The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-23 00:00:00

THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

The Constitutionnel of Friday has some con-
siderations on the peculiar nature of the difficulties
connected with the siege of Sebastopol. which are
worthy of extract. It says
" Sebastopol resembles in nothing an ordinary forti-
fied place, and there is no comparison to be made be-
tween the assault on the Russians in that place and the
ordinary sieges, even the most difficult, recorded in
history. The best fortified places are usually environed
by a chain of defensive works which it suffices to make a
breach in on one point. Sebastopol is not a city so sur-
rounded ; it is the reunion of numerous citadels, gene-
rally independent of each other, separated by deep ravines
and by creeks which form so many natural ditches, so
that after having penetrated into one of these works,
the allied troops find they have only made one step for-
ward, and that in front new ramparts arise and other
obstacles of all kinds are multiplied. To open a breach
in the weakest part of the fortifications, to push forward
assault-columns, and penetrate by this means into the
place, is out of the question. It is necessary to carry
successively by the bayonet, under cross-fires of the most
redoubtable description, a series of fortifications, each of
which would require a long siege. We say by the
bayonet, for it must not be dissembled that artillery,
ordinarily prepondering in sieges, is here of only medi-
ocre effect. That which helps to impart a character
altogether exceptional to the siege of Sebastopol is the
very nature of the works executed for the defence of
the city. These works are of earth, and consequently
altogether temporary, for when towns are fortified in a
permanent manner, solid materials are necessarily em-
ployed. But this circumstance serves the Russian army,
as the balls make but little impression on these earth-
Ivlrks."

The journal here observes on the well-known,
often-repeated disadvantages to the besiegers un-
der such circumstances, and then proceeds :
" The dangers of storming are greater at Sebastopol
than anywhere else. As the aggregate of the fortresses
could not be invested the troops defending the town
are constantly renewed, and in consequence escape the
discouragement and the fatigue experienced by a garri-
son during a long siege. That which the Russian Go-
vernment calls the garrison of Sebastopol is, in fact, all
and entirely the Russian army. Russia concentrates in
the Crimea all she has of energy, resources, and soldiers. A
siege, which commonly is but a secondary operation in
the general plan of a campaign, has become, in the
Crimea, by a concurrence of circumstances, known to all
the world, the tie knot of the war, and, it may be said,
that the fate of the Russian empire is dependent on the
resistance or the fall of a single place. Every assault
may therefore count as a great battle, not only because
of the number of men who may be engaged on both sides,
but also by its important consequences with regard to
the definitive solution of the question. In the contest now
going on, the Russians have such superior advantages of
every kind, that it is astonishing how, brave as they are,
they have been constantly beaten since the commencement
of the siege. They have at hand, that is at their disposal,
all the resources of the country, and with the nature
of these resources they are perfectly conversant. They
combat iu positions chosen by themselves, confine
themselves to the defensive, and are constantly sheltered
under ramparts ; they draw upon an arsenal overflowing
with munitions, which have been accumulated there for
years, and, what was never known before, they posses.,
for a place besieged by land, ships whose formidable
batteries, transported at will on every point menaced by
the besieger, effectually second the fire of the place.
When the general commanding at Sebastopol foresees
an assault, he orders out of the town the battalions
which, having already measured themselves with the
Allies, and proved the effects of their bravery, might be
demoralised. Fresh troops are then brought into the
place, who have sojourned and been reorganised in the for-
tified camp of the Russians at Beliseck ;they arrive thusbe-
fore the assailing forces with all their moral and physical
force. Why should not these courageous and well-
disciplined forces defend themselves vigorously behind
ramparts, that is to say, in a position where inferior
troops often resist effectively the most resolute attacks ?
The Russian Generals disdain none of the trickery of
war, none of the means of destruction which may con-
tribute to a successful defence. They endeavour to im-
pose on the imagination of their adversaries when they
cannot otherwise make an impression on them. They
have proceeded even to place on their glacis the
machines Jacobi, which, in the assault of the
18th, exploded and wounded several men. These
are less an instrument of defence, for that would
be puerile, than a means of making believe in the
imaginary existence of machines quite otherwise
formidable which should be disposed in the interior
of the city. From the beginning of the siege have they
not spread reports that all the fortifications were mined,
and at the last extremity they would blow up the con-
querors and conquered altogether ? That match has
been eventuated at the capture of the Mamelon Vert, '
which made no explosion at all, notwithstanding that it
equally passed for a mine. But the Russians then, with
that astuteness which is one of the salient trains of their
character, caused it to be reported that they had not had
the time to fire the train of powder. In despite of all
these efforts, notwithstanding the incontestable bravery
of the Russian army, with all the advantages we have
enumerated, what is the respective position of the two
armies? Ours has never flinched one step. Its approaches,
retarded by unheard-of difficulties, have been constantly
pursued with a firmness not to be shaken ; the Russian
army has been vanquished in two great battles, and
has been forced to relinquish any attack on our lines.
All in making way against the Malakhoff Tower, which
appears to be the key of the first defences, we are pre-
paring the means for opening fire on the ships which our
bombs have not yet been able to reach, and whose fire
inflicted so much damage on our attacking columns on
the 18th of June. Experience has taught us to employ
in carrying on this siege the kind of projectile which is
the most proper for making an impression on the ene-
my ; we began the attack with siege pieces of an insuf-
ficient calibre, but we continue it with an artillery supe-
rior to that of the enemy, who, to save his ammunition,
or by the powerlessness of struggling with us, withdrew
his guns from the embrasures on occasion of the can-
nonade which preceded the last assault. At this mo-
ment important ironworks at Manchester are employed
in founding new piecesaof artillery, from which a tre-
mendous result is expected. The allied army is, besides,
well provisioned, and exempt from the epidemic diseases
which make such ravages in the ranks of the Russians."

The following letter is extracted from the DerbpAire
C 'trier

RIGHT SIEGE TRAIN, BEFORE SEBASTOPOL,
3d July, 1555.

In my last letter I wound up when just going to the
trenches. I passed the night in the " Quarry," and a
remarkably warm night it was—shell from coborn mor-
tars streamed in the whole night, dinning one with their
explosions and the whizz of the pieces. I passed some
time in dodging them about the traverse, but afterwards
occupied a corner with a colonel and major of the Guards,
all determined to make the best of it, and resolved that
if one of our fizzing visitors did lob over the top of the
parapet we could not help it, but that we certainly would
not pay them that attention we had hitherto done. I fere
we had an agreeable variety of gun shell, and shot, which
twice nearly buried us in dust and filth, exfloding in the
parapet above ; however, we lighted our cigars again,
and made the best of it. A piece of shell came thud
close to my hoot, and a poor fellow (Owen, of the 23d)
was killed near. A shell burst close above a cluster of
men, and, without touching one of them, cut a musket
completely through. The few casualties are most extra-
ordinary when compared with the vast quantity of shot,
shell, grape, and rifle balls fired only 200 yards off, and
at men exposed as working parties or thickly huddled in
the trench. What knocks a fellow up in the trenches
are the cold and damp nights followed by scorching dusty
days, and these have made me rather seedy, and, I am
sorry to say, have touched my liver up again ; however, I
have at present warded off any serious attack, though
I have been rather afraid of another bout like the win-
ginger are at pre-
ter one, and blue pills and essence of
Bent the order of the day.
It is said that Baraguay d'Hilliers and 50,000 men are
going to land at Eupatoria, and complete the investment,
which will be a work of some time. The French are
ordered to prepare for the winter.

6th July.
I was rather seedy when I last wrote, and the next'
morning wag attacked with low fever and liver pain..
was in detail for the trenches the next day, and, not
liking to draw in another for a dangerous duty at so late
an hour, bucked myself up and went off at 4 a.m.,
though somewhat against A--'s wishes. The day
was a hot one, with occasional showers, and we had a
good deal of firing. My relief did not arrive till be-
tween 9 and 10 p.m., there being some alteration, as a
universal attack from the ruins was expected ; the end
of it was that I became thoroughly knocked no and
done for with bilious fever and liver pains, but I am
glad to say I am better this evening. To-morrow I shall
have had sufficient experience to report before any future
Sebastopol committee as to the state of our ambulances,
as I am ordered to be conveyed in one of them to our
Sanitarium at Balaklava, a pleasant, cool place.
A very nice fellow, Gordon' was killed yesterday by
a shell ; he bad been a volunteer for some time, having
brought over horses, and every preparation was being
made fur his return to England.

Miss Goddard has been giving some concerts at
Florence, where, according to the Leo d'Europa, she has
made a most favourable impression.
BCBGLART AND ATTEMPTZD INITIRDER.—A burglary,
accompanied with a desperate attempt at murder, was
committed on Mouclay roaming
last, at Pimlico. The
family of Mr. Kilson, of 114, Warwick-street, Pimlico,
being on a visit in Devonshire, the house has been left
of
tiMartha Rao?, the housemaid, who, for the
in chg
betterare protecon of thehproperty, Was
Permitted to have
her grandfather in the ouse to sleep. They retired to
their respective rooms between 10 and 11 on Sunday
night, and at about five orithe followingabout enlng th,7
girl, hearing somebody walking house, an—
father, got up and opened the
thinking it was her grand
she slept, to i'
door of the back kitchen, in which
nqu 're
what he wanted. She had no sooner done so than she
was felled to the g
afterwards the
with the kitchen poker, and
hour
became senseless. In about an hour poor girl was discovered lying upon her bed, with a rope
tied tightly round her neck, apparently in a lifeless con-
dition. The bed clothes were thrown over her,
an
there is no doubt that the robbers considered they had
effected their murderous purpose. The only matter of
surprise was that she still lived, for no less than seven
scalp wounds had been inflicted upon her head, besides
other blows about her arms and body. She now lies at
St. George's Hospital without the slightest hopes of re-
covery. The thieves effected an entrance by the front
kitchen window, having climbed over the area railings,
and carried off a great quantity of plate and other valua-
ble& There is as yet no clue to the offenders.