The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-10-10 00:00:00

nea by the Russians is obviou

means they have taken

by the trouble they have taken to exhibit

preparations they pretend to have made for

security, and the feftsibilities by wh

hand endeavoured to account for anticipated defeat. In a
paper published under Russian influence in Vienna, called
Ami du Soldat, is the following apologetic explanation of
the permitted disembarkation of the Allies :—" It is not
without interest to be able to appreciate rightly hOw it
has happened that the allied armies have been allowed to
disembark without resistance. The fact is explained by
the system of defence adopted by the Russians. With
the exception of Sebastopol, no Russian fort on the coast
of the Crimea could seriously -.oppose a disembarkation
effected under cover of 3,000 guns. Admiral Prince
3lENscfrixorr. has, therefore, given up all points on the

coast to the allied armies. The plain which extends from
Eupatoria to Simperopol is equally destitute of all means
of defence, whether natural or artificial. But at no great
distance from Simperopol the camp of the division of
Russian cavalry presents itself, whilst the three divisions
of infantry occupy the heights-of Baktchi-Serai, and
Sebastopol, the real theatre of war. "1" ". The
Russians have fortified many elevations at the north of
Baktchi-Serai, and their entrenchments must be carried
by assault. Prince MENSCIIIKOVF has, moreover, but 45
guns, and these he has disposed along the heights which
lie between the convent of St. Krim and Sebastopol. It
is evident that this artillery is insufficient, and the more
so as not more than eight g,uns can be broug,hi to bear
upon any one point. The Russian army will, therefore,
remain on the defensive, and constitute Sebastopol their
point d'appui. The instructions given to Admirals
NACIIIMOFP and KORNILEFF were no less important.
In case of Sebastopol being besieged, the Russian fleet
will find itself on the verge of a catastrophe. It will be
destroyed, either by the Russians themselves or by the
allies ; for it is not probable that Admiral NAcnnioav
will surrender. On the contrary, the firm conviction is
that he will accept the combat ; and this conviction
greatly adds to the interest of the gigantic drama being
enacted in the Black Sea." The length of the
preceding extract would be inexcusable, were it not that
it explains in some degree the combats of three days
subsequent to the storming of the heights of Alma, and
throws some glimmering light on the possession of
Balaclava as the result of these combats. As to the
rhodomontade about the Russian fleet accepting the
combat, nous verrons.

Sebastopol is invested, and now lies within grasp of the
allied army. The ultimate event of the struggle was de-
cided by the route of the Russian army at the Alma, and
has been expedited by the subsequent three days' fighting,
and securing safe landing-places to the south as well as to
the north of that fortress. Each blow of swift destruction
which has fallen upon Russia has tended more and more
to open the eyes of Europe in relation to the gigantic
" bug-a-boo" of which, under the name of Russian power,
the nations stood in awe.

But yesterday the word of Russia might
Have stood against the world ; now lies she there,
And none so poor to do her reverence.
A few brief months ago, Russia was described in the House
of Lords by a British minister as "the mightiest empire
in the world." The prestige of this opinion was con-
siderably abated by the spritedly-applied castigation
the Scythian marauder received from the Turks on the
banks of the "dark-rolling Danube i" but still Cronstadt
was declared of solid granite and impregnable, and Sebas-
topol was said to be strong enough to " shock the world
in arms." At Bomersund, the granite fable was speedily
exploded ; and ere this time the assumed prowess of Se-
bastopol will also have been blown into thin air. At an
extravagant cost of money, and an appalling waste of
human life, the Autocrat has endeavoured to vindicate the
extraordinary sham of a mighty empire, and has been
successful in gaining no brighter glory than can be de-
rived from a dastardly outrage at Sinope, and one fruitless
victory in Asia. Single-handed the Turks defeated him
in battle at Kalafat, and drove his best armies before them
from Silistria. The allies have sealed up his fleets in the
Baltic and Black Seas, have battered down one of his
strongholds in the north-west, and in the south-east have
dispelled the Russian dream of centuries, that of trans-
ferring their seat of empire to the Bosphorons. Russia
the " mightiest empire in the world" indeed! Her repu-
tation has been built on falsehood—her impregnable
fortresses crumble before the attack of fifth-class artillery
—her troops are automatons, without heart iu their pro-
fession, whose
—bauidest thought 's a hankering swithee
To stan' or tin.