The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-18 00:00:00

cannon unspiked, and, in some cases, even loaded. The
instant the Turks fled the Russians pushed on, and occu•
pied the redoubts, and, turning the cannon, opened a heavy
fire of shot and shell upon the flying Mussulmans. At the
same time masses of infantry were collected in rear of the
redoubts, while a force of 11,000 cavalry (1,000 Cossacks
and about 4,000 Hussars) formed on a level space on their
flanks. The sight of the enemy in such overpowering
force, holding the batteries (four in number), anti pro-
tected on their flanks by such a mass of cavalry, instantly
checked the advance of our troops. It was not now a
question of whether we should be able to retake the
redoubts on our right, but whether our centre would
be able to hold their own until reinforcements came up
from the camp. Our position at this time was certainly
critical.

The following brilliant narrative of the day's
proceedings is from the pen o: the Times corre-
spondent
- - - - - •

At half•past seven o'clock an orderly came galloping in
to the head-quarters' camp from Balaklava, with the news
that at dawn a strong corps of Russian horse, supported by
guns and battalions of infantry, had marched into the
valley, and had already nearly dispossessed the Turks of
the redoubt No. 1 (that on Canrobert's-hill, which is
farthest from our lines), and that they were opening fire
on the redoubts Nos. 2,3, and 4, which would speedily be
in their hands unless the Turks offered a stouter resist-
ance than they had done already. Orders were despatched
to Sir George Cathcart and to H.R.H. the Duke of
Cam'Adge to put their respective divisions, the 4th and
the lst, in motion for the scene of action, and intelligence
of the advance of the Russians was also furnished to
General Canrobert. Immediately on receipt of the news
the general commanded General liosquet to get the third
division under arms, and sent a strong body of artillery
and some WO Chas.seurs d'Afrique to assist us in holding
the valley. Sir Colin Campbell, who was in command of
Balaklava, had drawn up the 93rd Highlanders a little in
front of the road to the town at the first news of the ad-
vance of the enemy. The marines on the heights got
under arms ; the seamens' batteries and marines' batteries,
on the heights close to the town, were manned, and the
French artillerymen and the Zouaves prepared for action
along their lines. Lord Lucan's little camp was the scene
of great excitement. The men had not had time to water
their horses ; they had nut broken their fast from the
evening of the night before, and had barely saddled at the
first blast of the trumpet, when they were drawn up on the
slope behind the redoubts in front of their camp to
operate on the enemy's squadrons. It was soon evident
that no reliance was to be placed on the Turkish infantry
or artillerymen. All the stories we had heard about tbeir
bravery behind stone walls and earthworks proved how
differently the same or similar people fight under different
circumstances. When the Russians advanced the Turks
fired a few rounds at them, got frightened at the distance
of their supports in the rear, looked round, received a few
shots and shell, and then " bolted," and fled with an agility
quite at variance with commonplace notions of Oriental
deportment on the battle-field. But Turks on the Danube
arc very different beings from Turks in the Crimea, as it
appears that the Russians of Sebastopol are not at all like
the Russians of Silistria.
Soon atter eight Lord Raglan and his staff turned out
and cantered towards the rear of our position. The boom-
ing of artillery, the spattering roll of musketry, were heard
rising from the valley, drowning the roar of the siege guns
in front before Sebastopol. As I rode in the direction of
the firing over the thistles and large stones which cover
the undulating plain that stretches away towards Bala-
klava, on a level with the summit of the ridges above t, I
observed a French light infantry regiment (the 27th, I
think) advancing with admirable care and celerity from
our right towards the ridge near the telegraph-house, which
was already lined by companies of French infantry, while
mounted officers scampered along its broken outline in
every direction.
General Bosquet, a stout soldierlike-looking man, who
reminds one of the old genre of French generals as depicted
at Versailles, followed, with his staff and a small escort of
Hussars, at a gallop. Faint white clouds rose hem and
there above the hill from thecannonade below. Never did
the painter's eye rest on a more beautiful scene than I
beheld from the ridge. The fleecy vapours still hung
around the mountain top, and mingled with the ascending
volumes of smoke ; the patch of sea sparkled freshly in
the rays of the morning sun, but its light was eclipsed by
the flashes which gleamed from the masses of armed men
below.
Looking to the left towards the gorge, we beheld six
compact masses of Russian infantry, which had just de-
bouched from the mountain passes near the Tschernaya,
and were slowly advancing with solemn stateliness up the
valley. Immediately in their front was a regular line of
artillery, of at least twenty pieces strong. Two batteries of
light guns were already a mile in advance of them, and
were playing with energy on the redoubts, from which
feeble puffs of smoke came at long intervals. Behind
these guns in front of the infantry were enormous bodies
of cavalry. They were in six compact squares, three on
each flank, moving down en echelon towards us, and the
valley was lit up with the blase of their sabres and lance-
points and gay accoutrements. In their front, and extend-
ing along the intervals between each battery of guns, were
clouds of mounted skirmishers, wheeling and whirling in
the front of their march like autumn leaves tossed by the
wind. The Zouaves close to its were lying like tigers at
the spring, with ready rifles in hand, hidden chin-deep by
the earthworks which run along the line of these ridges
on our rear, but the quick-eyed Russians were mantenvring
on the other side of the valley, and did not expose their
columns to attack. Below the Zouaves we could see the
Turkish gunners in the redoubta, all in confusion as the
shells burst over them. Just as I came up the Russians
had carried No. 1 redoubt, the farthest and most elevated