The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-30 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN WORKS AT ODESSA,

A letter from Odessa, dated the 6th instant, which has been
published in Paris, gives the following particulars as to the
defensive works lately erected in the city, as well as in those
of Ockzakoff, Kinburn, and the environs :
Our merchants have observed with some uneasiness that,
since the Ist of this month, two of the six war steamers of
the Allies, which maintained so strict a blockade here all the
summer, have weighed anchor and stood out to sea. The
departure of those vessels was attributed to an extraordinary
motive. It was generally believed that they were going
to meet a formidable naval force, about to appear before
our city, and expose it a second time to the horrors of a
bombardment. The greatest alarm is visible on every
countenance, notwithstanding the air of confidence as-
sumed by the military authorities. If this second misfor-
tune should occur to complete the ruin of our commerce, the
magnificent palace of Prince Woronzoff would be the first
building knocked to pieces by the fire of the allies. Our mi-
litary engineers have done their utmost to save it from de-
struction. They have planted six howitzers on a height close
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brasures have been opened in it to enable a battery of field
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artillery placed in the palace court to play on the assailants.
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Besides the large battery of 36 pieces erected last April, a second
battery, of semicircular form, containing 12 guns, and com-
manding the roadstead, has been also erected. It is to be
hoped that the latter will be sufficient to prevent any hostile
vessel from entering the military port. Since summer, the
military engineers have constructed a new battery of twelve
pieces of the largest calibre, on the ground to the west of the
colonnade, which will sweep all the approaches in the direc-
tion of the Peresip. There are, besides, at intervals along the
garden terrace, pieces of heavy calibre, which may at a mo-
ment's notice be brought forward and form a second flying
battery of sixteen guns. I have been informedalw persons in
the Comm' riot Ni lie a,od Cherson tn t the passage
winburn and Uckzakoit has been rendered quite im-
practicable. Upwards of 50 boats laden with large stones and
fragments of rocks have been sunk along the channel over a
space of at least two versts, a narrow canal only having been
left for navigation. Thus vessels wishing to enter the Liman
will have to pass quite close to the fortifications, under the
very guns of Kinburn. The latter is regarded as a fortress of
the first class, owing to the immense works thrown up around
since the landing of the allies in the Crimea. The same pro-
cess has been gone through at the entrance of the Bug, which
is flanked by two large batteries on either side. All the ves-
sels the Russians could procure have been sunk there, and no
boat, however light its draught of water may be, can enter the
river: Only one very narrow passage now remains open for
Russian boats which proceed from Nicolaieff to Cherson, Kin-
burn, Ockzakoff, and sometimes even to Odessa, on military
service; but on the first appearance of danger, an immense
mass of stones, rocks, &e., heaped up along the shore, will be
thrown into the passage in order to block it up completely.