EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 294, 25 August 1855, Page 3

EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOIi. We extract the following account of the progress of the siege from the Sydney papers : London, May 8. We have, thanks to the telegraph communication between Balaklava and Varna, and thence to London, news now within a few hours. On the 2nd and up to the 6thinst., the allies gained ssveral important points before Sebastopol, and are within a very short distance of its outworks. Still it may be prudent to try to destroy the place rather than to enter it, for the Russians would probably lay some mine and blow up 4,000 or 5,000 of our fnen. Annexed are all the details received since the 4th iust. : The Moniteur of Saturday contains the three following telegraphic despatches: — ■" The Minister of War has received the following telegraphic despatches from General Oanrobert; — ftefore Sebastopol, May 2. We had a successful affair last night. The enemy had strongly connected his works, and with lodgments in front of the central Bastion, was a work of counter-approach, with a double enciente, and very solid. We stormed it, and maintained ourselves there under a very heavy fire, and have definitely established ourselves there. We took from the enemy eight small portable mortars, which were inside. Exact returns of our loss are not made up, but they are below what I feared. The enemy suffered considerably. The intrepidity of the troops was admirable. May 3. Yesterday, at four p.m., the enemy made a sortie to attempt to retake the work of counterapproach which we had taken from him on the preceding night. The troops of the Garde attacked the Russians at the point of the bayonet, routed them, and drove them back into the town. The enemy's artillery protected the departure and retreat of the sortie by a very violent cannonade, to which our batteries replied well." May 4. On the night of Wednesday last, May 2,- the French, under General Pellisier, having taken up a position before the Quarantine Bastion, advanced briskly upon the Bastion No. 4, attacked the advanced works which the Russians had raised to protect that Bastion, and carried them at the'point of the bayonet. In this attack the French took twelve mortars from the enemy. The engineers immediately occupied the ground, and began to carry on a flying sap. At daybreak they had succeeded in establishing themselves in the conquered works. ' Last night (Thursday) the Russians made a general sortie, with the object of retaking the lost ground. After a sanguinary combat, they were driven back into the place. Our losses have been great, but bear no proportion to those of the enemy, nor to the advantages gained. This (Friday) morning, the Russians have neither a man nor a gun outside the regular enclosure of the place. Marseilles, Saturday Morning. The Sinai, which left Constantinople on the 26th, has arrived. Her despatches have been forwarded by the train at nine o'clock this morningl. According to advices from Balaklava of the night of the 23rd, a reconnaissance was to be made the day after, in force, in order to ascertain the amount of Russian forces on the Belbek and at Baidar, and also to occupy a position near Tchorgun. According to advices from ICamipsch, of the 24th, the bombardment was suspended on the night of the 21st. Six of the allied ships of war had taken part in the attack, by throwing shells into the town. The Mogador had suffered some damage from the enemy's fire. From the Crimea the news states that Omar Pacha brought, back from Balaklava 10 Turkish battalions to Eupatoriu, on information that the Russians were concentrating in a threatening position. Two more French divisions were expected at Sebastopol. Several Russian convoys of munition had been seen entering the place on the north

Lord and Lady Stratford de Redcliffe and General Vivian had left Constantinople for the Crimea. At Broussa, the earthquakes continued. Foreign consuls supplied the poorer classes with food. News had been received at Tunis, stating that the illness of the Bey had become more serious. Numerous ships have arrived from the Danube, laden with corn. Austrians were echeloning their forces on the hanks of the Pnitl); 35,000 men remained at Bucharest, with 6,000 Turks. The Jcurnal dcs Debals publishes the following felegraphic despatches :— " Advices from Constantinople, of the 23rd. via Trieste, announce the arrival'on that day, at the Golden Horn, of the Constituzione, with the personnel and materiel ot the sanitary department of the Sardinian expeditionary force and the officers of the Engineering Staff. " A few cases cholera had occurred at Maslak. "Erzeroum was being fortified. Colonel Walpole arrived on the 12th, at Damascus, with Ottoman recruits, destined to serve under English officers. A number of volunteers had offered to serve under him. " It is said that the mission of M. M. Murray and Bounce to the Persian Government is a failure. There was a movement of troops on the Persian frontier. B;ijazid is reported to be in the hands of the Russians." London, 9ih May. There is no later fighting news from Sebastopol ; but General Oanrobert writes to the Emperor of the French that the English army is in the highest state of efficiency; a compliment, but no doubt true. The Russians have published an official account of the battle of Inkermaiin, in which they give the highest credit to the English, and describe their own failure to the want of tact of one of their generals in effecting a diversion. EE¥tTI,SE OF THE BTTSSIANS. War Department, May 11, 1855. Lord Panmure presents his compliments to the Times, and has great pleasure in transmitting the enclosed intelligence, which has this day reached him from Lord Raglan. " Sebastopol, May 10, 1855. " The Russians made a sortie with a large body of troops on our right advanced trench this morning, but were driven back immediately. " A second and similar attempt shared the same fate. '* Nothing could he better than the conduct of the troops who took part in the affair. " The loss of the enemy was serious."