It is stated that in the course of the morning a corps
of 16,000 men under General Lüders managed to get into
Sebastopol. This seems a strange proceeding coupled
with the departure of a large body of men the day
before, unless it be, as is suggested, that the latter were
invalids, old men, or useless civilians. A Polish officer
deserted from the enemy to-day. and came over to our
camp. He gave much useful information as to the
number and disposition of the troops, and the nature of
the fortifications on the French side of the town, but he
did not seem to know much respecting that portion of
it to which we are now opposed. He declares that the
enemy believe that we must take the place, but that they
are determined to sell every stone of it dearly, and that
the Russians will fight to the last. As to the Poles in
their service, he states that they are only waiting for an
opportunity to desert, and are so much suspected of
disaffection that the authorities watch them jealously, and
do not allow a group of Polish soldiers to converse in the
streets. He further states that one of the Admirals had
committed suicide; and the reason assigned for the act
is, that he was over-ruled in his opposition to the sinking
of the men-of-war in the harbour. We hear that the
Sebastopolitans are very gay, and that parties and balls
take place every night in the forts and on board the
ships. Furnaces for heating shot were sent up from the
beach to the park to-day, and Sir John Burgoyne
ordered Captain D'Aguilar to place his guns on
the open ground, and fire with red-hot shot on
the two-decker anchored across the harbour. The
distance exceeds 3,000 yards, and is rather too far
for red-hot shot to travel with effect. However, the
furnaces are not yet available. Dr. Thompson, of the
44th, who was left with the Russian wounded at the
Alma, has returned. Many of them died, others were
sent to Odessa and delivered to the Russians. He and
his servant buried sixty men in one day. The 93rd
Highlanders are left behind for the service of the town,
and for guards on quarters, commissariat stores, the
beach duty, &c. The rest of the division has advanced
two miles to the front. The Russians are most
active to-day and at intervals fire 56lb. and 84lb. shot
at our lines. The City of London, Captain Cargill,
arrived to day from Varna with staff-horses. She brings
very bad news indeed. It appears that 78 horses of the
Enniskillen Dragoons, and upwards of 100 horses of the
Royal Dragoons, were shipped some days ago on board
the War Cloud and the Wilson Kennedy at Varna for
transport to this place. On the passage a violent gale
of wind arose, and lasted for nearly two days. The sea
ran high, and the ships laboured and strained
excessively; all the fittings and horse-boxes gave way, and
the horses got loose upon the deck. In this terrible
condition the captains of the ships seem to have been
unable to do anything to save the valuable animals
entrusted to their charge. Seventy out of the 78 horses
on board the War Cloud and 100 horses on board the
Wilson Kennedy perished. This misfortune has fallen
with peculiar severity on the Enniskillens, whose
melancholy disaster on board the Europa must be still
fresh in the memory of all."

The latest description of the position of the army is
given by the Times correspondent at Constantinople,
writing on the 12th inst., "The allies have now about
200 guns in position, and in a few days operations may
be expected to commence. Two great difficulties are
spoken of as likely to delay success or to cause it to be
more dearly purchased. It is impossible to attack the
place by regular siege operations, for the earth on every
side of Sebastopol is found to be less than a foot in
depth; in some places the solid rock is only four inches
below the surface. This quite disposes of the question
of parallels, zigzags, and all the engineering technicalities
which come under the name of regular approaches. It
only remains to batter the wall and forts at a long
range, and then to carry the place by assault. However,
little is lost by the impossibility of prosecuting a regular
siege, for there is no doubt that at this season of the
year such operations would extend over a term too long
to be ventured on with safety to the expedition. The
second difficulty consists in the fact of the ground being
divided by ravines, so that the troops marching up to
the assault will be separated, and the different bodies
unable to render assistance to each other. The English,
who are in the post of honour, at six miles' distance
from their ships, and who have to drag their artillery
and supplies from Balaklava over a rocky road, will
have the hardest task. They hold the summit of a
ridge, and at a long range can fire with some effect on
the Russian outworks; but as they descend the slope
their force is broken in two or three parts, while they
are exposed to a fire similar to that which destroyed so
many brave men at Alma. However, batteries will be
placed on the most commanding positions, and it is to
be hoped that the execution done by them will be such
as to drive the Russians from their works and
render the assault less dangerous to the attacking force.
The French and Turks, on the left, will be less
exposed, and their efforts will be probably directed to
making a breach in the wall which secures the western
side of Sebastopol. The labour of our allies has as yet
been far inferior to our own. The French rest on Cape
Chersonese, and are within three miles of their ships, in
a position where they may, indeed, suffer from the fire
of the garrison, but are protected from the attacks of
the Russian army which holds the field. It is now
ascertained that eight Russian ships have been sunk at
the entrance of the bay. They are in two lines, the
second line covering the interstices of the first. The
bay at the point where they lie is about 700 yards
across, so that the entrance is effectually barred to ships
of the line, though steamers might manage to obtain an
entrance, the more so as the masts of the sunken vessels
still indicate their position. At the head of the harbour
which runs up to the east of the town, a large line-of-
battle ship, probably the Twelve Apostles, is moored,
and can be used as a battery, but there can be no doubt
that it will be speedily destroyed by the fire of the
English guns. The enemy have established a steam
ferry between the town and the northern side of the
bay, by which they can be reinforced by the troops
marched down from the interior, or retreat when the
town is no longer tenable. The arrival of Luders is now
announced as certain, and report says that Gortschakoff
himself is present, either in Sebastopol, or with the army
which is to operate in the field. The Russians appear
to be well provided with ammunition, and if it were not
so they might easily increase their store, as their
communications are open, and no doubt supplies are being
sent down with all speed from the interior. They every
now and then fire a shot at the allies, but from the great
distance this desultory warfare has little effect. Only
two men have as yet been killed by their fire, and a few
wounded. As to the strength of the garrison, all
pretence at accurate conjecture must be vain; but the
information given by deserters, as well as the observation
of British officers, leads to the belief that the Russian
soldiers within the town and its outworks amount to
nearly 40,000 men. Besides these there are the 10,000
sailors of the fleet, all of whom have been taken out of
their ships and employed to man the batteries."

There is no intelligence from the Baltic of any
importance. On the 17th instant, the English fleet was
lying off Revel "with nothing (says a letter) to disturb
the monotony of our every day life."

A letter from Bucharest describes the present state of
that city in the occupation of the Austrians: "The
town is full of Austrians—so full that we hardly know
where to put them all. The inhabitants complain
bitterly of the burden and grievous inconvenience which
they have to endure. Even the English subjects have
to quarter some seven or eight soldiers and two or three
officers in one house. They are not content with a
billet from the police; they seek their quarters for
themselves, and force open the stables and take out the
horses of the master of the house and put in theirs. If
remonstrated with, they have in many cases drawn their
sabres upon the defenceless people. These are the
Austrians. The Turks never act thus; they are better
men, and not only more humane, but better disciplined.
The Austrians are detested here. The people pray for
the Russians back again. These men behave quite as
lords and masters, but what they want, or of what use
they are here, no one knows. Our own Wallach