The Express.
London, England, 1855-10-12 00:00:00

OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

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(71011 017/11 OWN 001111SPONDINO
CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, Barr. 28.

We appear to be doomed to disappointment in our
expectation that a strong allied force would be sent II
to Eupatoria. The movements and report. which led
to this belief appear to have been made and dissemi-
nated for the purpose of deceiving the enemy. The
rains and snows of November will probably set
in before we gather any fresh laurels in
the Crimea. Meanwhile the Russians are taking
are that our occupation of their abandoned
quarters shall be more hot than pleasant. I have
already mentioned that a strong detachment of our
own, composed of artillery and infantry, had taken
up its quarters in the government and other Admi-
ralty buildings, in the central part of the town.
This appears to have become speedily known to the
enemy, for, on the very second day of our occupation,
they commenced shelling the place in a manner which
soon convinced our authorities that no freedom from
rent could compensate for the very certain danger
which must attend residence in so exposed a sites-
tion ; and accordingly, after the occurrence of several
casualties, it has been found necessary to withdraw
the men from their new barracks, and place them
again under canvass. The building in which they
had taken up their quarters was a portion of the
lofty and massive row which extends along the east-
ern bank of Admiralty Bay, from the Dockyard to
what are now the ruins of Fort Paul; and it had
evidently been one of the regular barracks occupied
by the Russian soldiery, whose beds were found there
and used by the men of our own detachment. The
spot is within easy shelling range of the Wasp Fort
and the other shore batteries of the enemy on the
opposite side of the Great Harbour; and, but for the
annoyance resulting from this, the lofty and spacious
chambers would have afforded really luxurious winter
quarters to the occupying force. On the third day
aster the building had been taken possession of with
this view, I happened to be in that portion of it
which had been selected for a surgery, and was stand-
ing talking to the doctor of the party, when a shell
passed through the roof, and penetrated the
two upper Boors of the building to that
immediately above our heads. As no explosion fol-
lowed, we concluded that it had been merely a round
shot, and were congratulating ourselves to this effect,
when an artillery sergeant in the room coolly inti-
mated that we were mistaken, and that " it would
burst presently." On this hint we deemed discretion
to be the better part of valour, and speedily made
for the outer door, but had not reached it before the
iron messenger above exploded, tore through the
flooring overhead, and sent a crashing fragment doWn
on the very spot we had moved from. After another
day's endurance of the chances incident to such a
situation, the men were removed back to the camp,
and the intention of quartering the regiments there
in turn has been wisely abandoned. I say wisely,
for, besides the risk arising from the enemy's shells,
another very considerable one lay in the facility with
which during a dark night they might have thrown a
body of five or six thousand men across the harbour
in the barges and other small craft yet remaining,
and have surprised our small garrison, of less than a
, fifth of that numerical strength—escaping before any
adequate relief could by possibility come to the rescue
of the attacked handful.

By the last steamer from Kertch we have news of
a brush between a party of the 10th Hussars and a
swarm of Cossacks, which is another good illustra-
tion of the utter worthlessness of these het-savage
hordes against a regular European cavalry. It
appears that a party of thirty Hussars and a sub-
altern were reconnoitring a few miles out of Kertch,
when they suddenly found themselves cut off from
the town by a dense body of Cossacks, nuo•bering
some two hundred in aIL Flight was out of the
question, and was probably not much to the taste of
the intercepted detachment ; so they prepared to
make a dash for it at the sword's point. Seeing this,
I the confident Cossacks came on like a tornado, with
1 levelled lances and their accustomed whoops. The
little band awaited them till the interval was reduced
Ito some three bondred yards, when they dashed at
them shoulder to shoulder, and had almost penetrated
to the centre before their astounded assailants had
unhorsed a man. The very numbers of the Cos-
sacks neutrslised their strength, and before five
minutes after the first collision our men had sabred
more than two to one of their assailants. The
struggle lasted in all some twenty minutes, during
which the brave handful of Hussars thrust and slashed
about within the dense circle that hedged them in,
and which only seemed to grow the closer and more
serried the more its numbers decreased. At length,
however, a breach was effected, and after cutting
nearly half the attacking horde to ribbons, our men
gained the open, and effected their escape back into
Kertch, leaving, I regret to say, half their number
dead upon the scene of this brilliant though costly
struggle. I have not heard whether the officer was
amongst the killed, but doubtless some official report
of the affair will be published, which will give full
details of the fight itself, and of the resultant casual-
ties.

General Jones left the Crimea on Thursday, to go
before a medical board at Scutari, with a view to a
winter's leave for England. His ailment was acute
sciatica, which had attained each a violence as to vir-
tually paralyse every limb of the sufferer. Sir Harry
was carried down to the ship in a slung hammock
supported by eight men, and certainly presented a
picture of very great suffering as I passed the party
on my way up from Balaclava.