The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-10 00:00:00

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CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, AuG, 27:
The sate of tension in which we were kept during
the greater part of last7Viea:in-tiaily; and' alniost bdurlY
expectation of an- attag.74las sarnewlliVaxed' dutring
the last 24 hours, although pr' aiition continues
to be taken. On the night feiiiii-Picrqii-iSattirday our
commanders seem to have felt very confidentqatsome-
thing serious 'would occur ;-eveirybddy: was -afoot or in
readiness to turn out at an
..,instant's scitice, , ald dusty
and disgusted enough looked some of the Staff after
knocking about all night in ,antrcipation of a tight that
came not. It was doubtless in consequence of the severe
extra duty thus entailed on officers,as well as men that
the ceremony of the investiture of the Order of the Bath
was postponed until 2 o'clock tb-cli3i, *lien it is to take
place with due, pomp at.GeneTal Sitispson's head-quarters.
ARRIVAL OF THE 56TH REGIMENT.

The 11ighlanders having been countermanded from
,rench duty on Friday evening, and marched over to

Kamara at 2 o'clock in the morning to support the Sar-
dinians, the Guards alone went to the trenches,' and con-
sequently the"Light'Diirision remained there 36:bours,
instead of 24. The Guards had two casualties among
the officers—Colonel Francis Seymour,' wounded, not
seriously, and Captain Drummond shot through the
lungs. .Elopes are entertained of saving the latter
officer's life. ' The Highland Diviston came back to camp
on Saturday, and returned' to Kamara at night, to re-
main there, as they expect, about a week. —The 56th'
Regiment, about 800 strong, having arrived at Bala
klava, were detained a day or two on board ship, until
their destination should be decided upon. It had
been intended to send them to Kertch ; on Saturday
it was said they would go to Kamara ; but they
have finally been annexed to the First Division. The
army continues to get under arms before daybreak,
cavalry and all. Yesterday the latter arm turned out
2,950 British sabres and lances, and, had needs been,
500 or 600 more could have been brought into the field.
It is a pity that active employment cannot be found for
this fine body of horsemen, who assuredly need but the
opportunity nobly to distinguish themselves. •

On the 18th, however. very few of our poor felines
reached every thne far the desolating etorm of
.the eneMy's fire having swept them down be-
fere they coup; cross the intervening space.
-Reyund this -hedgerow of stakes rues the line ef
earthworks whielt•connects the Redan with the Malak-
hoff hill ; and a short way higher up, as the eye.tracret
the accent of the'elcpe, are seen the mixed gabions sled
sandbags which, form the inner face of the parapets of
the new French, trenches in front of the Mainelon. At
first gleece the distance between the most advanced of,
these saps and 'the Round Tower seems not more than
144 yards, hut it is in reality above a hundred, and that
a space, too, of the most broken and difficult ground over
which attacking troops could lave to move. Narrow also
antis this belt of ground between the besieged and their
assailants, the former have very boldly occupied a portion
Of it with their sharpshooters, and from these deadli•
marksmen the French suffer heavily. The Mamelor
plais.,upon their hiding places with grape and shell ;
but uqer cover of the inequalities of the ground, and
the additional shelter which they have managed to
throw up"for •themselves, they hold out, and daily and
nightly play havoc amongst our ally's gunners, both
within the Biamelon itself and the battery in advance.
The surface features of the ground in this direction have
been so often described in your columns that I need not
at present repeat the ske(ch ; with the aid of a glass th.
whole clan be seen from far behind, say either our own
Twenty-one Battery or the French Victoria Redoull
with quite as great clearness as from this nearer and lest
safe point of observation with the naked eye. This fifth
parallel 'being the limit of our approach towards the
town, one's optics can only be exercised from it througl
the confined and rather unsafe outlet of a rifle loophole ;
and even through this inconvenient opening the surve3
taken must be rapid and spasmodic enough if one woulo
avoid courting Made compliments from the sharp.
eyed and. watchful sportsmen some hundred and fift)
yards ahead. These loopholes are small portholes,
so to speak, through the upper portion of the parapet
of about four inches square, and so distributed as to
be rendered as far as possible indistinguishable from
the accidental openings and inequalities between the
sand-bags along the top. Narrow and concealed as
they are, however, many a death-wound has been re.
eeiyed through them, and along the sides' of not a few
are to be seen traces of the leaden missiles froin the
.
enemy's picccF. Still, from these our rnen kesep up
pretty constant fire into the embrasures of the Redan, ant
upon the lurking places of the riflemen in its front—
protected as the former are by the thick network curtain
of rope which hangs over each gun, it is rare, however,
that a bullet can penetrate, unless it happens to enter
through the very limited opening left for aiming the gun
THE ORDER OF THE BATH.

MONDAY NIGHT.
The ceremony of the investiture of the Order of th.
Bath came off to-day between 1 and 2 o'clock. Sir B
Jones seas ill and unable to attend, and Lord Stratfor,
de Redcliffe went to his quarters and invested him there
L )rd Stratford, I think I mentioned in my last, ar
rived here two days ago, accompanied by Lord Napier.
M. Pisani, Mr. Moore, Mr. Brodie, Mr. Allison, and b 3
Dr. Tice, staff-surgeon, as medical attendant. Th.
place where to-day's ceremony came off was a squar.
court in front of General Simpson's quarters. One sid.
of the court is formed by the long, low building occupie,
by the English Commander-in-Chief, two others b 3
stables and outbuildings, while the fourth is open t,
the downs. This square,• over which, a year ago
Crimean pigs and poultry grunted and crowed,
glittered to-day with British and French uniforms,
gilding, and embroidery. At the entrance to the
house a sort of tent was formed of flags. Above-
waved the standard of England, flanked by the
British ensign and French tricolour, and by the Sar
dinian and Turkish colours. The square of build
ings sae lined by another of troops—detachments of
Guards„ Rifles, Line, Artillery, Cavalry, and Naval Bri-
gade. From the side facing the house there extended a
double tine of lancer sentries along a gentle slope, at the
extremity of which guns were in readiness to fire the
salute. Inside the square assembled a number of officers
in full dress. Outside were other officers and a few civi-
lians, among whom some ladies' riding habits were to be
observed. General Pelissier came in his carriage, with
his staff, and other French generals were there. The
corpulent person and dark complexion of the French
commmader contrasted strikingly with General Simpson's
tall, al ender figure and white hair. When all were
assemb led the ceremony was proceeded with. Lord
Stratford made a dignified speech, which acquired addi-
tional interest from the circumstances. He remarked
on the innprecedented nature of the investiture, occur.
ring, as it did, almost on the ground where the services
had been rendered and the exploits achieved for which
the honour was conferred, and almost under fire of the
enemy's guns. As he spoke the words a loud boom from
the batteries gave peculiar appropriateness to his expres
sions and a dramatic interest to the scene. Sir Celli.
Campbell and Sir Edmund Lyons each spoke a few words
in reply. The troops presented arms, the band played
" God save the Queen," the artiliery fired a Royal
salute, and then the force assembled, which about 1, do°
men, filed off, and the numerous groups of officers
shortly left the ground. The pageant was favoured by
a brilliant sunshine, tempered by a pleasant breeze, and
could not have gone off better.

OPENING OF BOYER'S KITCHEN.
Later in the afternoon we had a spectacle of a dif-
ferent kind, but, in its humble way, of a not less int.).
resting nature. Soyer, the Regenerator, now the camp
cook par excellence, opened his kitchens on the esplanade
in front of the Guards' camp. A row of huge iron
boilers supplied each one its different soup or stew, con-
cocted entirely from the rations daily furnished to the
troop. From the summit of a large marquee flutterer
the French and English colours ; smaller, flags waved
gaily over the enclosure, which -was formed by garland:
of foliage. The guests, who were very numerous, pal-,
due homage to the savoury cauldrons, the depth o'
which alone saved them from speedy exhaustion.
There was no denying the excellence of the cookery.
Five o'clock is a hungry hour in the Crimea ; and I C3l.
answer for it that few of the guests contented themselves
with merely tasting. General Simpson smiled approba.
tion of the skill of the French artiste, and General .Pe.
lissier seemed highly to enjoy his countryman's potage.
A great numbsr of persons were present. There were
rice pudding and Cossack plumpudding (all rations),
snug tents, with champagne, and the most crystalline of
ice (not rations), and Soyer was voted, near. con., the
worthy chef of the army in the Crimea. To speak seri-
ously, be will render real service if he teaches the sol
dier, as I understand he proposes to do, to make the
most of the very excellent materials new supplied to
him, and which hitherto have unquestionably been more
or less wasted through ignorance of a few of the simplest
laws of the gastronomic science.

inedglibourhood of the monastery of St. George ; but—
I don't know whether from Change' of diet, or because
they were already too far gone—many of them have
died, and the two valleys, Fe sweet formerly, are now
anything but sweet, ' fur the 'carcasses are leftlying
about or thrown among the bushes without any Vultutes
to. feast-taken them: .If one-remembers the host of those-
acavengers which infested us during the winter in thin
part it seems strange, that there is not one seen now.
Whether they have been d•rgusted .by the numbers o
paid Tai tar and Croat scavengers enlisted by Vie allied
armies, and feared to starve, or whether they found
more choica morsels on the Russian side, where there
may be likewise a good deal to excite their gluttony,_ or,
lastly, whether they are driven away by the heat I can-
not tell.

CAMP OP THE ALLIED ARMIES ON THE
TCHERNATA, Aug. 2.
We are still living in continual apprehension of a Rus-
sian attack, although uo More is heard of the day when
it is to take place. As sailors at the signs of an immi-
nent storm make everything snug and shorten sail, so
we draw in the more exposed posts, strengthen our pe-
.ition, bring up reserves, and try to provide for every
emergency which might occur,