The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-05 00:00:00

[acv on the subject.

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THE CRIMEA.
The following report has been sent to the Em-
peror by the Minister of Marine :
" Sire,—The memorable events which are taking
place during your reign have again thrown into strong
relief the brave'y, skill, and patriotism of the Imperial
navy. In every sea, and every part of the world.it is
seen, intrepid and devoted, seconding the designs of
your Majesty. It transports your armies ; it rivals in
zeal and daring with your bravest soldiers ; it joins in
every peril ; and has its part in every success. Your
Majesty has decided that great recompences shall be ac-
corded to the great services of the navy. The country,
Sire, will applaud the decrees which your Majesty has
ordered me to prepare, for the promotions or decora-
tions which your hand dispenses have been dearly earned,
and bravely gained.—l am with the most profound re-
spect, your Majesty's most humble and obedient ser-
vant, "THEODORE DUOS."

A decree follows, promoting Vice-Admirals Per-
seval-Deschbnes and Hamelin to the rank of Ad-
miral, for their eminent services in the Baltic and
the Black Sea. A decree raises to the rank of rear-
admiral the following capitaines de vaisseau :
Clavaud ; Comte de Clueydon (Governor of Marti-
nique) ; itigault de Genouilly ; and de Chabannes-
Carton. By other decrees, 7 capitaines de frog-ate
are raised to the rank of capitaines de vaisseau ;
27 lieutenants de vaisseau to the rank of capitaines
de fr6gate ; 44 enseignes de vaisseau to be lieute-
nants de vaisseau, and about the same number of
aspirants to be enseignes de vaisseau. There are
also several promotions in the different classes of
aspirants:
Another decree nominates a very considerable
number of officers to the Legion of Honour, and
promotes others in that institution.
In addition to these promotions there is a very
long list of persons on whom the military medal
has been conferred for the affairs before Sebastopol
and that of Petropawloski.
The Minister of War has addressed the following
letter to the Minister of Marino

"Paris, Nov. 27.
" Monsieur le Ministre and dear Colleague—l hasten
to send you a copy of a despatch addressed to me, under
date of the 9th, by General Canrobert, commander-in-
chief of the French army in the Crimea. To this de-
spatch, which has this moment arrived, are added lists
of promotions and decorations proposed for officers and
sailors landed in the Crimea, and employed in the ser-
vice of the siege batteries established against Sebastopol.
I am happy to have to thank you once more for the
zealous co operation and fraternal devotedness of which
the navy has daily given us so
many proofs. It is im-
possible that such a complete unanimity of efforts, and
such a perfect understanding between the two forces
should not bring about the result which we wish for,
and which is due to the bravery of the army and navy.
The pressing terms in which the general-in-chief insists
on obtaining recoropences proves all the value he attaches
to the services which the fleet has so liberally renders
-
to us.—Receive, &c.,

" MARSHAL VAILLANT."
The General-in-Chief of the Army of the East
to the Minister of War.
" Before Sebastopol, Nov. 9.
" Monsieur le Mardohal—l have the honour to ad-
dress to you in the form more or less regular which
who were disembarked
.1') a list of recompences
works. I beg of
of
fromi r
pot mt
cablehset a
fin
fleet
tee
ots
ttp
ohe noc
otr
ppmes
re
ao to
tf e e
sailorsin
eo
Siege
you to be kind enough to transmit it to his Excellency
the Minister of Marine. These brave men, who have
struggled since the commencement of our operations
with unexampled energy against the greatest difficulties
which perhaps have ever presented themselves in a siege,
have obtained the admiration of all the army. Their losses
have been enormous in proportion to their effective, and
there are certain of our naval batteries, as that of the
Genoese fort, Captain Penhoat, and the battery No. 2,
commanded by Captain Mequet, which were ten times
destroyed by a superior fire, but which always recom-
menced the conflict with incredible bravery. Captains
Rigault de Genonilly, Penhoat, Mdquet, and Lescure,
Lieutenant Tricault,
Enseigne de vaisseau Lebreton de
Rauaegat, the aspirant Hamelin, and the volunteer as-
pirant de Leusse, who are proposed for promotion ;
Lieutenants Bianchi and de Somer; and aspirants Mi-
chel, Caveleir de Cuverville, and Abel de Libran,
proposeZ for promotion or admission to the Legion of
Honour, played in this great combat of artillery a
perfectly unexampled part. Many of them were
wounded. The aspirant of the second class, Michel, who
had a leg shot off, cried Viva l'Empereur !' as he fell,
and exhorted his comrades to continue the combat. I
could wish,
Monsieur le Mar6chal, that all the demands
made in the accompanying lists should be granted.
Several of the officers and sailors named in them will
probably have succumbed in the combat which is being
obstinately continued before they will receive the recom-
pence their good conduct has merited. Everybody will
applaud both in the army and navy the special decrees
which will confer promotions or recompences so bravely
gained.—Accept, &c.,

- . `‘ GENERAL CANROBERT,
"The General-in-Chief of the Army of the Easl

THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL

The following exraets are from a journal of the
siege of Sebastopol, published by the Constitu-
tionnel

" Nov. B.—A Russian officer declared in dying that
we were betrayed by a deserter from the Foreign Legion.
This man, it is said, informed. the Russians that our
batteries on the left were guarded with a certain degree
of negligence ;
and it was in consequence of this that an
attack on that point was decided on. It is known that
the Foreign Legion, which is so remarkable for its
bravery, counts a great many deserters in its ranks. The
man to whom I refer is said to be a German, and
persons ask if it wolld off h2ve been pr!lfir9,t. try
b..ve loft iu aii Lhost who tio,eiLed,
ally those who have a certain affinity of rocs with the
Russians. The prisoners and wounded of the sth have,
it appears, given a great deal of information respecting
the besieged. The regiments who served in the Alma
were not employed, because they were still under the

impression of that terrible day. It appears, moreover,
that the besieged entertain no illusion as to the issue of
the siege, and that rll their efforts are employed, and
all their hope is to make the longest defence possible.
However, it is asserted that they have not adopted
any defensive measures in the interior of the town.

"Nov. 9. —lt is really amusing to read in the news-
papers that we have 400 guns ready to fire on the Rus-
sians ; if that were so, we should long since have
silenced the fire of the place. Do you want to know how
the Russians fire ? In one minute I have just counted
forty-two cannon shot from the place. Forty-two balls
in sixty seconds ! That appears fabulous, but the fact
is, that from time to time the Russians are seized with an
attack of rage, and then they fire away with fury. It is
generally in the evening, or in the morning before day-
break, that they have these attacks, and then givens what
the soldiers call volleys of musketry with cannon balls.'
I imagine that they are in honour of the desert or
the rising of the Grand Dukes. Yesterday, at the same
time, we heard from the town music, religious chants,
and immense hurrahs. In truth, strange things take
place in Sebastopol. The means of excitation and in-
timidation employed by the Russians exceed all belief,
and it is, it appears, with a species of savages that we
have to deal. Thus we are assured that a prisoner or
deserter from the Foreign Legion, a native of Wurtem-
burg,- was forced to declare to a Polish battalion that
the French cut off an ear from deserters of their nation ;
and that the least that happens to all trueßussians falling
into their hands is to be shot.
" Nov. 14.—After violent rain, a hurricane similar to
those in the West Indies came on at about eight in the
morning. All operations were suspended, and it was
with difficulty that we could keep our feet. The tents
have been blown down or torn, . and melted snow and
hail cover the earth. The hideous winter of Russia has
made its appearance. The fire from the place and that
of the besiegers is suspended. Every one is gathering up
all his courage to struggle against the violence of the
elements. The hurricane blows from the south-west,
and the guard in the trenches, which relieved that on
duty during the night, was, so to speak, driven towards
Sebastopol. The hurricane continued up to five o'clock,
awl did not cease until night.
" Nov. 15. —We breathe again like men who have
escaped from a disaster. The tents are being set up
again, and the sun reappears. If we had bad two days
like yesterday, what, it is asked, would have become of
us I What would have become of the fleet ? The vessels
of war, it appears, have not much suffered, but those of
the merchant service have done so a great deal. The Eng-
lish have nine vessels cast ashore, and we have four.
Amongst the latter was one containing a cargo of oxen,
twenty-one horses, and six hussars— and all perished.
Within the memory of man no such hurricane has
been known in the Crimea ; and what proves this is,
that the buildings of the old monastery on the coast be-
tween Balaklava and Cape Chersonese have been blown
down. Several horses have died from cold in the
bivouac, and about 30 broke loose, and ran in the direc-
tion of the Quarantine. The advanced posts of the Rus-
sians and the French chased them, and more than once
ti Chasseur de Vincennes and a Cossack were seen pur-
suing the same horse. The works have been resumed in
all points. A strong wind which still pi evade has, with
some precautions from us, assisted in drying the
xenehes.

" Nov. IG.—Tho works of the siege are extended, bu
not carried forward.

" Nov. IT—The losses of the English in the hurri
cane of the 11th are estimated at 20,000,000 f."
A letter dated from the bivouac before Sebas-
topol, 12th ult., in the Alonitlux, says :--
"Sebastopol is not, as has been generally supposed, a
regularly-fortified town, in the manner of those in Eu-
rope. It is provided on the side towards the sea, and
on some points inside, with fourteen regular important
works, having together 900 pieces of cannon, and on the
land side an enclosure in masonry occupying the half of
the south side, and another enclosure of earthworks the
other half. Sebastopol is for Russia a formidable arsenal
of artillery ; the number of guns is estimated at about
3,000, almost all of large calibre, including those fur-
nished by the ships. It is calculated that up to this
time the Russians have expended more than 600,000
shot, and more than 1,500,000 kilogrammes of pow-
der. The besieged have been constantly able to repair
their earthworks, and to replace any damaged guns
by fresh ones. The total number of troops composing
the garrison of the place may be estimated at 20,000 ;
the number of inhabitants is from 20,000 to 25,000.
The population is principally composed of the families of
the workmen employed in the port and arsenal. The
town, which stands on the side of a hill, is generally
well-built ; almost all the houses are isolated one from
the other, in order to prevent the spread of a fire in
case it should break out. The extent of Sebastopol,
from Fort St. Nicholas to the bottom of the port, is on
the south side about 5,000 metres, and on the north side
about 3,600."

THE WAR ON THE DANUBE
The Moniteur publishes the following letter

"Ibraila, Nov. 15.
" The enemy has been driven out of the Dobrutscha.
The 3d Regiment of the Imperial Guard of the Bashi-
bazooka, under the command of. his Excellency
rfadji-Ali-Pacha and Colonel Ahmed-Bey, in the
brilliant combats on the heights of the Chernaya,
have beaten the Cossacks of the Don and the Greek
volunteers. They have driven them back on Isatchka.
The Russians have repa,sed the 'bridge, and de-
stroyed it ; but the troops of the Sultan pursue the
fugitives in the mountains and forests. Babadagh, Tult-
scha, and Matschin are in the power of the Ottoman
troops. The Marshal Achmed Pacha, commandant-in-
chief of the troops of the Sultan, who occupies the two
banks of the Danube and those of the Sereth, has esta-
blished his head-quarters at Ibraila. The theatre of
hostilities is now carried into Bessarabia, where the
Russians are preparing to resist, but they will have to
guard a line of at least fifty leagues, and they cannot do
it but by scattering their forces."

Tho following from the Wiener Zeitung, though
of a late date, looking like truth, is therefore given :
—On the 10th ult. Sadik Pacha crossed the Sereth
at Badeni with two squadrons of hussars. 1,400
Turkish Cossacks folio wed on the next day, 800 cros-
sing the river at Badeni, and 600 at Maximoni.
These 1,800 horse established themselves in the places
lying centrally between Maximeni and Leova. On
the 10th, Achmet Pacha, the commander of the
vanguard, sent a request to the authorities of
Galatz to supply Sadik Pacha with all the neces-
saries he might require. Meanwhile Ibraila was
being fortified. It is reported that the Turkish
Danubian flotilla now consists of only two steamers
and 10 gunboats, indifferently armed : while the
Russian flotilla consists of four steamers and 36
gunboats, with 270 guns in all. A Bucharest
correspondent of the Lloyd says that the force of
the Russians in Bessarabia is not by far so great
as is generally supposed. It does not exceed more
than 40,000 men. The following estimate is said
to be reliable :—ln Kilia, Ismail, and Reni, there
are 15,000 men ; in Leova, Kischeneff, Kagul, and
Beltsch, 20,000 men ; and there aro about 6,000
in other stations. Troops are being sent from
Tolhynia and Podolia to the Danube, but the pre-
sence of an Austrian army on the Gailician frontier
is a sufficient assurance that no great number of
the Russian troops will for the present be sent from
the North.