Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-06-01
MISC NJ
The Siege.

The Siege.
SATURDAY, April l4.-Thc severe and pro-
tracted conflict on the left, which kept us
up on Cathcarts Hill last night beyond the
small hours, originated in very resolute
and angry sortie Of the Russians from the
Flagstaff batteries on the left of the French
| At first the weight Of the torrent of armed
men which swept out of the cnemy's lines
bore back the French in the advanced works.
where the covering parties are necessarily
thin, and many lost their lives by the bayo-
net; but our gallant allies contested the
ground desperately, and having received the
aid of an iuconsiderahle reserve, charged the
! Russians and drove them right into their own
lines, to which they fled with such prccipita-
tion that the French entered across the para
pet along with them, and reached their ad-
vanced guns, which they could have spiked,
had the men been provided with the necessa-
ry means of doing SO.
The enemy poured such volleys OF mus
kerry, grape, canister, and round shot on our
allies that they were obliged to return to their
own works, and, indeed, no steps had been
taken to enable them to secure their hold of
| the place. As they were retiring under
| heavy fire the enemy made another sortie in
greater strength and with more determina-
| tion and fury than before. a sanguinary
! fight took place between the works. in which
{ iuc buJOUcl, luc UluSktl htOCh, anu tuc
! let were used in pcll-mell struggle, but the
| French asserted their supremacy once more,
aud in spite Of the fierce charges Of the Rus
rians, in defiance of the stubborn resistance
! evoked by the cries and example of the enc
my. officers and by repeated cheers, forced
them battling back across their trenches once
m re, and took possession Of II little advanced
work, which they held all night, in defiance
o! the enemy's efforts to dislodge them by
vigorous. ..cannonade, TO which the allies replied
/ by ncessant shells.
In order to distract the attention Of the
enemy, and prevent too many of them crowd
ing over to the left Of the town, General Bos-
! quet sent down word to the men in the
. trenches on our right to keep up a constant
/ fusilade on the Russian works. The loss Of
our allies was ] regret to say, considerable
in this brilliant affair. The report is, that
they had six officers and 800 men horS du
combat, but | believe there were six officers
killed and nine officers wounded. the energy
and spirit with which the French fought are
beyond all praise. The remarkably fine
| quality Of the metal Of the Russian guns-in
other words their excellent iron-giyes them
great advantage by enabling them to fire IA
pdly and continuously. Besides, many Of
their troops are under cover in caves, pits,
and galleries at the back Of the batteries and
of the elevated ground on which they are
built. Notwithstanding all this, the resolu
ton, strength, indomitable perseverance, and
devotion of the allies give them the superiori
ty in every kind of contest with the enemy.
Every day fresh ruins are accumulated
around the Flagstaff Battery from the fire of
the French guns, and there can be no doubt
whatever that the enemy are exposed to very
great loss from the fragments of stones and
timber struck by our shot,
April l5-lt appears that our fleet is not
quite idle Every night one English, and
possibly one French, man-ol-war runs in and
discharges broadside INTO the South side of
the town. The Wrangler was the first, and
she is supposed to have done some mischief
with her heavy guns. The Valorous went in
SO close that the enemy caught sight of her,
and as she discharged her broadside they sent
the very first shot slap through her paddle
box, and obliged her to haul off as well as she
could.
1t was stated that the French would cx-
plode their mines this evening at six 0 clock
' At half-pas eight clock, three pillars OF
red-hame hurtled through the air with an
appalling crash from under the batteries OF
the flagstaff bastion. blowing up the parapets
and platforms of the outer works and laying
it in ruins. The fourth and principal mint
was not exploded, as it was found to be clos,
to the gallery Of "A Russian mine, and so lal
.
unable to make such lodgInent as was anti
d cipated but they rushed in and established
- themselves in the course OF the MI ght in d
> portion of the outer work and, to the best o
my belief, they are there at present. Tn
Russians, believing the explosion was tn
signal for a general assault, ran to thei
guns, and for an hour their batteries Poure
forth prodigiOus volumes of fire and smok
I against our lines from ono extremity to tn
= II
~ made were astounding. but notwithstandin
~ the length and strength Of the fire, it cause
II but little damage to the works or their de
II, tenders.
April l7.-There is a considerable dimInr
ton in the fire of the batteries on both side
this morning. The haze, which lasted a
might, has been dissipated by the sun, an
has enabled us TO see that things in an
about Sebastopol are very much as usua
The French are still in the small lodGncl
which they affected, if ono is to Judge fro
the direction Of the fire of the Russian bait
Is rios The suburb opposite the French is r,
duccd to heaps of rubbish, up to the lin
Of stately houses AMI ranges Of buildiu.
which constitute the BelgraN Id of SebaStolo
\ Polish deserter has come in, who repDr
that we missed a golden opportunity la
MonlIy. II appears that the Russians We
appr,cd Of the landing aud march of Il
a. Turks, and received Information which !
'"' them to believe we were 10 attack Liprand
,b. army. Every available man was sent cut
oil Nehdstopol ON Sunday last, and when
cir opened fire on Monday morning they had on
red 5000 men in the place This accounts
lu- their silence and far THAR sururisn For I,
+. days they were working might and main
~" get their nen back from Lprandi's = army
the town again, and they have now 2S n
men inside, The deserter says, the place
perfect hell" There are 800 Frer
sick and wounded in the hospital no |
Sllsh, The hospital is exposed to fire.
Attempted Assassination of the Empe
Napoleon.
'"' PARIS, April 29.-At half-past yesterC
/ in evening, the Emperor was proceeding IA
slow pace up the grand avenue of the Chan