The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-04 00:00:00

THE NEWS _FROM* TEE CRIMEA.

The Pays of --,7
yesterday morning has some useful re-
marks on Use private telegraphic despatches which reach
us from St. Petersburg, and which, notwithstanding the
evident falsehood or exaggeration of the news they con-
tain, prOduce, in the absence of official accounts from
the allied armies in the Crimea, occasionally a certain
amount of despondency. When the article of the Pays
was written, the means of the writer to show how little
credit was due to the Russian accounts were more
limited than they would have been if the accounts pub-
lished yesterday in the Moniteur had been before him.
The Pays says :—" A singular fact has struck the at-
tention of every one since the commencement of the
siege of Sebastopol, or rather since the landing of the
allies in the Crimea, and that is, whilst enr generals-in-
chief, disdaining charlatanism and boasting, send but
very few reports to their government, either_written the
day after a victory, or pointing out some positive results,
Europe has been inundated every day with Russian
despatches, direct from St. Petersburg, and the official
source of which was a secret to ne one. This search after
publicity on the part of the Czar caused the more surprise
es hitherto all his military operations have been kept per-
fectly secret. It is well known that mystery is one of the
main springs of the policy of illusion and falsehood of the
Russian Government. This mystery allows it to act at will
hontetom Europeimagina theoftion a
its people, m
eoipjeleer,as and desolations
and at thesamet
of imeto
idits
apparent grandeur. The best-informed writers have
never been able to arrive at the truth as to the loss in
men,and money which its conquests have cost it. Its
whole history is a piece of stage acting, where the parts
are distributed beforehand for the greatest glory of the
Russian flag, and which is carefully kept from the ex-
amination of the foreign press, for fear of seeing itself at
every moment convicted of falsehood and bad faith. It
was, therefore, very extraordinary that on the occasion
of the present war, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg
should suddenly depart from all its tradition to publish
every day a bulletin from Prince Menschikoff. People
now begin to understand, by comparing these bulletins
with the despatches of our generals, that it was only a
fresh
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What it requires to act on public opinion are special de-
spatches drawn up in vague terms, which, though they
may be contradicted by information from the Crimea,
will at least have produced a certain emotion in the pub-
lic mind, particularly in Germany, and assist the diplo-
made intrigues which are still carried on in the Confede-
ration. The flagrant bad faith of this manoeuvre will
strike every eye by. comparing the last despatches of
Prince Mensohikoff trainsinitted from St. Petersburg
with the contradictory ones which have arrived from
Varna, and which come down to the 25th ult. At that
date, according to all the information, the bombardment •
continued without interruption; the Quarantine Fort had
been silenced ; a first breach had been made, and the
general a-sault was imminent. According to Prince
Menschikoff, on the contrary, no advantage bad been
gained by the allies, and nothing of importance had
taken place. To-day the same comedy continues almost
in the same terms, with a little more obscurity, and pro-
bably a little snore falsehood, for we receive one after
another the three following despatches :—' Vienna, 31st
Oct., Evening.—A Rvissian despatch from Warsaw states
that the English entrenchments have been forced, their
cavalry dispersed, and their cannan dismounted:—
' Vienna, let inst., St. Petersburg, 31st ult.—The last
despatch, from Prince Monschikoff states that nothing
important bad taken places up to the 27th. The first
despatch of yesterday was almost entirely false.'— 'Berlin,
Ist. A fresh despatch from iit. Petersburg, dated to-day,
confirms that from Kiehmeff, nn the 29th. It adds, the en-
trenched camp taken from the enemy wasat Balaklava. At
the same time a French battery was destroyed by fire
on the 25th before Sebastopol.' Thus, according to
Prince Menschikoff, Sebastopol on the 27th was still in
the same state ; the allies had not obtained any advan-
tage, and the guns of the Quarantine and south batte-
ries doubtless continued to reply vigorously to our fire.
On the other hand, the French bad had a battery de-
stroyed, and the English their- camp forced and their
guns dismounted. In the despatch of the 31st, how-
ever, this last advantage appears to have been gained
under the very walls of Sebastopol, by a very vigorous
sortie of the besieged ; whilst on the following day it
was only an isolated camp near Balaklava, and carried
perhaps by a coup de main without importance.
Tee despatch of the Ist inst., in order to reduce to
nothing all these exaggerations, avows that the one
of the previous day was aliniist entirely false. As
to the death of Admiral Nachirnoff, the bombarder of
Sinope, as to the thousands of victims which encumbered
Sebastopol, the powder magazines blown up and the
town in ruins, not a word is said. It is only necessary
to oppose to these hypocritical recitals the following
despatches from Varna. (The Pays here gives the two
despatches from Varna published in the Moniteur.) The
German journals are also explicit on the progress of the
allied armies, and on the imminence of a definitive
result. The attack of General Liprandi on the flank of
the English army is even called in question by the Press
of Vienna. This journal states, on the contrary, that
the fire of the besieged was weak, that the two powder
magazines have blown up, and that the Anglo-French
guns have caused immense damage to the town. These
evident successes certainly have not been obtained without
painful sacrifices. It is possible that au isolated battery
at Balaklava may have been carried by a coup de main
of General Liprandi, and that our ships may have
suffered in the attack on the forts which protect the
entrance of the roadsted, but the important fact, which
the Russian despatches designedly pass over in silence is
that we approach the object in view, that the operations
have gone on with mathematical precision, and that
Sebastopol, whatever may happen, will fall into our
hands. On that day Prince Menschikoff will probably
write to his Sovereign that nothing important has taken
place in the Crimea, and as his despatch will be known
24 hours before that of our Generals, the Russian agents
will have had 24 hours more to work on German hesi-
tations for the benefit of Moscovite invincibility."

PRINCE MENSCHIKOFF'S ACCOUNT OF
THE BATTLE OF ALMA.

(Front the Invalide Russe.)

On the Bth (20th) September, Prince Menschikoff
occupied a position on the left bank of the Alma, with
42 battalions, 16 squadrons, and 84 pieces of artillery.
The centre of the order of battle was formed on the steep
bank of the river opposite the village of Bourliouk, and
the left wing on a hill about two versts from the sea ;
the right wing was the weakest point of the position.
In front of the line of battle, the village of Boor-
Hock and the adjoining vineyards were occupied
by sharpshooters. Behind the centre was posted a
reserve of three regiments of infantry (those of '
Velhynia, Minsk, and Moscow), with two light
foot batteries ; on their right, the two regiments of hus-
sars with two light foot batteries, and on the right of
these the two regiments of hussars with two batteries of
horse-artillery, and behind the right wing the regiment
of chasseurs of Ouglitsch. A reserve battalion of the
negituent of Minsk had been detached to occupy the
village of Buloukoul, behind the left flank of the posi-
tion, close to the sea coast. At noon the enemy marched
up( n the Alma, and resolutely attacked our position.
Their right wing consisted of the French, and their left
of the English ; the Turks remained in reserve behind
the French troops. Both advanced with precision in
, extended lines, under the protection of a thick chain of
sharp-hooters armed with carbines. Ours received the
enemy with a well-directed fire, and in a few instants
a sharp fire of small arms was opened all along the line
of battle. From the commencement of the battle, the
numerous sharpshooters of the enemy, armed with car-
bines with conical balls, made great ravages in our ranks.
A great number of officers fell the first victims to that
murderous weapon, and this circumstance naturally
had a great influence on the further progress of the
battle. After occupying the vineyards of the right
bank of the Alma, the enemy's battalions formed into
columns and crossed the river, and deployed again in lines
on the opposite bank, notwithstanding the constant
fire of our batteries. Prince Meeschikoff gave orders
to the first line to receive the enemy at the point of •
the bayonet, in order to drive him over the river
again. Several times our battalions, headed by their
intrepid. chiefs, charged the enemy with the bayonet, but
each time, meeting with the terrible rolling.fireof theth
deployed line, or by the thick chain of skirmishers with
the carbines, they were repulsed
withgreat loss. he
and without
enemy's infantry sustained with firmness,
wavering, the well-directed fire o our artillery ; the
the shelter afforded by the ground, while their sharp-
, I
down
shooters kept shooting
ourall the artillerymen,
n
deployed battalions lay down, and took cover behind
one of our divisions of eight guns,men and
the fleet.
horses were disabled. Whilst this sanguinary contest
left wing notwithstanding its distance
inogg,on in the ,centre of the position and on our
the
was reached by the projectiles of
fromwi rightgtewhie
sea
a French
climbed the cliff by a path through a narrow
co-
lumn, baying at its head African troops called
sed the valley of the Alm
gh
eed regiments prince
Zouaves, cros a near the sea shore,
Under cover of the fire frosmomtehe ships,
and rapidly
ravine. The appearance of these troops on our flank,
Po s
from
oomn ourthe rear,reser
reserve
obliged
Moefnmscibniskkoffentod
Moscow, and some squadrons of hussars. The French
had, however, succeeded in
establishing a battery on
the heights, which received our
abreidngalmu
reserve with such a
sharp fire that they were obliged •
to fall back. Prince
Menschikoff,
then, seeing
his
left wing turned, and the
able
centre and right wing not being to maintain their
ground in consequence of the enormous losses the had
y .
suffered, began to withdraw his troops towards the
Katcha. In order to cover their retreat, he brought up
the brigade of hussars, and this measure, and perhaps
the considerable losses which the enemy had suffered,
checked the pursuit. They remained on the Alma,
and our troops at midnight crossed the Katoha. In
this sanguinary combat both parties suffered very consi-
derably. We had 1,762 men killed, 2,315 wounded,
and 405 received contusions. 45 superior and subaltern
officers are among the killed, and among the wounded
are Generals Kvitsinsky, Sichelkanoff,. Goguinoff and
Kourtianoff,' and 96 superior and subaltern officers-
The loss of the enemy is not known with any certainty,
but, according to some reports, it even exceeded ours;
but, under auy circumstances, o
it is impossible that
obstinate attack of their battalions, under the shower
of our shot and grape, has not cost the allies very dear."

EXTENSIVE BURGLARY.—Another of those mysterious
and peculiar robberies, which of late have been so fre-
quent in the metropolis, has taken place on the eaten-
sive premises of Messrs.valuableap ea Dr eed
silks
t b e
o h
n haaamnv
de a
, Son,stat
once
nasn, and
cwoFlir
ari
which
body,
silkmercers, Wigmore-street, Cavendish-square. On en-
pt earci
kn
n, theg th ethieves p
entheeedy'
picked from the stook, and got clear off.