The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FIIIIJAY LITINE 2), 1855.

Committee, to be combined within the all-embrac-
ing purpose of the suggested " Literary Institu-

tion of Great Britain." ,An association the ad-
ministrative body of which would have, on the
one hand, to grapple with the calamities of a mul-
titude of sorrow-stricken applicants, and on the
other, to minister to the thirst of a crowd of
insatiable tea-drinkers, while endeavouring to
appease with intellectual food the appetites of a
hungry swarm of famished book-worms and raven-
ous gobemouches. No wonder the amendment
proposed by Mr. MILNES was carried by the
meeting on Saturday instead of the original mo-
tion proposed by Mr. DICKENS, that the Report of
the Special Committee be adopted—the amendment

savoured with this notable preference acknow-

ledging with gratitude the labours of the Special
Committee, and recognising the value of some of
their suggestions as subjects for further delibera-
tion : but, at the same time, rejecting the
advice that any new charter should be ap-
plied for, on the score that the proposals con-
tained in the Report involved an entire
alteration of the nature and intentions of the
Literary Fund Society, and that its means are in-
adequate to the attainment of the very incongruous
purposes we have already enumerated. No
wonder, we say, that an amendment so exceed-
ingly rational was carried—rather than a motion
so generously intended, but so injudiciously com-
bining in one scheme the incompatible projects of
a Library, a Charity, a College, and a Club ! It
was the old wonderful feat all over again—that
of " vaulting Ambition overleaping itself"—the
most astonishing of all known summersaults !
The Special Committee had success already
within its grasp—had it been content with re-
stricting its earliest efforts in the way of reform
to matters which would have necessitated no new

charter ; had it endeavoured to improve the Lite-
rary Fund Society in its strictly eleemosynary cha-
racter; had it refrained, as yet at least, from any
inopportune attempt to expand a simply charitable
establishment into a manifold, or rather multiform,
institution rivalling at one and the same time the
French Academy, and the Book Society in St.
James's-square, and the Pall-mall Athenmum,
although sustaining meanwhile upon a larger
scale than ever its original character as a bene-
volent association.

Again, we cannot but earnestly
express our'
regret that the Special Committee should have de-
feated its own object so completely by the adop-
tion of a Report too daring to admit of its aim
being regarded as within the limits of immediate
practicability. Nothing could well be more ad-
mirable, more humane, more generous, than the
proposal, through the Report, of loans, instead of
gifts, to the literary applicant for secret assist-
ance. As to Mr. MILNES' objection that such
loans could never be sued for in a County Court
by a society undertaking " to do good by stealth"
—that of course ! The objection we venture to re-
gard as altogether valueless, seeing that loans like
these would be numbered amongst the most sacred
of all debts, namely, " debts of honour." And as
Sir EDWARD LYTTON, with a noble reliance upon
the purity and elevation of the literary character,
observed, on Saturday, we might confidently ex-
pect that ninety-nine out of every hundred of
these advances would be faithfully reimbursed.
However, it were idle to talk just now of the ad-
vantage of substituting loans for gifts as among
the benefactions to be hereafter diffused by the
Literary Fund Society, seeing that, for a time at
least, the hope of instant reform in that Society
has been dissipated by the humane but mistaken
temerity of the Special Committee. Nothing is
left for us at present, thanks to that unlucky
over-rashness, except to await the dawn of some
just possible future, when the over-slept Literary
Fund Executive may at last be knocked up in
earnest, and, as Mr. DICKENS has reminded us,
"please GOD, we must get it out of bed one way
or another "—either to commit an involuntary
suicide by jumping out of windows, as the Bishop
of OXFORD suggested, or to bestir itself rationally
by setting its house in order betimes.

THE COURT.—Her Majesty and his Royal Highness
Prince Albert, and the youthful members of the Royal
family, intend, according to present arrangements, to
leave Buckingham Palace on the 9th proximo for Os-
borne, and it is said the Queen will stay a month at that
marine residence. Her Majesty purposes to visit Paris
soon after the removal of the Court to London in August,
but the precise day is not yet determined on.
Yesterday the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress
gave a sumptuous banquet "to the bishops and univer-
sities." Inlthe forenoon a sermon had been preached at
St. Paul's, by the Bishop of Hereford, on behalf of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts.

Yesterday the Earl of Eglinton gave a grand ball at
the mansion in St. James's-square. The guests com-
menced arriving at half-past ten, and continued to pour
in until nearly one o'clock, by which time there were
upwards of 600 of the elite of the aristocracy and fashion
able world present. Her Serene Highness the Here-
ditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, attended
by the gentlemen in waiting aad Lady Caroline Cast,
arrived at a few minutes past eleven o'clock, and was
shortly followed by their Royal Highnesses the Duchess
of Cambridge and the Princess Mary, attended by Ma-
jor Home Purves and Lady Suffield.
FORGERY AND FRAUD.—Yesterday George Wheatland,
master of the ship Britain's Pride, was charged at the
Thames Police Court with obtaining various sums of
money by means of forged bills. He was remanded
until Wednesday nest.
MURDEROUS ASSAULT ON THE POLICE BY THE CRIMEAN
NATVlES.—Yesterday nine navvies and a woman named
Ann Maria Pooley were placed before Mr. Norton, at
the Lambeth Police Court, charged as above. The
policemen were so seriously injured that the prisoners
were remanded in case fatal effects should ensue.

FOREIGN SHIPPING.--A. return moved for by Mr.
Wilson, M.P., shows that the sums paid, in the years
1853 and 1854, for the difference of rates and charges
due to corporations, companies, or individuals for
foreign vessels, which, under treaties of reciprocity or
otherwise, are admitted into the ports of the United
Kingdom at the same rates of charge as British vessels,
amounted respectively to 44,473/. and 52,7911.
ASSAY OFFICES.—It appears that the rams chargeable
upon the public revenue in 1854, in respect of the local
Assay-office in York, Exeter, Chester, and Newcastle,
being an allowance of 11. per cent. on the duty received
on plate. amounted to about 601., and the sums received
on behalf of the public revenue for the duty on plate to
6,1121.

A coroner's i- quiry has been concluded at Penkride,
by the committal of a quack doctor, named Thomas
Morris, charged with the manslaughter of two unfortu-
nate men, viz. :—Thoma3 Henehawe, a licensed vic-
tualler, awl Joseph Day, a sheep shearer, and general
farm-servant, both residents of Penkride, who sought
the impostor's advice, and partook of his deadly decoc-
tions.

THE CAPTURE OF THE MAMELON AND
QUARRIES.

ANOTEpt
CAMP $E FORE SEBASTOPOL, JUNE 7.
At 4 o'clock this moraing a still and Elu Wish atmo-
sphere, half mist, half the result of giinpowder, hung-about
the town, and, the tam enfilading, as it were, all the points
of view from his low level in the horizon, telescopes wore
put out of joint for the moment. The Redan, however,
which stands up boldly in front of the hills that slope from
Catbeart's Mound, gave some evidence of having yielded
to rough treatment, the jaws of its embrasures gaping, and
its fire being irregular and interrupted. Captain Peel came
by, on his way up from the trenches, about 5, very dusty
and powdery. His reckless and dauntless seamen had been
making beautiful practice, and had mot with what must
for them be considered a very moderate proportion of loss,
having to record two deaths only and 14 wounds during
the 15 hours, and, with one exception, the last were not

very serious. Though delivering a capricious discharge of
shot and shell, the Russians in the Redan were making
their contempt of danger conspicuous, some few of them ap-
pearing in front of the work, and one or two mounting on
the parapet. By and by there was a glorious change in the
weather, which adapted itself to the circumstances most
amiably. At 9 a cool breeze, much stronger than usual,
sprang up, and continued throughout the day, blowing
the wreaths of smoke out of the batteries, and carry-
ing off the solid little round nebula) extemporised by
bursting shells, which can only he compared in their ex-
pansion to the genie who, in the " Arabian Nights," comes
out of the iron pot se,led with Solomon's seal. The whole
range of fire from right to left became visible in a bright
sun, that for once was not a scorching one. On the ex-
treme left, towards the Qrtarantine, there was very slight
tiring from the French. The perpetual hiss and crack of
shells was still the chief point of contrast with the last
bombardment in April. The enemy could not or would
not keep up a very vigorous reply. All the early part of
the day we had the work very much to ourselves, but, since
it has been very much the habit of the Russians to knock

off work in thebotter part of the 24 hours, no very im-
portant disclosure was contained in this fact. As last night,
so this morning, for the fun of the thing, they launched
a good many heavy shot into the ravine which leads up
to the Light Division, and the same avant garde of mis-
chief came careering round the shoulders of the hill below
the Lime-kiln where we stood to gaze. ,bout 1l o'clock
a shell from the Russians exploded a magazine in our S-gun
battery, and a yell of applause followed the 7 eport. Very
slight harm happily resulted from the explosion,-one man
was killed, one wounded, and a few scorched a ail). The
real c.sualtv of the morning was the death of an Engineer
officer, Captain Dawson, who had but just arrived in the
Crimea from England; indeed had been only two days

in camp, and was on duty in the trendies for the
first time. As the day worn on it leaked out that
something of import was undoubtedly to take' place
before its close, and that the double attack would pro-
bably commence at five or six p.m. An immense con-
course of officers and men were gathered all the afternoon
round the flagstaff on Catheart's-hill, and streamed along
the spines of the three heights which wind towards Sebas-
topol from the English encampment. The fire on our
side, which had continued since daybreak, quietly and
soberly, assumed a sudden fury about 3 o'clock, and was
kept up from that hour to the critical moment with great
activity. The affair itself came off but little after the
anticipated time. Between five and six Lord Raglan and
his staff took up a conspicuous position on the edge of the
hill below the Limekiln, where it commands very plainly
our 4-gun battery, and looks straight into the teeth of the
Redan. A flagstaff was erected with threatening ostenta-
tion shortly before he came down, and a little angle of
rude wall was hastily thrown up as a breastwork. The
man with the signal rockets was in attendance, but there
was a pause yet for a while. Sir Colin Campbell was ob-
served to plant himself on the next summit, still nearer
to the enemy, " commonly called," to use a legal phrase,
the Green-hill. His appearance drew some fire, and the
shells dropped and flashed close by, but without disconcert-
ing his purpose of having a thorough good lookout place.
It was about half•past six when the head of the French
attacking column came into view from these two spots, as
it climbed its arduous road to the Marnelon. A rocket was

instantly thrown up as the signal of our diversion, and as
instantly the small force of our men detached for the post
of honour made a rush at the Tiarries. After one' slight
check they drove out the Russians, and, turning round
the gabions, commenced making themselves snug ;
brit the interest was so entirely concentrated upon
the more exciting scene, full in view upon the
right, that they had to wait a good while before attention
was directed to their conflict. The French went up the
steep to the Mamelon in most beautiful style and in loose
order, and every straining eye was upon their movements,
which the declining daylight did not throw out into bold
relief. Still their figures, like light shadows flitting across
the dun barrier of earthworks, were seen to mount up un-
failingly—were seen running, climbing, scrambling like
skirmishers up the slopes on to the'body of the work, amid
a plunging fire from the guns, which, owing to their loose
formation, did them Iss yet little damage. As an officer,
who saw Bosquet wave them on, said at the moment,
" They went in like v clever pack of hounds." In a mo-
ment some of these dim wraiths shone cut clear against the
sky. The &Mayes were upon the parapet firing down into
the place from above • the next moment a flag was up as a
rallying-point and defiance, and was seen to sway hither
and thither, now up, now down, as the tide of battle raged
round it; and now like a swarm they were in the heart of
the Mamelon, and a fierce hand-to-hand encounter, here
with the musket, there with the bayonet, was evident.
It was seven minutes and a half from the commencement
of the enterprise. Then there came a rush through the
angle where they had entered, and there was a momentary
confusion outside. Groups, some idle, some busy, some
wounded, were collected on the hither side, standing in
shelter, and now and then to the far corner a shell flew
from the English battery facing it. But hardly had the
need of support become manifest, and a gun or two again
flashed from the embrasure against them, than there was
another run in, another sharp bayonet fight inside, audthis
time the Russians went out, spiking their guns. Twice
the Russians made head against the current, for they had
a large mass of troops in reserve, covered by the guns of
the Round Tower. Twice they were forced back by the
onsweeping flood of French, who fought as if they had eyes
upon them to sketch the swift event in detail. For 10
minutes or so the quick flash and roll cf small arms had
declared that the uncertain fight waxed and waned inside
the enclosure. Then the back door, if one may use a hum-
ble metaphor, was burst open The noise of the conflict
went away down the descent on the side towards the town,
and the arena grew larger. It was apparent by the space
over which the battle spread that the Russians had been
reinforced. When the higher ground again became the
seat of action,—when there came the second rush of the
French back upon their supports, for the former one was a
mere reflux or eddy of the stream,—when rocket after
rocket went up ominously from the French General's posi-
tion, and seemed to emphasize by their repetition some
very plain command, we began to get nervous. It was
growing darker and darker, too, so that with our glasses
we could with difficulty distinguish the actual state of
affairs. There was even a dispute for some time as to
whether our allies were going in or out of the work, and
the Staff themselves were by no means clear as to what
was going on. At last, through the twilight, wo discerned
that the French were pouring in. After the interval of
doubt our ears could gather that the swell and babble of
the fight was once more rolling down the inner face of
the hill, and that the Russians were conclusively beaten.
" They are well into it this time," says one to another,
handing over the glass. The musket flashes were no more
to be seen within it. There was no more lightning of the
heavy guns from the embrasures. A shapeless hump upon
a hill, the Mamelon, was an extinct volcano, until such
time as it should please us to call it again into action.
Then, at last, the more hidden struggle of our own men in
the hollow on the left came uppermost. " How are our
fellows getting on ?" says one. "Oh ! take my word for
it, they're all right," says another. And they were right,
so far as the occupation and retention of the quarries was
concerned, but had nevertheless to fight all night and
repel six successive attacks of the Russians, who displayed
singular pertinacity and recklessness of life. As it grew
dark our advanced battery under the Green-hill made very
pretty practice and pretty spectacle, by flipping shells over
our men's heads at the Russians. From the mis-shapen
outline of the pits a fringe of fire kept blazing and spark-
ling in a waving sort of curve, just like a ring of gas illumi-
nation on a windy night ; tiae attempt to retake them out
of hand was desperately pushed, the Russians pouting in a
most terrific discharge of musketry, which caused us no
small loss, and as it canoe up the gorge, contending with
the fresh wind, sounded in the distance like water gulphed
simultaneously from a thousand bottles. Meanwhile the
fall of the Mamelon and the pursuit of the flying foe did
not by any means bring the combat to an end on the. side
of our allies. The Zouavea, emboldened by their suc-
cess, and enraged by their losses, carried their prowess
a step too far, and dreamt of getting into the Round
Tower by a coup de main. A new crop of battle grew
up over all the intervening bellow between it and the
Mamelon, and tho ripple of biusket shots plashed and
leaped all over the broad hill-side. The combatants were not
enough for victory there too, but they were enough for a
sanguinary and prolonged contest, a contest to the eye far
more violent than that which preceded it. The tower itself,
or rather the inglorious stump of what was the Round
Tower, took and gave shot and shell and' musketry with
the most savage ardour and rapidity. The fire of its mus-
ketry was like one shelf of flame, rolling backwards and
forwards with a dancing movement, and dwarfed as it was
by the distance, and seen by us in profile, could scarcely
be compared to anything, small or large, except the notes
of a piano flashed into fire throughout some rapid tune.
Our gunners, observing the duration and aim of the skir-
mish, redoubled their exertions, and flung their shells into
the Round Tower with admirable iirecision, doing immense
mischief to the defenders. It was dark now, and every one
of them came out against the heavens as it rose or swooped.
From Gordon's Battery and the Second Parallel they
streamed and plunged one after another into the enceinte
up to which the Zouaves had won their way unsupported,
heralded every now and then by the prompt and decisive
ring of a round shot. The Russian defence, rather than
their defences, crumbled away before this tremendous fire,
but on the other hand, the attack not being fed, as it was
not designed, began to lan„eUish, and died gradually away.
It was a drawn battle so far ; but there- may be another
story to-morro w. I learn that one volunteer accompanied the
French in their attack on the Mamelon—Commander Der-
riman, of the Caradoc,—who conducted himself en vrai
Zouave —skirmished up to the outer defences of the Round
Tower, and escaped by half-an-inch having a bullot through
his bead. His services and his insignia were neither suffi-
cient, however, to convince some of the more suspicious of
his fellow-combatants. Ho was twice marched off as a
captured Russian between two French soldiers.
12 r.m.
It is now blowing great guns. There was a heavy thun-
der storm to-day, visible over to the south-east ; and to-
night, as last night, there has been a rival display of
heaven's artillery. The French are putting the now front
of their position in a state of+ defence, and employing an
immense number of hands. We derived one advantage
at least from the fleet outside—namely, that the presence
of a large mass of Russians in the rear of the Mamelon was
communicated to the Generals, and the attacking columns
proportionately strengthened. On the other side our men
are still in their warm berth under the Peedane repelling
the attacks of the Russians. There was but one embrasure
left in a comfortable state in the Redan at the end of the
evening, and the Quarries are too close under it for heavy
guns to be brought to bear,
To-morrow, with a new point d'appui on each side, we
shall have to choose between fighting, as of old, for per-
mission to keep what we have got, and taking on one side
the Malakhoff, on the other the Redan.

JUNE 8.

During the night repeated attacks, six in all, wore
matte upon oar men in the Quarries, who defended their
new acquisition with the utmost courage and pertinacity,
and at a great sacrifice of life, against superior numbers,
continually replenished. The strength of the party told
off for the attack was in all only 1,000, of whom 600 were
in support. At the CQUID29IICOMIAIt 209 only went int and

another 203 followed. More than onthi there leas a fierce ;
hand-to-hand fight in the position itself, and our fellows
had frequently to dash out iu front and take their assail-
ants in flank. The most murderous sortie of the enemy
pladf about 3 in the morning ; then the whole ravine
was lighted up ivith "a hlaie of fire; and a storm of shot was
thrown in from the Strand Battery and every other spot
within range. With a larger body in reserve, it is not
doubtful that they could have been into the Redan in a
twinkling. 'this is as...e.rted freely both by officers and
privates, and the latter express their opinion in no com-
plimentary manner. They were near enough up to it to
see that it was scarcely defended, and one officer lost his
life almost within it. Generally speaking, the Russian
gunners were not very active through the night; indeed
there was little for them to do, and they are evidently shy
Of throwing away ammunition. On the other hand, their
fatigue parties viere,,as busy as bees, repairing and strength-
ening their shaken defences, and the sentinels outside our
advanced works were near enough to hear the sound of
their tools and see the light of their tobacco-pipes.
The French, on, the other hand, were losing no time
in the Mamelon, in which, by the hy, they found only
seven guns, five of them spiked. When morning.
dawned, with the wind blowing even stronger than
yesterday,. the position held by both parties was one of ex-
pectation.. The French were in great force within and on
the outer slopes of the Mamelon, and also in possession of
two out of the three offsets attached to the Mamelon on
the Sapoune-hill. Their dead were teen lying mixed with
Russians upon the broken ground outside the Malakhoff
Tower, and were being carried up to camp in no slack suc-
cession. In the rear of the Mamelon their efforts to in-
trench themselves wore being occasionally interrupted by
shells from the ships in the harbour and from a battery
not hitherto known to exist further down the bill, whi:e,
on their left front, the Round Tower, showing still its for-
midable platforms of defence and its ragged embrasure
above, fired upon their working parties in the western
face, and upon their reserves in the background. The
morning brought out on every side, along with the percep-
tion of advantage gained, and a prey lying at our feet, all
the haste and circumstances of the scone, with its painful
admixture of death and, sufferine.. On our side 365 rank
and file and 35 officers had been killed and wounded. On
the French side nearly double the number of officers, and
a total of not less than 1,500 men, probably more. It has
been stated as high as 3,700, but there may be error in the
statement.

12 o'CLocx.

At this last moment I hear it stated that the Russians
are carrying shot and shell off to the other side of the har-
bour—which may mean that they are getting ready for a
bolt; may it prove tiuo !