The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-15 00:00:00

-
"Monsieur le Ministre,—l have already informed
your Excellency of the operations which threw open to
the allied fleets the entrance to the Sea of- Azoff, and
the first results obtained by the allied squadron, which
Commanders Beral de Sedaiges, of the Lucifer, and
Lyons, of the Miranda, were ordered to take as far as
Berdiansk.

To-day I send your Excellency some more circum-
stantial details.

It was advisable not to allow the enemy, whose works
had been forcibly interrupted by the winter, time to com-
plete the defence of the peninsula by new works. The
assistance of a body of troops was indispensable, if not to
force the passes of Kertch and Yenikale, at least to make
sure that, when our cruisers had passed them, they should
not find them closed behind. Now that we have been
enthled to examine more minutely the obstacles accu-
mulated by the enemy at the entrance of the Sea

of Azoff, and those that were preparing against us,
Admiral Lyons and myself congratulate ourselves doubly
on having insured the success of the expedition by de-
manding the aid of a division of the Army. The material
daniatre already done to the enemy, the embarrassment
that he must necessarily shortly experience from the de-
struction of immense stores c.f provisions destined for his
army in the Crimea, the moral effect of a new invasion
carried to the banks of the Don and to the shores of the
Putrid Sea, all demonstrate the importance of this expe-
dition.

D,sp,te the interest the Commander-in-Chief them-
selves attached to it, it was only in the first days of
Apr] that the execution of the plan could be seriously
thought of. During th's time the project had been care-
fully studied. Admiral Lyons had received the most
precise reports from his cm,iainq, and the-commander of
the Fulton, Lieutenant Le Brig: who had been cruising
offKertch since February, had also provided me with
details respecting the defences of the straits, the facili-
ties offered by the coast for a landing, and the strength
of the Russians in the peninsula which made me enter-)
tain no doubt of the success of the operation, provided
it could be done promptly and with secrecy.
On the 20th of May it was agreed upon between the
Commanders-in-Chief and tl,e Admirals that an expedi-
tionary corps, consisting of 7.000 French and three bat-
teries, under the orders of General D'Auternarre ; of
3,000 English and one battery, underrrierfralmn Brownome;:
of 5,000 Turks. and a battery borrowed
Pasha's army, ehould embark on board the squadrons
and ba conveyed immediately to Kertch. On the even-
ing of the 22d the troops, artillery, and materiel em-
barked on board the vessels appointed to receive them.
The French squadron consisted of the following ves-
sels

The Montebello. Captain Bassiere, in which I hoisted
my flag ; the Napoleon, with the flag of Rear-Admiral
Charner • and the Charlemagne.
Steam-frigates—Pomone, Caflarelli, Mogador, Cacique,
Descartes, Asmodee, and Ulloa.

.
Steam-corvettes—Veloco, Primauguet, Phl6gethon,
Berthollet, Roland, and Caton.

Steam-sloops—Lucifer, Megbre, Milan, Brandon Ful-
ton, and Dauphin.
Bombarde Vapeur (steam mortar-boat)—Le Vautour.
The staff of the army had added to the expedition, for
their particular service, the steamer Egyptian and two
sailing vessels. They had, moreover, placed at our dis-
posal, to tow the barges to the shore, one of the steam-
tugs of Port`liamiesch, the Beicos.
The command of the beach was intrusted to M. Gio-
vannetti, one of the officers of my staff.
The steam-frigates Cacique, Descartes, and Ulloa car-
ried three batteries of artillery ; the Asmodde conveyed
the horses of those batteries which could not find plaoe
on board the other frigates. The mules and materiel
of the ambulance, as also the reserve ammunition, were
placed on board the Caffarelli.

Eizht barges, each catable of containing a gun har-
us seed with gun-carriage, were placed on board the ships
and on the poop of the Pomone, for the landing of the
troops, and especially for the landing of the artillery.
On board the steam despatch boats, whose small
draught of water allowed them to approach within a
short distance of the shore, were embarked the sth and
14th battalions of Chasseurs•a-pied ; the 19th and 26th
Regiments of the Line were embarked on board the
frigates and steam-corvettes.

The 74th and 39th Regiments, which, with the 14th
battalion of Chasseurs, formed the second brigade, were
conveyed by the three men-of-war and by the Pomone.
Every arrangement was made beforehand for landing
simultaneously at least 3,000 infantry, which were to be
promptly supported by three pieces of artillery and a
section of a rocket battery. _

On the 24th of May, at daybreak, the two squadrons
were united at the appointed rendezvous 12 miles south
of Cape Takli. The barges and boats for the disembarka-
tion t4e;-e lowered, the ships of the line cast anchor in
about six fathoms, the other steamers formed a line of
escort, and steered towards the bay which forms the lower
point of Karniesch. The light bteatners.ca4 anchor at
hom four to five cable lengths from the shore, the cor-
vettes and frigates as rear as the depth of water per-
mitted.

At 1 o'clock in th
formed around the I.
General D'Autecoa,

,f.ernoon the boats full of troops
ge hearing the distinctive signal of
Some Russian horsemen had

appeared on the lie guts, but a few shells from the Eng-
fish vesiel.s and from the Megere sufficed to disperse
them. If the enemy had assembled troops to oppose
the landing it ww evident they dared not appear in the
plain, which could be swept by the guns of our vessels,
and that they would remain beyond the range of our
artillery.

The signal to advance was given to the boats, and a
few moments afterwards the two battali,ifis of Chasseurs
landed on the beach, to the shout of " Vive l'Empereur,"
and formed in columns to climb the heights.
The English troops, who landed at the same moment
as ours, took up a position on the left, and immediately
advanced.

During this time the Dauphin, Caton, Lucifer, and
Milan, went to take the troops of the 2d Brigade from
the men-of-war and Pomone. At half-past three the
whole of the infantry was landed, and the disembarka-
tion of the artillery and horses was going on actively.
We were aware that the enemy had established a bat-
tery of 26 guns of heavy calibre on Cape St. Paul,
and another battery of three guns on Cape Ak-Bournon.
These batteries were not the only obstacles which the
Russians had intended opposing to the vessels that might
attempt to force the passage of Cape St. Paul ; a great
number of vessels had been sunk in the passage. Vs-
persed by currents and the melting of the ice, these yes
eels formed so many ads not indicated by the lead, and
of the position of which we were completely ignorant.
The enemy had, moreover, sunk explosive machines
(bowl:es). We found sores of them in the Kertch arse-
nal, which we were enabled to examine at leisure.
A triple brass wire, covered with a gutta'ercha
wrapper, placed them in communication with an electric
battery in the battery of Cape St. Paul. It would have
been easy to explode these submarine petards when our
vessels were within the straits, and the effect would have
been decisive, if the explosion took place at the proper
moment.

Although we knew very little of these details still we
expected to meet at the passage of Cape St. Paul with
a resistance in proportion to the considerable efforts
made by the enemy for its defence • but we relied to
overcome it by the combined efforts of the allied troops
and squadrons. About 2 p.m. I had hoisted my flag on
board the steam-corvette Laplace, Captain Caboureau.
which had joined the' squadron the evening before. I
made for Cape St. Paul, to examine the works more
closely, when a violent explosion, soon followed by suc-
cessive reports, apprized me that the Russians were
blowing up their powder magazines, and had given up
the idea of contesting this first passage. The abandon-
ment of Cape St. Paul seemed to indicate that the enemy
had reserved a more advantageous line of defence, behind
which they would concentrate, and await us. The old
castle of Yenikale offered, in fact, to the Russians a, re.
doubt the thick masonry of which would have withstood
ths fire of our field batteries for a long time. A long line
of floating batteries and transport ships armed with guns
barred this second passage, in which the depth of the
water is not more than 13 feet, and therefore only acces-
sible to " avisos" or gun-boats.
This line of floating batteries added their fire to the
cross fire of the batteries of Yenikale and of the Russian
battery erected on the Cheska bank. Our information
respecting this part of the straits was very incomplete,
and we might presume that we could not force such a
position without an obstinate struggle. These latter
obstacles were, however, to vanish with the same facility
as the others. _

I have already informed your Excellency, by my de-
spatch of the 26th May, of the engagement which took
place immediately after the evacuation of the batteries
of Cape St. Paul between the defences of Yenikale and
the English gun-boats, supported by the Fulton and Me-
gere. This engagement lasted till sunset, and the vessels
engaged cast anchor in the Gulf of Kertch. This :Ina;
nceuvre doubtless hastened the resolution of the enemy,
for about eight o'clock in the evening a loud explosion
announced to us that they had evacuated Yenikale in
the same manner as they had abandoned their first •
of defence.

On day, at daybreak, the allied army
fo
placerenooni they entered it
its columns crowwnehd
.
otllet
beganhfier
ii
its
se faomoe v t isansoashfrl lcoYht7e.
On theh einaniengkndai inebge which
the Lucifer, Megbre, Brandon,
and Fulton, under the orders of Commander Beral de
Sedaiges, joined in the Sea of Azoff to English vessels,
under Captain Lyons, and steered for Berditznsk.
The Lucifer, Megbre, Brandon, and Fulton were
obliged to return to Kertch to take in provisions.
Genitchi. Their boats bold
During this time the English gun-boats had attacked
ly ventured into the arm of
the sea which connects the Sea of Azoff with the Putrid
Sea, and there set fire to more than 70 vessels and very
large stores of grain.
ThetheS
tsthe
e Lucifer,aof A
zo fiMyeegset
err
de ,
aßyraancdcoonan ,
paanndi
ey Fulton re-entered
Dauphin
and the Mouette and the barges and longboats of
Montebello, Napoldon, Charlemagne, and_
Our vessels were to join the EnglishtitiltaooaffnnToaugnacne-
Vice-Admiral Comma
rtoogy,oaunrdElxhcoeplleensocyon. to have another e successr.iu
-Chief BRUAT.

15
The Oxford Militia, at present quartered in Ports-
mouth garrison, are ordered to embark in the sailing
transports Canterbury and Chapman for Corfu.
The Northumberland Artillery Militia, after iihe usual
course of 28 days' drill in Tynemouth garrison, ave been
disbanded for this year.
a;ctl'olitientsnatmoearbicoaultfo3r2ese,oafutdhefrDesohrsreetcahruirietsitareeg
iraooemn now
goiwn
daily.