The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-28 00:00:00

Grandeur and Beauty of the Captured

City.
Whatever idea one has formed from looking a
Sebastopol from Cathcart's-hill and the trenches,
and every one has heard of its respectability as a
city, I must say I was little prepared to witness
the remains of anything so beautiful. To ride
along what must have been the grand street, and
see the lamp-posts and pavements seemed to call
forth the remembrance that there are such things
yet in the world. The houses, or I should say man-
sions, that are passed one after another in the most
frightful delapidations aro most surprising ; a
number of these appear to have been public build-
ings. Nearly every house must have had some
architectural pretension, the rows of pillars and
columns are unceasing, and from the visible re-
mains I should say it ought to have been one of
the prettiest places iu the world. The cleanliness,
and I was going to say order, was astonishing ;
what I mean by order was the cleanliness of the
streets, even where barricades had been erected.
The fronts of some houses appeared so perfect that,
with the aid of a strong imagination, you could
almost fancy you were riding in a nice town, where
nothing had happened, and in other parts that you
were only visiting the scene of a disastrous fire,
and presently expected to get beyond the pale of
its rage ; but alas ! wherever you went, all, all was
alike—never was destruction and desolation more
complete ; never had man worked more successfully
to destroy his own work. The great point of at-
traction was a monument just inside Fort Nicholas,
and close to the water's edge; a mere enchanting
view I never remember to have looked upon. It
must have been the fashionable lounge of Sebas-
topol. This monument, which is surrounded by a
fort, and bears date 1834, is surrounded by a plea-
sure ground, from any part of which you may get
a view of the Forts Constantine and Nicholas, the
harbour, the opposite side, and a great portion of
the town.
Sebastopol Firing on the Russians.
A mortar-battery which the French have esta-
blished was playing on the 13th on the Russians
at the other side, and shaking the ruins of Fort
Nicholas with its report ; but the great surprise '
was, that it was not returned, and that Constan-
tine remained quiet. With the naked eye, the
Russians could be seen " scuttling" away from the
shell. Below the monument I entered a fine
building, which I decided in my own mind to have
been the theatre or opera-house ; and not far from
this was a splendid church. Passing up oue of the
streets I was attracted by the music of a French
band, which was having its afternoon practice, and
soon after the French drums beat their usual rap-
pelle, which warned us that sunset was approach-
ing. Before quitting the place I paid a hasty visit
to their batteries in rear of the town, which were
very similar to those in the Malakhoff and Redan,
and well protected from shot and shell. The more
the surprising strength of the whole place is looked
at, the surprise that it has not before fallen gives
way to wonder that it is now in possession of the
allies.
Roads Mended with Cannon-Shot.

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I came out of Sebastopol, and returned to camp
by tho Woronzoff-road. Here fatigue parties have
been busily engaged during the day in repairing
the road, and it is almost ludicrous to see the por-
tion of the road that is done with round shot—
large holes filled up with them, in other places
largo pieces of road paved with them, and along
the whole distance the sides of the road are edged
with them. The numbers of officers and men re-
turning to camp put ono in mind of a road after
garrison races, so great were the number who had
obtained passes for the gratification of seeing what
we have so long fought for.
The Bombardment.
The bombardment, the most terrific whwich, pen-
r-
haps, was over directed against any place,
tinued day and night for three days. It was not
as ce
so much the demolishing of the earthworks or the
dismounting the guns of the enemy which seemed
i , to be the primary object of it, as to prepare the way