The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-11 00:00:00

THE FALL OF SEBASTOPOL.
(From the Times of this dcsy.)
On Saturday, the Bth of September, within a few days
of the anniversary of the landing of the allied forces in
the Crimea, and 316 days after the opening of the be-
sieging batteries against Sebastopol, on the 17th of Octo-
ber, 1854, a final and victorious assault was made upon
the southern part of the town. Before night the French
flag waved in triumph upon the Malakhoti Tower, which
had fallen before the indomitable courage and perse-
verance of the assailants, and within a few hours more
the Russian garrison had evacuated the Karabelnaia
suburb and the southern portion of the fortress, after
blowing up the magazines and principal works, setting
fire to the town in many places, and then endeavouring
to withdraw by the bridge across the harbour from this
terrific scene of devastation and defeat. So fell Sebas-
topol. The catastrophe surpasses in horrible interest all
the preceding scenes of this gigantic contest. The co-
lumps of the allied armies, combined in a fourfold attack,
struggled all day with equal valour, though with un-
equal
success, against the principal points marked out
for assault. The extreme right of the French attack was
directed assainst the work called the Little Redan, which
was -at first carried by the impetuosity of our allies,
though they were subsequently driven back by the fierce
resistance of the Russians. The second and principal
assault of the French army was against the Malakhoff,
which was carried by storm, and determined by its fall
the fate, not only of the day, but of the siege. A third
attack was made by the British forces on the Great
Redan, and, although we learn that the salient angle of
this formidable work was at one moment carried and
occupied by our troops, it must he added that they were
subsequently driven out of it by the fire of the Russian
batteries which commanded it, and this check in some
degree diminishes the exultation which will be felt
in this country at the triumphant termination of
the siege. The French columns on the left also assailed,
in the fourth place, the Central Battery, but failed to
establish themselves in the work. We have no doubt
that every man who attacked the defences of Sebastopol
on that eventful day fought with the same undaunted
gallantry and the same determination to carry the place
or to perish in the attempt; and although the results of
these several attacks were unequal, all were animated
by the same spirit and contributed to the great result.
The first prize of this glorious victory belongs of right
to our gallant allies the French, since the Malakhoff
Tower, the key of the main position, fell before the
vigour of their assault ; but with that chivalrous feeling
which is the noblest bond of men who have fought and
conquered together, the names of all those who carried
the rugged defences of Sebastopol deserve to stand side
by side on one page, and no invidious distinctions shall
sully or lessen their common renown.
The Russians on their side unquestionably defended
the place with the utmost determination, and on inure
than one point they had the advantage over the besieg-
ers. But it was the courage of desperation, for this effort
was their last. No sooner was the outer works taken,
which laid the town and the port at the mercy of the
allied forces, than the men-of-war and steamers in the
harbour were all set on fire, blown up, sunk, or destroyed,
either by the fire of the allied batteries, or by the orders
of the Russian authorities. Such was the fate of the Rus-
sian Black Sea fleet, on which the Imperial Government
had expended incalculable sums of money and incessant
labour—that fleet which two years ago threatened the
very existence of the Turkish empire, but whose-solitary
naval achievement was the atrocious outrage upon a far
inferior force at Sinope. Of the authors of that nefarious
attack what remains ? The Emperor Nicholas sleeps in
the vaults of St. Peter and St. Paul, no loneeer conscious
of the chastisement his wicked ambition has brought down
on his empire and his heirs. The admirals who com-
manded and the crews who fought on that occasion have
most of them fallen in the batteries of Sebastopol. The
very ships for which Russia contended at the Confer-
ences of Vienna as essential to her dignity and power
are torn plank from plank and scattered upon the
waves. The dockyard and arsenal were already, on
Sunday, in possession of the allied troops ; Prince Gort-
schakoff had, it seems, solicited an armistice, though we
know not whether it was granted ; but his troops were
hurrying away with the utmost preeipitation ; and, con-
sidering the moral and physical results of such a defeat
upon the remnant of his army, it may be doubted whe-
ther the Russian General can attempt to make any fur-
ther stand on the north side of the harbour.
These great events terminate the siege of Sebastopol,
properly so called, for the allied armies have achieved
within the last three days the grand objects of their en-
terprise. They have wrested from the whole military
power of Rus,-za a fortress which she had converted into
a place of extraordinary strength and defended wibh in-
numerable hosts of her best troops. They have annihi-
lated the Laval power on which she relied to secure her
authority from the shores of the Caucasus to the mouths
of the Danube. But, above all, they have shown the
servile and credulous nations of the. East that the
Powers now paramount in the world are not those of
fanaticism and barbaric absolutism, but those of liberty
and of civilisation. ln this struggle Sebastopol became
at once the test of strength and the reward of victory.
To reduce it by force of arms was to overthrow that co-
lossal fabric of Russian influence which a century and
a-half of rapine and intrigue had called into being, until
it overawed the surrounding nations and threatened the
independence of Europe. While the expedition to the
Crimea offered theincalculable advantage ofcircumscribin g
within a few square miles of the enemy's territory all
the horrors of war, and of staking the strength of four
empires on a single point, the result of our victory is as
boundless as the globe. It tells the world that the alli-
ance of England and of France has stood the test of war-
fare by the sufferings of the camp and the perils of the
fie:d. It assures mankind that their united policy can
impose its will and execute its resolutions, even though
the timid stand aloof, and though men of baser minds
may abandon the cause of their country in her hour of
need. We owe our success in no slight degree to the
unwavering firmness with which the Emperor of the
French has pursued this enterprise and adhered to the
policy that dictated it. But we owe it no less to the clear
aed unanimous resolution of the people of England,
whose mind was made up that this thing was to be done.
In the course of these events, which broke in so sud-
denly on our wonted avocations, we have had much to
learn and much to bear. At times the tedium of sus-
pended excitement became almost intolerable, and more
than once the fainthearted or the factious lost confidence
in the result. Yet what is the fact ? What is it we have
done ? A year has not yet elapsed since the allied armies
set foot in the Crimea. Within that time they have won
three pitched battles, and twice assaulted a fortress of
extraordinary magnitude. They have encompassed the
works of the enemy with trenches extending over more
than 30 miles of ground ; they have armed these trenches
with the heaviest ordnance, and kept up so incessant a
fire that not only an incalculable amount of projectiles has
been consumed, but five or six siege trains have been
worn out. They have created at Kainiesch, Eupatoria, and
Yenikale three military stations which the Russians have
not dared to assail, and Balaklava has become a populous
mart. A railroad connects the harbour and the camp ;an
electric chain hinds the Crimea to Europe, and conveys to
us in a few hours the tidings of these triumphant suc-
cesses. Upwards of 200,000 men encamped within the
lines of the Tchernaya have been conveyed thither and
are daily fed, clothed, and housed from the resources of
Western Europe. All this has been effected in spite of
the rigour of winter, the beat of summer, and the dis-
tance of 3,000 miles from our shores, and within one
little year from the sailing of the expedition the leading
objects of the campaign are accomplished and Sebastopol
is in our power. The military and political results of
this event open a new chapter in the history of these
traisactions to which we shall shortly take occasion to
revert, but, be they what they may, the grand fact now
before us justifies the confidence we have never ceased
to feel and rewards our hopes, for within 12 months from
the commencement of this enterprise Sebastopol has
fallen, and the power of Russia in the waters of the
Euxine is at an end,

( Front the Daily News of this clay.)
All the south side of the harbour of Sebastopol is in
the possession of the Allies—not a single Russian re-
mains there except as a prisoner. To enable our readers
to form as clear a conception of the process by which
this important issue has been obtained, as the curt tele-
graphic despatches admit of, we submit to them a resume
of the operations from the moment of re-opening the
bombardment. The French and English batteries opened
their fire at daybreak on the sth Inst. The bombardment
was continued all that day and the next without slacken-
ing. On the night between the sth, a Russian two.decker
was set on fire by a shell, and burnt to the water-edge.
On the afternoon of the 7tb, another Russian frigate was
set on fire and destroyed. A great explosion was heard
from theßussian worksabout midnight, supposed to have
been of a magazine on the north side. On the morning of
the Bth a great fire was observed to be burning about the
middle of the town of Sebastopol. At noon on the same
day a simultaneous attack was made on the Malakhoff,
the Careening Bay Redan, and the Central
_Bastion by
the French ;on the Redan by the English. The two
first mentioned works were carried by assault, and our
gallant allies made good their position in the entrench-
ments of the Malakhoff, but were forced to retire from
the Careening Bay Redan by the heavy fire of the enemy.
The attack on the Central Bastion proved unsuccessful.
The English carried the salient of the Rcdan,, but were
forced to retire before the enemy's artillery and his
powerful reserves. -General- Pelissier -oays, Our loss
was severe :" General Simpson, " The casualties, I re-
iret to say,-are somewhat heavy." On the morning of
the 9th it was found that the Russians bad evacuated the
South Side. During the preceding night they had blown
up their magazines and set fire to the town. As soon as
their troops were' withdrawn, the bridge connecting the
south side of the harbour with the north was broken np.
All the Russian men-of-war in the harbour were destroyed
during the night. General Simpson states that they
were "burned ;" Sir E. Lyons, that they were 1Q sunk."
Thhre Rueesmssaialln
sntaevy
ameinrs,th Btlhaeck Sea is
harbour
nao w
se reducedbast t
op
oio,
within rarge of and exposed to the artillery of the,

most orpid Itn:'gination may be enabled, even by
this bald and meagre. narrative, to conjure up a lively
ipreieittruptoLthe aii terr of the ISCOlte;-:' For 601:114 titre