RUSSIAN SISTERS OF MERCY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 306, 6 October 1855, Page 3

RUSSIAN SISTERS OF MERCY.

The Berlin Correspondent of the "Times" gives an interesting account of tlie Russian Sisters of Mercy engaged at Sebasiopol:—" Of the Sisters of Mercy who have left St. Petersburgh for the Crimea, ninety six in all, at least sixty-three are stationed in and about Sebastopol; of the latter number at least half are in the

town itself, and at the different surgeon's stations. The letters received in the capital from them, and those around them, pourtray in very lively colours the amount of carnage which the fire of the besiegers causes the Russians. It appears that the wounded are for the most part removed to the- north side of the fortress and thence to the interior ; but from the frequent want of the means of transport, and on the other hand, from the expediency of removing those severely wounded, their numbers in the town become extremely unmanageable. The extreme distance from their sources of supply makes it impossible to convey to the troops, much less to the sick, all the necessaries they require ; the article of which there was the least deficiency was tea, so essential to tlie comfort of a Russian ; but of sugar there was a great lack, so that even the officers were obliged to be allowanced. Leeches cost a silver rouble a-piece. The descriptions of" the scenes these pious females passed through after every more important affair are fearful. That of March 24th is more particularly mentioned, on which occasion six hundred wounded were "brought in for treatment in twenty-four hours. From the number of amputations and other serious operations, in which they assisted the surgeons, they frequently bad to stand on a floor some inch or two deep in blood. The visit paid by two of the ladies, accompanied by a priest, to the iSlalakoff Tower, and their celebrating divine service there, under the fire of the enemy, partakes of the romantic. After climbing the hill, and entering the fortress, where they find the soldiers and sailors assiduously occupied in returning the incessant fire of the enemy, they reach the tower, now destroyed, where the deceased Kornileff formerly had his quarters. After passing through a casement occupied by the sailors, they attain along, deep, dark corridor, with a row of oaken columns on each side. Here mass was celebrated; the chants and other sacred songs were not omitted: all the necessary paraphernalia was at hand, having been brought thither from a church that had been destroyed, and, after a sermon from the Pope, they carried the church vessels in procession round the bastion, with tapers in their bauds, the enemy firing all the time! They subsequently go out on the ramparts of the fortress, and are shown the lunette, Kamtschatka, and the two chains of sharpshooters opposed to each other, but yet so near that as tne soldiers there siy they might eat their broth out of the same plate. According to all accounts, the bullets of our rifles are doing much more havoc than the balls of our cannon.''

Among other anecdotes the following is amusing ;—Mr. Upton, the son of that Mr. Upton who fortified Sebastopo!, is about to leave the camp for England. At the taking of Balaclava he "remained quiet, and gave himself up as a prisoner to the English. It is a purely nominal thing, as he goes about everywhere, accompanied generally by his three sweetly pretty girls, These little things, who are constantly about, dressed in ivmnd straw hats and little pink dresses, with two pet dogs, put one much more in mind of England and home than anything I have seen out here. A rather amusing anecdote is told of them. They were the other day out for a walk, when a soldier who did not know them, met them ; in astonishment at seeing three prettily dressed English looking children, he stopped and asked them who they were, when the eldest replied, with the greatest gravity, "Please, sir, we're prisoners./'— Spectator.