The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

to check the march of the enemy. The Dragoon Guards
went to their aid, and were at first more fortunate ; but
their ranks were broken by the artillery of the redoubts,
of which the Russians had turned the cannon, after un-
spiking them, against the Allies. In the meantime the
British infantry arrived in line. It held firm under
the fire of the Russian infantry, and under that of
the redoubts. and thus gave time to the division
of General Bosquet, the farthest from the scene of
action, to come up and to form. The Allies then
took the offensive, and drove back the 'treadling to
the heights. There the latter succeeded in maintain-
ing themselves in possession of two of the redoubts
which they had carried. Thus ended the first day, which
was extremely sanguinary and undecided. Of what took
place on the following day we have only few details. The
bold movement of General Liprandi had partly failed,
since Balaklava remained in the power of the Allies, and
the latter preserved their communications with the sea ;
it had partly succeeded, since the
.Russians were in pos-
session of the sole beaten road, which loads from Balak-
lava to Sebastopol, and had taken position in the rear of
the besiegers.
Accordingly on the 26th, Prince Men-
schikoff made a strong sortie against the English lines in
order to place them between two fires. If he bad suc-
ceeded in carrying them and in effecting ajunction with
General Liprandi, in the midst of the besieging army,
the operations of the Allies would have been almostirre-
parably compromised. But.the 26th put an end to the
hopes of the Russian Generalissimo; after a very sharp
engagement, he was driven back into Sebastopol by
the division of General Sir De Lacy Evans with a loss
of more than 1,000 men. At the same time, the Allies
attacked in front the heights occupied by General
Liprandi, took the redoubts which the Russians had
captured the previous evening, and drove back the lat.
ter, completely broken and demoralised, beyond the
Tchernaya, in the ravines of the mountains. The for-
tunate issue of these two combats appear to us to decide
the fate of Sebastopol. The attack of General Liprandi
wasWthe last chance which the Russians possessed of
compelling the Allies to raise the siege. Unless the
Russians receive, which nothing shows to be likely,
sufficient reinforcements to give a second battle, they cannot renew such a desperate effort, and the siege will
henceforth follow its regular course. The result is the
less doubtful, as, masters of the course of the Tchernaya,
the Allies are equally in possession of the great aqueduct,
parallel to that river, which alone conveys portable water
to the military establishments and all the eastern part
of Sebastopol. By cutting off this aqueduct, the Allies
have been able to reduce the garrison and the inhabi-
tants to the water in the cisterns. As the rainy season
has not yet commenced, almost all the cisterns are
empty, and the place consequently suffers frightfully.
Some letters even affirm that at the last date a ease of
clear water cost a rouble. Two sanguinary but glorious
combats, and crowned with complete success, the de-
struction of a part of the Russian army, the energetic
continuation of the siege, and the exhausting of the
enemy's resources of all kinds—such is a summary of
the last news. We see in it nothing but motives for
hope.