NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ONCE more the scarcity of information enjoins the virtue of pa- tience upon the public in all that relates to the war. We have only two new facts this week. Prince Gortschakoff saw the fleet, eleven line-of-battle ships, twenty-eight steamers, and nine gun- boats, quit Kamiesoh on the 7th October ; and the people of Odessa saw the formidable line anchor off their port on the morning of the 8th. What has since been done—whether the fleet have bom- barded Odessa, or whether they only threatened Odessa, and sub- sequently, as one report intimates, threatened Ochakov—the com- municative Russians have not informed us, and our own tele- graph is incapable of throwing any light on the matter, be- cause it is too far from the scene of action. The secrets of the commanders have been so well kept, that it is doubtful to us whether the Allies are carrying out a series of naval feints or engaged in a real enterprise. But, however doubtful this may be as regards the marine, there are certain indications on land of considerable interest, although not leading to any defi- nite conclusions. The French have pushed their troops beyond the valley of Baidar as far as Koklulus and Tanisala, and were at the latest dates gaining ground on the left flank of the enemy. They had secured their hold of the Baidar valley by making roads to the advanced position, and were in communication on their left with a post at Ozembash. The Russians still held the pass of Aitodor, with an outpost at T.Tpu —all which places may be found on a good map of the Crimea. While marking these movements on the Russian left, we must not forget that the Allies are in force at Eupatoria, and are " threatening Perekop," says Prince Gortsoha- koff, The Generals are, very properly, concealing their intentions and their preparations as much as possible from prying eyes. Meanwhile, one thing is patent—the British, and we presume the other armies, are steadily preparing for the winter. The strength of the Russian position on the North side of Sebastopol remains unquestioned. An artillery duet between the North and South proceeded with a certain activity and small loss to the Allies. That the position cannot be taken in front is undoubted; we shall see whether it can be turned. While the Russians now confess that their loss in killed and wounded on the 8th September alone was 11,000 men, and while Gortschakoff evinced his sense of "the infernal fire " to which he was exposed, his retrograde movement proves that even then he was unable to resist the pressure ; and now, irrespectively of any question that may arise out of the season and may defer ulterior results, there is no doubt that the Allies are accumulating a preponderant pressure upon every point oocu- pied by the enemy ; and the fine city of Odessa is doomed to bear another mark of humiliation for Russia.
The war in Asia lingers on at the old rate. Kars is still hard pressed, and provisions are growing scanty. The new element in the contest is the appearance of Omar Pasha at Batoum with some thousands of Turkish regulars, and directions to relieve Kars by a rapid march up the valley of the Chorouksu. The lateness of the season. and the bareness of provisions in Kars, make the result cloubtfaL
