New Hampshire Statesman

SEVEN DAYS LATER FROM EUROPE.

NEW Important News from the seat of War.

On Saturday the 8th of September, being a twelve month since the landing in the Crimea, and 316 days since the opening of the siege the allied batteries made a final and victorious assault on the Malakoff Tower.

The assault was preceded by a terrific bombardment, and a despatch from Gortschakoff, permitted to transpire at Berlin, says: "Our works suffered much. Precisely at noon of the 8th the whole disposable force of the besieging armies moved forward in a four-fold attack. The extreme right of the French attack was directed against the Little Redan, which they carried, but had to abandon from a fierce charge of the Russians. The second and principal assault of the French was against the Malakoff, which, after six repulses, they carried by storm, and decided the fate of the day. A third attack, made by the British against the Great Redan, completely failed,—for although they succeeded in gaining a temporary possession of the salient angle of the works, they were speedily driven back, and the British loss is numbered at 2000 killed and wounded. The fourth portion of the assault was made by the French, under Gen. Desalles, against the Central Battery, but they also failed."

The other events of the siege are embraced in the following official despatches:

CAPTURE OF THE MALAKOFF

CRIMEA, Sept. 8—11 P. M. [From Gen. Simpson.]
The allied forces attacked the defences of Sebastopol this day, at 12 o'clock. The assault on the Malakoff has been successful, and the work is in possession of the French. The attack of the English against the Redan did not succeed.

VARNA, Sept. 9. [From Gen. Pelissier.] The assault on the Malakoff was made at noon on Saturday. Its redoubts and the Redan of the Careening Bay were occupied by our brave soldiers with admirable enthusiasm, to the cry of "Vive l'Empereur." We occupied ourselves with endeavoring to secure our position, and succeeded in this object at the Malakoff. The Redan on the side of the Careening Bay could not be maintained in the face of powerful artillery, which overwhelmed the first occupants of that work, but which, however, our firm settlement in the Malakoff will speedily cause to succumb, together with the Redan, which our brave allies seized, attacking it with their habitual vigor. But here, as with our own troops on the Careening Bay, our allies were compelled to cede the works again to the powerful artillery and reserves of the enemy.

At sight of our eagles flowing on the Malakoff, Gen. Desalles made two attacks upon the Central Bastion. These, however, did not succeed, and our troops returned to their trenches.

Our losses are serious, and cannot yet be precisely indicated. They are amply compensative in the capture of the Malakoff, the consequence of which will be immense.

Six hundred and fifty soldiers and twenty-seven officers were taken prisoners in the Malakoff.

EVACUATION OF THE SOUTHERN SIDE.

[Report from Gen. Simpson.] Sebastopol is in possession of the allies. The enemy during the night and this morning evacuated the south side, exploding their magazines and setting fire to the whole of the town. All the men-of-war were burnt during the night, with the exception of three steamers, which are plying about the harbor, and the bridge communicating with the north side is broken down. Our casualties are great. During the night the Russians have sunk the remaining line-of battle ships in Sebastopol harbor.

BRANCKIERE REDOUBT, Sept. 9—3 A. M. [From Gen. Pelissier] Karabelnaia and the south of Sebastopol no longer exist. The enemy, perceiving our solid occupation of the Malakoff, decided upon evacuating the place, after having destroyed and blown up by mines nearly all the defences. Having passed the night with most of my troops, I can assure you that everything in the Karabelnaia is blown up, and from what I could see the same must be the case in our left line of attack.

A great portion of the honors are due to Generals Bosquet and MacMahon; everything is quiet on the Tchernaya, and we are vigilant there.

Sept. 9, 8 P. M. [Further from Gen. Pelissier.] The enemy has sunk his steam vessels. The work of destruction continues under the fire of our mortars, as mines are successively sprung at different points. It is my duty to defer entering the place, which has the appearance of a great furnace.

Prince Gortschakoff being closely pressed by our fire, demanded an armistice to carry off his wounded. The bridge near St. Paul has been destroyed by the enemy. Everything is going on well. We are watching the movements of the enemy on the Tchernaya.

CRIMEA, Sept. 9. [From Admiral Hamelin.] An assault upon the Malakoff Tower was made yesterday noon, and later on the Great Redan and Central Bastion. A gale from the north kept the ships at anchor. The mortar boats, to be enabled to fire, were obliged to enter Streletechka Bay. They fired 600 shells against the Quarantine Bastion and Fort Alexander. Six English mortar boats, also at anchor in Streletechka Bay, fired about the same number of shells.

Last night, violent explosions and vast conflagrations made us suppose the Russians were evacuating the town. To-day we ascertain that the Russian vessels have been sunk. The bridge was covered with troops retreating to the north side. After 8 o'clock the bridge was destroyed. Only a few steamers anchored in the port near Fort Catharine. Approached this morning the Quarantine Battery on board the Brandon, and ascertained myself that they are now evacuated. They have just blown up. Our soldiers have left their trenches, and are spreading themselves in groups over the fortifications of the town, which seems to be totally deserted.

RUSSIAN ACCOUNTS.

Accounts from St. Petersburg are received, giving the following from Gortschakoff, dated Sebastopol, Sept. 8th, noon:

The enemy received fresh reinforcements incessantly. The bombardment continues very violent.

10 o'clock P. M. The garrison of Sebastopol, after sustaining an infernal fire, were repulsed to-day. Although six assaults were made, they could not drive the enemy from the Bastion Korniloff. Our brave troops, who resisted to the last extremity, are now crossing to the northern side of Sebastopol." The enemy has found nothing in the southern part but the bloody ruins which his attack has made. The passage of the garrison from the southern to the northern side has been achieved with extraordinary success, and our only loss on that occasion is about one hundred men killed. We left in the southern part only 500 men grievously wounded.

CRIMEA, Sept. 10—11 P. M. [Subsequent from Gen. Pelissier.] I inspected to-day, Sebastopol, and its lines of defence. The mind cannot form an exact picture of our victory, the full extent of which can only be understood by an inspection of the place itself. The multiplicity of the works of defence, and the material means applied thereto, exceed by far anything hitherto seen in the history of war. The capture of the Malakoff, which compelled the enemy to fly before our eagles, already three times victorious, has placed in the hands of the allies an amount of material, and an immense establishment, the importance of which it is not possible to state exactly. To-morrow the allied troops will occupy the Karabelnaia and the town, and under their protection an Anglo-French Commissioner will be occupied with making out a return of the material abandoned to us by the enemy. The exultation of our soldiers is very great.

Sept. 12—11 P. M. The enemy has destroyed the remainder of his fleet. Nothing now remains in the harbor.

LOSSES OF THE ALLIES.

The London Post says: The English loss in the assault on the Redan was 500 to 600 killed and 1400 wounded, including 141 officers.

The Paris Moniteur says: To the morning of the 11th 4500 were wounded, including 240 officers, who had gone to the ambulances. Dead not ascertained, but probably short of 2000.

The Paris correspondent of the London Times writes that five generals were killed, besides ten superior officers. It is also affirmed that Generals MacMahon and Trochenu had died of wounds, and that Gen. Bosquet was either killed or wounded.

Gen. Pelissier is created a Marshal of France.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND

Paris was illuminated on account of the news from Sebastopol.

A grand national Te Deum was celebrated by the Emperor at the church of Notre Dame.

Queen Victoria sends an address of thanks to her army, and directs General Simpson to congratulate Marshal Pelissier on his brave victory.

Throughout France and England the rejoicing is immense.

ARMISTICE AND CAPITULATION.

Paris correspondence says: Gen. Pelissier telegraphed for instructions in case Gortschakoff should ask to capitulate, and the reply reported is that the Russians must surrender at discretion, lay down their arms, and give up all the fortified places in the Crimea, including Odessa, with all the munitions of war, and without doing any previous damage thereto. But Gortschakoff has not yet asked for terms.

From the London Times, Sept. 12

CONSEQUENCES OF THE VICTORY

The first question which presents itself to our consideration, after we have given utterance to those feelings of exultation and of gratitude which the glorious termination of the siege of Sebastopol excites at this moment throughout the empire, relates to the military consequences of this victory, and to the strategical measures best calculated to bring the campaign and the war to a speedy and triumphant termination. A tremendous blow has been struck at the military power and fame of Russia, and her naval forces in the Black Sea have been annihilated.

The position of Prince Gortschakoff's army, after the main body had effected its retreat across the harbor, was as follows: His extreme right, consisting of the corps most actively engaged in the defence of the place, rests upon the Severnaia work, or Star Fort, and holds the strongly intrenched positions on the north shore, where, no doubt, considerable preparations have been made for this emergency. His center covers the Belbek, and is protected in front by the field works thrown up along the ridge of Inkermann. His left wing consists of Liprandi's corps, occupying the ground from Mackenzie's Farm to the heights of Alma, on the Balaklava road. No attempt was made by the enemy on the Tchernaya side during the assault of the 8th, and the severe defeat of the 16th of August appears to have satisfied them not to be carried. But the result of the general assault entirely changes the strategical positions of the combatants and also the objects of the campaign.
The struggle for the possession of Sebastopol is at an end. That prize is in our hands and the spot to contend for. The mere occupation of the north side of the port would be a barren advantage for the Russians though it might hold a garrison, it cannot shelter a defeated army; and it is obvious that after the failure of the main object, all the ability and generalship of the Russians will be required to save the whole body of their forces in the Crimea from destruction.
We therefore infer that the northern forts will either be held for a time by a limited garrison, or, more probably, altogether abandoned, in the hope of saving the army. Never was an army in a more critical position.
They are confined within a peninsula which affords them no other fortified position, no sustenance for the troops, and no water beyond a certain line. The sea, covered with hostile vessels, surrounds three sides of this theater of war, and the fourth is separated from the Russian base of operations by steppes and marshes.
The allied armies already occupy strong positions at Eupatoria and Yenikale, which can be reinforced in a few hours by sea, so as to threaten the Russians in their flank and rear; and while it is impossible for the enemy to hold his ground in the south of the Crimea—for which, indeed, there is now no further object—to retreat in this season across the country is a formidable undertaking, while the loss of a battle in the open field would be absolute destruction. The Russians are in a trap, from which the Chongar road and the Isthmus of Perekop are the only means of escape, and even there their communications may possibly be intercepted.
No doubt all these contingencies have been foreseen; Prince Gortschakoff's plan of campaign has long since been made: judging, therefore, from the accustomed tactics of the Russian army, as well as from the extreme difficulty of his present position, we incline to the opinion that he will adopt the course of a general and immediate retreat.
To hold the Crimea without Sebastopol, and even after the harbor of Sebastopol itself has been transformed by conquest into the base of operations of the invading armies, would be a bootless and unprofitable task, and the danger is greatly aggravated by the fact that the whole body of the allies, with unlimited means of naval transport at their command, will shortly be at liberty to advance upon any part of the peninsula which is accessible from the coast.
These immediate consequences of their own success in the siege operations must have been considered by the allied generals, and the moment is now arrived when they may proceed to open the campaign of which the reduction of Sebastopol was the first preliminary. That field of operations of this nature have long been contemplated by the allied governments is obvious from the large cavalry force they have continued to send to the Crimea. The British army alone can bring upward of 3000 sabres and lances into the field, and the French cavalry is still more numerous and impatient of the inaction to which it has hitherto been condemned.
Hitherto the contest in the Crimea has been confined to one single object, and with the exception of the action of the 20th of September on the Alma, and the flank march to Balaklava, it has been a war without a single tactical movement. Gen. Pelissier has shown, in our humble opinion, very admirable military qualities since he assumed the command, and he has been ably supported by Gen. Simpson, but the present state of our affairs deserves to call forth abilities of a still higher and more brilliant order.
The Russian army in the Crimea is probably not superior to the forces of the allies in numbers, and it is immeasurably inferior to them in resources and supplies, as well as in those moral qualities which at once constitute and enhance the prestige of victory.
On every occasion on which they have encountered an enemy in this war—whether Turks, French, English, or Sardinians—the fortune of war has deserted the Russian eagles. For them to advance is impossible, for the whole coast is guarded by the enemy, and no Russian vessel floats on those waters.
The stronghold in which the Czars had accumulated during the last two reigns an incalculable amount of warlike stores for the subjugation of the East, has been reduced to a blood-stained ruin by the troops who were glad to escape with life from its burning walls; and the question on which the attention of Europe is now fixed is no longer the fate of Sebastopol, but how is the Russian army to escape from the Crimea, or to maintain itself there? We trust that no considerations whatever will prevent the allied Generals from giving the most vigorous and immediate effect to the great advantages they have won.
Beyond the time absolutely required for the removal of the wounded no armistice should be conceded. To give the campaign its full effect its success must now be rendered absolute and complete. The Russians are a people who will deny to the last that any advantage has been gained over them, and Prince Gortschakoff boasts in his account even of this sanguinary defeat that he was extremely successful in carrying off his army.
Fighting, as they are, in closed lists, without the means of escape, the defeated Russian army should be compelled to lay down its arms, or to fight a general action, which would crown the series of our successes by a still more decisive victory. The peninsula itself is besieged and well nigh invested by our fleets and armies, and if the command of a single road be lost the whole line of retreat, and the only line by which supplies and communications can reach the Russians, is gone.
Such we take to be the relative positions of the belligerents in the Crimea, and, with the means of action at the disposal of the French and English Generals, we have confident hopes of a glorious result.