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I Qqtober 6 , 1 B 55 , 1 THE LEAPEK . 953 :
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I assaults , has crossed ove * to' the north « de of the town I only leaving ? blood-stained ruins' to the enemy * h garrison of ffcfiastopol hasdone all that man could do . Z "I accept past and present events as the impenetrate decrees of Providence , which has given a year of sa < trials to Russia * But Russia has supported still greate trials , and . the Lord , in His great mercy , has alway given-her ffig invisible support . Let us , therefore , no ? also place our trust in Him . He -will defend orthodos Russia , * who has taken up arms for a just cause—for th < cause of Christianity I repeat , putting nrj trust in the help and grace of the Almighty , the word ! of the Emperor Alexander I ., ' Where right is , there I God also T " Gortsebakoff , likewise , has been comforting th < troops as besfr he may . In a general order addressee to the a « ny , he reviews the history of the siege which he says appears unexampled in military annals when it is considered that the town was " hastily fortified in presence of the enemy , " anc that " the means of attack exceeded everything thai hitherto could , have been foreseen in calculation ! I of this nature . " He thus speaks of the result , and of the operations which his army is about to undertake : — ' " Taking advantage of the superiority of their "fire ai If short range , the enemy , after the concentrated action oJ their artillery for thirty days—which cost our garrison from 500 to 1000 men per day—commenced that infer ' nal bombardment ( bombardement d ' enfer ) from' their in-{ numerable engines of war , and of a calibre hitherto \ unknown , which destroyed our defences , which had been 1 . repaired at night with great labour and at great loss , 1 under the incessant fire of the enemy- —the principal § work , the-Kormloff Redoubt , on the Malafchoff Hill ( th « £ key of Sebastopol , as a point dominating the whole I town ) , having experienced-considerable and irreparable I damage . To continue , under these circumstances , the defence of the south side would have been to expose our troops daily to a useless butchery , and their preservation is to-day , more than ever , necessary to the Emperor of r , Russia . I " For these reasons , with sorrow in my heart , but I with a full conviction , I-resolved to evacuate Sebastopol , and take over the troops to the north side by the bridge constructed beforehand over the bay and by boats . .... i " Valiant comrades , it is painful , it is hard , to leave I Sebastopol in- the enemy ' s hands . But remember the sacrifice we made upon the altar of our country in 1812 . Moscow was surely as valuable as Sebastopol—we abandoned it after the immortal battle of Borodino . The defence of Sebastopol during three hundred and forty-5 nine days is superior to Borodino , and when the enemy I entered Moscow in that great year of 1812 , they only found heaps of stones and ashes . Likewise , it is not 1 Sebastopol which we have left to them , but the burning I ruins of the town , which we ourselves set fire to , having maintained the honour of the defence in such a manner that our great-grandchildren may recal the remembrance thereof with pride to all posterity . ft " Sebastopol kept us chained to its walls ; with its fall , tj we acquire freedom of movement , and a new war coin-I mences , a war in the open field , that most congenial to , the Russian soldier . Let us prove to the Emperor , let us prove to Russia , that we are still imbued with the j spirit' which animated our ancestors in our memorable 1 and patriotic struggle . Wherever the enemy may show himself , We will present our breasts to him , and defend ¦ ¦! our native land as wo defended it in 1812 . " It will be seen from these quotations how deeply $ the Around which the Russians have affected to de-• i predate rankles in their hearts . I Accounts from Constantinople of the 24 th of Sep-I tembcr state that 13 , 000 men of the Anglo-Turkish I contingent had loft for Varna . Five thousand French I troops are said to bo on their road to the Crimea . I Almost all the forts in South Sebastopol have been 3 found cnpablo of repair without any considerable \ expense . The war in Asia halts . The Russians are doing nothing against Kars or Erzeroum , and the season is fast approaching , if indeed it has not now begun , when snowdrifts will wrap tlio plateaux , and put a ! j stop to active operations . A retreat of tho Russians I is therefore expected . There has been a rumour that ¦ p Omar Pacha has boon obliged to return , owing , I literally , to tho captain of his vessel not being able to flnd Uatoum ; but other accounts state that the troops of the great Ottoman General are expected shortly to relievo Kars , and that he is concentrating fi 0 , 000 men near Chefkcti , on tho frontier of Asia , a fort taken from tho Russians at tho commencement of tho war . If , thoreforo , tho week ' s war news lies undor a shadow of doubt , it is at tho same timo illuminated with many hopeful signs . INHIOItS HKHANTOroi .,. A letter published in tho Mthnaptioro of Marseilles gives tho following vivid account of tho appearance- of tho city of Hobastopol nflor it hud boon entered by tho Allies : — " I entered Scbastopol through an enormous breach nmdo in the Central Buation . A largo fortified wall I
; . i , protects all this side of ' the towtf $ - within it lies a e suburb composed of small houses , which were no doubt occupied by various small tradesmen . This suburb e gradually descends towards the vrater ; four ' streets con-3 verge to a sort of platform ; connected with a little r- bridge , which enabled the inhabitants to cross- a street s below when violent rains transformed it-into a torrent f In this small space I counted sixty-eight shells that had s - not burst , and balls . We then proceeded to that street e and boulevard which bear the name of Catherine ; it is 7 the fashionable quarter of the town ; all the houses have * but one story , are very neat , and are surrounded with » - gardens . There is not one that has not received at least a ball ; they are completely gutted ; all the furniture , 3 such as mahogany bedsteads , chests of drawers , writingl desks , &c , was lying about the street . I remarked a , considerable number of pianos , many prints ( most of r them rather licentious ) , and , what is very extraordinary , 5 portraits of the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress [ Eugenie . The whole of this quarter rises in an amphi-; theatre just opposite Fort Constantrae ; the theatre is 5 untouched ; it is a pretty white building ; when I passed [ . by the scenes were lying outside against the wall . The church called St . Catherine ' s , & Doric temple , with a gilt pediment , has also suffered very little . In this quarter - not a soul was to be seen ; the streets were deserted , the f houses completely abandoned ; and'it made one melant choly to see these vast solitudes . The whole town is now peopled with only 2000 French soldiers , who are encamped in the streets . General Bazaine , who ha"s ( been appointed Governor of the place , occupies a pretty ! house , pierced , like the others , With three or four cannonballs . In Catherine-street is a house which was occu-[ pied as-a tavern ; the doors have been torn down , and , the soldiers have written on a- board , ' Entrez sans ' , / rapper . ' The soldiers amuse themselves with playing , at pitch and toss , and shooting at cats , which are the \ only inhabitants of the town . Most of the houses have a story under-ground , where artisans had their shops . From this quarter we went down to the quays . The nearer one gets to the port the greater is the number of barricades . The Russians evidently intended to defend Sebastopol street by street , for at the top of every street is a wall of large stones , two metres in height , behind which small pieces of artillery were placed . On the quays , which are wide and planted with trees , it was more difficult to enjoy one ' walk , as the Russians still occupy Fort Constantino opposite , and every three minutes they threw either a shell or a ball at the people who were walking about ; an Englishman was kilted in that way jten steps off from where I was standing . From this quay , and as far as the docks , we may distinguish the tops of the Russian , fleet rising above the water ; it has all been burnt and sunk , with the exception of a small steamer on her beam-ends at the corner of the military port . The streets are actually covered with projectiles of every description . The docks have suffered considerably from our fire ; skirting them was a quarter of the town set apart most likely for workmen and invalids ; it is now a shapeless mass of ruins . Nothing in tho town has been destroyed by us ; our artillery has only ruined what was indispensable ; it was the Russians , who , during their retreat , sprung an enormous number of mines , and wo are finding more daily . Even on Monday and Tuesday , the 10 th and 11 th , there were explosions every moment , and many fell victims to thoir curiosity . A Russian colonel , they tell me , was killed at the moment that he was stooping down to fire a new mine while hurriedly retreating . Since then our firemen have thrown water over all the suspected spots , and put out all the fires . Our soldiers behaved well during tho first hours of the occupation ; they did not then pillage to any very great extent , and allowed inoffensive men , women , and children to retire unmolested . Afterwards they spread over the town , and , you may bo sure , took very exact inventories of all that could bo turned to any use . Thus , I met a soldier carrying ofF an enormous mahogany bedstead for firewood . To concludo , the general aspect of Sobastopol is heartrending ; nothing but ruins , blackened walls , and gutted houses ; tho ground strewn with projectiles and broken or spoilt furniture ; but few visitors in the streets ; not a cry , not tho slightest noise denoting a living city—all is mournful and silent . " The Special Correspondent of tho Daily News gives an account of a ride which he took ronnd the battered town , and from tho paragraphs which wo append it will ho seen that , had tho Russians chosen to contest tho place street by street , they might have dealt fearful slaughter on tho Allies , and perhaps have driven them back . The writer enys : — " Entering tho town by tho Woronzoff rood , -which is being thoroughly repaired by fntlguo parties of our men , 1 passed round the eastern end of tho Strand Jtattery , and commenced ft leisurely rido through tho region of shops and private mansionB , extending from tho southern extremity of tho Admiralty Crock to the Cemetery and Fort Quarantine At tho commencement of one of tho main thoroughfares of tho town a strong barricade , forinod of heavy bloclcH of stone , and pierced with embrasures for two Binall pieces of cannon , which havo boon shoved round out of tho way , guards the entrance to the street , und commands tho summit of tho hill . As thi « spocios of street riofonco i « similar In construction everywhere throughout tho town , I may hero
. . remark that it consists of two parts ; one of which i ; slightly in advance of , and in a measure overlaps , th < other , so as to permit of a passage between without ir any way breaking the line of barrier opposed to an ! attacking force in front . In some of the broadei ; thoroughfares these barricades mount four pieces ol cannon , and , shut in as they are on either flank by the houses , form in such instances very formidable ; street batteries . Behind all of them abundant supplies of grape , canister , and round shot had been ' placed in readiness , so that , what with a short , pointblank fire from these and musketry from the houses on either side , an assailing column would have met with such a reception as few troops could have endured . Indeed , internally defended as it is now seen to be at every point from which a gun could have been worked with advantage , one ' s surprise at the abandonment of the town becomes increased the farther one penetrates . To be sure , in the long run , its defenders could have been buried amid its ruins ; but any attempt to reduce them by a piecemeal capture of- the town by troop 3 must have resulted in a loss which would have far eclipsed any the-Allied army has yet sustained . .... " Continuing my rounds past the Prince ' s Gate , I wound up the broad street which leads to that part of the town at the north-western extremity of which stands Fort Quarantine . Here the houses become much like those behind the Malakhoff , one-storied and semi-Eastern in appearance . In hardly any instance do the doors open on the street ; but into little enclosed court-yardsy entered by wooden gateways from without . But here , again , wreck , ruin , and desolation are everywhere enthroned : what the shot and shell of the besiegers'had left unfinished has been consummated by the voluntary incendiarism of the besieged- Crouched amid the ; charred relicsiof her quondam homestead , I discovered a'poor cat , who , on my endeavouring to reach hery raised a feeble and melancholy cry—eloquent of starvation- — and , evidently in a far-gone stage of exhaustion , walked slowly away to die in some safer seclusion . Trifling as was the incident , it helped to deepen the sens © of ruin and loneliness induced by the surrounding scene . Beyond this point , as I approached the defending batteries on the crown of the slope which overlooks the Cemetery , and opposes the works on the French left attack , the destruction done to everything capable of suffering in * jury reached its climax : in fact , the shapeless masses of ruins which covered the whole ground could hardly be identified as having ever been human abodes ; scarcely one stone stands upon another . The ground , too , is strewn with shot and fragments of shell nearly as thickly as a London street with paving-stones ^ and honeycombed all over with the pits made by their fall . At several spots of open ground in this neighbourhood , vast heaps of hammered or chiselled stone had been collected , and are now piled up , as if in preparation for the erection of some public buildings ; but the execution of this project , if it existed , is now , I need not say , 'indefinitely postponed . '" INCIDENTS OF TUB FIGHT AT THE MALAKUOFF . A letter dated from Sebastopol on the 14 th ult ., and published in the Monileur , contains tho following : — " One of the ^ brave soldiers , in passing before the redoubt in which we were , asked us whether wo could give him something to drink . We hastened to him , and were happy in having it in our power to offer him a little brand } --. ' Gentlemen , ' said he to the officers who stood round him , ' you must also have the kindness to put it to my month , for you see my left arm is broken by tho splinter of a shell ; the bone will scarcely hold together , and I am compelled to support it w ith my right hand , ' and in fact ho was holding up his bleeding and mutilated limb with the other hand . When lie had drunk , we endeavoured to give him a few worda of comfort ) to which he replied , ' Oh ! I know the end of it ; an arm ' the lesa is but of little consequence , since wo havo tho victory . ' He then thanked us and walked on , refusing to havo any one to accompany him . This stoical simplicity wa » evinced by all tho soldiers , and ' the generals and officers sot an example of it . General Bourbaki , who waa wounded by a ball in the breant , waa seen returning towards hia tent , giving his arm to abounded soldier , and a short time after wo saw General de la Motterouge , who had been wounded in tho head by tli « explosion of tho curtain which unites the Malakhoff to tho Little Redan , arrive at the Lancaster Redoubt with his face covered with blood , accompanied Ixy a colonel and a captain of tho Iinperiul Guard , also wwundod . They were wulkhig , and , notwithstanding their severe sttftbringfi , would not allow themselves to be carried . Another fact well worthy of mention took place near tho Careoning Port . The ambulance is situate in tho doopent and moat abrupt part of the ravino , nnrrounded and commanded by enormous rocks , in tho hollow * between which Habitations for tho surgeons and ofHcor * uUuohoa to tho ambulance had been prepared . A n ]» nhaT ™ wounded soldiers might bo slowly won < le « o " •'" £ "'* steep path loading to tho ambulance * « " * ?»^ JJJJ 0 ° . their ooimndfld more severely W ,.. nctol th « n t ™™ J When , in tho night , tho flmt «| J «*« * ££ « £ * £ tho Russians blowing up tho W ( ' * J 2 iH * ««« " mo retreat , all the wounded " »> J ^ J £ " " atlplato tho halted on tho wummlt o ho , „>» £ «»» wf _ view of Wobautopol in /!« ' »«»• l OT *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1855, page 951, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2109/page/3/
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