New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-10-17

Eve and the Battle OF the Alma NAV be ranked
With the most brilliant achievements Of the two VA
Tart armies which met ana fought for the first time
aide By side that fed Of battle Bat tois exploit
gallant ard momenous as Il j. undoubtedly is, seems
10 be already surpassed by the magnitude Of its imne-
oisie conss quenees Telegraphc dispatches Of less
certain ana official character but nevertheless Of III
probability, have been received by way OF Yarns aud
Bucharest, stating that the fortress Of Seyasopo it.
self surrendered on the % ut to the allied armies
together with AL the vast stores of it contained,
the feet and the Russian garrison. 1t will be scarcely
possible 10 receive the official confirmation of this in
teligence through CobstantiDope and Belgrade for q
day two but IL purports TO have been conveyed to
Narna by steamer which met at the steamer
yeyng the news 20 Constantinople and from the ra-
Tidty with which communications Of lea importance
have ~ ice before been received from the seat OF war
ii is BY impossible that such event as this
could not be known in the time. The public mast
form their opinion for the present as TO the credl-
bity Of tbis statement but enabled TO say that
il Ia regarded with greatest confidence in the highest
quarter, sud when the same dispatch reached the
Emperor Of the French at the camp at delfau he IN
ftsuty announced 10 the troops that SeVaStopoi had
fallen.
We have more than once expressed an opinion that
Il the Russians risked and lost pitched battle in the
Crimea while the allied armies were marching against
Seyasopo the attack on the place Itself from the
land side might turn out 10 be an operation Of
opdary importance. II Is now known with certainty
that Prince Menchikof did fight and lose such a
battle the Goth inst. and the plan Of campaign he
sage Of The Alma Burliuk, the strongest posi-
ton afforded by the country the line Of march
and the Russian army was intrenched the nights
which form the left bauk OF that stream in fortified
position, which. Lord Raglan expressly states was
formidaby defended by numerous artillery Of heavy
calber On this point so 900 men concentrated,
which must comprise by far the most important part
Of the Russian forces in the Crimes The Russian
General appears 10 have preferred ntrenched po-
rition OF bisnature TO seton i'll the open plans
of the Crimea on the one hand, and, on the
other, be seems 10 have been conscious that the
game was lost If he allowed bis army 10 be- inciosed
in the walls Of Sevast0p0l, or dispersed along the
nights which command the town and port. He there
fore stnked his defense the passage OF the Alma,
and even renowned the attempt TO oppose the land
ing Of the allies in his exclusive reliance on the
strength of this position Yet after all tRs prepare
tim with muster of the best troops which tn Rus
tian Empire could furnish on this point and al the
advantages which nature and art could supply to this
position the boosted soldiers of the North stood for
sbout an hour and half before the fury of ths
French infantry and the deadly energy of the British
bayonet, and then were driven from the field. The
forces Of the two armies must have been about equal
every local advantage was on the side Of the Rus
sisns; vet the attack which began at o'clock ended
an hour and half before sunset, and the military
strength aud pride Of Russia received blow more
than the loss of those hardly contested fields
on which she disputed the fortune of Napoleon.
An army which has just lost great battle and
been driven ignominiousy from the position it had
fortified, is ilprepared for the defense OF great
fectly defended from behind and commanded from
the surrounding nights. Moreover, all have
learned OF the Russian army in the course of this
confirms the belief that the troops are wanting in that
indomitable spirit which viii hold desperate posi-
ton to the last. After the defeat the Alma four
days must have suiiced bring the allied army TO
the walls Of Sevastopo, and if the place was 10 be
taken at all by q corp de man, everything depended
on the prOmptitude of the operation. One account
states that the place taken after combined at
tack by sea and and-another implies that II surren
deIed without any serious resistance. On these points
we can at present furnish no further lght but there
is the strongest 70 anticipate that The grand
achievement on which the eyes Of the world aud the
hopes Of England and OF France fixed has already
terminated this portion of the contest.
II the Intelligence Of the fall of Sevast0p0l be con-
frned ten days viii have sGfhced to terminate the
campaign Of the Crmea, and the army will at once
be relieved from the peris and hardships OF active
war until the operations are resumed elsewhere. We
trust that in the future conduct Of the war If the
pride of the Gar Nicholas should s resist the les
son be has received from this mered chastisement,
the allied Governments will not be deferred by waver-
ing reports and unounded representations from meas
ures worthy of their real strength. We have to do
with an enemy against whom the most daring meas
nres are the suTest, and those who have uniformly
Contended for these great operations may nov claim,
at least no, to have overrated the power of that ALI
ance by which they have been so rapidly achieved.
From The Daily Negs Oct s.
The state of the public mind in respect to the re-
ported fall of SevastopOl IL rather curious. Every
man you meet IL morally convinced that the report
is true and get anxious fer QtciGf sategeRce to an
Moriee him 10 bliece tat he has already made has
mad TO beeve. The toleraby numerous variations OF
the story, reaching us from so many different quar-
,ers appear to be all tTaceable TO one source-the
French steamer which received the intelligence from
another steamer that passed it ut the mouth of the
Bosphorus and touched at Narna to impart the good
news. But this source is sufficiently respectable and
trustworthy and the news Is in iiseli more than prob
If
which we know with certainty to be true. The
total number Of Russian troops i'll the Crimea has
been estimated, ON plausible grounds, not to ex-
coed $4,000 men, Lord Raglan estimates the
number collected 10 defend the nights OF the
Alma at from $4,000 to $4,000 men. This force,
with all its advantages of strong position ana nu
meTOus artillery, was completely routed by charge
of fixed bayonets. The beaten soldiers had no place
10 fall back upon but Sevastopol; and with the ex-
ception of the northern fort all the deienses OF that
place appear 10 have been constructed exclusively
with view TO repel any attack from seward Alter
the rout of the Alma therefore there Is reason TO be-
ieye that the impossible task which devolved upon
Prince Menchik oil was to defend scarcely tenaole p0-
sition with cowed and demorazed by arecent de-
feat THERE'S therefore no mprobabity III the report
that the stronghold which rdculousy exaggerated re-
ports of ts strt Hgth had led to believe could only
be taken by a regular siege after the lapse OF many
weeks has fallen before the impeuous assault of an
army flushed with victory IN one, two or three days.
The of the fall of Sevastopo even supposng it
should ultimately prove to have been premature will
be found 10 have been only All anticipation of
event certain Immediately to happen. The uDopposed
landing of the tilted troops in the Crimea-the brit
liant victory of the Alma-are merely oscillations of
greater achievements TO follow the speedy surrender
of Sevastopo and with It the termination of Russian
mastery in the Taurian Peninsula.
NEW ELEMENT IN THE NEGOTIATIONS.
Its stated, on the authority ofthe German Journal
of Frankfort, that the English Cabinet has brought
forward an overture to revise the protocol of London