On this page
-
Text (1)
-
of the October 6, Ig5gj THE LEADER, 95l
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The War. The Bombarfroent Of Riga By The...
assaults , has croswal over to the north ^ itlo town , only Wing ' blood-stained ruins to the enemy . The garrison of Sebastopol has done all that man could do . "I accept past and present events as the impenetrable decrees of Providence , which has given a year of sad trials to Russia . But Russia has supported still greater trials , and the Lord , in Ilia great mercy , has always civen her His invisible support . Let us , therefore , now also place our trust in Hire . He will defend orthodox Russia , who has taken up arms for a just cause—for the cause of Christianity . .... I repeat ; putting ray trust in the help and grace of the Almighty , the words of the Emperor Alexander I ., ' M'Acrc right is , there it God also . "
GortsehakorT , likewise , has been comforting the troops na best he may . In a general order addressed to the army , he reviews the history of the siege , which lie says appears unexampled in military annals when it is considered that the town was ?' hastily fortified in presence of the enemy , " and that " the means of attack exceeded everything that hitherto couhl have been foreseen in calculations of this nature . " He thus speaks of the result , and of the operations which liis army is about to undertake : — " Taking advantage of the superiority of their fire at short range , the enemy , after the concentrated action of their artillery for thirty days—which cost our garrison from 500 to 1000 men per clay—commenced that infernal bombardment ( bombarrftnien-t d'cn / lr ) from their
innumerable engines of -war , and of a calibre hitherto unknown , which destroyed our defences , which had been repaired at night with great labour and at great loss , under the incessant fire of tho enemy—the principal work , the Korniloff Redoubt , on the Malakhoff Hill ( the key of Sevastopol , as a point dominating the whole town ) , having experienced considerable and irreparable 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 Russia . " For these reasons , with sorrow in my heart , but with a full conviction , I resolved to evacuate Sebastopol , and take over the troops to tiif north side by the bridge constructed beforehand over the bay and by boats
" Valiant comrades , it is painful , it is hard , to leave Sebastopol in the enemy ' s hands . But remember the sacrifice we made upon the altar of our country in 1 X 1 ' 2 . Moscow was surely as valuable as Soba . stopol—we abandoned it after the immortal battle of Hurodhio . The defence of Scba-topol during three hundred and fortynine days is superior to Itorodino , and when the enemy entered Moscow in that great year of 1 H 12 , they only found henps of stones and ashes . Likewise , it is not Sebastopol which wo have l < -ft to them , t > ut the burning rnins of the town , which w « ourselves set lire to . havintr
maintained the honour of the dotenci > m such a manner that our great-grandchildren may roeal the remembrance thereof with pride to all posterity . ' Sebjistopol kept u-i iliai iui ! to its walls : with its fall , we acquire freedom of inurement , and a new war commences , a wnr in the open lield , tint most congenial t <> the Russian floldie . r . Let us prove to the Kmperor . let U ' prove to Russia , that we arc still imbued with tho Spirit which animated our ancestors in our memorable and patriotic struggle . " Wherever the enemy may show himself , we will present our breasts to him , ami defend our native land as we defended it in is 12 . "
It will be soon from these quotations how deeply the wound which the l { us « ians have allotted to depreciate rankles in their hearts . Accounts from Constantinople of the : 21 th of September state that 1 . ' 1 . 000 men of tho Anglo-Turkish contingent had left for Vurn . i . Five thousand French troops ' are said to In * on their road to the Crimea . . Almost nil the fort * in South Sebaptopol have been found capable of repair without any considerable expense . The war in Asia halls . The Russians are doing nothing against Kursor F . r / . eroum , and the season is
fast approaching , if indeed it lms not now begun , when snowdrifts will wrap tho plateaux , and put a Btop to active operation * . A retreat of tho Russians is therefore oxpoofoil . There lias been a rumour that Omar Pacha luis boon obliged to return , owing , literally , to the captain of Iiis . vessel not bcin .-C aim ' to llnd Datnum ; bnt oflicr accounts ft ate that tlio troops of tlie grout Ottoman ( iouerul are expected shortly to relievo Kuis , and that lie is concentrating 50 , 000 men near Cliof'Ucti . on tli >* frontier of Asia , a fort token from tho HusHiuns at tho ootumotu'emont of the war .
If , thorefore , the week ' s war news lies under a shadow of doubt , it is at tlio smile time illuminated with many hopeful aigns . INmihk hi ii . \> rnr < ii .. A lettor published in tin- Sriwtf / iorc of Marseille . ' Kivurt tho following vivid account of the appearance ol thu ci ( y of SobuNtopul iifici- i ( had been entered by the Alliiw : — " I eutorvd SubaMtopol through an enormous broach made in thu Central Uantiuii . A laru-o fortilU ; d wall
protects all this side of the town ; within it lies a suburb composed of small honses , which were no doubt occupied by various small tradesmen . This suburb gradually descends towards the water ; four streets converge to a sort of platform , connected with a little bridge , which enabled the inhabitants to cross a street below when violent rains transformed it into a torrent . In this small space I counted sixty-eight shells that had not burst , and balls . We then proceeded to that street and boulevard which bear , the name of Catherine ; it is 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 receive / 1 at least a ball ; they are completely gutted ; . all the furniture , such as mahogany bedsteads , chests of drawer ? , writingdesks , & c , was lying about the street . I remarked a considerable number of pianos , many prints ( most of them rather licentious ) , and , what is very extraordinary , portraits of the Kmj > eror Napoleon and the Empress Kugenie . The whole of this quarter rises in an amphitheatre just opposite Fort Constantme ; ttie theatre is untouched ; it is a pretty white building ; when I passed bv the scenes were lying outside against the wall . The church called St . Catherine ' s , a 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 hou ^ -s completely abandoned ; and it made one melancholy 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 has 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 occupied aq a tavern : the doors have been torn down , and the soldiers have written on a board , ' Entrez sans J ' t-apji' -t : 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 gTeater 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 ' s 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 killed in that way ten 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 if every description . The docks have suffered considerably fiom our lire ; skirling them was a quarter of ill-- town set apart most likely for workmen and invalid- : it is now a shapvle .-s nui .-vs of ruins . Nothing in the town has been destroyed l > y us : our artillery has I only ruined what was indispensable ; it was the Russians . ! tth'i , during their retreat , sprung an enormous number ' of min < s . and we are finding more daily . F . ven on Moil- I day and Tuc-dav , the 1 "tli and 11 th , there were explosion ^ cverv moment , and many fell victims to their curio-it v . -V Russian coloiii'l . they tell me . was killed at the moment that he was sloping down to tiro a new mini' while hurriedly retreating . Since then our firemen have thrown water over all the suspected spots , and put out all the tires . Our soldiers behaved well during the first hours <» f the occupation ; they did not then pillage to any very great extent , and allowed inoffensive men . women , and children to ret in unmolested . Afterwards they spread over tho town , and , you may be sure , took very exact inventories of all that could be turned to any usi ' . Thus , 1 met a soldier eiiTryiiig off an enormous inaliO n'any bedstead for firewood . To conclude , th «* general aspect of Sebastopol is heartrending ; nothing ! but ruins , blackened walls , and gutted houses ; the ground . strewn with projectile . * and broken or spoilt furniture ; but few visitors in the streets ; not a cry , not | the slightest noise denoting a living city—all is mourn- I ful and silent . " j The Special Correspondent of tlie Duilt ) Xi ir . < gives an ' account of a ride which lie look round the battered town ; and from the paragraphs v > luVli we append it will be seen that , had the Russians chosen to contest the place st r . cet by strict , they might luivo dealt fearful slaughter on the Allies , and perhaps have driven them back . The ' writer mivh ¦ — " Filtering the town by tho Woronzoff road , which is being thoroughly repaired by fatigue parties of our men , ' 1 passed round the ea . steru end of tins Strand Battery , and commenced a lei-urely ride through tlie region of shops and private manimous , extending from the southern extremity of tho Admiralty Crwk to the Cemetery and Fort < > uanmtin < ' At tho commencement of one of the main thoroughfares of tho town a strong barricade , formed of heavy lilocUn of stone , and pierced with embrasures fur two small pieces of cannon , which have been shoved round out < if tho way , guardu the entrance to the street , and coin mm ids tho summit of the bill . As this species of street , defence is similar in con- i r-t ruction cvorvwhoro throughout the town , I may here
remark that it consists of two parts , one of which ia slightly in advance of , and in a measure overlaps , the other , so as to permit of a passage between -without in any way breaking the line of barrier opposed to an attacking force in front . In some of the broader thoroughfares these barricades mount four pieces of 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 troops must have resulted in a loss which would have far eclipsed any the Allied armv has vet sustained
" Continuing my rounds past the Prince ' 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 ilalakhoff , one-storied and semi-Eastern in appearanc-e . In hardly any instance do the doors open on the street , but into little enclosed court-yards , entered by wooden gateways from without . But here , again , wreck , ruin , and desolation aTe everywhere enthroned : what the shot and shell of the besiegers had left unfinished has been consummated by the voluntary incendiarism of tlie besieged . Crouched amid the charred relics of her quondam homestead , I discovered a poor cat , who , on my endeavouring to reach her , raised a
feeble and melancholy cry—eloquent of starvationand , evidently iu 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 sense 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 injury 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 . a-s 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 . ' '
INC 1 T > I £ NTS Ol" THE FIGHT AT THE 5 IALAKJ 3 OFF . A letter dated from Sebastopol on the 14 th ult ., and I ublished in the Mcnihur , contains the following : — Due of the ' brave soldiers , in passing before the redoubt i : i which we were , asked us whether we could give him something to drink . We hastened to him , and were happy in having it in our power to offer him a little brandv . Gentlemen , " said he to the officers who stood round him , ' you must also have the kindness to put it to my mouth , for you seo my left arm is broken by the splinter of a shell ; the bone will scarcely hold together ,
and I am compelled to support it with my right hand , ' and in fact ho was holding up his bleeding and mutilated limb with the other hand . When he had drunk , we endeavoured to give him a few words of comfort , to which he replied . ' Oh ! I know the end of it ; an ami the less is but of little consequence , since we have the victory . ' He then thanked us and walked on , refusing to have any one to accompany him . This stoical simplicity was evinced by all the soldiers , and the generals ikiid officers set an example of it . General liourbaki , who was wounded bv a ball in the breast , was seen returning
towards his tent , giving his arm to a wounded soldier , and a . short time after \ v « saw General do la , Motterouge , who had been wounded in the head by the explosion of the curtain which unites the Malakhoff to the Little Redan , arrive at the Lancaster Redoubt with his face covered with blood , accompauied by a colonel and a captain of tho Imperial Guard , also wounded . They were walking , and , notwithstanding their severe sufferings would not allow themselves to be carried . Another fact well worths- of mention took place near tho
Careening Port . Tho ambulance is situate in the deepest and most abrupt part of tho ravine , surrounded and commanded by enormous rocks , in tho hollows Itftwecn which habitations for th «> surgeons and oilicors aUacnea to tho ambulance had boon prepared . A " \ J ! h ' ° " wounded soldiers might bo nlowly seen ''^^ View of , toep path loading to , b , ™*»^« Z X £ ^ t ,, Russians blowing „ ,. . ho work- £ v to . b t ™ twal ' < l " tlU > Wl "" - ? . ^ „ uo . " » contemplate tho
Of The October 6, Ig5gj The Leader, 95l
of the October 6 , Ig 5 gj THE LEADER , 95 l
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1855, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06101855/page/3/
-