The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY-EVENING, MAY 19 1855.

12.4

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

PARIS, SATURDAY, MAY 19, 7.30 A.M.

General Canrobert's report of the combats of
the Ist and 2d, before Sebastopol, is published in
the Moniteur. It concludes as follows :

"This double combat, of which I have just given
you the details, characterises, in the happiest and
in the most honourable manner, the qualities of
intrepidity and ardour that distinguish our
troops. Never have they given—on a limited
theatre, it is true, but where the drama of war is
displayed in the most striking points—greater
proofs of courage and daring. This success has
enabled us to advance 150 metres at one bound
towards the Central Bastion, and has had an im-
mense moral effect upon the two armies.
" The health of the army is excellent.
" The army is superb—of unrivalled energy.
Its equipment is perfect—it stands in need of
nothing."

BERLIN, FRIDAY, MAY 18.

The Journal de Ft. Petersbourg publishes a cir-
cular despatch, addressed to the representatives
of Russia, abroa,i, containing a Rus3ian account
of the progress of the Vienna Conferences.

The settlement of the first point is declared to
be in fulfilment of a promise which Russia had
made to guarantee the prosperity of the Princi-
palities.

The Emperor decided the second point in favour
of the commercial liberty of all nations.
The third point concerned the balance of power
in Europe, but was incompatible with the honour
of Russia.

The Plenipotentiaries of France and England
refused to deliberate upon the fourth point, the
most important of all for Christendom.

VIENNA, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 18.

Things have undergone a change. New Aus-
trian propositions were probably forwarded yester-
day to London and Paris.

It is said that Austria will give her material
support to the Western Powers should they ac-
cept, and Russia reject, her propositions.

VARNA, THURSDAY, MAY 17.
There is heavy firing every night at Sebastopol.
The expedition to Kertch has not been re-
newed.

Three divisions of the French army have left
Maslak for the Crimea.
The cholera has almost disappeared.

We have received the following telegraphic
despatch, dated Nargen, 15th May :
Twenty-three sail, eleven of them screws, have
anchored off Nargen. The other ships in the
Baltic are to assemble immediately.
The Imperieuse sailed to-clay for England, to
repair damage sustained by running into the
Tartar on the 10th.

Active operations against the enemy are in con-
templation.

A telegraphic despatch, dated Hamburg, Vith
inst., says—

The whole of the English fleet, with the ex-
ception of two vessels, has left Farosund to pene-
trate further into the Gulf of Finland.

rt,,,,•!;""ylT. ,

i3tilideg Invi left tbat port, and the
commander of the liner Orion had likewise been ordered
to join Admiral Dundas in the Baltic without delay.
No English ship of war, riccordingly, remains at Kiel.
You may form an idea of the quantity of meat required
for the censurer ion of the English crews when I tell you
that on the 9th no less than 200 oxen were shipped at
Elsinore, in the transport Mercator, for the fleet, and
this number wi'l scarcely suffice for its consumption
during eight days. We have received accounts
from Riga of the 9th, and from Revel, of the Bth
instant. A considerable number cf sailors from Lake
Ladoga had arrived at this last port, to serve as
volunteers on board the gun-boats constructed
and organised according to the system of the Grand
Duke Con,tantine, and which have been reinforced since
1854 by two divisions in the Gulf f Finland. No Eng-
lish ship of war had appeared before the place since
the notification of the blockade to the fireign Corpuls
by the two steam frigates. The gulf is now sufficiently
free from ice to be navigated without much danger.
It was expected that the English fleet would effect a
landing, as last year, on the Is'and of Dagoe, which is
unprotected, and almost entirely covered with woof!,
An entire division of Russian gun-boats, completely
armed and manned, is stationed at Revel. The Rip-
sians greatly rely upon those light vessels for the
defence of the towns situate along the gulf during
the next campaign. The garrison of Revel, at the
date of the last accounts, emsisted of 20,000 in-
fantry, quartered partly in the town and partly in the
neighbouring country. The cava'ry was echeloned
along the coast. Other troops w:r3 stationed in the dif-
ferent localities of the provinces of Esthonia, which is
placed, like those of Livonia and Courland, under the
chief command of General &ewers."

BERLIN, FRIDAY, MAY 18.
The Driver, Captain Gardiner, arrived at
Dantzic on the 1111).

" v

Eight Russian merchantmen have been cap-
tured off Dunamunde.

The Imperieuse and Tar-tar have been damaged
by a collision, and sent home for repairs.
When the Driver left Revel a flag of truce was
flying on shore ; cause unknown.

TO THE EDiroll OF THE SUN.

• WoomieEt, May 16.
Sra,—" D--n all inventions and all inventors."
Those were the energetic words said to be uttered by the
Duke when his attention was requested to some con-
trivanCe of a War engine. Another military authority
in a high position asked what was to become of gentle-
men in the profession of arms if short work be made of
war by wholesale destructive schemes?

Jan-ies Watt, of steam-engine celebrity, said that of all
misfortunes which alight upon man none can be greater
than the genius of invention. The Earl of Dandonald
and many others may have learned by experience to
sympathise with James Watt. None, perhaps, but
inventors know the amount of discouragement. and diffi-
culty there is to combat, should their inventions, how-
ever well conceived, have to encounter the interests of
existing establishments.

RUSSIA.. •
The St. Petersbnrg papers, of the 10th inst.,
_contain an Imperial manifesto, ordering a fresh
levy of troops on a more extensive scale than usual.
The following is the text :

" We, A►exander the Second, by the grace of God
Emperor, &c.

But there is a limit to the patience and patriotism of
man, and. there is a fear that war engines which have
been offered to our Government will, from the indiffe-
rence with which they may have been treated, probably
from their not being understood, pass over to the Russians;
and that the first information the "gentlemen of England
who live at home at ea,e" may have of their existence
will be of their being employed in the destruction of our
fleet and army.
Would it -not, therefore, be well to have a oomm'ssior
for' the purpose of examining inventions that are of vital
importance to _England in her war with Russia? In
such investigation there should be no foolish or lavish
expenditure of the public money. In testing by experi-
ment the efficacy of a scheme, the inventor should be
bound to defray the costs of the experiments that might
be incurred by Government, in the event of failure
The members of the commission should be thoroughly
competent to the duty required of them, and which
should be undertaken, in a spirit of good feeling, and
with a desire to assist, rather than to put down, an in-
ventor who may submit his scheme for examination.

"Inasmuch as we, under the present circumstances
of the war, consider it indispensable to maintain our
armies and fleets at their full complement, we com-
mand—

"1. The 13th partial levy, to the extent of 12 men
for every 1,000 souls, shall be carried into execution
on the basis of the ukase in this case specially addressed
to the Administrative Senate in the following. 17 Go-
vernments of the we,tern half of the empire :—Karkoff,
E:thland, Grodno, Ekaterinoslaff, Kieff, Kowno, Cour-
land, Lifland, Minsk, Mobileff, Podolia, Poltowa, Pskoff,
Tschernigoff, Wilna, Witepsk, and Volhynia. 2. The
levy is to commence on June 13, 1855, and to finish on
July 13th of the same year. 3. The Hebrews are to
be exempted from furnishing- any recruits to this levy.
"Giverat St. Petersburg, May 6 (April 24th in
the year 1855 after the birth of Christ, and in the Ist of
our reign. "ALEXANDER."

We are building and equipping war ships at an
immense expense. These costly ships can, it is confi-
dently asserted, be destroyed by an expenditure up .n
each of about twenty pounds worth of explosive compo-
sition. Such destruction can be effected with ease, and
with small risk to those by whom it may be accomplished.
If the subject upon which I have briefly descanted
were brought before the public by a proper appeal great
good might result, for if the war should continue it can
be much more effectively conducted than it has been up
to this date, and with a very diminished expenditure of
men and treasure.--I remain, Sir, yours sincerely and
much obliged,

The-ukase which was addressed at the same time
to the Administrative Senate is as follows :
"By a manifesto issued to-day we have ordered the
execution of the 13th alternate partial levy of recruits in
17 governments of the western half of the empire, and
commA.nd therefore-1. This levy is to begin on June
13, 1855, and to be ended by July 13, 1855. 2. The
money for providing the recruits with uniforms is to be
levied on the parties furnishing recruits, according to the
amount which those uniforms cost the commissariat de-
partment,—that is to say, 10 roubles 20 copecs silver.
"The military arrangements we have confided to our
Minister of War, and the succe,--sful execution and com-
pletion of this levy within the appointed time we commit
to the provident care of the Administrative Senate.

A COMMANDER, R.N.

HAYOVER-SQUARE ROOMS.

Last evening the Rev. R. Boyle gave the fourth of his
series of lectures upon the four grandest works of Shaks-
pere. The subject was the second part of " Macbeth." It is
said that there is nothing new under the sun ; and when
speaking of criticims and lectures upon our immortal bard,
the saying may appear especially truthful ; and yet we
venture to think that the Reverend Gentleman has really
struck out a Course of lectures quite novel in their form,
and very different in their substance from anthing of the
kind that has of late years been submitted for public ap-
probation. We have had lectures upon the morality, upon
the historical accuracy, upon the philosophy of Shakspere;
lectures upon his female characters, upon his kings and
queens, upon his heroes ; lectures, in fine, in almost end-
less variety, upon the quarto and folio editions, upon the
re:l readings, upon the reputed corruptions of his, plays.
But we koow of no lectures which combine so happily, as
Mr. Boyle's lectures do, the useful with the pleasing, the
instructive with the agreeable, the critical and the pro.
found with the light and fanciful. He addresses himself
at once to the eye, to the" imagination, and to the intellect
of his audience. Possessing a clear, distinct, flexible,.and
remarkably tuneful voice, andbeing a perfect elocutionist,
the remarks -and illustrations, with which he varies his
sea era readings, show him to be a deep thinker upon and
a thorough master of his subject. His delivery of and
observati.,us upon the second scene of the third act, evi-
dently took his hearers by surprise. It is a scene of no re-
markable notoriety, as exhibited upon the stage ; and yet
the picture he 'presented of two miserable creatures, bus
band and wife, seeking to sooth each other's sorrows, and
to pour the balm .of consolation into each other's aehing
hearts, was one of the grandest conceptions of the vaiole lec-
ture. We anticipate muah pleasure from his two lectures
upoii " Hamlet," 'announCed to take place next Tuesday
and Thursday.

"ALEXANDER.
" St. Petersburg, May 6, 1855."
We have -received the St. Petersburg journals of
of the 11th ihst.

THE NAVVIES'SMNT OUT TO THE

CRIHEA.

The Invalide Russe publishes the following :
"Aidv-de-Camp General Prince Glrticuakotf has
sent, via Kieff, the following despatch, dated Sebastopol,
April 26 (6th May) -
" From the 21st to the 24th April (31 t') 6th May),
the enemy was chiefly occupied with increasing his bat-
teries, and strengthening the epaulments of his ap-
proaches against bastion 5. His heaviest fire was di-
rected azairst that halation and against bastion 4, and
the Seliughinsk and Volhynia redoubt; but we replied
with success.

" Moreover, on the night between the 21st and 224
April (3d to 4th May) the enemy fired two mines to
unite his former entonnoirB, but that operation can=ed us
no damage; on our side we annoyed the ene'ny with
smoke balls on different points of his eraonnoirs
"On the night between the 234 and 24th (sth and
6th May) a successful little sortie waq made from the
third section of lines of defence, in which we took an
English officer and three men prisoners ; within these
few days our fire blew up three of the enemy's powder
magazines. -

Sir S. M. Peto, accompanied by Mr. Taylor, solicitor,
of Furnivars-inn, waited upon Mr. Arnold, at the West-
minster Police-court, in reference to a statement made
in this court by a man named Howard, one of the
" navvies" sent out to the Crimea.

From the explanations given by Mr. Taylor, it ap-
peared that Howard, with others, left England on the
19th of December, in the Prince of Wales, but, owing to
his having been guilty of robbing some of the men of
their clothes, he was tried by a naval court-martial on
board the Queen, in Beycos Bay, and, having been con-
victed, was ordered to be sent home. Tyson and Noble,
two other navvies, were convicted by the court of the
same offence. In consequence of this conviction alone
had an end been put to their contract. Howard had not
been allowed to do any work at Balaklava on the railway,
and was not entitled to any wages in connection there-
with ; so that his statement on that head was quite
groundless: The firm had considered the three men en-
ctlod to their wages up to the time of their conviction—
s. from the 19th of December to the 31st of January.
Money had been paid for theib in London, in ignor-
ance of their misconduct on their passage out ; and
Howard had in all received 10/. 55., and had there-
fore been overpaid 15s. When the three convicted
men reached Balaklava, Sir Edmund Lyons said
that they-might be allowed to go on with their work if
Mr. Beatty thought proper ; but Mr. Beatty and a '
committee formed of the principal officers of the engineer-
ing, transport, and other departments, decided that
it would be very injudicious to employ convicted felobs
with the other workmen, and so determined that they
should be sent back to England. Besides the felony
spoken of, the men under notice had been guilty of
drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and had been
ordered to be sent home on that account also. Mr. Tay-
lor then put in the most convincing documentary
evidence to support the statement thus made, and
at the same time read an extract from resolutions of the
officeri' committee at Balaklava, showing that the porter
was to be had three times a week at cost price by any
man applying for it. ,
Mr. Arnold said that after the statement made be
was perfectly satisfied, and of course should not think
of granting a summons. He was sorry Sir Samuel had
been put to the trouble of attending. '

"In the evening of the 21st of April (May 3) a por-
tion of the enemy's fleet stood out to sea with troops
on board, estimated at from 10,000 to 15,000 men, with
the intention of effecting a landing. Oa the following
day the squadron passed Yalta, taking, it was presumed,
the direction of Anapa."

GENERAL CAN.ROBERT'S ORDER OF TEE
. DAY.

The following order, dated May 2, has been
published on the affair of the Ist inst. by General
Canrobert

"The Ist corps has just added a glorious action to
those which hare already. honoured our arms in this
campaign. The enemy had established in front of our
attacks on the left a series of fortified posts, which they
had connected together most solidly, and which seri-
ously menaced our wori- s nearest the town. The whole
was defended by several battalions. In, the night of
the 1-t this work was attached by three columns of
our men, formed of the 46th of the Line under
Colonel Gault, and detachments from the Ist
Regiment of the Foreign Legion, and from the
43d, 790, 42.1, and 98th of the Line, under the
orders of General de Sallee, seconded by Generals Ba-
zaine and de la M.,ttereuge. These troops advanced
with great spirit, and ultimately forced the enemy back
into the town ; and the engineering department,
under Colonel Guerin, worked with such vigour
as to ensure their definitive establishment in the
enemy's work, from which they carried away the
guns with which it was armed. Colonel Viennot, of the
Ist Regiment of the Foreign Legion, died gloriously sword
in hand at the head of his regiment. I have to thank the
generals, officers: and soldiers, for their ad mi rabl e.c.induct
in this affair. I thank, in particular, Gen. Pelissier, in
command of the let corps, for the able arrangements with
which he prepared the result just obtained. This day,
the enemy, seconded by their artillery, attempted to re
cover the ground which they had lost, but their efforts
proved fruitless before the gallantry of our soldiers and
the skilful fire of our artillery. " CANBOBERT.”

DENMARK.
COPENHAGEN, May 13.—The sitting of the Coun-
bciyl othfeSKtatieng, wasconN'e not,ne a
dyesstegrdenayer,aalnlyd p
supposed,
dover
for
the purpose of discussing the electoral law for the
new combined parliament of the nation, but on a
subject of much deeper importance for Denmark—
the question of peace or war. The British and
French envoys have received instructions to com-
municate to the Daniih cabinet that their Govern-
ments can no longer acknowledge the neutrality of
Denmark, but insist in the most serious manner. on
her declaring openly as a friend or foe.
Telegraphic accounts received from Stockholm
state that the ambassadors of the Western Powers
have presented a similar categorical demand in the
shape of an ultimatum to the Swedish Government,
in consequence of which the militia (bevering) has
been ordered to be mobilised. As every Swede be-
tween the ages of 20 and 25 years is enrolled in the
Levering, and bound to serve, this arm of the ser-
vice numbers no less than 93,295 men, to which.
must be added the militia of Gothland, which has'
is own local corps, amounting to 7,620 men ; so
that the effect of the order for mobilisation will be
and the so-called
ullaoro,ooarOmymen under arms, in
atod dpiltaicoen utopwtahredsreogf
Indelta troops, numbering together 40,000 men.