The disappointment of many persons who wished to spend a qniet snng day in Sebastopol is diminished by the knowh?dije that there is a positive order against going into the town, and tluit General Pelissier has dccUired his sentries will shoot any persons wlio maj' be found in the streets in disobedience of that injnnction. Passes will be issued from the Adjutant-General's department, without which all persons will be stopped at the entrances to the works. The rain and hail quenched the fire, which the wind had previouslj' fanned to exceeding fierceness, so that there was little left for the flames to devour. Sebastopol is now a mass of white ruins, streaked and barred with black smoke. For some reason unknown the mail is delayed to-day.
Although the wind is high, it is not strong enough to prevent a good steamer putting to sea. All sorts of contradictory telegraphic despatches have been going fronr the Admiral to the Post-office at head-quarters throughout the day. It is a strange coincident that delays occurred in sending ofi' the mail after Alma and Inkermann. One order was that the mail was to be landed from the "'Argo," at Ivamiesch, and sent to the '"Argus," at Balaklava, or vice versa as to the ships, for the names are rather puzzling. CHAPTER XVIII. THE IXTEEIOR OF SEVASTOPOL. Strength of the Eussian works — The assault — Surprise at tlie result — Gracluiil.sj)veacl of the contlagration ^.iglits in the burning city — Horrible siglit in till' Sebastopol Hospital — Attitudes of tlie dying — The Great Kedan — (Jallantry of the assault — Cause of its failure — Destruction of the Kussian steamers — Anniversary of the landing in the Crimea — Ilesults of the campaign.
AVedxesday, September 12. It is delightful to abandon the old heading, " The Siege of Sebastopol," which for the last eleven months might have been stereotyped, but it is not clear what is to be put in its place, for the enemy, having abandoned the south side, seem prepared to defend the north side, and to erect there another monument of engineering skill, and to leave memorials of their dogged resolution. The wonder of all visitors to the ruins of Sebastopol is divided — tlicy are astonished at the strength of the wov]-:s, and that they were ever taken; thej^ are amazed that men could have defended them so loni^ witli such ruin around them. These feelings are apparently in opposition to each other, but a glance at the phxce would explain the appai-ent contradiction.
It is clear, in the lirst place, that the fire of our artillery was searching out eveiy nook and corner in the town, and that it would have soon become utterly impossible for the Russians to keep any body of men to defend their long line of parapet and battery without such murderous loss as would speedily annihilate an army. Their enormous bomb-proofs, large and numerous as they were, could not hold the requisite force to resist a general concerted attack made all along the line with rapidity and withoiit pi-evious warning. On the other hand, the ^strength of the works themselves is prodigious. One hears our engineers feebly saying, " They are badly traced," and that kind of thing, but it is quite evident that the Russian, who is no match for the allies in the open field, has been enabled to sustain the most tremendous bombardments ever known and a siege of eleven months, that he was rendered capable of repulsing one general assault, and that a subsequent attack upon him at four points was only successful at one, which fortunately happened to be the key of his position, and the inference is that his engineers were of consummate ability, and furnished him Vt^itli artificial strength that made him equal to our best efforts.
The details of the French attack will no doubt have been made public before this letter reaches you. It is sufficient to say that of the three or four points attacked — the Little Redan and the Malakhoff on the right, and the ]3astion Centrale and the reentering angle of the FlagstaflP Work on the left — but one was carried, and that was a closed work. The Great Redan, the Little Redan, and the line of defence on the left were not taken, although the attack was resolute and the contest obstinate and bloody for both assailants and defenders. "Whether we ought to have attacked the Great or Little Redan, or to have touched the left at all, is another question, which is ventilated by many, but which it is not for me to decide.