By the steamer Baltic, which arrived at New York on Monday evening, Oct. 16, from Liverpool, bringing four days later intelligence, we have the following exciting news:
THE FALL OF SEVASTOPOL!
It is reported that after one of the most sanguinary battles of modern times SEVASTOPOL HAS FALLEN! The facts, as far as known, are that a battle took place September 20 at the River Alma—the French and English, with a loss of two thousand eight hundred killed and wounded, stormed the Russian entrenchments and drove the enemy back. The Russians are reported to have next made a stand on the Katcha, and another battle was fought there, the 23d Sept., resulting in the defeat of the Russians, who were pursued by the allies to the landward walls of Sevastopol. More fighting took place under the walls. According to the report, on the 25th Fort Constantine was invested by sea and land, and, after an obstinate defense, was carried by storm. The allies then bombarded the city and the fleet. Ten Russian ships-of-the-line were burned and sunk; the remaining forts were carried, one after another; eight hundred guns were silenced; twenty-two thousand prisoners were taken, and the Russian loss, in dead and disabled, estimated at not less than 18,000 in Sevastopol alone. In the midst of this tremendous havoc Menchikoff, with the shattered remains of his force, retired into a position in the inner harbor, and threatened to fire the town and blow up the remaining ships unless the victors would grant him an honorable capitulation. The allied generals demanded his unconditional surrender, and, in the name of humanity, gave him six hours for consideration. The six hours had not expired when the last advices left, but it was rumored that he had surrendered, and that the French and English flags waved over Sevastopol. A later report says that Menchikoff has surrendered, but of this there is no confirmation whatever.
THE FALL OF SEVASTOPOL DOUBTFUL.
With regard to the reported fall of Sevastopol, the London correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune, under date of Oct. 2d, writes as follows:—
"As to the expedition to the Crimea, undertaken at a period when a few stormy days might have destroyed it, it has succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectation. The equinoctial gales remained silent; an army of fifty-eight thousand French, English and Turks was borne on a tolerably smooth sea to the shores of the peninsula; no resistance was offered to the landing, and on the 14th, 15th and 16th the army was disembarked between Eupatoria and Sevastopol, as if it were in a friendly country. The Turks were allowed to have the honors of the day; five thousand of them, all Tunisians, were sent to Eupatoria, together with a French and an English battalion, and planted the crescent on the walls of the town, which offered no resistance. The Mohammedan Tartars of the country flocked to the camp of the allies, and brought provisions; the allies were greeted as liberators, and the country people offered their co-operation against the Russian Prince Menchikoff, who had not opposed the landing of the allies, but awaited them in his entrenched camp on the heights above the river Alma. On the 20th, the allies attacked the camp, and carried it after a short battle, with a loss of nearly 3,000 killed and wounded. The loss of the Russians is not stated; few prisoners were made, and only two guns captured. So far go the official dispatches. Private telegraphs mention a second and still more bloody battle on the 22d, at the River Katcha, and the surrender of Sevastopol on the 25th, with all the ammunitions, provisions, and the Russian fleet. The tidings are so surprising that a doubt is natural; indeed, could the boasted fortress of Southern Russia, and could Prince Menchikoff, the arrogant Minister of the Czar, have surrendered on the first day of the attack?
Could the fleet have been delivered up to the allies without any attempt to destroy it when it could not be saved? Could Prince Menchikoff have constituted himself a prisoner of war? It seems to be incredible. Still, we must acknowledge that the telegraphic dispatches from Bucharest have received a kind of confirmation by another dispatch from Odessa, which mentions the defeats of the Russians on the Alma and on the Katcha; and we know that an army twice defeated in succession within the short time of three days, may be seized by a panic, which explains even the surrender of a fortress. After the battle of Jena, all the Prussian fortresses surrendered to Napoleon without trying to resist. As to the results of the fall of Sevastopol, they are so important, that we must pause and wait for the confirmation of the reports before we can write about their influence on all Europe."
By subsequent reports the fall of Sevastopol is contradicted, though there can be but little doubt that the place is invested.