The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-16 00:00:00

RUSSIA.

We have received the S;. Petersburgh journals
of the Bth instant.

The Invalide Russe publishes the following from
the Crimea :

" Aide-de-Camp General Prince Gortschakoff has sent
the following telegraphic despatch, via Kieff, dated Se-
bastopol, 18th (30th) of April :
" `Nothing of importance took place between the 15th
and 18th (27th to the 30th) of April. Oa the whole the
fire of the enemy is slack. As on the preceding days our
loss has been comparatively very small ; the greatest loss
was incurred in the new trenches in front of Bastion No.
5 ; it is against them that the enemy concentrate their
heaviest fire during the night ; to-day two attempts were
made to smoke out the enemy, both of which were suc-
cessful. (On a donne le camoujlet a l'enmenzi avec
succes.)

" ' Nothing of importance has occurred on any other
point of the Peninsula.' "
The Invalide also publishes the following :
"Yesterday a report was received from Prince Gorts-
chakoff of the 18th (30th) April, which completes the
news contained in his two last telegraphic despatches,
respecting the operations before Sebastopol.
" On the 12th (24th) April the fire of the enemy was
principally directed against Bastions 5 and 6, and against
the redoubts and lodgments in front of those bastions ;
from the 13th (25th) to the 18th (30th) the fire of the
besiegers was on the whole moderate. The number of
men put hors de combat, killed and wounded, or who
receive contusions, amount to from 100 to 175 daily.
" The approaches of the enemy meet with a powerful
obstacle in the fire of the artillery of the town, and of the
musketry from our lodgments, which prevents their
advance ; on the enemy's side the mining operations
against Bastion No 4 have been confined to the explo-
sion of a mine on the verge of their central entonnoir,
with a view to destroy one of our galleries ; but the ex-
plosion did them more damage than us, for it only
destroyed five feet of our gallery, which was immediately
repaired, whilst it destroyed a portion of the enemy's
entonnoir.

"To prevent the French occupying an eminence situ-
ated 40 or 50 sagenes in advance of Bastion No. 5, and
upon which they might easily have constructed a battery
which would have taken in flank, at short range, half of
the right face of Bastion 4, we constructed, under the
enemy's fire, in five days, two strong trenches, with a
private communication between them.
"Those works were commenced in the night between
the 12th and 13th (24th-25th) April; special detach-
ments were entrusted with the operation, and they Were
supported by three battalions of the Infantry Regiment
Catherinebourg and by two battalions of the Alexopol
Chasseurs, under the chief command of the brave Major-
G,:neral Khroustcheff, Commander of the First Brigade
of the 16th Infantry Division, who already distinguished
himself by his courage and talent at the time of the de-
feat. of the enemy when they attacked the Selinghinsk
and Volhynia redoubts, on the night between the 12th
and 13th (24th and 25th) March last.
"On the 12th (24th), at 8 p.m.. whilst our detach-
ments and their supports were being prepare-1, the be-
siegers opened a violent fire of musketry upon the works
under construction, and, after various rounds, made a
charge upon them in great force. Having driven back
our advanced troops, they commenced destroying the
lodgments.
"But then, by order of Major-General Khroustcheff,
Lieut.-Colonel Boguensky, in command of the Catherine-
bourg Regiment, with drums beating and loud hurrahs,
charged the French with the bayonet at the head of two
battalions of his regiment, and drove them back. At 9
o'clock the enemy renewed the attack ; they were re-
ceived, however, by a well-sustained fire, and compelled
to retire to their trenches, from which they kept up a
fire of musketry during the whole of the night.
" Nevertheless the half-destroyed lodgments remained
in our possession. Towards the morning of the 13th
(25th) they were already repaired, strengthened, and
two new ones constructed behind the former ones.

"The vigour with which we maintained possession of
these works, and their construction under the very close
fire of the enemy, does the greztest honour to our
troops and to Major-General Khroustcheff, under whose
command they were commenced. At different times
our men had to drive back the French at the point of
the bayonet, and every night the latter direct a heavy
fire of artillery and musketry on this point. In these
engagements we have unhappily to deplore among others
the loss of Captain Lavroff, a young officer of brilliant
parts and of great promise.
" During all this time from the 12th to the 18th (24th
to 80th) April the enemy's fleet remained at anchor as
before, and did not attempt anything against Sebastopol.
" Everything is quiet on other points of the peninsula.
" In terminating this report, Aide-de-Camp General
Prince Gortschakoff announces that on the 17th (29th)
April, the anniversary of the birthday of his Majesty
the Emperor, after divine service and a Te Deum in the
principal church of Sebastopol, in presence of the com-
mander and all the officers of the garrison, and after
offering up prayers for the preservation of the days of
his Majesty. and of all the august members of the Im-
perial ,Family, a salvo of 101 cannon balls was fired
against the enemy in honour of the occasion."
A supplement to the Invalide Russe publishes
the following :

"A telegraphic despatch from Prince Gortschakoff,
via Kieff, dated Sebastopol, 21st of April (3d May),

II 'From the 18th to the 19th April (30th April to let
May) the fire of the enemy was moderate, but on the even-
ing of the 1-,t it became very heavy against Bastions 4 and
5. On the following night the besiegers concentrated
10,000 men against our new works in front of Bastion
5, got posseisicn of them after a vigorous attack, and
captured ,nine small coborn mortars inside ; they were
prevented progressing further by the fire of our batteries.
" On the 20th April (2d May) the enemy kept up a
most violent fire against Bastions 4 and 5, and against
the adjoining fortifications, but all the damage they did
us was repaired during the night, and five times we sue.-
cessfully employed smoke-balls in their entonnoirs.'

A letter from Vienna of the 11th, in the Post
Ampt Gazette of Frankfort, says :—" Ali Pacha,
the Plenipotentiary of the Porte, will not await
the arrival of his successor, but leave next week for
Constantinople to enter on his functions as Grand
Vizir. A telegraphic despatch has been received
announcing that Reschid Pacha, the ex-Grand
Vizir, will replace Ali Pacha here. The Grand
Vornick Constantin-Negir has arrived here for
Jassy. He has been selected both by the Sultan
and by the Hospodar of Moldavia to attend the
Conferences, and give any information that may be
required on the affairs of the principality. He is
accompanied by A. Laurian, a Moldavian aga."

A letter from Vienna, in the Dresden Journal,
says :—" There has lately been much talk at Bu-
charest of the discovery of a political conspiracy,
but the persons arrested appear to be only secon-
dary agents. It is reported that papers of a com-
promising character have been found in the posses-
sion of those arrested, and it is supposed that
Kossuth is somewhat connected with these pro-
ceedings."

We learn from Frankfort that a despatch dated
froM St. Petersburg, 30th ult., addressed to the
Russian Minister at Darmstadt, states that Russia
considers that the understanding which was come
to in the Conferences of Vienna on the first two
points of guarantee as a useful result for Germany.
In thus separating German interests from the
Eastern conflict, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg,
says the despatch, relies on the. States of the Con-
federation persisting in a strict neutrality, for it
is only on that condition that Russia will consider
herself bound to maintain the interpretation which
she gives to the results acquired at the Conferences
of Vienna.

The Corriere Italiano of Vienna, of the 11th,
quotes correspondence .from Poland quite in con-
tradiction with late accounts, as to the severity of
the Russian Government at Warsaw in political
matters. It says that measures calculated to give
Just satisfaction to Poland are impatiently ex-
pected there, and that the police has been ex-
tremely indulgent ; so much so, that people talk
freely of public matters at cafes and theatres, a
thing unheard of befOre, and which excites the
astonishment of all those who know what severity
there was before.

The latest advices from St. Petersburg (sth inst.)
mention that commanders have been appointed to
the various druschines of the Militia already con-
stituted. The highest serial number of these
druschines thus provided with commanders was
164 ; from which it was rather too boldly assume-I,
that as each druschine was to be 1,000 men strong
so there must be at least 164,000 men of the Militia
already under arms.

It may be interesting to our merchant marine, and to
mariners generally, to know that one good result of the
inundations in the province of OA Preussen has been to
deepen the sailing channel by which Pillau is approached.
WLere there were formerly only 12 feet water there are
now 21 feet.
The Rev. James George Darling was on Saturday
last instituted by the Bishop of Chester to the rectory of
Lowton, in the county of Lancaster, upon the presenta-
tion of the Earl of Derby.