The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-03 00:00:00

THE CRIMEA.

The following letter, under date off Eupatoria,
Sept. 17, will be read with interest :
"The anchorage off Eupatoria was not very long to
be favoured with the presence of the allied fleets, for by
one in the morning of the 14th, a day which we expect
will in future years be marked with a white stone in
England's calendar, the bustle of preparation again
sounded, and the fleets of transports, consisting of very
nearly all English, and all those of the French con-
taining troops, were off for the position which had been
chosen for disembarkation. The remainder of the trans-
ports either continued off Eupatoria, or endeavoured to
work to the southward under sail. The transports were
immediately followed by the men-of-war. The French
were taken in tow at once, but we lost some
time by endeavouring to accomplish the distance
under sail, till, the wind utterly failing, our liners
also were compelled to have recourse to the steamers.
It is owing to this that the French obtained the
pas d'ltonneur in having first landed on the hostile soil
of the Crimea. The place selected for debarkation is
just in the centre of the Bay of Kalamita, where any one
possessing a good map of the Crimea will observe a small
lake, the centre one of three, of which the most northern
and the largest bears the name of Lake Sasik. At the
southern extremity of this little sheet of water I have
mentioned, as yet unhonoured by a name, on a fine
gravelly beach, which at about twenty yards from the
water slopes into a grassy plain, which appears to ex-
tend to the base of mountain fastnesses, amongst which
nestle Sirnpheropol and Bashe Sarai, the fallen seats of
Tartar royalty, there landed far the greater portion
of the British army ; the allies landed about two
miles further to the southward, at the beach between
the sea and the third lake. Nothing could have been
more propitious than the weather ; scarcely a breath of
wind rippled the surface of the sea, and the few dull clouds
obscuring the sun were more agreeable than other-
wise. The bay presented a scene of hurry and excite-
ment, such as it certainly never before witnessed. As
each man of war arrived, there hastened from her a
crowd of boats, some fully manned for towing, others
nearly empty for the purpose of receiving troops. The
Turkish pinnaces, which had been brought from Varna
and Constantinople with so much pain and difficulty,
were unlashed from the sides of the line-of-battle ships,
where they bad presented a somewhat odd appearance,
and- being fitted to carry guns and horses, with the
paddle-box boats of the war steamers, which had
beenesueranged far the same purpose after an inge-
nious aalan invented by Mr. Roberts, master com-
manding her Majesty's ship Cyclops, came into active
requisition. As I before mentioned to you, all the
ships had received an elaborate programme of the
method of landing ; but this was quite thrown out by
the unavoidable regularity which occurred in anchoring
the transports. It was proposed to land the various
divisions in order, commencing with the " Lights." As
it was, however, the infantry landed without much
order of divisions ; this, however, was not of the slightest
consequence, for between about ten in the morning and
nine in the evening very nearly the whole of the infan-
try and artillery, with their guns, were disembarked,
the only casualty, as far as I can learn, being the loss
of one horse. The little steam-tugs, particularly the
Minna and the Brenda, were found most useful, dashing
up alongside a transport, taking on board nearly half a
regiment, disembarking them into boats within twenty
yards of the shore, anlthen, with a string of ships' boats
towing after them, starting off for a fresh cargo. Too
much praise can scarcely be given to Sir Edmund
Lyons, who has been the guiding spirit of all the ope-
rations. The sailors worked with a will, and, had not
a little surf sprung up in the evening, were anxious to
work all night ; the soldiers, on their part, were as eager
to be put in a fair way of getting at the enemy, and
the few infantry left on board the ships tonight seem
aggraVated at the thought of passing their night with
the deck instead of the sky for a canopy. The weather
became very cloudy after noon, and about two there
came on some soft rain, which continued at intervals
till the evening, when the wind rose from the southward,
and caused it to hold up for a time, when it came on to
rain and blow hard, though perhaps not enough to do
more than give our soldiers an initiation into the ruder
part of their work. We cannot help desiring that, in ad-
dition to the blanket, knapsack, and three days' provi-
sions, their tents had been added. On such a favourable
day, with no opposition, it certainly might have been
done without any great difficulty. They manage these
things better in France, for our allies landed with that
light handy little tent which covers about four men,
and is carried with very little trouble. Captains Decree
and King, of the Sanspareil and Leander, and Com-
manders Heath and Hillyar, of the Niger and Agamem-
non, had the direction of the landing. Everything was
done from the orders received from the Agamemnon,
which directed the whole disembarkation.
" I have heard of a dashing thing done by some of the
7th and the Rifles, who were among the earliest arrivals.
On reaching the rising ground they observed five Rus-
sian bullock-waggons, guarded by some Cossacks, in the
distance ; they immediately gave chase, and the enemy
at once fled without striking a blow ; on looking round
they saw a dozen more at a small distance, which they
captured in like manner, making in all 84 waggons, con-
taining flour, 160 oxen, and six camels. These spolia
pima of-the war were probably the baggage waggons of
the Russians retreating on Sebastopol. Sir George
Brown too, I hear, was nearly being astonished in a
very disagreeable way, for when riding in the country
to reconnoitre, accompanied only by an aide-de-camp,
he was suddenly aware of a party of Cossacks making a
deliberate rush to cut him off, and they only escaped by
a very determined gallop.
" General Lord Raglan, accompanied by the Duke of
Cambridge, has taken up his quarters in a village a few
miles inland. Lord Raglan rode along the regiments
that were landed about four this afternoon, and they
gave him the first three good English cheers ever heard
in the Crimea.
"Amid all this Sebastopol did not remain unwatched,
the Sampson, Furious, Vesuvius, and four French
steamers being employed watching it. The enemy made
no movement in the harbour, but the steamers observed
a camp about half-way between the landing place and
Sebastopol, into which they attempted to throw shell.
The Sampson's were the only ones which reached, her
sixty-eight pounders throwing them right into the centre
of the camp, though the distance was too great to as-
certain the amount of damage done. It is said,
and I fully believe it to be true, that the Sampson
detected an infernal machine, containing among other
ingredients nearly 7001bs. of powder, off the entrance of
the harbour. Details have been communicated to the
admirals only.
" The heavy rain and squalls cleared off at daylight
on the 15th, but the surf on the beach was so heavy
as to prevent the landing of the horses or cavalry
until the afternoon. It appears on this coast to spring
up very suddenly ; for instance, as I observed last night,
it was quite smooth until 9 p.m., but it was so bad
before ten p.m. that two of Lord Raglan's horses were
lost in attempting to land them, and the transport boat
which carried Colonel Ball's (of the Ist Royals) lug-
gage and horse was upset, and not only did the gallant
veteran loss his kilt, but his groom also, melancholy
to relate, lost his life in the surf ; it is supposed his
head was dashed against the boat. Last night's expo-
sure told hard on the men, as was shown by the in-
creased sick lists, and one or two ya.wning, graves, the
first, but I fear not to be the last, in the Crimea. This
day was marked both by a mishap and a piece of good
luck on the part of our allies, for nine Zouaves out of
a large straggling party on a marauding expedition were
captured by a band of Cossacks, who fell suddenly on
them ; this was compensated by the seizure by the
Spahis of a travelling party, apparently a Russian gen-
tleman's family, who were proceeding with an escort of
soldiers towards Sebastopol. Seventeen of the escort
were captured with them ; and the whole party now
form a disconsolate-looking centre of attraction opposite
St. Arnaud's tent in the French camp.
"This afternoon the much-desired tents made their
appearance ; the men appeared to have made up their
minds to another night without cover, and various were
the contrivances they had hit upon. A hole dug in the
sand, and covered with a great coat, was contemplated
with looks indicative of great approval by many a man
who, a few months ago, was bored with invitations in
town. But they stand it well do those English gentle-
men, our antigazim, robur. The Hussars, with Lord Car-
digan at their head, rode along as lightly and as gaily as
if it were a review, and not the grim bastions of Sebasto-
pol, which they saw before them.
" The 16th (Saturday) also turned out a beautiful day,
but the surf at times rolled in so heavily as to almost
prevent any advance being made in disembarking the
baggage and materiel. The troops are put to much in-
convenience for want of water, there being none within
three miles of the shore, and even then but a small
quantity. They are chiefly supplied by breakers from
the ships. As they advance this will not be felt, as there
are several small streams between this and Sebastopol.
I cannot much compliment the authorities on the order
kept on the beach ; things appeared to get ashore any-
how, and then had to take their chance of reaching the
division they were intended fora Fortune, however,
appeared as heretofore to favour us, for most of the
things disappeared in the rirdit direction sooner or later.
On all these occasions the Commissariat appears to fare
worst; very much is expected of them, and yet they seem
compelled to defer to the authority of and give way to
every regular who supposes he requires their boats and
horses.
"This western side of the coast of the Crimea partakes
of the flat uninteresting character of the opposite coast
of Bessarabia, just as the beautiful eastern shore retains
in its romantic hills and vales the impress of the mighty
Caucasus and the lovely landscapes of Asia Ilinor. The
great grassy plain, still enamelled with the larkspur and
wild mignonette, on which part of our troops and all the
allies are encamped, bears visible marks of having lately
supported great herds of the short-horned cattle which
we see in the native waggons, and which a spyglass
will still make visible grazing a little further iiiland
The inhabitants apparently receive us with the great-
est satisfaction. The Tartar chiefs who have been
on hoard the Agamemnon describe the people as
perfectly ready, had they only arms, to rise and do
their endeavour towards throwing off the galling yoke
of Inissia. Well they may, for dui nig the past eight
months they bate bean driven in to work at thu fortifi•
cations,,9l-=4ehastopol, which, naturally enough, they
deem impregnable. To-day the beach was full of them,
bringing fowls, eggs, and other fresh produce, to sell to
the troops, the process of bargaining being carried on
amicably by the language of signs. They gay that only
8,000 Russian troops have this year entered the Crimea,
and that the whole number of troops in the peninsula
may be calculated at about 55,000, of whom 40,000 form
the garrison of Sebastopol. Their physiognomies imme-
diately bring to our mind the Chinese gentlemen one
used in the days of our youth to admire on the tea•
chests in the grocers' windows, save that the sun of the
Crimea has not imparted to them quits so deep a tint.
Excepting the black close-fitting sheepskin cap, their