The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-25 00:00:00

THE WAR IN THE CRIMEA

THE accounts relative to the effect of the successful occu-
pation of the town and southern fortifications of Sebastopol
still occasion much speculation, all sorts of rumours and con-
jectures being still rife as to the ultimate value of this im-
portant victory on the future prospects of the war. Although
the evacuation of the town by the Russian troops appears
to have been at last executed in a hasty manner, there is good
ground for believing that they saw that event as one of in-
evitable necessity for a long period prior to its being carried
out, and that they had deliberately prepared for that neces-
sity. Still it seems to have come on them by surprise, in the
end. The bombardment by which the final struggle was
inaugurated appears to have been of a most staggering vio-
lence. This bombardment is said to have been one of the
most destructive and terrific on record. It is thus described
by the special correspondent of the Times, writing under
date of the sth instant :
At dawn on the morning of the sth of September, the
French opened fire. The air was pure and light, and a gentle
breeze from the south-east, which continued all day, drifted
over the steppe, and blew gently into Sebastopol. The sun
shone serenely through the vapours of early morning, and
wreaths of snowy clouds on the long lines of white houses in-
side those rugged defences of earth and gabionade which
have so long kept our armies gazing in vain on this " august
city." The ships lay floating on the waters of the roads,
which were smooth as a mirror, and, like it, reflected
them, and outside our own fleet and that of the French
equally inactive, and not quite so useful to us, were
reposing from Kazatch to Constantine as idly as though
they were " painted" upon a " painted ocean." In the
rubbish of the suburb, next to the Flagstaff Works,
there are several batteries in excellent order, which are not
injured by the allied batteries, and which have not yet fired
much, if at all. They are mostly.fleches, and seem intended
as out-lying works of the second line of defences. Near the
top of the hill, inside the crenellated wall, a portion of the in-
terior line of these defences is to be seen. A battery called
the " Crow's Nest," from its elevated position, is placed near
this line, and has an extensive command over the right of the
French left attack, and over our sailors' batteries in the left
of our left attack, to which it is rather troublesome. This
contains a couple of large mortars in addition to some long-
range guns, and can bear on any troops between the outer de-
fences and the foot of the hill on which the town rises, and the
ravine between our left and the French left attack. A very
strong series of earthworks crowns:the ridge of the same hill,
and the defences broken by the creek are continued towards
the right by the various batteries (Barrack, Road, Garden,
Black, Batty, &c.), which are connected with the Great Redan,
and thence are carried to the Malakhoff and its outlying
works. The suburb behind these defences next the creek, and
in front of our left attack, is in complete ruins, but our line of
batteries is almost too far to do injury to the public buildings
behind the suburb, although our old first parallel has been dis-
armed as being too far, and the guns moved into the second
parallel, and various batteries in front of it. Behind the Redan
are visible the long line of the dockyard and arsenal buildings,
and the barracks, which have been rendered uninhabitable on the
nearside by our fire—the great shears, the floating bridge across
the roads to the north side, the two lines of men-of war—the
Twelve Apostles and five two-deckers, frigates, and steamers.
Then, on the right, lie Malakhoff, Mamelon, White Works,
and Mount Sapoune peering beyond over them and
the north side—the citadel, the Russian camp, Inkermann,
its batteries, and the plateau of the Belbek forming the back-
ground, which is defined still further by a strip of blue sea.
The men in our trenches can be seen sitting down behind the
traverses, or strolling about in the rear of the parapets. Small
trains of animals and files of men are passing over the ground
between the trenches and the camp, and the only smoke that
catches the eye arises from the kettles of the soldiery, or from
a rifle in the advanced works. On the left, however, it can
be seen that the French trenches are crowded with men, and
that their batteries are all manned, though the men keep
well out of view, and the mantlets and screens are yet down
before the muzzles of some of their guns. The men be-
neath the parapets swarm like bees. A few gray-coated Rus-
sians are in view repairing the works of the Flagstaff Battery,
or engaged in throwing up a new work, which promises to be
of considerable strength, in front of the second line of their
defences. Suddenly, along the earthen curtain, between Nos.
7 and 8 Bastions three jets of flame spring up into the air and
hurl up as many pillars of earth and dust, which are warmed
into ruddy hues by the horizontal rays of the sun. The French
have exploded three fougasses to blow in the counterscarp, and
to serve as a signal to their men. Instantly from the sea to the
Dockyard-creek there seems to run a stream of fire, and fleecy,
curling, rich white smoke, as though the earth had suddenly
been rent in the throes of an earthquake and was vomiting
forth the material of her volcanoes. The crash of such a tremen-
dous fire must have been appalling, but the wind and the
peculiar condition of the atmosphere did not permit the sound
to produce any great effect on our camp; in the city, for the
same reason, the noise must have been terrific and horrible.
The iron storm tore over the Russian lines, tossing up, as if
in sport, jets of earth and dust, rending asunder gabions, and
" squelching" the parapets, or bounding over among the houses
and ruins in their rear. The terrible file of iron, about four
miles in front, rushed across the plain, carrying death and ruin
with it, swept with its heavy and irresistible wings the Russian
flanks, and searched their centre to the core. A volley so
startling, simultaneous, and tremendously powerful, was
probably never yet uttered since the cannon found its voice.
The Russians seemed for a while utterly paralyzed. Their
batteries were not manned with strength enough to enable
them to reply to such an overlapping and crushing fire ; but
the French, leaping to their guns with astounding energy,
rapidity, and strength, kept on filling the very air with the
hurtling storm, and sent it in unbroken fury against their
enemies. More than 200 pieces of artillery of large calibre,
admirably served and well directed, played incessantly on the
hostile lines. In a few moments a great veil of smoke—" a
war-cloud rolling dun"— spread from the guns over on the left
of Sebastopol; but the roar of the shot 41.41..,-.4—,9a25n
mom; now died away into hoarse murmurs, again swelled
up into tumult, or rattled from end to end of the line
like the file-fire of infantry. Stone walls went down before
the guns at once, but the earthworks yawned to receive
shot and shell alike. However, so swift and incessant was i
the passage of these missiles through the embrasures and
along the tops of the parapets, that the enemy had to lie close,
and could scarcely show themselves in the front line of de-
fences. For a few minutes, then, the French had it all their
own way, and appeared to be on the point of sweeping away
the place without resistance ; hut, after they had fired a few
rounds from each of their numerous guns, the Russian
artillerymen got to work, and began to return our allies' fire.
They made good practice, but fired slowly and with precision,
as if they could not afford to throw away an ounce of powder.
The French were stimulated rather than impeded by such a
reply to their astonishing volleys, and their shot flew with
increased rapidity along the line of the defences, and bounded
in among the houses of the town. But what were we doing
all this time ? What was our admirable Naval Brigade and
our gallant siege-train doing? They were just working their
guns as usual, and had received no orders to open general
fire. Our batteries, therefore, rendered little assistance to
the French, but they maintained their usual destructive and
solid "hammering" on the face of the Redan and of the
Malakhoff, and aided our invaluable allies by keeping up a
regular shell practice on the batteries from the Creek to the
Redan. Now two or three mortars from Gordon's, then two
or three mortars from Chapman's hurled 10 and 13-inch shell
behind the enemy's works, and connected the discharges by
rounds from long 32's or 68's. It is not known why this
want of unanimity existed, and why we did not open fire at
the same time with the French. General Pelissier was over
at our head-quarters, and had an interview with General
Simpson yesterday, and it is not unlikely that the French
commander, with his characteristic impetuosity, resolved on
opening fire, finding that we were not quite prepared to do
so with effect, and relying on his own numerous and heavy
ordnance and abundance of ammunition.

SEPT. 7.—The cannonade was resumed at daybreak, the
Inkermann batteries firing briskly. A council of generals was
held to-day at head-quarters, the sick were cleared out of the
field hospitals, and it gradually oozed out that the assault
would take place to-morrow at twelve o'clock. The firing was
tremendous all day, but clouds of dust which a high wind
from the north drifted into our faces rendered a view of the
place impossible. About three o'clock a two-decker was set
on fire, and burnt all night. A steamer towed other vessels
near her away to the dockyard harbour, but the lines of men-
of-war are still mtack. Flames broke out behind the Redan
in the afternoon. The bombardment was renewed at dusk.
A Sardinian corps was marched up to reinforce the French.
There was a heavy explosion in the town at 11 o'clock p.m.
The men all take 48 hours' provisions, cooked, into the trenches
with them. Nothing is known of the plan of attack.

SEPT. 8, 11 A.M.—All corners from Balaklava and the rear
of the camp, are stopped by a line of sentries. Another line
of sentries in front prevents any one going as far as Cathcart's
Hill or the picket houses, except staff officers or men on duty.
The fire is exceedingly heavy. The assault takes place at noon.
The 4th Division is now under arms.

On the same subject the special correspondent of the Daily
News, writing from the camp before Sebastopol, on the Bth
of September, says :
After long weeks of comparative idleness, the allied batteries
have again opened upon the besieged town, and for the greater
part of three days have kept up an almost continuous bom-
bardment along nearly the whole of the attacking line. This
time, at all events, the intention of the generals commanding
was kept sufficiently secret. About four o'clock on the morn-
ing of the sth, however, our allies opened the ball from the
guns of their left attack, and maintained a most vigorous fire
on the enemy's works in that direction till about an hour and
a half after noon, when our own batteries and those on the
French right opened on the Redan, the Malakhoff, and its ad-
jacent supports in Careening Bay. From that hour until
shortly before five o'clock, a feu d'enfer was kept up along
the whole line, to which only the Russian batteries op-
posed to the French left replied with anything like sustained
vigour. The gunners in the Redan and Round Tower
contented themselves with throwing occasional shells into
our advanced works and the Mamelon, and a few hollow
shot which came bounding up to the close neighbour-
hood of the tents along the front. About a quarter
before five o'clock the fire on both sides slackened, and an
hour later it almost ceased, when a calm—in striking
contrast to the stormy thunder which had filled the air
and clouded the sky during the day—succeeded, and remained
almost undisturbed till the light of dawn again came to guide
the aim of the combatants. About eight o'clock a new inci-
dent occurred to give picturesqueness and interest to the scene.
A large two-decker, lying moored off the dockyard shears,
suddenly burst into flames ; and in considerably less than half
an hour her whole hull and rigging were one mass of waving
fire. None but a most graphic pen could describe the gran-
deur of the conflagration' as it brightened and extended in re-
lief against the pitchy darkness of the night, throwing up
clouds of smoke, which hung in lurid masses over and around
the burning ship, till the whole harbour, from Fort Paul to the
north shore, was covered with the fleecy volumes which there
was not a breath of wind to stir. About two hours after the
first outbreak of the fire there were two trifling explosions, as
if caused by the ignition of spirits or the firing of a couple of
powder casks ; but beyond these, and the discharge of a single
cannon, there was no report. Shortly before midnight the
decks fell in, after which the sidee timbers continued to burn
for some couple of hours, when wreck settled down, and at
daylight no trace of her remained visible above the water.
With the grey light of early morning on Thursday the bom-
bardment recommenced, and continued throughout the day,
with some periods of intermittent slackness. As on the
previous day, its strength was confined to the French and
ht doing little more
our own left—the batteries on the rig