The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-02 00:00:00

BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA.

The Austrian Correspondenz has the following,
under date of Bucharest, April 28 :

" The English and French admirals demanded
the delivery of the Russian vessels at Odessa. On
refusal, seven three-deckers and eleven frigates
bombarded the town on the 24th.
" The Woronzoff palace is totally destroyed.
" Eighteen hundred troops failed in an attempt
at landing.
" Four frigates are severely damaged.
" The bombardment continues.
" Prussia has recalled its consul from Bucharest,
approving of his recent conduct."

The above is a Russian version of the bombard-
ment, and therefore cannot be depended upon.
A private telegraphic despatch received from
Odessa by an eminent Greek firm, and dated the
26th ult., states that the whole combined fleet
took its departure on the morning of that day.

THE DANUBE.
BOMBARDMENT OF SILISTRIA-GAL-
LANT DEFENCE OF THE TURKS.

SILISTRIA, April 25.-The bombardment has
produced no effect.
The Russians are expected to attack on the Ist
of May with 30,000 men, who will cross the river
under cover of 1.7 heavy batteries.
The passage of the river at Oltenitza is expected
at the same time.

The garrison of Silistria is calm and resolute.
BUCHAREST, April 19.—Silistria has been hard
pressed ever since the 14th, and would have
already fallen but for the determined valour of
its defenders. These say they can hold out till
auxiliary troops come to their relief. The Russians,
on the contrary, say the place must surrender in a
fe ;v days. Mustapha Pacha has a strong garrison,
but the fortress is neither well victualled, nor
properly supplied with ammunition. The ford is
in the power of the Russians, so likewise the en-
trenchments at the Dristra, which flows into the
Danube. The troops who defended them retired
into the fortress, which itself is only defended by a
simple wall with a strong citadel. General Chru-
leff's and General Luders' corps have effected a
junction above Rassova ; the vanguard of the latter
was, on the 17th, at Kusgun, near Silistria.
The Wiener Zeitung gives an extract from a
Bucharest paper of the 17th, which states that the
city of Silistria, at the moment of the corres-
pondent's writing, was one bright sheet of flames ;
the expression being, " This city is now one ocean
of flames." But the journal has letters of the same
day from Silistria itself, which say that the city is
simply bombarded, it being the object of the Rus-
sians to concentrate their troops en rayon, about it.
Another German newspaper states that the
Russians have assaulted Silistria unsuccessfully
three times, and to have lost upwards of 3,000
men in the attempt.
ORSOVA, April 28.—Sixteen thousand Turks
have gone down the stream from Kalafat towards
Rahova.

The Ost Deutsche Post gives as the most impor-
tant military news from Bulgaria an account of the
special corps of Russian dragoons, 26,000 strong
(and which generally follows the footsteps of Prince
Paskiewitsch), being now under march for the
Danube. It is believed to be the intention of the
prince to press on with this corps, and a select
reserve of light troops, into the very heart of
Turkey.
The Lloyd has successive despatches from the
Lesser Wallachia, which mention that the Russian
line of observation in front of Kalafat has been, for
reasons which aro at present unexplained, with-
drawn in the direction of Radova and Krajova.
The bank of the Danube down to Kalafat is no
longer in Russian occupation, all their picquets
being withdrawn from Tuen-Severin downwards.
The withdrawal of the Russians from Lesser Wal-
lachia, and their entire evacuation of that province,
has now become a matter of fact. The military
hospitals, and entire munitions and apparatus of
war, are being conveyed on upwards of a thousand
waggons along the road to Bucharest. As a com-
panion to the burning of Fokshan, we have now
to mention the fate of the small but flourishing
commercial town of Kimpina, on the high road
from Bucharest to Cronstadt. It has fallen an en-
tire prey to the devouring element, which has
there spared but a few houses. On the high road
from Braila to Bucharest Russian guards are sta-
tioned at every league's distance, who minutely
examine every passenger, scrutinise his travelling
papers, and ask the most prying and impertinent
questions. As the complaints of the Prussian con-
sul were entirely disregarded by the intending
authorities, he very properly took down his flag
and took himself oft'. The Austrian consul is still
there.

The Presse says the withdrawal of the Russians
may be explained in connection with the formation
of the two Austrian corps d'armee in Galicia, the
Russian prince not wishing to have his retreat
cut off by the armies of Austria ; or it may be,
that Prince Paskiewitsch is only anxious to con-
centrate the Russian forces against Silistria, and
so force it to surrender, as being the outwork of
the Balkan, ere the English and French army
can come up to its relief. Or the whole may be
but a stratagem to draw the Turks from their
entrenched position at Kalafat. It is a stra-
tagem as old as the Trojan war played over again.
There is not a single correspondent of any of the
foreign newspapers permitted to remain any longer
in Bucharest ; no details of the Russian operations
appear even in the local newspapers of that place.
They are sent only to the Russian Invalide, a
military journal, which appears in St. Petersburg.
The recent expulsion of the five newspaper re-
porters fram Bucharest is said to have been effected
at the instance of Prince Paskiewitsch, who, during
the Hung,trian war, did not even report to the
Emperor of Austria, but solely to the Czar, his
master, and suffered no journalist's presence of any
kind in or about his head-quarters.
The Presse of Vienna says :—" Accounts from
Widdin, to the 20th ult., state that on the two pre-
vious days fighting took place on several points of
the line of investment. On both sides there were
great losses. On the 10th the Turks, under the
orders of Said Pacha, passed the Danube in the
night, and in the following morning attacked the
Russian entrenchments in three places. The Rus-
sians retired with great loss ; but they afterwards
returned with imposing forces. The Turks de-
stroyed two of the enemy's redoubts, and afterwards
evacuated the Wallachian bank. The combat took
place between Turnul and Simnitza."
The Governor of Matchin has been arrested, and
is to be tried by a council of war on a charge of
treason. Letters to him from General Luders are
said to have been seized.