The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-23 00:00:00

THE ATTACK ON THE

RED AN

We have the best authority for stating that
up to three o'clock this afternoon no further in-
formation than that already published in The Sun
of yesterday, in connection with the recent attack
on the Redan Battery, has been received at the
War-office.

The rumour, therefore, respecting the despatch
said to have been received by the Government,
containing the names of several officers killed, and
also stating the loss of troops to amount to
4,000 is totally devoid of truth, so far at least as
the actual knowledge of the Government is con-
cerned.

It was impossible to suppose that the elaborate
Report of the Select Committee on the State of the
Army before Sebastopol could be quietly shelved,
or that some means would not be adopted to bring
well-merited punishment on the heads of those
legally and morally responsible for the fearful
disasters therein set forth, and established beyond
the possibility of doubt, by the evidence produced
before the committee, and now in the hands of
Parliament and the country. On Mr. RoEnucK
the duty naturally devolved of taking the initiative,
not only as the party on whose motion the Com-
mittee was obtained, but also as its Chairman,
under whose auspices the important inquiry was
conducted ; and ho has not shrunk from the
arduous task. Last night the Honourable and
Learned Gentleman gave notice that, on the 3d
July, he would move the following resolution : -
" That this House, deeply lamenting the sufferings
of our army in the Crimea during the winter cam-
paign last year, and considering, in accord-
ance with the Committee, that the conduct of
every member of the Government engaged in
the management of the war was the first and
chief cause of those sufferings, this House does
hereby censure the conduct of every member of
the Cabinet."

This is a direct and positive censure, not only
on the ABERDEEN Government, but on every
one of its members—on every man who neglected
the obvious duties imposed on him by his position
as a member of the Cabinet, and tacitly connived
at the gross mismanagement or culpable indiffer-
ence of those whose apathy and indifference or
inefficiency, if mot positive leaning to Russia,
produced these truly melancholy results. It
aims, therefore, not merely at the Peelites who
have already retired, but at Lords PA.LMERSTON and
' JOMN RUSSELL-at every member of the existing
Ministry with the exception of Lord PANMURE, Sir
G. C. LEWIS, and Mr. V. SMITH, who were se-
lected to fill the vacancies occasioned by the secession
of Lord ABERDEEN, the Duke of NEWCASTLE, Sir
JAMES GRAHAM, and Messrs. GLADSTONE and
SIDNEY HERBERT ; and should it be carried, it is
difficult to conceive how any of the inculpated
members can retain the positions which they now

occupy.
But, as we have already stated, the House of
Commons is not necessarily limited to the diluted
and too lenient Report. It has the evidence
placed before it in, extenso, and is therefore just
as competent to form its own judgment as the
Committee. It is not in the position merely of
a common law judge, who must pass his sentence
strictly in accordance with the verdict of
the jury, but rather of a Lord Chancellor,
who, while acting on the facts brought under
his notice by a Master, may yet pronounce a
judgment much more vigorous and energetic than
the conclusions arrived at by the subordinate
officer to whose care the inquiry into the various
circumstances was entrusted. In like manner
Mr. ROEBUCK may, if he think fit, take exceptions
to the Report, and, in calling for the judgment of
the full court, insist on the views which he brought
forward with remarkable energy and force before
the Committee. The conduct of the Commander-
ill-Chief—Lord RAGLAN—is still open to com-
ment, and the General who " did net keep the
Administration duly informed of the actual con-
dition of the army under his command," who had
not the "head to conceive what was necessary,
or the hand to execute the thing needed, even if
it had been foreseen," may not yet escape with
impunity from the consequences of his inefficiency
r apathy.
But withbut travelling beyond the Report, there
is sufficient to call for the punishment of every
member of the late Cabinet. Disastrous results
of mismanagement, the sufferings and privations
of our gallant army, the losses of so many valua-
ble lives, the worse than useless expenditure of so
many millions of public money, are all detailed,
and if in every instance these evils are not traced
to their respective sources—if the Committee re-
frain from explaining the causes in every in-
stance, striking chiefly at the minor fry,
while the Leviathian culprits are treated
with
greater Consideration, they have yet distinctly
declared that " the suffering of the army resulted
mainly from the circumstances un%ler which the

expedition to the Crimea was undertaken and
executed." Adding, "that the Administration
which ordered that expedition had no adequate
information as to the amount of forces in the Cri-
mea. They were not acquainted with the strength
of the fortresses to be attacked, or with the re-
sources of the country to be invaded. They hoped
and expected the expedition to be immediately
successful, and as they did not foresee the proba-
bility of a protracted struggle they made no pro-
vision for a winter campaign !

What heavier censure could be inflicted than
this ? The heavier, too, from the manifest bias of
the Committee, and its leaning to the side of the
Government. We cannot for a moment suppose
that the Committee will shrink from supporting
those to whose hands it delegated the arduous
and important duty, and we earnestly hope that
Lord RAGLAN may not escape without such notice
as will insure the immediate appointment of a
more vigorous and energetic Commander to lead
the troops to the triumphs which their bravery
will be certain to achieve, if they are only allowed
fair play and a clear field.

The nation must not suffer itself to be dispirited
on account of the temporary reverse sustained on
Monday. It is true that our own troops, as well
as our gallant allies, have suffered very severely
—that many brave and distinguished men have
perished—we shall not say without any adequate
equivalent, for what could be an equivalent?—but
without any compensation, however trivia], for their
irreparable loss. It is true that almost for the first
time the French and English have completely
failed in attaining the object on which they had
set their hearts, but we must submit patiently to
the fortune of war, or rather bow reverently to
the will of the MOST HIGH.

It is impossible, in any war, to hope that all
things can be couleur derose—that every movement
can be invariably successful. But so great, al-
most miraculous, have been our previous triumphs,
that we have begun to expect too much from our
troops whenever matters are left in their hands,
and they are allowed to meet the enemy hand to
hand. The despondency following any failure is,
therefore, in the inverse ratio of our previous
hopes, and we read with too great dismay of the
deplorable losses sustained in the first defeat ex-
perienced by the Allied Armies.
All that can as yet be known is that on Mon-
day morning—a glorious anniversary in the Bri-
tish annals—a combined movement was decided
on against the chief outworks of Sebastopol, the
Redan and the Malakhoff ; that the assault on the
former was entrusted to the British, while
the French undertook the dangerous on-
slaught on the key to the defences of the
Russian stronghold. Both were repelled, and
with fearful. destruction of human life. It is
said, and we believe but too truly, that we have
lost no less than 4,000 in killed and wounded,
including from 60 to 70 officers. The destruc-
tion in the French ranks has been scarcely less
deplorable. We have to deplore the deaths of Sir
JOHN CAMPBELL, Lieutenant-Colonels YEA and
SHADFORTH, and the severe, if not fatal, wounds
of Brigadier YORKE and General JONES. While our
Allies are said to have also lost two of their brave
and experienced Generals, and many gallant officers.
Still painful as the weighty infliction may be, we
must not despond, but firmly resolve to avenge
the deplorable destruction of so many of our faith-.
ful defenders, and to exact more onerous terms
from the despot, whose insatiable ambition and
grasping cupidity has been the primary cause of
these heartrending calamities.
At first the assault was successful ; the aisail-
' 1 ants obtained a footing within the works ; bul

they found that the enemy, with direful sk:

had availed themselves of the temporary respite
accorded to increase the obstacles to the occupation
of the Redan. When the British troops had fought
their way into the fort they found a new and unex-
pected impediment which they had not the materials
to pass. They were exposed to a murderous fire
not only from the defenders of the position, but
the guns of the Malakhoff and neighbouring re-
doubts were also turned against them, and the
carnage was truly terrific, while they maintained
their ground with the firm and unflinching reso-
lution for which Englishmen have so greatly
distinguished themselves on all occasions. Even-
tually they retreated in good order to their own
trenches ; and it is, at least, some consolation
that, although they have been foiled, they
have not been thrown back from any position they
had previously achieved. We must, therefore,
as we have said, bear our heavy trial with forti-
tude and submission, in the earnest hope that a
time may speedily arrive when we shall retrieve
all disasters, and accomplish the objects on which
the hearts of the people are so earnestly set.

The speeches and resolutions at the great meet-
ing at Sheffield on Wednesday last, on the subject
of Administrative Reform, were of a highly satis-
factory nature, and very encouraging to the ad-
vocates and promoters of the movement.

In the first place, both speakers and requisi-
tionists gave unmistakeable proof of being
thoroughly in earnest in the work in hand, and
determined to persevere until it was accomplished ;
and, in the second, they exhibited a thorough
appreciation of the nature of the reform required,
and of the means by which it may best be achieved.
Fervid as was the tone of the meeting, there was no
room left for doubt as to its aims, and these were
eminently practical and constitutional. Thus,
while in the first resolution " the disasters to
which the country has been subjected in the con-
duct of the present war" are ascribed "to the
inefficient and practically irresponsible manage-
ment of the various departments of the State, ag-
gravated by an undue amount of secresy, and
urgently demand a thorough change in the Ad-
ministrative system," in the second the remedy is
indicated. It is "to be sought in the introduc-
tion of enlarged experience and practical ability
into the service of the State ;" and this not to the
exclusion or sole advantage of any particular class
—for, in the words of the resolution, "while they
disclaimed every desire of excluding the aristocra-
tical classes from participation in the councils
of the Crown, they felt it their duty to protest
against the pretensions of any section of the com-
munity to monopolise the functions of administra-
tion." This, it must be confessed, is clear enough,
and to the purpose.

The remedy being thus indicated, we come to
the best mode of application. How well this is
in the main understood and felt may be gathered
from the general agreement to sink the question
of the suffrage "for that night only," so that all
risk of disturbing the unanimity of the meeting
might be obviated ; and this agreement, it should
be understood, was come to by an audience the
great majority of which was in favour of an ex-
tension of the suffrage. In the same spirit the
remarks of Alderman CARR. on this head
were received—" Let them throw down the
apple of discord let them throw aside
the Tories who had come to help them—
let them turn away from the Whigs who had
come to assist them, and the result would be
failure—let them complicate the question with
would get nothin
suffrage and they g--Plet them