Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-12-07
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
gebastopol and Other Seiges

The delay before Sebastopol. and the danger
ou> position If the allies. cease To he surprising
when the in-uficiency Of thu attacking army IN
point IT numbers. i, taken into Consideration
The effective ( rec 1T the as,aIlants at the lat
authentic account, did not exceed 5000 inelu-
ding Turk. or scarcely half # what it ought ia
be. Judged by former -cee-. famous in history,
tins nJlnbcr i unparipnabiy dispraportl"nate.-
Great blame rests somewhere Tor attempting -
sa-t an undertaking nth such sun. nasnbets.-
The slightest acquaintance with military history
i, sufficient IL Show the extreme hazard 81 al
tempting a. reduce fortified position Ike @efh--
topol without an ussaiiiue fr-ee ut least three
times "a numerous a. that u! to detruarT-, ahd
without, also. Il complete investment Of tn place
Three places became celebrated ~ their selg"s
during Inc Penn-ular war. Ciuoai Rodrigo ana
Bulaioz were both bp-eiged twsrt. Ia l-lp Mas
soma captured the first place, but only after de
hay # ~ week--nud his though his force wa
nearly eighty Thousand hnd Inc garrison ni"S
four thousand. In I-l2, Wellington. at the
hcnd OF ferty thousand mem resto"k It; but 10 ID
this was driven to an assault, IN wl4cI he sniicr
I'd frightfui los.
In ISL the British general, after whiting ne,.F
Is mouth before Badaioz. attempted 10 storm
II. but repul-ed, aud French army OF re
lief coming up, was finally compelled to abandon
the investment. In the following var ne renew
cd the attempt. and not having timn 10 wnlt Tor
tie effect If famine oh the garrison. carried II
by storm. sacrificing three Thousand i've hun
dred men in the assault OF n, many a. the whole
number Il the brave defenders left t" SuIroH"rr
In liz st Sebastian. with garrison of three
thousand, held out against ten Thousand british
for month, and finally rcpui.eI an assault
Wellington. with his entire army nov hurried
up. and, after fighting battle with o"uit. finally
succeeded in reducing the place: hut not until
the conqueror- had lo-ttweHty five hundl ed mon
ana had been detained sixty three day, sixty Of
which were in open trenches
All thesc, however, were thirj-rate fertre,srs
If wonId find siege, worthy to be compared
with those # Sebastopol. we must % back to the
day. of William the Third aud Marlborough. In
1854 Mons held ont for nearly seven weeks
against the French, and Limerick for tx weeks
against William of Orange. Ia lG95 Aamir
stood a siege of almost two months. In l70-
the citadel Of Lille kept Marlborough at bay for
sxwrcks after the town itself had eaPitaated,and
cost him loss of from twelve thousand to httccn
thousand men. In the succeeding year Tourney
held out for three weeks, and the citadel for slN
weeks longer, and il would have held ont yet
more ,tubbornly if it had not been insaiiicirniy
garrisoned. All these places were regularly
invested on every side, which Sehastopol i not,
and were a-suilea hy forces often eight or ten
times IT ilrce tlei garfi-pns >oae idea of
the difficulties Of ii scige may br gathered from
the-t fats. i brave resistance v u frequently
protract the fail ~! "a fortress t3r month or two
beyond th, usual tmc. Il has been laid,
we know, tnt no place can permanently resist
which Is properly invested, and this i doubtless
true but the attacking force Mt Sebastopol was
not strong enough to make the Investment com
plete, aud is apparently too weak for an assault.
If the allies are forced To abandon the scige.
will the prospects of peace be increased We
think not. 50 serious repnlse will only put
them on their mettle. England i celebrated for
IL, ff,lt