The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-04 00:00:00

ODESSA.

In Le Nord, of Brussels, we find the following
letter from Odessa :
OnEssA, Sept. 17.—We are still without detailed
news from Sebastopol, but I ought to mention to
you the impression produced in our districts by
the news of the evacuation of the southern part of
the city. I cannot conceal from you that in the
first moment the effect of this news was immense.
Tho profoundest dejection was stamped in every
face, and betrayed real grief. By degrees we have
recovered from
,this momentary depression ; and
the more we have been able to examine matters
with calmness the more have tranquillity and hope
returned.
In our case it is the heart that has been struck
first. As soon as reason had resumed her empire we
have been able to reflect that the situation is not
changed ; that it is not entirely to our disadvan-
tage, and that the honour of our arms has been in
no way compromised. We withdrew of cur own
accord to the north side, from whence we con-
tinue to defend the ruins of Sebastopol ; men, arms,
- baggage, ammunition—all were conveyed across in
the greatest order, with the greatest dignity.
General Osten-Sacken was the last to pass the
bridge. It is with a feverish impatience that we
look for further details of this sanguinary war, and
of an event that doubtless is about to produce a
great change in the conduct of the war.
If we regret the pretty houses and the magnifi-
cent bastions of Sebastopol, bedewed with so much
noble blood, we are, on the other hand, relieved to
a certain extent from the immense weight that has
hitherto oppressed our breasts. Our brave sol-
diers will hence be no longer obliged to offer them-
selves up as a holocaust, and patiently await, with
useless heroism, the death that sought them out,
often even beneath the mantlets, and always when
least expected. It was a wholesale slaughter, a
butchery, which military honour commanded them
to withstand, and which has enhanced the remark-
able qualities of our soldiers, but the cessation of
which may be considered as a benefit. Our men
will now be able to defend themselves in close fight,
and to sell their lives at a high cost.
Out of the 10,000 seamen who had undertaken,
with their officers, the heroic defence of Sebastopol,
no more than a fourth part survive, and some six
or seven officers. In order that every one of us
may be able to salute in the streets the survivors
some distinctive mark should be accorded to them ;
it is not until the hand of history shallhavheeroenes-
graved the acts and deeds of those 10,000
that we shall be able to appreciate their sufferings
and deeds. For the present we are only acquainted
with, and we ought only to occupy ourselves with,
one thing, the debt of that blood, the voice of
which cries aloud for vengeance, and which renders
the Crimea ten times more dear to us, ten times
more worth defending. We all of us here, and
throughout Russia, understand that the war, the
real war, is but about to commence. We expect to
see it continue for several years, and are prepared
for it.
These sentiments, of which I am but the inter-
preter, are those which prevail in our towns along
the coast, and consequently the most exposed to
the vengeance of our enemies. These towns are
chiefly inhabited by merchants, men not usually
warlike, and whose interests suffer most by war.
But here, thank Heaven, the shopman has not lost
his manhood, and we prize our honour more than
our purses.
A letter froth Odessa, of the 19th, says :—" Offi-
cial accounts state that the Emperor will return to
this place to leave for the interior of the Empire :
but some persons pretend that he will go to the
Crimea to encourage the army to perseverance.
General Annenkoff, Governor-General of the Cri-
mea, has interdicted the sending of merchandise
and provisions into the province—the stocks on
hand being already so large, he says, that they
cannot be disposed of. On the other hand the
march of reinforcements for the Crimea has been
stopped. All these circumstances cause it to be
gluPposed that our affairs are not going ou well ill