Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-05-26

two skirts with single hem ct the bottom of eseh
BODY with basques, closed in front with buttons Of
passementsiie. The sleeves as well as the basques,
are & imrned with narrow braids:
A'pacas are much used for neeligees dresses
Plaid poplns are also greatly in vogue
From The Lo'doa Tines Apra SOL
PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE-sEBASToPoL Is IN
PREGNABLEl ss.s
The latest dispatches from Sebastepol apprise us
that the FIRE the Russian batteries is still unsub
dued and we arrive, accordingly, at the conclusion
that the deiences of a besieged town, after having
been twice exposed during six months of hostile
approaches TO concerted cannonsdes Of the most de-
structiye character, are still in position to offer
resistance TO assault This result is so contrary TO
all received assumptions on the subject, and tends
to exercise SO great an influence upon the theory
and practice OF war, that we may be permitted to
consider It for moment in its abstract import
without reference to the immediate interest invov-
| ed IN the struggle. or course the non-investment
of the town, and the inexhaustible resources thus
opened to the garrison, considerations ola most
influential kind, but i: is clear that the deences
themselves possess some novelty Of character, and
! it is this novelty which deserves our attention
To make our observations more readily ineligible,
we promise brief and simple sketch of the lead
ing theories OF fertilization successfully adopted,
| The earliest idea of a strong place implied the
existence merely of walls too high to be escaladed,
/ and too thick to be battered down by any force
| then known. When gunpowder, however was
| discovered, and heavy ordnance invented, these
fences soon lost their strength and then IT ,urse
was had to the e,pedents of a slnken wall and
| ditch By digging q ditch, and building the wall
| as 1t were, in it, defence of masonry was still
provided, which was net visible, and therefore not
exposed to fire except on very close approach
| The loss of height, however, thus occasioned re-
| duced the armament Of the defenders to single
| line, since cannon could only be mounted on so
much of the crest Of the wall as oyertopped the
ditch, and this, consequently, was the measure Of
| the defenders force The ramparts of a fortified
town, instead of presen.ipg the lofty walls of
old city, scarcely seemed to rise above the ground
and the guns were ali on level To strengthen
| the defence, therefore, and augment the means Of
| fire at the command of the beseigers, the system
of bastions was adopted The system consisted in
throwing out from the ramPartS angular projections
| the fire from which would sweep along and there
by protect certain portions of the face OF the wall
The theory itself as as old as the Oldest scheme
offortifcation, for the sane object was sought in
those projecting towers, which may be seen at in
teTVals in the remains plans Of any cid walls
castles, but the idea was elaborated by Italian en-
| gineers so skillfully and completely that at last
forts assumed the outline Of stars, every front OF
fertilization appeared protected by the fanking FIRE
of one or mere batteries and i! seemed as if such
| places must be inpsegnable. A very simple dig
covery, however demolished sll this system If
the reader viii look of, draw upon paper, one Of
these bastons, in its form of half diamond or top
| Of lancet he will observe that position can be
easily taken by assailant, outside the walls SO
as exactly 10 catch face side Of the bastion
| at right angles For instance-if the line or fac9
OF that side is prolonged upon the paper and then
hotf ha, tod yts
longed line, it will be evident that the shots from
such battery would strike the guns Of the bsstion
| on,their sides. In aid OF this idea new mode of
firing adopted, by which shots were so fred as
Just to pitch over the parapet and along inside
tie face the bastion by successive rebounds. The
| consequence was, that in these rebounds they
struck the guns of the deferces and dismounted or
| disabled them the fire Of the bastion became ex-
! tinguished accordingly ard the beseigers having
no longer any thing but the plain front ola wall
| to deal with, brought up their own batteries as
| close as they pleased witho fear, preached the
wall, and effected an entrance into the place.
All tbs while, be it observed, the obstacle be-
| tween the besiegers and the town was still walk
perpendicular wall, to get at which, SO as 10 es-
calade it CT batter it successfully was the single
obect.and the continued superiority of the assail-
ants consisted in this that they could always secure
| an asceudancy of FIRE. If the place, indeed could
be protected by high walls with two or tLree tiers
of deiences, then this condition might be changed
| but 10 that case the walls themselves being fully
exposed must in the end yield to the stroke of can
| non shot They were therefore sunk, as we have
described, to the level Of asngle plane or floor above
| the ground an3, when the attempt to compensate
for this weakness Of defence by the bastion system
bad failed there appeared longer any escape from
the conclusion that the means Of attack were gu
perior TO the means Of defence.
Recently, however, an engineer of our own coun-
IL e
leading principle of which was to construct the
defences of such material as would bear exposure
to fire, and consequently permit such an elevation
Of the ravparts as would allow Of an accumulation
OF guns for direct firing sufficient to oveTpower
besiegjng force without recourse to the batcn SIS
ten. This engineer was Mr.. Jas. Ferguson, and all
that we need say Of his system at present H. that
it consisted in the erection Of earth works instead
OF walls OF masonry and that il throws considerable
light upon the operations now proceeding before |
SebastopoL Here by the construction Of earth !
works tier above tier, which seems the essence of
the system, the guns Of the defence can be made |
almost as numerous ct any given point rs the guns
OF the attack, and the first condition or assumption,
therefore, on which sieges used to proceed viz:
that the besiegers could always, al selected point
command a superiority Of FIRE, entirely fails
There is no wall whatever or next to none, be-
tween foe allied force and Sebastopol, but there is
ia front OF the town long line of earthworks
mounting apparently at some points as many as
three tiers Of guns, and it is against this line that
our own batteries are planted. Here aud hcra as
at the Flagstaff Battery and the Redan, the defen-
ces do assume the baston form, and here our fire
seems to have told with the greatest effect but as
the works are constructed OF eartE, and therefore
easily repaired, and as the Russians apparently
nearly as strong in artillery as are the ordinary
advantages on the side Of the besiegets have been
wanting.
IF we consider these results for q moment it will
ba seen that the theory of the Russian defense is
sufficiently simple The earthworks are well con-
struced, the Advantages derivabe from the contor-
nation of the ground have been adroitly SEIZED and
the courage shown in repairing the damage done
by our projectiles has BEEN as our correspondence
informs the public, very great But all this would
probably not have been effective except for the ex-
traordinary aids supplied by the resources Of tie
town itself. Had the supply Of guns and amnUu-
ton at the command Of the Russians not been prac-
uca'Iy unlimited, we might have obtained a SUPERB
orlty OF fire some time ago, and then, eaTthworks
It mus be remembered, do not present the obstace
OF perpendicular wall, we might have got into
the town. The advantage ofeaIthworks over ma
sonry consists in their being easily raised and as
easily repaired; but, as EARTH unlike masonry, will
only stand when raised at q certain slope they can
be surmounted b. infantry at a rush. without the
necessity Of preaching batteries whent yer the fire
Of the defence has been sufficiently subdued This
ire, however in the case Of Sebastopol has been
1T n nrO5i Jip,Ia C,-o nv, ~