The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-26 00:00:00

FPRIcE SD.

have been engaged ever since adjusting the ladders
fitting thenrwith ropes and sending a certain portion of
them to the trenches where they will arrive after dusk.
Up to this date we have barely lost 100 men in killed
and wounded, and we can see that the Russians suffer
frightfully,ludging by the wounded they send across to
the north side.

FRIDAY MORNING, 13TH.
At 4 o'clock a.m. the Russians opened a powerful and
destructive fire on our 6gun advanced battery, which was
in a very imperfect state, and by concentrating the fire of
20 guns on it dismounted some of the pieces and injured
the works severely, so as to render the battery useless for
the day. Our working party only succeeded in getting one
gun into the new battery this morning, owing to causes I
have already mentioned, although they worked till it was
nearly dawn. Our mules were lost, 50 of them, at least, by
the Land Transport Corps, 'returning from the trenches
last night, as the officers could not find their way and the
animals got loose. On every side. I hear loud complaints
against the ramrods of the Enfield rifles, or rather
against the mode in which they are fixed in the weapon.
The least rain or damp so swells the wooden stock into
which the steel ramrod runs, that it is impossible to draw
the latter, and it has been also said that the locks are
very apt to become wood-bound, in which state of course
they will not act. I have been assured by an officer
who bad the command of a party in the trenches on
Monday morning last, that if the Russians had come
upon them they could only have been met by the bayo-
net, inasmuch as not one ramrod could have been drawn
to load the rifles in consequence of the wet hayings welled
the wood round the steel. General Jones is a good dealan-
hoyed at the delay which occurred in getting the gunsinto
the advanced batteries, and he' was still more displeased at
the neglect of an officer or officers who ought to have
ptoideobauettlettes fdr the'embrasures of one of those bat-
terieFi, the' alit of which:led-to our guns being rendered
useless.

FRIDAY, 12 AT NOON.

The Sailors' Brigade have again suffered very severely.
Although they only work 35 guns in the various batte-
ries, they have lost more men than all our siege train
working and covering parties put together, and up to
half-past 3 o'clock they had 73 men killed and wounded,
two officers killed, one wounded, and two or three con-
tused. The sailors in No. 2 Battery, Chapman's attack,
silenced three of the best guns in the Redan yesterday,
but the Russians replaced them during the day, and
actually opened fire at 5 p.m. from the very embrasures
which had been knocked to pieces. The reports of in-
jury done to our batteries have been greatly exagge-
rated. In addition to the 13-inch mortar, which was
burst, and the Lancaster destroyed by a shot, there
have been only four guns disabled by the enemy's fire,
and one of our 9-pounders, directed against the Rifle-
pits, has been " dinted" by a shot. One of our
24-pounders was burst by a shot which entered right at
the muzzle as the gun was being discharged. Another
gun was struck by a shut in the muzzle, split up to the
trunnions, the ball then sprung up into the air, and, fill-
ing at the breech, knocked off the button. There are
only three guns firing from the Round Tower this morn-
ing, but the enemy has mounted a heavy gnu in the
Mamelon, at which we are at present directing our fire.
The Redal is very much damaged on the right face and
front already, and three of the embrasures, at leat, are
knocked to pieces. It is impossible to deny to the Rus-
sian engineers great credit for the coolness with which
they set about repairing damages under fire ; but words
cannot do more than justice to the exertions of our
own men, and to the Engineer officers and Sappers en-
gaged in this most perilous duty. When an embra-
,ure is struck and injured it is the business of the
Sappers to p. up into the vacant space and repair
the damage, removing the galiiot;s, &c., under fire, and
without the least cover from shot, shell, or riflemen.
Our engineer efficeis have frequently set the example to
their men in exposing themselves when not called upon
to do so, and I believe, that as yet, there has not been a
single instance in which a gun has been silent owing to
damage done to an embrasure. The officers and men
charged with this dangerous work have not waited for
the cover of night to effect repairs, but have carried them
on in face of the enemy. Our Allies, also, exhibit the ut-
most coolness and gallantry in a similar manner. Poor
Jack pays the penalty of his excessive courage in the loss
which he sustains. The sailors will not keep under Cover.
When they fire a gun they crowd about the embrasures
and get upon the parapets to watch the effect of theshot,
and the result is that they are exposed to many more
casualties than the artillerymen, who are kept under
cover by their officers. Yesterday, under the very heat
of the file, a Russian walked through one of the em-
brasure!, of the Round Tower, coolly descended the
parapet, took a view of the profile of the work, and
sauntered back again—a piece of bravado which very
nearly cost him his life, as a round shot struck witnin' a
yard of him, and a shell burst near the embrasure as he
re-entered it. Lieut, Doug!as was buried, to day close
to poor Twyford and young Spalding. The Rev. Mr.
Freeman read the funeral service over his remains. It
will 'scarcely be credited that for nearly eight months
the Naval Brigade, mustering 1,200 men, has been left
without any chaplain, and the officer's have to " borrow
a chaplain," or do without one, whenever a comrade's
remains aro to be interred.

Two divisions of Turkish infantry have just marched
from Kamiesh, past the head-quarters camp, towards
Balaklava. They mustered about 15,000 men, and
finer young fellows than some of the soldiers of the
crack regiments I never saw. Very few of the
privates wore decorations or medals, but many of the
officers had them, and had evidently seen service
against the Muscovite. • They had had a long march,
and their sandal spoon afforded sorry protection against‘
the stony ground ; and yet it was astonishing that so
few men fell out of the ranks or straggled behind. One
regiment had a good brass band, which almost alarmed
the bystanders by striking up a quick step (waltz) as
they marched past, and playing it in very excellent style,
but the majority of the regiments were preceded by mu-
sicians with drums, fifes, and semicircular thin brass
tubes, with wide mouths, such as those which may have
tumbled the walls of Jericho, or are seen on the sculp-
tured monuments of primaeval kings. The colonel and
his two majors rode at the head of each regiment richly
dressed, on small but spirited horses, covered with
rich saddle-cloths, and followed by pipebearers and ser-
vants. The mules, with the tents, marched on the
right ; the' artillery marched on the left. The two
batteries I saw consisted each of four 241 b. brass
howitzers and two 91b. brass field-pieces, and the
carriages and horses were in a very serviceable state.
Each gun was drawn by six horses. The ammunition
boxes were rather coarse and heavy. The baggage ani-
mals of the division marched in the rear, and the regi-
ments marched in columns of companies three deep, each
company on an average with a front of 20 rank and file.
One of the regiments had Minie rifles of English make,
the majority, however, were only armed with flint fire-
locks, but they were clean and bright. Theyall displayed
rich standards, blazing with cloth of gold, and many-
coloured flags with the crescent and star embroidered on
them. All the men carried their blankets, squares of
carpet for prayer or sitting upon, cooking utensils, and
their paoks were of various sizes and substances. As
they marched along in the sunlight over the undulating
gronnd, they presented a very picturesque and warlike
spectacle, the stern reality of which was enhanced by the
thunder of the guns at Sebastopol, and the smoke from
shells bursting high in the air. On ascending the range
of hills towards Balaklava, they must have been seen by
the itussian army over the Tcheinaya, and by the Co'.
sacks on Canrobert's-hiil. The •Zouitves, wlso were for-
merly encamped near the, artillery and cavalry at Kadee-
kovka (which is erroneously called in our maps, &c ,
Kadikoi), have been moved to the left, and replaced by
Turks. The heavy fieli battery which has just arrived
from England is packed at Karany, but 1 believe Sir
Colin Campbell objects to parting with the guns, which
are, he considers, required at present for the defence of
Balaklava.
,Every night the plain is swept by a strong
picket of our cavalry, under the command of a field-
officer, a captain, and two subalterns, but as yet they
have met no marawling Cossacks, ;hough they have
gone right up to Ca.urobert's-hill and past the lines of
the redoubt...

A. letter from an officer of the French army be
fore Sebastopol ; it is dated the 10th : •
"God protect France ! The great duel between civil
cation and barbarism has commenced. " By the time this
letter reaches you the decisive blow will have been
struck. The weather was frightful yesterday. The wind
blew from the South with extreme violence, accompanied
by
pelting rain, but we were ready. It was the date an-
nounced beforehand for the opening of the fire. At day
break 500 guns opened at the same time, and mingled
their thunders with the din of the tempest. Our fathers
have seen on the battle-fields of the empire some hundreds
of cannon thunder for some hours; but these pieces did not
equal ours in calibre. To the 'soldiers of the Crimea only
it is given to see in line 1,200 guns, and to hear their
tremendous bellowing night and day. Yesterday the
wind drove tha rain on our backs ; the Russians had it
full in theirs fade. The fire, commenced at dawn, was
kept up with the greatest energy. For some hours tho
enemy replied vigorously. At 8 o'clock
AV fl• 1 evident; in the afternoon we commanded them
leer!
the whole line, and to svi;rds evening thc.y scarcely replied
our superiority'
at all. During-1,,1.e night of the Oth tile city and
,t.ihe
Works of the RtisAaus were literally overwhelmed with
shell and shot. Our cannonade continued, and the Rus-
sians, occupied in repairing their batteries and dressing
their wounded during the day
a, didmn ot reply.
for In a
us, and wbrd,
the result of thi4 first day wasmagnificent
our loss was comparatively insignificant. This morning
all the
the Russians again commenced firing, at first sharply,
but I can see, at the hour I write, (8 o'clock a.m.), that
If
suppose they will
their fire slackens considerably ; and I hope to see it, as
yesterday, almost silenced this evening. I can see from
the tent where I write you these hurried lines
s mingle their roar'
ships of the fleet, sails set, and steam up, and me n
at this moment beginning to move.
such a' noise. The
not fail to take partin the action.
Awidttbnioraulo,Bnruevaet.radtirdd
bAuidnmaniraelarLiyieoanti. the 3 000 guns of
engineers recommenced their approaches at night. At
skmdiesntanweeeref under the walls of the
day-break
someraetak ou rmewt
workmen
blood is up—and I rom the Russians. Our
Mines will probably do not think they can arrest
_ explode to night
i think that the - or to-morrow,us.
exterior and
enceinte, will be works, or
. rather -the first-
enceinte, occupied. u Large bre • -
aches were 'easily