Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-12-02
CONDITION OF THE BEsRGED AND BEsIEaI

ABRIDGED FROM THE LONDON TIMES OF sovEnBERI
The siege continues. 0mitting the doubtful repd
another great battle the 1th, we have now teegri
bulletins Of the siege up to the 9Th and 9th and it
dent that at those dates the increasing numbers and
ness Of the enemy made difference in the opera
before the walls 1t is only said that the Allies are
tfying their position the left bank Of the Tchert
might be expected seeing that the right bank is
pied by the Russians. The belligerents may thsp
easily keep their several positions for the present.
What we have to deplore is the steady drain. by
tinued sickness and now and then victory. The
peot is sufficiently serious, but there is no immd
cause for anxiety. All the letters from the armvl
the feelings of perfect confidence and co,nposure
the present state Of affairs but some little solictul
to the future.
Reinforcements are wanted even for present
Every man in the army is oyerworked. Officers d
highest rank are dying, not only by the usual casut
OF war and by exposure to cold, but by sheer hard
None OF the proper proportions are maintained TIL
sieging army is not in the proper proportion to thu
sieged the number Of artillefymen is not in proper
portion to the guns; the in camp are not in pt
proportion to those in the trenches the hours of reA
not in proportion to the hours Of work Every thi3
stretched The army is extending itself, as it web
dimensions not its own. Such violation OF the lat
strength and health is sure to revenge itself.
What the supply should be has been already fixed
time when the difficulties Of the siege and the numhf
the forces Russia could bring upon us from wthoute
certainly not oyer-estimated. We started with then
Of $4,000 as our contribution and it was distnctlt-
planned by all military authorities that an army reod
recruiting to the extent Of third Of its number "
year Now, at the last date the whole effective fopf
the British army was no more than 1900; SO tho
bring 1T up to $4,000 we should have TO send atse
45O0. But the instant the new troops breathed thsw
atmosphere slept on the ground, and exposed themss
to the fire Of the enemy they would become amenato
the same law Of waste as the army they out b.
lnforce, and there would still be necessity for re-
troops All that is wanted present is to keep uhe
force in the field to the amount Of 80, 600.
Wholly excluded from the sea, the Russians csot
support large army in the Crmea; not at least inc
present state Of its communication and supplies sud
we happily succeed in taking Sebastopol their turr
come, and they will have to besiege without evehe
power of approaching their shores. Occupyinps-
sibly our own deserted camp they viii have to draa
their supplies either from the parts Of the CrHa
or from the interior Of Russia through the Ishm,of
Perekop. We shall see how long that of hngsil
endure If it lasts long it will be new chapter i,he
history of the war.
The extraordinary character Of the difficulties atad-
ing our present operations before Sebasopo is not ey
to be fully appreciated without some insight into thaa
ture Of siege undertakings in general In the prent
age 1t is received as maxim by military engineershat
the of attack superior to the means Of ece
or, in other words that if any fortified place hovver
strong is attacked according rule by proper fors Of
men and guns, it must inevitably fall within ceain
me unless preserved by rare and singular adam
tage. Now, the Allied armies were disembarkl on
the shores of the Crmea in strength sufficient to couer
the enemy in pitched battle and they have mo- for
some weeks been besieging Sebastopo with most ow-
erfu force of artillery directed by some of the bes
gneers in the world it may be asked what circumstances
have retarded their success why the place was not
sooner taken TO this inquiry we suboin an exphna-
tory reply. X
Sebastcpol is not invested The peculiar postin Of
the town, combined with the limited strength Of the Allied
armies the place soas to
cut off its communication with the interior and the orh
side is left completely open. The consequence that
there has been limitation Of the part Of
the besieged the contrary it is rather the besng
army which has stood in this predcament for whereas
the Allied forces have been gradually diminished by the
casualties Incidental to their operations the garrison has
received repeated accessons Of strength from without
Provisions too, and munitions Of may have been inn
ported with equal facility though SO extraordinary, id
this respect were the Of Sebastopol itself that
few additions could have been required.
The Russians Sebastopol are by no means in tie DO
ition Of garrison inferior in numbers to the attacking
Force but relying upon the protection of artificial de-
fences, against which the besegers advance Thy are
to the south of the in very stro en-
trenchments, which are armed, as Lord Rglan's
despatch observes with apparently unlimited number
If heavy guns, amply provdedwth gunners and anmu-
aition" They have raised batteries against atte-
res and earthworkso against earthworks the res
turn shot for shot, and far we from esabiihing
advantage in this respect that the second dy Of
he cannonade their fire superior to own their
ront of Defence instead Of represennga confined pace
exposed to all the concentrated FIRE Of the attack ac-
ually, Lord Raglan describes IT, "more extesledA
han own, and they the besieged force, are thus in
he possession of the advantages ordinarily enopd by
he besicgers.
In point of fact there would really be little exaera-
ion in saying that of the armies in the Crimeas as
fsctually 'besieged" the other. Both have their
communications open, the Russians by land and tie AL
les by both have their strong positions the Rus
slams before Sebastopol the Allies the heights Ba-
akava and far operations have hitherto proceed
ID it would be hard say which party seemed to e the
,ssailants and which the defenders We are batering
he works of the Russians but they are also baterin
,urs and whereas have not yet regularly assaulted
heir lines they have attacked in such force as to
occasion most sangunary conflicts The enterprise, in
short is not SIEGE but campaign. We have effected
lodgment on Russian territory and encpunter
ing the armies which the Russians bring successive
against u.s. One army, representing the garrison Of Sci