Orders were given the night before to have steam up early and to serve the dinners for the crews at eleven o'clock, and it was fondly hoped the men Avould have been engaged soon after noon. Thej" were destined, however, to be again spectators of the struggle. In the recent short cruise to and from Eupatoria the fleet could not discern any traces of the Eussians north of the Alma. They could not make out a convoy, or even a single tent, all along the coast and the adjacent country, which can be swept by the telescope for several miles inland. It woidd seem, indeed, as if the Eussians did not use the Perekop road to any great extent, or that their convoys made a detour towards the east in order to avoid meeting with any flying column from Eupatoria.
Possibly tlicy send most of their supplies down bj' the Tchongar road, and there is every reason to believe that the Eussians have established another route between Perekop and Tchongar for the purpose of advance or retreat. I have heard that some time back Captain Sherard Osborne with one man passed up the Straits of Genitchi in a punt, and pushed along through the rushes in the pestilential salt marshes up to Tchongar-bridge, which he observed minutely, and that he saw enough to satisfj^ him that an immense proportion of the Russian supplies were conveyed into the Crimea by that route. Perekop is quite safe from the sea side. The " Spitfire," survejdng vessel, Captain Spratt, made several attempts, but was not able to get very near the land.
It is believed that, to make assurance doubly sure, the enemy take the road south between the Staroe and Crasnoe lakes, instead of going between the seacoast and Staroe. The route becomes, however, a matter of indiflerence if we are not to make any offensive movement, and, although some people hug the hope that the Czar will not be able to feed his army diu-ing the winter, the quantity of stores piled up on the north side is, to my mind, a guarantee for their disappointment. There is no sign of any present intention on the part of the enemy to abandon their position on the north side. The celerity with which they throw up and finish the most formidable-looking redoubts on the land and sea sides is astonishing.
They are admirable diggers, and I believe it was ]\Iarshal Turenne who used to say that as many battles were won by the spade as by the musket. The fii'e across the roads increases in frequency and severity every day, and we have to record the loss of two men in the Buffs and a few trifling casualties from the enemy's guns, but the mortars of the I'rench must have caused serious injury and impediment to the Russian workmen, and have greatly damaged their magazines. The Anglo-French Commission sits daily, and is busily employed apportioning the spoils of war found in the town. The number of guns of all kinds captmed exceeds 4000; immense quantities of small arms have been caiTled ofi' by the soldiers and sold, but there are still piles of them remaining.
As the Russians lost 18,000 men between the morning of the 5th and the evening of the 8th of September, it is likelj^ that we captured at least 18,000 stand of arms, not to mention tlie muskets in store, «tc., which belonged to the men placed hors de combat during the pi-eccdinf!; part of the sie^e. The commission acts on the principle of dividing' the spoils in proportion to the number of men actually composing the strength of the respective annies in the camps before Sebastopol. Their labours were interrupted the other day by a Russian shell, which scarcely gave them time to adjudicate on the proprietorship of its splinters, for it burst as soon as it had fallen through the roof of the building in which they were sitting.
If the Russians are spiteful, they will open iire some fine day on the town and make it too hot to hold us; indeed, the Buffs are to be withdrawn for the present, and the strength of the French in the towri has been diminished, as a useless display of force only attracted the fire of the enemy's batteries. Brigadier-General Windham, our Governor of Sebastopol, is assisted by an active little staff. He has lost the services of Captain Rowlands, 41st Regiment, one of the TownMajors of Sebastopol, who is appointed Brigade-Major to the 2nd Brigade of the Second Division. Captain Lewes, of the 3rd Regiment, has succeeded as Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier-General Windham, in lieu of that gallant young officer. Lieutenant Swire, of the 17th Regiment, who was very severely wounded on the morning of the 8th.