New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-05-28
FROM SEgASTOPOL.

The mails ot the America, received mere on
Saturday evening, once more enable MS TO lay
before our readers some clear account of the
state of the war in the Crmea, though still the
contradictory and indefinite nature of the official
reports as well as of the newspaper letters rem
ders our task no easy one. II is manifest that
the failurc of Vienna was attended by greater
alertness and activity in the allied camp at Sc
yastopO and that though the bombardment may
be said to have been given up on April u, yet
the fortnight succeeding was not wholly unm-
proved. Still it is very difficult to say what adj
yantages have been gained; indeed one writer
pIs.ends that the Russian advanced works,
selenghinsk, Voynsk and Kamtschatka, as well
a. the rife trenches in front of the whole line
have been abandoned by the defense. As this
is certainly the very utmost advantage obtained
by the Allies we will for the present assume it
to be true. Some correspondents report that
the Flagstaff bastion itself had been stOrmed
By the French and Judgment Effected therein,
but this deserves no credit. 1t is a nere ignO-
rant exaegeration of the affair OF Apris2l, when
the French, by Blowing up mines, formed an adj
yanced trench in front Of that bastion.
We will then assume it TO be correct that the
Russians are thrown back upon their original
line of defense, although it is very remarkable
that no reports OF the occupation of Mount So
pun and the Mamelon by the Allies have yet
been received. But even If the redOubts on
these hills are 10 longcrin the bands of the Rus
SLAMS, nobody can dispute the great advantages
they have drawn from them. They'll have held Sapun
from Feb. -, and the Mameon Kamtschatka re-
doubt from March - 10 the end Of April, during
which time the allied trenches we're either en-
fladed or taken under close FROM FIRE by them,
while the key Of the whole postion-MalahOG-
was completely sheltered by them during the
fifteen days canrenade. After having turned
them 70 such good use. the Russians could az
ford 70 lose them.
The various night attacks By which the iliies
made themselves masters of the Russian rifle
trenches and contemporaries, need not be
described here, 10 more than the sally under
taken by the Russians to recover them. ssch
operations possess no tactical interest except for
such as know the ground from personal in
spection, being mainly decided by the intelli-
gence, the dash and tenacity Of the subaltern
officers and soldiers. In these qualities the An
qlo-French are superior to the Russians, and
consequently they have made good their footing
in some places close to the Russian works. The
distance between the cOmbatanss has been re-
duced, here and there, TO the range of hand
grenades, that is To some twenty or thirty yards
from the Russian covered way, or from forty to
sixty yards from the main rsmpart. The Rus
SLAMS say the besegers are at thirty sageres or
sixty yards from IT, This is the case especially in
front Of the Flagstaff bastion, the Middle bas-
ton and the Redan, where the ground formed dead
angles, with sollows so situated that the Rus
sian guns cannot be sufficiently depressed to
plunge their shot into them. As the Russian
artillery is anything but silenced, the ccmmuni-
cations with these hOllows and the turning them
into complete system Of trenches is matter
of great difficulty, and the thanking Ere Of the
Russians will be very sorely felt by the Allies.
Indeed, 30 long ss the allied batteries are about
four or FIVE hundred yards to the rear Of the sd-
vanced trenches, it is not to be explained how
they expect 70 hold such exposed positions
against ssllies undertaken on a sudden and with
q sufficient forces and after the acknowledged
failure of the bombsrdment it will be some
time before new and more advanced batteries
can be brought into play.
This sudden advance of the Allies to the very
foot of the Russian ramparts, different as it
looks frcm their previous sloth and INDIGESTION,
is yet quite Of piece with it. There never
was either system or steady consistency in the
conduct of this siege; and as siege is essen.
tally systematic operation in which every step