The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-03 00:00:00

THE SEA OF AZOF.

The Moniteur of Sunday publishes the following despatch
from Admiral Bruat to the Minister of Marine :
ON BOARD THE MONTEBELLO, June 15.
Monsieur le Ministre,—l have already had the honour of
informing your Excellency that, immediately on receipt of the
news of the evacuation of Anapa by the Russians, I sent to the
spot Rear-Admiral Charner with the Napoleon and Primauguet,
while Admiral Lyons sent Rear-Admiral Stewart with the Han-
nibal, Highflyer, and Spitfire. Admiral Lyons proposed to me to
proceed together with our other vessels to Anapa, and it was
agreed that' we should leave on the 13th of June to cast anchor
in those roadsteads, and then return to Kamiesch. The health
of Gen. Brown, which had slightly suffered from the fatigue of
the last few days, obliged Admiral Lyons to postpone his de-
parture; but he followed me the next day, and I saw his ves-
sels arrive before Anapa at the moment I was weighing anchor
for Kamiesch.

We have left a strong Turkish garrison at Yenikale, to
which it has been decided to add a French and an English
regiment, so as to hasten the completion of the works com-
menced at Cape St. Paul. These troops, supported by the
steamers stationed constantly in the Straits, are sufficient to
drive back the Russians should they attempt an attack on this
extreme point of the peninsula. _

Since I have been Co Anapa I understand the necessity there
was for the evacuation of that place by the. Russian garrison.
Anapa was doubtless safe from a coup de main, and its fortifi-
cations offered a deep ditch, a high escarpement in good con-
dition, well kept parapets, 94 cannon, and 14 mortars ; but
the place is provided only with a few wells of brackish water,
and, once shut in, this cause alone would have compelled the
garrison to surrender. The success of an attack against the
fortress was therefore certain as soon as the army and fleet
could act together.
The Russians left only ruins behind them ; although the
evacuation was hastily made, and they broke up everything,
knocked the trunnions off the 94 guns and 14 mortars, blew
up most of their powder magazines, set fire to their barracks,
and made five considerable breaches in the walls by blowing
them up with gunpowder. I think they meant to facilitate
the retaking of Anapa when circumstances should be more
favourable. At this moment the place is occupied by Turkish
soldiers and Tunisian horsemen. The authority of Sefer
Pasha, who was sent by Mustapha Pasha, Commander-in-Chief
of the army in Asia, was immediately recognised by the Cir-
cassian chiefs. The readiness of this submission is easily
explained. Sefer Pasha is himself a Circassian chief. He
formerly distinguished himself by his energy of resistance to
the Russians. When, in 1820, the treaty of Adrianople
finally handed over the fortresses of Anapa and Soudjak Kaleh
to the Russians, Sefer Pasha retired to Constantinople. At
the demand of the Russian Ambassador he was exiled to Adria-
nople, whence he was not recalled till the present war broke
out. His memory was cherished in the mountains of Circassia,
and the respect we saw the Circassians pay to him leaves no
doubt upon the great influence he may exercise to the advan-
tage of the Ottoman policy.—l am, &C., BRITAT.

THE ASSAULT ON THE MALAKHOFF AND
REDAN BATTERIES.

Writing from before Sebastopol on the 18th of June,
the military correspondent of the Morning Advertiser
says, in relation to the sanguinary conflict which took
place on the Malakhoff and Redan Batteries, during
the early part of that day :
I grieve that I have this time to report a serious reverse to
our arms, the first that they have yet sustained, and one that
I sincerely hope will prove to be their last—a reverse the more
to be regretted that the loss has been very great, and that
although the men did all that men could do, the reverse or
defeat, for defeat it has undoubtedly been, is greatly attri-
butable to want of forethought, to mismanagement, and, to
coin a word, to.misgeneralship. I will here briefly state what
you will, long ere this, have heard by telegraph, that the Eng.
lish have been repulsed in an attempt to storm the Redan
battery, with the loss of from 1,000 to 1,200 men killed,
wounded, and missing; and I will then proceed to give you a
detailed account of proceedings since my last letter.
The First Division, that is the Guards and Highlanders,
were ordered to march from Balaklava to the front, on Satur-
day, the 16th, at four a.m., and it was generally believed that
the bombardment would commence somewhere about that hour.
On Sunday morning, at daybreak, the bombardment com-
menced, and was kept up with great vigour till late in the
afternoon. It was then a good deal slacker, and continued so
during the whole evening. The firing was admirable; in-
deed, it did not appear that a single shot was wasted, every
one, as far as I could see, bursting just on the embrasures,
or immediately over the Russian batteries. These, as usual,
replied but very feebly to us, the Garden, Redan, and Malakoff,
having greatly ceased their fire ; indeed, there is now not the
least question as to the immense superiority of our fire
over theirs.
In the afternoon it was generally known that the attack
would take place next morning, but the hour was not specified.
The regiments were also told off. As evening approached,
there was a general feeling of surprise at the slackness of the
fire ; " surely," was the cry, " four and twenty hours is short
enough to silence the Russian guns, even with the heaviest
fire possible, and even should they be silenced before that time,
it is necessary to keep up that fire without the slightest abate-
ment, for former experience has shown the marvellous rapidity
with which the Russians can remount their guns." I went in
the course of the evening into many of the regiments chosen
for the assault, and it was the general anticipation that it
would be a bloody thing ; but not the slightest doubt was ex-
pressed as to the success of the attack, which was everywhere
looked upon as certain. The men stood in knots deba-
ting the probable events of the morning. Übe officers