The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-23 00:00:00

THE WAR.

THE Constantinople despatches of the 10th announce
the commencement of the attack on Sebastopol, by the
combiried fleets. They are engaged with guns of long
range in the endeavour to destroy the more advanced
works.

Three ships-of-the-line and two frigates have been de-
tached to bombard the fortresses on the coast of Asia
Minor. The Turkish fleet has 500 men on board, who are
to disembark there.

We learn from Kalafat, that on the 4th instant, six
squadrons of Turkish Cossacks and five of Turkish Hus-
sars had an engagement with the Russian Cossacks, near
Radovan. The affair lasted three hours, and ended with
the total defeat of the latter. After the second charge,
the Russians were in complete disorder, and, quitting their
horses, took refuge in a large thicket. Sixty horses fell
into the hands of. the Turks, and, it is said, the Russians
had 138 killed and 12 wounded. The latter, with two
guns, were brought into Kalafat. The Turks had ten
killed, and two wounded. At present the Russians are
beyond the Schyl, about two English miles and a half
from Krajova, and news of fresh rencontres is daily ex-
pected.
Letters from Samos of the Ist inst. state that its waters
are infested with pirates, and that several considerable
bands of these rascals inhabited the islands of Fourni,
Thimira, and Nicaria. They not only committed depre-
dations by sea, but also in the several islands of the Archi-
pelago and along the coast of Asia Minor.

A-despatch from Omer Pacha, dated Shumla, May 6,
states that Sali Pacha had, on the 28th of April, defeated
the Russians at Nicopolis, and that the Russians had lost
1,500 men. On the 2nd of May Colonel Suleiman Bey
had also defeated the Russians at Radovan, not far from
Krajova. This news is published in the Moniteur, under
date of the 15th, from Semlin.

A letter from Odessa, of the 30th ult., rid Vienna, men-
tions a fact which, says the Patrie, shows to what extent
the Russian authorities carry duplicity and falsehood. In
the night after the bombardment of the military port,
General Osten-Sacken had the dead soldiers, amounting to
between 500 and 600, removed and buried seven or eight
miles beyond the town. The next day, in order to make
the people believe that the loss had been trifling, he had
forty soldiers, who had been left lying dead on the bat-
teries, buried at Odessa with great pomp. A citizen, who
during the night had seen what was passing, and men-
tioned it, was arrested on a charge of propagating false
news, and, being tried by a court-martial, was sentenced
to death.

The Kreutz Zeitung (Berlin paper) of Tuesday evening,
stated that an American frigate was said to have passed
the Dardanelles, coming from Malta, laden with eleven
steam machines for Russia. In the Black Sea it hoisted
English colours, and got close into Sebastopol, where it
hoisted American colours, and got safely with its cargo
into the port. " Some, say, indeed," adds the Kreutz
Zeitung, "that the frigate was ordered in America for
Russia, to which both ship and cargo belong."
Lord Cardigan and General Scarlett arrived at Mar-
seilles on Monday night, and left on the following after-
noon, for Constantinople, by the Gangesmail steam-packet.
From Stockholm, under date May 16, we learn that the
combined Swedish and Norwegian fleets, comprising two
line-of-battle ships, four frigates, and one corvette, arrived
on the previous day at Elfsnabben. The King went
aboard, when he witnessed great manifestation of hostile
feelings on the part of the crews against Russia. Fresh
orders were given for repairs of gun-boats, and large num-
bers of new ones were ordered to be made ready in the
dockyards.

The following important despatches from Vienna are
dated Friday :
" Advices from Bucharest, of the 16th, state that the
steam-frigate Tiger, which was wrecked near Odessa, has
been burnt. The crew of 300 are made prisoners.
"The bombardment of Odessa has been renewed. The
damage done is already considerable.

" The vanguard of Luders' left wing was at Kalniga on
the 13th.

" The Russians, turning the position at Rassova, suffered
immensely.

" The main body of the combined fleets, under Admiral
Lyons, has been attempting the bombardment of Sebas-
topol since the 10th." _ _

Letters from Smyrna of. the 9th inst. announce the
arrival there, from the Timis, of the steam-frigate Gomer,
bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral le Barbier de Tinan.
On her passage the frigate chased several pirates. The
number of the latter has considerably increased, and the
entire Archipelago is now infested with them. Measures,
however, have been adopted for the protection of the mer-
, chant vessels, and the Sardinian frigate Eurydice, the
Dutch brig Makassar, and the Austrian corvette Artemisia
have joined the French and English in pursuing the
Greek pirates.
Reports that the Tiger steamer had been lost in the
Black Sea, having got on shore near Odessa, and been
forced to surrender to the Russians, have been received.
The announcements of this event have reached more than
one firm in the city of London from their correspondents
in Odessa, but are all transmitted by the telegraph from
Vienna, and owe their origin to Russian sources. One of
their despatches runs as follows :
" OnEssa, MAY. 12.—An English screw-frigate of
thirty-two guns was wrecked this morning at Little Fon-
taine, close to Odessa, and surrendered, with her crew.
Two other steamers, which reached the place later, opened
fire against the land batteries, which continued when the
advices left."

Another account mentions the Tiger by name, but also
characterises the vessel as a screw-steamer, while H.M.S.
Tiger, whose armament is only 16 guns, is a paddle-wheel
steamer. These discrepancies leave room to hope that
the report is only another Russian invention, and were
mentioned in that light by the Duke of Newcastle and
Sir J. Graham in Parliament on Friday.
The following is the official list of officers on board the
Tiger :—Captain Henry W. Giffard. Lieutenants Alfred
Royer, Alex. Hamilton, and IV. E. Stone. Master Fras.
Edington. First Lieutenant Marine Artillery R. T. Ansell,
Surgeon H. J. Doraville. Paymaster Geo. A. Lance.
Mate C. H. Wilkinson (acting). Assistant-Surgeon Edm.
Lawless. Second Master John C. Solfieet. Clerks John
G. Barnes and N. G. Simmonds. The steamer is of 1,220
tons, with a crew of 200 men. It is added that a gallant
resistance was made by the British crew, and that Captain
Giffard was wounded in defence of his ship.