The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-04 00:00:00

THE ARMISTICE.

JUNE 19.

The natural consequence, in civilised warfare, of such a
contest as that which took Place yesterday is an 4rnaistice to
bury dead. It was our sad duty to demand it, for our dead
lay outside our lines, and there were no Russian corpses in
front of the Redan or Malakhoff. After the contest of the
22d of May, General Os..eu•Sacken is said to have applied
twice to our generals before an armistice was accorded to
him ; and, indeed, General Pelissier expressly says that
the truce was granted to the Russian general on his reite-
rated request. It is no wonder, then, that the Russians
were rather chary of granting us an armistice, when they
had no occasion to go outside their lines for their dead or
dying and wounded. Somehow or other the rumour got
abroad that there would be an armistice early in the day,
and we hoisted a white flag in the forenoon, but there
was no such emblem of a temporary peace displayed by the
Russians.

Our batteries and riflemen ceased firing, and the Rus-
sians crowded the tops of the parap3ts of the Redan •and
of the Round Tower (Malakhofl) batteries, and did not
harass us by any fire, but of course it was dangerous to go
out in front of the lines till they hoisted the white flag
also. The advanced trenches were filled with officers and
soldiers eager to find the bodies of their poor comrades, but
they could not stir out of the parallels. They waited
patiently and sadly for the moment when friendship's last
melancholy office could be performed. It was a very hot
day, and of all the places in the world whore heat dis-
plays its utmost power, a trench before Sebastopol is the
most intolerable. Every moment anxious eyes were
turned to the huge walls of earth before the Round Tower
and behind the aattis of the Redan, in the hope of seeing
the answering flag, but our own was the only one in view,
and the French were still firing away on our loft at the
Russian works. It was evident that something was wrong,
and it was whispered that the Russians had refused our
application for an armistice. Boats were at last seen to
leave the roads of Sebastopol, and to meet boats from the
fleet at the entrance, and it became known that the Rus-
sians had acceded to an armistice, and that it was to take
place at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. To pass the weary
time away, there was nothing to do but to watch the Rus-
sians at work repairing their batteries—labours which
they continued during the armistice subsequently—
and to make out the bodies which lay scattered about in
front of the Redan and Malakhoff. It was agonising to
see the wounded men who were lying there under a broil-

ing sun parched with excruciating thirst, racked with :
fever, and agonised with pain—to behold them waving
their caps faintly or making signals toward our lines, over
which they could see the white flag waving, and not to be
able to help them. They lay where they fell, or had
scrambled into the holes formed by shells ; and there they
had been for 30 hours—oh ! how long and how dreadful in
their weariness ! An officer told me that one soldier who
was close to the abattis when he saw a few men come out
of an embrasure raised himself on his elbow, and, fearing
he should be unnoticed and passed by, raised his cap on a
stick and waved it till he fell back exhausted. Again he
rose, and managed to tear off his shirt, which he agitated
in the air till his strength failed him. His face could be
seen through a glass, and my friend said he never could
forget the expression of resignation and despair with which
the poor fellow at last abandoned his useless efforts, and
folded his shirt under his head to await the mercy of Hea-
ven. Whether he was- alive or not when our men went
out I cannot say, but five hours of thirst, fever, and pain
under a fierce sun would make fearful odds against him.
The red coats lay sadly thick over the broken ground in
front of the abattis of the Redan, and blue and grey coats
were scattered about or lay in piles in the raincourses be-
fore the Malakhoff. I could see, too, that the white port
streaks of the Russian vessels were blackened by the broad-
sides of the morning of the 18th. About 3 o'clock I rode
down past the old 13-inch mortar battery in advance of
our Picket-house into the Middle Picket Ravine, at the end
of which begins the French approaches to their' old parallel
which is now extended np to their recent conquest, the
Mamelon. A body of the 12th Lancers and of some light
cavalry moved down the Woron zoff-road about the same time
or little later, and began extending their files right and left
in a complete line across the whole of our front, with the
evident object of preventing any officers and men, except
those who were required on duty, getting down to the
neutral ground. However, my companions and myself
were beforehand, and had got down into the ravine before
the cavalry halted just behind the Picket-house. As we
advance this ravine is almost paved with shot and shell.
They stud its sides or lie in artificial piles out of the path
at the bottom. The earth gleams here and there with
bullets and fragments of lead. In one place there is a
French picket posted in a bend of the ravine, sleeping
under their gronteeo4 railed on twisti to Protect t4em

ee!"=.'e•es . " • •
from the sun, or keeping Watch oierthe eternal:eft-cm-feu,
.makieg,delicious coffee with the rudest apparatus smoking
me-talking grayely. Yes .for a wonder, the men are grave,
and leek almost sullen, but they-are merely thoughtful, and
thin kingeof the comrades wheaelodies they will loon have
.tjo'inter, for you will find Iliera courteous and probspt, to
give 7014 a drink of muddy watee, or a liittefor a cigar, or
any information theyecan afford..By thsrsideof this ravine
careful in guiding' hinae-"eistaby. ienebeimble mound, some
.—your horse-must neede tread' them, if you are not
marking the resting-place of individual soldiers, others
piled over one;of those' deepl.pits Where rank and file lie in-
their common glory covere4 with limo, and. marked now
and then with -a simple wooded cross. Our Protestant
'feelings need not be outraged by the fact that this emblem
of the old Christian worldeis,not confined to the graves of
Roman Catholics, but that the desire to secure for the re-
mains of their comrades repasts in their res.tieg-places here- .
after has induced many soldiere io erect the cross above
.i.hcriet melancholy moundis,lnowing that the Russians will
respect it. In other turnsein._ the ravine you will find
mutes With litters for the wounded, and ambulances' and
the horses of the Land Transport Corps writing for their
berden. English and French are mixed together. I saw
in one place two of men, heart from the rest, with pie-•
lapcholy faces. What are you waiting here fOr ?" said.
I. " To go out for the Celonel, sir." was the reply. la What
Colonel ?'Why, Colonel Year_ 'to sure,- sir,"
said the good fellow, who was evidentireufprised at my
thinking therecould- be any. btlier colonel in the world.
And indeed the Lieht Division wild feel his loss. Under.
occasional brusqueness of manner he concealed a most
kind heart, and a more thorough siddieii one more devoted
to his men, to the service, and to his country, never fell in •
battle'thah Lacy Yea. I have reason to know that he felt
his greats services and his arduous 'exertions had not been.
rewarded as he had a right to expect. At the Alma he
never went back a step, and there -were tears in his oyes
on that eventful afternoon as he exclaimed to me, when
the men had formed on the slope of the hill after the re-
treat of theynemY; "There!, look there ! that's all, that
remains of nay peer Fusiliers ! A carolled missing, but,
thank God, no Russians have it !" • Throughout the winter
his attention to his regiment was exemplary. They-were
the first who had hospital huts. When other regiments
were in need of every comfort, and almost of every neces-
sary, the Fusiliers, by the care of their colonel, had every-
thing ' that could be procured by exertion and foresight.
He never missed a turn of duty in the trenches, except for
a short time, when his medical attendant had to use every
effort to induce him to go on board ship to save his life.
At, Inkerrnan his gallantry was conspicuous. What did he
get for it all ? He and Col. Egerton are now gone, and
there remains in the Light Division but one officer of the
same rank who stands in the same case as they did. Is
there nothing to be done for the colonels? •No recognition
of their services? No decorations? No order of merit ?
Just as one is thinking of these things, a French officer
passes by with two orderlies after him. He is about 35
years of age, and yet his embroidered sleeves and his cap
show be is colonel of a regiment, and his breast is covered
with ribaud, and star and cross. Our colonels had
entered the service ere this young man, who has won
nearly all his honours in campaigns against Ben Some-
thing or other in Africa, was born. Let us get on, for the
subject is unpleasant. You are now close to the Mamelon,
and the frequent reports of rifles and the pinging of 'the
balls close to you prove that the flag of truce has not yet
been hoisted by the enemy. We are now in the zigzag, a
ditch about 6 feet broad and 6 feet deep, with the earth
knocked about by shot at the sides, and we meet French-
men laden with water canteens or carrying large tin cans
full of coffee, and tins of meat and soup, ready cooked, up
to the Mamelon. They are cooked in the ravine close at
hand, and taken up in messes to the men on duty. The
Memel= rises before us, a great quadrangular work on
the top of a mound or hill opposite Malakhoff, which is
about 503 yards nearer to Sebastopol. The sides are
formed of enormous parapets with a steep slope, and they
bear many traces of our tremendous fire on them before
the Mamelon was taken.
The parapets are high inside the work, and are of a pro-
digious thickness. It was evident the Mamelon was over-
done by the Russians. It was filled with huge traverses,
and covers, and excavations inside, so that it was impos-
sible to put a large body of men into it, or to get them
into order in case of an assault. The interior is like a
quarry, so torn is it and blown up with shells. !The stench
is fearful. It arises from the dead Russians, who were
buried as they fell, and bones, and arms, and legs stick
out from the piles of rubbish on which you are treading.
Many guns also were buried here when they were disabled
by our fire, but they do not decompose so rapidly as poor
aboutben dtthheei r
mortality. I was shown here one of those extraordinary
s
fongasses, or small mines, which are exploded on the
touch of the foot,' and which the Russians planted thickly
advancedtin: tube, an 7octrksbrealkfeatpheerstiolts.stetpusbeoninistidte.
Combustion instantly takes place,,the mine explodes,- and
not only destroys everything near it, but throws out a
quantity of bitumen, with which it is coated, in a state
of ignition, so as to burn whatever it rests upon. Later
in the day I very nearly had a practical experience of
the working of these mines, for an English sentry,
who kindly warned me off, did not indicate the exact
direction till he found he was in danger of my firing it,
when he became very communicative on the subject. One
of them blew up during the armistice, but I don't know
what damage it did. We have lost several men by them.
The white flag was hoisted from the Redan just as 1 turned
into the second English parallel on my left, where it joins
the left of the French right. The Russians threw out a
long line of sentries along their works in front of the abat-
tis which guards them, and at the same time we advanced
another line of sentries opposite the Redan, and the French
a similar cordon before the Mamelon. The officers on duty
hastened to the intermediate space, and the burying' and
searching parties came out on their sad duty. The Quar-
termaster-General and his staff were on the spot, and every
precaution was taken to keep officers and men from crowd-
ing about. The men in the trenches were enjoined not to
get up on the parapets or into the embrasures, or to look
over. All officers and men not on duty were stopped by
the cavalry a mile behind or at the boyaux in the trenches.
The Russians seemed to be under restraint also, but they
crowded on the top of the Redan and of the Malakhoff
parapets, and watched the proceedings with great interest.
I walked out of the trench unmolested on the right and
rear of the Quarries, under the Redan, in which we have
now established a heavy battery at the distance of 400
yards from the enemy's embrasures. The ground slopes
down from our attack for some few hundred yards and
then rises again to the Redan. It is covered with long rank
grass and weeds, with large stones, with tumuli, alas ! of
recent formation, and with holes ranging in depth from
3.1, feet or 4 feet to a foot, and in diameter from 5
feet to 7 or 8 feet, where shells have fallen and ex-
ploded. It is impossible to give a notion of the man-
ner in which the earth is scarred by these explo-
sions, and by the passage of shot. The grass, too,
is seamed in all directions by grapeshot, and fur-
rowed by larger missiles, as if ploughs, large and
small, had been constantly drawn over it. Some times it
is difficult to get over the inequalities in the ground, which
is naturally of a broken and uneven surface. there is a
red jacket, in the grass—a private of .the 34th is lying on
his face as if he were fast asleep; his rifle, with the barrel
curved quite round, and bent nearly in two by the grape-
shot which afterwards passed through the soldier's body,
is under him, and the right hand, which protrudes from
under his chest, still clutches the stock. It was the first
body I saw, and the nearest to our lines, but as we ad-
vanced and passed the sentries they lay thick enough around
and before him. The litter-bearers were already busy.
Most of our dead seemed to lie close to the abattis of the
Redan, and many, no doubt, had been dragged up to it at
night for plunder's sake. Colonel Yea's body was found
near the abattis on the right of the Roden ; his boots and
epaulettes were gone, but otherwise his clothing was un-
touched. His head was greatly swollen, and his features,
and a fine manly face it had been, were nearly undistin-
guishable. Colonel Shadforth's remains were discovered
in a similar state. The shattered frame of Sir John
Campbell lay close up to the abattis. His sword and boots
were taken, but the former is said to be in the Light Di-
vision Camp. It is likely he was carried away from the
spot where he fell up to the ditch of the &battle for the
facility of searching the body, as he could not have got so
far in advance as the place where he lay. Already his
remains were decomposing fast, and his face was much
disfigured. Captain Hume, his attached aide-de-camp,
had the body removed, and this evening it was interred on
Cathcart's-hill—his favourite resort, where every one was
sure of a kind word and a cheerful saying from the gallant
Brigadier. It was but the very evening before his death
that I saw him standing within a few feet of his own grave.
He had come to the ground in order to attend the funeral
of Captain Vaughan, an officer of his own regiment (the
38th), who died of wounds received two days previously
in the trenches' and he laughingly invited one who was
talking to him to come and lunch with him next day at
the Clubhouse of Sebastopol. I must close here for the
present.
Although the army has been disappointed by the result
of the attack on the Redan and Malakhoff, it has not de-
spaired—it does not despair of the result of this weary
siege. It riot too much to say that General Jones, our
chief engineer, expects nothing of importance to be
achieved for several, many, weeks to come—that Sir
George Brown is wiser and more discreet, and Lord Rag-
lan less sanguine and more perturbed than they have been
for some time past. Our Land Transport Corps is so
hardly pressed by the service of the Siege Artillery that,
as I am informed, the ration of fuel has been, on several
occasions, recently not forthcoming for the troops to the
:ull amount.

(Prom the Daily News Special Correspondent.)
HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, JUNE 21:

The original plan of attack contemplated a joint English
and French assault of the Malakhoff, which as command-
ing the Redan and forming the grand key to the whole
network of redoubts and batteries in front of the place,
would, if taken, have at once rendered the former unte-
nable, and placed the whole town and harbour at the
mercy of the captors. For reasons, however, which no-
body can understand, this very sensible and apparently
most practicable design was abandoned, and the plan was
changed into one of a simultaneous attack of the t vo
great works—the Malakhoff being undertaken by the
French and the Roden by ourselves. The first manifest
disadvantage of this arrangement was the spreading of our
forces over a field of difficulties nearly double in extent,
and enabling the enemy to bring a vast number of guns
into play against us, which, in the former case, could not
have injured a man. To vastly enhance the chances of
failure involved in this plan to ourselves, our whole attack-
ing force, including supports and everybody else, was
limited to some four thousand men; whilst the French,
with a much juster appreciation of the difficulty that fell
to their share, told off twenty-five thousand. Of our
handful, again, a large proportion consisted of raw re-
cruits, recently arrived to fill up the gaps in the regiments
selected for the service—regiments which, with one or
two exceptions, have borne the whole brunt of our trench
fighting, and suffered accordingly. This was done
through no want of old soldiers, of whom the third
and fourth divisions could have furnished abundance—
men who have been kept comparatively idle whilst their
comrades of the Light and Second Divisions have been
worked like galley-slaves. Sir George Brown, I believe,
is to be thanked for this selection ; anxious as ho was to
gain fresh laurels for his own command, thong h
knew the untried materielmaterielof which so large a proportion
he well
of its strength is composed. I have already mentioned
that the 23d Regiment had been chosen to lead the attack,
and that, through a similar motive of mistaken desire to
briDgegY to big OWDAYOUrite QtrPgj CIVA9I4I Airey ?rah

. at the eleventh hour, permitted to assign this place of
honour to the 34th—a regiment which, whether justly or
not, enjoys only a moderate reputation amongst the others
now in camp. Later still in the evening preceding the
assault, Sir George discovered that the major commanding
the 23d was still laid up with a wound received in the at-
tack on the Quarries, and that the senior captain—an
officer, by the way, of some 18 years' service—would have
charge of the corps during the storming. " Impossible ;
this will never do," said the friend of apoplectic neck fur-
niture, " another regiment, with a field-officer in corn-
mend, must bo substituted." A message to this effect was
telegraphed to head-quarters, , but Lord Raglan, with a
degree of common sense which was quite unmilitary,
overruled his second's objection, and replied that an officer
of Captain —'s length of service, be his rank what it
might, should be quite as fit to lead his regiment into ac-
tion as any field officer in the service, aud, accord-
ingly, that no substitution should be made. I merely
mention these trifles to show the state of un-
certainty and confusion in which our preparations
Were till almost within an hour before the assaulting force
marched down towards the scene of its struggle and defeat.
Then another deviation from the original plan of attack
was made, also at.the eleventh hour, by General Pelissier,
to which both military sense and common sense agree in
attributing no small share of both the French and our own
failure. Though the bombardment had been kept up vigo-
rously the whole of Sunday, night necessarily compelled a
slackening of the allied fire, and during this respite there
was reason to expect that the Russians would employ them-
selves in making good the injuries done to their batteries
during the day. It was therefore arranged that at day-
break on Monday a terrific fire of shot and shell should be
poured into the Redan and Malakhoff, to render as many
of their guns as possible incapable of mischief. An hour
or so, however, before the combined forces marched from
the camp the French Commander-in-Chief rode over to our
own head-quarters and declared that he could not wait for
this preliminary assault of artillery, as he would have so
many men in his trenches before the Malakhoff that there
would be no cover for them ; and, consequently, they
(and we) must "attack at daybreak,
.at all hazards,
and take the chance of finding the enemy's guns in
the most favourable condition in which our bombard-
ment and their owners' subsequent idleness might have
left them. Of course Lord Raglan complied, though
forty-nine out of fifty of the subalterns in his camp would
have foretold the consequences to be expected ; and, ac-
cordingly, soon after the first streaks of sunlight broke over
the horizon the doomed thousands rushed to defeat and
death.
So little is ever known of the details of French opera-

tions here, that I can give you few particulars of their
attack on the Malakhoff ; but their plan of assault appears
to have consisted in assailing the work on both flanks and
the front simultaneously, and with overwhelming numbers
—twenty-five thousand are said to have been actually en-
gaged. In just retribution for the disregard of their gene-
ral to the good to be expected from a short morning's bom-
bardment, they found the redoubt swarming with defen-
ders, and guns bristlindfrom every embrasure. On them, as
on our own men, showers of grape and canister were poured
out, literally mowing down whole battalions at a time ;
whilst from along the whole semicircular line of parapet
the crowding riflemen sent volley after volley into their
disordered ranks, that passed through them like a sheet of
molten lead. Three times they gave way, and as often
rallied ; but were finally driven back after a struggle of
some three hours and a half, leaving the space between the
Hamden and Malakhoff literally covered with the dead
and dying.
With our own men, the space to be passed over from
our most advanced trenches to the Redan was somewhere
about seven hundred yards, and from the first moment of
their rushing over the parapet towards the point of attack,
they were met by the same awful and annihilating storm
of canister and grape. Many fell within the first dozen of
yards, and thence on to some broken ground about mid-
way, in which the remainder sought cover, the field was
strewed with the slain and wounded. An officer present
in the affair, and who was one of the few who escaped un-
injured, described the fire to me as being perfectly awful
—much more severe, he assured me, than that which
greeted our men at Alma, where ho also fought, and re-
ceived a wound. Few of the men ever reached the abattis
in front of the work—none, I believe, ever even saw the
deep ditch which protects its approaches. I have already
mentioned the confusion which characterised the first
commencement of our movement ; and coupling this with
the murderous preparations made by the enemy, you will
be at no loss to understand that success was most impro-
bable. I shall presently mention what the Russians thought
of our generalship, as repeated in my own hearing by
one of themselves. Daring the whole affair Lord Raglan
and Sir George Brown were ensconced within our S-gun
battery ; but though this afforded a good view of the
scene of the struggle and of the disorder which marked
it, for some reasons unknown to uninitiated spectators
they appeared unable to give any efficient directions
for the correction of our multiplied blunders. When
the whole sad scene was ended, our men struggled back by
every safe avenue to the camp, in a state of dispirited con-
fusion, well in keeping with the mob-like disorder in which
they had. been throughout the assault.
About midnight of Monday I was roused up by the
sound of a terrific cannonade, and sustained musketry fire,
along the whole front from our left to the French right,
and on hastening out to the height in advance of the Vic-
toria Redoubt heard and witnessed what induced me to
believe that a night attack had been made by ourselves
and the French to retrieve the fortune of the day. From
the Malakhoff to the extreme left of the Redan—a space
of about a mile—whole clouds of flame burst along the
line from the sustained discharges of some two hundred
cannon, whilst musketry filled up the short intervals from
both our own and the enemy's ground. The night was
pitch dark, and as the storm of shells whistled through the
air, nothing could be grander than the fiery parabolas of
these terrible messengers, from battery to redoubt, and
from redoubt back again to battery. I have neither time
nor power to describe the magnificent but awful pyrotech-
nic scone. A badly aimed shell from the Malakhok passed
high over the Mamelon, and fell some sixty yards from
where I stood ; but though this was safe enough, I
deemed it best to shift my ground, and so retired. A
loud " three times three" rose upon the midnight air
from the direction of the Redan ; and as one can never be
mistaken in this peculiar vocal product of British lungs, I
jumped to the pleasant conclusion that the day's stain had
been wiped away, and that the Redan was our own. I
was, however, mistaken, and the explanatton of the whole
affair was this: during the night, the French, endeavour-
ing to take advantage of the darkness, had crept out from
the Manselou, to recover a number of scaling ladders
which they had been compelled to abandon daring the at-
tack. Tho Russians perceived them, and opened a smart
firo of grape from the guns of the Malakhoff, which was
replied to by shell from the Mamelon, Almost simulta-
neously, a party of the enemy emerged from the Redan, in
expectation of what they deemed a similar attack to that
attempted by the French, and being perceived by our mon
a volley of musketry was poured into them, and chase
given with the bayonet. After a short stand the Russians
turned and fled, and it was at this juncture that the hur-
rahs I have mentioned were sent after them. After this
the cannonade was kept up for some time from both lines,
in the manner I have remarked.
Next morning there was hardly a gun fired on either
side ; and about 12 o'clock wo hoisted aflag to request the
necessary truce for the burial of our dead.
TCHORGOITN, JUNE 21.
After witnessingthe brave, but fruitless assault upon the
Malakhoff and Redan on the morning of the 18th, at day-
break, I rejoined the Turks on the plateau above the vil-
lage of Upon, on the, other side of the Tchernaya, in a
north-easterly direction from Balaklava. They had quitted
their position close to Lord Raglan's head-quarters early
on the 17th, with—so ran the tale —the full intention of
making a final movement in advance in concert with the
Pieclmontese and two divisions of the French. They took
no tents with them, except some half dozen for the use of
the pachas and other dignitaries. Everybody under that
rank was obliged to content himself with such covering as
could be afforded by the "arch of heaven," and, in fact, but
for the rather heavy dew of the nights, no one could desire
better. Upoo was occupied, a few shots were exchanged
with some hundred Greek volunteers and Donski Cossacks
-the only Russian troops to be seen, and the night of the
17th was passed on the plateau above the village. In the
afternoon of the following day, Omer Pasha received the
news of the failure of the attacks on the Malakhoff and the
Redan, and the same evening retired two miles, and took
up his position on another plateau above Koutchka. This
retrograde movement was said to be caused partly by the
check received by the allies, and partly by some vague
fears of being " cut off," though what they were founded
on I could never clearly ascertain. There were certainly no
Russians in the vicinity beyond the Greek volunteers, and
the army might have marched right to Bakshi-Serai
without hindrance.
The plain above Koutchka was covered with brush-
wood, and in default of tents the soldiers exit off leafy
branches, and in a few hours had constructed a whole town
of summer-houses, which formed an admirable protec-
tion from the burning heat of the sun, as well as
from the night. In this sort of work the Turkish soldiers
display no small amount of skill and ingenuity. The bowers
of this sort which they constructed for the pachas might
grace any English garden.
Valley of Baidar, 12 miles south-east of Balaklava, June
22.—The movement of the troops commenced about 1
o'clock this morning ; by 5 the last battalion had descended
from the heights above Koutchka, and was wending its
way along the Woronzoff road towards Baidar. This,
though not exactly " advancing backward," is something
rather like it. It is certainly a step towards fighting, as
there aro Russian troops in this quarter, but it is not a
step towards anything decisive as the general objects of
the war. No movement that is not directed against Sim-
pheropol can very seriously affect the Russians.
We do not expect to move to-morrow, but for the day
after I cannot answer. Our outposts are on near Balder.
The Piedmontese, who crossed the Tchernaya at the sam e
time as Omer Pacha, and were likewise encamped necr
Tchorgoun, were also to have marched to-day, but, as et,
we have seen nothing of them. They are still suprv.slion
from cholera. There is some talk of Bosquet's di I
acting in conjunction with the Turks.

BEFORE SEBASTOPO , JVNL „
ed, letter win reach
( From the Special Correspondent of theL gorLtill'eprald.. )
In the hope that this hastily-T.) u
nKamiesch, the French
port leaving some hours
sytoaut i ionn , time,
with lith, have rpiodsctl efnro
after the one from Balaklay.ao, .
at which I posted my pre-
ceding letter early this mor '
nitroops are furious—a much
The British and French .
possible, might be employed—at
(rakwthnat-We
stronger expression,
theif p
storming party on the Redan and
the way in which treated. The two Englisha
Malakhoff batteries we
re
the storm' - regi-
mentsing ing party on the Redan
chiefly conaP°B
truly heroic party—were shot down,four like
dogs, whilst a •
deep,
thousands of their countrymen, panting like
for the contest, were prevented—literally prevented
lionsan forbidden
—giving any aid. Those regiments were the
57th and the 33d, aided by the Rifles.
As I said before, they advanced four deep : a very inju-
dicious arrangement under all circumstances, for they
should have been allowed to get to their gaol on a more
extended plan, and depend upon it British soldiers would
have come to the mark under any difficulties. Those re-
giments have been more than decimated, and all through
not being supported. No real effort, in fact, at aiding them
was made. Terrible isthe responsibility—searching, minute,
and fearless must be the investigation. Sixty sailors of the
Naval Brigade volunteered to go with the storming party
—all honour to the heroic fellows 1 Off they went with
....._- - -

(F,•ont the Special Correspondent of the 2lforning Post.)
CAMP BEFORE SEBA.STOPOL, JUNE 20.
They say we are preparing again for another attempt ;
but that cannot be until we receive more powder from
Malta, unless we drain ourselves of the little We have.
Shot and shell we have in abundance. Scarcely a shot
can be heard during the day. For two nights past can-
nonading and musketry have been very brisk. yester-
day a flag of truce was hoisted, but it was some time be-
fore the enemy answered it; but at last it was hoisted for
the burial of the dead, from four till seven p.m. The
heat of the weather had caused some awful sights in the
(lead and the mangled limbs of the poor fellows. Our loss
is great—no less than 17 officers, I hear. Colonel Yea, I
understand, the enemy had completely stripped. The
whole of the troops are still stationed on the heights. The
Guards are still encamped on the ground in rear of the Third
Division. The French Imperial Guard are likewise bivon.
asked on the right,as before the assault,from which circum-
stance we anticipate that another trial will begiven. A Rus-
sian mechanic from the to vin came over this morning, and tells
us that the firing, at the time of the assault, and during
the day previous, killed and wounded about half the gar-
rison. A scarcity of water is beginning to be felt on the
heights, more especially near the regiments, from the over-
crowded state of so small a piece of ground. The wounded
of both French and English are being sent on board ship
as rapidly as possible. The wounded suffer greatly this
weather. The Simla, screw-steamer, has made a very
rapid passage, having left Southampton on the 3d instant,
and arrived here on the ISth early, with 11 officers, 250
men, and 290 horses of the Royal Horse Artillery. The
Cormorant has also arrived with 6 officers, 53 men, and 59
horses of the 17th Lancers.

Cholera cases in the Guards are of less frequency since
their removal up to the front. In tho Royal Artillery,
five and sii daily is about the average.
I can hear no news as to when the place will be attempted
again.

JUNE 22.
Everything still remains very quiet. Another trial will
be made on the town from this side. Every exertion is now
being made in the transport of shot, shell, and powder,
immense quantities of which have been transported up
these last few days by rail. Some fresh arrivals have
come into harbour, which puts plenty at our disposal. No
firing scarcely takes place during the day. At night, as
usual, when works are in progress, the usual quantity of
shells are to be seen flying in the air from both sides. We
have commenced a new battery in the new ground obtained
the other night near the Cemetery, close to the Dockyard
Creek, which it will command ; but the enemy have per-
ceived our intentions, and have traced, and last night
commenced, another strong work to enfilade it. But it has
not stopped our progress, so that, in course of time, we
may expect to hear nightly attacks being made on this new
piece of work by us, for it will be impossible to hold the
present ground, or battery, if they are allowed to erest
this battery, without its being taken or destroyed. The
other night the enemy set the houses on fire in that neigh-
bourhood, which burnt fiercely, for the purposes, it is sup-
posed, of giving them a better opportunity to resist us,
and to deprive us of any shelter. The French are throw-
ing up, close to Careening Bay and on the flank of the
Mamelon, a very large battery, which will, when com-
pleted, be mounted with the heaviest guns and mortars.
But they are so exposed to the enemy's fire that the works
cannot progress with that rapidity one would like to see ;
but the French seem determined to master all obstacles to
obtain their end, which is said to be of extreme utility,
for this battery will command the shipping (in conjunc-
tion with the one now making in the Cemetery) ; it
rakes the Careening Bay, and also the main harbour,
down to Fort Constantine, so that if the Allies can but
secure these two batteries in operation, we may yet have
good hopes. But even if we continue as we now are, in a
very short time the enemy will have destroyed both town
and shipping. Another three weeks must elapse ere any-
thing can be done or attempted.
General Estcourt has had an attack of cholera, and Lord
Burghersh has been very severely indisposed. Cholera is
on the decline. The First Division will remain to do duty
in front for a time.

JUNE 23.
A sharp attack was made by the enemy last night, but
it was easily repulsed.
Lieut.-General Pennefather, C. 13., proceeds to England
for the recovery of his health.
Major the Hon. A. Cathcart, Deputy Adjutant-General,
Light Division, and Captain the Hon. J. Hutchinson, 13th
Light Dragoons, are indisposed, and proceed to Scutari.
The weather continues vory hot.
The 71st are still at Kertch, throwing up works.

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK.

( From the Report of the Registrar-General. )

In the week that ended last Saturday the deaths of
1,273 persons, of whom 669 were males and 604 females,
were registered in London. The return shows an increase
on that of the previous week, when the number was
1,075. This result is not caused by an increased mor-
tality, but by an influx into the registers (which is usual
at the end of a quarter) of cases returned by coroners,
which have accumulated during previous weeks. In the
table of causes of death these cases are chiefly found
under the several heads that compose the class of deaths
by "violence." This class comprises 158 deaths i❑ the
present return, against 53 in the preceding week.
In the corresponding weeks of the ten previous years
the average number of deaths was 1,023, and with the
same rate of mortality which then prevailed, in the popu-
lation as now existing, the number would be 1,125. The
excess of the present return above the corrected average
is 14S ; and the comparison is admissible, because the
corresponding weeks having occurred at or near the end
of a quarter, they were subject for the most part to the
same irregularity which has been mentioned above.

Last week the deaths from zymotic diseases were 212,
whilst the corrected average is 249. 01 that number 24
were caused by small-pox, 39 by scarlatina, :36 by hoop-
ing-cough, 43 by typhus, and only 9by measles. The
only disease in this class which manifests any tendency
to increase is diarrhcca, and the numbers from it are
still inconsiderable. In the last fuur weeks diarrhcra
was fatal in 16, 17, 25, and 33 case?.

Last week the births of 879 boys and 853 girls, in all
1,732 children, were registered in London. In the ten
corresponding weeks of the years 1345-54 the average
number was 1,484.

The reading of the barometer at the Royal Observa-
tory, Greenwich, rose to 30.25 in. by the morning of
Wednesday, which was the highest reading in the week.
Tile mean reading was above 30 in. on every day till
Friday, and the mean of the week was 30.048 in. The
mean temperature of the week was 63 deg., which is 1.8
deg. above the average of the same week in 3S years.
The mean temperature was above the average on every
day after Monday ; and on Wednesday when it was 66.8
deg. it was 5.6 deg. above the average. On that day
the highest temperature of the week occurred, and was
80.5 deg. ; the lowest occurred on Monday, and was
47.7 deg. The highest reading of a thermometer in the
sun was 105 deg. on Saturday. The mean dew point
temperature of the week was 52.8 deg., and the differ-
ence between this and the mean temperature of the air
was 10.1 deg. The temperature of the water of the
Thames was 62'4 deg. No rain fell in the week.

MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS.
NUMBER OF DEATHS PROM ALL CAUSES REGISTERED
IN THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, .TUNE 30.
Zyrnotic Diseases 212
Diseases of Uncertain Seat 37
Tubercular D;

Aseases
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves and Senses
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 72
Diseases of the Lungs and other Organs of
Respiration .. ....................................... 137
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and. other Organs
of Digestion . ............ .. . • ........................... 70
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c. .. . ........................ 6
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c. ............... 1;
Diseases Malformations
Diseases
oo fftt
hh
ee .
..
Skin,.. Joints, .
.&. .
C....80ne5,
and.. .
.. a..
in:
..nd..
t........
.Musclesl .......
...
.........................................
15:
Premature Birth and Debility ........................... 30
Atrophy ...................................................... 45
Old Age ......................... . ...... , .................... 31
5udden............................................
Violence, Privation, Cold,lntemperance
Causes not specified ............

DEATHS Tnox ALL CAUSES
Population Deaths in eorre- Deaths
Enumerated. sponding week In the
1851. of 1854. Week.
West Districts ...... 376,427
North Districts ...... 490,396
Central Districts...., 393,256
East Districts 485,522
South Districts

Totals
Males 669
Females

1,290

1,27$