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

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING SEPTEMBER 11, 1855.

SPIRIT OF THE 1 ÜBLIC JuURNAL3.

previous to the attack, we know that the Russians were
availing themselves of their newly-constructed floating
bridge to convey large reinforcements of men and artil-
lery across the harbour from the north. The antagonists
mustered their utmost disposable strength on both sides
for the death•grapple. For three days and nights did the
allies continue to pour an unintermitting storm of shot
and shells upon the doomed fortalices, from artillery of
unprecedented calibre and range. For a time the enemy
continued to reply with a fire almost as heavy and
vigor iuely sustained. At intervals might be heard above
the roar of artillery the explosions of magazines ; the in-
termittent flashes of the guns were ontshone by the blaze
of burning houses and ships. At noon of the fourth day,
after a temporary lull, the assailants rushed tothe atta?lc
under a salvo from all their batteries. Next was heard
in fierce and rapid succession the sharp cracks of thou-
sands of rifles. A deadly band to hand struggle ensued
as soon as the columns of the assault crowned the
crumbling walls and mounds of the defences, and then
again the Russian artillery opened with redoubled roar.
Tne immediate result appeared doubtful. The Russians,
unable to regain the Malakhoff, receded from that posi-
tion ; the croons which had assaulted the two Rei ans
and the Central Bastion retired within their trenches.
There was a brief pause on both sidesto recruit exhausted
nature. Then arose from within the fortifications, in
rapid succession, the explosions of magazines, and these
volcanic eruptions had scarcely ceased when the shades
of night were lit up by the lurid glare of a burning town
and a burning fleet. At an early hour of the morning
all the southern forts of Sebastopol were left untenanted ;
the broad waters of the gulf were interposed between the
combatants of the preceding day, and their surface was
only dotted at rare intervals by a few small steamers, the
fragments of a broken bridge, and the toprnasts of sunken
ships. The silence of exhaustion settled down on the
scene of strife, where for four continuous days the roar
of artillery, the crash of explosions, and the shouts of
men preternaturally excited by the awful contest, had
reverberated through the hollow ravines with deafening
effect.

Tile universal mind of London was last night fairly
thrown off its balance by the announcement of the tri-
• utnphant issue of the dread struggle. For a time the rush
of the multitUde to obtain early copies of the evening jour-
nals bore a strong similitude to an eineute. The excitement
spread rapidly through all the crowded streets. From
every church tower and steeple the bells rang nut the
larurn of victory with deafening clamour. The French
Embassy was the first to illuminate, and the example
was followed in many places. All this exultation, after
months of anxious expectation, was irresi-tible. All
ranks, all ages, all temperaments were carried away by
the spring-tile of contagious enthusiasm. By the time
these lines meet the eyes of our readers the electrifying
intelligence will have produced the same effect through
every province of the United Kingdoms. We may say
with the poet, "Now universal England getteth drunk"
—at least with mental intoxication. But it behoves
those upon whom has devolved the guiding of the reins
of Government to preserve, amid this whirlwind of tem-
pestuous jubilee, a tranquil mind and a relentless pur-
pose. The triumph has been dearly bought by long
months of suffering, heroically endured by our noble
army, and by a lavish expenditure of life, and it is yet
incomplete. The foe whose insatiable ambition has dis-
turbed the peace of Europe must be incapacitated from
renewing his outrages for a long period. His navy in
the Euxine has been destroyed ; his arsenal, where was
fabricated and repaired the artillery which enabled him
to make so protracted a defence, has been reduced to
ruins and wrested from him ; his warlike stores have
been in a great measure wasted and exploded. The
troupe which have been driven back from the Tchernaya,
and forced to recross the harbour of Sebastopol, are
doubtless dismayed and dispirited. But he has still a
numerous army in the field, covered by the inlet of
Sebastopol, the fortifications which bristle along the
heights on its north side, and the entrenchments which
extend from those strongholds along the Mackenzie
heights to the base of the mountain range that over-
hangs the road to Simpheropol. The blow which has been
struck ought to be followed up before the enemy has time
to recover from it. The Russian army in the Crimea
must be harassed and assailed until it is forced to sur-
render. No mistaken generosity must be displayed to-
wards a power whose threatening ambition has for nearly
half a century bung like a dark thunder-cloud over
Europe, and has at last burst in storm. Our armies have
done their duty, and are ready to do it again ; the nations
are still animated by the same deliberate resolve with
which they entered on the strife ; it is for the, Govern-
ments to take care that such heroism and self-sacrifice
shall not have been displayed in vain.

Now, behind these forts the Russians had constructed a
formidable second line of earthworks, heavily armed,
which commanded all the works in front, with the ex-
ception of the Malakhoff Tower, and this exception was
due to the over care of the Russians, who, in their anx-
iety to strengthen the Malakhoff, had built its works in
three tiers, the one rising above the other, whereas the
Redoes were constructed with only one tier of guns.
The consequence of this was, that when the French
swarmed on to the first tier of the Malakhoff, the second
tier saved them from being hurt by the fire of the works
in the rear of the Tower; arid, in like manner, when
they attained the second tier, the third saved them in its
turn. Consequently thousands of men thronged its
ramparts, protected from the Russian fire. The combat
raged on the fl anks, where the enemy could only attack
them with his musketry, and their own rifles and brilliant
impetuosity were too much for him. Under the protec-
tion of a galling fire from the French, their sappers
slipped mend the work, threw up an entrenchment, and
thus, effectually covered on all points, the whole work
was theirs.
Here, then, to brave men success was as natural as
their own enthusiastic courage, but alas ! upon other
points courage availed not. The gallant assailants of
the Redan and of the Central Bastion no sooner had
carrie these works, as they did triumphantly, than they
found themselves exposed to a terrific close fire of grape,:
which rendered life impossible. The forts, built in one
exposed tier, were open to, the full range of the secsnif
line of earthworks, and in vain our gallant men, in yeti
our chivalrous allies, tried to bold their position. They
would not retreat, but were swept'., away as corpses by
the pitiless storm, of gr* pre tmacity of our struggle
may be easily conceived' sifiti4lt is known that in car-
rying, and in endeavouring to hold, that one Redan, our
loss amounted to two thousand men.
Our allies, and we ourselves had, therefore, to retire
from these points ; but the Malakhoff was in the hands
of the French, sod that was everything. The proof of
that is in the result. The Russians set at work, at once,
to burn and destroy. They sunk or burnt their ships,
and the latest accounts left them suffering under the
fire of our bombs, but still exploding mines in all direc-
tions, and raising such havoc, that General Pelissier de-
cribes Sebastopol as one vast circle of conflagration.
The Russians then escaped en masse, breaking the
bridge they had recently constructed, and without time
to carry off their killed and wounded, for whose re-
moval Prince Gortschakoff was compelled to solicit an
armistice.

The naval power of Russia in the Black Sea is thus
annihilated, and the huge arsenal the Czar had con-
,
stracted at so much labour and expense is utterly ruined
and destroyed.
We have nothing to fear from the North Fort. It
will soon be ours. We command its fate with certainty.
It cannot hold a large garrison, and the troops encamped
near it or in its neighbourhood are in a most precarious
condition. The army of General Liprandi, on Mac-
kenzie's Heights, is in great want of water, and provi-
sions are scarce. In the southern side of Sebastopol
great quantities of provisions must have been destroyed,
and on the north side there are no sufficient places of
depot for any sufficient amount of stores.
The read to the North Fort is commanded by our
position at Eupatoria, to which we are now free to
transport large and adequate forces to cut off the com-
munications of the fort, to take the armies in the rear,
and menace the safety of every Russian in the Crimea.
Of two things, one, either we shall menace their posi-
tions, and force them to battle or capitulation ; or they
will play the desperate game, and at once attack us
with a view to a final struggle. We are ready for them,
and doubt not the result

The consequences of the fall of Sebastopol will be im-
mense, both strategically and politically. Our enemies
Lave received a great blow, and many of our friends will
probably be roused to a more lively sense of their posi-
tion and our own.

Let us not boast, but ascribe the victory to that
Power to whom alone it is due ; but whilst we deplore
our losses and those of our gallant Allies, let us resolve
that our sacrifices shall not have been made in vain ;
that the torrents of blood shed in the cause of right
shall, by the blessing of Providence, not have been spent
in vain ; and that so far as in us lies we will steadfastly
pursue our righteous and single object—not deluded by
false protestations of anxiety for peace, but determined
to secure on firm and lasting bases the restriction of
Russian power and the future liberties of Europe.