For the week, the communications from Sebastopol have fallen into
a peculiar condition. The telegraph for uniting Balaldava with Downing Street has been completed all but an unimportant interval which will speedily be traversed, and messages have been conveyed from Balaklava to the War Office within less than twenty-four hours. As yet the wire has not been in a condition to carry continuous information ; but the recent hints, however slight, place the common telegraphic despatches in the position of being comparatively out of date ; and the ordinary despatches by post are now known to refer to a state of things which has paned. We are therefore dealing with several periods of the siege at once; and we must continue to be in that perplexed state until the direct telegraphic communication shall be sufficiently completed to be used daily and continuously. The reports from the camp and trenches before the walls of Se- bastopol show that the preparations for carrying on the siege have been designed upon a gigantic scale, and have been carried out with success so far that they conform to the design. The effects of the renewed bombardment appear to be serious: under cover of the fire the advances of the trenches have proceeded favourably ; some por- tion of the Russian works of counter-attack have been mastered, and are now included within the lines of the Allies; and engagements with the enemy are a standing occurrence. The weight of metal brought to bear upon the fortress perhaps exceeds anything pre- viously witnessed. Nevertheless, the courage and resources of the enemy continued unabated, and down to Wednesday evening there was nothing decisive to report. We are now approaching the practical settlement of the ques- tion, whether the gigantic means accumulated by the Allies will be sufficient to break down the barriers that impede their entrance within the fortress, or whether the strength of the place is so great that the means of attack will be exhausted, and the Allies be driven to ohange their field of operations without accomplishing the pur- poses the siege. The departure of the Emperor of the French o Paris, which is now said to be fixed for a very early day next logos* would imply that the war in the Crimea will continue, whether Sebastopol be reduced by direot attack, or whether it is to be mastered by first conquering the Russian armies in the field.
