The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-23 00:00:00

THE ALLIES IN SEBASTOPOL.

Writing from the camp before Sebastopol on the 30th Sep-
tember, the correspondent of the Times says :

The enemy, having discovered the preparations for throw-
ing up batteries near Fort Alexander and the ruins of Fort
Paul, by the French and English respectively, commenced a
heavy fire from the northern works and forts this morning,
which they continued throughout the day, and which, at
times, amounted to a cannonade. The French mortars re-
plied to it with vigour, aided by some guns on the left. The
Russians fired from Fort Michael, from Little Severnaya, and
from the Harbour Spur Battery, and their shot went crashing
through the ruined houses, but did not create any very
serious injury. An enormous convoy was seen going out of
the northern camps towards Simpheropol, but it was impos-
sible to ascertain whether the carts were full or empty. As
it was an exceedingly clear day, we could look into the Rus-
sian camps as clearly as if they had been our own. The
enemy were working with great energy at new batteries all
over the extensive series of slooping, hill-sides south of the
Belbek. Their Kadikoi, or Donnybrook fair, had, like ours,
revived again, and was well attended, and in the distance
large herds of oxen ranged at will. The progress of the men
in removing wood from the houses is so rapid, that there will
scarcely be a stick of the place left.
SERIOUS CONFLAGRATION AT THE
BARRACKS.

At four o'clock a serious accident took place, which has in-
flicted some loss on the army in depriving them of a con-
siderable magazine of wood. A shell from the Russians burst
close to the barracks, and a merchant sailor ran to look at
the crater it formed in the ground. Thence he entered the
building itself, and sauntered about smoking his pipe till he
came to some loose gunpowder, on which, being of a scientific
and experimentalizing turn of mind, he tried the effects of
dropping several sparks from the burning tobacco. The
powder, as is not unusual in such cases, exploded with violence,
and blew up the sailor and a sentry outside. They were both
dreadfully burnt. As the floor was covered with cartridges
and loose powder, the fire caught, and went leaping on by fits
and starts to a large quantity of the same combustible matters.
No one could approach to stop the fire. It at last caught the
magazine, and the explosion blew out the walls and ceilings
of the central barrack. The flames set fire to the dry wood-
work, and in a short time the whole pile of buildings,
which were of admirable construction, was in a blaze. The
conflagration lasted till all that could be burnt was consumed,
and lighted up the sky at night to a great distance. All that
remains of the Imperial Barracks of Sebastopol is a mass of
charred and blackened stones, split by the action of fire. The
Russians, thinking that the accident had been caused by their
own fire, plied their guns with increased vigour, and threw
shot and shell around the place, but did no damage. It is not
quite certain that the man who caused the accident was a
sailor. Some people say he was a navvy of the Army Works
Corps. Whoever he was, by the act for which he so dearly
paid, he destroyed not less than 30,000 cartloads of wood, which
would have been made available for hutting and fuel. It is,
on the whole, a miracle that more accidents of the kind do
not occur, owing to the neglect of the authorities and the
carelessness of the men. The Russians seem to be strengthen-
ing their camps near Mackenzie's farm.
OCTOBER 1 (Monday).—There was a council of Generals to-
day at head-quarters, at which Marshal Pelissier was present.
Orders have been sent to the French fleet to prepare for the
reception of 15,000 men to-morrow. The conferences between
the Generals have been frequent of late. There has not been
much firing from or on the town to-day, but the French at
Inkerman are annoying a new Russian camp at the other side
of the ravine, by constant discharges of long-range rockets.
OCTOBER 2 (Tuesday).—At ten o'clock this morning a
general commotion arose in camp, in consequence of the sound-
ing of the assembly and the turning out of all the men. At
the same time the Light Division was inspected, and the ar-
tillery were reviewed in the open space in front of our lines
towards Inkerman. The Ist brigade of the Fourth Division
received orders to hold themselves in readiness to march at
dawn to-morrow morning. So sudden was the order that all
the various working parties were interrupted in their work,
and marched off to their regiments after they had been road-
making only a couple of hours. The men detailed to the
Land Transport Corps and to the Commissariat Department
were sought out and told to rejoin their regiments at once.
EMBARKATION OF AN EXPEDITIONARY