The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-09 00:00:00

FURTHER DESPATCHES.

ORDER OF 'THE DAY OF MARSHAL DE ST. ARNAUD.
Soldiers—France and the Empire will be satisfied
'with you. At Alma you have proved to the Rus-
-1
sians that you are the worthy I•32sce. ndants of the'
'conquerors of Eylau and of the Moskowa. You'
have rivalled in courage your allies the Eng-'
glish, and your bayonets have carried formidable
(Copy.)
'and well-defended positions. Soldiers, you will
SINKING OF THE RUSSIAN SHIPS AT THE EN-
;again meet the Russians on your road, and you wil
TRANCE OE THE HARBOUR OF SEBASTOPOL. conquer them as you have done to-clay to the cry
No. 489. Britannia, off the Katscha, 'l.of " Vive I'Empereur !" and you will only stop at
,
September 24, 1854, Sebastopol ;it is there you will enjoy the repose
Sin.,—ln my letter of yesterday, No. 487, I re-
, which
ported the extraordinary change that had taken ti-
,Ficiheldyoouf
bhaatvtel
ewoefl l deserved.
Alma,
ISept,
o
place in the position hitherto maintained by the
troups in
!enemy's fleet in the harbour of Sebastopol, , THE FRENCH CHARGE D'AFFAIRES AT CONSTANTI.
oTFiol FOREIGN
rßtaEhilleiGaNt, 1
isAeFpFtit AFFAIRS.
and I now beg you will acquaint the Lords NOPLE TO THE Mill:Is:071ra:
t
'., the Russia—as ‘.% ho have
,uauks
ii:.:o4::;Cifo,tellrlDinol;l,ollelynS, Otfheth.enl.rlrirZy!,,
n•tfhaili-7.:e:x.5„ia1ii7,,,.1
Demoralised by
*were SULK t,
IT' till: Alma, neither stopped' -
marching to the support of the first
army iii...:: warmly for i'-..-- :_;-v.11.1.nt; exertionF. Li. ,2: . .
, leo. Lio,yl,-,,,,, ~
~ ,
energet.ically heading his
in sight, of sebastopol lt, ,0 (- . . . •--41:\:•.,0n, , ~, ~.,,, . ~.0)_
ssti. .
witnessed. them with pride and satisfaction, and 4 moored across the harbour
the Russians, leaving tkeir masts more or less 6
it will be his pleasing duty to report, for the Queen's above water, and I went last evening to the mouththe Belbeck,
iwhichwere ofourZedatlaetolipaosnitoiornosn. ..hill
-plain. The second brigade of
• •
• • , - • ' ill. , • .

y ' !

PARIS, Oct. 7.—His Excellency the Minister of
War has received from the marshal commanding-
in-chief the army of the East, the following report
Ind letter :

Head-quarters, at the Bivouac on the Alma,
Sept. 21, 1854.
Monsieur le Mar6chal, —My telegraphic despatch, dated
yesterday, has made you acquainted summarily with the
results of the battle of the Alma. The subjoined sketch,
written in haste, will give you a better idea of it ; you
will judge by this of the difficulties we haVe had to over-
,one in order to carry these formidable positions.
The river Alma presents a winding course, with high
tanks; the fords are very difficult and few in number The
Russians had posted in the lowest part of the valley,
covered with trees, gardens, and houses, and in the
village of Bourlouk, a body of sharpshooters, well pro-
tected, armed with rifled carbines, and who received
.ur heads of columns with a very hot and galling fire.
The flank movement of General Bosqaet, command-
ing the 2d division, which this general officer executed
n the light with much intelligence and vigour, ha t.lfor-
mnately removed the difficulties in the way of the ualrch
of the two other divisions of the English army. I ever-
heless, the position of` this general officer, who for a
ong time found himself on the heights with a single bri-
gade, might have been compromised in its isolation, and
.general Canrobert, to support him, had to make a vigo-
rous push in the direction shown by one of the index
ices of the sketch. I sent to his support a brigade of
he 4th Division that was in reserve, while the other
Jrigade of this same division, following General Bosquet,
vent to his assistance.

The 3d division marched right on the centre of the
positions, having the English army at its left. It had
)een agreed with Lord Raglan that his troops shou Id
)perate on their left a flank movement analogous to t be
me General Bosquet was making on the right. But •.in-
:essantly menaced by the cavalry, and outflanked by
the enemy's troops posted on the heights, the left of ti ie
English army was obliged to renemice this part of this.
programme. _

The general movement took place at the moment
when General I3osquet, protected by the fleet, ap-
aeared on the heights. The gardens, from out of wh Lich,
a very hot fire was poured by Russian sbarpshootors ,
were soon taken possession of by our troops. Our as •-
tillery approached in its turn the gardens, and began t o
.;annonade warmly the Russian battalions, who wez e
formed in columns on the slopes, in order to 'Hippo, A
their retreating sharpshooters. Ours, closing •n the ca
with incredible boldness, followed them on the slope
Ind I then directed my first line through the garde] is.
Each man passed where he could, and our columns clir nit ,ed
.he heights miter a fire of musketry and cannon th at,
nevertheless, did not. retard their progress. The , welts
were gained, and I threw forward say second line t, ] the
support of the first, which rushed on to the c Ty of
" Vive l'Empereur ! "

The artillery of reserve had, in its turn, been c erried
,nwards with a rapidity that was almost incomp rshen-
sible when the obstacles of the river and the steepn ese of
,he slopes are taken into consideration. The enemy 'a; bat-
talions, driven back on the plateau, exchanged wit our
lines a cant onade and a fire of musketry that ended by I their
final retreat in very bad order, which the presence of s ome
thousand horse would easily have enabled me to con vert
into a total rout. Night arrived, and I had to thin kof
establishing our bivouac within reach of the water . I
encamped on the field of battle itself while the la emy
vas disappearing in the horizon, leaving the vc)und
strewed with his dead and wounded, a great num bar of
whom he had, however, carried off.
While these events were passing on the right : uid at
the centre, the lines of the English army cross sd the
river in front of the village of Bourlouk, and adi 'arced
Against the positions the Russians had fortified, and
where they had concentrated considerable masse e, for
they had not supposed that the steep slopes corn prised
between this point and the sea, and protected by a na-
tural moat, could be taken by main force by eur t renope.
Ibe English army encountered therefore a very a, 31i dly-
,)rganised resistance. The combat that ensued was (me of
the hottest, and reflects the laihest honour on our ixrave

. In fine, M. le Marechal, the battle of Alma, in • Which
more than 120,000 men, with 180 pieces of cannon, have
been engaged, is a brilliant victory, and the Russian army
, could not have raised its head again, if, as I stated I afore,
I had had cavalry to cut up the broken and disj tinted
1 masses of infantry as they were retiring before us. 'This
battle consecrates in a signal manner the aupei ic rity
• `••. of our arose at the beginning of this war. It has disc :on-
- certed in the highest degree the self-confidence o f the
- Russian army, and especially their reliance on the r ,osi-
_... tions they bad long prepared beforehand, and where ,• they
awaited us. This army was composed of the 16th and
' 17th divisions of the Russia* infantry, of one brigs d a of
the 13th, of one brigade of the 14th division of reflex eve,
i' of the foot chasseurs of the 6th corps, armed with ri flea
carrying oblong bullets; of 4 artillery brigades, 2 of wit ich
were horse, and of ose battery taken from the siege pa r k of
reserve, comprising 12 pieces of heavy ordnance. t'h'eir
cavalry was about 5,000 strove, ant the whole f o roe
may be estimated at about 50,000 men, commasdet I by
Prince Menschikoff in person.
-': It is difficult for us to compute the losses of
, • the Russian army, but they must be considers .ble,
i if we may judge by the dead and wounded i ;hay
•:: could not remove, and who remain in our hands. in
t i t.
the ravines of the Alma, on the plateaux in frost, on the
H ;round forming the position carried by the English'''' , army, the soil is covered with more than ten thous: eid
muskets, knapsacks, and different articles of equipmctio l
en IWe have devoted the whole of this day to bury t' heir
';,.. dead where found, and to tend their wounded, who
1- cause to be conveyed along with our town to the eel /cols
..' of the fleet in order to be taken to Constantinople. All
':: the Russian officers, including generals, are clothed with
' . the coarse overcoat of the soldiers, and it is, c( nave-
quently, difficult to distinguish them either among the
dead or the small number of prisoners we have I '3e,en
able to make. However, it remains certain that the
': English army have captured two general officers.
''.`fThe battle of Alma, in which the allied armies ' leave
reciprocally given each ether pledges they ca enot
... torget, will strengthen the bonds that unite tl Him.
:7 Ile Ottoman division, that marched to the suppco et of
'':e_ the Bosquet division in its flask movement, did we, Were
. in speed to get into line, following the while the le' onte
4 along the border of the sea that I had traced ou ,t for
them. It could not take an active part in the corn-
, lett that was being fought before it ; bat 1 ;hese
troops showed an ardour equal at least to our
;‘sown, and I am happy at having to tell yon all tl sat I
expect from the aid of these excellent auxiliaries.
Every one has brilliantly done his duty, and it wi II be
es
' ..r, difficult for me to select among the several carp a the
, 4 officers and soldiers that have shown most vigour i a the
action, and who ought to be the object of special men-
Ation. I have already stated in this report the in) port-
,l
knee of the part
played by the Bosquet division i n its
,'
flank movement, during which his first brigade t 'stab-
, lished alone upon the heights, remained for a long time
1 exposed to the fire of five gun batteries. The first divi-
sion sealed the heights up its steepeet slopes with. an
r ardour of which its chief, General Canrobert, set the
example. Thishonourable general officer was struck on
, vie breast by the splinter of a shell, but he was able to
keep on horseback to the end of the action, and his
'wound will have no dangerous consequences. The 3d
division, conducted with the greatest vigour by hie Tin-
' ial Highness Prince Napoleon, took the most brilliant
tti,)tarrt in the combat fought on the hill-plains, and I have
....e! been happy to address to the Prince my felicitations in
* the presence of his troops.
2t-) Gemral Thorne,gon, coin inaudiug the 2d b, ...: -, 1, „. ~ . _

'e a ' 13
their attack of the
the Forez division,
division, under the