The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

The weather still continues splendid, that is to say,
clear hard frosty nights. with hot days; just like November
nights and June days iu England. The men are in splen-
did spirits, but fever wakes great progress. In the ;loth
Highlanders there are upwards of VW cases.
Ae.un 4.—Lieut. Bainbridge, , was killed yesterday
nosday ) in the trenches. As he was talking to one of
the sappers employed in the works a shell came towards
them from one of the enemy's batteries ; they both saw it,
and the soldier went to one side of a traverse and Lieut.
Bainbridge to the other The shell fell just at his feet
and exploded before he could throw himself down, blowing
his bray to atoms. The unfortunate officer only arrived
a lot tnight ago from Ceylon.
APRIL 5. • We have now nearly completed our fourth parallel.
It is within sixty yards of the rifle-plus of the Russian., and
it will be speedily armed %%ith cohurus, which will make the
pita too but to hold the riflemen. A battery has been
tnrown up for the express puruose of clearing the ground
of pits in front of the Medan and Round Tower, and it is
expected to open this evening. The enemy having found
out the value of the Mamelou, are working at it night and
day, though they must suffer greatly from our fire. The
Russian working parties over the Tschernaya, close to their
inir nch_dcain p, are busily engaged in making gallons,
and their watch fires are distinctly visible from hathltoi and
lialaklava every night.
APRIL 6.—lt is exciting enough to look at the beleagured
cit% and to watch the siege operations on a calm titie day.
The ground in rear of the dark lines, serrated with black
iron teeth which mark our batteries, is almost deserted.
The soldiers are sauntering about in groups just below the
cover of the parapets, and a deep greyish blue line denotes
the artillerymen and covering parties, whose heads appear
just above the trench. In front are the whitish wounds
of the Russian intrenchments, and batteries with the black
muzzles of the guns peering through the embrasures. The
grey-coated Russians stalk about on the inner slopes of the
parapets, busily engaged in carrying up gabions and repair-
ing damaged works. Suddenly a thick spirt of smoke
bursts from the fare of the Mamelon, the shot bounds into
Gordon's Battery and knocks up a pillar of earth, and then
flies around throwing up a cloud of dust at each ricochet.
Scarcely has it struck the parapet before another burst of
smoke rushes out of one of the embrasurea of the naval
battery, and a mass of whitish earth is dashed up into the
air from the face of the Mamelon. Then comes another
puff from one of the French batteries on the right, and a
shell bursts right in the devoted work—" Bravo the sailors ;"
" Well done French !" cry the spectators, and as the words
leave their lips two or three guns from the Round Tower
and as many from the Mamelon hurl shot and shell in
reply at their assailants. A duel of this kind sometimes
lasts all day with the occasional divertissement of a shell or
nituid shot at working or covering parties on either side.
The Rip-abuts tire very well, but they are not generally equal
as at tillerymen to our men, nor is their practice so invariably
A,,,,.,. Tue French who are intent on checking their ap-
proaches, plough right by and enfilade their trench from
night of the Mamelon to the rifle-pits. and
make excellent shots. Now and then our sea-service
mut tare speak out with a dull roar that shakes the earth,
and after nearly a minute of expectation a cloud of smoke
and dust at the rear of the Round Tower bespeaks the
effects of their terrible missiles. About twelve o'clock in
the day the Russians knock off work to go to dinner, and our
men follow their example ; silence reigns almost uninter-
ruptedly for two hours or more, and towards four o'clock
the firing begins again. Meantime our officers walk about
or lounge on the hill-side, and smoke ant chat away the
interval between breakfast and the hasty dinner which pre-
cedes the tum-out for twenty four hours' vigil in the
trenches. Many a hospitable cigar and invitation to lunch
is given, the latter with the sure confidence, and with the
greater chance of a ready acceptance, now that the Crimean
Army Fund has done its work, and that one is tolerably
sore of a slice of a giant game-pie, to be washed down by a
tempera e draught of that glorious Welbeck ale which has
made the Duke of Portland's name a household word in
our Every act of the enemy is closely scrutinised,
stores and carts are seen coming in, and are duly reported.
APRIL 7.—The bombardment will, it is said, begin on
Monday morning. It is nearly a month since we were as-
sured everything was ready, but it appears now that every-
thing will not be ready till Monday next. There has been
a conference of admirals and generals at Lord Raglan's
quarters, at which the Field Marshal, General Canrobert,
Sir Edmund Lyons, and Admiral Bruat assisted. It is
rumoured throughout the fleet that they are to open fire on
the forts as soon as the bombardment begins, not, indeed,
with the idea of going close in, breaking the booms, or
bursting throagh the barrier of sunken ships, but to draw
off the artillerymen from the batteries, and distract the
attention of the enemy. A number of French, and some
few English vessels, have been despatched up the coast
northwards, anlt it is universally expected that a portion of
the Turkish 'fifty of Eupatoria will he detached to effect a
formidable diversion on the north side of Sebastopol, at
the very crisis of the conflict. There is no positive cer-
tainty that the bombardment will begin on Monday, the
9th of April, but the engineers and artillery dfficers believe
it is the day. It is said we should have opened fire, or
that we were ready to do so, yesterday morning, but that
Lord Raglan (lid not wish to inaugurate Good Friday by
salvos of artillery and by a sanguinary bombardment.