The Express.
London, England, 1855-04-06 00:00:00

Elie erpreOls.

TO COMIZOPONDENTIL
aaireammoi buskins "The laanea." leaden lamlal Pere.
s Two Aka
=ma he as she Ma, le. Banerleetrael. by ea he
day el phassilea.

RION WATER AT LONDON BRIDOI.
Ten DAT —lllandas. 4h. lea ... Attoriese. 4h. 114 m,
Taleassow—Yeralag, 4C Na Aftwasia. IC Cm.

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 6.

THE LATEST FROM SEBASTOPOL.

The Parisian world has been sadly mystified by
the last despatch from Gemmel CANROBENT, published
in the illesiteer. That document purports to be
dated "Before Sebastopol, March 29;" and yet its
news is no later than the night of the 22sid-23rd.
The question was naturally asked, in the first pluses
"Did Gemmel CANZOBULT allow six days to slaps
before be sent off word of an action in whieh the
Reseians hid 2,000 and the French 600 ma pat
hors a ceatka?" Bat on the heels of this teesdie
trade another " Could • despatch from asbeibpol
slash Paris in four days?" A private hilleaph,
received from Marseilles on the 4th inst., implpied
a Wed= of the puzzle. " Before Sehoslnper
was merely a misprint for " Constantinople aid
"29th" for "26th." But political speculative mem
not to be thrown off the scent of a political mystery
by so simple an explanation. They would not be-
lieve in the possibility of misprints in the cdacial
journal. And upon this assumption they built up a
new hypothesis. "Government must have been in
pommel= of CANIOBERTI3 despatch for some days
before it was published The despatch must have
been kept back, until the approaching arrival of the
mails of the 28th from Constantinople rendered
farther concealment impossible. Bat why this
reticence? Undoubtedly, CANZODIERT'S news mast have
bees of too. usfavoarable a nature to bear publicity.
The despatch, as it appeared in the Monitor, must
have been doctored." All this is very ingenious, but,
to oar minds, we confess not very conclusive. May
we be allowed to start • hypothetical explaeatien
of our own P At present the hostile Powers are emly
rousing themselves from their winter slumbers; they
have not yet gone to work in earnest ; no (leak*
news can be looked for immediately. But palsied
gossips are apt to associate this dearth of stirring
intelligence with the Vienna conferences, and to
draw all sorts of strange inferences from the comb'.
nation. May not the French Government have
sought to mystify the Frecch public by the ism-
date prefixed to General Cartitormar's de-
spatch, in order to give them some safer theme to
puzzle themselves about than conjectures as to
whether the great Oriental contest was to be termi-
nated by "a cross"?
Theo/air to which General CatertonExe's dispatch
relates is evidently the same reported in Ge-
neral Vox Orrare-asclart's despatch which we pub-
lished on Monday. It appears to have been one of
those sharp disputed renceserres which do honour to
the gallantry of the soldiers on both sides, and lead
to noddle( decisive. And we repeat that nothing de-
claire is likely to take place in the Crimea for some
time to come. From all that can be learned, it appears
that the defences of Sebastopol have been greatly
stvengthened during the winter. The natural
position of the place is such as to reader it all but
improvable, if sufficiently manned and covered with
earthworks. The garrison, too, are in close and unin-
tee:spied communication with an army composed of
the fhb of the troops of Russia. The combined siege
operations or the French and English are directed
only Gavial the south front of the fortifications; the
forts and works to the north of the harbour are not
eves threatened. The garrison, with the troops
which the Russian commanders can at any time
throw into the place, must at least equal in number
the assailants. Bach being the state of affairs, it is
clear that, if the reduction of Sebastopol is to be an
isolated undertaking, the siege may rival in duration
that of Rochelle, or Gibraltar, or Troy. The
proceedings of the Allies show clearly that
so idea is entertained that the place can pos-
sibly be takes by a coupel•-maiss. The oonstruction
of a railway—to say nothing of other preparations—
is a fact that bespeaks an expectation of long months
to be mood before the place.
Nevertheless, arduous and tedious though the
enterprise is certain to prove, Sebastopol mast be
rakes. The shame that would rest upon the area of
France and England, were their armies to retire
hefted from before Sebastopol, would be of a deeper
and more indelible character than could result from
the simple failure of a siege. If Sebastopol be left
unscathed, in the possession of Russia, the object for
which the expedition to the East was undertaken
will not have been attained. That object was tomere
the Ottoman Empire from the danger of being yard-
timed, or of passing into a state of vassalage under
the CLAP. Now, no one believes that the Russian
Government—though the opposition of the European
Powers may compel it to abandon at present its
design to annex the whole or greater part of the
Turkiak territory—will at once relinquish what has
been its cherished wish for more than a century. And
the Russian Government clings to the poommion of
Sebastopol only as a means towards the realisation of
this wish. To Russia Sebastopol is of comparatively no
value, except as a stepping-stone to Constantinople.
If, thee, Franco and England leave Sebastopol in the
hands of Russia, they will have only postponed, not
averted, the subjugation of Turkey by the Muscovite
—they will have left the work they have
takes in hand less than half done. Every
Englishman can tell what effect such a
" lame and impotent conclusion" is likely to
have as the honour and safety of the nation. The
Emperor of the Fatima can give a shrewd guess
what effect it would have on the stability of his
dynasty.

Neither the French nor the English Clovernmei
osa afford to retire from the contest before they have
wrested Sebastopol from Russia. • And Sebastopol, it
is pretty evident, is not to be taken by step opera-
tions alone. The Russian army in the Crimea must
Brat be driven out, or compelled to lay down its arms.
Sebastopol must be completely invested. What
steps have been taken towards the accomplishment
of these objects? The army under OILER PAORA,
at Rupatoria, threatens to cut off the oonsmanitations
of the Russian forces in the Crimea with Russia. But
it is not strong enough to operate against the two
known lines of communication, and there are good
posed' to believe that a third line exists.
And even if the armies before Sebastopol bad
received all the reinforcements of which we have
ourtaia intelligence, it may be doubted whether amyl
world be aufileisatly strong to take the field against
the Evasion army, after leaving a andlaisat feces to
hold the garrison of Sebastopol in aback, sad defend
thsk owe weeks. The Crimean war mast be waged
ostemeivs seals than it has pat bean.
of !ranee and lapsed most be
into play. Information whack we
received within these bas► ego loads
Wove that aim may be likes; by

OR • WOO
The *de
Ifftlikt
ksve real
us SID bii
•
• .