The Express.
London, England, 1855-09-26 00:00:00

• violent fire of artillery, they were forced to ratan
into their parallel.
At the same moment General de Sallee had direetsi
an attack against the Central Bastion. The Levaiumi
Division had begun to establish itself in it, as went
in the Right Lunette; a tremendous fire of gripe"
succeeded by the arrival of Russian reinforcements.;
considerable in number, that our troop!, already dad,
mated by the fire of the enemy, and whose chiefs hei
been disabled, were compelled to fall back only
place whence they had sallied.
Convinced that the taking of the Malakhoff well!
be decisive of num.'s, I prevented the renewal of sip
attacks on o•her points, which, by compelling 14
hostile army to remain on all its points, had *lady
attained their main object. I then directed my,*
attention to the retaining pcesession of the MaleklA
which General WMahon had been 'mei*,
I enabled completely to obtain. Besides, a grest set
critical moment was impending.

General Bosquet had just been struck by the beeg,
ins of a shell, and his command I gave to Gushy
Dula*. A powder magazine near the Malakhorez.
ploded at this moment, from which contingte,
anticipated the most serious results.
The Russian., hoping to profit by this Asa*
immediately advanced in dense masses, and, dhpid
in three columns, simultaneously attacked them%
the left, and the right of the Malekhoff. But swashh
of defence bad already been taken in the intericed
the fortress ; for which purpose General Milan
opposed to the enemy bodies of undaunted troop;
whom nothing could intimidate; and after the hog
desperate efforts the Russians were compelled is
make a precipitate retreat. From that moment th
discomfited enemy appears to have renounced all ids
of farther attack. The Malakhoff was ours, and h
effort of the enemy could wrest it from us. It eh
half past four o'clock.
Measures were immediately taken for enabling■
to repulse the enemy, in case he should altos
against us a nocturnal attack. But we were soot
released from our uncertainty. As soon as it Wes
night, fires burst forth on every side, mines es.
ploded, magazines of gunpowder exploded is de ,
air. The sight of Sebastopol in flames, via I
the whole army contemplated, was one of the
most awe inspiring and sinister pictures
the history of wars can have presented. Theses'
was making a complete evacuation ; it was aid
during the night by means of a bridge coos:mai
between the two shores of the roadstead, and
cover of the successive explosions that prevented.'
Irons approaching and harassing him. On the mar
ing of the 9th the whole southern Bide of the tows
was freed, and in our power.
I have no need of enhancing in the eyes of pet
Excellency the importance of so great a sum*
Neither will it be necessary for me to speak of this
brave army, whose warlike virtues and devotion us
so thoroughly appreciated by our Emperor ; and I
shall have, great as the number is, to name to yes
those who have distinguished themselves among a
many valiant soldiers. I cannot yet do so, but I shill
fulfil this duty in one of my next despatches.
Deign to accept, Monsieur le Mareolial, the a•
pression of my respectful devotion.—The General
is
Chief, PELISSIEB.

GENERAL NIEL'S DESPATCH.
SEBASTOPOL, SEPIA.
Monsieur le Marechal,—The place of flolee
topol was stormed on the Bth of Septa-
ber. That assault has rendered us mutes
of the Malakboff work, the occupation of which
render, the defence of the suburb almost Mime
able, and enables us to cut off the co:emulations
of the town with the north part of the rosdelead.
After rallying several times, and resuming the effete
sinwithaeourage towhiohweare boaud toelehemags,
seeing that his uttermost efforts remained fruitiest
he began in the evening to evacuate the town;
daring the night he set it on fire, and he employd
his powder in destroying with his own hands the
defensive works and the great establishments which
Russia had been accumulating for so many rani&
this fortress. He has sunk all his ships, frigates, std
other sailing vessels, preserving only the oteseers;
lastly, he broke up and pulled atter him the bridp
of boats by which be communicated with the fats d
the north side, abandoning to us in this way the
taws, suburb, and everything else on the south side
of the roadstead.
The defence was energetic ; on several points our
attacks were repulsed ; but the chief attack, that
which ensured our success, was not doubtful for as
instant. The Ist division of the let corps, coo
mended at present by General *Mahon, carried
at the first onset the Malakhoff work, and thee
maintained itself heroically, understanding that it
held in its hands the keys of the piece.
lam going to give you an account of the disa.
tions that bad been taken for diminishing as muck se
possible the numerous difficulties attending this tef
rible assault, made, not on a piece invested, ens
limited garrison, but on a vast tottress, defended by
an army equally n..merous, perhaps, as that which
attacked it.
In the attacks directed against the town our ap
preaches had been carried to within forty maned
the Central Bastion and thirty metres of the Fir
staff Bastion. At the attacks of the Karabalsais
suburb the English, impeded by the difficulties of the
round and by the fire of the enemy's artillery, be"
only been able to advance their approaches to abed
200 metres from the salient of the Great Redan.
Before the front of the Malakhoff we had arrived
to within 25 metres of the enceinte which surrounds
the tower, and had carried our approaches to the
same distance of the Little Redan of the Careens's-
This important result was due to the incontestable
superTheiority of our artillery over that of the may.
generals-in-chief of the allied armies had made
the following arrangements:
The general attack of the place was fixed for
the Bth September at noon. On the WWI
of the sth the artillery of the attatt
.
against the town and that of the Etiglak
attacks, who until then had husbanded their SA
were to resume it with great energy.
Such a cannonade was never heard. We bid
mounted in our two attacks more than 500 canoes
The English had about 200, and the Russians more
thaw we. The fire of the enemy damaged ost
trenches, but did us little harm. Ours, notwith-
standing the great extent of the place, converged
on it, and must have caused immense loss to the
Russian army. During the last days which preceded
the assault our infantry fatigue parties were pie*
pally employed in enlarging the mt,st advanceditbol
d'arrnes and the defiles, and in carrying to the go
the means of ere/rail the ditches.
The aim of all our efforts was the capture of the
work constructed behind the Malakhoff Teem
This work (called the Kornil'ff Redoubt by
the Russians), which is an immense redmith
a kind of citadel of earth, occupies a mamelon wadi
commands all the interior of the Karabelnais sabots
takes the Redan attacked by the English de rater*
and is only 1,200 metres from the south port,
which the Russians had constructed a bridge of raft"
oow their only communication between the abaft
and the town. The Malskhoff Fort is 350 MVO
by 150 metres in dimensions. The parapet. be/
more than 6 metres of relief above the sal, dis