The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-27 00:00:00

FORTIFICATIONS OF SI:B_4STOPOL.

The Journal des Dawts gives the following very in-
teresting account of the fortifications of Sebastopol. It
is from the pen of a distinguished officer, Colonel St.
Auge, now one of the redacteurs of the Djbats, but for-
merly the head of the staff to Marshal Sachet, Duke
d'Albulera. He was with the Marshal throughout the
Spanish campaign, and was the first to enter the breach
at the storming of Aragon :
"It is the fortificatione at present attacked to the
south of the town which we intend speaking of, and net
the forts of the harbour. . It will suffice for us to remind
our readers that these farts, to the number of 11, line
both sides of the harbour, and that six of them, running
along the town itself, belong to the military pert and to
the southern shore, the side on which the combined
army is operating. We shall start from the west, the
side of the Quarantine, to follow the profile of the town
and of the port to the river Tchernaya on the east, a
circuit which takes in the double front of attack of the
English and the French. Let us first give an idea of
the general aspect of the place. The site of Sebastopol
consists of a series of platforms running up a steep accli-
vity from the sea to the high hills which tower over it
at the distance of a league and a half, and from the top
of which is unfolded the whole panorama of the town
and harbour. Nearer, that ensemble ceases to be visible,
and even the tops of the masts are no longer seen, so
deeply does the site sink down to the level of the road-
sted and of the port. From this configuration of the
ground, it comes to pass that the town is built one part
over the other, so as to form an amphitheatre, like Al-
giers, but better built, as its construction is quite modern,
dating from 1790. The transverse streets, parallel to
the roadstead, communicate with each other only by
steep ascents ; but at their extremities there are lines
of communication of a less abrupt character for
vehicles. The town contains several monuments, and
amongst others, the churches, and principally all the
buildings of the navy, the arsenal, the barracks, and the
hospitals. The population is about 40,000 in ordinary
times, including 20,000 soldiers or sailors. The 20,000
civil inhabitants are employee of all kinds, persons from
the navy and the army on half-pay, a few shop-keepers,
and some workmen and fishermen. The reader must
hear in mind this fact, that not one of the great forts
situated outside the town on the harbour cam protect it
against attacks by land, and that the two batteries of
the Quarantine, situated at the lower part of the out-
ward ground, cannot aid in its defence. When the
Russian Government conceived the plan of a great for-
tified place to command the Mack Sea, it had all these
ports constructed at an immense expense, and the double
and triple storeys of their caseinated batteries give them
such a formidable aspect that they have been even com-
pared to the fortifications at Malta. The roadsted and
port are, in fact, almost unattackable by sea, but the
town itself was never fortified ; all that was done being
to draw round it a weak wall, merely intended to pro-
tect it against a coup de main. The Russian Cabinet
could never have imagined that an Anglo-French army
of 100,000 men would one day land in the Crimea, to lay
siege to Sebastopol. At present that that extraordinary
fact is being realised in the meet serious manner, it has
been necessary to think of fortifying the town on the
land-side, arid that is what the Russians have been doing
for the last three months. The Quarantine bay on the
west (the extreme left of the attack), is defended by the
double battery of the same name. Near that spot is
Fort Alexander, and by the side of that fort, a battery,
called the battery of Sebastopol, because it forms part of
the town itself. From this battery runs a crenelated
wall for musketry, about a kilometre (Wis of an English
mile) in length, which runs up the steep bill to the
top, where is a large round fort, with twenty guns
on the platform, and surrounded below with a bat-
tery, the rampart of which PI 20 feet high. The wall
and the bastion have a ditch in front, but there is
nether coverNl way nor glacis tat front of this
ditch. The French being charged with the attack
on the left, will probably have to bombard the fort,
after which they will command the bay as well as the
Quarantine battery, and even the whole of the western
side of the town. But they will have other obstacles to
overcome before arriving there. Under the
.cannon of
the round fort is situated h large fortified barrack, which
has been lately flanked by several strong works. From
that barrack runs a wail entirely surrounding the town,
the port, the arsenal, to beyond the careening basin, to-
wards the Tchernaya, at the extremity of the roadsted,
which gives a development of from 6 to S kilometres
(from 3;., to 5 English miles), including the sinuosities.
This wall is three feet thick, is crenelated, and has in
front a ditch, the earth of which has been thrown in front
to form a glacis, covering the mason-work in many
places. This wall is not terraced, that is, does not form
a rampart above on which artillery can be placed. But
on the points where, in a regular fortification, there
would be bastions, the Russians have raised batteries, in
the form of cavaliers,- firing above the wall. The dis-
arming of their line-of-battle ships has furnished them
with the means of providing all their works with artil-
lery of large calibre, and they have without doubt plenty
of men to serve them, more or less expert. This imper-
fect system of fortification cannot have any value, except
by the tenacity of the besieged, by their great number,
and by the ability of the engineers. The entrance of the
line is defended by the Fort of Aktiar, raised en a high
point at the top of the town. At p, little distance from
this fort commence three ravines descending to the road-
sted. One, on the west, terminates by the Quarantine
Bay ; another, in the centre, cuts the town into two un-
equal parts ; and, the third, on the east, descends right
to the north to form the port, which is the prolongation
of that same ravine, into the sea. It is principally at
the lower opening of this ravine, and on the western side
of the port, that are accumulated the defences, for (even
should the ships-of-the-line be burned by the Russians)
it is still important for them to prevent all access to this ;
port, particularly that of the Faubourg of lierbelnaia,
on the eastern side. If the besiegers on the right, the
English, seize on this fauhourg, whilst the French have
made themselves masters of the round fort, the town
would find itself between two fires, and so overwhelmed
with bombs, balls, and sheik, that no garrison could
remain there. But it is to be noted that this garrison
cannot be ferced to capitulate, not being blockaded,
and that the Russians, when at the end of their
efforts in the town, will always be at liberty to cross
the roadsted, and take refuge in the forts of the
northern side. Amongst the works destined to defend
the ravine of the port, two great batteries in the form
of towers are mentioned—a recent construction, said to
be built of stone and brick. From want of time to
raise a third tower at the bottom of the fort the Russians
have placed a line-of-battle ship to perform the duty of
a battery against the mouth of the ravine. Besides, the
works are still going on, night and day, without inter-
ruption. One-half of the garrison is occupied with
them, and all the able-bodied inhabitants are obliged to
take part in them. Sebastopol is commanded almost
on every side by hills rising one over the other to a
great height, as already stated. But the nearest hills
have been for a long time back levelled by works which
lasted 12 years ; and the earth taken from them was
removed to the side of the Quarantine or to certain hol-
lows which might facilitate the approaches. There is
not consequently any height now commanding the town
within .500 or 600 yards of the place. But beyond that
radius, the Russians occupied with strong redoubts seve-
ral elevated positions which have forced the besiegers to
open the trenches at an unusual distance, 1,500 to 1,800
metres from the place, it is said. Although these posi-
tions were only fortified by earthworks where a sudden
wsault might be attempted, the Allied generals have pre-
ferred operating by rule to sacrificing good soldiers,
whose devotedness awl bravery will be required at a
later period for decisive blows. The redoubts of which
we are speaking were to have been battered in breach
and taken, we cannot say at what date. The besieging
army will then be pushed forward on that ground to make
its trenches against the place itself. However, outside
the wall round the town it will be necessary to batter
down and destroy some works protecting it on the weak-
est points. In fine, all these works and constructions
raised in haste cannot have the stability and resistance
of a real permanent fortification. Although the Russians
are provided with largo cannons, such pieces are not
sufficient without good ramparts. It is, besides, proved
by the experience of all sieges that the fire of the be-
sieging party has always an advantage over that of the
very strong place, because the fire of the attack is al-
ways convergent, whereas that of the defence is, on the
contrary, divergent. Such is the sketch which we have
considered it right to give of the fortifications of a place,
the the inevitable fall of which, under the efforts of the
brave armies of England and France, cannot fail to pro-
duce a great sensation in Europe."

. .
ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF TELE POOR IN LAMBETH
WORKHOUSE.—Yesterday Mr. Alfred Austin and Mr.
R. Cane, poor-law inspectors, opened an inquiry in the
board-room of St. Mary's Workhouse, Lambeth, by
order of the Poor-law Board, relative to the alleged ill-
treatment of the inmates by the master and other oil;
eials. Most of the principal parochial officers were pre-
sent, also several gentlemen representatives of a meeting
of parishioners held some time ago at the vestry-hall,
and deputed to support the complaints against the work-
house authorities.. The witnesses examined were Mary
Males, John Meades, and George Arnold, inmates Cf
the workhouse, and Nathaniel King, the porter. I\lv
Mead had been shut up in the surgery next to the r-dead-
house, and was so frightened that she broke the win-
dows, for which she was charged before the magistrates,
atten John
Mendes, a
There were six bodies in the dead-house, and only a
door Unitarian, between
was
st hnaottaanldl 0
rt the surgery.t
ohischapelek day,enorto.
go out of the house at any time,
Sunday or w
He had frequently complained to the master on the sub-
ject. Had been 17
ye, in the house, with no com-
tphlaeniptauapgearinsethes
against him. George Arnold complained that
givens
him were filthy and full of
vermin. The inquir. y
~ then adjourned.