The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THR PUBLIC JOURNALS.

( From the Times of !his day.)
If the intelligence Sebastapol which teaebed
Vienna yesterday morning, and was forwarded to us
for publication in the course of..the day, had been re-
ceived ten days ago, it might. and probably would,
have produced a very important change in the affairs of
Europe. But the unriceountaltle inaction of the Allied
armies and the silence of their batteries at the most et-i-
-deal moment of these operations have led the Rassians
'0 reject terms in all respects more moderate tLan they
had any right to expect, and the same anuses have oil.
loubtedly cau,ed Aestria to relax iu the support she
had hitherto pledged .herself to give to the, a extern
Powers.; In abort, the sueeem of Lord "John Russell's
.nission and of M. Drouyn de j ;uriley,
mainly
leperoled 0)1.0e -impulse which Might he given to these
iagotiations by' decisive advantages obtained in
.741. ;
;nil the only justification .the, protracted absence of
.ur Pleoip.tenthries was the hope.tbat this it-la:elatel of
tame would b'e Lidrd with effect hy.theAlfied.coinrnanders.
itrange to say, it hal precisely the oppesita effect
tn:tion appeata to have prevailed at head-quarters
)efnre Sehastopol that socoo miraculous interposition of-
!ipleinatie skid was about to unravel,tiii.a tangled skein
ithout the ugly. realities of a bombardment and an as-
Amilt ; and, late:igh every gun was ready to open its
ire aleng the
_whole hue on the .3d, this operatien was
iterallv delayed for six days; in the vain hope that
some tidings of peace were on the way from Vienna.
iVe leave the Military authorities to fo'rn their own.
;pinion el the effect of thils
_delay on the .spirit and
credit 'of the army ; but, politically speaking. •
we are confident that this appearance of hesi-
tation and forbearaace is the very worst system
that can be pursued, and that we owe the tallure
d the 'attempt to restore peace to the want
of proeptitude and decision in conducting every act of
the war. In -the same spirit of mistaken kindness we
learn that when the heavy mortars had opened their fire
against•Sebastopol, and had crushed with the terrific:
,weight of their shells one or two considerable buildings
in the town, Lord
,Raglan hastened to give orders that,
from what he terms "motives of humanity," our fire
should be confined to the military defences of the enemy.
Sebastopol is at this moment a fortress covering au
army. The non-combatant part of the population has
lung since left it. The place itself exists only for the
aurpose of aggressive war, and, so far are we from pro-
fessing any motives of forbearance towards a town
which we have been seeking fur seven months to destroy,
'hat we should learn with undisguised satisfaction that
he effect of the bombardment had been to reduce it to
a help of mine. If Lord Raglan has, indeirl, interfered
'o protect the city, we can only say that he has ahown
his indulgence to the enemy at the expense of his own
It is uncertain what reriance. can be placed on the
statements of Vac Vienna Press,: of yes*day -mokuiug,
which are the lat.e4 accounts that have 'niched thi-
c,nintry ; but there is no donht, from the different-de-
pitehes which have arrived thr )ugh English, French,
ietrian, .and cliant.els, that the attack- was
pro:ecuted with extreme vigour and censiderahle success.
Toe tire commenced at 5 a.m. on the 9th of April, and
continued without interrep.iou throughout the nigfit
end the follow ing day. Prince Gertsehakeff (whose re-
ports have nsually been mute accurate than.those of
his predecessore) reports a loss of 833 men, Which
is consideial,le wren caused exclusively by a fire
against covered defences, and; although he states that
the Russian batteries have, replied with success, he does
not dispute tire extent of the damage which such born-
barcimen.t must have inflicted. The allied forces were
in a condition to open their fire from no less than 500
guns and mortars, the greater part of which far exceed
in range and in weight the guns employed at any fount,.
siege. In fact the Allies have brought to hear against
s'ebastopol an amount of aitillery equal to at leant
five ordinary. siege trains in number, and superior in
calibre. These enormous pieces of ordnance , have
hitherto been almost exclusively used in marine artillery.
There is no instance of such an extent of batteries,
armed in snob a manner, against ,an intrentslied town,
and, if any re:iance ean = e pla-md on the opinion, of Sir
John Burgoyne, he is known to have expressed his con-
viction at Vienna that it is impossible for the place to
hold opt ag inst such a fire as the Allies were about to
open against, it. On this point, however, all specula-
tion is new vain, for at the time at which we are writing
the attack must already bare ended in one of the two
alternatives ;if success or failure. -
If, however, as we hope, some decided impression has
been made on any part of the defences of the place, and
the guns of the Russians have been silenced on, any
front, it remains to 1.4 e seen what measures the allied
Comtnantlers are prepared to take in order to avail
themselves of such an opportunity, and to press home
their advantage over the enemy. It is clear from the
language of the letters received by the last mail that
the plan of an assault was by no means abandoned,
although the feasibility of that operation depended on
the effect of the bombardment. The force of the
British Light Division is again reported to amount to
3.800 men fit for duty, under their gallant leader, Sir
George Brown. The First Division, equally well com-
manded by Sir Colin Campbell, numbers 4,697 men, of
whom 3,500 are effective. The Naval Brigade has uni-
formly maintained its strength at 1,000 men, and the
landed Marines are 600.—equ to one battalion. The
effectives of the Second, Third, and Fourth Divisions of
the army exceed 3,000 men each, amid this force is daily
augmented by the arrival of reinforcements and the re-
turn of convalescents from the hospitals. We have
therefore on the spot a forceable to. bear an-honourable,
and possibly a decisive, part in this contest. We know
not whether it be true that Omer. Pasha has lauded at
Kamiesch with 15,000 Turk, for the lines of Eupatoria
are now so considerably extended that they require a
large force to defend them ; but, if any Turkish troops
c-n be spared, we do not question their gallantry in au
OR -au% on such a place as Sebastopol, as they will be sup-
ported by the flower of the two finest armies in Europe.
It remains to be seeo, also, what part is reserved for
the fleets under Admiral Brost and Sir Edmund Lyons

at thiS decisive moment. Since those officers haves m.
sumed the chief command of their respective squadrons
we have heard much le4s of their movements than we
did before, and their exeit'ons have been confined far

the present to the establishment of more effectual
blockade ; but we cannot doubt that. they have in pre
nara*ion'ineadnres of a more frnporrant character. Tile
Brinish squadron, m,.ra especially, has now been rein
-forced by several screw line-of-battle-ships--the Royal
Albert, the Hannibal,_ the Algiers, the Princess R )Nal,
and the St. Jean d'Acre, Which.grcat'y augment its ac-
tual force:; and after the experience we have acquired
hiring the pr!gress of this siege,and,ince the unsuccess-
ful cannonade of the 17th of October, it is to be supposed
that the
_admirals have. in viow a plan of attack more
effective than that which wa3 frustrated by several dif-

ferent causes on the former °cot:non. A few days more
will, however, remove our present a.vixious uncertainty
awl we doubt not that the British flea, as well as th,

Rritish army, will be found in it, right place, -by the side
„f our blue aliies, on that great day which may decide
the fate of Sabaitopol,

(From the Times of this day.)
Sir Charles Trevelyan has told his story, and thusfar,
like all the other actors in this tragedy of errors, be
seems to succeel in shifting the blatne froin his own de-
partment. It is only in the intermediate line between
the province of one department and every other around
it that anything wrong can be suspected, anti the pub!io
is left to make out for itself how so many conscientious,
intelligent, and lahorious officers have collectively
produced such confthi .11 and disaster. Various ac.
counts will be given of this result, such as
want of unity, want of a master mind, or want of
mutual confidence ; but, without attempting to
lay bare the root of the evil, and say in ten words why
we have lost half our army, we will content ourselves
with a brief sketch from the evidence before us, 110'1)41'1
us a step towards the solution of this question. 'The
service represented by Sir Charles is the Commissariat
the chief personate described is Mr. Filder, tbe Com-
missa.ry-General in the Crimea. This gebtle '..an ham been
the anti •et of many an angry remark. Generals, Briga-
diers, and Colonels were const tntly at him for supplies,
and were not always successful. His name bas figured
in many a private, letter arid in some of the evidence
given before the Committee. Thou& our own corres-
pondent has said kind things of bim, and singled him
out for special approbation, the Commissary-General has
not been treated with uniform respect in these columns.
Anyhow the name of Filder has acquired a sad and
disastrous prominence in this history. He stands out
in as bold relief as any other worthy of the war. Though
-ipaque and even dull, he is a luminary that shines with
no borrowed lustre. Without rank or honorntreon;
dage of any kind, without the splendour of vic
the intt rest of &feat, without ev, n a intliti c
except in some sort as a female of the militaryaie :ref it
Mr. Filder is a very conspicuous person e
f.trang that
has occurred to most people as rathero.
nen „re ; that
Filder should be the subject of so rnnuannd
tbas.;
man
not
so much should depend on one tua
world should
a soldier ;
that our triumph or our
attempted the
years
rest of :trms ever at.ertsixty-to=
failure in the greatest
for twenty-four
rest with a humble civiihsiit. e.leesrkk
old, sittln,4 en his 5t0,,,,t
,ri lid off now and then
boors together, awl t
Grant tha!; Mr. Filder
tiv a • euivforiahlo
ill, g.
l.
did his work evvr s
rant him to be worse that any.
bast yet
ventn're(f to insinuate, and we have only
lwd y
to aay that it does s• em to us a very u. accountable thing
I Europe and Asia. the contonult." of
that the bahlrice 0
the Turks on this side
edd iotme e dominion
aof
the Bosphorus,
the Euxitie, 1-1..al supremacy of the
the free navigation of the Danube, the independence c'it
Germany, the warlike reputation of England, the el
of France, the reign of 14
"Po 111., the, inv, °"
rests of
humanity, the issue of the great Battle of -
as Dr. Cutnining assures us, the litter rinagsd&m,
days of Palestine,
the sovereignty of India, and the destiny of the world,
should all depeud on Mr. Fidler,onhis
digestion ; on his stock of fo I temper and his
13
whatever else, may be supposed to affect the exci ab.e
nerves or the precario
clerk. us appetite of a respectable elderly

This Mr. -Filler we bave never seen described ; be
may be a man of iflipo•ipg pi esence, and there is no-
tintig in the accouLts of his position incousistent w th
the inoet degrading ideal, So, when We are Old OA