The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-29 00:00:00

~1~.~

LONDON, TIIE3DAY, MAY 29, 1855.

" Better late than never !" At last it seems
as if the Allied forces in the Crimea and the
Euxine were permitted to display their unflinch-
ing valour against the enemy, as if they were no
longer prohibited from assuming the offensive and
endeavouring to achieve real successes. A new
policy has apparently been inaugurated, and we
already behold the auspicious results—results
which will do more to bring Russia to her senses
than all the conferences that could beheld during
the next ten years. There have been triumphs
both by sea and land. The British fleet is no
longer inactiN e. The new Commander-in-Chief
of the French Army has already more than rea-
lised the most sanguine anticipations that had been
formed respecting his activity and efficiency. And
what is, parkaps, no less important, the Ministers
of England and France have, albeit at the eleventh
hour, spoken out plainly and intelligibly. The
navies and armies of the Western Powers are nu
longer waiting for the negotiations. They have been
freed from the galling restrictions previously in
operation, and no time has since been lost. A
comparison of dates will show that we do not
speak unadvisedly, or at all events, that if the
operations in the Crimea have not been delayed
by orders from home, there has been a very
extraordinary coincidence between the newly-
begotten activity " by land and water" and the
apparent change in the Ministerial policy.
Notwithstanding the positive assertions that
the pending negotiations would not in any degree
affect the operations of the War, there was a ge-
neral impression that no very decided measures
could be adopted while there was a prospect of
an early peace. A weighty responsibility would
rest on those who forced on a sanguinary con-
test, at the very time when amicable arrange-
ments had been actually concluded, or were likely
to be speedily decided. There was, in fact,
that palpable incongruity between " protective
diplomacy and aggressive war," so felicitously
pointed out by Mr. DISRAELI in his magnificent
oration on Thursday last, that would practically
prevent the Allies from adventuring on any deci-
sive measures. " The laborious inactivity" dis-
played in the Crimea forcibly illustrates the un-
toward state of affairs. The blockading fleet
merely watched the enemy, but did not take the
initiative in any act of aggression. The beleaguer-
ing armies only defended the positions they had so
painfully acquired, but scarcely endeavoured to
attack the enemy. The mysterious expedition to
Xertch was suddenly recalled, as if the attempt was
premature, and might interfere with the expected
arrangements to be concluded through the inter-
vention of Austria on the basis of the Russian
propositions—or, in other words, the restoration
of the status quo.
A total change, however, took place in the
policy of the Allies. M. DROUYN DE L'Huvs
resigned his portfolio, which was handed to the
Count WALEWSKI. Shortly afterwards the well-
meaning, kind-hearted, and gallant CANROEENT
was succeeded by the mole energetic and equally
gallant Pzussmt. The hour of expectation
arose in the camp. It was universally believed
that some daring attempt would immediately
follow, and, verily, that expectation has been
41144 realised.
°R.tlle night of the 22d and 23d the French
carried by assault the intrenched Russian camp
near the Quarantine bastion, which we are told
was defended by the whole garrison of Sebastopol.
The attack was desperately contested, but in vain.
Our gallant Allies carried all before them. It
was in vain that the Russians strove to resist the
fierceness of their onslaught. They were driven
out with fearful slaughter, and, after a contest
protracted during two nights, the French remained
Plasters of the important position, in which
they have since fully established themselves.
loss on the occasion has
The Russian
been estimated at no less than from five
...r: six thousand killed and wounded. This im i
10-Or \
nt achievement appears to have paralysed
tliA.---e erg ies of the enemy, and to have created a
:elc.:,.:,ll4l4similar to that which followed the earliest
'l/4
-*l4ll of the Allies on the Alma. On the 25th
4 16/11 ':l'
rench took possession, almost without re-
=stance, of the Russian lines on the Tchernaya.
The Allied camps are therefore no longer besieged,
and it is now ascertained that a comparatively
small body of Russians maintained this menacing