The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-12 00:00:00

THE FALL OF SEBASTOPOL

THE METROPOLIS.

Yesterday morning the glorious news from the Crimea
was officially notified to the inhabitants of the metropo-
lis by appropriate salvoes of artillery. At 7 o'clock the
garrison of the Tower were paraded, and the order of
Lord Panmure for a salute of 62 guns was read. At 8
o'clock the guns were mounted and fired ; and the royal
standard was hoisted on the White Tower. The mas
ters of the vessels on the river responded to the signal
by dressing their ships with flags from the truck to the
water's edge. The royal standard was also displayed at
Somerset-house, the Admiralty, the Custom-house, the
royal parish churches of St. Martin-in-the-Fields,
St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, and St. Mary
Abbott's, Kensington, and the bells of the metro-
politan and suburban churches sent forth merry
peals. Many of the inhabitants of Fleet-street, and

other parts of the metropolis, hung the union jack

and the tricolor from their windows. In the
Artillery-ground, Finsbury; three rounds of mus-
ketry were fired by the City of London Militia, and a
double Royal salute was fired by the Hon. Artillery
Company.

At the Horse Guards Parade in St. James's-park a
great number of persons assembled at an early hour, in
the expectation that some unusual military demonstra-
tion would take place, and at mid-day probably not
fewer than 10,000 people of all ranks and conditions were
present. Precisely as the clock struck one a gun was fired,
and it was closely followed by 40 others. As the sound
of the last died away three deafening cheers arose from
the multitude, amid the waving of hats and handker-
chiefs, and the bells of St. Martin's church rang out a
joyous peal as the people separated.
ln the City, throughout the morning, intense excite-
ment prevailed. Every public place was thronged by
merchants and traders, who eagerly discussed the proba-
ble results of the great victory which had been obtained.
This was particularly the case at the Royal Exchange,
an announcement having appeared that the Lord Mayor
would present himself in his official capacity, for the
purpose of publicly proclaiming the news to his fellow-
citizens. Some hundreds of persons took up their posi-
tion on the steps and watched the Mansion-house, from

the portals of which they expected the civic procession
to emerge. They were, however, doomed to disappoint.
ment. The Lord Mayor had not returned from Sheffield,
where he had been on a visit to the Master Cutler, and,
moreover, such announcements were only customary
when peace is declared. It is true that last year Alder-
man Sidney made an innovation upon the usual course
when the despatch of the battle of the Alma was corn-
rnunica's,ed to the Mansion-house, but the precedent has
not on this occasion been followed.

Towards dusk the principal streets of the West End
were filled by an unusual number of people, who seemed
to have come with a vague idea of witnessing an illumi-
nation. There was, however, with one or two unimport-
ant exceptions, nothing of the sort to see, and consider-
able disappointment was expressed upon the subject,
the people not seeming to reflect that at the present sea-
son few of the higher classes remain in town. The prin-
cipal point of attraction was the residence of the French
ambassador, Albert-gate, which was known to have been
splendidly illuminated on Monday night, but the fittings
had been removed early in the evening, and thus a sight
was missed, by anxious thousands, which is described by
spectators of the previous night as baying been magnifi-
cent in the extreme. This disappointment is the more
to be regretted, from the fact that the order for the

illumination of the ambassadorial residence was not
given until half-past six on Monday night, and at mid-
night when the preparations were finished, there were
few passers-by to admire the brilliant spectacle. The
three sides of the house were brilliantly lighted, and
around each of the windows in the front was fixed a
large design, 30 feet square, with the French and Eng-
lish crowns, the flags of each nation, and the letters N
and E, V and A, surrounded by immense laurels. There
were also the letters composing the word " Sebastopol,"
in red, white, and blue, the illumination consisting alto-
gether of 10,000 lamps.