestion was received by a threat, If you attempt to run, I'll shoot you, as sure as you are a living man.' The fellow watched his opportunity, and, slipping across the parapet, made towards the Russian lines ; but his friend had perceived the man and called on his comrades to fire. They did so, and missed him ; and he neared the Russian picket. • Here goes for you now, according to promise,' exclaimed his Achates ; and, taking a long atm, he stopped the career of the deserter, and dropped him, writhing and bleeding, iu front of the Russian vedettes."—Times Crimea Correspondent, Jan. 22.

"Advantage has been taken of the change of weather to get up consider- able stores of provisions at the mid-way depdt; and a large quantity of am- munition has also been forwarded. But in spite of full rations and the change in the weather, sickness is still terribly prevalent among all our • troops; and I think the number invalided this week will be rather over than under 2000 men, thus making a total of 5000 in twelve days."—Norning Herald Correspondent, Jan. 23.

Lord Raglan at Balaklava.—" The visit of Lord Raglan to Balaklava last Thursday seems to have had considerable effect in improving the state of the place. Men are at work throwing stones down into the most Curtiuslike gulfs in the streets. His Lordship visited the hospitals in the town, and conversed with Dr. Anderson for some time. He then went to Commissary- General Filder's, where he remained in conversation nearly two hours, It is stated by people who can know very little of what passed, that his Lord- ship considers Mr. Filder has deceived him, and has at various times misre- presented the nature and magnitude of the means at his disposal, otherwise steps would have been taken to place our transport on a better footing. Mr. Filder can, however, point to some important letters, written both before and after the 14th oeNovember to Lord Raglan, on the subject of transport and of the roads, in which he is understood to have declared he could not be responsible for the evils and misfortunes which might befall the army, if the important matters to which he called attention were neglected."—Times Crimea Correspondent, Jan. 20.

• The Czar has deprived the Moravian in the Crimea of the exemption from bearing arms accorded to them by the Emperor Alexander at the instance of the Quakers. Many have been beaten and imprisoned, and three hundred hanged, who refused to bear arms.

Ternitzv.—The Times correspondent at Constantinople, who administers the fund for the relief of the sick and wounded, still gives a gloomy ac- count of the state of the hospitals both at Scutari and in the Crimea ; and he mentions a number of defects in the management, the break- down in the medical and purveyor's department, the want of more medi- cal men, and of more adequate inspection. According to his statement, the sick are still no better cared for in the passage from Balaklava to Scutari. There are 5000 sick in tents in the Crimea, and not more than 14,000 men fit for duty.

With regard to the hospitals at Scutari, a correspondent of the Daily News, who seems to have narrowly inspected both the French and the English, writes as follows, on the 27th January, a few days earlier than the date of the Times correspondent- " One's comparative estimate of the condition of our own hospitals at Scu- tari and that of the French in the Grand Champs at Peri' will depend very much on what value the visitor places on externals. A visitor who attaches much importance to whiteness of bed-linen and blankets, who considers that , the inside of an hospital should smell as sweetly and be as faultlessly white and clean as the interior of a first-class Devonshire dairy, will be disposed to Ind fault with the condition of our own establishments, and place those of our allies above all praise. On the other hand, an individual whose less ex- quisite taste will be satisfied with unbleached linen and grey blankets, with unplaned bedsteads and whitey-brown walla, will meet with little or nothing to find weighty fault with in either of our two hospitals here. To the eye they certainly present a less comfortable and perfect picture than is to be seen in the French buildings on the other side of the Bosphorus; but in all the requisites of assiduous attention and substantial comforts, I am very much disposed to place our own establishments on a level with the average of the nine hospitals in the possession of our allies. The surface inferiority of the accommodation and hospital furniture is, I admit, sufficiently striking to afford material for an imaginative grumbler to work up into a very declamatory attack upon the shortcomings and mismanage- ment of our own hospital officials; but when not effect, but the conveyance to the public mind at borne of really true ideas of the condition and treat- ment of our wounded soldiers is the object in view, the result, though it may read less slashingly, will, I apprehend, be doing more justice both to the public and to the officials upon whose skill and attention the comfort and lives of so many of our brave fellows depend. Much has been said and written about the great inferiority of our own hospital establishments to those of the French, and I admit that some weeks ago there was more co- leus ground for the unflattering comparison , but the splendid results which have followed from the labours of Miss Nightingale and her ladies have raised Scutari to a degree of excellence which, at the present moment, so far as the internal management of the hospital and the treatment of its inmates go, leaves little to complain of, and not much to be ashamed of, in comparison with the French."

The mortality had increased, however, in the last days of January. On the 25th, there were 71 burials ; on the 26th, 70; on the 27th, 50 ; on the 28th, 61 ; making a total in four days of 252. This does not in- clude those which have taken place at %Wake and Abydos, as they have not yet been reported here. According to the sick state, there were in hospital at Scutari 4643 non-commissioned office's and Privates and 73 officers.

A telegraphic despatch published by the Horning Post implies a ticklish state of things on the Danube- " Calais, January 25.—Eight Austrian commercial vessels have arrived at Galatz. They were received by the Russians with a brisk fire, which wounded some men, and killed the pilot of the Austrian brig Cleedenovexi. The ships were then subjected to a most rigorous search. The Austrian Consul had referred the matter home, and very grave consequences were ex- pected . '

Another despatch, which reached Paris on Tuesday night, says that for some weeks past, and especially at the present moment, parties of Russian soldiers are making excursions into the Dobrudscha, and there burning and pillaging with impunity.

RIISSIA.—The latest intelligence from St. Petersburg, via Hamburg, shows that the Government was most actively engaged in pushing mea- sures for the vigorous prosecution of the war. By the end of March, immense quantities of materiel are to be delivered by the contractors ; and a new body of administrators has been organized, especially directed to the proper distribution of warlike stores. The maritime departments were also contracting for and receiving great supplies, while long con- voys of sledges were proceeding over the snow in all directions to the corps d'armee. The principal divisional commanders in Poland had been ordered to the head-quarters of their troops.

ITALY.—The Pope has issued a monitory to the Court of Turin pro- claiming not only the previous but the proposed laws respecting the rights and property of the Church in Sardinia "null and void" ; and reminding those who sanction them that the canons of the Councils de- cree excommunication for such offences. This is not the first time that the Holy See has held such language to Piedmont. When Pope Clement attempted to intimidate Amadeus II. by a similar strain, that King re- " Although I was prepared for the greatest injustice, I did think his Holi- ness would have reflected before causing so great a scandal in the world.. His Holiness must look to find in us the greatest firmness in maintaining that reason and justice which are so evidently on our side."

Count Pralormo, the Piedmontese Minister at Rome, has been recalled. It is stated that he dissents from the views of his Government.

The treaty of alliance was discussed in the Chamber of Deputies on the 3d and subsequent days, and voted on the 7th. Among its opponents were Signor Farina and Signor Brofferio.

Srane.—The Cortes proceed with debates on the Constitution. A motion by Seiler Rios Roses, setting forth that all public powers emanate- from the nation, was rejected, on the 1st, instant, by 214 to 1.8. Espartero has made an appeal to the country, showing how needful it is that order should be maintained, and that taxes should be regularly paid. He points to "the enemies of our political regeneration" as the disturbers of the peace.

Mr. Soule had an audience of the Queen of Spain on the 81st ultimo, and took his leave.

In the Cortes, on the 1st instant, the Minister of Grace and Justice announced, in answer to a question, that the newspaper the Catolwa should be prosecuted for having published the Pope's bull on the Im- maculate Conception before it had received the sanction of the Govern- ment.