"What then, it may be asked, had been gained in return for the sacrifice of life, the enormous expenditure of ammunition, the impaired efficiency of the siege train, which had been the necessary results of the second bombardment? The events which we shall now narrate, and which occurred during the continuance of the cannonade, afford at once the clearest and the most satisfactory solution of this important question. It will be necessary to remind the reader that the two most important Eussian works fronting the French left attack were the Flag-staff Battery or Bastion du Mat, the most advanced work on the left of the ravine, which separated the French and English attacks at the head of the inner harbour, and the Central Bastion, which continued the line of fortifications further to the left. Both of these works were protected in front by a strong chain of ambuscades or rifle-pits, terminated at the extreme left by a cemetery, which afforded a strong natural cover to the Eussian sharpshooters thrown out in advance of the Central Bastion. During the days between the 9th and 12th of April, the French batteries kept down so successfully the fire of the enemy, that at night they were enabled to push considerably their approaches in the direction of the Bastion du Mat: and on the night of the 13th-14th General Pelissier organised an attack for the purpose of wresting from the Eussians and securing to the French engineers the corresponding portion of ground in front of the Central Bastion. The force destined for this operation was divided into two parties, — the one directed on the ambuscades of the right under the command of General Eivet, the other directed on those of the left, and commanded by General Breton.
" In spite of the most vigorous resistance on the part of the enemy, whose reserves two or three times rushed forward to repel the assailants, both the objects of this combined movement were effected with the most complete success. The French, with more than their usual impetuosity, carried all before them; and no sooner were the Eussians driven out, than the ambuscades, notwithstanding the solidity of their construction, were razed to the ground by the engineers, protected in their work by a few companies of the line, and a new parallel was formed even while the struggle was actually taking place. This important operation, so happily terminated, cost our Allies 40 killed and 117 wounded. The terrible fire maintained from the Bastion du Mat rendered it impossible for the French to construct a new parallel in this direction in a similar manner, without sustaining a loss disproportionate to the object to be gained. They had recourse in consequence to an engineering expedient which was attended with the wished-for result. Several small mines had been formed in front of the bastion, and on the evening of the 15th the train was fired, and, aided by the destructive effects of the explosion, the
THE EAST.
engineers were enabled to lodge themselves in an immense fosse in front of the work, the possession of which was not contested by the enemy, and to form a trench half way between the third parallel and the salient of the bastion. No sooner did the lurid pillars of flame announcing the explosion of the mines shoot up into the dusky night, than the Kussians, alarmed beyond measure, opened a heavy fire of cannon and musketry in every direction from that part of the town, which they kept up for a considerable time on the whole left attack, fortunately without any serious injury to the Allies. The French replied with a shower of bombs, which inflicted severe loss on the thickly-massed troops by whom the fortifications were lined, and for more than an hour the firing on both sides was terrific. General Bigot, who had been wounded in the face by a rifle-ball, died in the course of the night; and his loss was deeply lamented by the Commander-in-Chief of the French army, as well as by all who were acquainted with the high qualities for which he was so eminently distinguished. His body was interred the next day, and Lord Raglan and the principal officers of his staff attended the funeral.
"It is difficult to overrate the importance of the achievement just commemorated, as every inch of ground gained in the direction of the bastions was a step towards their destruction— a fate postponed, notwithstanding the serious damage they underwent in this bombardment, by the inexhaustible resources, both in artillery and labourers which the Eussians could still bring to bear for the renewal of the armament of their works."*
These events on the left of the Allied jTOsition were followed at a short interval by others on the right of the English attack, with a similar design, of equal moment, and no less gloriously accomplished, which are thus described in Lord Eaglan's despatch of the 21st April: —