The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-16 00:00:00

CONDUCT OF THE WAR.

The information from the Allied camp before Sebas-
topol, respecting the, condition and achievements of the
besieging army, is ample and accurate. But the reports
relating to the Russian forces from that quarter are sin-
gularly incorrect. Nothing appears to be known in
the French or English camps of the numbers of the
enemy opposed to them, or of the generals by whom
they are commanded. This might pass without notice
in the great body of the soldiery (officers and privates),
and the hangers on of the camp ; but it is certain that
the Commander-in-Chief has been left almost as entirely
in the dark on these heads as the youngest drummer-
boy in his army. On the morning of the sth of Nov. Lord
Raglan was entirely unacquainted with the tremendous
effort by which the Russian division, whose arrival encou-
raged Menschikoff to attack the position of Inkerman, had
been brought up from the north. Yet the dislocation
of Russian troops by which this movement was effected
was the common tak of the diplomatic circles in Berlin
—and some other German courts—almost as soon as it
began to be made. That Menschikoff had written a
vaunting letter to the Emperor as early as tha 25th of
October, stating that ho had now as strong a force as he
desired, and that in ten or twelve days he would com-
pel the Allies to re-embark under every disadvantage,
was known at Berlin early enough to have admitted
of the intelligence being transmitted to Lord Raglan,
by telegraph and express, in sufficient time to put him
upon him guard. Why was not this done by Lard
Bloomfield Y It is the duty of our ambassadors at
foreign courts to communicate all important news to
each other. If this information had been despatched to
Lord Stafford de Redeliffe, there can be no doubt that it
would have immediately been forwarded to the Crimea.
Did Lord Bloomfield keep, the Foreign Secretary in igno-
rance as well as our Minister at Constantinople, and
the Commander-in-Chief of the Crimean Army ? Or
did the Duke of Newcastle, after he had received
the icfonnation for the Foreign-office, coolly wait till
the course of time should declare the results of the Rus-
sian movements, without eveu attempting to forewarn
Lord Raglan of what was impending ? The blame of the
omission rests between the Minister of War, the Foreign
Secretary, and our Ambassador at Berlin. One or all of
guilty of a gross neglect of duty.
ters, who are more especially charged
them
Iu
ti
chuarvme
ibncles n
with the management of the war, and our collective di-
plomacy, seem to give themselves wondrous little trouble
about this same army that we have in the Crimea. We
do not mean to recur at present to the extent to which
the cart of providing comforts and even necessaries for
the army has been left to non-official and individual
enterprise ; we speak of the utter and wanton neglect
of the most common precautions to keep our Comman-
ders in the Crimea informed of the number and na-
ture of the forces opposed to them. What was
known at Berlin of the movements of the Russian
army prior to the surprise of Inkerman was known
at Vienna, and Lord Westmoreland appears to have
been as dilatory in forwarding the information to head-
quarters as Lord Bloomfield. Again, our Ambassador
at Constantinople is (or ought to be) in constant com-
munication with our consular and other agents in Tur-
key and on the Black Sea. Has any attempt been made
to turn the sources of information to which those gentle-
men have access to account in the way of procuring in-
formation respecting the movements of Russian troops ?
Divisions of armies cannot be marched across extensive
tracts of country with the same secresy as a few bales
of silks or chests of tea are smuggled. The process of
collecting stores of provisions and the means of transport
occasions a commotion which extends over a wide circle.
Yet the march of Russian troops to the Crimea, from
the frontiers of Moldavia, escaped the notice of all our
well paid English agents in the Eaet. From not one
of these worthies does Lord Raglan appear to have re-
ceived a hint of what was hanging over him.
In short, for all the trouble our War Department, or
our numerous consular and diplomatic agencies abroad
have given themselves, the British army, after its land-
ing in the Crimea, has been left is find out for itself
where the enemy was, and what its force amounted to.
The Commander-ia-Chief received as few useful com-
munications from home as he had been frozen up, like
poor Franklin, in the Archc regions, with an indolent
pick-tooth Admiralty resisting all entreaties to open a
communication with him. This is in keepir g with the
whole conduct of the War Department. It has sent out
men to the East, it has sent out stores of all kinds, and
as soon as they were fairly out of sight of the British
coast, it has washed its hands of all further care of them.
If the men and stores realiefl their destination well
and good ; if not, Allah, Rertm, the department shrugged
its shoulders and said it was a pity. Wu hear much
of 'M ussulman indolence and apathy : there are Turks in
Dowining-street, whom we will back, in this respect,
against the most engrained Paella of the old school.
Mr. Lindsay, in his late speech at Newcastle, probed
this administrative plague sore to the bottom in a
few pregnant words If a French merchant had oc-
casion to send a message by telegraph to his Minister at
War, requesting to know for instance, what goods were
to be shipped in a certain vessel, there was an answer
an answer in a week,
before an answer was
by the same rapid medium by 4. o'clock in the afternoon.
Y., much nearer, the
ant
lt sometimes
if
my probabilityoe tutmwwearsso
fityevoettiowwteohe
uek
IsdAe
noti dapnisiegrdiedt t
returned. This was not the fault of the men, but of
the system ; there was no responsible head, responsible

Early this morning a reconnaissance was made by two
regiments of Highlanders and the left wing of the 2d
Battalion Rifle Brigade (which wing is attached to the
forces under the command of General Sir C. Campbell),
together with a French division, consisting of two regi-
ments of cavalry and one brigade of infantry, with six
pieces of artillery, under the command of General Maurice.
The whole were under the command of Sir Colin Camp-
bell. The French portion of the reconnaissance assem-
bled opposite the village Kadakoi, and marched across
the plain in the front of that village, in the direction
of the Tchernaya and Baidar rivers. The English
moved along the heights in front of our position,
towards the Baidar pass. This allowed the latter
to watch the movements of the French, and had
anything serious occurred they might have marched
down to their assistance. The French succeeded in
driving the C.ossacks and Russians frorntheir advanced
position, setting fire to their huts, and driving them back
to their main body, but this was not accomplished with-
out some little difficulty and obstinacy on the part of
the Cossacks, who, contrary to the general rule, stood
their ground with bravery. They fired a few pieces of
artillery, and one Cossack ran a Frenchman through the
body with his lance. The French in this affray lost 13
killed and wounded. The village of Chergoon was set
on fire ; but, unfortunately, only 12 houses were burned.
The French, however, burned the whole of the huts
occupied by the enemy in the position they retired from.
If no other good was accomplished the enemy had a
comfortless night, as the snow fell heavily during the
night. It was expected the French would have re-
mained out all night, but -after dusk they returned to
quarters. The Russians remained on the alert, and
were observed in motion from the hills. Col. Gordon,
Assistant-Quartermaster-General, headquarters, accom-
panied the party.

The Queen of South, steamer, with 250, the Tyno-
mouth, steamer, with 300, and the Harbinger, steamer,
with 80 sick, sailed this day for Scutari

The Emperor steamer had also sailed ,for Eupatoria
for cattle and bat-horses.

The Jasoa steamer has sailed for Constantinople,
where she will coal, and afterwards proceed to Varna
to embark Turkish troops, and convey them to Eupa-
toria, to strengthen that garrison.
Eupatoria is a town of great service to- is. We re-
ceive a good supply of bAt-horses, and a great number of
cattle for the troops from the natives there. English
gold will do anything.
The Thames steamer has taken a few sick to Scutari,
and, after coaling, will proceed to Varna to convey
Turkish troops to Eupatoria.
The City of London steamer, which arrived on the
28th December, brought 232 bullocks, 50 horses, and
450 pack saddles.

Tlie steamer Hetton, from England, has also arrived
with 80 huts, 85 stoves, and a quantity of wood for
butting.
The Magdalena, besides the 13th RegiMent, of 850
strong, brought 40 tons of , warm clothing and some
ball cartridge.
The siege operations arc nearly at a staid-still-;- quite
so on the part of the British. Last night a very heavy
fire was kept up by the enemy, but reports of this
morning state "nothing more than usual happened." On
the 26th, great numbers of men were observed to march
down from the Fort Sanverem, in Sebastopol, to the
water-side, and were conveyed over the harbour to the
north side in boats, the boats returning empty. The
enemy have erected a small battery of fur guns oppo-
site to Gordon's Hill, and have posted sentries in ad-
vance.

DECEMBER 31.
The enemy, after the ecconnaiBsance of yesterday,
assembled in fo-rce this morning, and seemed inclined
to face the allies. They shelled our working party in
the trenches last night. The &gilt was clear and
moonlight, and every move on the part of the British
was easily seen by them. So sharp did the shot and
shell come from their batteries that our men were
compelled to withdraw the working parties. One man
of the Light Division had his leg blown off.
A great cry is now made for want of fresh meat for
the troops. Scurvy has made its appearance, and only
about once or twice a month do the troops obtain fresh
food. Sir Edmund Lyons said the other day that nothing
was more easy than to procure cattle from the different
ports along the Asiatic and European coasts of the Black
Sea. Upon a question being put by Sir Edmund Lyons
to Lord Raglan the other day, as to whether he was
prepared to give 6d. or even Is. per lb. for meat, his
lordship answered, " Yes ; even Is. ed., sooner than
the men should want fresh meat." He added "that
the country did not mind what they paid, providing
they could give good and wholesome food to the troops."
According to the system of our commissariat, with the
view to purchase cattle, it is necessary to send an officer
of that department to collect, at a certain port, as many
head of cattle as he possibly can, and then ship them to
the Crimea, The French are quite different ; they send
an officer, who proceeds in a small vessel to every creek
and harbour, collects 10 here, 20 there, and so on, and
returns in half the time, besides insuring the troops a
supply of fresh meat regularly, If our present system
is followed, and the troops have so much salt meat,
scurvy will do as much this winter as the cholera did
last summer. Already many are severely attacked,
and every day increases the evil.
The British commissariat at present are not much
more than issuers—for this reason, all provisions are
brought to the army from England, the cavalry are em-
ployed to carry it up from lialakla.va to divisions, the
commissariat doing nothing more than issue it out.
The correspondent of the limes, some time back,
stated that nothing could exceed the regularity of our
commissariat in its issues. Had the writer inquired of
an individual soldier, and not trusted to what a com-
missariat officer stated, his tale would have been very
different. Daily, now, are the men' without a bit of
meat in some divisions—first in one and then in another,
and there is no regularity whatever.
The Europa, from Varna, with 66 soldiers and 180
horses, has arrived, together with gabions and timber.
The ea Nymph, from Constantinople, with planking
and miners' tools. No. 86, transport, Lady M'Naghten,
is gone to the Gulf of Perekop for forage. We can even
purchase at that place, although in the enemy's country
—English gold does it all ; there is no resisting it.
The harbour of Balaklava is crammed with shipping,
bringing timber and warm clothing.

JANUARY 1.

I visited Balaklava this morning. Nothing can equal
the confusion—the mass of consignments -of warn
clothing, blankets, butting materials, stoves, charcoal,
forage, barrels of beef and pork—all jumbled into line
heterogeneous mass. A barrel of pork stands beside a
bale of blankets here, and a stove beside hutting
materials there, and so on. So rapid have been the
arrivals, and so eager for disembarking, that the wharf
and all around is like one vast storehouse, without form,
fashion, or order. From the huts which have arrived
the Quartermaster-General has determined to erect a
few at Kadakoi as a receiving store, to ease the stores at
Balaklava. The harbour is very small, and hence the
confusion. The town does not afford a sufficiency of
stowage for the immense mass of clothing and the hutting
materials which arrive daily,
As regards the former, as usual the roofing is on board
one ship, the body of the hut on board another ; one
vessel is here, the other God knows where. Boards
and timber are being issued to regiments. Today each
regiment has been authorised to draw 5,000 feet of
sheeting, 100 pieces of scantling, and 100 pieces of
rafters. This is for the purpose of the hospitals in
camp. Officers and men are allowed roofing, &a., for
walls of huts which they may have built, but the ques-
tion arises, how are they to get it up ! -Only by car-
rying► it up on their backs. Seine baggage horses have
been landed lately, but still these are not sufficient.
The general opinion is that we shall neither liana huts
nor anything else before the cold weather sets in, and
that cannot he long. If we had convey antes updo the
camp all would be well, and we should relieve the har-
bour very much. There are four ships now in quest of
baggage animals, and it is to be hoped they will soon
return. Already a fearful number of men fall sick from
exposure to cold. The British lose upwards of 300 by
death every week, so that they bad need receive an
extra regiment every fortnight. I must, however, ad-
mit that a great many of this number are wounded in
action or in the trenches,

Sir Edmund Lyons paid a visit to Lord Raglan yes-
terday morning, after his lordship and staff had at-
tended Divine service.

The Turkish troops are employed in carrying gabions
up to the trenches from Balaklava and from St. George's
Monastery, where 200 of the Guards aro still employed
under Lieut.-Col. Fordyce, Scots Fusilier Guards.
The French are actively engaged in digging holes in
the ground, over which their small tents are fitted very

THE BLACK SEA. FLEET.
DECEMBER 28.—As I wrote to you in my last letter,
Admiral Dundas has gone, and Sir Edmund Lyons is
now senior officer of the station. According to the
etiquette of the service he is not supposed to assume the
command in chief until his predecessor has quitted the
limits of the station. The usual way is to fix a certain
epoch, and this will be, I hear, in the present instance,
the let of January. In the meantime, the vessels have
already exchanged the white for the red ensign.
The Admiral's flag is still flying on the Agamemnon.
It seems as if the Admiral was inseparable from his
favourite, for several nights of heavy weather which we
had again on the 22d and 23d have so much wrung the
rudder of the Royal Albert that there was some talk of
sending her, as well as the Algiers, to Constantinople
to have the damages repaired, but the Admiral's energy
prevented this, and the rudders have been taken out and
are being repaired on the spot.
The Naval Brigade on shore has receive:l a consider.
able addition. The Stromboli brought from Constanti-
nople 400 sailors, 230 from the Queen and 170 from the
London. They have been sent to 13.1.klava un boArd
the Sanspareil, and are to be employed, in the fire` in-
stance at lea-t, to carry provisions to their comradet, in
the camp. There are now 1,130 sailors in front anti
170 in the batteries near Balaklava ; and for all this
number there are only 10 horses and mules to convey
provisions to them. Those, of course, who are in the
batteries near Balaklava can easily come down for their
provisions, as the distance is scarcely a mile ; but 10
mules are only sufficient to carry up about one-half of
the daily rations which are required for the sailors'
camp in front.

Tl►e newly-arrived sailors will therefore be employed
in forming a depot in the camp of the Naval Brigade.
They will be divided into two lots, each of which will
have to go up every alternate day. The men are ready
to do anything, although they would like best to be
in the batteries ; but it will be rather hard work for
them, as sailors are usually not first-rate pedestrians, and
a walk of 12 miles—six to and six back from the camp
—with a bag of biscuit or a keg of rum on one's back,
would be no easy matter for the best pedestrian, espe-
cially if the roads, as in the present instance, are covered,
on an average, with six inches of mud of so peculiarly
tenacious a character that at every step the foot carries
with it a mass of earth covering the extent of a small
German principality.
As soon as a small store is laid in at the camp these
400 sailors will likewise go to the batteries, where they
will have again to handle their darling heavy guns. It
is ludicrous what a contempt Jack has for small guns,
which he can handle like a toy.
When the Naval Brigade was first sent on shore
there was much more sickness among them than in
the army at that time ; now the reverse is the case.
Out of 1,130 men who are in front, there are scarcely
ever more than half a-dozen in hospital ; they have
got accustomed to that kind of life ; and, besides this,
the diet of salt meat is nothing new to them. At first
they ought to have got fresh provisions with the rest of
the army, of whom they form a part at present ; but
lately they have sent up fresh provisions, meat as well
as vegetables, expressly for them.
It would be only desirable that the supplies wero
more frequent and less copious at a time, principally as
regards vegetables, for the greater part of these latter
rot before they reach their destination.

The naval camp is chiefly conspicuous by the merry
spirit of the men, and a more picturesque disorder than
the rest of the camp. It seems to be a strange contra-
diction that 'men, half of whose lives passes in a constant
process of cleansing, should distinguish themselves by
the reverse, but so it is ; I suppose it is a morbid taste
in which they indulge.
' ' '

The fleet -has received a valuable addition in the
Dauntless, 33, screw, which arrived at Karatch on
the 22d.

The Sanspareil, I hear, will leave Balakla,va in a few
days to go to England for repairs ; she is no great loss.
The Niger has again returned, and looks in beautiful
order.

This morning the Admiral and m-everal of the captains
went over to Balaklava i❑ the Wrangler to inspect
things there, and to go up to head-quarters.
I hope that the visit of the Admiral to Balakla.va will
be attended with some good eflec!: on the port arrange-
ments of the place, which, notwithstanding the expe-
rience of several months, is as yet by no means such as
could be desired.

The Bellerophon has come down from Eupatoria to
Karatch-bay, where she is to take in the mon whom she
sent to the Naval Brigade, and then she will go down to
the Bosphorus.