The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-02 00:00:00

THE WAR. STORMING AND CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL. THE anxiously-expected news embodying details of the sanguinary conflict which resulted in placing the town of Sebastopol in the hands of the Allies has at length arrived, and these details are now patent to the public. That the struggle was a sharp and deadly one was felt by all; but even anticipation seems to have fallen greatly short of its dreadful reality. That the assault was gallantly made and desperately resisted, was a truth of which every one felt satisfied, judging from the importance of the prize contended for and the oft repeated valour exhibited by the competitors for it on both sides. Now that the information is before us in all the ampli tude of its heroic details, we feel in some degree perplexed in the attempt to realize in the mind's eye the various combats, successes, repulses, renewed conflicts and ultimate triumph of those dreadful struggles which ended in the capture of the town, and the final expulsion of the Russians from all the strongholds on the southern margin of Sebastopol creek. According to pre-arrangement between the English and French commanders, the bombardment, which had been kept up with unceasing vigour for the three preceding days, was discontinued at noon on the Bth of September. At that time a detachment of Zouaves and French troops of the line made a daring and successful dash at the works of the Malakhoff, which, after a desperate resistance, they succeeded in cap turing and retaining. The success of this great and glorious operation was the agreed-upon signal for the English attack upon the Great Redan, and also for simultaneous attacks by the French upon the Little Redan at Careening Bay, and on the Central Bastion. All these attacks were made with the devotion and the resistless sweep of heroes. The several points were successfully carried, though contested by the assail ants at desperate odds. The English attacking columns, not withstanding that they had to traverse an open space for a considerable distance between their entrenchments and the breach in the salient angle of the Great Redan, exposed to a dreadful fire of round and grape shot, succeeded in forcing their way through the breach and establishing themselves within the walls of the Redan. Here they were exposed to a murderous fire from traverses which swept the enclosed area on two sides, while they were so cooped up as to prevent the possibility of returning the fire, or moving to dislodge their opponents. Yet this dreadful and unequal combat they sus tained for nearly two hours ; but were ultimately compelled to relinquish the fatal ground which they had conquered and retained at so enormous a sacrifice of life. The attacks on the Central Bastion and on the Little Redan failed likewise from similar causes, and after a corresponding amount of devoted heroism, in their first capture, and obstinate though only temporary retention. The Malakhoff had always been felt to be the key of the position on the south side of the harbour, and fortunately the attack on it, aided by the diversion occasioned by the other assaults, was completely successful, and it remained in indis putable possession of the Allies. The Russians, convinced of the hopelessness of further resistance after the fall of the Malakhoff, almost immediately evacuated the town, after having set fire to it in several places, and attempted to blow up and destroy the principal fortifications. In the course of the following Monday, two days after the capture of the Malakhoff, the Allies took undisputed possession of the town, and the whole of its defences, on the south side of the harbour, the enemy having precipitately withdrawn to the northern forts. CAPTURE OF THE MALAKHOFF BY THE FRENCH. The correspondent of the Daily News, writing from the camp before Sebastopol, on the 10th ult., says : At twelve o'clock exactly, on the Bth, the fire of the bat teries ceased, and the party of Zouaves, who led the French attack, dashed over the parapet of their advanced sap, and in less than a minute had crossed the intervening forty yards, and were scrambling up the parapet of the round tower. Con trary to all hope, the solitary gun on the proper right of the work was the only piece that received the assaulters with a discharge, and there was no time to reload it before our allies were inside the redoubt; the mischief inflicted by its one round of grape was but small. Swarm after swarm of our allies crowded up the steep embankment, till the whole parapet was literally covered with them, and then commenced such a fire of musketry as never echoed through the ravines around Sebastopol before. I can compare its unbroken continuity to nothing but the rattling tattooes of a thousand tenor drums. I have witnessed 70,000 men engaged in a general action; but the infantry fire delivered on the occasion was but as child's play compared with the ceaseless roll that poured in upon the Malakhoff during Saturday's attack. The enemy had evidently been taken by surprise, and after a feeble stand made by the supports within the redoubt when the French entered, the place was vacated by its former hold ers, who kept up a running fire as they retired. Reserves, however, were speedily brought up, but as the French con tinued to pour in at all points in more than an equal ratio, these, too, were soon overpowered, and in less than half an hoar after the first Zouave scaled the parapet, the Malakhoff was won. The deafening roll of musketry, however, in no de gree diminished, but swept on to the right towards the Little Redan, whose guns flanked the tower : here, and in the ad joining works, the struggle was continued for nearly a couple of hours, till the last Muscovite was driven from his cover, and the ground occupied by our allies. In reference to the same important event the special cor respondent of the Times, under date of the 10th of Septem ber, says : The weather changed suddenly yesterday. A biting wind right from the north side of Sebastopol blew intolerable clouds of harsh dust into our faces. The sun was obscured ; the sky was of a leaden wintry gray. Early in the morning a strong force of cavalry, under the command of Colonel Hodge, was moved up to the front and formed a chain of sentries in front of Cathcart's Hill and all along our lines. No person was allowed to pass this line, unless he was a staff-officer or was provided with a pass. At 11 30 the Highland brigade, under Brigadier Cameron, marched up from Kamara, and took up its position in the reserve in the right attack, and the guards, also in reserve, were posted on the same side on the Woron zoff road. The first brigade of the fourth division served the trenches of the left attack the night before, and remained in them. The second brigade of the fourth division was in re serve. The guards, who served the trenches of the left attack, and only marched out that morning, were turned out again after arriving at their camp. The third division massed on the hill-side before the camp, were also in reserve, in readiness to move down by the left attack in case their services were required. General Pelissier during the night collected about 30,000 men in and about the Mame lon, to form the storming columns for the Malakhoff and Little Redan, and to provide the necessary reserves. The French were reinforced by 5000 Sardinians, who marched up from the Tchernaya last night. It was arranged that the French were to attack the Malakh3ff at noon. At 10 30 the Second Division and the Light Division moved down to the trenches, and were placed in the advanced parallels as quietly and unostentatiously as possible. About the same hour Gen. Simpson and staff moved down to the second parallel of the Green-hill battery. Sir Harry Jones, too ill to move hand or foot, nevertheless insisted on being carried down to witness the assault, and was borne to the parallel on a litter, in which he remained till all was over. The Duke of Newcastle was stationed at Cathcart's-hill during the early part of the day, and afterwards moved off to the right of the picket-house, looking out over the Woronzoff-road. Shortly after 10 46 Gen. Pelissier and his staff went up to the French observatory on the right. The French trenches were crowded with men as close as they could pack, and we could see our men through the breaks in the clouds of dust, which were most irritating, all ready in their trenches. The cannonade languished purposely towards noon; but the Russians, catching sight of the cavalry and troops in front, began to shell Cathcart's hill and the heights. A few minutes before twelve o'clock the French, like a swarm of bees, issued from their trenches close to the doomed Malakhoff, swarmed up its face, and were through the embrasures in the twinkling of an eye. They crossed the seven metres of the ground which separated them from the enemy at a few bounds —they drifted as lightly and quickly as autumn leaves before the wind, battalion after battalion, into the embrasures, and in a minute or two after the head of their column issued from the ditch, the tricolour was floating over the Korniloff bastion. The musketry was very feeble at first—indeed our allies took the Russians quite by surprise, and very few of the latter were in the Malakhoff; but they soon recovered themselves, and from twelve o'clock till pa s t s e v e n i n th e even i ng the French had to meet and defeat the repeated attempts of the enemy to regain the work and the Little Redan, when, weary of the fearful slaughter of his men, who lay in thousands over the exterior of the works, the Muscovite general, despairing of success, withdrew his exhausted legions, and prepared, with admirable skill, to evacuate the place. Of the French attack on the left I know nothing but that, if intended in earnest, it was not successful, and was followed by some loss to our allies. As soon as the French had made good their footing in the Malakhoff a tricolour was run up to announce the triumph, and, immediately after, a small white flag—the signal ap pointed for the advance of our own men—was waved from the parapet of the Mamelon. At the first glance of it the order was passed on from General Codrington for the stormers to leave cover, and half a minute later, Major Welsford and his party, carrying the scaling ladders, bounded over the parapet of the boyeau. A volley of grape struck down nearly a third of them, poor Welsford included, but the remainder rushed k $ pt on. In the meantime the Rifles, under Capt. Fyers, kept up a vigorous and deadly fire on the embrasures ; but the thick -matted mantlets with which these were curtained in a great measure counteracted this, and the grape continued to fly thick and fast over the death-space to be crossed. The second body of stormers followed quickly on the heels of those who were already placing the ladders, and, being well sup ported by those behind, were soon inside the Redan. Here a murderous but brief struggle ensued, and before many minutes had elapsed since the first of our men gained the parapet, none of the enemy, but the dead and dying, re mained within it. Th e R edan, like the Malakhoff, was won. And here I might have chaunted a wean in honour of our unqualified triumph, too, had not the blundering mismanage ment, which has so often borne fruit in the sacrifice of our troops, a gain turned up deprive us of our f u ll share of the glory of this memorable day. Instead of pour i ng in suppoits to the aid of those in possession of the redoubt, General Cod rington, for some mysterious strategic reasons known only to himself, kept back the troops who crowded the trenches in the rear till the enemy had time to bring up his overpowering reserves and clear the Redan of our men. The latter bravely, but vainly, attempted to make a stand, anxiously expecting every minute the arrival of supports ; but no supports came, and they were swept back into the open to retreat under fresh storms of grape—for by another marvellous piece of neglect no attempt at spiking the guns of the place had been made by those who had gained a footing inside. Orders for the withheld supports were then given, but the intelligent aides-de-camp stumbled on the wrong regiments and ordered up the first brigade of the Light Division, which had been told of as the proper reserve. Evident, however, as was the blunder, the gallant " fighting 7th," led on by Major Turner, and the 23rd, under Colonel Lysons, advanced to the renewed attack. The other regiments who should have pre ceded, followed in a state of beautiful pell-mell, and under a fire of grape and canister, before which the bravest columns of the Old Guard would have staggered, our young levies—for such were three-fourths of the troops engaged —were led on to regain the ground which had been lost through mismanage ment before. It was not, however, in human nature to make headway under such an iron storm; the men turned, and fled back under cover of the parapet, leaving very many of their own number, and more in proportion of their officers, dead or dying on this field of death. V ~From the failure of this second attempt, the attack became one of musketry fire over the parapet, aided by the guns of the Quarry and other batteries which bore upon the R,edan. Brigadier Straubenzee, commanding the Ist Brigade of the Light Division, tried to induce his chief to s t orm aga i n , offer ing to lead the assault with the still eager though shattered regiments of his own command ; but Sir William declined re peating the attempt at the time. Thence on till dusk, we waged a futile war of musketry and artillery fire, which was vigorously replied to by the enemy, and night closed upon our men, discouraged and humbled. The Russian apothegm of "an army of lions led on by donkies," had once more been illustrated; and while our allies were jubilant with well-earned success, we were humbled by the consciousness of undeserved defeat. It was known, however, that with dawn another assault would be made, and continued at whatever cost till the re doubt had been finally gained, and so everyone anxiously awaited daylight on Sunday morning, when our slaughtered hundreds were to be avenged, and the tarnish cast upon our military honour wiped away. About an hour after midnight, however, the enemy forestalled all by blowing up their magazine, and abandoning the redoubt. Such, it is presumed, was the fact, though it is not improbable that the explosion may have been caused by one of our own shells. Be this as it may, the result was the same; and on a party of our men being soon after sent out to reconnoitre, it was discovered that the Russians had given up the game. Our troops ac cordingly marched in, and the first grey streaks of daylight saw the British ensign waving over a surrender which had already been a prize. ATTACK ON THE REDAN BY THE ENGLISH. In reference to this sanguinary, and less successful attack, the special correspondent of the Daily News, gives the follow ing details : In the meantime, however, our own assault had begun But it must first be mentioned that, instead of having before them a work whose embrasures had been bunged-up and its guns silenced, like the Malakhoff, our men had to rush upon a line of battery nearly every piece in which was ready to re ceive the grape and canister. The French, too, started from a line of trench only some forty yards from the point to be attacked, whilst our own troops were compelled to cross an open space of full six times the extent, and that, too, under a direct and flanking fire from nearly a score of guns. Long before darkness had set in on the previous evening the French had swept the chain of works on the proper left of the Malakhoff; and thus the whole line, from the Quaran tine Fort to the mouth of the Tchernaya, was in the hands of the Allies, the Russian batteries opposed to the French left having been simultaneously evacuated. Dawn showed the last stragglers of the retiring enemy hurrying over the bridge of boats, which was promptly destroyed when they had crossed ; and as the entire shipping —one frigate and a couple of small steamers alone excepted—had been sunk during the night, the sun rose upon as desolate a scene as if Sebastopol had never been inhabited, nor its splendid harbour covered with ships of war. Even before the blow-up of the Redan several mines had been fired by the enemy along and within their line of works, and during the night they consummated the sacri fice of their stronghold by blowing up Fort Paul, and firing nearly all the principal buildings which had not already been in flames. And thus ended the attack and capture of Sebas topol. The correspondent of the Times gives an account of the affair somewhat similar in effect, and much more ample in detail, differing, however, but little in its condemnatory spirit, and where it does differ, being, in fact, more severely crimi native than the other. He says : When the order was received on the 7th, the general re mark was, " This looks like another 18th of June." In fact, the attacking columns were not strong enough, the supports were not strong enough, and were also too far behind, and the trenches did not afford room for a sufficient number of men. It will be observed that,-where we attacked the Redan with two divisions only, a portion of each being virtually in reserve, and not engaged in the affair at all, the French made their assault on the Malakhoff with four divisions of the second corps d'armee, the first and fourth divisions forming the storming columns, and the third and the fifth being the support, with reserves of 10,000 men. The French had probably not 1 less than 30,000 men in the right attack en the 7th of September. The divisional orders for the 2nd division were very much the same as those for the light division. The covering party consisted of 100 men of the 3rd Buffs, under Captain John Lewes, who highly dis tinguished himself, and 100 men of the second battalion of the Rifle Brigade, under the command of Captain Hammond. The scaling-ladder party consisted of 160 of the 3rd Buffs, under Captain Maud, whose gallantry was very conspicuous throughout the aflair, in addition to the 160 of the 97th, under the gallant and lamented Welsford. The part of the force of the second division consisted of 260 of the 3rd Buffs, 300 of the 23rd (Welsh), 200 of the 62nd, and a working party of 100 of the 41st. The rest of Wyhnham's brigade, consist ing of the 47th and 49th, were in reserve, together with War ren's brigade of the same division, of which the - 30th and 55th were called into action, and suffered severely. It was a few minutes after twelve when our men left the fifth parallel. The musketry commenced at once, and in less than five mi nutes, during which the troops had to pass over about 30 yards from the nearest approach to the parapet of the Redan, they had lost a large proportion of their officers. The rifle men advanced admirably, but from their position they could not do much to reduce the fire of the guns on the flanks and below the re-entering angles. As they came nearer, the ene my's fire became less fatal. They crossed the abattis without difficulty: is was torn to pieces and destroyed by our shot, and the men stepped over and through it with ease. The light division made straight for the salient and projecting angle of the Redan, and came to the ditch, which is here about 15 feet deep. The party detailed for the purpose placed the ladders, but they were found to be too short. However, had there been enough of them, that would not have mattered much, but some had been left behind in the hands of dead or wound ed men, and others had been broken, so that if one can credit the statements made by those who were present, there were not more than six or seven ladders at the salient. The men, led by their officers, leaped into the ditch and scrambled up the other side, whence they got up the parapet almost without opposition, for the few Russians who were in front ran back and got behind their traverses and breastworks as soon as they saw our men on the top, and opened fire upon them. At the base of the Redan, before the re-entering angles, is a breastwork, or rather, a parapet with an irregular curve, up to a man's neck, which runs in front of the body of the place. As our men entered through the embrasures, the few Russians who were between the salient and this breastwork retreated behind the latter, and got from the traverses to its protection. From it they poured in a quick fire on the parapet of the salient, which was crowded by the men of the light division, and on the gaps through the inner parapet of the Redan, and our men, with an infatuation which all officers deplore, but cannot always remedy on such occasions, began to return the fire of the enemy without advancing or crossing behind the traverses, loaded and fired as quickly as they could, but did little execution, as the Russians were well covered by a breast work. There were also groups of Russian riflemen behind the lower traverses near the base of the Redan, who kept up a galling fire on our men. As the alarm of an assault was spread, the enemy came rushing up from the barracks in rear of the Redan, and increased the force and intensity of their fire, while our soldiers dropped fast and encouraged the Rus sians by their immobility and the weakness of their fusillade, from which the enemy were well protected. In vain the officers, by voice and act, by example and daring, tried to urge our soldiers on. They had an impression that the Redan was all mined, and that if they advanced they would all be blown up ; but many of them acted as became the men of Alma and Inkerman, and, rushing to the front, were swept down by the enemy's fire. The officers fell on all sides, singled out for the enemy's fire by their courage. The men of the different regi ments became mingled together in inextricable confusion. The 19th men did not care for the orders of the officers of the 88th, nor did the soldier of the 23rd heed the commands of an officer who did not belong to his regiment. The officers could not find their men—the men had lost sight of their own officers. All the brigadiers, save Colonal Wyndham, were wounded or rendered unfit for the guidance of the attack. That gallant officer did all that man could do to form his men for the attack, and to lead them against the enemy. The fact was that the Russians having accumulated several thousands of men behind the breastwork, and seeing our men all scattered up and confused behind the inner parapet of the traverse, crossed the breastwork, through which several field pieces were now playing . with grape on the inner face of the Redan, and charged our broken groups with the bayonet, at the same time that the rear ranks, getting on the breastwork, poured a heavy hail of bullets on them over the heads of the advancing column. The struggle that took place was short, desperate, and bloody. Our soldiers, taken at every disad vantage, met the enemy with the bayonet too, and isolated combats took place in which the brave fellows who stood their ground had to defend themselves against three or four adver saries at once, In this mgl‘e the officers, armed only with their swords, had little chance ; nor had those who carried pistols much opportunity of using them in such a rapid con test. They fell like heroes, and many a gallant soldier with them. The bodies of English and Russians inside the Redan, locked in an embrace which death could not relax, but had rather cemented all the closer, lay next day inside the Redan as evidences of the terrible animosity of the struggle. But the solid weight of the advancing mass, urged on and fed each moment from the rear by company after company and battalion after battalion, prevailed at last against the isolated and dis jointed band, who had abandoned the protection of unanimity of courage, and had lost the advantages of discipline and obedience. The struggling band was forced back by the enemy, who moved on crushing friend and foe, beneath their solid tramp, and, bleeding, panting, and exhausted, our men lay in heaps in the ditch beneath the parapet, sheltered them selves behind stones and in bomb craters in the slope of the work, or tried to pass back to our advanced parallel and sap, and had to run the gauntlet of a tremendous fire. Many of them lost their lives or were seriously wounded in this attempt. As soon as we abandoned the assault the firing almost ceased along our front, but in the rear of the Malakhoff there was a fierce contest going on between masses of Russians, now released from the Redan, or drawn from the town, and the French, inside the work, and the fight for the Little Redan on the proper left of the Malakhoff, was raging furiously. Clouds of smoke and dust covered the scene, but the rattle of musketry was incessant, and betokened the severe nature of the struggle below. Through the breaks in the smoke there could be seen now and then a tricoloursurmounted by an eagle fluttering bravely over the inner parapet of the Malakhoff. The storm of battle rolled fiercely round it, and beat against it ; but it was sustained by strong arms and stout hearts, and all the assaults of the enemy were directed in vain against it. We could see, too, our noble allies swarming over into the Malakhoff from their splendid approaches to it from the Mamelon, or rushing with -swift steps towards the right, where the Russians, continually reinforced, sought in vain to beat back their foes and to regain the key of their position. The struggle was full of interest to us all, but its issue was never doubted. It would be,untrue-to say that the result of our assault was not the source of deep grief And mortification •to.P, which all the glorious successes of our allies mild _not THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. Bosquet General Mellinet's division of the Guards, to support the first three divisions. Thus far for the right. In the centre the English were to attack the Great Redan, escalading it at its salient. On the left the Ist Corps, to which General della Marmora added a Sardinian brigade, having at its head Levaillant's division, was to penetrate by the General Bastion into the interior of the town, and then turn the Flagstaff Bastion to were only a lodgment th ere . G en e ra l d e S a ll es ' i nstructions only to follow up his attack if circumstances allowed him. Moreover the fleets of Admirals Lyons and Bruat were to make a powerful diversion by attacking the Quarantine, the roadstead, and sea fronts of the fortress. But the state of the sea, owing to a strong wind from the N.E., was such that neither the line-of-battle ships nor frigates could leave their anchorage. The English and French mortar-boats were, however, enabled to open fire. They fired in a remarkable manner, and did us good service. Precisely at noon M`Mahon's, La Motterouge's, and Dulac's divisions, electrified by their leaders, threw themselves against the Malakhoff, the Curtain, and the Little Redan of Careening Bay. After surmounting unheard-of obstacles, and after a terrible hand-to-hand struggle, M`Mahon's division suc ceeded in making good a footing in the front part of the Ma lakhoff. The enemy kept up a hail of projectiles of every description upon our brave troops. The Redan of Careening Bay, exposed to a cross fire and to the fire of the steamers, was obliged to be evacuated after having been occupied, but La Motterouge's division held its ground on a portion of the Curtain, and M`Mahon's division gained ground in the Malak hoff, where General Bosquet poured in reserves, which I hastened up. The other attacks were subordinate to that of the Malak hoff, the key of the defences of the whole place. From the Brancion Redoubt, where I had placed myself, I saw that the Malakhoff was in our hands, and I gave the signal agreed upon with General Simpson. The English at once advanced bravely against the salient of the Great Redan ; they succeeded in lodging themselves there, and struggled for a long time to keep it; but overwhelmed by the Russian reserves, which never ceased advancing, and by a violent fire of artillery, they were forced to fall back into their parallels. - At the same signal General de Salles attacked the Central Bastion. Levaillant's division had commenced establishing itself there, as also on the right lunette, when, after a sweep ing fire of grape, such strong Russian reinforcements came up that our troops, decimated by the fire, and their officers hors de combat, were compelled to return to the places d' armes they had started from. Convinced that the capture of the Malakhoff must decide the success, I prevented a renewal of the other attacks, which, by occupying the enemy on all the points of his vast en ceinte, had already fulfilled their chief object, and I concen trated all my attention on the possession of the Malakhoff, now completely in the power of General M`Mahon. A critical moment was, however, at hand. General Bosquet had just been struck by a large fragment of a shell, and I was obliged to give his command to General Dulac. A powder magazine in the curtain near the Malak hoff blew up, and made me fear the most serious consequences. The Russians, hoping to profit by this accident, advanced in dense masses, and in three columns attacked the centre, left, and right- of the Malakhoff. But arrangements had already been made within the work. General M`Mahon had daring troops, who feared nothing, to oppose them, and after some desperate attempts the Russians were compelled to beat a retreat. From that moment they relinquished any offensive attack. The Malakhoff was ours, and could not be taken from us. It was half-past four. Measures were immediately taken to put us in a condition to repulse the enemy should he attempt to attack us in the night. But our uncertainty was soon put an end to. At nightfal flames burst out on all sides, mines exploded, powder magazines blew up. The spec tacle of Sebastopol in flames, witnessed by the whole army, was one of the most imposing and terrible sights ever pre sented in the history of wars. The enemy was evacuating the place. The retreat was effected during the night by means of the bridge established between the two sides of the roadstead, and under cover of the successive explosions, which prevented me from approaching to harass it. On the morning of the 9th, the whole south side of the town was abandoned, and in our hands. I need not point out to your Excellency the importance of such a success ; nor need I speak of that brave army whose warlike virtues and devotion are so well appreciated by our Emperor ; and I shall have, though the number is great, to point out to you those who distinguished themselves among so many valorous soldiers. I cannot do so yet, but I shall fulfil that duty in an early despatch. Accept, M. le .Marechal, the expression of my respectful devotion. PELISSIER, Commander-in-Chief. GENERAL NIEL'S REPORT. The following is the despatch sent by General Niel, in com mand of the Engineers : SEBASTOPOL, Sept. 11. Monsieur le Marechal,—The assault was made on the for tifications of Sebastopol on the Bth, and placed us in posses sion of the Malakhoff, the occupation of which renders the defence of the faubourg almost impossible, and allows us to cut off the communications of the town with the north of the harbour. The enemy have shown that they knew that con quest to be decisive. After having made several attacks on us with a courage which we are bound to pay homage to, finding that these last efforts remained without result, they com menced in the course of the evening evacuating the town. During the night they set fire to it, and employed gunpowder to destroy the works of defence and the great establishments which Russia has been so many years accumulating in this fortress. They sank all their ships of the line, frigates, and other sailing vessels, and only preserved their steamers ; finally, they carried off the bridge of boats by which they communicated with the northern side, thus abandoning to us the town, the faubourg, and all that lies on the southern side of the harbour. The defence was energetic ; on several points our attacks were repulsed, but the principal—that which insured to us eventual success—never remained a moment doubtful. The Ist Division of the Ist Corps, at present commanded by General McMahon, carried the Malakhoff at the very first rush, and maintained themselves there, comprehending clearly that it held in its possession the keys of the place. I now proceed to give you an account of the arrangements which had been adopted to diminish as much as possible the numerous difficulties which this terrible assault presented, made, as it was, not on a place regularly invested and with a limited garrison, but on a vast fortress defended by an army probably as numerous as that which attacked it. Near the fortifications of the town our trenches had arrived within 40 metres of the Central Bastion (tio. 5 of the Russians), and within 30 of the Flagstaff Bastion (No. 4). Near the faubourg of Karabelnaia the English, arrested by the difficulties of the ground and by the fire of the enemy's artillery, could not approach closer than within 200 metres of the Great Redan (No. 3), on which their approaches were directed. In front of the Malakhoff we had arrived within 25 metres of the fortification which surrounds the town, and our ap proaches had placed us at about the same distance from the small Redan of Careening Bay (No. 2). That great result was due incontestably to the superiority which our artillery had assumed over that of the enemy. The Generals-in-Chief of the allied armies had decided on the following arrangements : The general attack on the place was fixed on for the Bth of September, at noon. On the sth, early in the morning, the artillery of the attacks on the town and that of the English attacks, who had hitherto been sparing of their fire, were to resume it with the greatest activity. Never was such a can nonade heard, for we had in battery, along the two attacks, upwards of 500 pieces of cannon, the English 200 more, and the Russians more than we. The enemy's fire damaged our trenches, but did us but little harm. Ours, notwithstanding the great extent of the place, converged on it, and must have caused great loss to the Russian army. During the few days immediately preceding the assault the workmen of the infantry were principally em ployed in enlarging the several places d'armes most in ad vance, in widening the passages, and in transporting to the required spots the means of crossing the ditches. The great object of all our efforts was to obtain possession of the work constructed behind the Malakhoff Tower. This work (the Kornileff Redoubt of the Russians), which is an immense redoubt (a sort of citadel in eFth), occupies a height which commands the whole interior of the Karabelnaia faubourg. It takes i n the flank of the Redan, attacked by the English, and is only 1,200 metres from the southern port, on which the Russians had constructed a bridge of boats, become their only communication between the faubourg and the town. The fort of the Malakhoff is 350 metres in length and 150 metres in width. Its parapets are eighteen feet above the ground, and in front of them is a ditch which before our attacks was six metres in depth an d seven i n width. It was armed with sixty-two guns of various calibres. In the front part, enclosed by the parapet, in the Malakhoff Tower, of which the Russians have only preserved the rez de chaussee, which is crenellated. In the interior of the work the Rus sians had raised a vast number of traverses under which were excellent blindages where the garrison found shelter, and had beds arranged on each side in two rows one above the other. A Russian officer of engineers, who was made prisoner, states that the garrison of this part of the Malak hoff, which I have just described in order that you may judge of the difficulties which our soldiers had to surmount, con sisted of not less than 2,500 men. The Malakhoff front, which is a thousand metres in length, is bounded on our left by Fort Malakhoff, and on our right by the Little Redan. This last work, which, at the commence ment of the siege, was only a simple redan, was transformed little by little into a redoubt, closed at the gorge and heavily armed. The exterior fronts of the two redoubts of Malakhoff and the Careenage were connected by a curtain armed with 16 cannons ; and behind the enceinte the Russians had raised a second, which connected the fronts of the gorges of the two redoubts. The second enceinte armed in part, had not, however, a ditch presenting a serious obstacle. The rocky nature of the soil had hindered the enemy from excavating everywhere equally the ditch of the first curtain and of the Little Redan, and on several points the troops were able to pass it without very much difficulty. For pass ing the ditches, which had a considerable depth, we had con trived a system of bridges which could be thrown in less than a minute by an ingenious manoeuvre, to which our sappers and soldiers d'elite had been trained. The French artillery was so superior to that of the Russians that it had extinguished the fire of nearly all the guns pointed directly at our attacks. The fill e d- u p embrasures relieved us from the fear that our columns might be assailed by grape as they issued from the trenches. The parapets were destroyed and a part of the earth had rolled into the ditch. Finally the Malakhoff fort had been assailed by so large a number of shells, thrown from our batteries and those of the English, that the guns which did not look directly upon our attacks had their embrasures also filled up, and everywhere the terrassements had lost their original form. But, behind the defences situ ate in the first line the Russians had preserved a large number of pieces, which we could not contre-baltre com pletely, and the columns which proceeded to attack the Malakhoff were exposed to the fire of numerous batteries which the Russians had raised to the north of the roadstead, and which, though fired from a great distance, were neverthe less dangerous. You are aware that ever since my arrival before Sebastopol I was decidedly of•opinion that thetrue point of attackwas the tower or Mamelon of Malakhoff, and that this opinion having been adopted by General Carobert, those attacks of the right were undertaken, whieh were executed by the second corps. From the side of the town we had been content to extend towards the left the approadhes executed by the first corps. Taking things at the point where they stood when the assault was resolved on, there was no doubt-that the possession of the Malakhoff fort would lead to a decisive result; and on the other hand it was to be presumed that if & failure took plane on this •point, success obtained elsewhere ,4ould not lead to great results. However,4t,svas not proper -to attack a place so attended upon one single l point. It,was :netessary to ob. taus that division of the enemy's forces which resulted from the great development of the enciente that he had to defend, and especially to make him uneasy about the town, to which the bridge led whereby he might make his retreat. It was to satisfy these various considerations, it was to ensure success, while economising as much as possible the blood of our soildiers in the terrible struggle then preparing, that the General-in-Chief decided that the assault should first be made on the front of the Malakhoff ; that if this attack, which would be made under his personal inspection, should succeed, then at his signal the English should attack the Redan and the first portion of the town, so as to prevent the enemy's concentrating all his efforts, against the troops that should have already taken possession of the Malakhoff Fort. The front of the Malakhoff was to be attacked by three columns ; the one on the left, commanded by General de M`Mahon, moving in a straight line on the Malakhoff Fort by the front that faced us, and in turning it slightly on the right hand, had for its task the taking and keeping of it, cost what it might ; the right column, Dulac's division, was to march against the Redan of the Careening Bay, to occupy it, and de tach a brigade on its left, in order to turn the second enclo sure; lastly, the central column, being the division of La Motterouge, issuing from the sixth parallel, having a longer extent of ground to pass over, and arriving a little later, was to carry the curtain, to proceed then again to the second en closure, and send one of its brigades to the assistance of the first column, if this latter should have not gained possession of the Malakhoff Fort. Such was the importance of these positions that we could not doubt that the enemy, if he lost them, would make great efforts to retake them. In consequence, the troops of the Imperial Guard were given as a reserve to the 2nd Corps. The chief of the Engineer Battalion, Ragon, having under his orders several brigades of sappers, marching with the first column had to throw brigades across the ditches, see after the mines, open everywhere a passage to the columns, and as soon as these should be masters of the fort, to close it at the gorge; and in order to oppose any rallying attack in return, to open in the rear large passages for the arrival of the troops and the artillery. The chief of the Engineer Battalion, Renoux, attached to the right column, and Captain Schoennagal, attached to the central column, having also brigades of sappers under their orders, had to fulfil an analagous mission. All the arrangements concerning the duty of the engineers in the attacks to be made on the Malakhoff bad been made by the General of Brigade Frossard, commanding the engineers of the 2nd Corps. In attacking the town, in order to avoid the obstacles accu mulated by the enemy at the salient of the Flagstaff Bastion, it had been decided that the principal assault should be given at the Central Bastion, between its salient and the lunette of the left ; that the assaulting column, as soon as it should be established within the Central Bastion, should detach a part of its forces towards the gorge of the Flagstaff Battery, whose right face should then be assailed by a Sardinian Brigade, which had come to take part in the operations of the First Corps. General Delesme, commanding the Engineers of the First Corps, had made arrangements for attacking the town similar to those which I have just expl a i ne d with reference to the attacks of the Karabelnaia faubourg. On the Bth of September, at eight o'clock in the morning, we threw on the Central Bastion two mines of projection, each charged with 100 kilogrammes of powder. The explo sion took place near the middle of the bastion, and appeared to cause great disorder. At the same hour we exploded, in front of our approaches to the Malakhoff Fort, three mining chambers, charged in all with 1500 kilogrammes of powder, in order to destroy the lower galleries of the Russian miners, and to give security to our soldiers, who had to crowd within the trenches under which deserters announced that the soil was mined. At noon precisely our soldiers rushed from the advanced places d'armes in front of the Malakhoff. They crossed the ditches with surprising agility, and, jumping on the parapets, attacked the enemy to the cry of " Vive l'Empereur !" At the Malakhoff fort, the interior slope having a great height, those who arrived first halted an instant to form. They then mounted on the parapet and jumped into the work. The combat, which had commenced with discharges of fire arms, was carried on with the bayonet, with stones, and with butt-ends of muskets. The rammers became weapons in the hands of the Russian gunners, but everywhere the Russians were killed, taken prisoners, or made to fly, and in less than a quarter of an hour after the attack had taken place the French flag waved on the conquered redoubt. The Careenage Redan had also been carried after a very hot struggle. The centre column had advanced as far as the second enceinte. Everywhere we had taken possession of the works attacked. The general-in-chief gave the concerted sig nal for the attack of the Great Redan, and soon after the attack of the town. The English had 200 metres of ground to go over under a terrible fire of grape. This space was pre sently covered with dead, but these losses could not stop the march of the attacking column, which advanced to the capital of the work. It descended into the ditch, which was about five metres in depth, and, notwithstandinc , all the efforts of the Russians, it escalad e d th e scarp and took b from them the salient of the Redan, but after the first struggle, which cost the Russians dear, the English soldiers found before them a vast open space crossed in all directions by the balls of the enemy, who themselves were sheltered behind distant tra verses. Those who came up were scarcely sufficient to replace those who were placed hors de combat. It was not until they had sustained, during nearly two hours, this unequal combat, that the English resolved to evacuate the Redan. The attack upon the Central Bastion presented the same result. In front of the Malakhoff the Russians made great efforts to reconquer the works. Repeated attacks were made, but in vain. The dead bodies of the enemy were piled up in front of the gorge, but the First Division remained im moveable, and in the evening we were masters of this citadel, without which the Russians could not continue their defence for more than a few days. Thus terminated this memorable siege, in which the means of defence and of attack attained colossal dimensions. The Russians had 800 cannon in battery, the besieging army about 700. In finishing this report, I ought to tell you, Monsieur le Marechal, that the greatest harmony has never ceased to pre vail between the artillery and the engineers. 'Whenever one of these two services could come to the assistance of the other, he did it with eagerness, and this community of views and action has given us the means of overcoming many difficulties. I have also had to congratulate myself in every instance on my relations with General Harry Jones, commanding the en gineers of the English army. Oar object was the same, and we have never differed in opinion on the means to be employed for attaining it. Already, at the siege of Bomarsund, I had the opportunity of appreciating the loyalty and the noble cha racter of this general officer. I have been happy at finding myself again in relations with him at the siege of Sebastopol. Accept, Monsieur leMarechal, the homage of my mostrespect ful devotion. The General of Division, A.D.C. of the Emperor, Com manding the Engineers of the Army in the East, NIEL, SECOND REPORT OP MARSHAL PELISSIER. HEAD-QUARTERS, SEDASTOPOL, Sept. 14. Monsieur le Marechal,—l have the honour to address to your Excellency, as announced in my despatch of the 11th, my report on the capture of Sebastopol. The moment for the assault seemed to have arrived. On the left the works of the Engineers had for some time been within 30 to 40 metres of the Flagstaff battery (No. 4 of the Russians), and the central bastion (No. 5 of the Russians). To the right, our roadway, actively pushed under the protec tion of a sustained fire from the artillery, opened upon the 17th, was not more than 25 yards from the salient of the Malakhoff and the Little Redan of the Careening Bay. Our artillerists had nearly finished 100 batteries in a complete state, and provided with every necessary, and presented a body of 250 guns to the attacks of the left, and 250 to those of the right. On their side the English, although greatly arrested in their course by th e diffi cu lti es o f th e ground , had arrived within 200 yards of the Great Redan (Bastion No. 3 of the Russians), upon which they directed the fire . of 200 guns entrenchment, finish. a l ni a iiisi c sce e hdi oi e tn n lwiti b ah a fise t ni t stne e i ,drpiteoehor. impo f rtant ee army that ait u ath s i aa s t Russians , henct came s using heaouede t to h hnn e ediort succour c e or allowedoprofitably, ttoe e enemy was completely beaten on the 16th, at Tchernaya. They had suffered considerable losses, and it was not probable that they would co me aga i n to renew an attack on points which we had rendered stronger, and where we were enabled to repulse all the efforts of the enemy. It was then agreed between General Simpson and myself, that we should make the decisive attack. The generals com manding the artillery and engineers of the two armies were unanimously of the same opinion. The Bth September was fixed for that attack. As I have already had the honour of explaining to your Excellency, the enemy was to be attacked on the principal points of his vast enceinte to prevent him drecting all his reserves against one single attack, and to alarm him respect ing the town where the bridge is thrown by which he could retreat. General de Salles, with the Ist corps, reinforced by a Sardinian brigade offered to me by General della Mar morn, was to attack the town on the left ; in the centre the English were to storm the Great Redan ; finally, on our right, General Bosquet was to attack the Malakhoff and the Little Redan of Careening-bay (Bastion No. 2of the Russians), the salient points of the Karabelnaia enceinte. The following arrangements were made on each of these attacks :—On the left, Levaillant's division, 2nd Regiment of the Ist Corps; Brigade Couston ; 9th battalion of Chasseurs-a-pied, Com mander Rogie ; 21st of the Line, Lieutenant-Colonel Villeret ; 42nd of the Line, Lieutenant-Colonel de Mallet ; Trochu's Brigade; 46th of the Line, Lieutenant-Colonel Le Banneur ; 80th of the Line, Colonel Latterrode, charged with the attack on the Central Bastion and its lunettes, was placed on the most, advanced parallels. On its right was d'Antemarre's di vision (Brigade Niol ;) sth battalion of Chasseurs-a-pied, Commander Gamier; 19th of the Line, Colonel Guignard ; 26th of the Line, Colonel de Sorbiers ; Brigade Breton ; 39th of the Line, Colonel Comignan ; 74th of the Line, Colonel Guyot de Lespart, who was to follow in the steps of Le Vail laint's division, and to take the gorge of the Flagstaff Battery and the batteries erected there. The Sardinian brigade of General Cialdini, placed by the side of d'Autemarre's division, was to attack the right flank of the same bastion. Finally, Bouat's Division, 4th of the Ist corps, General Lefevre ; 10th Chasseurs-a-pied, Commander Guiomard ; 18th of the Line, Colonel Dontin ; 79th of the Line, Colonel Grenier ; 2nd Bri gade, General de la Roquette; 14th of the Line, Colonel de Negrier ; 43rd of the Line, Colonel Broutta ; and Pate's Di vision, 3rd of the Ist corps, Brigadier Beuret ; 6th Battalion of Chasseurs-a-pied, Commander Fervier de la Prevotais 28th of the Line, Colonel Lartigues ; 98th of the Line, Col. Conseil Dumesnil ; Bazaine's Brigade ; Ist Regiment of the Foreign Legion, Lieutenant-Colonel Martenot de Cordoue ; 2nd Regiment of the Foreign Legion, Colonel de' Chabrieres, served as a reserve to Le Vaillant's Division ; moreover, and to be prepared for eventualities on that side, 1 had ordered up from Kamiesch, and placed under the orders of General de Salles, the 30th and 35th Regiments of the Line, which had been placed on the extreme left, and made sure the possession of our lines on that side. On the Karabelnaia, as I have already stated, our attack was to take place on three points; on the left, on the Malakhoff and its redoubt ; on the right, on the Little Redan of Careen ing Bay ; and in the centre, on the curtain which unites those two works. The Malakhoff works were decidedly the most important point of the enceinte ; their capture would natu orders all the infantry of the Imperial Guard. e h a a d d t a o d t d h e e d . t s o u c t c h e e s stirvo troops p f a s a ll lr o e f a d t fah e u n d d e efernGc General n s e o r a l f t ß h o e s ci p u l a e c t e , 8 , I a rai nd l The left attack on the Malakhoff was entrusted to General M`Mahon ,(First Division, 2nd Corps) ; Ist brigade Colonel Decaen ; Ist Zouaves, Colonel Colineau; and 7th of the Line 20t Ad h am of , the w h Line, ad Colonel Deeaen ; 2nd brigade, General Vmoy ; Ist battalion o CthornofmtahnedLerinGea, Colonelmbier; in reserve the Wimpfeu brigade; 3rd Zouaves, Col. Pollis; - 30th of the Line, Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas ; and Algerian o C f ol C oiie a l ss O cuh rea rs nte Pi ;et wholly alleviate. Even those who thought an attack on the Redan useless and unwise, inasmuch as the possession of the Malakhoff would, in their opinion, render the Redan untenable, could not but regret bitterly that, as we had given the assault, we had not achieved a decisive triumph, and that so much blood had been, if not ingloriously, at least fruitlessly, poured forth. INTERIOR OF THE CAPTURED TOWN. In his letter, dated the 12th ult., the writer last quoted gives a graphic account of the desolate and heartrending spectacle presented by the evacuated and war-riven town. After detailing at great length the unexpected effect produced in the English and French camps by the flight of the Russians, and narrating the several incidents which arrested the attention of the different bodies of the Allied force, he proceeds to give his own experiences as to what he beheld on his entrance into the town : There were ghastly sights on the way, too ; Russians who had died, or were dying as they lay, brought so far towards the hospitals from the fatal Malakhoff. Passing through a maze of trenches, of gabionades, and of zig-zags and parallels, by which the French had worked their sure and deadly way close to the heart of the Russian defence, and treading gently among the heaps of dead, where the ground bears full tokens of the bloody fray, we come at last to the head of the French sap. It is barely ten yards from that to the base of the huge sloping mound of earth which rises full twenty feet in height above the level, and shows in every direction the grinning muzzles of its guns. The tricolour waves placidly from its highest point, and already the French are busy constructing a semaphore on the top. Step briskly out of the sap—avoid those poor mangled braves who are lying all around,and come on. There is a deep ditch at your feet, some 20 or 22 feet deep, and 10 feet broad. Mount the parapet and descend—of what amazing thickness are those embrasures ! From the level of the ground inside to the top of the para pet cannot be less than 18 feet. There are eight rows of gabions piled one above the other, and as each row recedes towards the top it leaves in the ledge below an excellent ban quette for the defenders. Inside the sight is too horrible to dwell upon. The French are carrying away their own and the Russian wounded, and there are five distinct piles of dead formed to clear the way. The ground is marked by pools of blood, and the smell is already noisome ; swarms of flies settle on dead and dying ; broken muskets, torn clothes, caps, shakos, swords, bayonets, bags of bread, canteens, and haversacks are lying in indescribable wreck all over the place, mingled with heaps of shot, of grape, bits of shell, cartridges, case and canister, loose powder, official papers, and cooking tins. The traverses are so high and deep that it is impossible almost to get a view of the whole of the Malakhoff from any one spot, and there is a high mound of earth in the middle of the work, either intended as a kind of shell proof, or the remains of the old White Tower. The guns, which to the number of 60 were found in the work, are all ships' guns, and mounted on ships' carriages, and worked in the same way as ships' guns. There are a few old-fashioned, oddly-shaped mortars. Look around the work, and you will see that the strength of the Russian was his weakness—he fell into his own bomb-proofs. In the parapet of the work may be observed several entrances — very narrow outside, but descending and enlarging down wards, and opening into rooms some four or five feet high and eight or ten square. These are only lighted from the outside by day, and must have been pitch dark at night, unless the men were allowed lanterns. Here the garrison retired when exposed to a heavy bombardment. The odour of these narrow chambers is villanous, and the air reeks with blood and abominations unutterable. There are several of these places, and they might set defiance to the heaviest mor tars in the world; over the roof is a layer of ships' masts, cut in junks and deposited carefully ; then there is over them a solid layer of earth, and above that a layer of gabions, and above that a pile of earth again. In one of these dungeons, which is excavated in the solid rock, and was probably under neath the old White Tower, the officer commanding seems to have lived. It must have been a dreary residence. With the Malakhoff the enemy lost Sebastopol. The ditch outside to wards the north was yet full of French and Russians piled over each other in horrid confusion. On the right, towards the Little Redan, the ground was literally strewn with bodies as thick as they could lie, and in the ditch they were piled over each other. Here the French, victorious in the Malakhoff, met with a heavy loss and a series of severe repulses. The Russians lay inside the work in heaps, like carcases in a butcher's cart, and the wounds, the blood—the sight exceeded all I had hitherto witnessed. Descending from the Malakhoff we come upon a suburb of ruined houses open to the sea. It is filled with dead. The Russians have crept away into holes and corners of every house, to die like poisoned rats ; artillery horses, with their entrails torn open by shot, are stretched all over the space at the back of the Malakhoff, marking the place where the Russians moved up their last column to retake it, under the cover of a heavy field battery. Every house, the church, some public buildings, sentry boxes, all alike are broken and riddled by cannon and mortar. Even the most be nevolent retreat from the hospital, which is in one of these buildings, where they are tending the miserable wounded. I visited it next day. HORRORS OF THE RITSSIAN HOSPITAL. Of all the pictures of the horrors of war which have ever been presented to the world, the hospital of Sebastopol its How soul t p h r e e s p e o n t r s t h h u e m m e h o s h t o h d o y r r can i bl e e h e r u t t r i e l a nt e i d n g a a h n d d y r e e t v o h l toi hold d g within, when every limb is shattered, and every vein and artery is pouring out the life-stream, one might study here at every step, and at the same time wonder how little will kill. The building used as an hospital is one of the noble piles in- side the dockyard wall, and is situate in the centre of the row at right angles to the line of the Redan. The whole row was peculiarly exposed to the action of shot and shell bound ing over the Redan, and to the missiles directed at the Bar rack Battery, and it bears in sides, roofs, windows, and doors, frequentand destructive proofs of the severity of the cannonade. , Entering one of these doors I beheld such a sight as few men, thank God, have ever witnessed ! In a long low room, sup ported by square pillars, arched at the top, and dimly lighted through shattered and unglazed window frames, lay the wounded Russians, who had been abandoned to our mercies by their general The wounded, did I say ? No, but the dead, the rotten and festering corpses of the soldiers who were left to die in their extreme agony, untended, uncared for, packed as close as they could be stowed, some on the floor, others on wretched trestles and bedsteads, or pall e t s of straw, sopped and saturated with blood, which oozed and trickled through upon the floor, mingled with the droppings of corruption. With the roar of exploding fortresses in ther ears, with shells and shot forcing through the roof and sides of the rooms in which they lay, with the crackling and hissing of fire around them, those poor fellows, who had served their loving friend and master the Czar but too well, were consigned to their terrible fate. Many might have been saved by ordinary care. Many lay, yet alive, with maggots crawling about in their wounds. Many, nearly mad by the scenes around them, or seeking escape from it in their extremest agony, had rolled away under the beds, and glared out on the heart-stricken spectators, oh ! with such looks. Many with legs and arms broken and twisted, the jagged splin ters sticking through the raw flesh, implored aid, water, food, or pity, or deprived of speech by the approach of death, or by dreadful injuries on the head or trunk, pointed to the lethal spot. Many seemed bent alone on making their peace with Heaven. The attitudes of some were so hideously fantastic as to appal and root one to the ground by a sort of dreadful fas cination. Could that bloody mass of clothing and white bones ever have been a human being, or that burnt black mass of flesh have ever had a human soul ? It was fearful to think what the answer must be. The bodies of numbers of men were swollen and bloated to an incredible degree, and the features distended to a gigantic size, with eyes protruding from the sockets, and the blackened tongue lolling out of the mouth, compressed tightly by the teeth which had set upon it in the death-rattle made one shudder and reel round. In the midst of one of these " chambers of horrors"—for there were many of them—were found some dead and some living English soldiers, and among them poor Captain Vaughan, of the 90th, who has since succumbed to his wounds. I confess it was impossible for me to stand the sight, which horrified our most experienced surgeons—the deadly clammy stench, the smell of the gangrened wounds, of corrupt blood, of rotting flesh, were intolerable and odious beyond endur ance. But what must the wounded have felt who were obliged to endure all this, and who passed away without a hand to give them a cup of water, or a voice to say one kindly word to them. Most of those men were wounded on Saturday—many perhaps on the Friday before—indeed, it is impossible to say how long they might have been there. In the hurry of their retreat the Muscovites seem to have carried in dead men to get them out of the way, and to have put them upon the pallets in horrid mockery. So that this re treat was secured the enemy cared but little for their wounded. On Monday only did they receive those whom we sent out to them during a brief armistice for the purpose, which was, I believe, sought by ourselves, as our overcrowded hospitals could not contain, and our overworked surgeons could not attend to any more. The Great Redan was next visited. Such a scene of wreck and ruin ! All the houses behind it a mass of broken stones —a clock turret, with a shot right through the clock—a pagoda in ruins—another clock tower with all the clock de- itroyed save the dial, with the words " Barwise, London," thereon—cook-houses, where human blood was running among the utensils : in one place a shell had lodged in the boiler and blown it and its contents, and probably its in habitants, to pieces. Everywhere wreck and destruction. This evidently was a beau quartier once. The oldest in _ habitant could not recognise it now. Climbing up to the Redan, which was fearfully encumbered with the dead, we witnessed the scene of the desperate attack and defence, which cost both sides so much blood. The ditch outside made one sick—it was piled up with English dead, some of them scorched and blackened by the explosion, and others lacerated beyond recognition. The quantity of broken gabions and gun-carriages here was extraordinary, the ground was covered with them. The bomb-proofs were the same as in the Malakhoff, and in one of them a music book was found, with a woman's name in it, and a canary-bird and vase of flowers were outside the entrance. DETAILS OF THE ASSAULT, BY THE FRENCH GENERALS. MARSHAL PELISSIER'S REPORT. HEAD-QUARTERS, SEBASTOPOL, Sept. 11. M. le Marechal,—l shall have the honour to send you by the next courier a detailed report on the attack which has placed Sebastopol in our power. To-day I can only give you a rapid sketch of the principal achievement of this great event of the war. Since the 16th of August, the day of the battle of the Tchernaya, and notwithstanding repeated warnings of a new and more formidable attack by the enemy against the posi tions which we occupy on this river, every preparation was made to deliver a decisive assault against Sebastopol itself. The artillery of the right attack commenced on the 17th of August a well-sustained fire against the Malakhoff, the Little Redan, the neighbouring defences, and the roads, in order to permit our engineers to establish defences close to the place, from which the troops might be able instantly to throw them selves upon the enciente. , Our engineers besides prepared materials for escalade, and on the.sth of Sept. all our batteries of the left opened a very violent fire against the town. The English on their side kept up a .hot ,cannonade against the Great Redan and its redoubt, which - they were to attack. All being ready, I resolved, in concert.with General Simp son, .to give the assault on the Bth of :September, at the hour of noon. General M`Mahon's division was to carry the works of the Malakhoff; General Dulac's division was toattack the Little :Redan ; and in the centre the division of. General Le Motte rouge was tc•-,march against the curtain connecting these two extreme pointe. Besides these troo.ps, I latul, given tckCienerni Eo twtr fthemehiemsttehihm contestspi stttwt immense p e Rifles, Colonel Roe battalions of Zouavei The right attack Dulac (brigade St.. Ferusac ; 57th of th, Javel; 2nd brigade, mander Lacontrie ; in. reserve Marolle Guerin ; 96th of ti marre's divison and Guards (Command( General de la Mottei Chasseurs•it-pied, Co' Colonel de Berthier 2nd brigade, Color Picard ; 49th of the attack on the cent the Voltigeurs in rei the Grenadiers of the under the immedial Garde Mellinet, have Ponteves and de Fail For the placement cleared in three ph front compartment lit and the reserves we trenches, well '.calculi. Karabelnaia and Caree) to receive the enemy, should he kept secret tion leading to our fully followed, and m seen, the ridges had 1 For the left, as wel engineers and artillei to be placed at the sappers of the engin guard of each attack. they had learnt the were placed beforehr to be provided wi spiking nails, &c., turn the enemy's gm first battalions of eau to be provided with pouch belt, to cut pr in a word, to do w: might be required of In addition, resery as to be able to' haste left attack a field bat enceinte with its imi batteries (of the First fourth was to be on serve of 24 field gum 12 at the old Lancast, Workmen placed at road for this artillery To be prepared ft D'Aurell's Division v the batteries and re& attempt of the enemy On the side of our man the positions on his cavalry in the sad( fixed for the attack. brigade of Cuirassier was informed of the d'Allonville, he was t, 7th and Bth, from the tageous position of col in case the relieving a General Simpson al the assault. The how gave us a favourable and, in case the Russi perate attempt to relic possible for it to make lines ; whatever the rt next day to consider. On the morning of which, since daybreak continued to crush tip attack our batteries al tinning the plan adopt what was about to engineers exploded tw each, and three format blow up the lower gait The possession of the other attacks were But General Simpson that Redan until I should, the Malakhoff. In lik advance until I made I A little before noon indicated, and overy letter. General de Sall the post he had selected rived at the Brancion • heakuarters, with G, the engineers ; and De Our watches had bee: had ceased firing to tak, serv es. Following th, Dulac, and Motterouge bugles beat and sound ' 1' Etnpereur !" a thousam li It n aT i e v lan o esg u sfsbotourlabeovrn brigade followed nd soldiers beoym otel hf le t the 4th Chasseurs-aTied. the Malakhoff. The w' of the escarpment, mak but at last they reach I are slain on the spot, a' and anything they c( struggle ensued, one of trepidity of our soldier: them the upper hand. back the Russians who afterwards the flag of never to be torn down, At the right and in had overcome every obsi divisions Dulac and de had taken possession of the curtain, pushing np everywhere in possessim success, brilliant as it w: Bosquet, struck in the had been forced to qui command to General ] General de Linier, prim The engineers who In assault were already at passages, laying bridges. M'Mahon advanced rapid I give the signal agreed attack upon the Great : attack on the city. The English had to go of grape. This space theless these losses did ing column, which cam, principal work. It desc „ 4e of three metres deep, and in *lL — e l el l '' t'eqf Russians, scaled the escarp, an _ar i ll o ,l,o the Redan. Then, after an enP fo Russians dear, the English merelepe*o vast space riddled by the ball of t he t trY t P t r ,.# l selves .sheltered behind the distall o f 1 , 1' 0 0,5 came up scarcely supplied the played ftip6siis;" de combat. It was not till they as t pe I' that Frit , h ,y~ contest However,for on nearly th e left, tw-o ath otuhres evacuate the Redan, which they di" J . of firmness that the enemy did n ot ttl 4 t or them. eei re" signpl a d d to l of the Le Vaillant's division, conigis e and Trochu, threw themselves, with „J, left flank of the Central Bastion I r tile:1 14 ,0 1, spite of a shower of ball and pi the r oild, struggle, the spirit and vigour ° the e i s t i l e r e el/ triumphed over the resistance of r ate s trr er tet i r the accumulated difficulties, penet ssire di the enemy, retiring behind , sucL e e firm everywhere. A murderous fi r o' ° heights ; pieces unmasked at the / brought to several points, discos 00/01 our numbers. Generals eoust oll Wife eV, been wounded, had to give or 1 0 0 '4i0S 0 4 t Rivet and Breton were killed. . 1 ' fittP t roorto a moment's hesitation ; at last 311 or tort,lit numerous Russian columns, force d o re JP works that they had taken, an d m clt , iP e o l station. , t he 4 0 1 Our batteries on this part 0 1 1 , ./' -i6 l ' r 'it 0+ Res n:^' be 1 ) by General Lebceuf, to whonl,-oluKt, o ie , • p op ik usual, rendered his hearty arlu te fire, and forced the enemy to t ' q l„gtP:jek. ll ' p4 e pets. General de Salles, advaar";;Ottil tr` , prepared meanwhile a second fo r ' ol zoo I , it already secure of the possess' t • 0' .1 ordered him to restrain his oper a „ tO`' 0 5 0 The possession of the wore b atO o ' t (11 1 ', disputed. oro,, c ed t r t, By means of the Maison-le — , is he ru: ff se„ s 9" the steamships, the field-piec e- o f t" f eft" and the batteries to the north toes of thoetll4 dated us with grape and proe.oiri e e s diOr e r r i our ranks. -The powder 1 0 " s se„t, to o ftwok de la Poterne increased our the her lei 0"i fother 130., moment caused the eagle 0 siderable number of superi° l l a nd and wounded; Generals St. r° Fo oter',,, t oe and Generals Mellinet, de • troSos ivoie wounded at the head of the r e tio.`tied t:/ Dulac and de la Motteroo%.l ore; a rtPo i et) the Redan and the curattaitt: tl to retire before a horrible °s ing s ter •of ep yPd e e :v i i i t ,) l : l l ba mas tt s e es ries th in at t r h e e s y erv f e ound 0 1 1 I,aocti es ,o :I b r e e r° of crossed the trenches, and, dr i v ing, 00 8 10 00.4 ilan h tv a half-gunshot, uhha all steamship.s ho t, A p irl otirt gilen b o, itties tit and ported in their heroic stn r , on, vi be eft d r During en bgaasltotheni covered e s et e i r i h e ee r m d e l 0 a d f a. f : b ; : ent e l ' a t t letillti:ateici;O:one'l:lo:t t r ao l 0 o el e : ° .r tg oe l ltti/y 1 • t j I c a e k n h tr o e fr ,.the T ß hi u s ss ‘ i l a ,o n n s k b l but thel coR rid I i mhnueoe r str b rsba or gas fe s niset,kshl lo_ c e e n() r f t oK fug w at et a rane a t s edh b l a ? e eo, l ,al slti ol i t ni te l o_e_ tr itgoretblieveri si sot af ole eetvoer:ei s of W e y ltige ur ' • ° P iag P i‘ 4 sion, the Zoum e f the ° ene l °, l ' th t ,d • Wimpffen, and Par. ° o s kbeY , •ot‘. hol However,e ssßeo during armies, incessant er pens telJae z 3, I s t , _ l sE d iaai ; us.ci; al a d - r_ t i, : s l e taoltile 6 ; yr ; 0, ep o roos. le; r o k and t 0 t $ v inpl which endu e d I 0• 1 1 raggle , deter'r° l ied ofe• After this last st_ wra ed co otio k o' L f,l evening, the enemy, batteries grelo r tille';if e rr and then, a s no d pc. je tempt, only dill sneers beeti throw projectiles , Nv , juee a h od _ oh ptpwheullerisea gorgeert d e e . a l i t e t H a i nocofka‘ the h ee e:6clyma i kst e esi c'et hs nP o t e si o ;l o ' : ' i i, "0 014 The detachments or Ens ought 0 1; a t 0 ' in e 4e - I.° loss before ihaiad brajcvee,lywest to wo, 1. 4 , '4 4 t '4.kt 4 Q 1 0 4 4 e r q 5 14 1, '41t1,1 00 .. g' )CTOBER 2, lAti Of v/. et th. ,a l , se, from Camou's Divisioe; li g ti es of the Guards, Colonel J,',,: i -. s ,e,ur on the Redan was entrll,sl( , oi lltl ' vs , 'wit/ Pol); 17th Chasseurs-a• . • of 4. , be Line, Colonel Duptlist e ,,, 'TT, t 1.4 General Bisson ; 10th Of '''' in T ' 2 r 61st of the Line, Colonel de • P ted t'usi es brigade (15th of the 1, rth e i? c ;he Line, Colonel Malherbe, -,, te r d, 5 s , ate ( ei l err t o l u i egc:brartGtuaeiliiiieeorrnalodf73oCuLltries s i Il e c l, . Ito ,1 Zs; commander Clinchant; SC',,, tes '%ev( r ; 100th of the Line, lnel Picard ; 91st of tbe cc; -, " mg Coll ? i., c0 1i , i ,....tr e Line, Colonel ICerguelll',ltieliilect $ ',re by the middle of the _ p i ne _teghi eserve (Colonels Monters!Ao:, aod ie Garde (Colonels Blatiel t Va, ' l -N us ate orders of Genet-al 0 ',,:iste 4\ e „ wing under him Generals tit h ,, d eso , of „7( . . th e ; nt of these troops our e'7lo 11,feh ~ laces, each capable of re (I,7.eian I nearly the whole of the at j . i'bled were to find places as To a ': tak dated to hold them , leps ,- g'h ' th ho ,reening Bay. It was e or , 4 e tc y, that the concentiltn si, ,, Pell e ;ret ; therefore all the h o er ti ,' of t . advanced places dl ke „ i _rlit e trui wherever there vos 3 rlns of artq I been heightened. 1 , d ) 1 'rtion °s ' ell as for the right attscoc t 8 „,,5. provided with toolsk, 'I ' - 'u RI ery, , r ialv 0 , 4 and .e head of each all , 4 , ef,, h e t , neers were, with the ne, L iz, % a _ltrc k, to be ready to tbrOldiicz tanf , 4 80 e manoeuvre, and the wiyr. ttid(tre 0 sand on the first liue..,ite, #' „ t e da y ith everything rOl 'Rast e of I the e , shed od so as to spike, ss , j b ins against l ice'stheni k,lO en ( ech attack, a certs, t01„,05' . 1 . hatt er ';' short-handled bolrtcije,,e'"' tf ' 1) ;. an o .' Passages, fill411„,""t at" fi I .' ll m an 'e , vhatever import"' p f c 1 08s e , II f them. ill'ithlieset° •:4 o ° ,, 1 yes of field-battecP -„ fi c pe ll ' ; e i ,en up and tar igedill;e2k, nono alul- ttery was t o be V,,, a 0 'A tp,` W C I ITICIN nPieMelltS and rod I. ,'",,dret w ti n „ ;°ll s e ,. st Division) wer e rt bevr ~$ i r c to Yo the extreme left 0 as fell e .",g) 1 , 1 /, e lb., ts was to beplo7Atb e . to a Posit' - ' is ter battery, attdl';",te Wee ,on the designated Pe' 0 -easti poi Y. t g iiti , tl ' e t ;d l it;i , 117 t t i e for every evenot.-. l op , • , e hi .0 f , was placed in a P°slt.o, OA 4 g a „ t ''',3 loubts in that diree' l iter; 4ereeirl Y against the Iaker°11:510911,1 hre'rkt d if ;',e r lines, General 11:',Z01,/t. tiise44lttlatee'i 1 the Tchernaya w s "" re?,i ""eir t he ddle, and his artillerY p i , , 411 z. 41 I had also ordered 14)1( Dreisv4ll444 Ts to join him. 6°oo .0,-,",a'illt sese arrangement,s.4ll9i ~,, till i t .e 4Re to fall back durint, tf o t .y ~ 1,„ th e re Valley of Baidar,,'„ Ow) , It th e oncentration, near the d i r g It. a11i 4 . 4 army should threatestte htmktioNia Ind myself had ft% ed t o' , ' 4 elst e o 4 bs, ur selected offered 1 1 , 1 ie t 'efis s ' 4 , 6 ft chance of taking turod'lo4; t,lfroay:;," sian relieving arrai,:fildi A r i l" kilts a il e ' ieve the place, it sretootte 4171,410 ce before darks v i g ° ssiO t ,I k er4 1, 11 l uu result of our attac k - 4 t:q4fY,ll,' I of bakte r the Bth the artillerSt di t a rt t kon the sth, had l'FP ct ileE• 1 ;:ot 00 , ti ie enemy with heavy fire," °lt e el* I,, t iel slso kept up a hea:,;eulf,oi pt„°,ll4l:t pted some days P r bo - i it es.", sa:4le3,, Jo take place. ,•10,rsti' eo''er ec t a k l luteexirimieewasEniontnfhge manner v :e he_ , : igns t::: t i t . g3 o ::: el:iiiija,teoet.:'ll:Z4l.t:li4l . i ' (4 vo mines of I°°l ' l r r aor` r ,,, 1 e4 61. he Malakhoff to ir i;,, le ibordinate to iVeirld 5 0t ! re l make a sig h ,erg L e ' I l i him anoth er- e re re''''', r ieJ f t ' t tl, o f k all the trood been e'vt,,(l °4l r tn ' preparatiati ii; GelierPr• ,4,011:at alles was r eady , 0 116. ',le , a lle _ tef ;ed in the 6th P 3 , had, ' ll at i redoubt, whichfitbe c i) , 14 generals Thir3" , 0 chief of " r jr e i s itki e Lort MartiMpreY, i prec i iY k kv Y info !en set. At 11 °' 0 0 , 0 05 . 44( r eeea Lke a longer range ail isi, 't t , a lliiih , heir leaders, th e 1 e f t v o 'r/ te an• ge leave the trete.' tbe ,g , 4,, leS the charge, and, to e d 111,7ifF ;weir 4 1 3 1 usand times rep de 1,44,,,t t 's rush upon the del" j , V'kte t i de nit. 'fr * 5 f ' a „ O i l, , i t ,Y of 1.,,, r 3l'Mahon's divisiti;;icioie \'tst4'llaf." he 7th of the line, tt ps,„ tro y °w t s, the le din , ti 1 - e ed,rush against t t he as ~ fora , tl width and depthr°l,dite,flos: ,e,lllo' ke the scaling,;o4 sto0; fo N: 3 the a par,itilPeet:h 0 1 All of d of ?ilt and who ffialfi'bey 011.tsli, 04, th e til e !,onid Is)" .fast, flg b e os o If;i- I kt k li. l4l ! If those eirtat c hief s ty, 1 14 , e , l 5 1 . 1 .s and oi ones leapt t't. d i r ' 4eel' p i . e o a f ° 0 i 1 : 1 4, , i 1 41:::„ 4: : 11 4 14 11 e t l , They A res is, 09 iy • t Ban d a tl i to lou d OD 0 ~ta t_ he ' France i 5 P 1,,,_ 4 1 , „ e . ~,, , I s Let mock ith t""etSl ette.tlet. ! s the centre, tr de t be O D ; 4 '114, 4 1 Vi :stiaaelme, oagrollg'atid!3, f the small Be _, a et t e ,, a lle “ . p as far as the se , oi",, , , o rt , ' ,4 jef , ', 't I to ' t i . old 0 : an of the attack,eu,,,t 0545 ' ts er t O , O _ was had nearb ev e ' e ol Ithre th,il° ' cle by tli ti A ' 14 1 f • a right st i b3 t e.„, t 15 1 ,., rig, lit the field 0' of q 11l tviii. Ricer es' acipal staff 0 . h , t ri,..,,,1 ~, el had marched spit e' 'et ` 1 "1. t work filling , bot; or•tiedo4,,, ;es. The seeeleutio 0 40 1 _ t. ,stag pidly to reinfore_iviersli T otal \ ti le ed upon with orrutly OP ~ ,L . Redan, and sh ° 4 6 kkili e P 0 ., 061110 , :P'i? 1? go over 200 In e ~,i 0 ,S,, , I IV le A was now coverc'„,rer.s, ,e'l4,l4(Ue 154 not impede the p:;ve, 1,... Total. '• ne up directing `felt,b,t, scended into the:ji . 09 41 P - • --ap of 1"49,,ite , i 1111_,