The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-22 00:00:00

COMMENCEMENT OF THE ACTION.

At five minutes past eight on the 9th the signal
to commence action was made, and the ball was
opened by a shell from the Pickle mortar vessel,
which was anxiously watched to see how far our
range was good. To our great satisfaction it fell
on the very top of the citadel, close to a flag-staff
where waved the Royal standard of Russia. (It
is supposed that the Archduke Constantine was at
hweaborg.) And now the row began in earnest.
All along our line bang went the 13-inch mortars,
charged with Valenciennes, and other ignitable
composition. In dashed the gunboats, firing as
they advanced, rushing in at full speed, till within
3,000 yards of the forts ; then wheeling sharp
round, and making way for those astern of them.
" Hurrah, Johnny !" Off go the mortars from the
island battery (which I don't think tho Russians
had seen before) ; but don't imagine we have it all
our own way. A moment had not elapsed after
we had opened fire, when, from every embrasure,
from guns en barbet, from mortar batteries, from
the line-of-battle ships at the entrance of the h
hour, and from the guns on the heights of Bakhol-
men, off went missiles of all descriptions ; and
though many fell short, the disagreeable sounds in
the ear of passing shell or red-hot shot were much
too frequent to be pleasant. As our fellows got
nearer they thought nothing of that sort of thing,
both soldiers' and sailors' whole mind and energy
being directed to pitch into the " Rhoosians" and
revenge Hango (many of the shell and shot were
marked Hango).
When the mortar and gunboats attacked the
dockyard and arsenal, the Cornwallis, the Hastings,
and the Amphion were ordered to attack the bat-
teries at Sandhamn (the same had been previously
engaged by the Amphion on the 22d of June). At
eight a.m., immediately after the mortars had
opened fire, they weighed from the anchorage at.
Miolo, and stood in towards the batteries, three
in number, mounting together 15 or 18 guns ; the
Hastings got the first shot, but at rather long
range. The Amphion stood further in, and opened
fire with pivots, and then with main-deck broad-
side, first a little more than 2,000 yards, and sub-
sequently about 1,500, and blazed away as
hard as she could pelt till half-past ten, when the
signal was made to discontinue the engagement.
The Amphion fired 40 broadsides from her main-
deck guns, and 60 rounds from each of her pivots,
and was struck five or six times ; her main-yard se-
verely injured, one shot through the spanker, a fore-
shroud carried away, and a main-deck beam badly
sprung, and had one officer and two men wounded,
one very slightly. The Cornwallis was frequently
hulled, many of the shots that passed over the
Amphion hitting her • she had one officer and six
men wounded. The ilastings was not struck at

TREMENDOTS EXPLOSION.
The fire was kept up with spirit on both sides,
with hardly any casualties on ours, until nearly
twelve o'clock, when one of the most awful and
terrific explosions I fancy that ever was witnessed
took place close to the citadel. I can only com-
pare it to a violent eruption of Vesuvius. A whole
fort was blown up, thousands of shot and shell
were thrown into the air, the latter bursting as
they rose ; and what appeared the most extraordi-
nary was that it seemed as if it were never to
cease. Pillars of smoke, intermingled with shot,
shell, and some affirm guns, constantly rolling out
of, as it were, the bowels of the earth. The sea
for half a mile was immensely agitated and covered
with foam. Firing on both sides ceased for the
moment, but as soon as the first burst of astonish-
ment had subsided the air resounded with the
cheers of the allies, not only from those engaged,
but from the vessels outside, whose rigging and
yards were covered with men ; but " Don't let
them rest," was the order. "Blaze away, my
boys," and carcases and shell and red-hot shot
were thrown as near the fire, to make confusion
more confounded. Not another gun did they fire
for more than an hour. The flames caused by the
explosion spread rapidly ; and building after build-
ing, barracks, stores, and small magazines burnt
and blow up right and left.
One remarkable circumstance must be told to
show the cool courage of the Russian, and his con-
tempt at death :—A Russian gunner, amidst the
carnage, was seen to reload his gun, single-handed,
although a mffgazine had exploded alongside with-
out touching him ; he had actually primed his gun,
and was laying it, when down he went, gun and
everything about him.

• (From, the Times of this day.)
In a few days Sir R. England will set foot on
the soil of his native country, and the last of the
old Generals of Division who enjoyed the festivities
of Ccnstantinople, suffered from the fevers of Varna,
and shared the glories and hardships of last autumn's
campaign, will have quitted his command. Too
great exertion, the weakness or timidy of advancing
ago, the weariness engendered by long and tedious
warfare, may all have had their share, with wounds
and sickness, in inducing's° many to abandon the
high position and brilliant prospects which belong
to the successful warrior ; but the fact is a singular
one and worthy of attention, that after eleven
months of active war, the Commander-in-Chief, all
the Generals of Division, and no small number of
the Brigadiers, have quitted the scene, and left
their places to other, if not to younger and more
skilful men. But not alone in our own army have
those who a year ago were in the mouths of all
passed away, so that their • names are little more
than a reminiscence ; each of the contending hosts
has lost its chief, in every case a man of mark and
celebrity. It is fresh in the memory of all how,
with the news of the Alma still ringing in our ears, 1
there came the not unexpected tidings that the
French Commander had sunk under disease,
anxiety, and fatigue, and lay dead at the little
haven of Balaklava, then a strange name—now
how familiar, and how mixed up with recollections
of glory, guilty negligence, and a long term of
disaster ! The remains of the dead General enter-
ing the Bosphorus amid the crowd of vessels which
bore those wounded on that brilliant victory, of
which he had just shared the renown ; the stately
honours paid by the Sultan and Ambassadors, the
still more impressive funeral rites celebrated in
Paris to a Marshal of France—these things are like
the events of yesterday, and yet St. Arnaud was
the first to fall—the first great victim in the holo-
caust which three nations are offering up to the
Spirit of War.
Next comes a darker and sterner figure ; a figure
iuvested by popular belief with almost fabulous at-
tributes of pride and imperiousness,—Mensebikoff
—the fanatical noble, the arrogant ambassador, the
stubborn if not capable commander—succumbing
to wounds, age, and anxiety but a few days before
his Imperial master was struck down. In retire-
ment he now watches the desperate struggle in
which his country is engaged, and has leisure to
regret the infatuation of the Prince who sent him
on his fatal mission, and the gratuitous and unbid-
den arrogance which he superadded to his master's
instructions. Yet his career has not ended in un-
mixed calamity. At Sebastopol he prepared what
must have seemed a desperate defence after a
crushing defeat. He sunk the fleet which had long
been his peculiar care, and, if he did not plan the
new and unexampled works which have defied at-
tack so long, he at least chose the men who were
capable of such designs. He remained to see his
resolution rewarded, and the defence of Sebastopol
successful and famous. The Crimea will have
saved his reputation from the failure of Constanti-
nople. A pompous and arrogant diplomatist, he
was seen through and gauged at once by the wary
representatives of the Western Powers, and failed
even to impress the Turks themselves. Before
he left he was thoroughly cowed ; his shrewd wit
died on his lips, and his threats, kept for the
Pashas and the populace, were changed for con-
ciliatory overtures towards those who really wield
the destinies of the Sultan's empire. At Sebas-
topol he was once more in a position where such
genius as he possessed could do him service, and
he has ended a long career in a manner which
even enemies must allow to be not inglorious.
The last few weeks have taken away the third
of the Commanders-in-Chief who have fought
around this modern Troy. The! oss is too recent
and the fallen General too well known among us
for criticism to be either appropriate or necessary.
Praise and blame he received in abundance during
his lifetime ; both are now useless, except as they
may excite emulation or hold out a warning. But
the British army has lost much in Lord Raglan.
He had high military rank, long experience of
mankind, and manners which gave him an influ-
ence with our Allies beyond what any other gene-
ral is likely to possess. He was above petty
jealousies and petty intrigues, and kept his
way
uninfluenced by what would have affected the
course of many a man.
who en-
of our army have quitted the scene--so
With Lord Raglan almost all the general
who served
joyed the esteem and trust of . thosec
confidence only in
under them ; more who inspired
has
last hopes
.of_suceesa
or the di:-
pleasure of our enemy and ourt Ain
days of the war been
indeed, has from the earliest
But his opponent, p
the enemy. The same fatality...es.
askie-
in Asia rest on him.
and exchanged the
witch, has passed away,
Danube fora • labours
in Po/and. Canrobert and izo , our veteran Bur
goyflO, pannanberg, the
.defeated of biker/my,
goyne,
and now. the yo g
un and gifted Totleb enhave all
before the world; and now
and disasters of the
B. t nominal command
pleasure of superiors. It may be that the losses
been sacrificed to wounds, sickness,
of the French in general officers h
above the average of former ave not been
warsbut ourselves
and the Russians have suffered;
enemy in the actual conflict, ve-• severely—the
weakness, and the liability to- die' om the age, the
siase•of those who
were first appointed to high
terrible drama, of the
army. It is with our oN • commands in the
vn affairs that we are chiefly
concerned, and the
last twelvemonth must be
overhung
OmerPasha,°ffi e theers
moral to be extracted from the