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

OCTOBER 6, 1855.

in the help and grace of the Almighty, the words of the
Emperor Alexander 1., " Where right is, there is God also !"
1 am ever and invariably yours,
ALEXANDER.

PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF'S ORDER OF THE DAY
TO THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
Prince Gortsckakolfs order of the day to his army,
on the evacuation cf Sebastopol, appears in Le
Nord. It is dated, "Head-quarters, Heights of
Inkermann, in the vicinity of Sebastopol, August 20
(Sept. 12)." He recounts the length of the siege
as a proof of the bravery of the Russian soldiers, and
then describes the final bombardment and the sub-
sequent events
Taking advantage of the superiority of their fire at short
range, the enemy after the concentrated action of their
artillery during thirty days—which cost our garrison from
500 to 1,0(X) men per day--commenced that terrible bom-
bardment (bombardment d'ettler) from their innumerable
engines of war, and of a calibre hitherto unknown, which
destroyed our defences, which had been repaired at night
with great labour and at great loss, under the incessant
fire of the enemy—the principal work, the Korniloff Re-
doubt, on the Malakoff-hill (the key of Sebastopol as a
point dominating the whole town), having experienced
considerable and irreparable damage. . _ _

To continue under these circumstances the defence of
the south side would have been to expose our troops
daily to useless butchery, and their preservation is
to-day, more than ever, necessary to the Emperor of
Russia.

For these reasons, with sorrow in my heart, but with a
full conviction, I resolved to evacuate Sebastopol, and take
over the troops to the north side by the bridge constructed
beforehand over the bay and by boats.
Meantime the enemy, beholding, on the 27th of August
(Bth of September), at 10.30, the half-ruined works before
them and the Korniloff Redoubt, with its ditches filled up,
resolved upon a desperate assault, first on Bastions No. 2,
Korniloff, and No. 8 (Redan), and after about three hours
noon Bastion No. 5, and the Belkin and Schwartz
Redoubts.

tat these six attacks, five were gloriously repulsed. Some
of the points of attack, like that on Bastion No. 2, on
which the enemy had succeeded in bringing guns by living
bridges, having at various times been taken and retaken,
remained finally ours. But the Korniloff Redoubt, more
damaged than the others by the bombardment, was taken
by the French, who brought more than 30,000 men against
it, and could not be retaken after the great losses we had
suffered at the commencement of this combat, for it would
have been necessary to ascend in the midst of the ruins
a very steep incline, and then cross a narrow bridge above
a deep ditch of the rear face occupied by the French.
8 tch an undertaking might have prevented us achiev-
in? the proposed object, and would have cost us, with.
oat the slightest doubt, incalculable losses.

The attempt was the more needless, as for reasons
already mentioned I had resolved to evacuate the place.
Therefore, as the success of the enemy was confined to
the sole capture of the Korniloff Redoubt, I ordered that
no attack should be made on that redoubt, and to remain
in front of it to oppose any continuation of the enemy's
attack on the town itself, an order which was executed
despite all the efforts of the French to get beyond the
gorge of the redoubt.
At dusk the troops were ordered to retire according to
the arrangements previously made.
The examples of bravery you gave during that day,
valiant comrades, aroused such a feeling of esteem in the
enemy, that, despite the knowledge they must have had of
our retreat by the explosion of our mines, which our troops
exploded one after the other as they gradually retreated,
they not only did not pursue us in columns, but even
ceased firing with their artillery, which they might have
continued with impunity.
Valiant comrades, it is painful, it is hard to leave Se-
bastopol in the enemy's hands. But remember the sacri-
fice we made upon the altar of our country in 1812.
Moscow was surely as valuable as Sebastopol—we abandoned
it after the immortal battle of Borodino. The defence of
Sebastopol during 349 days is superior to Borodino, and
when the enemy entered Moscow in that great year of 1812
they only found hears of stones and ashes. Likewise it is
not Sebastopol which we have left to them, but the
burning ruins of the town which we ourselves set fire to,
hiving maintained the honour of the defence in such a
manner that our great-grandchildren may recal the re-
m lubrance thereof with pride to all posterity.
Sebastopol kept us chained to its walls ; with its fall we
acquire freedom of movement, and a new war commences,
a war in the open field, that most congenial to the Rus-
sian soldier. Let us prove to the Emperor, let us prove
to Russia, that we are still imbued with the spirit which
animated our ancestors in our memorable and patriotic
struggle. Wherever the enemy may show himself we will
present our breasts to him, and defend our native land as
we defended it in 1812.

Valiant warriors of the land and sea forces!—]n the
name of the Emperor I thank you for the unexampled
courage, firmness, and constancy you have displayed
during the siege of Sebastopol.
[Here follow the names of the officers who most
distinguished themselves.]
In thus expressing the gratitude your worthy com-
manders are entitled to who are still living, let us also
honour, comrades, those who have fallen honourably for
our faith and for our country on the ramparts of Se-
bastopol.
Let us remember the immortal names of Nachimoff,
Korniloff, and Istomine, and let us address prayers to the
Most High that He will grant them peace, and eternalise
their memory as an example to the future generations of
the Russians,

THE PRESS.

The following are from Prince
of the siege :

diary

Auo. 24 (Sept. s).—At 6 a.m. the enemy opened a very
villent cannonade and bombardment against the first and
second sections of our line of defence ; their batteries fired
by salvoes. We replied from our works on the right flank
of our line of defence by an equally well-sustained fire. The
fire slackened about 2 p.m., and stopped towards evening.
In the twenty-four hours, according to the observations
taken from the telegraph, the enemy fired about 70,000
cannon-balls and 16,000 shells.
This terrible fire caused great damage to our works,
especially to the Schwartz Redoubt, to Bastion No. 5, and
to the Belkine Battery.
During the night, despite the well-sustained fire of the
besiegers, the garrison of Sebastopol repaired as much as
possible the damage (lone. A portion of the dismounted
guns were replaced.
The works of the besiegers did not advance ; they
busied themselves repairing the damage done in their
batteries.

After describing the fire on the 6th and 7th of Sep-
tember, the diary stops at the Bth, with the observe
lion that Prince Gortschakoff will send a special
report of the events of that day.
The diary adds, that on the 11th of September the
following vessels were sunk by order of the Com-
mander-in-Chief :—The Vladimir, Crimea, Cherso-
nese, Bessarabia, Gromonossets, Elborous, Danube,
Turk, and Grozny. Their guns were first taken out
of them.
The report concludes as follows :

Auo. 31 (Sept. 12).—0n the Ist (Sept. 13), the enemy
fired but little. They attempted to open fire with mortars
placed at the landing•place called Grafskaia l'ristane. On
the same day the advanced posts of oar left wing observed
that two camps had been established in the valley of Baidar,
near the village of the Cossacks, on the road from Ouzen-
baschik to Ourkousta, in which were six squadrons of
cavalry and five battalions of infantry, with artillery.