The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-25 00:00:00

THE FALL OF SHBASTOPoL.

The Augsburg Gazette, a journal rarely inclined
to exaggerate the successes of the allies, delivers, in
its number 4.f. the 20th inst., an opinion on the con-
s'quences of the taking of Sebastopol. The follow-
jog is an extract from its article ou the subject :
s'hasf"P I has fallen—after a straggle indeed, the
l ice of wh e., is not to he found in the history of war,
but ha, ne,ertheless fallen -and we have now to take
account of the importance of this event, and of its con-
sequencee, for it In•Ly well happen that now more press-
ing and serious endeavours will be made to induce Ger-
m Loy:to -exchange its position cf expect-int neutrality
no- one of paqicipation it, the war: The Russians
have "voluntarily evacuated" the south side of S. bas-
topol, and upon this v.luetariners they lay great
stress, as P shey had any ch,•ice between withdraw-
ing and being buried under smoking ruins.
Since the receipt of that despatch of Print-. Gort-
scha toff, endi- gwi h the words " the fortiiicati,ns re-
ceive coosiieratoe damage," the progress towaris the
final catastrophe e,:ght. be estimated it, days, and the
a-tack on Traktir ridge was the last desperate attempt
to avert it. The attack mi-carried, Sebastopol was vir-
tually taken, and if Le Nord undertakes to demonstrate
that the army has now for the first time arrived at unity
of movement and action since its concentration in the
north of the fartress we can only say that even tragedy
has its comic side. We will not exaglerate the event of
September 8, but we must not underrate it. The north
of Sebastopol may be a stronger, a much stronger fort-
ress. but the southern part included all which Sebasto-
pol had to defend—the Russian fleet and all that was
necessary for its support. That is now annihilated,
and for the next half century may be left out of the ac-
count. Without any treaty stipulations, the litnita-
ti.m of the Russian power in the Euxine is an a •cotn-
pli,hed fact. Yst more. The nimbue of 111153ia.11 im-
pregnability has vanished—vanished in the east and
in the west, and its very positlon as a great power
is shaken. It were idle now to inquire whether it was
or was not possible to take Sebastopol by coup de main
irntnediately after the landing in the Urimea ; in that
case, however, only Sebastopol would have fallen, and
Sebastopol is not the Crimea, and still less Russia. But
since then Russia has striven her utmost to hold the
place. A great army, always as strong, sometimes
stronger, than the united farces of the Allies, has fought
with constant bravely—all the means of art and all the
-pportunities of nature have been employed, and yet the
strife was in vain. A miscellaneous army, with no re-
treat but the sea, has defeated a homogeneous army
which bad an immense empire behind it. The military
honour of Russia is saved, since only ruins and dead
bodies were left behind; but her military power has not
the less on that account suffered a deathblow.

The following order of the day was issued by
General MaeMahon to his division on the eve of
the attack upon the Malakhoff :
Sold►ers of the First Division of Zouaves of the Guard,
—You are at last about to quit your parallels to attack
the enemy hand to hand. On this decisive day onr
General has vonfide.l to you the most important task—
the taking of the Malakhoff Redan—the key of Sebas-
topol,__

Soldiers,—The entire army has its eyes upon you, and
your colours planted upon the ramparts of that citadel
will be the answer to the signal given kr the general
a.s4ault.

Twenty thousand English and twenty thousand French
on your left sill support you, by throwing themselves
it,to that side of the lilac•.
Litiaves, Chassteurs-a-Pied, Soldiers of the 741, 20th,
and 27th of the Ligne, your bravery is a guarantee :or
the success which will immortalise the nutubtre of your
regi nier:ts.

In a few hours the Emperor will tell France what the
soldiers of Alma and Irdierman can do.
I will give the signal by the cry of Vive rEmpercur.
Our rallying Nv:rd shall be Howlett). et Patrie.
The General of Divismn commanding the attack
on the Nl.a6khoff Tower, M ACMAHON.