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

THE PRESS;

This position renders the siege of Sebastopol one of the
most laborious operations which have been met with for
a long time, and the efforts which we are compelled to
make to carry them into effect will explain the delays that
have arisen.

In the night of the 20th the enemy made an attempt to
spike our guns, which failed. A few men who, by a sur-
prise, entered our batteries, were killed there by the officer
in command.
The losses which we have experienced from the fire of
the enemy are by no means so considerable as might have
been expected, considering the difficulties of our posiuou,
which I have explained to you.
I send successively, and by all the means which the
fleet places at my disposal, my wounded to Constantinople,
where our hospital resources have assumed a more satis-
factory character.
The state of health of the army is satisfactory. The
maladies which have arisen have been produced by the ex-
cessive fatigue which our brave soldiers have had to
undergo. The naval gunners who have landed have also
been attacked with illness. They evince a courage and
devotion which are remarked by the whole army.
CANROUERT.

From a diary of the attack, recapitulating the pro-
Tess and incidents of every hour from the commence-

ment of the cannonade, written by the Times
correspondent in the camp we make the following
extracts :

Oct. 17.—0 n the night of the 16th it was determined
that our fire should be opened on the Russian lines the
following morning, as it was evident the enemy was en•
trenching himself with much activity, and greatly strength.
ening his position. In spite of the efforts of oar engineers
our works were not quite completed, and most of the mor-
tars could not be mounted in the batteries. Firing com-
menced, however, from the French and English batteries
by signal at 6.30 s.m. on the 17th, but for thirty minutes
previous the Russians fired furiously on all the batteries.
The cannonade on both sides was most violent for nearly
two hours.
Our left attack consisted of four batteries and thirty-six
guns ; our right attack, of twenty guns, in battery. There
were also two Lancaster batteries and a four-gun battery
of 68-pounders on our right. The French had about
forty-six guns. In all we were supposed to have 117 guns
to subdue about 130 guns of the Russians.
At eight o'clock it was apparent that the French batteries
in their extreme right attack, overpowered by the fire and
I enfiladed by the guns of the Russians, were very much
weakened ; their fire slackened minute alter minute.
At 8.30 the fire slackened on both sides for a few mi-
nutes, but recommenced with immense energy, the whole
town and the line of works enveloped in smoke.
At 8.40 the French magazine in the extreme right bat-
tery of twelve guns blew up with a tremendous explosion,
killing and wounding 100 wen. The Russians cheered,
tired with renewed vigour, and crushed the French fire
completely, so that they were not able to fire more than a
gun now and then at intervals, and at ten o'clock they were
nearly silenced on that side.
At 10.30 the fire slackened on both sides, but the allies
and Russians reopened vigorously at 10.45. Our practice
was splendid, but our works were cut up by tire ftom the
redau and from the works round a circular marten() tower
on our extreme right.
At 12.45 the French line-of-battle ships ran up in most
magnificent style and engaged the batteries on the sea
side. The scene was indescribable, the Russians replying
vigorously to the attacks by sea and land, though suffering
greatly.
At 1:25 another magazine in the French batteries blew
up. The cannonade was tremendous. Our guns demo-
lished the Round Tower, but could not silence the works
around it.
At 1.40 a great explosion took place in the centre of
Sebastopol, amid much cheering from our men ; but the
fire was not abated. The Lancaster guns made bad prac-
tice, and one burst. At 2.55 a terrific explosion of a pow-
der magazine took place in the Russian rodan fort. The
Russians, however, returned to their guns, and still fired
from the re-entering angle of their works. The cannonade
was continuous from the ships and from our batteries, but
the smoke did not permit us to see if the British fleet was

engaged.
At 3 30 a loose•powder store inside our naval battery was
blown up by a Russian shell, but did no damage. The
enemy's earthworks were much injured by our fire, the
redan nearly silenced, and the fire of the Round Tower
intrenchtnents diminished, though the inner works are
still vigorous.
At 3.34 the magazine inside the works of the Round
Fort was blown up by our shot.
At four the ships outside were ripping up the forts and
stoneworks and town by tremendous broadsides. Only the
French flag was visible, the English fleet being ou the
opposite side of the harbour. Orders were given to spare
the town and buildings as much as possible.
From 4 to 5.30 the cannonade from our batteries was
very warm, the Russians replying, though our fire had
evidently established its superiority over theirs, the ships
pouring in broadside after broadside on Forts Nicholas and
Constantine at close ranges. Towards dusk the fire
slackened greatly, and at night it ceased altogether, the
Russians for the first time being silent. They are busy
repairing damages, and we are doing the same, and are
also mounting new guns and mortars for to-morrow.
The French have lost about 200 men, principally by the
explosions ; our loss is very small—under 100 killed and
wounded since the siege began.
We have gained greatly on the works to-day, and. but
for the melancholy disasters which befel our allies, should
have crushed much of the Russian batteries. The French
fleet avenged these misfortunes most amply.

1061

The Grand Puke Constantine is supposed to have entered
Sebastopol.
Much of the sea side of the town is in ruins. We reopen
fire at daybreak.
Oct. IH, '3 p.m.—The fire was resumed this morning
soon after daybreak. The French were still unable to
support us. Their extreme left is still silenced. They
will not be ready till jhe Hither 20th, so damaged are they
by the Russian fire.
During the night the Russians remounted their guns
and brought up fresh ones, and established a great supe-
riority of tire and weight of metal.
At ten cm. the alarm was given that the Russians were
marching to attack our rear on the Balaklava road. Lord
ltaglan and staff, with large bodies of French troops, at
once moved there, and found the Russian cavalry and two
battalious of infantry, with one gun, endeavouring to creep
up in a fog to the outposts. The Turks opened a tire from
the redoubts, and the Russians retired.
At this moment (3 p.m.) the Russians are pressing us
very hard, returning three shots for our two.
The attack by the fleets is to be renewed to-morrow.
The rattan fort, flagstaff fort, and Round Tower works
are firing very warmly just now.
We can scarcely get up ammunition to our guns.
The Morning Herald correspondent, writing on the
18th, furnishes some highly-interesting particulars.
His account of the practice with the Lancaster guns,
and the effects of their tire, differs materially from
that given in the foregoing extracts
It was half•past six a.m. The enemy had been quiet
for the last few minutes, both sides seemed preparing for
an effort, when suddenly volumes of smoke and flashes of
tire broke out simultaneously from every part of our lines—
the shot and shell screamed hoarsely through the air, and,
with a reverberation which seemed to shake both heaven
and earth, our attack on Sebastopol commenced.
Apparently neither surprised nor daunted, the enemy
returned the discharge with double vigour, and then both
English, French, Turks, and Russians, fell to work at the
guns in right earnest. The &at volleys showed us what
no soul in either army had hitherto been certain about—
viz., the precise nature both of our works and the enemy's,
and I am sorry to say it also showed us that, even in eath•
work batteries, thrown up since we came here, the
Russians immensely outnumbered the allied lines. Not
only were there extensive entrenchments, mounting twenty-
Ave and thirty heavy cannon; but on every height and
ridge guns of heavy calibre were placed in battery. I
have been informed that the extensive nature of their
works completely astonished our generals, and we are by
no means sure that we have seen them all yet, fur during
the day fresh ones were frequently unmasked iu places
totally unexpected.
Conspicuous among the din could be plainly heard the
Lancaster guns. Their sharp crack, different from the
other heavy guns, was like that of a rifle among muskets.
But the most singular effect was produced by its ball,
which rushed through the air with a noise and regular
beat precisely like the passage of a rapid expresa•train at a
few yards distance. This peculiarity excited shouts of
laughter among our men, who instantly nicknamed it the
express-train ; and only by that name is the gun known.
The effect of the shot acsmed most terrible. From its
deafening noise the ball could be distinctly traced by the
ear to the spot where it struck, when stone or earth alike
went down before it. A battery of twenty or thirty such
guns would destroy Sebastopol in a week. Unfortunately,
from a short supply of ammunition, we can only afford
to mount two, and even those are only fired onoe in eight
minutes.
At eight o'clock the firing was deafening, and about that
time a breeze sprang up from the south, which cleared
away the smoke, and allowed us a full view of what was
going on. Our friend the Round Tower was then barely
recognisable, the delicate attentions of the Lane utter gun
having effected a moat unfavourable change in its appear-
ance as a place of strength. Not a soldier remained on its
roof, the four guns on which were overthrown, and lay
about like dead horses. Huge holes were also visible in
its side, where masses of the solid masonry were dislodged.
The earthworks round the tower were turn up and pitted
with shot from the other batteries, but, beyond this,
remained much the same. Between these works and the
redan wall, and the Twelve Apostles on the one side, and
our Crown and Green-mound Batteries on the other, an
awful fire of shells was being interchanged, but most of
the enemy's, as usual, burst in the air. On the left the
French were gallantly maintaining a splendid fire against
the flag-staff batteries, but from the commanding position
of the latter, and the ten•gun battery which completely
flanked our allies, it wasevident they were fighting at •dis-
advantage.
About eleven o'clock it became evident that the fire of
the French on our left had slackened considerably, and
was falling off still more every minute. The fact was,
the commanding position of the enemy's batteries left our
allies no chance. They suffered so heavily while working
their guns that it became folly to persevere, and at length,
be order of their conitmilider, the men were withdrawn,
and the fire of the French ceased.

Our batteries were in full play, and appeared to engage
more than a due amount of the enemy's attention ; for the
Twelve Apostle.a, which was completely sheltered by the
land from the attack of the French ships, and quite as
completely sheltered from everything but one of the Lan-
caster guns, began to drop red-hot hollow shot into the
Crown Battery. The effect of this was soon apparent.
Before a dozen had been fired, one of them hounded and
struck &spare ammunition waggon full of powder, which
it instantly exploded. The shock was not so severe as it
might have been, fur the powder was comparatively un•
confined. It of course killed a few of our men, but the
works of the battery were uninjured. The Ilusaisiis set
up tremendous cheers when they saw the explosion, as
I they did when the batteries of our allies blew up, imagining

1062

they had done us the same mischief. Their mirth, how-
ever, was but short-lived. While in the act of cheering,
a shell from the Lancaster lodged (I presume) in the
magazine of the redoubt in front of the redan wall. The
explosion which followed was appalling. At first it seemed
as if the whole of Sebastopol was enveloped in the ruin ;
five minutes after, when the loose earth and smoke cleared
away, and allowed us to see the extent of the mischief, we
saw that only a black hole remained where the grand
redoubt had stood, and that the greater part of the redan
wall was blown away ; so stunning appeared the effects of
the terrible blow to the enemy that it was some minutes
before they fired a single gun. When they did they con-
centrated their whole fire upon the battery where the fatal
Lancaster gun was placed, but in vain, it was quite out of
range, and their shot stopped rolling nearly 200 yards in
advance of the battery. Seeing this, the Russians wisely
gave up the attempt to reach it, and turned their attention
to the French fleet, which indeed required it. During all
this time their fire, instead of slackening, had rather in-
creased, and it was evident, from the perpetual thunders
they sent forth, that one or the other party must soon give
in, for it was impossible for both to go on at that rate any
longer. Which was actually the victor we could guess,
though we could not see, for the smoke was now more
dense than ever.
It was near four o'clock, the fleet were still volleying
forth their thunders, but the fire of the Russians had
slackened considerably. Just at this moment the
smoke cleared away, and both forts and fleets could dis-
tinctly see each other. The French vessels lay off the
forts to the south of the harbour. Another detachment
of line-of-battle ships was attacking those to the north.
The smoke was still too thick to allow us to make out
the flags of these latter, but we had no doubt they were
English.
The batteries at the mouth of the harbour mount three
tiers of guns, the uppermost one on the roof being open
like ordinary batteries ; the two lower tiers are casemated,
one being almost level with the water's edge. The enemy
had completely abandoned the guns on the roof, many of
which were dismounted, and the works much cut up ; but
the casemated guns seemed little injured, and as the smoke
cleared away they attacked the fleets with redoubled vigour.
We could also see that some earthworks had been thrown
up to flank the forts, which were pouring a destructive fire
upon the fleet.
In the day's report transmitted by the Daily News
correspondent we read:—
In front of the camp of the light division, on the brow
of the hill overlooking the one-gun Lancaster battery
and the 21-gun battery, is a house known as the Picket-
house. Round it is a yard, enclosed by a stone wall.
Within this the Duke of Cambridge and Sir G. Brown
were standing about noon with many of the staff, looking
at the bombardment. A round shot passed between the
two generals, and, whizzing across the yard, was stopped
by the wall on the opposite side. The duke laughed the
matter off, but Sir George, thinking the number of con-
spicuous uniforms had attracted the fire, immediately
ordered the officer commanding the picket to clear the
yard. It was a narrow escape for both.
Half past 3 p.m.—A tremendous explosion from an
irregular battery of the Russians in front of our 21-gun
battery. It is succeeded by a cheer from our battery,
which is carried on by the whole of the troops on the brow
of the bill and by those in the camp. Men are seen
scampering from the fort, which is only, in a direct line,
though separated by a deep gully, about three hundred
yards from the 21-gun battery, but numbers must have
been destroyed by the explosion.
4 p.m.—A cartload of ammunition had just been deposited
to the left of the 21-gun battery, being placed as an addition
to what is known as the Sailor's Magazine, when a carcase-
shot from the Russians fell among it, and the whole ex-
ploded with a terrific crash. A dense white curling cloud
rose slowly into the air. The' magazine was close between
two covering parties, one of the 58th Connaught Rangers,
the other of the 19th Regiment. The very proximity
proved a blessing, for the fragments of cases and other
material rose at first directly upwards, and scarcely any
of those in the neighbourhood were injured. We fear the
explosion of this magazine will seriously inconvenience the
working of the guns, as the naval men have no reserve at
hand. However, as a compensation, the Russian battery
opposite has for the present been silenced. The three
guns from the Round Tower-hill continue to annoy us :
the Russian artillerymen are either very courageous, or
must be urged, as is said, at the point of the bayonet, to
continue the fire from these guns, for shells are bursting
in front and on every side of them.
There is no fire, as was expected, in the town. Our
furnaces are not yet ready : no red-hot shot have yet been
fired, nor have any rockets or carcases on our side been
discharged.
The operations of the four following days are thus
recorded by the correspondent of the Chronicle,
whose despatch was made up on the evening of the

23rd :
On the 19th the firing commenced as usual at daybreak,
and towards noon the French guns were enabled to open,
and thus relieve the English batteries from their double
labour. The fire of the redan soon slackened under that
of our two large batteries, and that was the only advan•
tage of the day. At half-past three an explosion took place
in the " Sea Battery " caused by a French shell. Two
officers lost their lives.
The idea first entertained of sparing the town had
evidently been given up, for in the course of the afternoon
m ilre rockets were th
one rown into
ese it. At four o'clock p.m. a
was kindled by of th projectiles, hut was soon
got under by the inhabitants of the town. The latter, it
would appear from the reports of deserters (we have some
eighty of them), lead anything but an enviable life ; not
only are the houses and their lives endangered by our fire,
but they areir forced to work in the trenches, and perform

THE PRESS.

equally unpleasant duties most trying to civilians. Some of
the latter, who ventured to expostulate, were forthwith
hanged, as an example, by Prince Menschikoff. Towards the
afternoon, the apex of the redan had suffered considerably,
and the fire of the enemy had decidedly slackened. Some of
the skirmishers from the light division penetrated that day
to within range of the ships, and commenced peppering
down upon the decks. A shower of shells, however, soon
caused them to retire.
A report was in circulation that evening of our ammuni-
tion being nearly exhausted. The " Blue jacket Battery"
most certainly manifested no signs of want of powder and
shot, as the condition of the rattan amply testified. Captain
Peel gave one of his many proofs of determination and
sang froid. A shell fell into the battery, upon which he
instantly seized it in his arms, and hurled it over the
parapet, where it exploded harmlessly. In the course of
the night two 68-pounders were added to his battery.
The monotonous roar of artillery awoke everybody, as
usual, at daybreak of the 20th. Nothing occurred of interest
until twenty minutes past ten, when a small explosion took
place within the French lines. From the position of the
French, it had been hoped they might sap towards the town,
but the rocky nature of the ground proves decidedly an-
tagonistic to any engineering undertaking. In the course
of the day one of our Lancaster shells, which had not burst,
was politely returned from a Russian gun. Our furnaces
were at work in the afternoon, and several hot shot were
hurled into the town. At four o'clock p.m. an edifice near
the dockyard was in flames, but the absence of the slightest
breeze prevented the conflagration from spreading, and
before night the flames were extinguished. On that night
I was enabled by ocular testimony to judge of the little
harm effected by the Russians on our batteries, and of the
scientific and solid manner in which the latter had been
constructed.
Towards midnight some severe musketry fire was heard
in the direction of Balaklava, and the alarm was speedily
sounded in the French camp. At the same time the rear
towards Balaklava was menaced; a Russian column made
a sortie, and succeeded in entering one of the advanced
batteries, but were speedily driven out, with the loss of
several prisoners. Brigadier-General Goldie was des-
patched, with 850 men of the 4th division and sixty Rifles,
to the rear. His instructions were to proceed towards the
telegraph post, on the road to Balaklava, and to await there
further orders. At daybreak he was directed on Balaklava,
and on the road his division was passed by three columns
of French infantry and three of Turkish. All the heights
were occupied by Turkish troops, prepared to give any ad-
vancing force a warm reception. The Russians, who had
appeared on the heights tar to the rear, declined to give
battle, and retired. Our cavalry was out all night, and
have been lately much harassed by these night alarms.
The deserters from Sebastopol unite in stating that
large reinforcements are expected to arrive in the town
before the 28th. This is probably one of Menschikoffs
little artifices to encourage the gunners and garrison to
resistance.
On the 21st the firing commenced as usual. At three
o'clock in the afternoon an explosion occurred in the
Russian redoubt by the White Tower. The explosion was
not very violent, and proceeded evidently from an expense
magazine. Late in the afternoon a fire broke out in the
town, but, as usual, was soon extinguished. All the public
edifices, and most of the private houses, of Sebastopol are
constructed with white freestone, and very little wood has
purposely been employed in the buildings. Some of the
houses within range of the French batteries have been
unroofed, in order to prevent, as far as possible, shells or
rockets taking effect. On some of the barracks layers of
sandbags have been formed, and, in a word, every pre-
caution has been taken to preserve the town from the
flames.
The practice of the Lancaster one-gun battery has been
much more effective since the opening day. Owing to the
construction of the battery, a small portion of the Twelve
Apostles alone presented herself as a range, and that at too
great a distance to be satisfactory. Since then the Lan-
caster has been pointed on the town, and the execution
committed by it is certainly immense. A shell was seen
to fall on a house, which literally appeared to be rent
asunder. I believe, however, it is running short of proper
ammunition. Our casualt es were very small that day,
and never in the annals of a siege has a besieging force
suffered so little as we have in the present instance. During
the twenty-six days the British arm
vey has been before
Sebastopol, not two hundred men ha ben placed hors
de combat from the actual fire of the enemy. Lord
Dunkellin, of the Coldstreams, was taken prisoner in the
course of the night. His lordship is, it appears, very short-
sighted, and fell in with a Russian picket and was captured.
In the " Frenchman's-bill Battery " two guns were disabled
in the course of the day. One had been struck in the
muzzle and severely damaged, but the gunners worked it
nevertheless. A second ball, however, completely disabled
it. Fortunately our reserve of guns would permit us to
remount all the batteries over and over again.
The cannonade opened very briskly on the morning of
the 22nd. The French batteries were worked with great
vigour, and apparently with considerable success. One of
our guns in " Green-hill Battery " burst towards the after-
noon, killing two men and wounding five. A breeze sprang
up which would have favoured a conflagration in the town
had a fire been kindled. None, however, declared itself. Two
prisoners, one an officer, were brought in by the skirmishers
of the light division. The officer was badly wounded, and
has since expired. According to the private's account, the
loss sustained by the Russians was very large, and the
streets were filled with the killed and wounded. Such like
statements must be received with great caution. A more
probable report is current, viz., that the inhabitants are
suffering from want of water. In fact, large water parties
may be seen leaving and entering the town daily. At
night the cannonade ceased, and thus terminated the sixth
day's siege of Sebastopol.

SATURDAY,

Tolley the batteries opened at the usual time, bat up to
this hour (12 o'clock) nothing of interest has occurred.
In course of last night the new batteries were traced out and
the trenches commenced. Both these batteries (five•gun
ones) will be established slightly in advance of " French-
man's•hill Battery," and will command the dockyard. The
Russians are, it is said, constructing a battery of heavy
guns near the ruins of Inkerruan, directed on the encamp-
ment of our extreme right (the second division). Most
certainly they have been seen at work in that direction for
the last five days, without being disturLed by our autho-
rities.

From the diary of the Herald's correspondent we
cite some further particulars of the state of affairs
during these days. On the evening of the 18th he
writes :
I was struck with the marked difference between this
day's attack and the combined onslaught of the day before.
From the whole space to the left of our lines, where the
French batteries had stood, not a shot was being fired.
Until I had seen it I could scarcely credit that nearly 100
guns had been so effectually silenced as not to leave the
earthworks even of one fit for tiring from. Yet so it was;
and the French trenches had been perfectly levelled, either
by the fire of the enemy or the explosion of their own
magazines. I saw also, with considerable disgust, that the
enemy's fire appeared twice as heavy as the day previous,
and that our batteries, left to contend against it single-
handed, made no progress. It seems that the Russiaes
have, since the action of yesterday, discovered our weak
points, and also their own; and during the night, when
our fleet retired and our trenches ceased, have erected,
with sandbags, several powerful batteriee, which do much
mischief. The destruction of the French lines also
enables them to concentrate their fire upon ours in a most
uncomfortable manner. The Russian ten-gun battery and
the double tier Flag-staff Battery, which did so much injury
to our allies, can now direct a cross tire upon the English
Green-mound Battery on our extreme left. This told vet;
much upon our men, who, however, coolly stuck to their
guns, in defiance of the shower of shot and shell which
was poured upon them from all points. The Croen
Battery, or Gordon's Battery—for it is called by both
names—in our centre, with the six-gun battery, the battery
of ships' guns and the Lancasters, were all doing their
duty splendidly; but the contest, even to the moat
prejudiced observer, was unequal, and I am sure cannot
last. It is no exaggeration to say that, owing to the silence
of the French and the new batteries thrown up last night,
the Russians are enabled to fire fifteen or twenty guns to
our one. Had they been one-half as expert wiarksmin as
our men they would have silenced us long ago. They
appear to have an illimitable supply of sandbags, so that
when our shot or shell struck their earthworks, two or
three were thrown in instantly to fill up whatever gap
might be made. In this manner they repaired the effects
of the most destructive volley five minutes atter it had been
delivered. For the truth of this statement I can vouch,
for I myself saw the Russians filling up gaps with sand
bags in such a perfect and expeditious manner as makes
me fear we are doing little good in firing. However, be-
fore I left the battery I was somewhat consoled : a shell,
fired from our lines, penetrated the magazine of the circuhr
battery at the foot of the Round Tower; a fearful explosion
followed, which almost annihilated the tower, and certainly
must have sent all the defenders of the earthwork view •
meal into the air. The shock and report were so terrific
that for two or three minutes the enemy ceased firing along
the whole extent of their lines. We could then see that a
number of fresh troops rushed into the battery with one or
two tumbrils of ammunition, and, atter a short delay, in
defiance of ne, and to show that their ordnance was not
injured by the explosion, they fired the whole of the
guns in the work (about twenty) in one tremendous
volley, and, showing themselves at the embrasures' in
their shirt sleeves, gave three loud cheers. They
certainly fight well, and put a good face on their misfor-
tunes, for that explosion must have cost them 200 men at
the least.
Oct 19.—A1l through last night the French have been
incessantly at work, and, though it was not thought been
they could be ready so soon, have repaired their
batteries and again opened fire this morning The enemy
have also made a fresh battery on a commanding position.
and repaired and replaced guns in the redoubt, in front of
the redan wall which we blew up on the 17th. Their ere
this morning, therefore, seems hotter than ever. So hot
is their cannonade and so commanding are their positions
that I much fear we shall do but little good while we con-
tinue battering. The Flag-staff Battery and ten-gun
battery, which flank and command the French lines, never
ceased for a minute all this day. About eleven o'clock a
shot from the latter entered one of the magazines in the
French battery, blowing it up with a terrible explosion.
Most of the men in the work were killed and many of the
guns dismounted. Owing to this accident, and the terrible
storm of shot and shell, most of the French works were
again silenced before two o'clock.
Our lines have maintained a hot fire all through the day,
yet, though nearly 100 shot and shell are thrown per
minute, it produces little effect. The enemy appear to
have an inexhaustible supply of the material necessary, for
a desperate defence. The instant a shot or shell strikes
their works the hole is filled up with sandbags. It seems
impossible, under these circumstances, that we can make
any impression on our foes. All seem agreed that we
have attacked on the wrong side of the town, and that we
must therefore storm it, for our batteries can do little or
nothing. I myself much fear that it will come to this at
last. If we do storm, I have very little doubt that we should
carry the place, but the carnage on all sides would be
frightful. Those versed in such affairs say that it will cost
the allies 15,000 killed and wounded. This is the price
we have to pay for the delays of the Government: The
checks which the fleet and the French have received do
not seem in the least to have disheartened our men, but