New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-11

against the Russians, the securing the new
establishments against en6lading and rear FIRE,
the connecting il with the trenches in the rear,
completed under close and heavy fire from
front and flank and partially even from the rear,
does great credit to the bravery and skill of the
French engineers and sappers engaged in this
work. As we have said before, the Flagstaff
bastion can be carried any time the French
choose 10 assault IT, Even the lowered tone of
the Russian account admits as much, and seems
to prepare the public for such an event; but
whether the loss inevitable in such an assault
will be outweighed by the advantages it will
secure, is very doubtful. At any rate the Flag
staff, though connected with the main rampant,
may be considered, from the commanding ground
in the rear and from its own projecting position,
as mere outwork the taking Of which will adj
NIT of the main wall being attacked on this par
ticular point. A redoubt situated little west
ward OF the Flagstaff front ofthe retired curtain
connecting the latter with the Central baston
no 8 of the Russians, the Flagstaff is their No,
4, the RedGn their No. 5, Malakotf their No. g.,
is still in the hands of the Russians, as Cor
chakof's report up to the sixth ofMay distinctly
asserts.
OF the operations on the allied right attack
against the Redan, MalakOf aud their respective
outwoIks-we have still less definite accounts,
as the British spaper-correspondents pro-
fess to abstain from details on military grounds.
That the trenches are pretty close to the Rus
sian works, is evident from the great loss the
tba
opening Of the active siege Out of Sd officers
81 are killed or invalided or have died by sick
ness, and most of them were lost in the trenches.
New batteries are being constructed, aud 1t was
expected that the fire might be opened again
about the end of May, from positions far nearer
and consequently far more dangerous to the
Russians than the last time. Yet, until the
Mamelon is taken and fortified by the Allies aud
the Russians expelled from Mount Sapun, moth
ing decisive can be undertaken against the main
rampant on th.t side.
The inner defenses of SevastOpOl are stated
by the Russians to have been brought to high
degree of efficiency Not only are the different
bastiOns of the main rampant provided with
coupures or second lines of defense to the rear,
go that in case the enemy gets hold OF one of
them, he still finds himself cut off from the town
and even from the adjoining portions of the
main rampant, but general and continuous
second line is completed, running in the suburb
of Karabelnaya (east fthe Inner Harbor), about
$50 to 300 yards behind the main rampant and
parallel to it, while in the place itself it sepa-
rates the close-built inner town from the stray
buildings descending toward the main ramparts,
and all but battered down by the French fire.
Finally, thelarge, solid free-stone buildings of the
inner town and of the dOckyard and other naval
establishments of Karabelnaya, which are said
to be quite uninjured by the bombardment, have
been connected by labyrinth of masonry bar
ricades forming as many batteries, while the
houses themselves have been circulated for
musketry, and where practicable for artillery
too Thus a second Saragossa has been pre-
pared, but upon scientific principles, and with
all the advantages offered by accomplished en-
gineering skill; and if this last stronghold
should ever be attacked by the Allies it will no
doubt be defended with the same bravery as
Saragossa was, but with infinitely more system
and ability. What under these circumstances
an assault must lead to need not be stated.
Meantime the return OF warm and wet weather
has revived the forms of sickness peculiar to
Spring and Summer in that climate. Cholera
aud ague have resppeared in the allied camp-as
yet with no great violence, but severe enough to
serve as warning Of what is in store for the
army. The miasms from the mass Of decompO
sing animal matter buried only few inches be-
low the ground all over the Chersonese has be-
gun to make itself observable. The CORE
spondent OF The London Times gives descrip-
ton of some portions of the camp situated
among the graves, and of the exhalatons rising
when the sun shines upon them, which is
calculated to excite the worst fears for the
health of the army as soon as the hot weather
shall have once fairly set in. Everybody knows
the terrible effect produced upon health in hot
climates by the presence of decayi0g animal
matter. Where the mass of this is so enormous,
where the living are SO closely packed together
on the graves of the dead as on the ChersOnese,
that effect must be awful Besides, the graves
are extremely shallow, the bodies hardly COW
cred over with few inches of earth. OF disin-
fectaIts, too, there is scaut supply-nOt
enough, indeed, to be of the smallest percepti-
bic use in so enormous burying ground.
How the Allies can expect to carry
ON the siege under such circumstances it is
impossible to imagine. And it may well be
doubted whether the preservation of their
works during the approaching campaign in the
field can be worth the heavy destruction of life
which il muet occasion