Despatches from the Crimea have been received down to the
3d instant. They still indicate improvement ; but the weather, which had been fine up to the 2d February, broke on that day, and frost, snow, and cold winds, returned. With regard to the railway, Lord Raglan writes- " The materials for the railway continue to arrive ; but I fear it will not be possible for me to supply the amount of military labour which Mr. Beatty would seem to require. Nearly 200 Croatians, who were hired at Constan- tinople, have arrived, and been handed over to him, and more are expected ; and, as a matter of experiment, I have obtained 400 Tartars from Eupatoria." Prince Menschikoff reports "nothing of importance" down to the 8th February. The French troops at Constantinople have been ordered up to the Crimea.
The Times, in a second edition, publishes a despatch from its Vienna correspondent which contains some strong assertions- " Vienna, Saturday, 9 a. m.—The Vienna papers state that, on the 3d of February, a convention was concluded between England and Turkey, by which the former took 20,000 Turks into her pay. The combined attack of the fleets and army was shortly to take place on Sebastopol. Both the Rus- sian Grand Dukes are now with an army of 30,000 men at Duvaiiktz, on the Belbeck. The batteries of the Allies in the third parallel are so well placed that they completely command part of the South side of the fortress. The remainder of the British army, hardly 10,000 men will be reorganized, and defend the upper valley of the Tchernaya and Balriklava."
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