The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-19 00:00:00

THE WAR.

THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

THE intelligence received from the army engaged
in the siege and bombardment of Sebastopol continues
to be of a hopeful and inspiriting character. The suc-
cess of the Allied arms has been unchecked in any
substantial degree, and work after work of the Russian
advanced defences has fallen before the vigorous as-
saults of the French and English forces. Following
up the advantages thus gained, the Allies have been
enabled to obtain full possession of the whole ridge and
slope to the north of our position and the east of the
town between the Inkerman attack and the Careening
Harbour, including the Quarries, from and in the
neighbourhood of which several smart encounters with
the Russians have been sustained. Possession of this
quarter gives ready command of the ships in the port,
and also affords means of seriously damaging some of
the permanent works of the fortress, including the
Malakhoff Tower and Battery ; it further enables the
Allies to cut off one of the communications between
the town and the interior, forcing that communication
completely round towards the north. Anticipatory of
the consequences of thus narrowing the means of corn-
municating, the Russians appear to be concentrating
the troops external of Sebastopol to the north and east
of the town, and by some parties it is thought that in
this quarter they mean to make a formidable oppo-
sition
to the Allies, and that here a decisive battle will
ere long be fought.
The ridge immediately to the south and east of the
Careening Harbour is occupied on its lower slope by
houses, and on its upper extremity it is crowned by
the Malakhoff Tower, and the batteries by which it is
surrounded. Opposed to these last-named formidable
works, at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile,
the English constructed the Victoria redoubt, and from
this point the Victoria attack has been carried forward
by the French, and is directed against the Malakhoff
Batteries and Tower. This attack, though among the
latest constructed, is considered to be of the most im-
portance of any at this point of operation. Major
Chapman had anticipated its importance last Decem-
ber, but its construction could not then be effected,
and we are only now in possession of some of the re-
sults of this work. Descending nearer to the Malak-
hoff Tower, and about 500 yards in front of it, is the
Mamelon, which is described as commanding the Tower
itself, by which all the other works of this part of
Sebastopol are commanded. The conquest of this hill
is the great and decisive result of the brilliant but
sanguinary conquest of the 7th of June ; its occupa-
tion by the French destroys the Russian line of out-
works, and gives a degree of certainty never obtained
before to the operations directed against this essential
portion of the place. The Malakhoff Tower itself,
being one of the few works in masonry originally con-
structed on the land side of Sebastopol, was ruined by
the bombardment long ago ; but it is now surrounded
by a very high semicircular parapet of earth, pierced
with twelve embrasures, and surrounded by a ditch.
From the Tower to the Careening Bay there runs a
long line of parapet, broken half-way by a battery of
16 guns on two faces, flanking the curtain between
this point and the Tower. Another battery of twelve
embrasures on the hill above Careening Bay is con-
nected with this work by a further parapet which ex-
tends to the sea. It is supposed that the works taken
on the 7th June are outside this line, which must be
seriously menaced by the position we are now enabled
to attack it from.
On a ridge separated from the Malakhoff Tower, by
what is called the Middle Ravine, stands the Redan
Battery, and occupying a portion of the same ridge
I stands our Crown Battery, fronting the apex of the
Redan, which was further defended by abattis in front
and by a strong post of rifles occupying an abandoned
stone quarry in front of the work. The quarry, of
which advantage was taken in the construction of the
work, and from which it is designated, is on the slope
of the Redan Hill, below the line of abattis which
stretched across it, and about 300 yards from the most
advanced trench of the zig-zag in front of our second
parallel. The new work was placed behind the exca-
vation, and had a high and solid parapet. Around it
the enemy had rifle-pits connected with the quarry by
trenches, and one of these, within fifty yards of our
advanced trench, had its parapets of sand bags loop-
holed not only at the top, but within two feet from the
level of the ground, by which means our working par-
ties were for a time considerably annoyed. The rifle,
pits and the Quarry Work were connected by a covered
way with the Redan. At the opening of the third
bombardment our zig-zags bearing towards the Redan
had been so far advanced that it was necessary to
crown the Quarry, as otherwise the enemy would have
looked down into our trenches ; but this operation
again would not of itself have sufficed to ensure our
progress, as the Quarry Work was in turn commanded
by the Mamelon. Hence the necessity of taking both
simultaneously. Four days before the opening of the
third general bombardment, it was unknown in the
camp whether the Quarry Work was armed, but it was
evident that it had been prepared for at least ten
heavy guns. This is the post which was carried by
the British forces on the 7th of June, and it will be
seen the several attacks of the besieging armies are
advancing pan; passu on parallel lines. The French
carried the outworks of the tower, and the English the
quarry in front of the Redan. But though these ope-
,
rations are distinct, all help one another, and are essen-
tial to the success of the common enterprise. The
British works on the left of the right attack cannot
advance so rapidly as those on either extremity of the
lines, partly because the ground in front of Chapman's
Batteries falls abruptly away, and partly because the
Russian works against which our engineers are ope-
rating are commanded by other works on the flank
and in the rear. To take the Redan would be unsafe
and useless until we know that we shall not be driven
out of it by the guns of the batteries about the Malak-
hoff Tower. The importance of the works already
taken is proved by the fact that they mounted no less
than 63 guns. To this Russian chain of forts and
field fortifications the Allied armies oppose another
chain of batteries and lines of approach, now extending
in one unbroken line from the Quarantine Harbour,
outside the Bay of Sebastopol, to the Careening Har-
bour within it. This chain will daily enclose the gar-
rison within a narrower verge, and, in spite of the
skill and courage which have undoubtedly been shown
in the defence of the place, General Osten-Sacken
cannot anticipate that its fate will be permanently
averted. The Allied armies have acquired a hold upon
the shores of the Crimea from which Russia cannot
dislodge them.
According to accounts which have been transmitted
by General Pelissier to his government, it appears that
the ground and works captured by the Allies on the
northern shore of Careening Harbour, give to their
guns complete command of the few ships of war
belonging to the enemy in the harbour of Sebastopol,
and afford practicable means for destroying the bridge
of boats which sustains the communication between
the town and the fortifications on the north side of the
enclosed bay. If this be true, a very important
advantage indeed has been achieved. If the harbour
be, as it is represented, dominated by the Allied guns,
the destruction of the bridge of boats is not the only
advantage to be anticipated from the recent successes.
The boom protecting the entrance to the harbour may
also be destroyed, and if an entrance for the fleet
could thus be opened, the most important results
might be immediately anticipated.

Under date of May 27th it is stated :
There was heavy cannonading at several points along the
line of siege works during the night. At half-past 1 a.m.
several concentrated volleys of musketry were fired on the
right, above the Careening Bay ravine, and these were imme-
diately followed by a tremendous discharge of shells from the
Russian redoubts in that position, as well as from the Mame-
lon Vert and the batteries about the north side of the harbour
and Inkerman. The shelling continued for nearly an hour.
The French quickly found shelter under cover of their
gabions and trenches, and very few casualties occurred. Two
men killed and three slightly wounded are stated to be their
total loss, as well from the shelling as from the musketry. It
is difficult to account for so small a number of casualties, con-
sidering the immense discharge from all the Russian batteries
around the French works.

This morning the troops were assembled at their respective
camps, in brigades, to hear read to them the gratifying intel-
ligence of the taking of Kertch without any loss to the troops
who formed the expedition against it. The announcement
was hailed with loud cheers—so loud and hearty that they
must almost have found an echo within the squares and
streets of Sebastopol itself. The news was also communicated
to the men in the trenches ; but no cheering was permitted
there, lest the enemy, anticipating an attack or some move-
ment, might be induced to open fire.
The French have sent three battalions more than the ordi-
nary reinforcements on the right this evening, and they expect
to be ordered to attack the ambuscades in front of the redoubt
nearest to their works on the right of Careening Bay.
May 28.—The rain ceased early last evening, and a clear
moonlight night followed. The expected attack on the right
was not made, and no more than the ordinary amount of fire
occurred elsewhere along the lines.
The Russians are still observed to be very busy about the
graveyards on the north side of the harbour. At the highest
of the three grave-fields—the term " yards" is hardly appro-
priate, as they are not enclosed—as many as seven carts were
observed to be standing at one time to-day. Several parties
have also been noticed making fresh graves. These observa-
tions confirm the written evidence, said to have been disco-
vered at Kertch, of the amount of disease and fatal injuries
prevailing in the garrison of Sebastopol.
The French have extended their trench in front of the ad-
vanced Inkerman redoubt, the guns of which bear in the
direction of the East Inkerman Light, down to the valley
near the head of the Great Harbour. This trench is now car-
ried partly across the Valley of Inkerman, and terminates at
the bank of the Tchernaya river. The object of this work is
not very apparent, as the former works fully commanded the
passage of the valley, unless it may be supposed to be connected