The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-11 00:00:00

(Prom tke Morning Herald of this day. )
The stronghold of the Crimea is at length in possession
'of the allies. After a defence of eleven months, con-
ducted, it must be admitted, with remarkable ability,
and sustained with unflagging energy; theiffletiy have
abandoned the south side of Sebastopol, aftei firing the
town, magazines, and shipping. It is the well-known
practice of the Russians, when a place becomes no longer
tenable, to carry out the work of destruction on all sides,
so as to leave nothing to the assailants but smoking and
ruinous heaps, and it appears they have not departed
from that practice in the present instance. The de-
spatches of General Pelissier and of General Simpson
give, so far, but a mere outline of the operations and
their grand result. We learn that the assault was de-
livered at the Great and Little Redan, the Malakhoff,
and the Central Bastion. The French carried by storm
the redoubts of the Malakhoff, together with the Lesser
Redan ; but they failed to carry the Central Bastion,
although attacked twice ; meanwhile the English carried
the salient of the Great Redan. The French found it
impossible to hold the smaller work, in consequence of
the irresistible fire of artillery which swept it, nor did the
English succeed in their first assault upon the Great
Redan, No sooner, however, were the French
firmly installed in the Malakoff than the enemy
must have seen that, the game was up. That work
commands and enfilades both Redans and the entire
eastern portion of the town, while it is in its turn com-
manded only by Mount Saponne, which is in possession
of our gallant allies. There is a heavy battery immedi-
ately inside the Malakhoff, mounting, it is said, 800
guns. It was anticipated that this formidable work
would have rendered the occupation of the Malakhoff
impossible, but the Russians seem to have turned it to

little purpose. The fact is that the Malakhoff is nothing
else than the key of the whole position. The enemy
seem to be quite conscious of this, and to have taken
their resolution, once its possession by the French had
been secured, to abandon the town, and throw them-
selves into the defences of the north side.
At whatever cost achieved—and the carnage must
have been terrific—the ospture of Sebastopol is a splen-
did success, and one on which, with the deepest sin-
cerity, we congratulate the country. In the absence of
all particulars of the numbers engaged and the various
features of the assault, it is impoSsible to do more than
speculate upon them. Our allies, no doubt, displayed
that fiery courage which has so often borne the French
eagles to victory. Our own troops, we are satisfied, be-
haved, as they ever do, with determined courage and un-
flinching resolution. United, they have, after a struggle
as arduous if not as prolonged as any in the history of
sieges, planted their ensigns on the ruins of the Gibraltar
of the Euxine. They have seized the reward of months
of privation, watching, and patient endurance. The Rus-
sian boast and the Russian falsehood are alike unavail-
ing. The enemy has been signally routed in the field,
and he is now driven from the defences which he flat-
tered himself were proof against the united arms of
the allies, which he boasted would defy the armies of the
earth.

The effect of this glorious news will be electrical. It
will scatter the delusion of Russian invincibility, and
will ruin the confidence of the Cabinet of St. Peters-
burg. True, the Czar and his advisers may have looked
for this catastrophe, but the actual event will for the
time confound them. It will be seized at Vienna, no
doubt, as an opportunity for pressing negotiations for
peace, and we have a Government but too willing to
listen to overtures, however insincere and worthless.
But let no man imagine that the fall of the southern
defences of Sebastopol will change the fixed policy of
Russia, or afford as yet the opportunity for an honour-
able and secure peace. It is too probably but the true
commencement of the war—the first great event of a
struggle that the next 10 years may not see concluded.
It is good earnest of future conquest—a well-directed
blow at the vulnerable heel of Russia.

( From the Morning Post of this day.)
The great southern stronghold of Russia exists no
more. Its arsenals are ruins—its forts shapeless heaps
—and the vast fleet, built at such cost, and cherished
with such pride, is burnt or sunk, without one excep-
tion.
As we indicated yesterday, the possession of the
Malakhoff Tower placed the Allies at once in the position
of commanding the whole of Sebastopol. So strongly,
indeed, was this felt by the Russians, that without de-
lay, after having lost the Malakhoff on Saturday after-
noon, they proceeded to sink all their ships, tot destroy
he utmost possible
seovuertyhethrningsidtehaotf aslleohwasetdopoofl iwt,ithantd to evacuate the
speed.
Our success is as complete as it is rapid ; and, to un-
derstand it aright, it may be well that we recapitulate
the events which immediately led to it, adding to the
outline of the official statements such information as we
have best reasons for believing to be accurate.
After a tremendous bombardment, which was kept
up unremittingly on Thursday and Friday, the Allied
Generals gave the word for the storming of the forts on
Saturday, at mid-day. Then ensued what is historically
known to be the most fearful scene iu the hideous pro-
gress of war. Thousands of gallant men rushed to an
almost certain destruction—the more terrible in appear-
ance that it was concentrated in so small a space. The
English attacked the Redan. The French assaulted
the Central Bastion, the Redan of Careening Bay, and
the Malakhoff Tower.
The last attack was alone successful from causes which
our readers will at once appreciate, and which we are
most happy in being able to state, as such elucidation at
once clears away the apparent disparity of success be-
tween ourselves and our noble Allies.

The_Malakhoff Tower is, as is w ell known, the highest
point of the fortifications which defended Sebastopol. It
is flanked on either side by the grand Redan, the object
a the Eaglieb attack; and the Red= of Canning DaY