THE VICTORY OF ALMA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume X, Issue 980, 23 December 1854, Page 3

THE VICTORY OF ALMA.

The allies attacked the Russian forces on the 20th September, on the heights of the Alma and obtained a great victory, which is thus described in the leading article of the Times of October 2nd — " The great and glorious events which were confidently anticipated when last we addressed our readers have not only justified but surpassed our expectations ; and the day which had been set apart by the Crown and the nation for a solemn thanksgiving for the abundant na'.ural gifts of Providence has caught .from the distant theatre^of war the first shout of victory. Despatches of the 23rd of September were received on Saturday by the Government from her Majesty's ambassador at Constantinople by wayjaf Belgrade, i^inc: that the intrenched camp of the Russians, containing 50,000 men, with a numerous artillery and cavalry, on tbe heights of the Alma, was attacked by the allied troops at I p.m., on the 20th of September, and carried Ay the bayonet in an hour and' a half, with a loss of about 1400 British troops killed and wounded, and an equal loss on the side of the French, the Russian army being driven into full retreat. In the course of yesterday a further despatch was received by the Duke of Newcastle direct from Lord Raglan himself, confirming this intellij gence, and stating that the heights above the Alma had been carried after a desperate battle , by the valour of the allied forces. Lord Raglan estimates the main body of the enemy at from 45,000 to 50,000 infantry, and adds that two Russian general officers and two guns were taken on this occasion by the English army. Thus far, then, our intelligence is positive, and the Battle of the Alma may be rankld with the most brilliant achievements of the two valiant armies, which met and fought for the first time side by side on that field of battle. But this exploit, gallant and momentous as it undoubtedly is, seems to be already surpassed by the magnitude of its immediate consequences. Telegraphic despatches of a less certain and official character, but nevertheless of high probability, have been received by way of Varna and Bucharest, stating that the fortress of Sebastopol itself surrendered on the 25th ult.< to the allied armies, together with | all the vast stores of war it contained, the I fleet, and t'je Russian garrison. It will be scarcely possible to receive the official confirmation of this intelligence through Constantinople and Belgrade for a day or two, but it purports to have been conveyed to Varna by a steamer which met at sea the steamer conveying the news to Constantinople" ; and. from the rapidity with which commumcatiojis of less impqrt^Rce~hay& tvaica^^j^H^^f^'ae^ - frsia > the seat of war, it is by no me^'ris impossible that such an event as this could be known in the time. The public mubt form their own opinion for the present as to the credibility of this statement, but we are enabled to say that it is regarded with great confidence in the highest quarters, and when the same despatch reached the Emperor of the French at the camp at Ilalfaut he instantly announced to the troops that Sebastopol had fallen. We have more than once expressed an opinion that, if the Russians lisked and lost a pitched battle in the Crimea while the allied armies were marching against Sebastopol, the attack on the place itself from the land side might turn out to be an operation of secondary '"mportance. It is now known with certainty that Prince Menschikoff did fight and lose such a battle on the 20th inst., and the plan of campaign he had adopted is sufficiently clear. He chose the passage of the Alma near Burlink, as the strongest position afforded by the country on the line of march, and the Russian army was entrenched on the heights which form the left bank of that stPeam in a fortified position, which, as Lord' Raglan expressly states, was formidably de'ended by a numerous artillery of hravy calibre. On this point 50,000 men were concentrated, which must comprise by far the most important part of the Russian forces in the Crimea. The Russian General appears to have preferred an intrenched position of this nature to an action in the open plains of the Crimea on the one hand, and, on the other, he seems to have been conscious that the game was lost if he allowed his army to be enclosed in the walls of Sebastopol, or dispersed along the heights which command the town and port. He therefore staked his defence on the passage of the Alma, and even renounced the attempt to oppose the landing of the allies in his exclusive reliance on the strength of thi£.posit-ion. Yet, "after all this preparation, with a muster of tbe best troops which the Russian empire could furnish on this point, and all the advantages which nature and art could supply to this position, the boasted soldiers of the North stood for about an hour and a half before the fury of the French infantry and the deadly energy of the British bayonet, and then were driven from the field. The forces of the two armies must have been about equal. Every local advantage was on the side of the Russians, yet the attack, which begun at one o'clock, ended an hour and a-half before sunset, and the military strength and pride of Russia received a blow more severe than the loss of those hardly contested fields on which she disputed 'the fortune of Napoleon."