Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1854-12-19

When city i taken by storm, IL military
phrase, and In accordance with tho usagss * war,
il Is "giyen up TO the soldIery." What thIs means
win be apparent from the fightful picture Of Ba-
dsjos, as IL appeared on the night sner Il had
been carried by the allies, under Wellington, April
9, 1912. Says an English officer, who participa
ted in the assault:
1t was nearly dusk, and the few hours while
slept had made a fearful change In the condition
and temper OF the soldiery. In the morning they
were obedient to their officers, and preserved the
semblance Of subordinaton; now they were in a
state of furious intoxcation. Discipline was for
gotten, and the splendid troops Of yesterday had
become fierce and sanguinary rabble, dead TO
every touch of human feeling, and filed with eve
~ demoniac passion that can brutslize the man.
The city was In terrible confusion, and on every
side horrible tokens Of military license met the
eye.
One street, as approached the castle, was al
most chokcd up with broken furniture; for the
houses had been Quilted from the cellar to the gar
ret, the partitions torn down, and even the beds
ripped up and scattered to the winds, in the hope
that gold might be found concealed. A convent
at the end Of the strada of ST. John was In flames,
and saw more than one wretched nun in the arms
Of q drunken soldier sa
Further on the confusion seemed greater Bran
DIV and wine casks were rolled out before the
stores some were full, some half drunk out, but
more STAYED In, in mere wantoness, and the liquors
running through the kennel Many a narrowing
scream salutcd the ear Of the passer-by; many q
female snpplication was heard asking in vain for
mercy. How could it be otherwise, when II is re-
membered that twenty thousand furious and licen-
tious madmen were loosed upon an immense popn-
aton, among which many of the loveliest women
upon earth might be found? All within that de-
voted city was at the disposal of an nfurated army,
over whom, for the time, control was lost aided
by an infamous collection of camp-followers, who
were, ifpossibe, more sangunary and pitilcss even
than those who had survived the storm
1t is useless to dwell upon scene from which
the heart reyolts Few females in this beautiful
town were saved that night from insult. The
noblest and the beggar--the nun, and the wife and
daughter of the artisan-youth and age, all were
involved In general ruin. None were respected,
and consequently few escaped. The madness Of
those desperate brigands was variously exhibited
some fired through doors and windows; Others at
church bells many at the wretched inhabitants,
as they fed into the streets, to escape the bayo-
nets Of the savages, who were demolishing their
property within doors; while some wretches, as II
blood had not flowed in sufficient torrents already,
shot from the windows their own companions, rs
they staggered on below. What chances had the
miserable inhabitants of escaping death, when
more than one officer persisted by the bullets and
bayonets Of the very men whom few hours be-
fore he had led to the assault
This city contained about Is 900 inhabitants, and
had twice before, within the space Of thirteen
months, been subjected to the horrors Of siege,
by the " Liberators of the Peninsula" If such a
fait awaits the inhabitants of Sebastopol, in the
event of its fall, may not pray that the attack
upon it may not succeedf