The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-13 00:00:00

GENERAL CANROBERT'S MISSION.

SIR COLIN CAMPBELL.

STOCKHOLM, Nov. 6.—Up to a late hour last In giving publicity to the following letter from
night numerous groups crowned the Helms, and Colonel Sterling we, Times, feel bound to admit
other elevated situations, from whence a view of that the paragraph to which he has taken exception
the channel, with the open sea in the distance, does not do justice to the good services and well-
could be obtained, in the hope of welcoming Gen. won claims of one of the most distinguished and
Canrobert on his landing on Swedish soil. This deserving officers in her Majesty's army. We have
morning, at an early hour, the steamer Gauthiod, been assured, moreover, that the return of Sir
from Lubeck, was signalised, and the news flew Colin Campbell to this country is in no way con.
from mouth to mouth with such celerity that a netted with the promotion of Sir W. Codrington
very large crowd had assembled at the landing- to the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Army
place by the time the steamer had come alongside, in the Crimea, Sir Culin's application for leave of
who cheered the General vociferously on his step- absence "on urgent private affairs" having been
ping on shore. made before the news of Sir William's appointment
It is not only to General Canrobert, ex-cowman- i could have reached the Crimea:—
der-in-chief of the French army in the Crimea, that J " Camp Kamera, Oct. 19.
this ovation is paid, the belief is general that he ,
_`.` Sir,--I have read with amazement a leading
comes the harbinger of war. It is thought that the article in the Times of the 4th of October on the
subject of the co
! graph of it I particularly wish
moment has at length arrived when Sweden will , command of this army. One pare-
I have italicised the parts
teto
n t
whir hr
iecmh a remark
meanu pon. J
to take a gallant part in the good cause. I have o
gird on her armour in right earnest, and be ready
:
aretot,l,c,llA.si
single year of warfare has disposed of the whole
reason forasserting that great numbers of the Swedes
in favour of taking an open and honourably active
I of those veterans, with the exception
ci of Sir Colin Camp-
thepart in the war against Russia. The excitement on
' bell, who has been laid up 'en
military
rtaall the winter withk
ifh doa 1 vvneeo t mad
en.
subject appears now to have reached its climax.
Enthusiasm in favour of war is not only to be found his Highlanders, and whosi
lodge of them by'
his exploits in theyPun;nutk
in the members of the army and navy of all grades, .title him to aspire to a great command. We
but it swells the bosoms of the farmer, the artisan,
the result of sending a young army into the field almostsn
the manufacturer—in fact, civilians of all classes.
entirely led by old chiefs, who owed their rank to
All eyes are, therefore, turned on the French seniority and brevet promotion ; the best of them have
general who comes among us at this critical junc- either fallen in battle or sunk under disease, and those
ture, and rumours of all sorts are in circulation, who remain are mere obstructions to the real strength of
In the military circles the plan of next year's cam- the army.'
paign is the general theme of conversation, and " The first assertion here is that Sir Colin Camp.
those cfficers who have been in Finland and Rus- bell and his Highlanders were laid up in lavender
sia are listened to at the mess table and in the club during the winter ; I was also in lavender with
rooms with the most profound attention. I have them, and have better reason than the writer of
been assured on good authority that a general this article to know what the fact was as to our
officer, who has access to royalty, has stated to his comforts. The three regiments, the 42d, 79th, and,
military friends that General Canrobert has full 93d were waited in front of Balaklava on the day
powers from the Emperor of the French to con- after the so-called action of Balaklava. Their
dude a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance business was, aided by the brigade of Royal Marines,
with Sweden, and to settle the needful stipulations. consisting of some 1,200 men, and several thou-
To show how far men's minds have become fami- sands of the poor Turks, who were driven out of
liar with the idea of hostilities with Russia, I will the redoubts on the day of Balaklava, and who
give a plan of operations which is circulated very nearly all died during the winter of the cold and
extensively and discussed here. Of course, under hardship which the sturdy Scotchmen endured
present circumstances, Ido not claim for it any without a murmur, under the cheerful, noble,
authoritative origin. It is said, then, that Sweden generous leading of Sir ColinCampbell,—their busi-
is to furnish an arm of 60,000 men, besides her ness, I say, was to finish the works on the heights,
fleet and 200 gun-boats, which are, however, to and construct trenches in mud, and frost, and
undertake operations in Finland under their own snow, and, when made, to guard them. The guard-
commanders and quite independently of the Allied ing consisted in the whole of the soldiers being
forces; that the Swedish contingent is to enter
fully accoutred all night and every night; one-half
Finlan in the spring at three different points si- of them lay every night in the trenches, and the
multaneously, and in corps of nearly equalstrength, other half in the muddy tents from the 25th of
about 20,000 men in each. One corps will be con- October till the 6th of December, when the Rus-
centrated on our northern frontiers during the sians retired across the Tchernaya. During this
winter ; it will march by land, entering Finland period, and for many weeks afterwards, they were
by Tornea, whilst the other two corps will be sent never dry. Immediately on the enemy's retreat
across the gulf by water, and landed under cover of the fatigue parties to the front began ; on which
the fleet and the flotilla of gun-boats upon two subject I beg to introduce an extract of a letter
points which it would be unwise at the present from Sir Colin Campbell to Major-General Airey,
moment to further particularise. dated ' January 29, 1855, Camp in front of Bala-
The Swedish plan even goes further and em- klava' :
braces the operations of the allies in the Gulf of
Finland with a force of 50,000 men, land troops,
which will be quite sufficient to hold the Russians
in check, and enable the Swedes to overcome all
difficulties in Finland, and arrive without serious

" Camp Balaklava, Jan. 29.

" Sir,—During the last eight weeks the European
troops under my command have been employed on fa-
tigue to a very great extent; when I understood from
the artillery officers here that the progress of the siege
would be assisted by my doing so, I employed, of my
own accord, and without any order, all the available
soldiers in carrying to the park the following ordnance
st )res, besides a quantity of shot and shell, of which I
have no account—viz ,
33 platforms of 60 pieces, each being a
load for
120 large platform sleepers
Iron shoes for platforms, and 90 packets 90 "
450 packages
About GO fascines
About 30 cwt. of coals, for platform
shoes, &c.

opposition at the laud gates of Sweaborg, and Wy-
borg, where they would find the allied fleets ready
to co-operate with them from the sea-board.

Under these circumstances, it is not to be won-
dered at that not only the citizens of Stockholm,
but the inhabitants of Sweden generally, hail the
arrival of General Canrobert as an event of the

greatest possible importance, and await the result of
his mission with intense excitement.

THE FLOATING BATTERIES.

The Moniteur of yesterday opens with an essay,
in large type, on the merits of the new floating
batteries. The invention of these new engines of
war is ascribed immediately to the Emperor. His
Majesty, whom previous studies had made familiar
with questions connected with the use of artillery,
had from the first seen that the Russian admirals
might refuse to leave their fortified ports in the
Baltic and Black Sea, and that iu that case to
attack the forts with valuable ships would be most
unwise. His orders on this point were emphatic.
The Emperor's expectations were realised, and his
Majesty then considered how a marine siege train,
so to speak, might be formed, ordinary ships being
constructed merely to fight with other ships, while
it was desired to find a vessel with which forts of
masonry or earth might be successfully assailed.
The Em peror's aim was to find out a way of construct-
ing ships which should be cheaper and more easily
and promptly built than ships of the line, drawing
little water, capable of being served by a smaller
crew, and covered with an armour, against
which hollow shot fired from Paixhan's guns
should be broken like glass. Experiments were
made at Vincennes on the required strength in the
defensive iron plates, and the necessary thickness
having been ascertained the Emperor drew the
plan of the new engine, as it now exists, with a
single tier of guns, its external covering defying
alike solid or hollow cold or red-hot shot, and
gave it the name of " floating battery," to indi-
cate that it was not a ship built to pursue or avoid
an enemy, but a veritable siege battery, capable of
attacking with energy and persistence fortifica-
tions heretofore regarded as unassailable by sea.
"As soon," says The official writer, "as the pre-
' limivary artillery trials had been made, and before
the plan had been actually wrought out, the Em-
peror lost no time in transmitting the result to our
faithful and great ally. Competent judges, men of
knowledge and experience expressed some surprise,
for the problem had been regarded as insoluble ;
but the trials made in England confirmed those
made in France, and the two Governments re-
solved each to construct a certain number of these
floating batteries, which have just been employed
for the first time at Kinbourn. The projectiles
which have struck them, though of great dimen-
sions, have not been able to penetrate or damage
their surface, while the floating batteries have
opened practicable breaches in walls of masonry.
Thus not only have they annulled the properties
of Paixhan's shells, which produced effects so
disastrous at Sinope, but experiments prove that
they are proof against solid shot. Our navy and
that of our allies now know the properties of this
new engine of war, and will be able to make a very
good use of it. The Emperor had previously given
France a field artillery, which did good service at
Alma, Inkerman, and Traktir ; he has now given
to the navy an arm altogether new, the power of
which the future will reveal."

Total

..,. 6,926

" Besides which these men have carried to Lord
Raglan's house nearly 4,000 bags of biscuit, being 13
days' consumption for 25,000 men. Frequently 1,300
Europeans and from 300 to 500 Turks have been thus
employed. At the same time the troops had to carry
up from Balaklava the whole of their rations, their re-
gimental transport having been taken away from them
by the Assistant-Quartermaster-General of the First Di-
vision, and their public animals by the Commissary, the
latter for carrying the rations of the First Brigade of
the First Division. During these fatigues there fre-
quently remained to protect the position merely the or-
dinary day guard and the cooks. These fatigues usually
lasted from seven to eight hours daily, during which time
the men were mid-leg-in mud.--I have, &c.,
" C. CAMPBELL, Major-General.
" INljor-General Airey, Quartermaster-General.'
" Until the 6'h of December the small British
force in the lines of Balaklava had 18 battalions of
Russian infantry and 21 guns in position close
overhanging them, and threatening an attack at
any moment. The vigilance, the energy, and judg-
ment displayed all this time by Sir Colin Campbell
will long be remembered by those who witnessed
the exhibition. That officer during the winter
exposed himself to more cold and hardship than all
the other Generals in the army and all their Staff
officers put together ; always on parade with all his
men and officers, in rain and mud, before daylight,
he slept in his clothes regularly for eight months ;
and this is the lavender' you write about.
" The next point is a reference to Sir Colin
Campbell's exploits in the Punjaub, which can be
called nothing but a depreciatory one, since the
deduction drawn is that they did not entitle him
to a great
.command. I should be glad to know
what does entitle a man to a great command.
See Sir Charles Napier's despatches when he
speaks of Sir Colin. The latter, when he left
India, brought with him letters from Lord Dal-
housie, containing the highest possible encomiums
on his whole military conduct in the Punjaub, &c.
His leading the 61st Regiment at the battle of
Chillianwallah decided the action and saved the
British army ; the feat of this regiment on that
day, under Sir Colin Campbell's leadership,
was pronounced by the Dnko of Wellington,
as may be seen in his Grace's lab'', preserved
in the orderly-room of the 61st Regiment,
to have been one of the most brilliant exploits ever
performed by the English army. Do you, sir,
know by whom and for what reason Sir Colin
Campbell was spoken against in India ? Sir Colin
Campbell resigned the lucrative appointment
which he held at Peshawur because he would not
allow the Governor-General's political agents to
dictate to him how ke should fight, and the Gover-
nor-General preferred losing his services, which he
acknowledged in the most flattering terms, rather
than have an independent man fighting the battles
of England with an energy and skill equalled by
none except Sir Charles Napier. In Hart's Army
List there are recorded some parts of Sir Colin's
exploits. His early ones were in the Peninsula,
and may well be called so, as lie commanded the
storming party at St. Sebastian, and was twice
wounded in the breach ; but it is the fashion now
to laugh at Peninsula heroes. Sir Colin
the
com-
manded, and with constant success againstiycavalry
enemy, from five to six batteries,
regiments, andofliici pe r tso
inhle4ca
dhb,ai
ntatana
dl; oannseciao; shmnlem besidesaan d which,of tl
at one time, he had also held
Punjaub Division, consisting ethf 54,000 men of all
arms.
senioritysentence
and aboubrtevoeldt.
"The third point
ii.sec.kthtoe
lin was promoted to a
chiefs who owe their
ira.
It so happens thatliie
regiment for distinguished con-
company out of
purchased his regimental majority
duct ; that he
also purchased an
over lieutenant-coloneleY ; his rank of
unattachedgot by being made Queen's Aide-de-
colonel he
was selected
service
Camp for his
another
be a brigadier general in this army on its for-
lieutena.
to
—so that he never got a single step either
bybreYet or seniority.
„ The last point is the accusation implied of
being a mere obstruction to the real strength of the
army. This is very curious. I do not believe
there are many men in the British army who could
outrun him, even now, and not one who could out-
ride him or endure more fatigue.
" With all this great experience and practice in
war, joined to a wonderful physical vigour, an un-
tiring energy and will, a care and providence for
his soldiers not to be surpassed, it seems to me that
if any man could be selected more fit than another
to command this army, that man is Sir Colin
Campbell.
" It is not a command to be wished for by a w!!°
man, considering the terms on which it must f SI;
held ; it is the last thing which any fri.en,,a_no no
Colin's would wish to see him accept ; I.2.utin" your
reason for allowing him to be assailed
columns without a reply. t ,ish to keep the
" If you really have the honest
facts
concerning
English nation well informedt
or to my belief
asablish this letter.
tfeuw people have better
the officers out here yen. tbr
I pledge my honour to the
in the truth, of them, a
eatruth than I have had in
at tb
re you that Sir col- C
means of getting
letter, nor does heknow that
this case. I have to liss_u - ia amp-
bell has not seen this
1. am writing it, and
I have thehonour to b &0.,
A. C. STERLING, Lieutenant-Colonel,
Assistant-Adjutant-General, Highland Division;'

CRYSTAL PALACE.—SHILLING DAY, Nov. 12.—Ad.
missions on payment, 1,285 ; ditto by season tickets,
239.—T0ta1, 1,524. Corresponding day last year, 1,708.
The Siren, liellyer, has arrived from Port Natal,
whence she sailed on the Gth of September, and is the
first vessel that has brought direct a cargo of the pro
ducts of that settlement. rhe principal item is woo!,
but ;le also has ivory, wood, tallow, hides, and rnisoegli
laneous articles, in addition to a saimple okiPwt/2
Natal sugar,