Southern shield., 1855-05-26

v French and English troops in the Pen linsular of 0hersonesus kept a part of 1 the Russian army in check. We draw attention to these circumstances, as seenling to indicate what possibly may be attempted after the Emperor's ar riiyal in the Crimea.
 The London Times says: Although lthe decision of Austria is not yet taken l for active var, she must perceive that Ithere is more danger to herself as well las to Europe, from protracted war, |than from one vigorous and united ef-' Hort, in which she would have for her |allies the most powerful and civilized nations in the world; and, as at as noac Icertasn that Me Emperor of Me
 French as resolced to proceed tothe
 Cramea for the purpose of giving the full weight of his authority to the con-
 duct of the war, the fame and possibly the existence of her Government is staked on the success of this contest.
 From the Times, April 27.
 THE Bo8lBARDMENT OF sEBAsToPoI. WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT?
 InAttempting to trace the course and the effects of the great operations in (which the Allied forces have recently been engaged before Sebastopol, the difficulty of the task is increased by Ithe circumstance that the irregular and 1indistinct communications of the tele- graph are of much more recent date than the incidents of which we have a Hull and precise account from our own correspondent. We are informed in ldecd, that the telegraphic wire is near Fly complete between Whitehall Gar dens and Balaklava, and that Lord Panmure may at this moment be in hourly communication with Lord Rag Ian. But, if this be the case, the Government seems to have kept this mode of intercourse with the army to themselves, and we are in possession of no positive intelligence later than the 18th inst, which accompanies the last dispatches of the 18th. Hence, we are led to judge of the success or the failure of a particular operation before we clearly understand in what | it consisted or by what forces 1t was executed. and the general impression of the progress of the siege becomes perplexing and confused, because the events become known to us, out of their proper series and order. The fact is, however, that to form correct notion of this prodigious enterprise, as far as our present accounts enable us to judge of it, we must examine the particular and detailed effects of the fire of the French and English batteries more than the general result, which can only be ascertained when the whole operation is completed.
 The extreme right of the positions occupied by the besiegers in the hands of the French, and they have construc- ted extensive batteries on the heights in front of the scene of battle of h. Hermann, so as to answer the Russian batteries on the other side of the Tcher- maya, and also to reply to the fire of the Mamelon, which is at a distance of about six hundred yards. Passing from the right to the left, the next works are Gordon's and Chapman's Batteries, with the Lancaster Battery over them rising up the Victoria Redoubt, which lis almost in front of the Redan. On the 12th inst, our correspondent re- lports that the fire of these guns bao, Kept under one face of the Fedan, damaged six or seven guns in the Round Tower, and injured the other Russian batteries on the left. The latest accounts, which are of the 18th, brought by the Asmodec, state that 1 the whole of the ambuscades in front the Central Tower have now been oc- cupied by the Allies, and convert into a portion of their own lines; so that on this point there is considerable advance, for we have first silenced the Russian guns in the rear of fllis posi- ltion, and then acquired possession of Ithe approaches they were beginning to make against our centre. This advance l is the more important as the ground occupied by the Russians in front of the Mamelon and Round Tower sepa- rated the two divisions of our left at tack, and to a certain extent enfladed lboth of them. Crossing the ravine (which descends to the Careening harbor i've arrive at the scene of the principal French operations directed against the town itself, and here again the results |of the fire appear to be considerable.