The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-27 00:00:00

(Prom the Times' Special Correspondent. )

pit
P.

INTERIOR OF SEBASTOPOL.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12.—1 t is delightful to abandon
the old heading, " The Siege of Sebastopol," which for
the last 11 mouths might have been stereotyped, but it
. is not clear what is to be put in its place, for the enemy,
• having abandoned the south side, seem prepared to de-
fend the north side, axi to erect there another monu-
ment of engineering skill, and to leave there memorials
of their dogged 'resolution. The wonder of all visitors
to the ruins of Sebastopol is divided—they are astonished
at the strength of the works, and that they were ever
taken ; they are amazed that men could have defended
them so long with such ruin around them. These feel-
ings are apparently in opposition to each other, but a
glance at the place would explain the apparent contra-
diction. It is clear, in the first place, that the fire of our
artillery was searching out every nook and corner in the
town, and that it would become utterly impossible for
the Russians to keep any body of men to defend their
long line of parapet and battery without such murderous
loss as would speedily annihilate an army. Their enor-
mous bomb-proofs, large and numerous as they were,
could not hold the requisite force to resist a general con-
certed attack made all along the line with rapidity and
without previous warning. On the other hand, the
strength of the works themselves is prodigious. One
bears our engineers feebly saying •‘ They are badly
traced," and that kind of thing, but it is quits evident
that the Russian, who is no match for the allies in the
open field, has been enabled to sustain the most tre-
mendous bombardments ever known and an 11 months'
siege, that he was rendered capable of repulsing one
general assault, and that a subsequent attack upon him
at four points was only successful at one, which fortu-
nately happened to be the key of his position, and the
inference is that his engineers were of consummate
ability, and furnished him with artificial strength that
made him equal to our best efforts. Tue details of the
French attack will no doubt have been made public be-
fore this letter reaches you. It is sufficient to say that
of the three or four points attacked—the Little Redan
and the Malakhoff on the right, and the Bastion Cen-
trale and the re-entering angle of the Flagstaff Work on
the left—but one was carried, and that was a closed
work. The Great Redan, the Little Redan, and the
line of defence on the left were not taken, although the
attack was resolute and the contest obstinate and bloody
for both assailants and defenders. Whether we ought to
have attacked the Great or Little Redan, or to have
touched the left at all, is another question, which is
Ventilated by many, but which it is not for me to de-
cide. It is certain that the enemy knew his weakness,
and was too good a strategist to defend a position of
Which we held the key. Sebastopol in flames, his ships
bunk, told the story next morning, and sonic 10,0e0
French and English soldiers were its commentators.
Could we have done so it would have been well for the
English to claim the honour of joining in the assault on
the Malakhoff, the tower of which we had beaten into
ruins, and abstain from attacking the Redan, which
could offer a desperate and, as events proved, a succe,s-
ful resistance, till the works around the Malakhoff were
taken.

The surprise throughout the camp on Sunday morn-
ing was beyond description when the news spread that
Sebastopol was on fire and that the enemy were retreat-
ing. The tremendous explosions, which shook the very
grouad like so many earthquakes, failed to disturb many
of our wearied soldiers. When I rose before daybreak,
and got up to Cathcart's-hill, there were not many officers
standing on that favourite spot ; and the sleepers who
had lain down to rest, doubtful of the complete success
of the French, and certain of our own failure, little
dreamt that Sebastopol was ours. All was ready
for a renewed assault on thq Redan, but the Rus-
sians having kept up a brisk fire from the rifle pits
and embrasures to the last moment, and having adopted
the same plan along their lines, so as to blind our eyes
and engage our attention, abandoned it, as is supposed,
►bout 12 o'cleck, and, the silence having attracted the
attention of our men, some volunteers crept up and
looked through an embrasure, and found the place de-
serted by all save the dead and dying. Soon afterwards,
Wandering fires gleamed through the streets and out-
skirts of the town—point after point became alight—the
flames shone out of the windows of the houses—rows of
Mansions caught and burned up, and before daybreak,
the town of Sebastopol—that fine and stately mistress
of the Euxine, on which we had so often turned a long-
ing eye—was on fire from the sea to the Dockyard
Creek. Fort Alexander was blown up with a stupen-
dous crash, that made the very earth reel, early in the
night. • I

DESTRUCTION OF THE FORTS.
At sunrise four large explosions on the left followed
in quick succession, and announced the destruction of
the Quarantine Fort and of the magazines of the bat-
teries of the Central Bastion and Flagstaff Fort. In a
moment afterwards the proper left of the Redan was the
scene of a very heavy explosion, which must have de-
stroyed a number of wounded men on both sides. For-
, tunately, the soldiers who had entered it early in the
night were withdrawn. The Flagstaff and Garden Bat-
teries blew up, one after another, at 4.45. At 5.30
there were two of the largest and grandest explosions on
the left that ever shook the earth—most probably from.
Fort Alexander and the Grand Magazine. Tue rush of
black smoke, grey and white vapour, magas.en of .tone,
beams of timber, and masonry into the air was appal-
ling, and then followed the roar of a great bombard-
ment; it was a magazine of shells thrown up into the
air, and exploding like some gigantic pyrotechnic dis-
Play in the sky—innumerable flashes of fire twittering
high up in the column of dark smoke over the town,
and then changing rapidly into as many balls of white
• smoke like little clouds. Ali this time the Russians were
marching with sullen tramp across the bridge, and boats
Were busy carrying off material from the town, or bear-
ing men to the south side, to complete the work of de-
struction and renew the fires of hidden mines, or light
UP untouched houses.
Of the fleet all that remained visible were the eight
steamers and the masts of the sunken line-of-battle ships.
As soon as it was dawn the French began to steal from
their trenches into the burning to ern, undismayed by the
flames, by the terrors of these explosions, by the fire of
ia lurking enemy, or by the fire of their own guns, which
kept on slowly discharging cannon, shot, and grape into
the suburbs at regular intervals, possibly with the very
Object of deterring stragglers from risking their lives.
ut red breeches and blue breeches, tepi and Zouave
fez, could soon be distinguished amid the flames, moving
from house to house. Before 5 o'clock there were num-
bers of men coming back with plunder, such as it wa-,,
and Russian relics were offered for sale in camp before
the Russian battalions bad marched out of the city. The
sailors, too, were not behindhand in looking for " loot,"
and Jack could be seen staggering under chairs, tables,
and lumbering old pictures, through every street, and
making his way back to the trenches with vast ac-
,eumulations of worthlessness. Several men lost their
'ires by explosions on this and the following day. At
7.10 several small detonations of shells and powder ma-
gazines took place in the town behind the Redan and on
the left of the Dockyard Creek. At 7.12 immense clouds
of black smoke rose from Fort Paul, probably from a
~Iteamer, which we found burning in the dockyard. The
Russian columns, which had been defiling in a continuous
Stream across the bridge, now became broken into
Small bodies, or went over in intermittent masses, un-
scathed by the shot and shell which plunged into the
Water close beside them. At 7'45 the last dense column
marched past, and soon afterwards the bridge was pulled
asunder, and the pieces were all floated across to the
north side at 8.7. The boats did net cease pulling back-
bard and forward all the time, and the steamers were
Inteeedingly busy long after the garrison moved, At 9
there were many explosions in the town amid the burn-
log ruins, and the battlements of Fort Nicholas appeared
411 flames. Still there was no explosion there nor in Fort
Paul.