his command. The conduct of the detachment of the
77th was equally distinguished; and the firmness and
promptitude with which the attack in this part of our
works was met, were in the highest degree creditable to
that regiment. These troops were under the direction
of Major Gordon, of the Royal Engineers, who was
wounded on the occasion so severely, as for some time,
I fear, to deprive the army of the benefit of his valuable
services. The attention of the troops in our advanced
works having been by these transactions drawn to the
right, the enemy took occasion to move upon, and
succeeded in penetrating into, the left front of our right
attack, near the battery where two 10-inch mortars have
recently been placed. They advanced along the works
until they were met by a detachment of the 7th and
34th Regiments, which had been at work in the
neighbourhood, under the direction of Lieut.-Colonel Tylden,
of the Royal Engineers, who promptly made them stand
to their arms, and led them with the greatest
determination and steadiness against the enemy, who were
speedily ejected from the works, and fairly pitched over
the parapet, with but little or no firing on our part.
Lieut.-Colonel Tylden speaks in the highest terms of the
conduct of the troops on this occasion, and particularly
of that of Lieut. Marsh, Acting Adjutant of the 33rd
Regiment, whose services and activity throughout the
night were very useful to him. Captain the Hon.
Cavendish Brown, of the 7th, and Lieut. Jordan, of the
34th Regiment, were unfortunately killed in this attack,
after displaying the most distinguished gallantry; and
Lieut. M'Henry, of the former regiment, was wounded,
but I hope not very severely. Lieut.-Colonel Kelly, of
the 34th Regiment, who commanded in the trenches, is,
I regret to have to add, missing. The French, in
retiring from their advanced parallel upon their
supports, speedily rallied, and fell upon the enemy, whom
they repulsed with great loss, and followed so far up
towards the mamelon, that they were enabled to level
and destroy nearly all the 'ambuscades' or 'rifle
concealments' erected along their front. I fear, however,
that this success has not been accomplished without
considerable loss on their part, although that of the
enemy is much greater. Yesterday the whole of the
ground between the posts of the two armies was covered
with their dead, amounting to several hundreds, besides
those which they had undoubtedly carried off before
daylight. In the meanwhile, the enemy in great
numbers found their way into the advanced batteries on our
extreme left, which are not yet armed, and momentarily
got possession of them. The working parties were,
however, speedily collected and re-formed by Captain
Chapman, of the 20th Regiment, Acting Engineer, and
they at once drove the enemy out of the trenches with
the utmost gallantry. Captain Montagu, of the Royal
Engineers, who was superintending the works,
unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. I enclose
the return of casualties to the 22nd inclusive. The
wind is excessively high, but the weather is in other
respects fine."

General Canrobert, in his despatch giving an account
of this affair, points out the momentous character of the
struggle. "This operation," he says, "of the besieged
has differed completely from all those which he has
hitherto attempted against our works. In order to
insure its success, and notwithstanding the strength of
the garrison, considerable as that is, he brought up
from without, two regiments (eight battalions) of fresh
troops (those of Dnieper and Ouglitch). It was a
species of general assault against our lines of communication;
and the combination appeared uncommonly
well devised for obtaining a great result. The importance
of this failure on the part of the besieged ought to
be estimated by the greatness of the object he had in
view. The prisoners we have made state that his loss
has been enormous; and, taking into account the
masses he employed, we think that this combat,
irregular as all nocturnal combats are, and the firing at
which lasted several hours, must have cost him at least
from 1000 to 1200 men. The ground in front of our
parallels is strewed with the dead; and General Osten-
Sacken has just demanded of us an armistice, which has
been granted and fixed for to-morow, in order that the
last honours may be paid to the fallen."

The correspondent of the Times, writing on the 23rd,
gives the following particulars of this night-battle:—
"Between 11 and 12 o'clock last night columns of
Russian infantry came suddenly upon the men in our
advanced trenches, and rushed in upon them on the
right with the bayonet before we were quite prepared
to receive them. When they were first discerned, they
were close at hand, and, on being challenged, they
replied with the universal shibboleth, 'Bono Franciz.'
In another moment they were bayonetting our men,
who had barely time to snatch their arms and defend
themselves. Taken at a great disadvantage, and
pressed by superior numbers, our men met the assault
with undaunted courage, and drove the Russians out at
the point of the bayonet after a smart fire. The
Russians pursued by our shot, retired under cover of
the batteries.—The attack seems to have been general
along the line. At half-past 8 o'clock last night the
French batteries began to shell the town, while their
rockets were poured every five minutes in streams into
the place. At 10 o'clock, our sentries in advance of
Chapman's attack gave notice that the Russians were
assembling in force in front of the works. The 20th, 21st,
and the 57th Regiments were in the trenches on the
left attack, and they were, to a certain extent, prepared
for the assault of the enemy. About the same time the
French on the right of our right attack, which is
separated from the left attack by a deep ravine, were assailed
by masses of the enemy. As our allies were hardly
pressed, orders were given to advance the troops in a
portion of the trenches, consisting of a part of the Light
Division, to their support. On the left attack the
Russians, advancing with impetuosity through a weak
part of the defence, turned the third parallel, and took
it in reverse. They killed and wounded some of our
men, and had advanced to the second parallel, when our
covering party and the men in the trenches of the
batteries came down upon them and drove them over the
works after a sharp conflict. The 20th Regiment lost
2 men killed, 6 wounded badly, and 3 missing. The 57th
lost 3 killed, 4 wounded, and 18 missing. The 21st lost
3 killed, 5 wounded, and 1 missing. These are the
returns, so far as I can ascertain the truth at an early
hour this morning, but it is probable that some of the
missing men will turn up, as these regiments have not
yet come out of the trenches. On the right the attack
was more serious and sudden. Our men had been
ordered out to the support of the French from one part
of their lines, and while they were away, the Russians
came up to the flank of the works, and took them in
reverse, so that they had to fight their way back to get
to their position. The gallant old 7th Fusiliers had to
run the gauntlet of a large body of the enemy, whom
they drove back à la fourchette. One brave young fellow,
the Hon. Cavendish Browne, of the 7th, was killed.
Two or three musket-balls passed through his body. The
34th Regiment had an enormous force to contend
against, and as their brave Colonel, Kelly, was leading
them on, he was shot down, and carried off by the
enemy. His dead body was found outside the trenches
this morning. The 77th behaved most gallantly, and
the 97th proved themselves worthy of their position in
the glorious old Light Division. In the midst of the
fight, Major Gordon, of the Royal Engineers, displayed
that cool courage and presence of mind which never
forsake him. With a little switch in his hand, he encouraged
the men to defend the trenches, and, standing up
on the top of the parapet, all unarmed as he was, he
hurled down stones on the Russians. He was struck by
a ball, which passed through the lower part of his arm,
and at the same time he received a bullet through the
shoulder. We are all rejoiced that he is not dangerously
wounded, and that the army will not long be deprived
of his services. After an hour's fight the enemy were
driven back, but we have to deplore the loss of the following
officers, killed, wounded, or missing:—Colonel Kelly,
34th Regiment, killed; Lieutenant Jordan, 97th Regiment,
killed; Captain Cavendish Browne, 7th Regiment,
killed; Lieutenant Vicars, 97th Regiment, wounded;
Captain Montague, Royal Engineers, missing; and
Major Gordon, Royal Engineers, wounded."

It was afterwards discovered that Colonel Kelly,
supposed to have been killed, had been taken prisoner