delivers his orders to all employed. Formerly, the
Artillery was only under the control of its own chief,
and received the orders from him alone. The
inconvenience from this arrangement has only now been
rectified. Our new commander-in-chief seems
determined to view all things for himself, and will take
nothing on hearsay. He was nearly taken as a spy by some
soldier ignorant of his rank not long since, as the latter
could not understand what business an officer in a very
shabby uniform, and without any attendants, had in
promenading through the most advanced and exposed
trenches, looking into the magazines, taking the
directions of the mortar-batteries, and making himself
master of the whole plan of our attack."

General Simpson's despatches continue the narrative
of the siege. On the 31st of July he writes:—"I beg
to enclose the list of casualties to the 29th inst., which,
I regret to say, are very heavy. The proximity of our
works to those of the enemy, together with the
lightness of the nights and rocky nature of the ground,
making it impossible to obtain rapid cover, materially
contributes to such a result; notwithstanding which
disadvantages our engineers continue steadily though
slowly to advance in the direction of the Great Redan.
An agreeable change has taken place the last few days
in the temperature of the weather; heavy showers of
rain have occasionally fallen. Several reconnoissances
have been made from the valley of Baidar towards
Ozenbash, Aitodar, and through the Phoros Pass
towards Aloupka, the enemy nowhere appearing in any
force; but the narrowness of the mountain roads, with
the exception of the Woronzoff, makes it unnecessary
for them to alter their concentrated position on the
heights of Mackenzie and plateau of the Belbek. The
health of the troops continues very satisfactory." The
general list of casualties for two days consists of 1
sergeant, 11 rank and file, killed; 5 officers, 2 sergeants,
106 rank and file, wounded. The officers wounded are
as follows: "July 28, 19th Foot—Lieut. A. Goren,
slightly; 44th—Capt. L. Thoroton, slightly; 46th—
Major C. F. Campbell, Assistant-Engineer, slightly;
86th—Capt. N. Steevens, slightly.  July 29, 79th—
Assistant- Surgeon E. L. Lundy, slightly." In a
despatch dated the 4th inst. General Simpson says: "On
the night of the 2nd instant, between ten and eleven
o'clock, the enemy made a sortie in considerable force
by the Woronzoff road. The strength of the enemy is
computed to be about 2,000. Their object was to
destroy a heavy iron chevaux de frieze, made across the
Woronzoff road, between our right and left attacks,
and being further supported by heavy columns in rear,
to take advantage of such circumstances as might
present themselves. They came on with loud cheers
and bugling, and were received with great gallantry by
our advanced picquet, under the command of Lieut. R.
E. Carr, of the 39th regiment, who withdrew his men,
firing at the same time upon the enemy, to the main
body, under the command of Capt. Leckie, 39th
regiment. A heavy and well-directed fire was opened
upon the enemy by the party under Captain Leckie on
the Woronzoff road, as also by the guards of the
trenches on the right of the 4th parallel, under the
command of Captain Boyle, of the 89th regiment, and
Captain Turner, of the 1st Royals, which in about ten
minutes caused the enemy to retire from an attack
which, if it had not been so well met, might have been
a serious affair. The enemy left four men killed, and
some wounded were carried away. We had only one
man slightly wounded in this affair. I have the
satisfaction of announcing the return to this army of
Captain Montague, of the Royal Engineers, from being
a prisoner of war. He expresses himself highly grateful
for the kindness with which he was treated by the
Russians during his captivity. It is with great regret
that I have to communicate that Lieut.-General Sir R.
England, G.C.B., has been compelled, upon the
recommendation of a medical board, to return to England.
Sir R. England is the last of the general officers who
left the United Kingdom in command of a division; he
has remained at his post throughout the trying heats
of Bulgaria, and the severities and hardships of the
winter's campaign in the Crimea; and great credit is
due to this officer for the constancy and untiring zeal
he has exhibited in carrying out arduous and difficult
duties on all occasions. The casualties between the
30th ult. and the 2nd inst. are 12 rank and file, killed;
1 officer, 3 sergeants, 80 rank and file, wounded,
including Lieut. W. T. E. Fosbery, 77th Foot, dangerously."
The correspondent of the Times gives a description of
the present habitations of the soldiers in camp: "The
habitations of the army are of three classes—wooden
huts, huts or hovels (dating from last winter, and partly
subterranean), and tents. Happy, at least at this season,
is the man who possesses a good wooden hut with a
plank flooring. Most of the large huts, however, are
used as store-houses, or for other general purposes. The
walls of the hovels (for such is the term that most
correctly designates them) are usually three or four feet
below ground and about as much above it, and are
surmounted by gabled roofs, without which, in some of
them, a tall man could hardly stand upright. These
singular dwellings are, as may be supposed, damp and
gloomy. They are entered by three or four steps cut in
the earth, and usually covered with stones or planks.
Here is one of which the entrance is so low that a man
of average height must bend double to get in. It is
considered rather a good hut, and its owners speak with
gratitude, almost with enthusiasm, of the excellent
shelter it afforded them in the. trying times of last winter.
It is eight or nine feet broad and about twelve in length.
At one end a sort of embrasure admits light through
the thick wall, composed of mud and shapeless masses
of stone. Below this embrasure, is the bed, barely
raised from the ground; on one side is a small niche in
the wall used as a fire-place. The walls are tapestried
with sail-cloth, horse blankets, and mantas that have
come all the way from Catalonia and Valencia with the
Spanish mules and muleteers, and are adorned with
pictures cut from illustrated periodicals, and with
numerous pipes, bien culottées—well blackened, that is
to say, by the tobacco oil that has soaked through the
porous clay. There is actually a chimney-piece—a
thick board wrenched from some packing-case, the rusty
nails still sticking in its edges—which supports a biscuit-
box, tobacco, bottles in various stages of consumption,
and other small comforts. Here is a rough tub, used
for the inmates' ablutions, until scarcity of water caused
the prohibition of such luxuries. Suspended from the
homely tapestry are a sword, a pouch-belt, waterproof
and leather leggings. A pair of tall boots are in one
corner, and hard by the door—the lightest place—is a
crazy table, with writing materials and sundries. A
shelf has been contrived, and holds a few well-thumbed
volumes. The heavy rain has flowed into the hut
through the doorway up to the edge of the bed; the
consequence is that the floor resembles a muddy road,
in which you slip about and almost stick. A trifle, this,
to Crimean campaigners. The roof does not leak, which
is more than can be said of the roofs of many huts. The
one I have described may be taken as a fair specimen
of the class of edifice. Transported to England, and
exhibited as the dwelling of an Esquimaux or American
Indian, it would doubtless excite surprise and compassion,
and people would wonder that even savages could exist
in such dens—here cheerfully tenanted by very civilised
persons. Huts and hovels are few in number compared
with the tents, which, when carefully pitched, with a
good gutter round them, make endurable habitations
for this time of year, although liable to be overthrown
by very high winds. But against the cold, when the
canvas crackles with the frost, and the icy breath of
winter enters at every chink, they afford poor protection
indeed. If we are to pass another winter before
Sebastopol—I mean to say, if the higher powers consider it
probable, or even possible that we shall do so—it is
presumable that measures will be taken for the preservation
of so costly a commodity as the British soldier. Seasoned
veterans, who have survived the bitter sufferings
of the winter of 1854-5, may be able to withstand the
less severe hardships of that of 1855-6; but what do our
rulers imagine will become of youthful recruits, in the
year's worst season, on these inclement heights, unless
provision be made for their comfort superior to any at
present existing? Rations and raiment will, doubtless,
not be deficient, but, as far as appearances yet go,
proper shelter will."