The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-04 00:00:00

ARRIVAL OP THE HIMALAYA.

The Himalaya steam-ship, Captain Thomas Russell,
steamed into Portsmouth harbour yesterday afternoon
and ranged alongside the dockyard jetty, at two o'clock,
and immediately commenced landing her Wounded, in-
valids, and baggage ; but, from the want of that
" organisation" which has destroyed the efficiency of the
army in the Crimea, the landing was only partially and
imperfectly effected, and the scene- was pitiable- in the
extreme. There were plenty of small officials, but no
"head." Whether it was a naval or a military duty to
provide for the comfortable debarkation of these brave
fellows seems to have been a problem not worked out
by the local authorities at the time of the Himalaya's
arrival, as her own crew and a few of the better able of
the invalids themselves were the first to begin the work
of landing the crippled and their baggage. We saw no
Admiral Superintendent of the dockyard on duty, or
any Major-General Commandant of the garrison ; con-
sequently much delay, confusion, and pain were unne-
cessarily occasioned, and, what appeared more cruel
than all the rest, the luggage of all landed was
ransacked on the open jetty, before a single officer or
man was allowed to leave for home or hospital. This
was a disgraceful exhibition, and one as painful to the
few Castom-house officers who were compelled to per.
form the duty as it was to a bystander to witness.
Surely the Government in town ought to have provided
for the baggage of the wounded being examined or passed
in a different manner, or else have augmented the
Portsmouth Customs' staff to a degree proportionate
to the urgency of the case. Although the place of land-
ing these brave invalids was flanked on one side by the
great and celebrated naval hospital of Haslar, and
by a newly-erected and most capacious military hospital
in Portsmouth garrison on the other, and although the
arrival of the Himalaya had been known 24 hours at
least, yet there were no ambulance conveyances at hand
to receive them when the ship hauled alongside the dock-
yard to 'land her sickly troops, nor were men at hand to
render aid and support the sick without the ambulances.
Indeed the nature of the accommodation on the spot may
be guessed from the fact that a number of the comrades
of such as were wholly or partially footless, legless, arm-
less, or eyeless, helped from the ship to the jetty their
more crippled and more helpless fellow-sufferers, where
they set them down on their own baggage, a log of
timber, or anything that afforded a seat, or on the damp
deck of the jetty. Eventually, however, a representa-
tive of the Military Governorship of Portsmouth ap-
peared, Lord Methuen, Colonel of the Royal Wilts
Militia, with a fatigue party of about 40 men of that
regiment, gave them some assistance, and, on the ar-
rival of seine eight or tea stretchers from the medical
department. at Portsea, under ther direction of Dr.
Robinson, the worst of the wounded patients (patient,
indeed, the poor fellows were under all these trials) were
placed in them, and removed to sick quarters. The
Brigade-Major of Portsmouth garrison, Major Dalgetty,
eventually arrived at the scene of confusion, but at half-
past 3 very little had been done to facilitate the disem-
barkation of those who arrived in the port at 2 o'clock
on Tuesday, and we understood that not above 50 had
been landed, and bat fex others appeared likely to be
landed last night, or until " arrangements" (that's the
official term) could be made. At the time this despatch
left, however (7.30 p.m.), we are glad to state all the
wounded had been got out of the ship, and by means of
omnibuses got away to sick quarters.

ME ENCROACHMENTS OF RUSSIA.

(from the ConstitutionAtl.)

The third condition contained in the guaranteet4 of
August 8, and the unmodified adoption of which Austria
requires from Russia, before entering into negotiation
With her for peace, is the revision of the treaty of July
13, ISII, called the Treaty of the Sti ails. But what is
the value of the treaty of 1841 with the well-kt:own
tet.dencies of Russia ? It ensures to the Czar the pos
sibility of surprising Constantinople, and the certainty
of seizing on it by a vigorous coup de main at some well-
chosen moment. It has been seen that one of the pre-
tensions put forward by Russia, under the Empress
tune, was the free navigation of the Black Sea,
Bosphorus, Hellespont, and Mediterranean, by Rus-
sian vessels. Forty years' war was required to
oblige the Turks to yield on this point ' • and even
in submitting at Kainardji, on July 21, 1774, to the de-
cision of the Empress Anne, repeated by Catherine, the
sultans accorded the passage of the straits only to Rus-
eian trading vessels,- and then, on condition of being
visited. Ships of war were not comprised in the treat),
without doubt, because the Czars, lately arrived in the
Black Sea, had net yet had time to found there military
establishments. By degrees, ports were built and
ar-
senals founded. Kertch and Jeni Kalii were obtained
in 1774. Kherson arose in 1778, Sebastopol in 1786,
and Odessa in 1796. Anapa, on the Asiatic coast, was
taken 1791, and Poti was obtained iu 1829 by the treaty
of Adrianople. A feverish activity peopled these new
ports with vessels of war, armed these citadels, and pro-
visioned these arsenals ; and the moment arrived for the
Russians to obtain, for their vessels of war, as for
their trading craft, the right of passing from the Black
li Soft into the Mediterranean. That increase of power
which neither Anne, nor Catherine herself had dared
demand, was obtained by the Emperor Nicholas in
1833, and then the maps were adorned, to use Catherine's
expression to Voltaire, with a eommnnication from
Corinth to Moscow. After the European Powers had
arrested by the treaty of Kutayeh, en March 14, 1833,
the march of Ibrahim-1 Pacha on Constantinople, Russia
which had landed troops on the shores of the Helles-
pont, at Unkiar-Skelessi, succeeded in deceiving the
Porte as to the sentiments, disinterested as they were,
of the powers, and by ruse or by terror, obtained on
the Bth of July a secret convention which insured to
her for eight years the passage from the Black Sea
to the Mediterranean for her vessels of war, to the
exclusion of all other navies. That situation of
Russia, so audaciously selfish, feigning to protect
the State and the city which she coveted, produced
a deep sensation in Europe, when known. At the
expiration of the treaty of trekair-Skelessi in 1841,
Russia was obliged to renounce her privileged navigation;
but, in accordance with that
,short-sightedness which,
for a century and a half, made the European powers the
accomplices of the Czars, which enabled them to acquire
the frontier of the Dneister by the aid of Austria, rouse
up Greece to insurrection by the aid of England, and
destroy the Ottoman navy at Navarino by the aid of
France, the treaty of July 13, 1841, in interdicting the
Russian navy from navigating the straits, extended that
interdiction to the vessels of war of all the other
powers ; so that the fleets of Sebastopol could
always menace Constantinople by the Black Sea,
without the fleets of Portsmouth and Toulon being
able to go to its aid by the Dardanelles. The treaty
of July 13, 1841, was, therefore, at least as mach
as that of July 8, 1833, a triumph for Russia. The
first, it is true, permitted the Russian vessels of war to
enter the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, but these
vessels had nothing
of importance to do in the Mediter-
rinean, in face of the French and English fleets, at least
as long as she did not possess Constantinople ; whereas
the treaty of July 13, 1841, which interdicted the ves-
sels of war of all the other powers from entering the
Dardanelles, but which allowed to Russia the exclusive
navigation of the Black Sea, left Constantinople at the
mercy of a coup•de main, and permitted the squadrons
of Sebastopol to annihilate, as has been seen at Sinope,
the Turkish squadrons of the Black Sea, whilst the
Allied fleets were kept by that same treaty outside the
Straits. These are, therefore, immense advantages, long
desired, long prepared, and cleverly obtained, of which
Austria calls for the. absolute abandonment by Russia,
as a pieliminary to every negotiation for peace.

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As we have lately dealt so much on the 'disor-
ganization of our army in the East and the appa-
rently needless loss of life immediately arising from
it, we are glad of an opportunity of presenting the
other side of the picture, terrible as it may be.
The other side—that compensation for this suffer-
ing and mortality—is, that on the testimony of a
perfectly competent and impartial authority, the
siege at the last departure of the post, that is the
13th, was so tar advanced as to leave hardly a
doubt that something decisive would soon be
done. We have repeatedly been infortned that an
assault was to take place about Christmas; but the
information was coupled with the request that we
would say nothing to indicate the quarter or the
day of attack. We believe that we may now say
that on the 13th it was the general belief that on
or about Christmas-day the Allies would open fire
from 300 pieces, with such a supply of ammunition
as would enable them to continue without stop-
ping ftr forty-eight hours, after which they would
assault from both French and British positions
with great prospect of success. Thus the assault
would probably be made on the 28th. There was
some chance, indeed, of a Russian attack in antici-
pation of ours, but from Russian sources we learn
that nothing had occurred up to the 20th. On the
same authority we learn that on the 13th the
men who bad got their warm clothing were in good
spirits, and, though no reliance could be placed on
a transient gleam of fine weather, the health of the
army was expected to improve. It is not without
some compunction that we congratulate our readers
on the prospect of Christmas-day being celebrated
in this horrid fashion, by a shower of death and
destruction hurled on a Christian city. We can-
not, however, help what we are about. , The re-
sponsibility must rest on the, head of him who
wantonly invaded the territory of hie neighbour in
a time of profound peace, and who hat, built the
city now assailed by our armies, not for coin:nem-
nor pet defence, but for the annoyance, con-
quest, and dominion of nations now enjoying their
own government, religion, and laws.. If these ex-
pectations Were well founded, we may expect in
two or three days to hear that this question has
come to its last issue, and that the four nations
have crossed their bayonets over the shattered
walls of Sebastopol. Even if the first attempt
should be unsuccessful, we are confident the Britisk
people would rather have this proof of activity and
decision than see a noble army dying literally in a
ditch, without glory, withontresult.
It cannot, however, be concealed for a, moment
that, onrthe most favourable supposition, the cap-
ture of the city, the dockyard, arsenal, and the
Quarantine Fort would only commence another
phase of the difficulty. We should still have to
take the northern forts, to hold Balaklava, or effect,
without loss, our retreat from it, and to be besieged
in our turn. We may be sure that no effort will
be spared on the part of the enemy to make Sebas-
topol as hard to hold as to get, and in the situation
that would arise out of this new state of affairs
there would be quite as great demands for good
generalship as there have been in the operations of
the siege. Yet the change of relations in the event
of a successful assault will net be simply that the
Allies and the Russians have exchanged positions.
We shall not be the besieged, and they the be-
siegers, in precisely the same sense as besiegers and
besieged stand at present. We shall have the entire
command of the sea, and the Russians be entirely
excluded from it. The heavy material of the siege,
which we have carried by the easiest, cheapest,
and quickest of all conveyances—in ships, they
will have to drag through the mud many hundred
miles, by means of transport that will continually
perish is the using, even more than our ships—that
is, the rude arabas and oxen of the country. With
the city in our possession, and with our fleet hover-
ing along the whole coast of the Euxine, it certainly
will not be easy for the Russians to keep an army
in the field near Sebastopol. Yet such a position
is one of the boldest ever attempted in the history
of war. The occupation of the Russian capital,
itself, the conversion of its palaces into barracks,
and the retribution upon Russia of the numerous
insults it has heaped in its day on all the cities that
that have fallen within its power, could not _le‘ a
more irritating spectacle than the occupation er
destruction by allies of these gigantic batteries
raised with such labour and cost for the conquest
of the East. The whole military population of
Russia would be turned southward in one vast
current, to overflow and swallow up our compa-
ratively small armies. New levies would be ex-
torted, so long as there remained a man who could
stand under arms. No expense would be spared
so long as there remained a noble who possessed
the wherewithal for a forced contribution. There
is nothing the Emperor would not do to exter-
minate from the soil the invaders who insulted
even more than they damaged his power. To
be the subject of an aggression, to feel the
pangs of lost territory, and the shame of dis-
comfiture, certainly would be new to Russia,
and we may be sure she would iesent it to the
uttermost of her power. In spite, therefore, of
the palpable advantage we should derive at
once from the possession of Sebastopol, and the
exchange from misery to comfort, and from con-
stant jeopardy to something like security, the new
hoblers of the city would find their berth a warm
one, and would hardly have time to turn round
before they found the Russians once more upon
theeisire.i OetnieomreaosstoifitTourgaibiallei
(modify
the
supposition,
opinion w
therefore,e jvae
w
ventured to express, that the conduct of the war
requires certain military qualities which have not
been hitherto shown iu it. The allies will have to
act on the defensive with more energy than they
have shown in the offensive, and they will have to
secure themselves against a foe whom they have
hitherto despised rather more than he deserved.
When, too, it is considered that Sebastopol will
never be secure without the occupation of the
Crimea, and that to occupy the Crimea it may
be necessary to hold and to fortify Perekop, we
think we have said enough to show that the
very highest military ability in the Commander-
in-Chief and in his staff will be required.
The whole aspect of the war will be liable to
continual changes, and with some twenty miles
of enceinte to watch, with a country in the posses-
sion of the foe, witlia Greek population in his in-
terest, and with reinforcements perpetually arriv-!
ing of indefinite quantity and strength, it will
require either an overpowering and costly army,
very difficult to be maintained in such a position,.
or some of that alacrity and übiquity which, in
great generals, makes up for the want of battalions.
Should we therefore continue our present Generals
and staff, we may expect to hear the cry of "More
men, more men," repeated with the same fearful,
importunity as now, and the reinforcement as fast
as they arrive merely absorbed in replacing the
victims of unnecessary hardship, wanton precipita-
tion, or causeless delay. We must, then, adhere
to our opinion, that even if the city should now be
won, and the successful generals, so far, deserving
of almost any honour their country can bestow,
yet for the occupation and defence of Sebastopol,.
without. the• most hideous and constant drain of
life, other qualities will be required than those we
have yet seen in our commanders, and that no
time should be lost in giving the benefit of such
qualities to the remains of our army.—Times.

THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

LIBEL.

- -

THE REV. EBBNEzER DAVIES V. DANIEL PRATT, PUBLISHER

OF THE " BRITISH BANNER.:;

Mr. Whateley, Q.C., proceeded with this arbitration
yesterday, when the court was more densely crowded
than on the previous day, it having been understood that
the plaintiff would be subjected to a cross-examination
by Mr. Serjeant Wilkins.
Mr. Ballantine and Mr. Barnard again appeared for
the plaintiff, and Mr. Serjeant Wilkins and Mr. Evans
represented the defendant.
Mr. Davies's examination was proceeded with at great
length, at the conclusion of which the case was again
adjourned.