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action concluded. "At half-past four they were," says their own Ger.eral, " everywhere victorious." And having thus accompanied them through the successful and glorious accomplishment of their portion of the joint enterpiise, it is time that we should revert to our own troops, who, at half-past one, were ordered to advance.
" On approaching to near the fire of the guns, which soon became extremely formidable, the two leading divisions (the Second and Light) deployed into line, and advanced to attack the front; and the supporting divisions (the Third and First) followed the movement. Hardly had this taken place, when the village of Bourliouk, immediately opposite the centre, was fired by the enemy at all points, creating a continuous blaze for 300 yards, obscuring their position, and rendering a passage through it impracticable. Two regiments of Brigadier-General Adams' brigade, part of the Second Division, had, in consequence, to pass the river at a deep and difficult ford to the right under a sharp fire, while the other brigade, under Major- General Pennefather, and the remaining regiment of Brigadier-General Adams, crossed to the left of the conflagration, opposed by the enemy's artillery from the heights above, and pressed on to the left of their position with the utmost gallantry and steadiness.
" In the meanwhile the Light Division under Sir George Brown effected the passage of the Alma in his immediate front. The banks of the river itself were, from their rugged and broken nature, most serious obstacles, and the vineyards, through which the troops had to pass, and the trees which the enemy had felled, created additional impediments, rendering every species of formation, under a galling fire, nearly an impossibility. Lieutenant- General Sir George Brown advanced against the enemy under great disadvantages. In this difficult operation he nevertheless persevered, and the first brigade, under Major-General Codrington, succeeded in carrying a I'edoubt, materially aided by the judicious and steady manner in which Brigadier- General Buller moved on the left flank, and by the advance of four companies of the Rifle Brigade under Major Norcott, who promises to be a distinguished officer of light troops. The heavy fire of grape and musketry, however, to which the troops were exposed, and the losses consequently sustained by the 7th, 23rd, and 33rd regiments, obliged this brigade to partially relinquish its hold."
The Russians had taken accurate ranges for their fire, which they had marked by targets and posts, so that, as the leading regiments reached the points thus designated, they entered literally into a storm of missiles of eveiy description. Incredible as it may appear, such is the innate coolness and contempt oi danger in the British soldier, that in the midst of this fatal hail, and with their comrades falling thickly around them, numbers of
THE EAST.