The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-06 00:00:00

GENERAL DE LA MARMORA'S DESPATCH.

The Sardinian Minister of War has received a
despatch from General de la Marmora, Commander-
in-Chief of the Sardinian forces, describing the grand
attacks on the Bth of September. The Sardinian
troops were not called into action on that day,
though had the assault on the Central Bastion been
persisted in, a brigade of the Sardinians would have
participated in the attack. General de la Marmora
has only the duty of noticing the confidence with
which "the royal troops awaited the order of attack."
He expressly ascribes the repulse of the English at
the Great Redan to the "difficulty of supporting
them by more imposing forces ":
Kadixoi, Sept. 11.
By a telegraphic despatch of the 9th, I informed your
excellency of the striking success obtained on the previous
day by the allies against Sebastopol. I now transmit to
you the details which I have been able to collect, and Ile
facts which came under my own observation. After a for-
midable bombardment, commenced in the morning of the
bth, by all the batteries of attack, and directed sirnulta-
neously against the Central Bastion, the Flagstaff Battery,
the Malakoff Tower, and the Grand Redan, interrupted at
intervals, and then resumed with fresh energy, at the rate
of a hundred guns a minute, it was decided that the co-
lumns of attack should be directed in succession against
the intrenchments of the enemy. (The despatch here goes
into a description of the works and the mode of attack
agreed upon, the whole of which have been given at
great length iu the report of Marshal l'elissier, and then
proceeds.) At noon, the first division, under General
M`Mahon, and the corps of General Boequet, which had
been suitably arranged in the extreme trenches, opposite
Malakoff, left them en masse, and rushed on the enemy's
intrenchments, provided with scaling-ladders, bridges, and
everything necessary to cross the trenches. The head of
the column in an instant had crossed the first ditch, got
beyond the first line and the inclosure of the inner redoubt,
and then rushed from the top of the parapets into the
middle of the work, commencing a hand-to-hand struggle
with the defenders, almost before the latter were aware of
having been attacked. In less than twenty minutes the
whole of the redoubt was carried, notwithstanding the high
traverses, which rendered the defence of it easy ; and the
flag of the 20th Regiment of the Line already floated in
the centre. All the troops of the first division followed into
the redoubt after the head of the column, crossing the
ditch under a fire of grape from the batteries which the
Russians had erected to flank Malakoff. The casemated
tower alone held out, defended by about a hundred Rus-
sians, wto had shut themselves up in it, and annoyed with
their fire the French who were masters of the redoubt.
The division of General De La Motterouge simultaneously
attacked the curtain between Malakoff and the Little Redan,
took it, and maintained themselves inside the place, while
the division of General Dulac, advancing in front against
the Little Redan, was exposed to a terrible fire, and could
not advance beyond the ditch, In the Little Redan were
collected a large body of Russian troops, supported by nu-
merous reserves massed in the rear. While things were
thus going on on the right, the French occupied and kept
the Malakoff Redoubt, notwithstanding the vigorous efforts
made by large Russian masses, who, during several hours,
returned in vain to the charge to retake it. They were at
the same time maintaining a sanguinary struggle at the
Little Redan, and the English troops attacked the Great
Redan. The English riflemen first quitted their trenches a
few minutes after twelve o'clock, threw themselves across
the ditch, and boldly gained the parapet, followed by
the 23rd and 97th of the light division and by other
regiments. These troops having penetrated into the work
began a struggle hand to hand. They gained possession
of the work and held it for some time, in spite of the
desperate efforts of the enemy to drive them back. Ity
reason, however, of the difficulty of supporting them by
more imposing forces, the courage of these brave soldiers
could not stand against so many attacks from overwhelm-
ing numbers. The English, after remaining masters of the
Great Redan for more than an hour, were compelled to
abandon it, after suflering a heavy loss both in officers and
soldiers. Malakoff being taken, )rders were given about
one o'clock to the let corps of General de Salles to com-
mence the attack on the left. The troops of this corps
destined for the assault had been ready in position in the
extreme trenches ; the Division Levaillsnt opposite the
Central Bastion ; the Brigade Cialdini opposite the Flag-
staff Battery; and the Division d'Autemarre in reserve.
The wind from the north raised such a cloud of dust, and
the smoke was so dense, that for a long time the trans-
mission of signals was impossible. It was only at two
o'clock that the capture of Malakoff was cor:firmed, and
that it was known that the signal of attack against the

SATURDAY,

Central Bastion had been given. General de Salles
immediately ordered forward the Division Levaillant.
The first brigade, under General Trochui was directed
against the salient of the work, and the brigade of Genera
Couston against the lunette to the tight. In an instant
the heads of these two columns bad crossed the ditch and
climbed the slopes of the parapet, exposed for seine
minutes to a shower of hand-grenades, which the Russians
threw from the top of the parapet, and to the fire of mus-
ketry from the passages leading to the ditch. General de
Salles was accompanied by Major Govone, Captain Prole,
and Lieutenants Galli and lialbo ; the three first were
slightly wounded. To the cry of " Viva l'Empereur!"
raised by General de Salles and repeated by the troops.
the heads of the columns threw themselves resolutely
into the interior of the work, driving back the Russians as
the point of the bayonet. The rest of the two columns,
the 42nd and 46th Regiments, and the 9th battalion of
Chasseurs followed and kept up a sanguinary struggle
with the enemy. These troops maintained their ground
for a quarter of an hour in the inside of the Central Bas-
tion, and then meeting with fresh obstacles and fresh
columns threatening them on their flank, a movement of
hesitation manifested itself. The firmness of Generals
de Salles, Rivet, Lebceuf, and Dulesme, and the other
officers in immediate command of the troops, restored
confidence. The troops again rushed forward. They re.
entered the work in spite of a tremendous fire of grape,
which ploughed up the ground in every direction. A Rus-
sian battery of fifteen guns was spiked by the French
artillerymen inside the Central Bastion, and if the ground
had offered more facilities for the movement of the re-
serves and reinforcements, these troops would, perhaps.
have been able to maintain themselves in the conquered
bastion. Being, however, much inferior in number to the
enemy, and decimated by the terrible fire of grape which
the Russians kept pouring against the front and the flank
of the columns, these troops were compelled after three
hours to return to their trenches. They had, in this short
space of time, lost General Rivet, the chief of the staff of
the Ist corps General Breton, both killed, and Generals.
Trochu and Couston, wounded on the enemy's parapet at
the head of their troops, and a great number of superior
and other officers. The French batteries then reupenei
their fire against the Russian works, but about half past
four the fire had ceased on all the left attack. The Late
hour would not allow the assault to be renewed with fresh
troops. The order for the attack of the Flagstaff Bastion
which bad been confided to a brigade of our troops tinder
General Cialdini, was then withdrawn, as it had become
impossible. I avail myself of this opportunity to point
out to your excellency the confidence with which the royal
troops awaited the order of attack. The taking of the
Malakoff, which was the essential object of the general in-
chief, was obtained, and produced the most complete
result. The Russians employed the whole night in pre-
paring the destruction of the town and their retreat by the
bridge which they had lately erected. (The report con-
cludes with an account of the firing of the town and the
blowing up of the forts, full details of which have already
appeared in the despatches of Marshal I'elissier, and fol-
lowed by a list of five Sardinian officers wounded in the
trenches on the Bth, and four soldiers killed and thirty-one
wounded.

ALPHONSE DE LA MAD.MORA.

RUSSIAN MANIFESTOES.

Two remarkable documents from the Russian
Government have been published this week; the one
a rescript of the Emperor to Count Zakrew►ky,
Military Governor of Moscow, the other, an cadre du
jour of General Piince Gortschakott to the Russian
army in the field :