The Press.
London, England, 1855-09-15 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

THE great event to which this week has given birth, has caused
universal rejoicing throughout the country. At length Sebastopol has
fallen, and the first act of the gigantic drama played between Russia
and the Western Powers has terminated. We have received no details
yet beyond short telegraphic reports mostly from General, now
Marshal, PELISbIER, for Lord PANMURE appears unreasonably jealous
over General SIMPSON'S messages. The allied batteries opened fire in
tremendous strength at daylight on the sth, and continued without
intermission day and night, burning ships, exploding magazines, and
firing the town, till the morning of the eighth, when, about noon, a
terrible storm of shot and shell, " un feu Weider," as Prince GORTS-
CHAKOFF expressed it, heralded the assault of the allied columns.
Upon three salient points, the Great and Little Redan and theMalakoff,
were the columns of the French and English launched with terrible
force. How long the struggle lasted, how often beaten back—
the struggles of eleven months of desperate warfare now to be termi-
nated exciting all—we have yet to learn. It was a war of Titans for
the moment. The Russians appear to have fought with desperate
courage. Supported by tremendous reserves, and covered by a sweep-
ing fire of initraille, they successfully held both the Great and Little
Redans against every attempt of English and French ; but the massive
columns of our Allies, once in the Malakoff, found themselves shel-
tered from the Russian fire, and, with solid persistance, sustained and
beat off every attempt of the Russians to dislodge them. Night closed
the combat. At a frightful cost the French retained their hold of the
Malakoff; upon every other point the Russians were successful; but,
worn out and beaten at the key of the position, feeling
further resistance to be useless, and desirous of saving his army from
capitulation or death, GORTSCHAEOFF set fire to the town and
retreated in the night to the northern forts. Such was the abrupt and
sudden termination of this memorable siege. The vast lines of defence
which TODTLEBEN had erected, immense stores of provisions and mati-
riet, and upwards of 1,200 guns, and some 1,000 prisoners, including
the wounded, were all abandoned by GORTSCHAKOFF. His object was
evidently to preserve his army. By prolonging the contest he might
have gained honour, but he would have lost his line of retreat. Our
rejoicings at this glorious success—for it is a triumph, without being
an absolute victory—are damped by the heavy loss we have to deplore.
From the scanty details which have reached us, it appears evident that
our army was inadequate to the work it had to perform. We have
not the least doubt that when the particulars are learnt we shall hear
that our columns of assault consisted of a few hundreds in the place of
thousands, and that the cause of our second failure at the Redan
was the same as on the 18th June—too few men and insufficient means.
Of the ulterior operations of the campaign it is impossible to speak
with anything like certainty. Ardent amateurs propose every possible
measure to insure the capitulation or destruction of the Russian army.
But armies of 150,000 men, and those men Russians, are neither easily
destroyed nor forced to capitulate. The probability is that the cam-
paign for the year is over. We have not means of transport to enable
our army to leave its sea-board and advance in the interior; and most
likely GORTSCHAKOFF will entrench himself upon the Inkermann heights,
and there await attack.

The Emperor of the FRENCH has signalised his appreciation of
General PELISSIER'S distinguished services by creating him a Marshal
of France. In the Malakoff PELISSIER knew his marshal's baton lay
hid. " Aut Caesar, aut nullus "—or, in the words of our NELSON,
" A peerage or Westminster Abbey "—must have been his resolution
on the Bth, and by the desperate courage of his troops he is successful.
It is said that a baton was likewise offered to General CANROBERT, who
refused the honour on the plea that PELISSIER'S distinguished services
would not be sufficiently enhanced if he shared the Marshal's promo-
tion. The General is to proceed to Vienna upon a high military
mission.

Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased to address a telegraphic
message to General SIMPSON, in reply to his despatch announcing the
fall of Sebastopol. Her Majesty, while acknowledging the receipt of
the intelligence with " deep emotion," congratulates the army upon
the " triumphant issue of this protracted siege," and thanks them for
the fortitude and valour which they have displayed. The closing
paragraph offers a well-deserved tribute to the indomitable courage
and heroic constancy of our brave Allies and their gallant commander
in the attack upon the Malakoff.

The speech of General Baows, at the Elgin dinner, has attracted
much attention. The Gallant General's graphic sketch of the opera-
tions of the war from the first to the last adds another to the many
proofs we have had of the utter ignorance and misconception of the
Government at the time they entered upon the war. The testimony
borne by the Gallant General to the superiority of the Russian artillery
over both that of France and England is frank and manly. We
can afford to allow that our foe was superior to us in many points
now that we have surpassed him in all. The remark of the Duke of
RICHMOND, speaking of the prospects of peace, that " he for one would
" never agree t) any patched up compact, and that he trusted that not
" only would the south but the north side of Sebastopol soon fall and
" the Russian flag be driven for ever from the Crimea," is indicative of
lthe tone public feeling is assuming. This speeth of hit Grace was
met by the most enthhiiastic cheers.