The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-11 00:00:00

1062 they had done us the same mischief. Their mirth, how ever, was but short-lived. While in the act of cheering, a shell from the Lancaster lodged (I presume) in the magazine of the redoubt in front of the redan wall. The explosion which followed was appalling. At first it seemed as if the whole of Sebastopol was enveloped in the ruin ; five minutes after, when the loose earth and smoke cleared away, and allowed us to see the extent of the mischief, we saw that only a black hole remained where the grand redoubt had stood, and that the greater part of the redan wall was blown away ; so stunning appeared the effects of the terrible blow to the enemy that it was some minutes before they fired a single gun. When they did they con centrated their whole fire upon the battery where the fatal Lancaster gun was placed, but in vain, it was quite out of range, and their shot stopped rolling nearly 200 yards in advance of the battery. Seeing this, the Russians wisely gave up the attempt to reach it, and turned their attention to the French fleet, which indeed required it. During all this time their fire, instead of slackening, had rather in creased, and it was evident, from the perpetual thunders they sent forth, that one or the other party must soon give in, for it was impossible for both to go on at that rate any longer. Which was actually the victor we could guess, though we could not see, for the smoke was now more dense than ever. It was near four o'clock, the fleet were still volleying forth their thunders, but the fire of the Russians had slackened considerably. Just at this moment the smoke cleared away, and both forts and fleets could dis tinctly see each other. The French vessels lay off the forts to the south of the harbour. Another detachment of line-of-battle ships was attacking those to the north. The smoke was still too thick to allow us to make out the flags of these latter, but we had no doubt they were English. The batteries at the mouth of the harbour mount three tiers of guns, the uppermost one on the roof being open like ordinary batteries ; the two lower tiers are casemated, one being almost level with the water's edge. The enemy had completely abandoned the guns on the roof, many of which were dismounted, and the works much cut up ; but the casemated guns seemed little injured, and as the smoke cleared away they attacked the fleets with redoubled vigour. We could also see that some earthworks had been thrown up to flank the forts, which were pouring a destructive fire upon the fleet. In the day's report transmitted by the Daily News correspondent we read: — In front of the camp of the light division, on the brow of the hill overlooking the one-gun Lancaster battery and the 21-gun battery, is a house known as the Picket house. Round it is a yard, enclosed by a stone wall. Within this the Duke of Cambridge and Sir G. Brown were standing about noon with many of the staff, looking at the bombardment. A round shot passed between the two generals, and, whizzing across the yard, was stopped by the wall on the opposite side. The duke laughed the matter off, but Sir George, thinking the number of con spicuous uniforms had attracted the fire, immediately ordered the officer commanding the picket to clear the yard. It was a narrow escape for both. Half past 3 p.m.—A tremendous explosion from an irregular battery of the Russians in front of our 21-gun battery. It is succeeded by a cheer from our battery, which is carried on by the whole of the troops on the brow of the bill and by those in the camp. Men are seen scampering from the fort, which is only, in a direct line, though separated by a deep gully, about three hundred yards from the 21-gun battery, but numbers must have been destroyed by the explosion. 4 p.m.—A cartload of ammunition had just been deposited to the left of the 21-gun battery, being placed as an addition to what is known as the Sailor's Magazine, when a carcase shot from the Russians fell among it, and the whole ex ploded with a terrific crash. A dense white curling cloud rose slowly into the air. The' magazine was close between two covering parties, one of the 58th Connaught Rangers, the other of the 19th Regiment. The very proximity proved a blessing, for the fragments of cases and other material rose at first directly upwards, and scarcely any of those in the neighbourhood were injured. We fear the explosion of this magazine will seriously inconvenience the working of the guns, as the naval men have no reserve at hand. However, as a compensation, the Russian battery opposite has for the present been silenced. The three guns from the Round Tower-hill continue to annoy us : the Russian artillerymen are either very courageous, or must be urged, as is said, at the point of the bayonet, to continue the fire from these guns, for shells are bursting in front and on every side of them. There is no fire, as was expected, in the town. Our furnaces are not yet ready : no red-hot shot have yet been fired, nor have any rockets or carcases on our side been discharged. The operations of the four following days are thus recorded by the correspondent of the Chronicle, whose despatch was made up on the evening of the 23rd : On the 19th the firing commenced as usual at daybreak, and towards noon the French guns were enabled to open, and thus relieve the English batteries from their double labour. The fire of the redan soon slackened under that of our two large batteries, and that was the only advan• tage of the day. At half-past three an explosion took place in the " Sea Battery " caused by a French shell. Two officers lost their lives. The idea first entertained of sparing the town had evidently been given up, for in the course of the afternoon m ilre rockets were th one rown into ese it. At four o'clock p.m. a was kindled by of th projectiles, hut was soon got under by the inhabitants of the town. The latter, it would appear from the reports of deserters (we have some eighty of them), lead anything but an enviable life ; not only are the houses and their lives endangered by our fire, but they are ir forced to work in the trenches, and perform THE PRESS. equally unpleasant duties most trying to civilians. Some of the latter, who ventured to expostulate, were forthwith hanged, as an example, by Prince Menschikoff. Towards the afternoon, the apex of the redan had suffered considerably, and the fire of the enemy had decidedly slackened. Some of the skirmishers from the light division penetrated that day to within range of the ships, and commenced peppering down upon the decks. A shower of shells, however, soon caused them to retire. A report was in circulation that evening of our ammuni tion being nearly exhausted. The " Blue jacket Battery" most certainly manifested no signs of want of powder and shot, as the condition of the rattan amply testified. Captain Peel gave one of his many proofs of determination and sang froid. A shell fell into the battery, upon which he instantly seized it in his arms, and hurled it over the parapet, where it exploded harmlessly. In the course of the night two 68-pounders were added to his battery. The monotonous roar of artillery awoke everybody, as usual, at daybreak of the 20th. Nothing occurred of interest until twenty minutes past ten, when a small explosion took place within the French lines. From the position of the French, it had been hoped they might sap towards the town, but the rocky nature of the ground proves decidedly an tagonistic to any engineering undertaking. In the course of the day one of our Lancaster shells, which had not burst, was politely returned from a Russian gun. Our furnaces were at work in the afternoon, and several hot shot were hurled into the town. At four o'clock p.m. an edifice near the dockyard was in flames, but the absence of the slightest breeze prevented the conflagration from spreading, and before night the flames were extinguished. On that night I was enabled by ocular testimony to judge of the little harm effected by the Russians on our batteries, and of the scientific and solid manner in which the latter had been constructed. Towards midnight some severe musketry fire was heard in the direction of Balaklava, and the alarm was speedily sounded in the French camp. At the same time the rear towards Balaklava was menaced; a Russian column made a sortie, and succeeded in entering one of the advanced batteries, but were speedily driven out, with the loss of several prisoners. Brigadier-General Goldie was des patched, with 850 men of the 4th division and sixty Rifles, to the rear. His instructions were to proceed towards the telegraph post, on the road to Balaklava, and to await there further orders. At daybreak he was directed on Balaklava, and on the road his division was passed by three columns of French infantry and three of Turkish. All the heights were occupied by Turkish troops, prepared to give any ad vancing force a warm reception. The Russians, who had appeared on the heights tar to the rear, declined to give battle, and retired. Our cavalry was out all night, and have been lately much harassed by these night alarms. The deserters from Sebastopol unite in stating that large reinforcements are expected to arrive in the town before the 28th. This is probably one of Menschikoffs little artifices to encourage the gunners and garrison to resistance. On the 21st the firing commenced as usual. At three o'clock in the afternoon an explosion occurred in the Russian redoubt by the White Tower. The explosion was not very violent, and proceeded evidently from an expense magazine. Late in the afternoon a fire broke out in the town, but, as usual, was soon extinguished. All the public edifices, and most of the private houses, of Sebastopol are constructed with white freestone, and very little wood has purposely been employed in the buildings. Some of the houses within range of the French batteries have been unroofed, in order to prevent, as far as possible, shells or rockets taking effect. On some of the barracks layers of sandbags have been formed, and, in a word, every pre caution has been taken to preserve the town from the flames. The practice of the Lancaster one-gun battery has been much more effective since the opening day. Owing to the construction of the battery, a small portion of the Twelve Apostles alone presented herself as a range, and that at too great a distance to be satisfactory. Since then the Lan caster has been pointed on the town, and the execution committed by it is certainly immense. A shell was seen to fall on a house, which literally appeared to be rent asunder. I believe, however, it is running short of proper ammunition. Our casualt es were very small that day, and never in the annals of a siege has a besieging force suffered so little as we have in the present instance. During the twenty-six days the British arm vey has been before Sebastopol, not two hundred men ha ben placed hors de combat from the actual fire of the enemy. Lord Dunkellin, of the Coldstreams, was taken prisoner in the course of the night. His lordship is, it appears, very short sighted, and fell in with a Russian picket and was captured. In the " Frenchman's - bill Battery " two guns were disabled in the course of the day. One had been struck in the muzzle and severely damaged, but the gunners worked it nevertheless. A second ball, however, completely disabled it. Fortunately our reserve of guns would permit us to remount all the batteries over and over again. The cannonade opened very briskly on the morning of the 22nd. The French batteries were worked with great vigour, and apparently with considerable success. One of our guns in " Green-hill Battery " burst towards the after noon, killing two men and wounding five. A breeze sprang up which would have favoured a conflagration in the town had a fire been kindled. None, however, declared itself. Two prisoners, one an officer, were brought in by the skirmishers of the light division. The officer was badly wounded, and has since expired. According to the private's account, the loss sustained by the Russians was very large, and the streets were filled with the killed and wounded. Such like statements must be received with great caution. A more probable report is current, viz., that the inhabitants are suffering from want of water. In fact, large water parties may be seen leaving and entering the town daily. At night the cannonade ceased, and thus terminated the sixth day's siege of Sebastopol. SATURDAY, Tolley the batteries opened at the usual time, bat up to this hour (12 o'clock) nothing of interest has occurred. In course of last night the new batteries were traced out and the trenches commenced. Both these batteries (five•gun ones) will be established slightly in advance of " French man's•hill Battery," and will command the dockyard. The Russians are, it is said, constructing a battery of heavy guns near the ruins of Inkerruan, directed on the encamp ment of our extreme right (the second division). Most certainly they have been seen at work in that direction for the last five days, without being disturLed by our autho rities. From the diary of the Herald's correspo n de nt w e cite some further particulars of the state of affairs during these days. On the evening of the 18th he writes : I was struck with the marked difference between this day's attack and the combined onslaught of the day before. From the whole space to the left of our lines, where the French batteries had stood, not a shot was being fired. Until I had seen it I could scarcely credit that nearly 100 guns had been so effectually silenced as not to leave the earthworks even of one fit for tiring from. Yet so it was; and the French trenches had been perfectly levelled, either by the fire of the enemy or the explo sion of their own magazines. I saw also, with considerable disgust, that the enemy's fire appeared twice as heavy as the day previous, and that our batteries, left to contend against it single handed, made no progress. It seems that the Russiaes have, since the action of yesterday, discovered our weak points, and also their own; and during the night, when our fleet retired and our trenches ceased, have erected, with sandbags, several powerful batteriee, which do much mischief. The destruction of the French lines also enables them to concentrate their fire upon ours in a most uncomfortable manner. The Russian ten-gun battery and the double tier Flag-staff Battery, which did so much injury to our allies, can now direct a cross tire upon the English Green-mound Battery on our extreme left. This told vet; much upon our men, who, however, coolly stuck to their guns, in defiance of the shower of shot and shell which was poured upon them from all points. The Croen Battery, or Gordon's Battery—for it is called by both names—in our centre, with the six-gun battery, the battery of ships' guns and the Lancasters, were all doing their duty splendidly; but the contest, even to the moat prejudiced observer, was unequal, and I am sure cannot last. It is no exaggeration to say that, owing to the silence of the French and the new batteries thrown up last night, the Russians are enabled to fire fifteen or twenty guns to our one. Had they been one-half as expert wiarksmin as our men they would have silenced us long ago. They appear to have an illimitable supply of sandbags, so that when our shot or shell struck their earthworks, two or three were thrown in instantly to fill up whatever gap might be made. In this manner they repaired the effects of the most destructive volley five minutes atter it had been delivered. For the truth of this statement I can vouch, for I myself saw the Rus sians fillin g u p gaps with sand bags in such a perfect and expeditious manner as makes me fear we are doing little good in firing. However, be fore I left the battery I was somewhat consoled : a shell, fired from our lines, penetrated the magazine of the circuhr battery at the foot of the Round Tower; a fearful explosion followed, which almost annihilated the tower, and certainly must have sent all the defenders of the earthwork view • meal into the air. The shock and report were so terrific that for two or three minutes the enemy ceased firing along the whole extent of their lines. We could then see that a number of fresh troops rushed into the battery with one or two tumbrils of ammunition, and, atter a short delay, in defiance of ne, and to show that their ordnance was not injured by the explosion, they fired the whole of the guns in the work (about twenty) in one tremendous volley, and, showing them selves at the embrasures' in their shirt sleeves, gave three loud cheers. They certainly fight well, and put a good face on their misfor tunes, for that explosion must have cost them 200 men at the least. Oct 19.—A1l through last night the French have been incessantly at work, and, though it was not thought bee n they could be ready so soon, have repaired their batteries and again opened fire this morning The enemy have also made a fresh battery on a commanding position. and repaired and replaced guns in the redoubt, in front of the redan wall which we blew up on the 17th. Their ere this morning, therefore, seems hotter than ever. So hot is their cannonade and so c ommandin g are their positions that I much fear we shall do but little good while we con- tinue battering. The Flag-staff Battery and ten-gun battery, which flank and command the French lines, never ceased for a minute all this day. About eleven o'clock a shot from the latter entered one of the magazines in the French battery, blowing it up with a terrible explosion. Most of the men in the work were killed and many of the guns dismounted. Owing to this accident, and the terrible storm of shot and shell, most of the French works were again silenced before two o'clock. Our lines have maintained a hot fire all through the day, yet, though nearly 100 shot and shell are thrown per minute, it produces little effect. The enemy appear to have an inexhaustible supply of the material necessary, for a desperate defence. The instant a shot or shell strikes their works the hole is filled up with sandbags. It seems impossible, under these circumstances, that we can make any impression on our foes. All seem agreed that we have attacked on the wrong side of the town, and that we must therefore storm it, for our batteries can do little or nothing. I myself much fear that it will come to this at last. If we do storm, I have very little doubt that we should carry the place, but the carnage on all sides would be frightful. Those versed in such affairs say that it will cost the allies 15,000 killed and wounded. This is the price we have to pay for the delays of the Government: The checks which the fleet and the French have received do not seem in the least to have disheartened our men, but \