The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

Viki, LON 130114, TITESDA

LATEST NEWS.

BERLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.

According to accounts received from St. Peters-
burg yesterday, Prince Menschikoff reports that,
up to the evening of the 16th, nothing particular
had occurred before Sebastopol. The unfavour-
able weather hindered the progress of the works,
and the enemy's fire was feeble, more especially
on the side of the English batteries.

THE CRIMEA.
THE AFFAIR OF THE VLADIMIR.

The Russian Government published, on the 17th
instant, in an extraordinary supplement of the
Invalide Busse, the following account of the naval
sortie from Sebastopol on the 6th, an affair which
was described in our letters published yesterday :
"On the 6th of December two steamers, the
Vladimir, Captain Boutakoff, and the ChersonesuF,
Commander Roudneff, were sent out from the road-
sted. of Sebastopol, for the purpose of doing some
injury to the French steamer anchored off the bay.
This enterprise was carried out with success
enough ; for while the French steamer was making
haste to sheer off, under the protection of another
steamer, also French, ours succeeded in sending
after it a number of balls, some of which went
plump into its hull. A large English steam three-
decker, that came up to its assistance, having
been lured on in pursuit, approached within range
of the coast batteries, which carried away her main-
yard and injured her paddle-box. On this occasion
we experienced neither loss in men, nor any parti-
cular injury to the vessels."
The " paddle-box" of a three-decker I
The Czar has addressed the following rescript to
Vice-Admiral Novossilsky :
" Informed by the reports of General Prince Menschi-
koff that, since the commencement of the bombardment
of Sebastopol, you have, as commanding officer of the
second section of the line of defence, constantly set an
example of courage and self-denial to those under you,
and tbat by your prudent arrangements, under the heavy
fire of the enemy, you have reduced to nought many of
his attempts, we have named you Knight of the Order
of St. Vladimir of the First Class, the insignia of which
we herewith transmit to you, remaining, with our im
perial well wishes, your affectionate
(Signed)

"NICIOLAS."

THE FRENCH ARMY.

A letter dated from a French officer in the camp
before Sebastopol, says :

" Scarcely a day passes but deserters and horses reach I
our outposts from the Russian army encamped opposite
ours outside the town ; for horses and men are alike
dying from hunger and privations. We are neither in
want of provisions, tents, fuel, nor clothing, and but for
the rain and the atrocious mud which it causes we
should be comfortable enough. We have dug pits after
the manner of the Laplanders in order to shelter
ourselves. If we had planks to build huts we should
get on famously. The English envy us and ad-
mire the singular industry and facility with which
our men turn everything to account for their corn
fort. We are here assembled to the number of
about 80,000 men on a space of four square leagues,
covered with tents on all sides and incessantly travelled
over by a host of carts and horses. It is a curious
and extraordinary moving scene. The poor horses alone
suffer much from the want of shelter and from the mud
in which they are constantly sinking. The greater part
of the magnificent English horses have now become
perfect rawbones. and look miserably. The Arab horses
are those which support better than any others the
hardships of a bivouac. I have just had one given me
to replace the one I have lost. It is the same with the
uniforms. The richest and most elegant have become so
grotesque that no mountebank would wear them.
Officers and soldiers wrap themselves up as they can
in skins, paletots, and cabins of every kind from wher-
ever they can get them."