The Express.
London, England, 1855-06-06 00:00:00

have been warned that they will have to ad-
vance, though not to-morrow. So it 4, just pas-
sible the attack may be put off for a day or two.
From all we were able to ascertain to day, it will
perhaps be found that the Tchernaya position is not
near so difficult to take, nor so well armed as has
generally been believed, and whether or not, when we
do advance, we shall find many guns in position, is a
matter of most interesting speculation. We are also
very anxious to see the Sardinian troops, whom we
all admire so much, under fire. It is generally anti-
cipated that they will be most effective. An incident
occurred to-day which threw a strange, and
to us a pleasant, light upon their manner
of making war. While the cavalry pur-
sued the Cossacks to the river, the Sardinian
Rifles advanced from Kamara, and took up a
position commanding the epproaches from the
valley of the Tchernaya. They bad hardly done so,
when our own Hussars and Lancers, returning from
the pirsoit, were descried in the distance. The
Sardinians, strangers as yet to the uniforms of the
various nations that are united in these camps, mis-
took them f3r enemies and prepared to receive
them as such. Colonel Cadogaa who is attached
to their contingent, remonstrated, and when
the Sardinians still showed suspicion, offer-
ed to advance and reconnoitre the strange
cavalry. He did so; and, finding that he at least
had not been deceived in the uniform, he pointed oat
to his countrymen the exact position in which their
Allies were posted, and turned them aside, so as not
to interfere with the arrangements of the Sar-
dinians. This done, he hastened back, but,
to his amazement, when he reached the
spot he found that the Rifles were gone. While yet
undecided what to do or in which direction to pro-
ceed in search of the fugitives, he heard a step by
his side, and on looking up, he found himself face to
face with the commander of the missing corp..
Colonel Cadogan at once told the Sardinian
officer there was nothing to fear, that the
cavalry in front were English. "So much the
better," was the careless reply, " then we can make
ourselves comfortable," saying which the Sardinian
put a whistle to his mouth and produced on it a
horrible squeak. Astounded with this eccentric)
behaviour, the colonel stared at his comrade in arms,
but who can describe his still further astonishment,
when, on a sudden, the very ground near his feet
seemed alive with human beings. Up started the
rifles in all directions, and from all places, like
Roderic Dhu's famous gillies ; up they started from
briar and brake, from ditches and water holes, when the
whole corps had been lying perdu waiting for the
approach of what they believed to be the enemy.
‘Vhat if Russian cavalry had advanced instead of
ours! Their surprise would have exceeded that of
Colonel Cadogan. These Sardinian rifles are as active
as they are smart. They were hardly a couple of
hours on the Kamera hills, when they had made
themselves at home and settled down in arbours

which in an incredibly abort space of time they had
made out of brushwood. They are exceedingly
small, but also exceedingly active and energetic men.
They march in a trot, and climb up steep places with
a wonderful rapidity. I trust I shall soon have the
agreeable duty of telling you a great deal of the
deeds of the Sardinian rifles in their advance across
the Tchernaya.

(CROY ANOTHER COI

OF TIII DAILY Xlife.)
MAT 25.

The advance against Tchorguna took place at day-
break this morning, and the object was secured
without any loss to the Allies. The French troops, in
the course of the morning of yesterday, had

struck their large tents, and substituted the small

(elites d'ubri, and, moon after midnight, nom-

menced to leave their several encampments
for the purpose of forming and concentrating near
the entrance to the plain. Just before daybreak the
advanced body were within a thousand yards of the
square redoubt on the side of the hill to the north
of the opening, forming the valley of Tchorgun. The
cavalry occupied a position on the plain, and the
reserves of French and Ottoman troops stretched
back as far as Balaklava.

General Canrobert commanded on the field, but
General Pelissier superintended the operations from
a projecting height on the right flank near the
Canrobert redoubt. The force altogether comprised
about 20,000 men, and included the division of
British cavalry, a Sardinian division, and about
5,000 Ottomans. Daylight no sooner exposed
the approach of the Allied force than the
enemy ran in all directions. The large redoubt
was attacked at the point of the bayonet just as the
first tints of morning were visible, but, contrary to
all expectation, the guns had been all removed. A
few detachments alone guarded the work. On push-
ing np the hill to a shelving plain where the
enemy had cut a series of zig-zags and intrenchments,
it was equally found to be abandoned. The troops
which had retired made a slight opposition from the
side of a neighbouring height, but a few discharges
of shells and grape compelled them to fly. At
the same time that this transpired on the left of
the Tchernaya, other troops had advanced on the
right, and gained possessession of a low mamelon
and ridge commanding the village itself. No
opposition was offered, and a few rounds of
grape and some shell were discharged into the woods
above the village to complete the disorder of the
troops who were escaping. The enemy kept up a
very active fire from the batteries on the side of the
Inkermann mountain, but the shells usually burst
about half way in the air, and the shot, though
falling as far as the redoubt near Tchorgoun, failed
to do any execution. Some prisoners were taken,
and also a number of horses, and some sheep and
cattle. Such was the hurry in which the troops
quartered in the village had escaped, that many
had left portions of their dress behind, and
in a few instances articles of considerable value.
It is stated that a part of the force quartered during
the winter at Tchorgun had only been lately
withdrawn to the entrenched position of the army
of the north, and that some of the troops had left
immediately after the departure of the expedition
towards Kutch.
After fully reconnoitering the heights around
Tchorgun, and also the line of hills in a direction to-
ward Khutor Mackenzie on one side and Kamera on
the other, the French general withdrew his main body
to the Chersonese side of the Tchernaya, °occupying
however with his outposts the high points near the
opening of the valley of Tchorgun, and commanding
possession of a portion of the river. It is an impor-
tant advantage to gain, for the present, the supply
of water, and moreover this advance is one step in
the direction to which the future movements of the
several armies will be carried.
8 P.M. Several Cossack videttes have made their
appearance during the day, and it is reported that the
enemy is collecting a force upon ;Tchorgun. The
whole of the Balsklava valley, and the low rounded
hills separating it from the Tchernaya valley, are now
included within our position.
News has arrived in camp that Kertch is taken.
MAY 26.
No attack was made lust night. Some peals of
thunder among the mountains last evening were
several times mistaken for the echoes of artillery.
The fire of the siege batteries, on the left, was very
heavy, and sustained duriug the whole night.
The weather wantinues dry and fine. The heat
has been moderated by sea breezes, and the threat-
ened outbreak of cholera has in • great degree sub.
sided.

HER MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAVIN7TiJ.Es.
CRIMEA. ro, r .
u
U. At). •
ortemei. nrrns opal. . •••.4
Head-qa
I,IX.
wpr•rver
To morrow being her Mai .7gi •• •
division of Cavalry, two troops of 11 riniTP>-Z-44r
batteries of position of the reserve L i bit • eq•a`
review order, at 12 o'clock, on gre ; ,q> ,
Colonel Parlby, cad Listenant-Colone .7
Hone Artillery.
The commander of the forme would have wished to as-
semble he infantry of the army on this loyal occasion, bat

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