The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-22 00:00:00

by landing to the north of the bay of Inkerman,
destroying
or taking Fort Constantine, and all other batteries from the
rear, and thence bombarding the naval arsenal, the town,
and ships ; and, indeed, this is the only alternative, if a
footing cannot be effected in the Claersoneaus.
The streets are built in parallel lines, from north to
south, and intersected by others from east to west ; and
the houses being of limestone have a substantial appear.
ance. The public buildings are fine. The library erected
by the Emperor for the use bf naval and military officers,
is of Grecian architecture, and is. elegantly fitted up inter-
nally. The books are principally confined to naval and
military subjects, and the sciences connected with them,
history, and some light reading.
The club-house is handsome externally and comfortable
within ; it contains a large ball-room, which is its most
striking feature, and billiard rooms, which appeared to be
the great centres of attraction ; but one looked in vain for
reading rooms, filled with newspapers and journals, such
as are found in the clubs of England.
There are many good churches ; and a fine landing-place
of stone, from the military harbour, approached on the side
of the town beneath an architrave supported by high
columns. It also boasts an Italian opera-house, the first
performance for the season at which took place during our
visit; but we cannot say much for the singing; the company
being third-rate, and the voice of the " prima donna" very
much resembling,. at times, a cracked trumpet. The house
itself was badly fitted up.
The eastern side of the town is so steep that the mast-
heads of the ships cannot be seen until one gets close to
them. Very beautiful views are obtained from some parts
of the place, and it is altogether agreeably situated. A
military band plays every Thursday evening in the public
gardens, at which time the fashionables assemble in great
numbers.
As Sebastopol is held exclusively as a military and naval
position, commerce does not exist. The only articles im-
ported by sea being those required for material of war, or
as provisions for the inhabitants and garrison.
On the eastern side of the military harbour, opposite to
the town, is a line of buildings consisting of barracks, some
storehouses, and a large naval hospital, which we inspected.
The wards are good, bat too much crowded ; many of the
arrangements are bad, and the ventilation in some parts
exceedingly defective, the effluvia being most offensive.
But perhaps this is permitted on hygean principles, seeing
that the Russian is so accustomed to foul odours from his
birth that the physicians may consider a return to a little
artificial native air as beneficial after a sea voyage.
Sebastopol is not the port of construction for ships of
war ; they are all built at Nicholiev, on the river Bug, as
Petersburg is the building-place for Cronstadt. But here
all repairs are done, and stores and materials of war in
great quantity are kept in the naval arsenal.
The works that have been accomplished in the little port
appropriated to this department are immense. The quays
are well and strongly built of limestone with granite cop-
ings under the superintendence of an English master
mason. Along the eastern quay are ten large stone
buildings, for storehouses, then in course of construction,
5 of which were already finished.
But all other works sink into insignificance at Sebasto-
pol, before those projected and accomplished by Culonel
Upton, under immense engineering difficulties. They con-
sist of a great fitting basin, into which open five dry docks,
three at the end, and one at each side of the entrance
canal. As there is no tide, these docks are about the level
of the sea, and the ships are floated into them by locks,
of which there are three, having a rise of ten feet each.
To supply the basin, and thence the canal, the water is
brought eleven miles by a beautiful aqueduct of stone into
which the Black Sea has been turned beyond Inkerman.
This passes, at one part, through an excavated tunnel nine
hundred feet long, which is constructed on arches in five
or six other places.
To form a great reservoir, and thus to insure a constant
supply of water, an enormous dyke of stone, like those of
the pools of Solomon, near Bethlehem, was built across a
mountain gorge, but on a much more stupendous scale.
Mr. William Upton superintended the engineering depart-
ment, and the work was achieved with perfect success,
proper sluices being constructed to prevent too great a
pressure in case of unusually heavy rain.
Sooa after all was finished, however, a terrific thunder-
storm arose ; the valley rapidly filled with water, and a great
land-slip from the side of the mountain took place, the
sluices were thus blocked up, and the flood at last poured
over the top, taking away tier after tier of stones, until
there was left nothing of the work of years but a jumbled
teased ruin.

`then we stood upon the remaining portion of this ma-
sonry, and remarked its extraordinary strength and soli-
dity, we could scarcely comprehend how the rushing of
any amount of water could have produced such results.
In order to make sufficient space for the dock, the canal
of which leads from the southern extremity of the little
port, it was necessary to cut away a portion of the moun-
tain, and on the top of the great perpendicular wall thus
made ❑ow stands a massive pile of stone buildings, used as
the sailors' winter barracks.

In case of an enemypenetrating the dockyard port, these
barracks might be held as a formidable position by men
armed with the Minie rifle; and it has been suggested that
a couple of line-of-battle ships in the basin, with their
broadsides to the port, and commanding it, would also
form a battery of great power. Thus, in an attack by sea
alone on Sebastopol every inch of ground would have to be
contested.

A larger filter has been erected, from which pipes are
carried to the quay, into which a stream has been turned
from the aqueduct, and when a ship requires a supply of
water, she or the tank barges have only to go alongside, a
hose is attached to the pipe, put on board, and the process
is accomplished with the greatest facility and expedition.
No expense has been spared to render this naval arsenal
perfect, and we doubt whether, in many respects, there is
another in Europe so convenient, always supposing the
works projected to have been carried out.
The streets of Sebastopol, as may be expected, teem
with soldiers and sailors. Indeed, no one unconnected
with the services lives there, and all but Russians are dis-
couraged or forbidden to do so. The Jews were at one
time ordered away from it entirely, but some few have
been allowed to return. It was said that no foreigners
were permitted to remain there more than twenty-four
hours ; but during a sojourn of ten days we met with no
interference, although we visited, and curiously examined,
all parts of the town, and everything worth seeing iu it.