The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

370 THE WAR. THE BOMBARDMENT RECOMMENCED. Telegraphic advices from the camp report at length that the preparations of the besiegers were complete, and that the bombardment of Sebastopol was resumed on the 9th, and continued day and night. The results of the fire have been reported by General Canrobert in successive despatches to the French Government, which come down to the 14th instant. On the first day it was announced that the advantage appeared to be on the side of the be sieger•, but that no signal success had been obtained. The close of the second day's bombardment was grated to he more sati,tactory than the first. 'the French operated chief y against the Malakoff Tower, and with success. At first the Russians appeared to repair the damage done when the bombardment commenced ; but, as far as could be a• certained, at the close of the second day they had not sought to do so. On thel2th, the third day, the despatch announced that the fleets were raugt-d in line of battle before the port of Sebastopol. The bombardment was kept up against the Malakoff Tower, but without result, up to the 12th. Under date of the 14th, the General states that the superiority of the artillery of the allied armies was more and more confirmed. Our troops on the pre ceding night, having twice driven the Russians from their strong position on the left, remained masters of them ; they are much nearer to the town. Rumours prevailed in Vienna on Wednesday evening of a sanguinary engagement having taken place outside Sebastopol, in which the Russians wet e defeated; but these rumours were of a very indistinct shape. HEAVY LOSS OF THE RUSSIANS. The Russian accou►►ts state that the allies opened their fire on the 9th, at five o'clock in the morning ; kept up a heavy cannonade till ten in the evening, and a sharp bombardment during the night; repeating the same course on the 10th. Prince Gortschakoff says he inflicted a severe loss on the allies by a suc c3ssful return of the fire, but atimns having lost 833 men k►lled and wounded. The allies have demanded 20,000 men to be sent down to Sebastopol, ►t was imagined, for the assault. The embarkation began on the sth. Omar Paella was to leave on the oth. _ . The Military Gazette of Vienna learns, by Russian letters from the Crimea, that Prince Gortschakoff bas modified his original plan of operations. The centre f his army will be at Baktchi•Serai and Simferopol ; the right wing will lean on Perekup. The defe ce of Seba topul will be independent of the exterior onerations, but it will be extended as tar as the lines of the Tschernaya Corps of observat,on wilt be established in intrenctied camps on the Katcha and Belbe&k. The following despatches have been received :—. Before Sebastopol, March 31. Since I wrote to your lordship on the 27th instant, the operations of the siege have been continued, without any material interuption from the enemy beyond occasional shots from guns and mortars, and the more constant tiring of musketry from rifle-pits, which have occasioned, 1 regret to say, the casualties which your lordship will see in the returns I inclose. Captain A. E. Hill, of the 89th regiment, whom I men• tioned as having been severely wounded and taken prisoner, died, I regret to say, of his wounds, before he reached the Russian ambulance, as I learnt last night from General Osten•Sacken, to whom I had written for information on the subject. He had gone forward with a view to place the sentries in front of our advanced works, as I stated to your lordship on TuesdlY, and he, unfortunately, mistook a Russian for a French picket, and, having challenged it in French, he was immediately fired upon, and br)ught to the ground. Early yesterday morning a fire was observed in the town of Sebastopol, which raged with violence for a considerable time, but how it originated I have not been able to _ • ascertain. The enemy has made no movement on the side of the Tschernaya. The railway continues to progress in the most satisfactory manner, and last night had nearly reached the top of the hill, usually called the Col de Balaklava, and advantage has been taken to bring up large quantities of ammunition and stores. April 3. My Lord,—l have the honour to tranem't to your lord ship a letter of this date, from Dr. Hall, inclosing a weekly return of the sick of the army, up to the 31st ultimo. Your lordship will see with satisfaction that the general health of the army continues steadily to improve. I have also to submit to your lordship, with reference to your despatch, No. 22, of the 28th of February, the copy of a letter from the same officer, on tha question of 11C0011111110- dation for wounded men, on the event of any sudden emer gency occurring. As the ships referred to 1)y Dr. Hall are oonstantly on passage, and might all he so at the time they might be wanted tin- the wounded, 1 proposed to Sir Ed• mund Lyons to have some sailing vessels got ready for their reception, and accordingly, w►th his sanction, the THE PRESS. following transports are under preparation :—Orient, Sir George Pollock ; St. Hiller, William Jackson; and Poic tiers; and it is calculated that they hold hold 100 to 150 men each. April 7. My Lord,—Some interchange of troops has taken place since I addressed your lordship on the 31st ultimo. Battalions and considerable convoys have entered the town, and other bodies of troops have been seen to leave the north side. The garrison has been constantly engaged in adding to the works, and particularly in connecting the rifle-pits in the immediate front of our right attack; and, as we have pushed forward, the fire upon our advance has occasioned more loss, I deeply regret to say, than we have sustained since the sortie of the 2:3rd of March. Lieutenant Bainbridge, of the Royal Engineers, was, I lament to have to add, killed on the morning of the 4th of April, whilst in the execution of his duty, by the bursting of a shell. He was a young officer of much promise, and though he had not long been here he had acquired the esteem and good opinion of his brother ofiloers, and his *loss is greatly deplored by all. RaGlaN. SIEGE CHRONICLE. - - - - The following extracts contain the principal • details communicated in the latest letters from the camp. The dates reach to the 7th, six days before the recommencement of the bombardment, as an nounced by the telegraphic despatches MARCH 2g.—lt would seem that during this eventful time when every one is looking forward with so much anxiety to a speedy exit from the Crimea, or a decided re newel of hostilities, the army is quite determined to avail itself of the little means available for amusement. Another day's racing above the cavalry camp, close to the village of Karani, came off with the same spirit as on former occasions, and all hands, French and English, seem equally to enjoy themselves. Several despatches are reported to have arrived at headquarters from Vienna, but the army is none the wiser at present, and there is the usual talk about opening fire in a few days. The captain of a gun in the naval battery has been sent back to his ship, and, it is said, will be flogged for taking a shot, con trary to orders, at the houses instead of the works of the enemy ; but Jack, like every one else, is getting tired of the present state of things. MARCH 29.—The second division has this week com menced moving to its new ground, between the fourth and light divisions. The whole of the 41st and part of the 17tli Regiment having taken possession of the huts erected for them, it was supposed that the men would only be sent over to occupy the nuts as they became ready, but this morning an order was sent for the 30th and 2nd Regiments to move over with their tents tomorrow. The fine weather is probably the cause of the change ; hut remaritably fine as it is, the nights are generally extremely windy, which will try the old canvas and ropes when once otoved from the old ground where they had become as much fixtures as it was possible fur such material to be. As soon as the men's huts are completed, those for the 'fficers will be brought up, but the men are to be all pro vided for in the first instance. Some heavy firing is going ea to-night as usual. MARCH 30.—The weather has leen much colder this afternoon than we have had it of late ; to-night it is clear, but very windy, and some rain seems at hand; for April to commence with a few showers, however, will give the coun try, as tar as it is possible in the vicinity of our camps, the real appearance of spring. MARCH 31.—The general bombardment of Sebastopo has nut yet been renewed. Its probable date is still a sub ject of rumour and speculation, but, judging from the vast stores of ammunition which have been accumulated, and are still being carried to the batteries, both of the French and English attacks, it is intended to be undertaken very speedily. In the meantime the Russians continue to strengthen heir position, especially in the neighbourhood of the Malakoff Tower, and their new advanced works. They have completed an intrenchment from the Mamelon Redoubt down to the valley near Careening Hay on one side, on the other to the middle or Otchakoff ravine. This line nearly bisects the Mamelon-hill. The rifle-pith close to the French line have been connected and formed into a deep trench, and seven or eight other large ambuscades have been thrown up on either side, stretching back in a direction towards the new line of intrenchment across the hill. A new line of work has also been commenced inter• mediate between these two intrenchments. The new rifle-pits on the right of the Russian position extend in a line nearly parallel with the direction of the middle ravine, and are close to the verge of the hill above it. They nearly correspond in direction with our new line on the opposite side of the ravine connected with the advanced work on Frenchman's-hill. A constant rifle fire is kept up between these two positions. Much execution must have been done against the enemy's riflemen by the fire of two field-pieces which have been taken down to the advanced work and directed against the ambuscades. There have been scarcely any casualties on our side. The new batteries on the Malakoff Tower-hill are making progress. The enemy has lately constructed a twoonartar battery to the right of the Malakoff works, the fire of which has been chiefly directed against the twenty one-gun battery on Frenchman's-hill. On our side, and on that of the allies, great advance has been lately made; and when the general attack is renewed, the enemy will, in all probability, be as much surprised by the position as by the power of the new batteries. The fire from the Russian batteries has been much more active during the last few days than it had been for a week or ten days previously. Theo eis now communication by electric tele graph between the right of the British attack and the head-quarters of the commander-in-chief, and any impor tant movement of the enemy is instantly announced by officers specially appointed to exercise constant observa tion over the works around Sebastopol and the army on SATURDAY, the northern heights. Semaphores have also been erected along the whole line of the French and English position, so that the speedy transmission of intelligence is insured on all sides. The health and condition of the troops in camp are now very favorable. Cases of fever are not uutrequent in the field hospitals, but they are net of a serious nature. Orders have been given to facilitate the observation and proceed- ings of the gentlemen sent from England on the sanitary commission. The state of the camp is everywhere much improved, especially in respect to all the minuter details. Limekilns have been made, and a supply of quicklime thus insured for sanitary purposes. The railway will now begin to play a part in connection with the siege not at all unimportant. To-day, for the first time, shot has been conveyed up to the top of the hill near tile first division of the French, and out far from head-quarters, and the arrangement the artillery officer in cuerge of the transport of allot wishes to make is, to shot a few hours one morning only to the taking andnuniuun up, and to form a depot near the Briusu newt-quarters; from thence to th 3 trenches nu difficulty would ut expe rienced, and any amount of shut, shell, and powder, might be carried to the front with ease. The railway will even save the lives of hundreds—it puts an end to all the laborious work at which the troops toiled and died of over work last winter, and it allows us to have more men avail able. The thirty-two-pounder field-battery, lately lauded at Scutari, is to be brought up immediately, and that, as well as all other butteries, are to be placed immediately in a moveable state ready to advance into the country. This leads one to suppose that it is anticipated that the fortress will soon be in our possession, for we shall not move till that is taken, one is well assured. APRIL I.—ln Balaklays last night at eleven o'clock the whole harbour was suddenly alarmed by the ringing of the ships' fire-bells. The cause was soon apparent—a fire had broken out in the engine-room of one of our small tug steamers named the Pigeon, and stationed that night at the mouth of the harbour, close to where the powder-ships are moored. Dense masses of smoke from the lower part of the ship guided all to the spot, and within a minute after the alarm had been given, upwards of one hundred boats were round her, and nearly a dozen small hand-engines playing upon her from all directions. All the naval officers in the harbour were there, and by their directions the boats which had come to assist were got. into something like order, ropes passed to them, and in a few minutes the tug was towed out of the harbour. Fortunately, the night was clear and very calm, or this would have been impossible, even though she was anchored in the very entrance. Wht n outside, energetic measures were adopted—the engines set to work, and water enough to sink the vessel poured into her from the ships' buckets uhich each boat had brought. By these means the fire was soon got under and elfin gitished. though the vessel of coma.- was not allowed to retuin to the harbour. Nothing could exceed the rapidity with which the transports manned their boats, got out their engines, and had them in full work before the bel s were ham done ringing. Yet in case of fire really seizing a slip their efforts would be of small avail, and their engines, like watering-pots, utterly useless to subdue any mass of confla gratiou. It is not WO much to say that in case of a real conflagration in one of our large ships hardly a sessel in the harbour could be saved, as they are literally lying on one another, and could not possibly move a toot. The rumour of the Rwssiaus round the neighbourhood t f Tehourgotim hiving received reinforcement* is, it appeata, strictly true, and our troops on the heights round lialitklm‘ a were edified all last night by the sight of t.,eir watch-Meal This morning, from the heights in our possession on the extreme right, these troops were plainly visible. A number of their officers were on the Wonnizow road, and appeared to be surveying our position with much care. Apparently about 5,000 men occupy haulers, and are watching our right. To-day two more ten-inch mortars were sent tothe front, with about fifty or sixty tons of powder, three hundred rounds of filled shell, and two hundred rounds of empty ten-inch. To-day, also, the greater part of the officers and crew of the Leander, 150, came on shore and joined the naval brigade, near head-quarters. These men will be distributed at the heavy guns in the different new works. Their appearance as they landed was uncommonly smart and neat; each man dressed in blue, with his cutlass and revolver at his side, and in the centre one of the quarter masters with the " Union." To add still further to the imposing nature of the procession, two sailors—one with a fife and the other with a fiddle—marched at its head, enlivening the way with " Jack's alive;' " Cheer, boys, cheer," &c., and, accompanied by such tunes, and joking and laughing with themselves and all they met, the blue jackets rolled off in high glee. Wherever they go they will do their work well, for in the management of our large siege-guns the artillery men are not to be compared to them. At the same time that the sailors landed 5,000 Turks were sent to head quarters, each man carrying a long fascine. There are not less than 10,000 or 12,000 of these fascines already piled near Lord Raglan's house, and a ship now in harbour has about 1,500 more from Sinope, and other ships are expected. We have no new works either in course of con struction, or contemplated, for which such enormous numbers would be required, and I am therefore led to the conclusion that they are wanted for the storming of the Russian batteries. Each of these batteries is surrounded by a deep fosse, which the storming party fill with fascines provided for the purpose, and are thus enabled to cross without the hindrance and delay which scaling-ladders always occasion. If the fascines are really meant for such a purpose it indeed shows clearly that the final moment of this great contest is fast approaching, and tha t England must. again prepare to hear the chequere d tidin g s of a desperate campaign. APRIL 2.—The belief that our batteries will open on Wednesday or Thursday next is vet) , general. It is evident that with unlimited means of renewing their bat,