SUMMARY OF THE WAR PROCEEDINGS

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 275, 20 June 1855, Page 6

SUMMARY OF THE WAR PROCEEDINGS

Our intelligence ,froin k ,aud concerning the ,Cjcimea presents little noveUy,, w and if,.upon the whole, it is jMther..more.hopefuhthau it1 .was .a month ijgo, the.victual progress; ilmt,lias .been made towards, the (I great issue exhibits soarcejy_ a percpptible,,npint>to rest upon. .jQur.troops,,re.duced to a.were , shadow, and forming..a "thin i'Qd line,".have been drawn away for,the defence of the/posts.iip the valley^ahd^the.#lory of,the ' siege tis left to our .allies. _The,accounf from which.wejir.iw this picture of- the. lelative ,posi- < tions of. the troops is not very clear,,and wecan,not supply the .particulars.necessary, to render it moce". exact;. hut it is ,certain .that the main pressure of, tlie ; s.iege has been,transferred,to the I French, while our inferior numbers, occupy the field , more in ,the .direction of,B.ilaklava. A ,better state of organisation, prevails in the camp. Supplies -have arrived, and are *still arriving,; rations are .distributed with regularity, and there, is a chance .at last that, the surviving iem-Uant-of our army. may be preserved for the final struggle whenever it comes. In the way of , .practical operations, scarcely any advance had been made. -TheTTre'ich'had sncceede'd'in con•structing subterraneous works leading close to the'fortifications; but according to a despatch fiom Prinjce .Menschikoff, dated on the 12th ult., the enemy discovered the design on the 30th January, an'd 3 ,by lhe aid of artillery, destroyed a portion of the gallery. From the same source we learn that the French attempted! the Russian countermines on the 6th ult., and, we have reason to believe, with amoie fortunate result than the,governor of Sebastqpol is disposed to admit. On the Bth the Russians o r peneda new mine upon the French woiksvdnd an incessant inteichange of artilleiy appears to have been/carried on between them. .The whole history of the siege.since our last—its character jind its _effects-^;u'e graphically deswibecl.'in a 'single" sentence of Prince Menscliilcoff's vepoit: Ui.^^t iii^ht^detachments of volunteers, harass the 'enemy'in th^ir .trenches, and,'by objjging them to beat .to -arms, .compel t'lem" to susjigi'id ' their.works." Such, indeed,' seems .to be the jTnhin1 object of'the sorties, and such the only ga.in de.riv.ed from them. If we add to 'these items the occasional episodes that relieve the agitated life of the camp—spies penetrating the works and counting the guns; deserters the narrow strip- that divides the "hostile outposts, and sometimes getting shot by the comrades they abandon ; and, the exchange of sundry ghastly civilities between the opposing armies, under the shelter of flags of truue —we shall have indicated neaily everything of interest that'has occurred. * It is .difficult to form a safe speculation on the projspects of the siege from the varying rumours that have reached us. According to some accounts, a general attack is to be loolted for shortly from the Russian-:, who have considerably strengthened their position, and •augmented their supplies. General Pelissier writes to Paris on the 12th ult. that, so far as the allies are concerned, no successful attempt could be made on >Sebastopol for a month to come. It is said that General Caniobert is losing a little of his popularity, {because he advises more cautious measures than his impatient troops appioves, and that General Bosquet is rising rapidly in their estimation, because he is in favour of the bayonet. A report, prevailed at Vienna, on the 22nd ult., that Lord Raglan had' tendered his resignation, which, although by no means improbable, requires to be authenticated. We learn by adiices from Balaklava to tbe^}2th ult,, that the siege-works were pushed forviJJ^l with activity, and that the railway was far ati- , vauced. Still more cheering accounts come from the north side of Sebastopol. Otner Pacha had returned to Balaklava on the 9th ult., where a council of war was held ; and an effee^ 1 live Turkish force, in excellent sanitary condiI tion, variously estimated at from 30,000 to I 50,000 strong, had landed at Eupatoria, and a new corps oParmfe were on the point of embarktion at Baltschik. Before the end of the present mouth it was expected that the electric telegraph would be completed from Var.ua to Sbumla.