The Express.
London, England, 1855-11-08 00:00:00

The talked-of attack against our position has not
taken place, nor have there been any indications of
meanest on the part of that portion of the Russian
army which can be observed from the heights above
Sebastopol and from those overlooking Inkermann.
The working parties on the north side of the road-
stead, immediately opposite to the town and suburbs
of Sebastopol, have continued to be actively employed
in strengthening the defences, and the number of
guns mounted in the cliff earthwork batteries and
shore forts would appear to be increased, if we may
judge from the greater frequency and weight of fire
directed against the south side during the last few
days. The enemy have added rockets to the list of
projectiles with which they have favoured us; they
have fallen chiefly in the neighbourhood of the white
public buildings in the Harabelosia, and have
been sent with the object of burning those portions
which have escaped fire hitherto. The design has not
succeeded. The shot and shell—howitzer shells for

the most part, though on Fort Constantine two mor-
tars have been lately added to the large solitary
mortar which was previously used—have been dis-
charged in greatest number into the town proper,

on the west side of the south harbour. On the 23rd
instant a couple of houses were set on lire in rear of
Fort Nicholas, near its east end, not far from the old

landing-pleas, by a shell, which was directed against
the French mortar battery in this situation. They
had escaped, u well u a considerable group of out-
houses, stores, and stables in their neighbourhood
attached to Fort Nicholas, the general conflagration
when the Russians gave up the town to destruction
on the 9th of September; and, strange enough, the
fire which raged along the vaulted corridors of Fort
Nicholas itself, and utterly corsamed everything
combustible for upwards of two-thirds of its
distance, commencing from the west end, had
also suddenly stopped, and spared the interior
of the east end of the building. Had it
not done so it would have reached a chamber
in which a large quantity of gunpowder, fuses, and

inflammable materials had been heaped together, and
this end of the fort and the neighbouring buildings
would in all probability have been levelled to the
ground. As seen from a distance, even a compara-
tively short distance, such as the Redan or Malakhoff
hills for example, the appearance of the town of
Sebastopol by no means indicates its utter state of
ruin. The stone walls remain upright, and many of
the larger and more solidly-constructed buildings
retain their entire form and outline. The roofs of
many homes still exist, and the roofless condition of
many others is sot visible, as street rises above
street up the sloping declivities of the hilly ground.
The general white surface of the limestone
prevents the smashes and displacements in the
fronts and aides of the houses from being noticed;
and thus a stranger, limiting his observation to these
points of view, would depart with a very erroneous
notion of the real state of the town. The Russians
seem determined that even this deceptive appearance
shall not be suffered to remain. They scatter shells
at random in various parts, and now, at all hours of
the day and night, may be heard, quickly following
the loud report of the gun on the north side and the
"whish" of the missile across the roadstead, not
I merely the sharp explosive bang of the bursting shell
as heretofore among the earthworks, but also, as ac-
companiments, the crash of falling rafters and tum-
bling stone walls. Never was town so belaboured :
after eleven months of battering by its enemies, and
the subsequent ordeal of fire and explosion, to be
thus in turn battered by its former friends.

The fire of the north aide has not been limited to
the west side of the south harbour, although that
has had its chief share. It has also been rather
heavy about the dockyard buildings near Fort Paul,
where the Russians appear to think we have some
works; and also towards Careening Bay, in which
direction the French have a battery erected. The
casualties have been remarkably limited in number,
but the escapes in some instances have been close
enough to point out the necessity of constant caution
not to attract the notice of the enemy. On the
24th instant the arrangements of a French picket
were abruptly disturbed by a shell falling through
the roof of the house in which they had taken up
their temporary abode, not far from the aqueduct an it
approaches the dockyard; and as another shell
quickly followed, and fell near the same spot, it is
sot unlikely that this was a hint that the party bad
been observed. The few men who were in the house
at the time the shell penetrated the roof had time to
escape before its explosion, and no one was hurt.
Parties sent from camp to collect wood are invariably
kept out of sight as much as possible. Some rifle
balls have been sent across against our men on duty
along the shore, and keeping watch against an ap.
proses of the enemy; but they have generally falls*
short, and been seen to splash harmlessly the water
of the roadstead. We are again commencing a bat-
tery, but it may be prudent not to indicate too parti-
cularly its situation, as the work is but very little
advanced as yet.
All the tents which were sprinkled on the sloping
side of the height on the north side have disappeared.
The pyramids of sacks, and the greater part of
the hay, have been moved farther to the eastward
toward Inkermann heights, most probably to ensure
their safety from the effects of our fire. Excepting
the parties working at the batteries, scarcely any one
is to be sees moving shout. The moving to and fro
of arabas is almost entirely stopped. Further away,
to the north-eastward, there are encampments of
white tents, but they appear considerably diminished
in numbers compared with what they used to be
during the siege. This appearance, however, is de-
ceptive—for on examining the position through a
glans, it can be distinguished that the greater part of
the troops are butted. As these huts, which are
Ipartly underground, are of the same colour as I
ground around them, being apparently constructed of