The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

in getting up huts before the winter sets;in. Leaving them
alone will never drive a Russian army ont,of the field ; the
only thing to do that is the French and English bayonet.
About noon to-day a flag of truce came in from the fleet, and
was met near Fort Constantine by a Russian boat. The con-
ference did not last very long, and its object has not transpired.
The French mortars and guns were not silent while the flags
were flying-. Their mortar battery, which is protected by the
walls of Fort Nicholas, keeps up a constant fire of bombs against
• the quadrangular storehouse. In addition to the fire yesterday
the French sent two bombs through the roof of the building
to-day, and they are rapidly defacing the building. Their prac-
tice is very variable, which is probably owing to the imperfect
manufacture of their shells, which are frequently of unequal
weight, and are consequently of uncertain range. In the large
shells there is sometimes a variation of 31b. or 41b. in weight,
and some which were lent to us were found to be almost use-
less on that account. Their battery behind the Malakhoff is
principally directed against the roads to Fort Constantine and
Fort Catherine. Three or four times in the day Fort Con-
stantine gives a sullen reply to the allies, and the 12-gun bat-
tery at Inkerman throws an odd shot at the French battery of
the Malakhoff. The Russians, however, look as if they in-
tended to work steadily at their earthworks, and some fine day,
no doubt, they will open with a roar of cannon in their old
style, all along the waterside from Fort Constantine to
Inkerman. Large convoys passed in and out of the forts to-
day, but it could not be ascertained with what they were laden.
Their coal depot is untouched and undiminished. It was
amusing to watch the coolness of the fellows at work inside the
large magazine to-day. Some of them usually stood in the
doorway by the waterside to look out for the mortars. " Born,"
goes one, and the thick white smoke flies upwards in a circling
pillar, marked here and there with white whirling rings.
" T-wit ! twit ! twit !" the bomb whistles aloft, the sound be-
coming fainter and fainter as it leaves us, till it begins to grow
on the ear of the gentleman in gray, who is on the watch at
the other side ; he pops in his head, and out come at his sum-
mons, like rabbits scuttling from a ferret-haunted warren, a
swarm of his comrades, just as the bomb, with a prodigious
crash, and knocking up a cloud of tiles, timber, stones, and
dirt, rushes through the roof, and bursts inside; they are
down on their faces in a moment, and the bits fly over them,
and strike the earth far inland, or dash the water of the
harbour into foam. Then the " Rooskies" get up, and re-
turn placidly to their work inside till the next bomb comes
dangerously near. If it does not fall inside the building, or
is not likely to slip down on them through the roof, the
fellows never stir out. When the French discovered the
column near the telegraph this morning, they opened from
Gringalet on them with round shot, and I saw the earth torn
up close to them, but the Russians never turned round from
their camp fires. They are assuredly a stolid infantry, and if
they had élan and dash in support of their other undeniably
good qualities as soldiers, they would not be second to the
armies of any nation in the world; and here, par parenthse,
I may observe that we might with much profit take a lesson
from our enemies on a matter which has a great influence on
the mind of the private soldier. No man likes to fall into the
hands of his enemies, or would willingly leave his sepulture in
their hands, rude though he knows it must be when per-
formed by his comrades. The Muscovite generals cannot be
accused of any great regard for their killed and wounded, but
they have certainly much respect for the prejudices and feel-
ings of their soldiers. We have over and over again been as-
tonished at the wonderful way in which the dead and wounded
disappeared after the repulse of a sortie, in which there were
probably 200 of the enemy put hors de combat. Except the
dead and wounded left in the trenches, none were ever to be
seen after such occasions when day broke. A soldier of the
68th (M`Geevor), who was taken prisoner in a sortie some
months ago, and who has since returned to his regiment after
a long and interesting (to others) march in Russia, explains
the mystery, such as it was. On the night alluded to it
could not be ascertained what the Russian loss was, but it
was certain that the firing was very heavy, and the work very
warm while it lasted. As this man was being taken to the
rear after a stout resistance, he saw that there were hundreds
of soldiers without arms between the reserves and the column
of sortie, and that these men were exclusively employed in
carrying away the dead and wounded, which would otherwise
have been left in the hands of the British. The most exten-
sive provision we make in such cases is one, or at most two,
litters a regiment, except when the ambulances go out for a
pitched battle. Perhaps we do not calculate on leaving our
ground, but the best general always is prepared for retreat as
well as for victory ; and if ever we should be placed in the
same circumstances as the Russians have been, it would be
advisable, perhaps, to follow their example.
THE FLEET.
About one o'clock the fleet began to perform a variety of
evolutions which were:quite enough to craze any landsman who
might determine to unravel them. Some ships went one way,
some another ; two or three steamers started off straight for
Eupartoria ; others rushed at full speed for Kamiesch ; the
French floating battery made pretence as if she were going
in to attack the forts, then stopped and blew off steam. Sir
Edmund Lyons weighed anchor and made a great number of
signals. Much smoke came out of the funnels and steam out
out of the pipes; but after looking at the vessels twisting and
twining and turning and circling for some time, and finding
myself becoming utterly bewildered, I ceased to gaze seaward

any longer.

EXPECTED MOVEMENT OP THE ALLIES.
The correspondents of the Morning Post and Daily News
iu reference to the above subject, write as follows :
CAMP ABOVE SEBASTOPOL, Sept. 21.
The belief gains ground that the Russians are preparing to
evacuate the north side of the harbour of Sebastopol. The
extensive earth-works which have lately been constructed,
and others still in course of construction, are regarded as
simply intended to cover the retreat, and protect the rear-
guard, of the army. They are so arranged as to form means
of defence against any sudden assault of the position, whether
from the sea or the roadstead, but do not seem to have any
character of permanence, nor to be calculated for the bom-
bardment or annoyance o' the south side. It is also argued
that the enemy could not now gain any military object by
holding the heights on the opposite side, commensurate with
the labours and difficulties which would be entailed um' tho
me transport of the necessary supplies of provisions
and stores of all kinds. In support of the conviction that the
Russians are making arrangements to retire, it has been ob-
served that numerous waggons which have come in to the north
side from the direction of the Mackenzie Heights, apparently
empty, have returned laden. Carts bringing in gabions have
also gone out carrying either grain or provisions. The army
encamped beyond Inkerman appears to draw its supplies of
food and forage from the stores accumulated in the depots of
the Sievernaia. Several lines of filled waggons have been
noticed leaving Fort Constantine.

(PROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.)
CAMP BEFORE SEBA STOPOL, Sept. 22.
The expected movement of our three divisions for Eupatoria
has not yet taken place ; though the report still continues to be
circulated, and believed, that it will not be much longer de-
layed. We are in the habit of taking fresh steps in any direc-
tion so slowly, and apparently with such an expenditure of
deliberation, that this lapse of some five or six days between
the intimation of such an intention as a hasty flank movement
on the enemy and its execution is not necessarily any proof of
its having been abandoned. lam the more disposed to believe
that it will still take place, from the fact that two regiments of
French cavalry sailed from Kamiesch for the north coast on
Thursday afternoon, and were to be followed immediately by
15,000 infantry for the same destination. This is a carrying
out, so far, of the concerted movement in which camp rumour
declares our own First, Third, and Fourth Divisions are to
take a part ; and it may still, therefore, be presumed that
their despatch for the scene of the allied operation en pleine
champagne will take place all in good time. Such, however,
is the general opinion amongst those who are usually correct
in their prognostications of what takes place. It is strength-
ened, too, by the activity apparent amongst our engineers, who
are busy in making preparations for the share of action which
should fall to their lot in such a field campaign as we expect;
so that putting all these scattered signs together, there is fair
ground for hoping that this important operation will yet
come off.

(FROM THE TIMES' CORRESPONDENT.)
That the idea of field operations is by no means given up
may be inferred from the circumstance that the French troops
occupying the Valley of Raider are busy constructing tolerable
roads from the valley up to the plateau of the Upper Belbek.

(PROM TILE MORNING POST CORRESPONDENT.)
SEPTEMBER 21.—The Buffs, the present occupiers of the
portion of Sebastopol in keeping of the English, are under
orders to return to the 2nd division, and the artillery of the
siege train to take their place. As the Russians remain busily
engaged on the north side, it may be deemed advisable to
bring some guns into position, in case the enemy should make
a rash attempt to revisit the town. The bridge by which the
Russian army retreated is to be seen carefully pulled up on the
opposite side, and numerous large boats being repaired and got
ready for use. This may be a blind, or it may not, and their
real movements are as little known or understood as our own.
Several shells have been to-day fired at the quarters occupied
by our troops. Our rockets have apparently made some good
practice at the northern forts and new earthworks, whilst the
French mortars have also continued their fire. News reached
us to-day of the actual march of a large body of Turkish in-
fantry and French cavalry from Eupatoria in the direction of
Simpheropol, whilst report says our 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and High-
land divisions are to approach the heights at Mackenzie's farm,
and the French move by the Baidar pass. How far this is true
I cannot say ; the greatest reason to doubt its reality is its
being known. The fleet, or a great portion of it, is ordered to
be outside of Balaklava harbour to-morrow, for the purpose, it
is believed, of embarking troops. We have to-day heard of
the honours conferred by the French and English Sovereigns
on Gen. Pelissier. It is said that when he saw the tricolor
planted on the Redan, he exclaimed—" Ah ! voila mon baton."
The mails are now looked for with much interest, which daily
increases, and will do so until accounts of the reception of the
great news met with at home, and the Gazette, that anxious
hundreds are looking for, arrive. There has been a great im-
provement in the weather to-day, and the night is now very
beautiful moonlight, and milder than we have for some time
experienced.

CAVALRY ENGAGEMENT NEAR EIIPATORIA.
PARIS, Friday.
The following despatch, from General Pelissier, was posted
at the Bourse to-day, dated October 1, and addressed to the
Minister of War:—

A brilliant cavalry engagement took place on the 29th of
September, at Koughill, five leagues north-east of Eupatoria,
in which the Russian cavalry, commanded by General Korf,
was defeated by that of General d'Allonville.
Six guns, 12 caissons, and field forges, with their carriages,
fell into our hands, with 160 prisoners and 260 horses of the
Uhlans.

The enemy left 60 dead upon the field of battle, among
whom is Colonel Andreawski. Our loss is small, consisting
of 6 killed and 27 wounded.