The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-26 00:00:00

" GENERAL AFTER-ORDER.

"Head-quarter 4, Sept. 9.
The Commander of the Forces congratulates the at my
on the result of the attack of yeaterday.
"The brilliant as'ault and occupation of the Mala.
khoff by our gallant allies obliged the enemy to aban-
don the works they have so long held with such bravery
and determination.
"The Giramander of the Forces returns his thanks to
the General Officers and i•fficers and men of the Second
arid L'ght Divisions, who advanced and xttacked with
such gallantry the works of the Redan. He regrets, from
the formidable nature of the flanking defences, that their
devotion did not meet with that immediate success which
it so well merited.

"He condoles and deeply sympathises with the many
brave officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who
ara now suffering from the wounds they received in the
course of their noble exertions of yesterday.
" He deeply deplores the death of the many gallant
officers and men who have fallen in the final struggle of
this long and memorable siege.
"Their loss will be severely felt and their names long
remembered in this army and by the British nation.
"General Simpson avails himself of this opportunity
to congratulate and convey her warmest thanks to the
general officers, and soldiers of the several divisions, to
the Royal Engineers and Artillery, for their cheerful
endurance and almost unparalleled hardships and suffer-
ings, and for the unflinching colrage and determination
which on so many trying occasions they have evinced.
"It is with equal satisfaction that the Commander of
the Forces thanks the officers and men of the Naval
Brigade for the long and uniform course of valuable ser-
vice rendwred by them from the commencement of the
siege.

" Bsr order,
«H. W. BARNARD, Chief of the Staff.
It is difficult, as I have masion to observe on
similar occasions, to give with any pretensions-to
accuracy the details of a battle, but it becomes
almost impossible to attain correctness in describing
such an affair as the assault on the Redan under
the peculiar circumstances which attended it.
In addition to the smoke of battle there
were flying clouds of dust mingled with sand,
which blew right into the faces of the men and
swep the hills in their rear, which were crowded
with the spectators, or those who tried to be so,
and the irregularity of the ground offered other im-
pediments to their view ; but greater than all these
obstacles was this, that no one could from any con-
ceivable position in front see what was going on
inside the Redan, which seemed to engulf our
soldiers within its huge dun-coloured and ragged
parapets, only to vomit them forth again in di-
minished numbers. It was all along but too plain
to understand what was taking place within from
the external aspect of that ill-fated work, the slopes
of which have astonished the world with the sight
of British troops in flight twice in two successive
attacks on its formidable defences. The Redan has
cost us more lives than the capture of Badajoz, not
to speak of those who have fallen in the trenches
and approaches to it ; and, although the enemy
evacuated it, we can scarcely claim the credit of
having caused them such lo,s that they retired
owing to their dread of a renewed assault. On the
we must, in fairness, admit that the
Rcounstsriaary,
ns
maintained their grip of the place till the
French were fairly establiehed in the Malahhoff,
and the key of the position was torn from their
grasp. They might, indeed, have remained in the
place longer than they did, as the French were
scarcely in a condition to molest them from the
Malakhoff with artillery, and could not be permitted
to interfere with our attack had they been aisle to
send reinforcements to us ; but the Russian general
is a man of too much genius and experience as a
soldier to lose men in defending an untenable posi-
tion, and his retreat was effected with masterly
skill and with perfect ease in the face of a vic-
torious enemy. Covering his rear by the flames of
the burning city and by tremendous explosions,
which spoke in Cores of portentous warning to
tilos.: who Ini',4t have wished to cut off his ,o-
treat, he led his battalions in narrow files acros
a deep arm of the sea, commanded by our ,