The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-16 00:00:00

JUNE 16, 1855. the sailors and marines, and destroyed all the stores and the shipping. This brilliant and decisive success marks the resolution and daring of Captsin Lyons, and fortunately was accom plished with no other loss than that of one man wounded. Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons states that, in no longer a period than four days, the squadron has destroyed 241 vessels, employed exclusively in transporting provisions to the Crimea, besides four war•steamers, and six millions of rations of flour and corn. I beg leave to offer your lordship my warmest congratu lations on these important occurrences. I have nothing of importance to report to your lordship from hence, except that some more detachments of Sardi nian troops have arrived. A battery has arrived off the harbour. RAGLAN. SIEGE CHRONICLE. The correspondence from the camp lately received brings intelligence to the 4th instant. The news is of little interest, the active operations reported by the telegraph not having commenced, and the rumours of the proceedings in the Sea of Azoff which had penetrated to the writers being more fully and faithfully rendered in the official despatches. The following brief extracts convey the only details of real importance:— MAY 29.—There is very little to write of since the last mail left. The guns in front are quiet on both sides ; perhaps, after the calm, a slorm may come, but there are at present no signs of it. Talking of storms, the 27th and yesterday were days of extreme heat, and the lightning and thunder, accompanied occasionally by heavy showers of rain, made the camp unusually wretched. I rode along the French lines, which are now advanced so close to the Tsohernaya that our soldiers water their horses there without any molestation. The river abounds in tench and other fish, but our people cannot muster a rod or a bit of tickle in the whole of the camp, and the French are equally unsuccessful. Yesterday being Sunday, after divine service had been read, as usual, to the different divisions, the following order was promulgated before the parade was dismissed : MORNING GENERAL ORDER. Head-quarters, before Sebastopol. May 27, 1555. Field-Marshal Lord Raglan has the hiuhest satisfaction in announcing to the army the complete success of the expedition to Xertch, under the charge of Lieut.-General Sir George Brown, K.C.8., without loss to the brave men engaged in the enterprise. The troops landed on her Majesty's birthday. They have cap ured fifty guns of large calibre, end destroyed an extensive ountiry. The Sea of Azoff is opened to the combined troops under Admirals Sir Edmund Lyons and Bruat, whose joint exertions are beyond all praise. J. SIMPSON, Chief of the Staff. The order was received by cheers such as only English - men know how to give, and were repeated from one brigade to the other throughout the whole line. JUICE 2.—Very few events of general interest have oc curred during the last four days in the siege operations, nor has any change taken place in the condition of the works beyond the gradual advance of the approaches against the enemy's more prominent positions. Each day rumour has asserted that the following day would see the opening of the new batteries, and the commencement of the third bombardment ; and each, in turn, by its station ary quietude, has given the lie to the assertions of its pre decessor. A council of war was assembled at an early hour of the morning at Headquarters on the 29th ultimo, when, it is stated, the arrangements were completed re specting the reopening of the fire, but their nature has not, of course, transpired. It is not unlikely that the renewal of the fire will he delayed until matters are ripe for a con nected series of combined movements, such as will tend to engage the attention of the Russian forces, if not to detach a considerable portion of the army from the immediate n4ighbenrhood of Sebastopol. Now that our trenches are so close to the works of the enemy, a well-directed rifle fire can be brought to bear on the embrasures of their batteries with great effect. The Russians have for some time resorted to the usual expe dient in the Redan and elsewhere of placing swinging screens, or " mantlets," for the protection of the gunners against our Minies ; but in spite of these devices our men, placed in favorable points, by watching and taking advantage of favorable opportunities, can keep greatly under control the fire of the guns. Some mantlets have lately been applied to several of our foremost batteries. THE CAPTURED RUSSIAN WORKS. The following descriptions will convey an idea of the locality and importance of the Russian works so successfully attacked and taken by the allies on the oth and ith instant : The works which the allies assailed on the fith are the advanced lines around the Arsenal and Karabel.nia suburb, commencing with the redoubts on the right of Careening liay and following the line to the south, or Admiralty Har bour. This comprehends the Lunette Battery immediately above Careening Bay on the left or west side, a new redoubt thrown up lately on the cliff above the roadstead, and still further to the left than the last named work, the Mamelon redoubt, and the Malakoff, Redan, and Barrack Batteries. The Malakoff batteries, built around the rains of the original White Tower, however, constitute the real object towards which the besiegers are working. Upon these batteries the enemy has concentrated the vigour of his defensive energies, and the besiegers have uniformly regarded the same works as the key of the whole position. The Mamelon, now in our possession, commands every part of the Malakoff works. Our guns, when mounted in this newly acquired position, will have a double advantage over those of the enemy, arielOg at once from the elevation *the Manselon, sad tke depressive of the Malakoff tratte. THE PRESS. ries, which lie below the general level, at the bottom of a hollow. The Mamelon itself is a steep rocky eminence, about a mile in circumference at the base, and about a quarter of a mile at the top. Its average height from what was lately our advanced parallel is about 100 feet. The approach to it was swept by about forty guns in the Malakoff works ; its own guns made it truly formidable ; and when it is added that its steep sides are covered with masses of root and louse stones, the difficulty of the enterprise of June 7th be comes apparent, and its success more striking. Already the besiegers must have gained considerably in the free dom of their movements, as the guns of the Mamelon completely commanded the ravine of Otchakofl just before it expands into the irregular-shaped valley lying at the foot of Frenchman's-hill. The defences called by Lord Raglan the " White Works," and by General Wheeler the " Careenege Redoubts," which were attacked on the 7th, occupy the rising ground called by the Russians Sapoun-gom, on the south bank of the Great Harbour, and just to the right of Careening Bay. The despatches now speak of the two redoubts as having been taken ; despatches from the camp had previously stated that early in May the enemy threw up a third re doubt nearer to the great harbour than the others, pierced with five embrasures, and directing its fi re upon the French batteries on the same line of hill. The success of the attack now reported was too signal and complete to leave rooom fur the supposition that a work in such a position still remains to impede the work of the siege. The two first redoubts near Careening Bay have hitherto been designated by the Russians the Seling hinsk and Volhynia redoubts. They were erected in February last upon the crest of the high cliffs, and by the enemy were intended to prevent the French, who at that time had taken a section of the right attack upon them selves, advancing to act against the shipping in the Great Harbour. The enemy thus early betrayed a further inten tion of extending his work across the brow of the hill by sap, and connecting the whole by works across the right ravine with the batteries around the Malakoff or Round Tower. On the 24th of February General Mayran led a French corps of 1,500 men against the Selinghinsk Ite doubt nearest to Careening Bay, and, as the enemy was in three, encountered a desperate resistance. The redoubt was, however, taken, and its demolition commenced; but the terrific fire of the Russian batteries, joined to that of the ships in the harbour, caused our allies great loss ; and upon the return of the Russians, with immense reinforcements, they were compelled to retire before their work was entirely accomplished. An attack was made by our allies on the Volhynia Re doubt on the sth of March, with less loss, but no greater success than on the first, and since then both have hitherto had to withstand only our artillery. On the opening of the second bombardment, both were silenced and all but de molished; but such was the facility of reparation, that both were in a day or two afterwards as efficient as ever. For the last few weeks the French have been sapping up to these works, which it was indispensable to take before ad vancing nearer to the Malakoff Tower. the klamelon , work, which the Russians call the Kama chatka Lunette, was commenced on the 11th of March, on an eminence in front of the Malakoff or liorniloff Bastion. The object of the Russian engineers was, on the one hand, to prevent the allies gaining a footing by means of rapid works with the flying sap u t )on the high ground opposite the Malakoff works; and, on the other hand, to form, together with the counter approaches, namely, the Sehng hinsk and Volhynia redoubts, an advanced line of defence. From this work some of the most effective of tho Russian sorties have been made. General Pelissier's words will be fresh in memory—" The Mamelon must be taken ; if it cost ten men, we must have it ; if it cost ten hundred, stil we must have it." ANAPA. This town, which is the last, is also the most im portant of the towns and fortresses on the littoral of the Black Sea abandoned by Russia since the cola mencement of this war. The town, situate on the north-east coast of the Euxine, at the northern ter mination of the Caucasian range, forty-seven miles south-east of Yenikale, is inhabited by a miscella neous population of Circassians, Tartars, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Russian', and others, to the num ber of about five thousand. The adverse relations of its masters with the tribes inhabiting the moun tain country in its rear have almost neutralised the great advantages offered by its situation, and prevented its growth. Its exports are at present grain, tallow, butter, hides, peltries, wax, &c. It is, however, as a military post that it has been most prized by Russia, most deplored by Turkey. The fort, built by the Turks in 1784, was taken by the Russians in 1791 and in 1807, and only given up with the greatest reluctance. In May, 1828, a detached Russian corps, a- sited by the fleet, and com manded by the redoubtable Menschikoff, laid siege to Anapa, and w►th great difficulty sur rounded the place with a strong line of circumvalla tion, intersecting the neck of land on which Anapa is situated, and extending on eadi side to the sea. In a few days the works were advanced to the glacis, and three breaches having been made, the governor was summoned to surrender. The garrison had con sisted of three thousand men ; they had defended the fort for forty days; Navarino had destroyed the fleet which might have brought them relief, and nothing remained but to surrender. Upon the conclusion of the war Anapa was not restored ; at the peace of Adrianople it was ceded to Russia, with all the coast towns and flortis from the Koubaa to Fort bt. 563 Nicholas. At any other time the transfer of this military position from the Russians to the Circas sians might have been deemed an event of con siderable importance, but its evacuation at the present moment is peculiarly interesting as a sign of the severe pressure under which the power of Russia is visibly collapsing. THE MOVEMENT ON THE TSCHERNAYA. The recent movement of the allied forces beyond the Tschernays was a military spectacle of imposing grandeur. The allied army consisted of (JOAO French, English Turks, and Sardinians, all in the highest state of efficiency, and desiring nothing better than to confront the enemy in the held. From the neighbouring heights the panoramic view was splendid. Large numbers of Sardinians and French passed by the right, and took Tchorgoum, a pretty looking place, with numerous poplars intermixed with the buildings, and a large church-tower. It is situated immediately behind a high hill, which is formidibly intrcnched, and was frequently noted during the reconnaissances towards the interior, and is supposed to have been the head-quarters of Gene ral Soimonoff just before the battle of Inkermann. The cavalry pushed over by the old Turkish redoubts, the Cossacks having fallen back to the other side of the Tschernaya. The movement of the army ' discovered by the Russians, a very great number guns opened from almost inaccessible•looking on the cliffs. Our troops poured up the hills, _ advancing rapidly, took the whole of the Russian heights, a large redoubt, and several detached batteries, but only succeeded in capturing two some prisoners ( cavalry ), and a great number cattle. The redoubt was destroyed, arid a new was immediately commenced by the French. cavalry took up their quarters on the banks of Tschernaya, and the rest of the army, dispersed different positions, began to light their fires and pare breakfast. Then innumerable tents shot and studded the large new tract of ground gained the allies, the scene of the light cavalry charge, robert's.hill, and the plain thence to the Tschernayo t being now permanently our ground. Such troops as bad possession of the hills sheltered themselvail under hastily-made bowers, until the tents arrived the extreme right resting on the hills by the road to Baidar. This celebrated valley has been designate& the Taurian Arcadia and Crimean Tempe, and miles in length and six in breadth, is beautifull' livated, protected from violent winds, and irrigated by clear streams falling from the hills. The ',roach to this noted valley is now occupied by outposts of the allied army, and is described as lovely,—a series of well-wooded and mountainous hills, where the grey limestone rock rises massively, and imparts great beauty to the landscape..---T Correspondent. RUSSIAN INFERNAL MACHINES. Both by land and sea the Russians seem to adopted various explosive contrivances, far more jurious than successful, with the view of damaging their enemies : Some French soldiers who were retiring from a cade which they had been attacking before Sebastopol dropped upon their knees to take advantage of the in qualities of the ground. One of them in so doing broke small glass tube. They searched further and found series of tubes filled with some substance of pale colour. The specimens were carried to the camp, the engineers found that. the substance was a mixture fulminating powder, phosphorous, and saltpetre. soldiers were sent, and, following the course of the found that they led to wooden boxes buried about , inches in the ground. One of these boxes was removed and found to contain flasks of explosive materials. In BJ' forty•four of these boxes were found, all connected means of tubes. - Admiral Pruitt, describing the advance through paasage of Cape St. Paul, int the Kertch expedition, —" A great many ships had been sunk in the pass. tered b 3 the currents and the melting of the ice, ships were so many reefs, the appro ,ch to which was reveled by soundings, and of the position of which were entirely ignorant. The enemy had also laid ' and there at the bottom some infernal machines, like we have found in the areenal of Kertch, where we been able to examine them at our leisure. A triple , cased in gotta perch., connected these machines with electric apparatus placed in the St. I'aul battery. In manner it would have been easy, as soon as our ships , entangled in the pass, to cause these submarine petards explode instantaneously under their sides, the effect winch explosion must be decisive, provided it were place at the precise moment." Miss Nightingale, being convalescent from late severe attack of fever, and recoinme change of air by her medical attendant, Dr. ley, principal medical officer of the Castle pital, Balaklava, under whose care she has thronghout her illness, was on the 30th ulti carried down from the heights, accompanied that officer and the Rev. Mr. Parker, and put board the Jura for England, where it is hoped will speedily recover s and be able to resume duties in the Bast. 63 f this 'ircas- COR- t the ign of tussia CA. eyond losing 10,000 the bette r an the was 'rench iretty- mixed It is ich is noted r, and Gene- mann. 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