The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-04 00:00:00

[PRICE SD.

We got up a sweepstakes to name the day on which we
shall be relieved, each naming the day he thought most
probable. They ranged from the 3d to the 15th of
June, Mussa Pasha having chosen the first and his se-
cretary the last of these dates. Casualties, seven killed.
22d—Enemy's fire slackened in the course of the

forenoon, and ceased altogether for about two hours,
after which he opened a very heavy fire on the Arab
and Yelanli forts from seven batteries at once—practice
very good. Demonstrations against these forts con-
tinued all day. Made out from the Circassian priso-
ners that Paskiewitsch was commanding, and not the
Archduke Constantine as was previously supposed.
Casualties, upwards of 50 killed and wounded.
23d.—During the night the enemy threw up a 15-
gun battery beyond Arab Tabia, and three additional
ones on Salhane. From all these he opened fire on
Yelanli and Arab Tabia in the afternoon.
24th— (Queen's birthday)—Received the welcome
news from Mussa Pasha that in eight days we might
expect to see the English red jackets topping the heights.
Nothing particular occurred to-day, and in the evening
Butler and I loyally drank her Majesty's health in a
mugfull of sour wine.

25th—The quiet the enemy has maintained yester-
terday and to-day bodes no good. An orderly from
Mussa Pasha requested our attendance at his quarters,
where he found a council of war assembled to decide on a
very important question. In the middle of this a tremen-
dous hailstorm came on, and the enemy, taking advan-
tage of, it, commenced an attack, under a furious can-
nonade, on Arab Tabia. A body of cavalry with guns
suddenly appeared in front of it, when, halting at a
short distance, from behind each horseman leapt an in-
fantry soldier ; these formed up, and commenced an ad-
vance
on the redoubt, but being received by a severe fire
from its defenders, the cavalry halted, leaving a gun be-
hind, and the infantry drew out of range, and quietly
began to pitch their tents in the valley below. We had
hardly returned to our quarters in a little barrack inone
of the bastions when the alarm was again given, and
drums beat to arms. Scuttling back in the dark, knee-
deep in mud, and fancying from the sound, which ap-
peared very close, that the body of the place was attacked,
we were suddenly called on to halt by the gruff chal-
lenge of a sentry demanding the parole. Doubtful
of accomplishing the correct pronunciation of a 12-
syllabled Turkish word, we answered Inglis Zabit
(i.e. English officers), a reply which seemed fully to
satisfy the curiosity of the inquirer. Arrived at the
rallying point, the Stamboul gate, we found an attack
taking place on the forts of Yelanli and Arab Tabus.
It lasted upwards of an hour, during which time
an uninterrupted flash and roll of musketry proceeded
from that direction, while shells were sent blazing
through the air in all directions from both our own and
the enemy's batteries. By 10 o'clock it was all over, and
soon alter a report from each of these forts showed
that we had suffered little damage in the affair. Dur-
ing the day a Turkish officer, who had been made
prisoner at Kalafat and afterwards escaped(' rom the
Russians, arrived—he states the force opposite to be
100,000 men. Rockets, thrown at Arab Tabia and Ye-
lanli fort, were used far the first time by the enemy
here.

26th.—A few solitary shot and shell only thrown by
the enemy this day. He is not idle, however, being
employed in fortifying his position, constructing strong
breastworks on the Ada Kien heights, as if with the
view of awaiting the arrival of the allies.
27th.—The Russians during the night have cleared
the neighbourhood of their position of all wood that
might afford cover to the riflemen of the allies, showing
mueh greater foresight than our friends the Turks.
Considerable injury was done to the blockhouse and
parapets of Fort Yelanli by the enemy's shot and shell
during the cannonade of this forenoon. About sunset
the enemy turned his attention to the abovenamed forts,
opening a strong fire from his batteries upon them, to-
gether with rockets during the night. He seenis to
have abandoned all idea of the town, fur the present at
least, and appears intent on taking Arab Tabia, thereby
completing his line and securing a retreat in the event
of being defeated. He has now a large redoubt on the
Ada Kien hill, and is busy constructing another near
the river. On the former he has a sort of observatory,
on which some of the Turkish sentries told me they had
soon ladies. I suspect what they saw were only some
Russian officers in their long greatcoats.
28th.—Awoke about 3 a.m. by a furious cannonade,
which last all day. Another council of war on the subject of
making a sortie on the enemy's batteries ended in smoke,
Mussa Pacha not being able to make up his mind to risk
the loss of men that might ensue. A watercourse, which
supplied part of the town, and which at the commence-
ment of the siege had been cut off by the Russians, was
again allowed to run by them. About midnight aroused
by the report of musketry from Arab Tabia, and on
reaching the rampart at the Stamboul-gate found that a
second and much more serious attack on that work was
going on. The first assault was on the left face, the
enemy actually penetrating into the redoubt before they
were observed. A Russian officer who led it, and cut
down a lieutenant of artillery, was immediately brained
by a handspike. A severe and desperate struggle took
place, terminating in the repulse of the enemy, who
were driven into the ditch, having suffered severely from
our grape and canister tearing through them. Re-form-
ing, they again attempted it in the same place, led gal-
lantly on with drums beating, but were again driven
back with great slaughter. After about a quarter of an
hour a thied attack was made, this time on both left
and front faces at once, but meeting with the same
determined resistance. After a bloody fight the Rus-
sians were finally beaten off, the Albanians pursuing
them into their own batteries. The force in Arab Tabia
at the time was only four battalions of Egyptians and
500 Albanians, under the command of Hussein Pasha.

The lowest estimate of the numbers with which the enemy
attacked is nine battalions, and it is not improbable,
from the number of his dead found in and about the fort,
that this is considerably under the mark. The affair
lasted from midnight tilt after daybreak, and is one of
the most brilliant occurrences in the whole course of the
siege. Casualties, 68 killed, and 121 wounded, many
officers being among the former. The loss of the enemy
may be reckoned at 2,000 killed and wounded, although
those who removed the bodies deelared there was up-
wards of this amount in killed alone, which allowing
for wounded in the smallest proportion, would bring
their loss to upwards of 6,000.
29th.—Went down to the Stamboul-gate, where
we saw the arms, accoutrements, &c., of the
enemy's slain being received and registerd. While
there a ruffian threw down before Mussa Pasha
a pair of ears, which he said he had cut
from the head of a Russian officer. He was quite
surprised at the Pasha, instead of rewarding him as he
had expected, ordering the ears to be buried, and turn-
ing from him with disgust. Several heads were also
brought down, but were not allowed inside the walls.
It is to be hoped that this disgraceful mutilation of the
dead will be abandoned by the Turks when they come
to act in concert with the Allies, it being, moreover, in
direct violation of a special firman from the Sultan. In

jus, ice to the Turkisli Soldiers, I must state this brute.
lity was confined chiefly to the irregulars and towns-
people, who seemed to take a savage delight in dis-
figuring the bodies of those with whom the latter had
not even been engaged. In the afternoon Butler and I
went up to Arab Tabia, where the enemy's conical bul-
lets were singing through the air in great profusion.
Heaps of dead were lying in the ditch and about it. All
the former were stripped, and many were headless. The
Russian riflemen had apparently done their best to pre-
vent the mutilation of those outside, as most, if not all,
still wore their clothes, although their arms and
accoutrements had been brought in. While at Arab
Tabia we saw a body of infantry, with cavalry
thrown out, which had, as they came in sight in the
distance, on the brow of the hill near Medjidie, all
the appearance of the advanced guard of a large
force. Cries resounded on all sides that the Shumla re-
lieved army had arrived. Off we galloped, taken in like
the rest, to welcome them. It turned out, however, to
be merely a clever dodge of Hussein Pasha's to deceive
the enemy, and make them suppose that a reinforcement
had arrived. It being necessary to relieve the men at
Arab Tabia, who had been there from the commence.
.. ame
went of the siege, Hussein Pasha adoptedttthheeasbove
round-about method of doing so, causin
time two squadrons of cavalry to accompaug ay
his march.'
30th.—A flag of truce,kw_asenesmenyt outaethe
:sLisnuo_ssrinainngo,mac-
companying a party who took the enemy
white
dead up to
h until
spokethey
his batteries. Notwithstanding
cer
the bodies t
iwnetreerpfiorseedd
.o n atOn
n firstreceiving
in most indignant terms of the
_state in which they were
handed over to him, but was told by the officer in charge
of our party that it was the result of the Bashi-Bazouk
handiwork, and that everything had been done by the
beyond constant firing took
opTvl uaje3rcriukesphiauthorities
ggoTet
thhteen: deianpnyaeto
.rmat
nipycdraewlva?
near
atsiet it.ebr
ui s t
e
is
n oufefroniallhidsa
in
bringing
Informationsh
Shumla,
sliot,with received 2 t batteriesto-day tohn oppo-
sitet6°na'gaAurnrPsa,absaThnibisiaae. large force of cavalry. Also that the
first division of the allies were seen at Varna on the 29th
ult., and several vessels, supposed to contain the re-
mainder, were the same day
seen in the offing ; so that
N may expect to see them here about the 7th. 3,000
,V‘.ol
ba
nians, with some irregular cavalry, having been re-
ported to have arrived at a village a few miles from this,
an order was despatched to hasten their march, so as to
reach this before night. Galleries of the mines in the
counterscarp of the ditch in front of some of the bastions
were finished this afternoon, so that, in the event of the
enemy trying an escalade, he will meet with rather a
warm reception. Firing was kept up without intermis-
sion throughout the night, and shells came unpleasantly
near our tent.
2d.— At 1 o'clock this day Mussa Pacha, the comman-
der of the fortress, was mortally wounded in the left side
by a piece of shell, which burst near him while sitting
outside his quarters at the Stamboul-gate. He lived
about 12 minutes after receiving the wound. He had just
received intelligence that a messenger was at hand,
bearing the Sultan's order of Medjidie of the second
class, which had been sent to him, and was waiting for in-
structions as to whether it was his Excellency's wish
to receive the decoration publicly and with the usual
ceremony or otherwise. Mussa Pasha replied that it
would be better to bring it in quietly, remarking at
, the same time that this was no season for pomp and