The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-05 00:00:00

II MAY 5, 1855. THE WAR. The purport of the telegraphic despatches which we are assured are daily received by the Government from Lord Raglan continues to be unsatisfactory. Every evening Ministers are asked the news of the day by some member of the House of Commons, and almost invariably state that there is none to tell. According to this negative intimation we must con clude that the suspended bombardment has not yet been recommenced, and that no other operations of consequence were in contemplation just at present. The siege of Sebastopol has, therefore, apparently lapsed once more into a state of abeyance. The last piece of information offered by Sir C. Wood ac quainted the public merely that on Monday last the Russian forces stationed between the Belbeck and Mackenzie's Farm had been reinforced by two divisions. The Paris Moniteur contains the following an nouncement : Telegraphic despatches from the Crimea of April 28, state that the besiegers had for a time suspended their fire, in order not to exhaust their store of ammunition while expecting reinforcements which were on the point of arriving. A despatch from St. Petersburg, dated the 29th, says that Prince Gortschakoff, under date of the 24th of April, writes thus from Sebastopol:— The fire of the enemy continues, but is slacker, their approaches progress slowly. The damage done to the fortifications and the losses of our garrison are also less in proportion. We have erected at 100 yards from Bastion No. 4, a row of rifle pits, which have served to form &continuous trench of communication. The Times Vienna correspondent writes : Authentic information has reached me that the bom bardment of Sebastopol, which had been suspended on the 28th, was to be resumed in a few days. SIEGE CHRONICLE. The following official despatch from Lord Raglan hew been published by the War Minister:— Before Sebastopol, April 17. The fire of both the French and Engli . sh armies has been continued upon Sebastopol since I addressed your lordship on the 14th inst., and though superior to that of the enemy, it has not produced that permanent effect which might have been anticipated from its constancy, power, and accuracy. The guns of the Russians have been turned upon some of our advanced works in vast numbers, and in one parti cular instance the injury sustained by a battery was so great that the unremitting exertions of Captains Henry and Walcot, and the gallantry and determination of the artil lerymen under their orders, alone enabled them to keep up the fire and to maintain themselves in it. In another battery yesterday a shell burst close to the magazine, which in consequence exploded, killing, I am much concerned to say, one man, wounding two most severely, and seven in a less degree. Both the batteries I have mentioned have been repaired and restored to their original condition. 1 inclose the list of casualties that have arisen between the 13th and lath inst. I have to lament the loss of two young and promising officers who had only lately joined the army, Lieutenant Preston, of the Stith Regiment, and Lieutenant Mitchell, of the Artillery ; and I regret to add thitt, two others have been severely wounded, Captain Green, of the East India Company's Service, who has been employed throughout the siege as an assistant engineer, with great credit to himself, and every advantage to the service, and Captain Donovan, of the 33rd, who has most zealously served from the commencement of the campaign. The French blew up several small mines in front of the Bastion du Mit after sunset on Sunday evening, with a view to establish a parallel on the spot. This operation greatly alarmed the enemy, who at once commenced a heavy fire of cannon and musketry in every direction from that part of the town, which they kept up for a considerable time. It occasioned no harm on our left attack, upon which a part of it was directed, and I hope did little injury to our allies. Several hundreds of the Russian cavalry and a small body of Cossacks appeared on the low range of heights in front of Balaklava this morning, and remained about an hour, when they retired, the greeter portion by the bridge of Tractea. The object of this movement was probably a RAGLAN. The correspondents of our daily contemporaries furnish some additional details respecting the pro ceedings that took place between the date of the former advices and the 17th ult. The following extracts are from the Herald:— APRIL 14.—1 n my letter of this morning I mentioned the sortie on the French last night, but only as a slight affair. The truth has now transpired, and it turns out to Nave been a more serious attack than I was at first led to believe. The enemy came down from the Flagstaff Battery in force, but fortunately our allies were equally well prepared. (here was a long and desperate struggle. Twice the Rus sians aucceeded in entering the parallel in advance of the battery, and twice were they repulsed, the second time with such loss as to compel an immediate retreat. 'f he French made no attempt at pursuit, as the enemy were althin a stoue's throw of their own batteries. They were thus able to retire in comparative order, carrying most of their dead and wounded with them. Only fifteen bodies, !we that of an onkel, were left behind, THE PRESS. The French suffered a total loss of between fifty and sixty killed and wounded. General Bizot (the French General of Engineers), I regret to say, was among the latter. The gallant officer, who has conducted the siege operations of our allies since the commencement, without ever receiving any injury, was in the advanced parallel, superintending the progress of a sap towards the Flagstaff, when the sortie took place. At the first symptoms of the enemy's approach he brought up his troops, and made such dispositions as ultimately contributed to the failure of the attack. When the fight was almost entirely over he was struck in the chest by a chance bullet, which inflicted a most dangerous, if not a mortal, wound. His loss at this crisis is most deeply regretted by our allies, among whom he was universally regarded as the ablest and most active of their engineering generals. Shortly after the sortie, Captain Mitchell, R.A., was killed by a round-shot, in the trenches. He is deeply re gretted by the officers of his corps as a gallant soldier and a most amiable and accomplished young gentleman. Last night the garrison at Balaklava was edified by the sight of an immense number of the enemy's watch•fires along the Woronzow road. Though they were spread in all directions they were nothing but mere shams after all, as the most minute scrutiny with powerful telescopes failed to detect any signs of a single soldier being around them. APRIL 15.—The bombardment was continued heavily throughout the night from all the mortars. Our supply of shell had been very low indeed, but the indefatigable Mr. Beattie and his railway remove all our difficulties, and as the bombs have been wanted so they have been supplied. Some idea of the nature of our bombardment may be con ceived from the fact that, up to this evening, the English trenches alone h..ve fired away between 16,000 and 17,000 32 and 68 pounder snot and shell, 7,1400 13-inch shell, and 4,600 10-inch shell, making in all about 2,200 tons cf shot and 500 tons of powder already expended. The Eng lish trenches mount 154 guns and mortars, the French 238 ditto, so that between English and French there has been used during this week's bombardment about 6,000 tons of shot and shell, and some 1,500 or 1,600 tons of powder. Yet, for all we can say to the contrary, we are just as likely as not to have soother week of the same work. The Flagstaff Battery is " nodding to its doom." A con siderable portion of its second tier of guns is quite silenced. The flanking batteries of the second tier, with the upper tier, alone remain in their former vigour. To do mere justice to the enemy, they seem determined to fight it to the last gun. The terrible havoc which the French mor tars and long guns have produced is now manifest to all. The whole battery is now like a mere pile of earth, into which the shot and shell never cease to pour. Yet the Russians to the last persevere. During the night, in spite of our bombs, they work at repairing the embrasures, and during the day fight their guns until they are dismounted one after another. To-day our advanced 14 gun battery has suffered ex tremely from the fire of a new small battery which the Russians have thrown up near the Garden works. Some of our guns have been dismounted, and many of our men killed. This evening, between four and five o'clock, an immense convoy of about 600 waggons entered Sebas topol from the north aide. It is presumed to lie a convoy of powder, of which it is confidently believed that the enemy are at last short. As well as could be judged, not twenty men attended the convoy on its arrival, so it would seem much more probable that the Russians are at last short of troops. However, these are speculations which we can only solve when we gain possession of the place. This evening, also, one of our large convoys care in— viz., the Himalaya, from Suez, with part of the 10th Hussars from India. For the first time since she has been out here the Himalaya entered the harbour of Bala klava, which she almost fills. She must be towed out stern foremost, as the harbour is not sufficiently wide to admit of her swinging round. I am sorry to say we lost another officer in the trenches last night, Lieutenant H. B. Preston, of the 88th, having been killed by a round-shot in the advanced work. He was struck in the chest, and died almost instantly. APRIL 16.—Last night was rather an exciting one in consequence of the French at about nine o'clock making another attempt to spring their mine beneath the Flag staff Battery. This was partially successful. Alarmed at the explosion, the battery opened a heavy fire, which con tinued for nearly three-quarters of an hour, and was re turned by the French twice as hotly. The enemy, there fore, ceased their cannonade, evidently under the belief that the mine which had failed was the only one laid. At about four this morning the French made a last attempt to spring their two remaining mines. This time they were completely successful, and Sebastopol and the allied camp were alike startled by the tremendous concussion and roar, as both the charges exploded with fearful violence. For a moment or two afterwards there was a dead silence, while the huge cloud of smoke and earth hung like a pall over the Flagstaff earthworks, and then, as the nature of the explosion broke upon the enemy, and as if they feared a general assault was about to take place, all their batteries opened out at once. Never since the commence ment of the siege have we witnessed such a cannonade as broke from the Russian lines. From all their batteries the guns were discharged almost in volleys until the town seemed surrounded with a circle of fire. Early this morning I was on the heights, anxious to as certain the precise fate of the Flagstaff, but, much to my disappointment, I found it was still firing occasionally, though only about ten per cent of its volleys a week ago. In the centre of the work is a gap of about 80 feet long, before which lies a scattered heap of stones and dirt. This is the spot under which the centre charge of I,ooolb. of powder was placed, and this is where the greatest cmonnt of damage has been done. At this place the embrasures for twelve guns have been completely blown away, with half the earth from the upper tier of guns. Of the charges under the right and left bastions, that under the right failed, but under the left a considerable degree of mischief Appears to havo been effects& The embrasures there are 419 rent and damaged, and of course their guns must have been overturned, and their ways injured. The enemy, it is said, have made attempts to repair it since the mine was sprung this morning; but it would be much easier now to throw up a new work than repair the old. The Barrack Battery still shows a good front, though it is suffering much, and is evidently fast en route after the Flagstaff. The Ream is reported as silenced and unten able, and most certainly during to-doy it has been silent enough, barely firing a dozen gulls. Its front seems much cut, in fact is more like a ridge of rubbish than a row of embrasures. The injuries to the batteries round the Malakoff Tower have, of course, been considerably aug mented since our advanced battery was opened. The centre of the semi-circular earthwork is almost cut in two, but the flanking batteries are yet serviceable, and return some of our guns, though not to any extent. It can hardly be said that this work is fit for storming, as no amount of breaching will ever fid up the deep ditches in ita front, and as these have to be crossed somehow, it would hardly be safe to storm while they have a gun left to serve. A shot from a flanking battery near this tower entered our advanced work, and blew up one of our small maga zines. 1 have not yet ascertained the casualties caused by this accident, but tun informed that they were shtht, and no injury was done to the work. The guns in it tired away as usual two minutes after the explosion. The Mamelon, in spite of the incessant efforts which the enemy have made to repair it, is almost useless. lt appears to mount only one gull, and during the whole of this day it has only tired that one three times. This would appear to bear out the suspicion that the Russians ale short of ammunition, as if this gun could be tired once it could have been fired a hundred times to-day, but for some reason or other the enemy appear either not to work their ordnalice, or not to have the weans of doing so. Beyond the Mamelon tho Russian works at the head of the harbour and the French works at lnkermanni keep up a smart lire, in which the French u.ost certainly gain no advantage ; on the contrary, 1 am into' turd then• batteries are much hurt, and, if the contest lasts much longer, will be almost silenced. Fort Constantine and the forts north of the harbour for the first time took part in the contest today, firing clear across the harbour anti town into our own and the French lines. Their shot appeared to be of an innuenbe weight, and their guns of considerable range, as no undue eleva• tion apparently was given. About 100 rounds were fired from this side of the harbour. Our officers take it as a gentle hint that even after storming the south side will be untenable while the north remains in their hands. APRIL 17.—The bombardment was rather slack last night in consequence of the want of shell. In place of them an immense number of rockets were thru•u. The hie was resumed this morning, and coutmues with unabated vigour. The tire of the enemy is even less than last night. The assault is now pretty sure to take place in • few days. The Times correspondent, writing on the 17th, thus sums up the existing state and progress of the attack:— The siege goes on as usual—that is, there are many guns fired every day, tons of powder are discharged, hun dreds and thousands of tons of shot and shell are hurled against the Uussian earthworks, and the French are making some progress iu establishing themselves in trout of their lines towards the eireuiya batteries, and have gained a bit of vantage-ground nom them in aunt ot the Flagstaff Battery. A ship steals close in to the entrance of the roads at night, fires her broadside at the town, and de. parts. The railway groans beneath the weight of the trucks full of ammunition sent up by it; and the electric wire cable has been landed at St. Ueorge's to convey the news of our grand success to Cape Kaliakri when we are fortunate enough to achieve it. A certain number of killed and wounded are struck off the strength of our army every day, and the Russians still hold their own, though their losses must be very great and the cannonade must cause considerable injury to the town. It is said that there is to be au assault " to morrow," i.e., on the day after that on which the Speaker is addressing you ; but at present it would he a hazardous thing to attempt, for the Itusaians last night showed us that they had plenty of guns and amen to man them all along their lines, and that as yet they have ample supplies of ammunition and round-shut. Their shells seem to be used more parsimoniously than they were when our fire first reopened. It is little short of marvellous how they have kept up their supplies so long; the stores of Sebas topol cannot be like the widow's cruse, and one would think they had been pretty well cleared out by this time. Where the Russians get their shut and shell from it is not easy to determine, and still leaf can it be ascertained how they carry such prodigious loads of materiel into the city. The real strength of the corps of Orten.backen anti Liprandi, which extend outside as tar as below Daniel and the Belb;ck, cannot be exactly discovered, but steps will shortly be taken to beat up their quarters with the aid of the Turkish reinforcements, and an offensive movement may be expected against the enemy's right flank in a few days. The French, developing that high degtee of mili tary science for which they are celebrated, use all the means of attack known in modern sieges with considerable success, and advance their works daily towards the enemy, whom they bombard and cannonade and discharge rockets at incessantly. The sap and the mine are at viurk eating their way slowly into the cuter deleoces of the place, but the cannon will never take Sebastopol. It is, besides, asbestoslike, its buildings will nut burn even if we could set them on fire, and, in fact and truth, out batteries are too far from the public edifices iu that part of the city to which they are opposed to reach then), always excepting those portions of them armed with large mortars, which as yet, however, have not produced any Out appreciable to elrilian outside the town.