The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-04 00:00:00

RUSSIAN ACCOUNT OF

THE BOMBARDMENT OF SWEABORG.
The Invalide Russe publishes a long report from General
de Berg of the bombardment of Sweaborg.

General de Berg states the loss of the Russians, during the
bombardment, to have been 44 men killed, two superior
officers, three subaltern officers, and 110 men wounded.
In addition to this, 11 men are stated to have been killed on
board the man-of-war Russie, and one subaltern and 88 men
wounded ; and one sailor wounded on board the Ezechiel.
This report acknowledges the explosion of several magazines
of bombs. It says, " Shortly after the opening of the bombard-
ment, a large fire broke out in the fortress, and continued
without interruption, notwithstanding all the efforts of our
firemen to extinguish it. The depots of provisions were, how-
ever, saved. The powder magazines resisted up to the very
last, but four depots of charged bombshells were blown up,
causing a loss of one man killed and three wounded."
Admiral Berg announces that several English ships disabled
were towed away from the combat, He evidently mistakes
the changing of the positions, and the relief of the mortar
vessels, for the retirement of disabled ships.

TELEGRAPHIC REPORTS.
VIENNA, Tuesday, August 28.
The Vienna Gazette says :
According to reliable advices of the 25th of August, from
Constantinople, the garrison of Kars has made a successful
sortie against the Russians.
The Russian corps which threatened Erzeroum has been
withdrawn.

CONSTANTINOPLE, August 23.
The French are sending all their spare troops to the Crimea.
Many wounded Russians and prisoners have arrived at Con-
stantinople.
Omar Pasha is still at Constantinople.

THE INTERIOR OF SEBASTOFOL.—The following letter
from the interior of Sebastopol, appears in the Vienna papers :
—" Sebastopol, Aug. s.—As I write a heavy torrent of rain
is sweeping past my door, for you are aware my mud habita-
tion has no windows ; the reverberating thunder keeps me on
the qui vive. I keep on fancying that messieurs les besiegers
have something in the wind, but it is only the illusion of
fancy ; the wrath of God evidently displeases them, for not a
shot is to be heard. To-day they have, relatively speaking,
sent but a few bombs into the town ; this comparative still-
ness seems strange to us all, for the ear had got used to the
eternal booming of 1,000 guns, and no one feels at ease during
this repose, momentarily interrupted by the thunder and the
rain. Spies and deserters bring us word that the enemy is
preparing a bombardment, and that the French " Suwaroff"
means after that to hazard a fresh storming attack. We have
been long expecting this, and are ready at an hour's notice to
meet the enemy with the sign of our holy cross. I saw
the other day two French prisoners in Catherine Harbour,
and they were being conveyed to the north side. One
of them was a non-commissioned officer, the other a
private, but both of them were gay young fellows. This
never-failing cheerfulness of the French is a remarkable
feature in their charaeber, and it looks as if they liked
being prisoners. On the non-commissioned officer being
asked whether he should not feel home-sick in Russia,
he answered, ' Why should I ? In Russia I shall learn
Russian, and when the war is over shall carry back the
language to my countrymen.' On the other hand, the English
prisoners are, for the most part, very gruff and monosyllabic.
An English deserter was asked what induced him to desert,
and he moodily answered, ' Fancy !' Another answered the
same question, ' I got dull, and, if I had not done so, should
have blown my brains out !' A copy of a London newspaper
was handed in the hospital to an Englishman—not severely
wounded, by the by—and, after he had read it with deep at-
tention, he turned suddenly round to the physician, who hap-
pened to be standiag near, and said, in a low voice to him,
Can't you give me some medicine that will finish me out of
hand ?' The enemy's fleet continues in Kamiesch and Arrow
Bays ; only a few liners and steamers are off the roads, at a
distance equal to twice the range of our fort guns. The ships
are often exercised at firing. Perhaps the enemy is again
preparing for some heroic feat, which it will not be so easy to
accomplish against Sebastopol, girt with artillery. Since the
second bombardment, there is not a spot in this town that is
not strewed with bombs and balls. It would be hard to find
in the whole town a single house that has not suffered more or
less. The glorious public library—l allude to the edifice—has
likewise been extensively damaged, but the books, prints, maps,
and book-shelves are removed to a safe place. The news-room,
however, is crowded as usual, especially on a post-day, with
officers of all arms, who, being relieved for a few hours from
bastion duty, go there to read the newspapers lying on the
table. It often happens that while they are reading some very
interesting article a bomb will explode with its horrid crack
right over the building, or a rocket will hiss past the open
windows. Not a soul, however, turns his head to look after it.
So much for habit, which in man becomes a second nature !"