The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

CHRONICLE OF SIEGE OPERATIONS.

The narrative of the proceedings in the camp be-
fore Sebastopol is thus continued for the interval
between the 25th and the 30th ult., by the corre-
spondent of the Morning Herald :
English camp, heights of Sebastopol, Dec. 28.
Very little has been doing since my last letters. On the
night of the 24th there was a kind of half sortie made on
the French lines; but the Russians were driven bask, after

making so slight a resistance that most of them escaped
unhurt. Only one man of the French was slightly
wounded. In the sortie made on the advance picket of the
50th the other night 00th) our fellows were taken com•
pletely by surprise. The bodies of some of the privates,
who were supposed to have been made prisoners, have since
been found at the bottom of a well in front of our trench.
They were stripped completely naked, and almost covered
with bayonet wounds. There is no doubt, from the testi-
mony of their comrades, that these men were taken alive,
so that they must have been butchered by the enemy in
cold blood. Heaven only knows what torments these poor
fellows were made to undergo before death terminated
their sufferings. Our men are perfectly wild at these re-
peated barbarities; and I fear the war, as far as the two
armies are concerned, will become one of extermination.
Certainly no quarter will be given by our men.
The labour of getting up guns and ammunition still
continues, though very slo Nly. It will at least be another
fortnight, at the earliest, before we shall be able to open
fire. The gentleman who is to manage the laying down
the tramway from ltalaklava to Sebastopol has arrived.
When that is finished I believe most of our difficulties
will be nearly over ; but, like all steps in the right direc-
tion, it has been adopted too late. Now the tram can
hardly be completed before the end of February, when we
may reasonably expect that sufficient cold weather will
have set in to make the roads bear anything. However,
we are all glad at the proposed measure, because we see a
prospect of the conduct of the war eventually getting into
the hands of our great contractors. Had the Government,
at the commencement of hostilities, arranged with Mr.

Stephenson, or Mr. Pete, to remove Sebastopol by a eel.-
fain time, I am sure the whole place would havo been dug
into the sea long ere this. The most conflicting rumours
are in circulation se to the probable time when we shall
be in possession of the town. According to some in a
week, others a fortnight, others a month, others three
months. No one knows, though all profess to. I do not
say that in a month we shall have conquered, but I am
certain that within a month we shall have tried, and with
our troops the attempt is generally the forerunner of suc-
cess. One thing is certain—viz., that our soldiers cannot
last much longer in their present exposed and neglected
state. With all our reinforcements we only muster now
some 18,(X10 or 19,000 effective men, and among them so
terrible is the sickness and so numerous the deaths that it
will require 2,500 men a week to keep our forces, even
at this low standard, up to say 20,000 men of all arms. To
do the duty which the English troops are now doing, and
to occupy the ground strongly on which our camp is
formed, we should at least require 40,000, or even 45,000
men.

I am very sorry to say that sickness prevails to an alarm-
ing extent. Scorbutic dysentery is spreading fast, and a
more formidable disease, or one more difficult to arrest,
never entered a camp. Unless there are quick and ample
supplies of lime juice, fresh meat, and vegetables, it will
soon have spread still further, and then the mischief will
be irreparable. Every medical gentleman who has seen
anything of camps knows the awful consequences of this
disease obtaining a footing among men placed as ours are
at present. These consequences are so well known and
dreaded by army surgeons, that I have no doubt proper
precautions will instantly be adopted to hinder the exten-
sion of the malady, and with the dry tine cold weather
which may now be expected, I hope soon to report its die-
appearance. Christman-eve here was the very acme of
wretchedness. The cold was intense, the wind, snow, and
half-thawed rain never ceased or slackened for a moment,.
It was certainly one of the most, if not the most, trying
day we have yet had in the Crimea. Many of our men in
the trenches were numbed with cold, and, being before in
an exhausted condition, soon sunk and died. Numbers of
our horses perished also. Altogether such a Christmas•eve,
for cold and misery, I never spent, and most devoutly hope
never to spend again.
Christmas-day was the very reverse of this. It was just
the sort of day when one ought to have been in London,
clear, sunshiny, but very cold. The seamen were drunk
at Balaklava, and some of the divisions got fresh beef, but
beyond this it was like all our other days here. Among
some of the officers' tents desperate efforts were made in
favour of a cooked joint, and in one or two instances they
were successful. Various, also, were the combinations
which flour and plums underwent in the hope of turning
out a pudding. But when I tell you that the cooks were
either Maltese or Turks, you will easily guess the result
of their ambitious efforts. Among some of my friends the
failure of such attempts was productive of more mirth than
the most triumphant success could possibly have caused.
Still, in spite of these primitive merry-makings, the day
was dull. A place can afford very little amusement when
the only subject for laughter is the loss of half your dinner.
To-day the air is clear but very cold, and it seems as if
we might fairly hope for a continuance of dry days for some
time to come. A number of sick are to be sent in for

transmission to Constantinople and England.
The Stromboli, steam•sloop, has arrived with troops.
The Dauntless and transport No. 140 were also signalled
yesterday as coming in with more reinforcements.
The Medway arrived two days ago at Balaklava, with
1,500 bags of charcoal on board, and with nearly 100 stoves
and funnels, for the use of the men. Unfortunately, just
now, when most wanted, none of these comforts can be of
any use, as the roads to camp are in too bad a state to
allow of their being got up. Two or three days frost, how-
ever, will do wonders towards removing this difficulty.
About 7,000 men have landed at Chersonese during the
last week. Our allies cannot now muster less than 60,O(%)
men. In a gale which blew two days ago some of the small
French transports were stranded, and the Apollo " dragged,"
and got ashore. The latter was got off, with loss of rudder
and other damage.
Three nights ago, when the weather was perfectly clear,
and a dead calm, a large English iron screw-steamer, in
the employ of the French, and full of troops, ran ashore

right under Chersonese light, which was burning at the
time. The troops were all landed safely. The vessel is
reported to be the Taurus, alai has since become a com-
plete wreck, and sold for a few pounds. There is no at:-
omitting for such an accident as this.
DEC. 30.—Since my last about 800 troops have arrived
at Balaklava, iu drafts for different English regiments ; and
in the same time about 2,700 French have landed at
Chersonese. The 18th (Royal Irish) have arrived in the
Magdalene, but will not land until to-morrow. We have
also had about 700 baggage-horses landed from the Simla,
Cormorant, Queen of the South, and other steamers, together
with three or four steamers of ordnance stores, shut, shell,
tents, &c., and two or three steamers and sailing-vessels,
having the wooden houses and stores ou board. These
are the aids which have arrived from England ; would that
I could add they would immediately Le made available.
Though we have had mild and even fine weather for the
last few days, the roads, I regret to say, still continue
almost impassable to horses, while to vehicles of any
description they are quite so. The men have still to
march down for their rations, and some divisions only re-
ceive half their allotted quantity. The energies of the
commanders being very properly directed to getting up
the guns and ammunition, the army at large derives but
slights benefit from the increased number of horses—
nearly all of which, with many men, are used all day in
carrying shell. So great appears the anxiety to complete
this portion of our arrangements that a large number of
men are now told off to carry oLe 321 b shot each from Bala-
kitty& to the trenches. Two men carry one ten-inch shot
or one thirteen-inch shell. By this management between
1,600 or 1,700 a day are got to camp, in addition to the
number taken up by the f reach and our own artillery, and
which probably amounts to as many more. If the fine
weather lasts another week, so far as the supplies of
Inanimation are concerned, we shall be able to recommence
the bombardmeut, though from the great difficulty of re-
moving the guns which still remain at Balaklava, it may
be a month yet before we give another abet. The
Bellerophon, having been ordered home, has landed sixteen
of her heaviest guns—twelve 68-pounders and four 84-
pounders. These are upon the beach at Balaklava, with
six or eight other heavy siege guns, and it is said that the
number thus disembarked will be still further increased by
several lung guns from the Sanspareil. If all these have
to be removed to the trenches before the final attack, none
can even guess when we shall be able to renew the
cannonade. In such a case all will depend on the
weather. If that should be unfavourable not all the horses
we possess would suffice to move one solitary gun through
the thick deep marsh which lies between this place and
Italakleva. If, on the contrary, it should continue fine
and cold, the whole number—thirty or forty—might be
placed in battery in a fortnight, or, at latest, three weeks.
The French, meantime, are working steadily at a road
which, though by no means one of the best, or smoothest,
is still laid, and promises to be of much value when com-
pleted. It is said that over the path of stone which our
allies have thus laid down, the tramway is intended to
be placed; and certainly such a plan, by avoiding the
labour of waking a fresh track, would save an immense
amount of time. In the circumstances in which we
are placed at present, time is of the most paramount im-
portauce.
Very little firing is now exchanged between the belli-
gerents ; both parties seem collectiug all their resources
for a tremendous final struggle. The defences of Sebas-
topol appear at last to be complete. For some days past
no additions have been made to the tremendous range of
earthworks which surround the town. On our side also
we have but little to do in the way of trench work. All the
banks and covered ways to the new batteries ut Inkermaun
have been entirely completed, and with the addition of a few
more guns and supplies of shell would be ready for action.
The most advanced of these latter works—that which
commands the north of the harbour and forts—is aban-
doned, at least for the present. The reason assigned for
this step is that the battery would be utterly untenable
against the fire of the northern forts and outworks of St.
Sivernia. It is a pity that this discovery was not made
before an immense deal of time and trouble had been
fruitlessly wasted in constructing the battery. All in the
camp imagined that it was advanced too far, and therefore
liable to Le cut off by any well-managed sortie; but no one
fur a moment suspected that it had actually been constructed
in such a position as to lay it open to a destructive cross-
fire from the enemy. Yet such has been the case, and the
work is now abandoned. On the night of the .27th, the.
Russian picket made a bold dash, and, favoured by their
superior numbers, and the effects of a kind of surprise,
succeeded for a moment in driving in a picket of the French.
On attempting to follow up this success and pursue, our
allies rallied and drove hack the enemy with a loss of some
thirty or forty men. In this skirmish the French sharp-
shooters greatly distinguished themselves.
On the night of the 28th our advanced picket, attracted
by some tempting wooden paliugs which were in advance
of their position, and likely to be of considerable service in
the cannery process which rations occasionally undergo,
made au attack upon the Russian picket, for the purpose
of driving them back and securing the prize. In this
little exploit our fellows were of course successful. As they
approached the enemy's picket the latter began a retreat,
which a few shots turned into a perfect flight, when the
planks and palings we immediately carried off in triumph
to the trench inside the " Ovens." The Russians who had
retreated, I presume, spread an alarm that the place was
about to be attacked instanter, for the batteries near the
place began a cannonade, which gradually spread along the
whole of the lice of earthworks. This was continued at
intervals for half an hour or three-quarters, by which time
theywere ;reassured by the noise they had made, and gra-
dually suffered their apprehensions to subside.
Yesterday morning the picket was relieved as usual.
After leaving the Ovens they keep among the ruins for some
hundred yards, until the covered way is gained. In