NEWS OF THE WEEK.
A REPULSE, direct and complete in itself, has been so unusual on the side of the Allies in the present war, that we are more shocked by the reverse than we have reason to be on a fair
balance of war's vicissitudes. We know as yet little beyond the fact, that an attempt was made on the 18th instant to advance upon the success of the ith, and to take the Malakoff tower
and the Redan battery ; the attacking forces being repulsed with great loss. There had been a foreboding of disaster, al- though upon very imperfect grounds. On Monday, the .3.forn- ing Post stated, in a manner calculated to attract attention, that some important movement was to be made at that very time : the next day came without a telegraphic despatch, the next day, and the next ; and the simple absence of further reports was taken to imply that something disastrous had happened. It was presumed that both the French and the English Governments were suppressing intelligence. Questions were put to Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons on Thursday night; and the Premier stated what appears to be the fact, that no information had then been re- ceived. It was not until after midnight that the report of the movement which did take place arrived ; and yesterday morning the public were informed that the English troops had made an at- tack on the Redan battery and the French on the Malakoff tower, at daylight on the 18th, without success. General Pelissier adds the important information, that the forces returned to their origi- nal position without disorder, but that the loss was very consider- able amongst the French as well as the English.
More than this we do not know while we write. The repulse, however, is not properly speaking any loss of ground to the Allies. One attempt at a further advance at a point where we knew that the most serious struggle would take place has been made, and it has not succeeded ; that is all. Almost simultaneously with learning this reverse, we learn the skill, the courage, and the devotion which had been thrown into the previous contest that ended in the posses- sion of the Mamelon and the Quarry. We have now before us the whole of that stirring scene,—the mustering of the French and English Staff, the murmur of expectation gradually passing from man to man, the French with their light figures scrambling up the slope of the Mamelon, the English with their dogged perseverance contesting the parapets of the Quarry ; and night closes in with a victory which the darkness prevents the troops behind from knowing save by degrees. Many were the as- saults of the Russians on the night that followed, every one a fail- ure; and from that night until the 18th the Allies remained in possession of their most advanced posts. Still it was an imperfect victory. The Quarry was the key to the Malakoff, but the Mala- koff was the object of attack, and that attempt remained for the 18th. The Russians have made sorties and assaults over and over again, and have been repulsed with enormous loss ; and hitherto the dark side of our account has been comparatively light. We have now learned, however, that the courage of the Russians has not diminished under their hardships, while every assault dis- closes new dangers upon which the besiegers have to rush in the blindness of ignorance. Deep, then, must be the anxiety of every Englishman who has a relative or a countryman now standing for- ward to press the flag of our nation within the walls of Sebas- topol : deep the anxiety, though strong the confidence.
