A VOICE FROM WITHIN SEBA STOPOL."'

AT length we have a report by an eye-witness of what took place among the Russians from the first preparations for the defence of Sebastopol in the spring of 1854 till March 1855. Captain Hodasevich, the author of the " Voice," is a Pole by birth, who at nine years of age was sent by request, that is by order, to the Military Academy at St. Petersburg. In due course of lime he entered the army ; April 1854 found him in the Crimea after a long march, his battalion being designed to strengthen the forces at Sebastopol. He was present at Alma and Inkerman, and -served through the winter either in the town or in position. National hatred against the Russians, anger at the suspicions • to which he in common with all the other Poles was subjected, and disgust at the manner in which his services were passed over while mown- petent Russians were-decorated, determined him to join the Allies. He effected his purpose by a ruse in open day, accompanied by a Polish friend who had been degraded to the ranks for his political opinions. He remained at the British head-quarters, where he was employed on the staff, and furnished very useful-information. This account of his Sebastopol experiences has been drawn up on the representation of his friends, by one of whom it appears to have been translated, with notes. If the statements can be implicitly relied on, the story is a curious picture of the same kind as that which our own corre- spondents sent home from the Crimea. According to Captain Hodasevich, Menschikoff in action was guilty of the fault which was charged -to Lord Raglan out of it—apathy. He trusted too much to other people, and placed too much confidence in -boasters. Alma was lost, the Captain thinks, chiefly through the neglect of the commander of the left, Kirilikoff, in not properly occupy- ing the left flank, and by leaving a practicable ravine totally undefended (and so far as regards the ravine he is supported by De Bazancourt's narrative). Hi e ascribes to his immediate gene- ral and to several superior officers the most shameful cowardice, his own major ordering a suspiciously prompt retreat: but the Russian centre, opposed to the British, behaved well so far as he saw. The confusion and panic of the retreat, or rather rout, surpass all that -could have been imagined. The drunkenness and disorganization in Sebastopol, when the army arrived there from Alma, were something chaotic. It was only chedked by Admiral Korniloff taking upon himself authority, promptly re- storing ,korder, and with Totleben beginning the earthworks. Mensal' off's celebrated retreat to Bakshi-Serai, so far as our author's division was concerned, was a scheme of the General to get himself out of danger. The battle of Inkerman, he considers, was actually gained, but afterwards lost through the confusion consequent upon incapacity, cowardice, and, it would seem, open revolt upon the _field : the regiment of Ekatherinenburg first shot " more than half" of 'their own officers, and then fired upon our author's battalion and the regiment of Borodino. Of the capacity of the great defender of .Sebastopol, Gortschakoff, he speaks dis- paragingly : but the _Prince had kept the author's battalion labour- ing during part of the winter at some field-works, which he says were so badly planned as to be useless. He gives Liprandi the best character of all the principal generals ; but his actual know- ledge of him only extended to administration. He was attentive to the men, and active in seeing things with his own eyes : for instance, he would look into the camp-kettles to see that the men had the proper allowance, which prevented the colonels from pocketing the rations. The only officers, according to the narra- tive, who really had the combined qualities of a martial leader— activity, resolution, and knowledge of his business—were Kor* loff and Totleben. Here is the latter at work.

"When the trenches of the enemy were begun, Totleben was aim* con- stantly on the bastions, observing their progress and direction, at the:seine time changing his own plan to meet theirs to advantage.; so that the form of the batteries was sometimes altered two or three times. As an instance sof this, when Totleben remarked a salient angle of the French trenches opposite the Southern lunette of the bastion No V. he immediately threw up a,battery behind this lunette, near the- barracks, that enfiladed a part of this trench, while the Wbastwork of a part of the bastion IV. was thrown back, and six guns of large calibre placed there that bore perpendicularly on the same point, so that this angle of the trench was perfectly commanded. These • A nice from Within the Walls of Sebastopol: a Narrative of the Campaign in the-Crimea and of the Events of the Siege. By Captain B. Hosevieh, late of the Taroutine Regiment of Chasseurs in the BussianBervice. With Original BONS by the Author. Published by Murray. mete the tactics. of Totleben. Whenever he remarked the works of •the enemy advancing, he immediately made some change to meet them. Some- times this object was gained by simplychanging the position of a gun, or by altering an embrasure to bear upon the point.required. If the object could not be attained by either of these means, the whole battery was re-made. This it was that rendered difficult the prosecution of a regular siege against an unforfified place, as it enabled the engineer to erect his defences accord- ing to the attacks of the enemy. The taking of a regularly-built fortress may always be calculated with some degree of certainty by knowing the strength and means of the besieging army, as in that case nothing can be changed, but the walls can be battered down and the place taken by assault through the breach effected. When, as in this case, the defenders erect works against the attacking army, with the immense resources that the town contained, it was impossible for a regular siege to make much progress."

Of sickness and suffering from want of proper supplies we do not hear much directly. What others might call. deficiency, seems to be the normal condition of the Russian army, owing to peculation. About the corruption of the colonels and the power of interest there are the usual stories, more or less applying to all services at least as regards the neglect of merit. The invidious remarks that have been made about British soldiers falling out of the ranks on a march might be more extensively applied to the

Russians. •

The Russian losses and the effect of the Allied fire upon the town are described as greater than they were reported at the time in the English newspapers. The want of surgeons, of medical resources, and of attendance, was very great. Captain Hodasevieh gives a sad picture of the Sebastopol hospital after the battle of Alma, supplied by a surgical friend. The state of things after Inkerman he saw with his own eyes.

"On the morning of the 8th I went to the barracks on the North side of the harbour to see a comrade who had been wounded on the 5th. On reach- ing the barracks, the scene presented there was so replete with horrors that nothing will ever efface it from my memory : not only were the buildings full of miserable maimed objects, but the courtyards were crowded with dead and dying, who lay there in their agony, with their ghastly wounds un- watched and undressed, in the dirt and dust. Not only were these unfortu- nate men unattended to, but the dead were not carried away. I had to pass through two of these courts of suffering, which presented all the concentrated horrors of a field of battle within the smallest possible space, and without the excitement that enables one to support the sight of men in their agony after an action. I felt sick at heart, and could understand why a Russian soldier prefers death on the field to a wound, however slight. After passing through one room full of wounded, I found Masnikoff, with whom I had sat on the same form at school, and with whom I had entered the service.and the same regiment. He was wounded in the right shoulder by a rifle-ball, but no surgeon had ever examined his wound : there he lay, Heaven only knows on what, covered with blood that had flowed from his wound. He bbgged of me to bind him up with anything, as he could feel the balLgra- dually sinking inside his body ; he also asked for a change of linen to be sent to him, as what he had on was saturated with blood. I asked him if a doctor had been to see him. No,' said he ; a feldsher, or hospital dresser, -came and dressed the wounds of those -who were slightly wounded, but he -said it was useless to do anything for me, as there were no hopes of my re- covery : so I shall die, and I hope soon.' He asked me to make such arrange- ments as I could about his property, and to write to his father." •

Newspaper reports from St. Petersburg state that a controversy is going on among the superior officers in command at the battle of the Alma touching the author of the defeat. Kiriakoff has been induced to publish a defensive pamphlet. As above inti- -mated, he was, according to Captain Hodasevich, a main cause, tactically speaking, of the loss of the battle, by neglecting the left, and persisting in the neglect after more than hints from Mensehikoff.

"About eleven a.m. we could see the columns of the Allied army ad- vancing in the most splendid order, with colours flying, drums beating, and bands playing, as if to a review. Soon afterwards, an aide-de-camp of the Prince galloped past our battalion to the General with the information that the enemy was advancing towards the left flank. " This of course we were able to see, but doubtless Menschikoff gave this -hint to General Kiriakoff that he might make some arrangements for meet- ing the expected attack. 'The General immediately told his aide-de-camp to order his horse sad six bottles of champagne. At this time the rifle battalion crossed to the right bank of the river, and occupied the village of Bourliouk, the gardens and vineyards around it, with a thick line of sharpshooters ; while the bat- talions in the front threw out skirmishers to occupy the left bank of the river. The Prince rode up to our battalion ; when the General met him, and remarked that it would be as well to have a battery of artillery on.the left flank, between the first and second battalions of our regiment. ' Oh! -no, yourExcellency, we can stop them with our bayonets.' "

The Captain insinuates backwardness against Kiriakoff at Alma, and also at Inkerman, where he was not seen till the retreat.

" Our men began to collect near the aqueduct that crosses the end of the quarry ravine ; but even here the rifle-balls reached us, and the men began to run towards the bridge. Suddenly, as if he fell from heaven, appeared amongst us the General of our division, Kiriakoff, whom we had not seen for some days. Halt, halt!' shouted he, waving franticly his -Cossack whip : but the soldiers paid little attention to him ; so, in order to gain -proper respect from the men, he began to beat them with his whip, shouting that the officers did not attend to their duty, or the men would never have run. Some of the men, who could not bear to see this, shouted Go up there yourself ! He was not to be seen in the fight, but he makes himself felt now it's over.' -Some English soldiers, who had been made prisoners, were brought past, and I could judge by their expression of countenance that they were extremely surprised at the extraordinary conduct of our General."

The literary defects of this book are its narrow or limited esti- mate of things, its evident personal feelings, and in dealing with aneedotical facts especially a frequent literalness. These faults add to the matter-of-fact value, just as an inartistical attempt, however stiff and ungainly, preserves the mere literal truth of a view better than the artist's finished picture. We gather some of the best bits on topics of most general interest. First View from Alma Heights.—" On reaching our position on the heights, one of the most beautiful sights it was ever my lot to behold tesbefore us. The whole of the Allied fleet was lying off the salt to the .South of Eupatoria, and at night their forest of -meats were illuminated with various-coloured lanterns. Both men and officers were lost in amazement at the sight of such a large number of ships together, especially as many of them had hardly over seen the sea before. The soldiers said, tBehold, the infidel has built another holy Moscow on the waves !' comparing the masts of the ships to the church- spires of that city. The officers began to speculate that such a fleet must have brought at least eighty thousand men, and were not quite so sure of victory as they were two days before."

Noon the 20th September 1854.—" At twelve a.m. the whole of the Allied armies were in full view. ; and a more-magnificent sight man never saw than when, at the distance of about two cannon-shots from us, they began to deploy from marching columns. To the right, as we stood, went the red jackets ; and I asked our Colonel who they were, and he informed me that they were the English. Upon hearing this many of the officers and most of the men expressed their regret that the English army was going to attack the right and centre. 'It would be good fun to fight with them, as, though they may be good sailors, they must be bad soldiers ; why, they would have no chance with us on dry land!' This was an opinion expressed by many on the morning of that day • but I had received my education at the corps of cadets, and knew something of the military tactics and history of the English ; and on being asked my. opinion, I said, that we should see how they fought !' I was obliged to give an evasive answer, for, had I expressed an opinion contrary to theirs, I should have immediately fallen into disgrace, and perhaps been arrested."

The thin Red Line—"On the right flank the English were pressing on, though not a few of them were left in the river and on its banks. "They had crossed the river under a murderous fire of round shot, grape, and musketry : twice they seemed to us to waver at the bridge, but at the third attempt dashed over the bridge and through the river in a body.

" We were all astonished at the extraordinary firmness with which the red, jackets, having crossed the river, opened a heavy fire in line upon the redoubt. This was the most extraordinary thing to us, as we had never before seen troops fight in lines of two deep ; nor did we think it possible for men to be found with sufficient firmness of morale to be able to attack in this apparently weak formation our massive columns."

" Ours" at Alma.—" The commander of our battalion, Major Iliashevich, fearing to be picked off by the sharpshooters, would not mount his horse, but stood with his charger betweenlim and-the enemy. The Colonel of the regiment did-the same ; butthis was more excusable, as he was very aged and infirm, having gained his rank of Major-General by length of service. The commander of the division was also dismounted, having previously sent away all-his aides-do-camp, so thathe might not be remarked. In fact, he appeared to me to be entirely lost, and not to know where ho 'was or what to do, while shot, shell, and rifle-balls were whistling around him : at least he quite forgot his duty as General of Divi- sion. At last one of the aides-de-camp of General Kiriakoff galloped up and told him that our left flank was turned. Without a word he mounted and rode to the rear."

In the intimation as to the reliance to be placed upon the au- thor's statements, we referred to correctnpss, not to veracity. Some things the writer mentions depend altogether upon judg ment, in which he will be strongly biassed by hits national feel. ings, and these- perhaps may colour even his facts. His pictures of Russian peculation, tyranny, and the evil consequences to the army, agree with those of many other writers ; yet the state of the fallen soldiers, and various other facts as reported at the time, would throw doubts upon these accounts as generally applicable. We therefore think that many of the statements must be received with caution so fax as regards a general conclusion.