The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

to-hand fights, of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults—
m glens and valleys, in brushwood glades and remote dells,
hidden from all human eys, and from which the conquerors,
Russian or British, issued only to engage fresh foes, till
our oldsupremacy, so rudely assailed, was triumphantly
asserted, and the battalions of the Czar gave way before our
steady courage and the chivalrous fire of France. No one,
however placed, could have wituessed even a small portion
of the doings of this eventful day—for the vapours, tog, and
d luting mist obscured the ground where the struggle took
place to such an extent as to render it impossible to see
what was going on at the distance of a few yards. It was six
o'clock when all the head-quarter camp was roused by roll
after roll of musketry on the right and by the sharp report
of field guns. Lord Raglan was informed that the enemy
were advancing in force, and soon after seven o'clock he
rode towards the scene of action, followed by his staff, and
accompanied by Sir John Burgoyne, Brigadier-Ueneral
Strangwaya, 8.A., and several aides-decamp. As they ap-
proached the volumn of sound, the steady, unceasing
thunder of gun, and rifle, and musket told that the engage-
ment was at its height. The shell of the Russians, thrown
with great precision, burst so thickly among the troops that
the noise resembled coniinuous discharges of cannon, and
the massive fragments Inflicted death on every side. One
of the first things the Russians did, when a break in the kg
enabled them to see the camp of the second division, was to
open fire on the tents with round shot and large shell, and
taut atter tent was blown down, torn to pieces, or sent into
the air, while the men engaged in camp duties and the
unhappy horses tethered up in the lines were killed or
mutilated. Colonel Gambier was at once ordered to get up
two heavy guns (Itipounders ) on the rising groundi and to
r ply to a the which our light guns were inadequate fo meet.
As he was engaged in this duty, and exerting himself with
Capt. Daguillar to urge them forward, Col. Gambier was
severely but not dangerously wounded, and was obliged to
retire. His place was taken by Lieutant-Colonel Dickson,
and the conduct of that officer in directing the fire of those
two pieces, which had the most marked effect in deciding
the fate of theiday, was such as to elicit the admiration of the
army, and as to deserve the thanks of every man engaged
in that bloody fray. But long ere these guns had been
brought up, there had been a great slaughter of the enemy,
and a heavy loss of our men. Our generals could not see
where to go. They could not tell were the enemy were—
from what side they were coming, and where going to. In
darkness, gloom, and rain they bad to lead our lines
through thick scrubby bushes and thorny brakes, which
broke our ranks and irritated the men, while every pace was
marked by a corpse or man wounded front an enemy whose
position was only indicated by the rattle of musketry and
the rush of ball and shell.

The attack on the Lancaster battery and final re-
pulse of the Russians is thus described :

The fight about the battery was most sanguinary. It
was found that there was no banquette to stand upon, and
that the men inside could not fire upon the enemy. The
Russians advanced mass after mass of infantry. As fast
as one column was broken and repulsed another took its
place. For three long hours about 8,300 British infantry
contended against at least four times their number. No
wonder that at times they were compelled to retire. But
they came to the charge again. The admirable devotion
of the officers, who knew they were special objects of at-
tack, can never be too highly praised. Nor can the courage
and steadiness of the few men who were left to follow them
in this sanguinary assault on the enemy be sufficiently ad-
mired. At one time the Russians succeeded in getting up
close to the guns of Captain Wodehouse's and of Captain
Turner's batteries in the gloom of the morning. Uncei-
tain whether they were friends or foes, our artillerymen
hesitated to fire. The Russians charged them suddenly,
bore all resistance down before them, drove away or
bayonnetted the gunners, and succeeded in spiking some
of the guns. Their columns gained the hill, and for a
few moments the fate of the day trembled in the balance,
but Adams's brigade, Pennefather's brigade, and the light
division made another desperate charge, while Dickson's
guns swept their columns, and the Guards, with undimi-
nished valour and steadiness, though with a sadly-
decreased front, pushed on again to meet their enemies.
The rolling of musketry, the crash of steel, the pounding
of the guns were deafening, and the Russians as they
charged up the heights yelled like demons. They ad-
vanced, halted. advanced again, received and returned a
close and deadly fire; but the Minis is the king of wets-
pons—lnkermann proved it. The regiments of the fourth
division and the marines, armed with the old and much-
belauded Brown Bess, could do nothing with their thin
line of fire against the massive multitudes of the Musco-
vite infantry, but the volleys of the Minis cleft them like
the hand of the Destroying Angel, and they tell like leaves
in autumn before them. About 10 o'clock a body of
French infantry appeared on our right, a joyful sight to our
struggling regiments. The Zouaves came on at the pas de
charge. The French artillery had already begun to play
with deadly effect on the right wing of the Russians.
Three battalions of the Chasseurs d'Orleans rushed by,
the light of battle on their faces. They were accompanied
by a battalion of Chasseurs Indigenes—the Arab Sepoys
of Algiers. Their trumpets sounded above the din of
battle, and when we watched their eager advance right on
the flank of the enemy we knew the day was won.
Assailed in front by our men, broken in several places by
the impetuosity of our charge, renewed again and again,
attacked by the French infantry on the right, and by
artillery all along the line, the Russians began to retire,
and at lt2 o'clock they were driven pell-mell down
the hill towards the valley, where pursuit would have been
madness, as the roads were all covered by their artillery.
They left mounds of dead behind them. Long ere they
fled the Chasseurs d'Afrique charged them most brilliantly
over the ground, difficult and broken as it was, and in-
flicted great loss on them, while the effect of this rapid
attack, aided by the advance of our troops, secured oar