The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

THE SIEGE.

The despatches and letters describing the recom-
mencement of the attack against Sebastopol which
was reported by telegraph last week have since been
received. Lord Raglan writes officially to the War-
office as follows : _

Before Sebastopol, April 10.
In accordance with the arrangement made between
General Canrobert and myself, the batteries of the French
and English armies opened upon Sebastopol soon after
daylight yesterday morning.
The weather was extremely unpropitious. Much rain
had fallen in the course of the night. and it continued
during the day, accompanied by a tempestuous wind and a
heavy mist, which obscured everything, and rendered it
impossible to ascertain with any degree of accuracy the
effect of the fire, which has been continued with little or no
interruption from the commencement, and has been su•
perior to that of the enemy, who were evidently taken by
surprise, and, except upon the extreme left, did not respond
to the attack for nearly half an hour.
This morning has been hazy, and for some time there
was a drizzling rain, but it is clearing this afternoon, and
there is again a prospect of fine weather.
The country yesterday was covered with water, and the
ground was again very deep. The trenches were likewise
extremely muddy, and their condition added greatly to the
labours of the men employed in the batteries, who con•
sisted chiefly of sailors, artillerymen, and sappers.
They conducted their duties admirably ; and I am sorry
to say that the two former, particularly the navy, sustained
considerable loss.
I have not yet received the returns of the casualties be-
yond the oth instant, which are herewith inclosed; but
the death of Lieutenant Twyford, of the royal navy, a most
promising officer, and greatly respected by all, has been
notified to me ; and Captain Lord John Hay, who has
taken a moat active part in the gallant and distinguished
services of the nava! brigade, was wounded almost at the
very moment, I believe by the same shot. I hope the
injury he has received is not very serious, but the loss of
his assistance, even for a time, is much to be regretted.
The Russians have not shown themselves in any force
in front of Balaklava.
April 14.—Since I wrote its your lordship on the kith
inst., a steady and heavy fire upon the work sof the
enemy has been maintained from all the batteries of the
allies.
The fire of the British artillery, chiefly directed
against the Garden Batteries, the Barrack Battery, the
Redan, the Malakoff Tower, and the Mamelon, has been
most effective, and the enemy's works have suffered very
considerably, although they have, as usual, made a good
use of the night to repair damages, notwithstanding VIM

395

the vertical fire has been continued throughout the twenty-
four hours.

The practice both of the naval brigade and the artillery
has been excellent.

The casualties have not been very numerous, but the
loss has fallen heavily upon the sailors, as your lord-
ship will see by the accompanying returns, and the royal
navy has to deplore the death of Lieut. Douglas, who had
served with great ability and zeal from the oomtneuoe-
ment of the siege.
_ .

Lieutenants -Urmaton and I)'Aeth, royal navy, and
Steele, royal marine artillery—all valuable ollicers--have
been wounded.

The royal artillery has to lament the death of Lieut.
Luce, who was an officer of much promise ; and Lieuts.
Sinclair and L'Estrange are among the wounded. The
former has sustained several severe injuries, but I am
happy to add that there is every hope of his recovery.
They are both highly meritorious officers.
Captain Crofton, of the royal engineers, who had in the
course of the protracted operations before Sebastopol
rendered most essential service, has also received a wound,
which will, I fear, detain him from duty a very consider-
able time.

Our batteries and parapets continue to stand remarkably
well, notwithstanding the very unfavorable state of the

weather.

The enemy's fire has been comparatively slack, but the
practice good, and, owing to their having ascertained
the range of our batteries with great nicety, several guns
have been disabled in both the right and lett attacks.
Towards the Tschernaya nothing important has been
observed, but small bodies of men, from 150 to 500, have
been seen, with a heavy gun and some ordnance carriages,
moving along the Inkerniann heights towards Mackenzie's
Farm-road, near which it has been placed in position.
Although the duties have been unusually severe and
arduous both by day and night during the week, they have
been carried out with the utmost cheerfulness and zeal,
reflecting much credit both on officers and men.
The submaiine telegraph has been safely brought to
the Monastery from Cape Kelerga, and as soon as it is
established at the former place the engineers will proceed
to convey it from the latter to the immediate neighbour-
hood of Varna, where I hope it may be in a state to act in
a week or ten days from this time.
The first division of the 10th Hussars arrived this day
at Balaklava. RAGLAN.

Further details are given by the correspondents
of our daily contemporaries writing on the spot.
The Morning Post contains an estimate, stated to be
derived from good authority, that on the Bth, the
day before the batteries reopened, the total strength
of the British army was about 41,200 men. Of this
number there were sick 13,872, showing a decrease
in the latter of more than 4,0(X); and leaving about
27,300 healthy men under the command of Lord

Raglan.
The following is from the Herald correepon.
dence :

APRIL 9.—At last, for the second time, we have begun
the siege of Sebastopol. We have begun the final
struggle, on the success or failure of which depend fur
years—perhaps for ever—the fame and destinies of the
mightiest empires of the earth. Last night there was
very little firing on either side. Beyond an occasional
gun to keep up the appearance of war, and take away the
slight sense of security which sometimes exists in the
trenches, all was quiet. All in the allied camps knew that
the bombardment would commence at daybreak, and so
all were full of regrets and forebodings over the change
in the weather. It had, indeed, changed in a manner
sufficiently severe to excite anxiety, if not mistrust, as to
the result of our first day's operations. The wind blew a
regular gale ; the night was at once dark and misty, while
the rain fell in such floods as almost to surpass every other
sound. Towards morning it was, if possible, still more
unfavorable; and in spite of the rain the wind was suffi-
ciently strung to leave but faint hopes that the fleet would
be able to share in the struggle of the day.
At four this morning all the officers who had leave
were on the alert, looking up waterproofs and forgotten
mufflers before setting out fur Cathcart's hill to see our
opening fire.
A heavy mist hung over the sea, and partly over Sebas-
topol, while both were obscured, every now and then, by
the clouds of rain which were driven before the wind.
The north side was almost completely invisible, though
the mouth of the harbour was clear, and a heavy sea
running in broke in a wild line of breakers over the sunken
ships. Beyond one or two guard-ships our fleet was not
visible in its accustomed place. In Sebastopol itself
everything was quiet and clean as usual. It was now five
o'clock; none of the clocks in Sebastopol could be heard
to strike, as the wind was very strong and blowing up the
harbour and across the town. Each moment the wea-
ther became thicker and more wet, so that in a few
minutes hardly any of the town was visible. The grim
line of batteries, however, remained well in view, though
they also seemed as quiet as inside the walls. In the
Malakoff a few soldiers could occasionally be distinguished
in the embrasures, and a small party crossed now and
then between it and the Mamelon, but this was all.
Suddenly, at about a quarter-past five o'clock, a gun was
fired from our right attack. In a second afterwards, run•
ning up and down the line—from the little mounds and
hillock, near Inkermann—from the broad commanding
PosWor •e of Green-hill and Gordon's Batteries—from quit
picturesque ravines, where no one dreamt of guns lurking
—high from the rear on steep and lofty ridges, and away
down to the left where the French works stretch out—over
low marsh lands to Kamisch—from every point of our
lines came a hundred streaks of flame and masses of
smoke. For a minute after there was silence, and then
the great concussion came rumbling on, slowly mastering
both wind and rain, and swelling into a roar that seemed