The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-19 00:00:00

TILE ;SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL,

JOURNAL OF AN EYE-WITNESS.
This morning ( Wednesday, Sept. 27) the sky was covered
with clenla, nee a e.ael drizzling rain warned us of the far
advance of the aeas'-n, and the evil clays thet are in store
for us, if VI- ;loge operations against Sebastopol are not
carried on with the utmost despatch, or if (which God for-
bid) want of energy and vacillation should interfere with
their success. The change in the weather was a warning,
and only a was ning, for as the day . advanced the grey
clouds drifted away, and the sun shone out with all his
usual warmth and splendour.
In Katcha Bay we lay side by side with another ship
loaded with engineers' stores. At one o'clock p.m. this
day a steamer came down with the admiral's orders to take
us in tow and help us on to Balaklava Bay. We were
among the first vessels that left Katcha Bay. Taken in
tow according to orders, as we rounded the headland we
hoard a violent cannonade, and standing out about five
miles from the coast we had a good and long view of the
ships engaged in it. We found they were three of our
steamers, evidently on duty off the harbour of Sebastopol.
One of them, a very smelt filet vessel, bad gone close in
shore, evelently for the purpose of worrying the Russians
in Fort Constentine. So beautifully did that small steamer
succeed in her object, that gun after gun was fired from
tlse fort (of which we just saw the bomb-proof roofs), and
shell after shell, accompanied by long streaks of white
smoke, rose up into the air and fell into the is titer, some-
times close to the steamer and sometimes a good distance
off. But the distance matters little in these cases, for
miss a foot or miss a mile" it conies all to the same
thing. The small steamer—one of the smallest of
the fleet—kept moving about, and playee ou the water
Else a trout. Whenever the Russians seemed tired
of the gaete she came a little closer in and gavo them
one of her guns, which guns seemed ridiculously light
in opposition to the heavy metal of the Russians.
Still she had her range, if the " Moecovs" had not,
for one of her shell: alighted on the roof of ono of the
buildings in Fort Constantine, as we could plainly see
from the enormous cloud of dust and smoke it raised when
it fell. The two other steamers--very heavy ones—wore
running close in shore, but nearer Sebastopol, and out of
range of F ort Constantine. It struck sue that they watched
the play of the small steamer, for the purpose, perhaps,
of noting the position and capabilities of the Fort Con-
stantine batteries. Passing further on we came abreast
the two entrances to the Sebastopol harbour, and had a
good view of the town and forts. The fortifications cer-
tainly look formidable, but in looking at them, I could
not help recollecting that all the Czar's buildings and ar-
maments show a good lace, no matter how rotten they
may be at the core. From all reports I have been able to
collect from Prussian military engineers, who had the
privilege of expelling Sebastopol, I have come to the con-
clusion that the fortress, though strong, is not near so
strong as is generally believed, or as its appearance would
cause one to believe. It is true that the four-storied bat-
tery houses and round towers look exceeding formidable.
They certainly made that impression on some of our en-
gineer officers, who, like myself, are on the sick-list, and
who for that reason have for some time past been my com-
panions on board this transport. But in looking at these
formidable battery-houses and round towers, I teifild not
forget that they are built of granite. The worthlessness
of granite for the purposes of fortification has years ago
been demonstrated by practical breaching experiments,
made in various continental countries, and the results of
those experiments have within the memory, and to the
conviction of every one, been confirmed by the practical
breaching experiments at the round tower of Bomarsund.
Besides, the Prussian engineers whom I mentioned
above (men of high standing and authority in their
profession) found fault with the avant of ventilation
in the small vaulted chambers in which the guns stand,
and they assert that after ten minutes' firing the gun-
ners must either leave the guns or die from their own
smoke. Some of the batteries, too, are so badly built
that they are in danger of destruction from the concussion
of their own guns, without any material assistance from
the guns of en enemy. I recollected all these statements
as we passed the frowning tower and ominous looking em-
brasures of Sebastopol, and came to the conclusion that it
is a pity Admiral Duudas did not send before this some of
his heavy armed steamers to try what stuff the renowned
Sebastopol batteries are made of. However, it will be
found out in good time, and that " good time" is coming.
Further on the south of Sebastopol we were towed
along an iron-bound coast, but one which in wild and
romantic beauty and grandeur of features surpasses any-
thing I have yet seen of the shores of the Black Sea. We
passed along that coast at the most favourable hour- -near
to sunset, when the west was flaming red. The rocks, in
the first instance of grey sandstone, and further on of
sandstone ruddy with a mixture of iron, looked as if an
angry sea had carved them out of the face of the land.
Here, too, for the first time, I saw the Black Sea really
and truly black, and though there was no wind, and in-
deed no apparent commotion of the water, the ground
swell was as strong as it is in other waters after a violent
storm. Just before us rose a high promontory—Cape
Ajah—on which the clouds breaking, descended in sheets
of white mist. To complete the picture, the setting sun
formed a rainbow in the breaking and descending clouds ;
and on our right, in the blue, clear sky, rose the pale,
silvery crescent. I never beheld a scene at once so for-
midable, so grand, and so lovely. The shock of the waves
against that coast must be tremendous on anything like
" a foul night," and that coast must be merciless to
the shipwrecked mariner, who for miles finds not an inch
of ground to cling to for safety. Nothing but the steep
perpendicular rock, with its sharp edges and jagged pro-
montories. The scene seemed too grand and wild for the
settlement of human beings, even on shore, and nothing
could exceed our astonishment than the sight of a town of
pretty considerable dimensions on the top of the cliff. There
was a church and a barrack, a great many large stone
buildings anti neat country houses hanging on the crags as
they descend to the brink of the cliff. As we came abreast
of the town a French steamer overtook us, and ono of our
own war steamers driving up out of Balaklava Bay went
past us on her way back to the fleet. The passing and
repassirig of the ships seemed to interest the town quite as
much as its sudden appearance on the cliff interested us.
Crowds of people thronged a sort of large square in the
middle of the town, from which, no doubt, they had as
good a view of the offing as we in the offing had of them.
A little further on we found that Cape .Ajah, against the
rocky aisles of which we were steering, formed part of the
outer harbour or roadstead of Balaklava. We did not see
the inner harbour, for it is email, and holds hardly three
vessels, and as some of our ships had already got in, it will
be our fate to knock about until we can procure admittance.
There can be no idea of anchoring, fur the deep sea lead
shows above 45 fathoms of water, and that, too, not half a
mile from the shore. What we see of the land beyond the
inner harbour of Balaklava is very pretty—a steep moun-
tain gorge, with two enormous rocks, like steeples, rising
up from the midst of it. The higher and larger of these
rocks is as nature made it, but the lesser one has been cut
and fashioned into a small fortress, and bears on its sum-
mit a castellated mansion, which, with the water and rock
scenery, reminds one of the feudal castles on the banks of
the Rhine.
OFF BALASLAVA, Sept. 28.—The wind freshened after
sunset last night, and by 10 p.m. it blew a breeze. Our
position near the rocks became a post of danger, and our
faithful guardian, the steamer, came up at 11 a.m. and took
us about five and twenty miles out to sea. We knocked
about all night with a stiff breeze, and a pretty consider-
able swell, and in the morning we set sail and again stood
in for Balaklava.
BILAKLIVA BIT, Sept. 29.—Taken in tow again we
soon neared the iron-bound coast of Balaklava and the
frowning Cape of Ajah, and again had ample leisure to
admire the savage grandeur of the spot. We found a
good many vessels, French and English, in the roadstead,
most of them anchoring under and sheltered by Cape Ajah.
Our orders were to enter the harbour—not an easy task,
to judge from the time it took us to get in. For though
we arrived in the roads at 3 p.m., yet it was sunset before
we dropped our anchor along side—not a couple of vessels,
as we had been led to believe the harbour could hold, but
a dozen of steamers and transports, as well as the Aga-
memnon and Arethusa, ranged within leap almost from
the shore, with plenty of room for a couple of dozens of
other vessels. Narrow as the bay is, its depth must be
tremendous. -We also found that the ruined castle of
which we obtained a sight on Wednesday night, crowns
the top of the hills fronting the harbour, of which it must
have been a formidable defence in the days of bills and
crossbows. The ruins, such as they are, show that the
castle was constructed according to the most approved
rules of military engineering as practised in the middle
ages ; there are round towers with loopholes of admirable
construction, and there are still the foundationsof a square
tower remaining, which shows that the mixed system of
round and square towers, so prevalent in the mediaeval
fortresses on the Rhine, obtained also in the strongholds
of the Crimea. The towers, round and square, presup-
pose the existence of corresponding towers on the hilltop
and these connected by high walls, must have formed the
donjon. Half way down the hill, are the remains of
other towers and walls, showing plainly that the works
were of some magnitude, and that the fortress, such as it
was, had two distinct lines of defence. As Balaklava
Bay bears a striking resemblance to Sebastopol harbour,
it being in many points a miniature copy of that formid-
able port, it struck me that I looked upon the ruins of the
old castle with the same feelings with which Macau-
lay's Now Zealander will one day examine the remains of
the round towers and battery palaces of Sebastopol. As
we entered, an English sentry was walking in front of the
round tower on the highest bill, and small parties of
Zouaves sat on the ledges of rocks enjoying the marine
view, and watching the nets which they—passionate
fisherman—had spread in the water beneath them. In the
village, nestling as it were iu the bosom of the rocks,
Zouaves were mixed up.with our own Highlanders, rifles,
and men of the line. Sappers and artillerymen crowded
round the doer of ono of the houses—evidently one of the
quarters of their officers. Fires were burning on shore,
for the evening was fresh and even cold, and we who
shivered on the poop of our vessel in spite of greatcoats
and islands, longed to stand by those fires and have a good
warm. I afterwards learned, that while we admired the
fires, we had not the least idea of the expense at which
they were raised. Firewood, as one may suppose from the
description of the locality, is scarce at Balaklava, and fuel
is got some how and any how, usually from wrong places
and by wrong means. A night or two ago, I understand,
a party of Zouaves stole the doors of the engineer officers'
quarters, burnt them on the beach, and cooked their
rations thereby. But still the fires looked jolly and com-
fortable, and the village with the rows of fires in front,
end a green tree here and there, bad a comfortable
es
pleasant appearance. A. troop of about twenty Russian
e
prisoners, escorted by a detachment of Zouaves
entered
down from the hill, and after mustering on shore
a lugger boat, and were rowed off to a Frei,ech.rttryonfsenrosrgte.
The Russians, in their long grey coatsi I d
caps, looked dreadfully seedy and unsod
andcomfortablekpeerbfusettilny allut
peace with themselves and all thei world.
and
e armylearnt
had
I had a short run on shore isn
ativeraeureneifn
that the head-quarters moving i and on en-
shot and shell from a Rue-
reached Balaklava village about two days ago,
teriug were saluted with round
600 soldiers hero, and they had,
eian battery, established for the pretaction of the bay,
The Russians had about te
Ida inhabitents of the village,
moreover, armed all
them to fight for the Czar. Besides the
and compelled
battery at the waterside, of which we saw the remains,
they had three mortars on the hill top, next to the round
What the intentions of the Russians can have
tower.
been I cannot understand, for they were evidently caught
in a trap, and as our troops poured in over the naountaius
and our steamers entering the bay, began to belabour the
battery, they had nothing to do but to give in, and almost
all (except a few who managed to escape over the hills)
were captured. The wretched male inhabitants of Bala-
klava being caught with arms in their hands were, of
course, considered to be prisoners of war, but I under-
stand they are on the eve of their liberation. I understand
that Lord Raglan and the staff stood the fire with great
coolness. Indeed, the Commander of the army behaved as
gallantly as any colonel of a marching regiment, and there
can be no doubt, if opportunity offered, his lordship would
be an excellent sabreur.
Another item of intelligence which rolkoltod me on my

arrival was that the army had been two days on their
march from Katcha Bay, and that on the march they had
40J men dead of dysentery .and cholera.. On thy. same •
road, and within the same time, the French lost about
1,000 men. The cholera is not likely to diminish lathe
camp about Balaklava and Sebastopol, for there is an
abundance of grapes and' otherefruit, and. in Balaklara
itself, the presence of troopS, though so recent, has already
prod -ed. filth and garbage to a frightful extent. Nothing
could 1 easier than to step the disgraceful practices which
lead t , `hi. dangerous state of things, but while ovary one .
compleins no oue seems lo think of the obVious remedy.
Let us hope that the operations against Sebastopol may
be speedy and successful, for to hold the field at this sea-
son, and under present circumstances, when each day
claims its victims, must finally thin our ranks beyond the
proportion of our reinforcetueiats, and materially impair
the efficiency of our operatione'.
They had plenty of news from Sebastopol at head-quar-
ters. That news is in every respect favourable to our pro-
gress. The greatest consternstiou prevails in the fortress.
The tower
attacked, tta ill
provided with water, and, as the French
cked, blew up, sind burnt the-vs-arks of the
aqueduct, the garrison hill have to live on short ceitinons
as regards drink. Though itueeieu officers are notorious
for drinking large quantities of champagne, and Russian
soldiers have obtained no less wideespread and equivocal
reputation for drinking brandy, yet we have to learn that
either can do without water.
Our troops have taken a number of arabas go d
ing in
ceror
coaling out of Sebastopol, with stores, luggage, an offis'
traps. In each of these grebes were found packs of cards,
which shows thei, the Russian army; especially the officers,
still adhere to their gambling propensities.
Yesterday twenty siege gnus were landed at ffidallave,
and, as the whole number of siege guns to be landed is one
hundred, we may, if the necees.,.ry works are at once com-
menced, open our fire within eight days from this.

THE SIEGE.
lIEAD-QUARTEnS AT BALAKLAVA, Sept. 3).--The two
armies, which have for the last fewalass been camping on the
heights ant' the plateau of Balaklava, marched this morn-
ing to take up their various positions around Sebastopol.
800 marines from the fleet were also landed and joined the
troops. Our force,
such as it is, cannot be expected to
surround the fortress on all sides, and under the best cir-
cumstances it is to be feared that the Russians will always
have a line of retreat. This, however, cannot be helped,
for from intelligence which has reached head-quarters, it
is known that after the battle of Alma the Russian forces
divided on their retreat, and that while the smaller corps
entered Sebastopol, a larger corps—about 19,000 men—
inh
ya r3c,hooe
01
man,inland t toha
tl3ha ketvceh re
nSteerraei
theTheser being
byre i nwf
ao
yr c
of
Pericop, and by the garrisons of Sinipheropol and other
places, amounting to 3,0,0, perhaps, form an army of
25,000 men, line and Cossacks, who are operating in our
rear, and who have for the last nights past signalised their
presence by setting fire to distant villages, and by coming
in small parties down upon our outposts, whom they keep
in a state of perpetual excitement. Ilardly a night passes
without one or two alarms. It is true that these 25,000
Russians are no match for even one-half of the British
army, but their presence in our rear would make an ex-
tended position one of groat risk and danger- —Nor, from
all the reports of officers who have been ut reconixiitring
the fortress, does it appear necessary-to-conduct the ope-
rations Rith all the pomp, pride, and circumstances of a
regular siege, according to the most approved rules of
military engineering. The land-defences of Sebastopol do
mot justify, the time granted us is too short, and the nature
of the soil does not permit the tracing out a plan of the
fortress and its works iu the fields around and construct.
tug there, within gunshot, an exact facsimile in trenches.
For once the Peninsular experience, which has been our
bane throoghout this campaign, is likely to serve some
useful purpose, and the accelerated siege, as practised by
our troops in Spain, is what has been proposed for the re-
duction of Sebastopol. We are going to establish breach-
ing batteries, and work them until a way is cleared for the
advance of our battalions. Then, amidst the roar of the
siege guns, the rapid advance of our horse artillery, and
its effectual play, the troops must advance to the breach
and British courage, determination, and coolness must do
the rest. This is a short and imperfect outline of the
accelerated sieee in which British troops have never
been kaown tbo fail. On those troops we must rely
rather than on the generalship of those high in com-
mand, who, though brave beyond the powers of
praise, want that strategical genius and experience
which in other captains had to make up for a less amount
of mettle in the officers and men. The faults which are
committed in almost every department are glaring and ob-
vious to all but these who commit them. I will enume-
rate a few which have come to my notice, because they
were canvassed by many, on many occasions, and with a
considerable degree of acerbity. Since we landed, the cone-
missari it have just managed to keep the troops from actual
starvation, but it is a fact that our invading and victorious
army, in one of the richest countries in the world, and
continually accompanied by the fleet, our chief depot, has
fared worse and suffered more than many a beaten army
that I know of suffered on its retreat. The commissariat
have managed to get sheep and bullocks, because there
was no evading getting them, as whole herds covered the
hills wherever we came. The troops had biscuit rations,
too, for their rations were, somehow or other, taken out
of the commissariat transports. But up to the present,
with cholera and dysentery raging among the troops, the
commissariat have not been able to manage the giving the
officers and men salt to cook their rations with. Now
salt, as it is most necessary, so -it is also an article most
easy of distribution, since, comparatively speaking, bit
small quantities are wanted. I speak plainly, and say
that I consider the continued withholding of salt as an in-
stance of gross neglect that the heads of the victualling de-
partment could be guilty of. And this, too, after all their
railings at the correspondents of the papers, and their ac-
counts of sickness and starvation in the British camp !
have now to detail some very strange mismanagement
which occurred in the placing of one of the divisions. I
will not name the commander of the division, but if any one
should dare to contradict me, I am prep aredto publish the
name of that commander with ull the honours. The case
is this : When the divisions were led to their various po-
sitions round Sebastopol, one of the commanders fixed the
camping-ground of his corps actually within shelling
range of the Russian batteries. Ho also ordered the
powder magazine to be established within range of the
Roeeieii shells, and there the magazine would have been
, established had not reports been sent off to General Bur-
goyne—the redresser of all blunders that admit of cure—
and he got the magazine at least to a Rafe distance. As for
the troops, since it is an axiom in military life that agene-
ral officer can do no wrong, or make himself ridiculous by
an unusual display of professional ignorance or individual
folly—why the troops must remain where they are and can
do no good, and they must cook their victuals and lay down
to sleep with Russian bombs coming down among them,
to enliven the sameness of the bivouack. It is true Gene-
ral —'s friends try to excuse him by saying he is not an
engineer, and has no business to know anything about the
range of heavy artillery. Taking this excuse for what it
is worth, and admitting all the weight that can belong to
it, I, and others, merely say that uo engineering science,
but open eyes and ears, and a moderate modicum of com-
mon sense, were required to convince the General of the
folly he was about to commit; for as the troops marched
up the Russians actually did shell them, and thus showed
to the conviction of even the dullest understanding what
their range was, and where the troops and powder stores
should not be.
HEAD-QUARTERS, BALAKLAVA, OCT. 2, 11 A.M.-ono
word more about the unfortunate division who were
doomed to camp within range of the Russian shells. Means
have been found to liberate them from their perilous and
useless position, though at is considerable sacrifice of
marching and countermarching. As the division was
too far advanced, the most natural means of correcting
this evil would have been to have drawn it back a
couple of hundred yards. But so simple and practical
a measure would have savoured too much of common
sense. It would moreover have been dangerous to the
theory of military infallibility. Therefore the division in
question was ordered to the other end of our line, a march of
about thirteen miles, and the division which occupied the
extreme point was marched back, to take the place of the
division which was to be got out of the range. Of course
the two divisions, after taking their posts in the line, will
be careful to encamp at a safe distance, and in this compli-
cated manner an obvious blunder is rectified (I cannot say
corrected) without a dementi to the officer in command.
Admire with me with tho nice and gentlemanly manage-
ment of such matters in our Eastern army.
Sixty siege guns are landed ou their way to the camp.
Large quantities of ammunition, too, had been landed. It
is not thought that more of our siege guns are to be
brought on shore just at preseut, for what with the sixty
landed and four heavy guns on Lancaster's principle that
have been added to our siege train, we expect we shall do
very well, and at all events before we increase our stock of
siege engines and battering cannon we wish to see what
those already on shore can do for us. Large quantities of
fascines and gabions, too, have been landed from the Engi-
neer's store transports. It was generally expected that the
first engineering works—that is to say, the marking out
the trenches within gun range and tracing them readyfo.
the pickaxe and the spade of the fatigue parties—woula
commence last night ; but as the working parties cannot
proceed to business without a sufficient number of gabions
--to be filled with earth and placed before the men—and
as we have riot yet found sufficient means of transport, the
commencement of engineering operations has been puthoafft
until to-morrow. If we go on at that rate, callri:ht:tBth
our first battery will open upon the Russiantlfi y
a,
tery
inst. Under an energetic commander that rat b
that officers
transport abounded in the villages round, would at this hour be in full play. I knowthst means of
and for sterling
their carts, dromedaries, and horse
for the Eng•
outing
speaking the language invited the natives teome out with
lisp. The natives expressed their
money—paid down " on the nair
desireelo
English would make a
and their readiness to come—if to earn the money,
Zen...dragoons, and in fact,
surncient excuse, in case
lvuenad;goons might havoevbiraoiungglett()of
the dominion of the Czar.
showgive
theof compulsion,
peepoor
atives ngdois feautta
nd horses with willing drivers, if
trrhheiyi s sah odetachment
g serfn is e
4'ra
seevice.theßduettaaschtihnegpdr
in hundreds
badtha n (bicreaeev,nlaiiironyf tohalonburct nature e of our r militaryn ce of some arrangements
Io
rt of con-
iltoryd dragoons or
of
tmbilie
ttahvoyumghitemoaf
.!
h service could
This is a
I trust it will satisfy
flagon:Alt, and the people of England
of there being very good reasons for our slowness whenever
seanea.
othertni:. cavalryuo fwntie. rttl Ihietsovhpneloearati commissariat,hea susuta of
app.
tiie_i
it does appear that we are slow.
But with all these drawbacks, I have no doubt as to the'
result of the attack upon Sebastopol, whenever our artil-
lery and men are fairly unleashed against it, and British
gallantry stands free from the trammels of professional
nonsense. All the officers who have reconnoitred Sebasto-
pol from the laudable, agree that the land fortifications are
not very strong, and that breaching batteries and the
strong arm of the soldier will make short work of them.
Besides, the garrison of Sebastopol must by this time be
suffering from want of water, for as there have been no
heavy rains for some weeks past, their cisterns cannot con-
tain any large stores. The breaching and storming plan
of the accelerated siege is still uppermost in the minds of
the generals, and this morning we were glad to see the
first detachment of sailors from the Sansparoil landed on
the beach of Balaklava. Our most useful storming parties
have always consisted of sailors, who are accustomed to do
their work on difficult ground, and to whom the, clamber-
ing up a breach or battery is mere child's play. The
sailors, with their cutlasses, knives, pistols, and bundles
instead of knapsacks, came on shore in great order, but
also with great glee. They evidently liked the
idea of a
land march against Sebastopol.
divisions were di
I should have said that while our
d shelling them.
cated yesterday the Russians never c.ease
the Russian
But as our troops marched out of their 21Ogine, inquiries
artillery did them no harm. and h
that have happened-
cannot hear of any casualties

DEVONPORT DOCKTARD.—Mr. Edwards, jun., has
been established as a writer in the
Dmrake and Theophilus
tasurer's office, 'Vice
Peters promoted. Messrs. John
Baker, shipwrights, to be
extra writers,