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

THE SUN, LO. DON: TUESDAY EVENING,_NOVEMBER 13, 1855.

altogether responsible therefor—and it can also,
now that he has been virtually superseded, render
tardy justice to "the good services and well-won
claims of one of the mcst distinguished and de-
serving
officers in her MAJESTY'S service !"
The confession of wrong cannot, however, repair
the serious injury inflicted, or place Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL in the position which he might have
occupied with honour to himself, and advantage
to the country, but for the defamatory statements
of the Times,

We would earnestly commend to the attentive
consideration of our readers the letter of Lieut.-
Colonel STERLING, Assistant Adjutant-General of
the Highland Division, which will be found in
another part of this day's impression, and which
has compelled the Times to withdraw the vile in-
sinuations put forward in the early part of last
month—and also its assumption that the return
of Sir CoLIN from the Crimea was solely ascrib-
able to his indignation at the appointment of a
junior officer over his head. The statement of
the ex-cavalry officer on this point has been so
fully confirmed by Lieutenant-Colonel STERLING
that the Times has been compelled formally to
eat its own words, and to confess that the return
of the gallant general was " in no way connected
with the promotion of Sir WILLIAM CODRINQTON."
Colonel STERLNG disposes in a masterly manner
of the charges that have been so deliberately put
forward against his heroic leader. It is true that
they have been insinuated rather than distinctly
preferred. But the Times is skilful in the ma-
nagement of such weapons, and well knows the
pernicious effects of

" The whispered hint, the shrug, the hum or ha,
The petty brands that calumny doth use."

In order that the matter may be thoroughly
understood, we reprint the obnoxious paragraph of
which Colonel STERLING so justly complains, and
in which it will be seen that, as in another re-
markable instance, it was not satisfied with calum-
niating the Genera], without also pouring forth
its venom on the brave fellows under his com-
mand. It is as follows :

" A single year of warfare has disposed of the
whole of those veterans, with the exception of
Sir Colin Campbell, who has been laid up in laven-
der all the winter with his Highlanders, and whose
military talents, if we may judge of them by his
exploits in the Punjaub, do not entitle him to
aspire to a great command. We have seen the
result of sending a young army into the field
almost entirely led by old chiefs, who owed their
rank to seniority and brevet promotion ; the best
of them have either fallen in battle or sunk under
disease, and those who remain are mere obstruc-
tions to the real strength of the army."
The Colonel now clearly points out the nature
of " the lavender" in which officers and men of
the Highland division have been laid up dur-
ing the winter. We had already explained
how, after the unwavering resistance of " the
thin red line," on the fiercely-contested field of
Balaklava, the Highlanders had been retained
in a position req'iiring the utmost vigilance and
steadiness, where, in fact, the honour and security
of the entire Allied Armies were confided to their
charge. " The lavender" of the General was the
unceasing watchfulness which induced him not to
lay aside his 'elethes for eight months, and
to be "always on parade with his men
.and officers, in rain and mud, before daylight,
undergoing fatigues that would have killed half a
dozen Carpet Knights, who had merely mounted
guard at home, and whose courtly services were
confined to London or Windsor." Nor does the
reproach to the soldiers rest on a better founda-
tion. The sketch of the toils they had freely
undertaken and completed have for ever silenced
the voice of calumny.
It is unnecessary to speak on the other points
respecting the services in the Punjaub, so clearly
detailed by Colonel STERLING, or the vigour,
activity, and physical qualifications of the in-
sulted General. The narrative has caused the
Times to recant its libels ; but that tardy confes-
sion will not repair the injustice inflicted on the
distinguished officer, or avert the serious conse-
quences to the country arising from the loss of
his invaluable services.

Have the great errors of the campaign been
unavoidable or not ? The question is no captious
one. The duty of the nation depends upon it.
If there had been but a reasonable amount of mis-
calculation we might bear with what all mortals
are liable to. If there was error through incom-
petency we should still have to consider whether
it was teachable or hopeless incompetency. In the
latter case it would be essential to demand the
dismissal of the unteachable ; in the former we
might expect that experience, though bought
by a PAN3fURE or a Woon, at a nation's
cost, would insure a different result next
year. But if the nation has reason to
fear that members of the Cabinet, or any
one more influential secretly than half the Cabi-
net, had marred the policy of the campaign, then
it had better listen to Mr. COBDEN and sue for
peace, or demand to be appealed to, that it might
tell Courts, and Cabinets, and cotton lords, and
factions what that august party in the affair, the
nation itself, thinks on the question of the con-
duct and objects of the War. A dissolution
would silence, we suspect, some plausible, nay
eloquent, but time-wasting and misehievous
tongues, and would forward the War by one whole
campaign at least. A House of Commons which
would properly back Lord PALMERSTON, in-
timidate Austria and the Coburgs, and en-
courage Sweden and Poland, would possibly
bring the CZAR to his knees this winter, and
would certainly make the campaign of next sum-
mer totally different to any preceding one.

We must own that the past vouches but poorly
: all
quite i
for the sagacity or the heartiness of the really
r
u
controlling powers. The difficulty is, to
sure who those powers are. Early last spring we
ventured, civilians as we are, to state our views
of what the plan of the campaign should be. We
argued that if Sir CHARLES WOOD could not mus-
ter sufficient gun-boats and war vessels of light
draught to make sure of a successful attack
on the Baltic fortresses it would be better merely
to blockade in that sea, and to throw our whole
naval as well as military strength into completely
clearing the coasts of the Euxine of the least har-
bour for a Russian soldier. For honest or dis-
honest reasons such a plan was not originated,
or the advice wholly unheeded ; we now see the
consequences. In the Baltic the mischief done is
only that which will make it more difficult to re-
peat the same operations next year. Our mor-
tar-boats, as well as a much larger naval force
than was wanted, have almost wasted their time
in the North. But suppose every vessel that was
not necessary to keep the Russian ships skulking
had been sent straight to the Black Sea in the
spring, our fleet would thenhave swept everything.
Now each operation is but half concluded. With
our mortar-boats we might have ruined the dock-
yards and arsenals of Nicolaieff, instead of leav-
ing TODLEBEN to make it impregnable next spring.
We might have destroyed Kherson as well, we
might have cleared the mouth of the Danube, and
brought to France and England the corn which
A-atria bought for a sing in the Principalities ;

and our spare vessels might have destroyed or
taken Odessa. The whole north and west seaboard
of Russia in the Euxine might thus have been de-
prived of its power to support Russian reserves,
and to forward troops and provisions to the
Crimea ; indeed it seems hardly possible that
GORTSCHINKOFF could have ventured to remain in
the Crimea at all after the fall of Sebastopol. If
we had directed our attention to active operations
in the East alone we might also have forced the
Strait of Genitchi, and destroyed the Tchongar
Bridge, the grand road, as it would now seem,
for the Russian communications.

We must confess the half-finished operations
everywhere, and, not least ofall, the infatuated relin-
quishment of our right to form Polish legions, or
Wallachian legions, or any legions whatever, of
natural and brave enemies of Russia compel us to
fear that it was not wished to make the campaign
a more complete one. It does not appear to us
that our Ministers could have overlooked the im-
mense advantage of throwing irresistible strength
into the Eastern attack, and settling that part of
the business. Had no one suggested it, the plain
est dictates of common sense point too obviously
to such a policy to make it possible it could
have been unthought of. It is hard to
believe that it was wished to make clean
work in the East in one campaign, or
we might have done it, and have given a very
different account of the Baltic next campaign to
what we shall now do. Even there, however, the
insufficient number of mortar-boats, although
Government had been warned by Sir C. NAPIER
on that point, together with the sparing of Bel-
singfors, necessitate the belief that it was in-
tended to achieve but little—enough only, in
short, to just pass muster with the nation.
It may be difficult, or rather undesirable, to
say whom we think chiefly to blame for all this.
We do not think Lord PALMERSTON is ; nor do
we think, if supported by those by whom he
ought to be, he would not have done his part.
We think, however, the inference from the gene-
ral conduct of the War, of the naval department
especially, and of the military too particularly
when promotion is concerned, point to the con-
clusion that his Lordship needs a new Parliament
if he is successfully to carry out the policy desired
by the great body of the nation. He is threat-
ened with fetters, if indeed his hands are not al-
ready tied by Court and Aristocracy. The people
alone—the BRIAREUS of the occasion—can pro-
tect him. Let him invoke their aid and the con-
spirators will tremble and leave him alone ; a new
Parliament is the most important preparation for
the next campaign.

the sun's influence ceases to be diffused ; mists
gather,
dews fall, the atmosphere becomes cold and
chilling, and the damp penetrates all ordinary
clothing. These changes of temperature ai e so
strongly marked that it will be strange if cases of
cholera do not occur, or an increase of sickness take
place, among those who are unwary or imprudent
enough to neglect proper precautions against their
influence. It is expected that all the principal
roads will be completed in a week or ten days from
the present date should the weather continue fine.
Some few of the men's huts have arrived, but as
yet the company of sappers attached to each divi-
sion for the purpose of assisting in their erection
find but little employment.
No change has been observed in the disposition
of the Russian troops on the North heights. The
fire of the forts and batteries against the South
side has continued. It is chiefly directed against
the parts of the town occupied by the French.
The preparations for the demolition of the mag-
nificent stone docks of the Karabelnaia are pro-
gressing rapidly. The engineering operations for
their destruction are undertaken by us conjointly
with the French.

The English engineers are sinking shafts at cer-
tain intervals outside the walls of the several
docks ; the French engineers are excavating gal-
leries beneath the foundations of those which are
in their hands. The French method will probably
be the most complete, but as they have to work in
the rock beneath the paved stone of the dock
it is by far the more laborious. By the English
plan the shaft is sunk through a gravelly soil of
recent formation, and has to be supported by
wooden linings. The force of the charge will be
directed against the side walls, and the masonry
will be projected into the bottom of the dock. By
the French plan the foundation as well as the
walls will be raised and broken up, and the whole
will fall in a head •f ruin, such as we now behold
the remains of Fort Paul, the most successful
effort of Russian mining.
Looking down on the docks of the Karabelnaia,
from the high ground near the entrance, there ap-
pears such a perfect unity in their design, the
scale on which they are built is so magnificent,
the execution of the work so perfect, that it is im-
possible to watch the operations of the miners for
their destruction without a feeling of regret that
so vast an expenditure of wealth and labour, such
toil of mind and ingenuity of thought, should have
been employed and exercised to so little good re-
sult ;. and further, that it should not now be con-
sistent with international policy that, instead of
' demolition, their capacity should be converted into
more profitable uses for the future. It is presumed
that although all the preparations are to be com-
pleted, the actual explosion of the mines will not
take place until future operations shall induce the
necessity of the troops quitting this position.
In addition to the preparations just described
there are other indications which lead to the belief
that the intention is abandoned of occupying the
port and town of Sebastopol. In contemplation of
such an occupation orders were given that certain
buildings were to be preserved intact. These are
no longer in force, having been annulled by the
following general order on the 28th inst. :

" The order restricting each division to a certain part
of the Karabelnaia suburb, from whence building mate-
rials, firewood, &c., might be taken, is rescinded ; and
the troops may, upon their proper ditys, take what they
require from any part of the Karabelnaia suburb, ander
the direction of the town majors."
To prevent confusion, as well as to obviate large
bodies of the troops being exposed to the notice and
fire of the enemy on the north side, a day has been
appointed for each division in turn to bring up the
wood or other articles which they may be desirous
of having from the ruins of the Karabelnaia and its
public buildings.
The names of the following officers have appeared
in general orders during the present month with
permission to leave for England on urgent private
affairs :

Lieut,-Gen. Sir H. J. Bentinck, commanding
the Guards Division, accompanied by Capt. Viscount
Balgonie, Grenadier Guards, and Brevet Major Greville,
Scots Fusilier Guards ; Brigadier General Shirley,
C.B. ; Lieut.-Col. Brownrigg, C. 8., Grenadier Guards,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Light Division ; Lieut.-
Col. Airey, C. 8., Coldstream Guards, Assistant Quar-
termaster General Light Division ; Lieut.-Col. Carleton,
Coldstream Guards ; Col. Norcott, C.B. ; Lieut.-Col.
the Hon. F. Colborne, Assistant Quartermaster-General,
and Major S. Wortley, Deputy Assistant Quartermaster
General, 3d Division ; Lieut.-Col. E. Somerset, R.B. ;
Lieut.-Col. Hume, C. 8., 95th Regt. ; Lieut.-Col. Fitz-
mayer, R.A.; Brevet Major Armytage, Coldstream Grds;
Brevet Major Bartley, 4th Regt. ; Brevet Major Elli-
son, Grenadier Guards, Major of Brigade, Guards Divi-
sion; Brevet Major E. Stanton, Royal Engineers ;
Lieut.-Col. Chapman, Royal Engineers ; MajorHamley,
Royal Artillery ; Major Pipon, Royal Artillery ; Capt.
Sir C. Russell, B trt., Grenadier Guards, Deputy-As=
sistant Quartermaster-General, Ist Division ; Captain
Hope, 71st Regiment ; Capt. Viscount Kirkwall, 71st
Regiment ; Brevet-Major J. Hackett, Deputy Assist-
ant Quartermaster-General ; Capt. Penn, R.A. ; Capt.
Owen, RA. ; Capt. T. Sheppard, 4th Regiment ;
Lieut. H. De Vere, R.E. ; Lieut. Dovvgla-se. 20th
Regiment; and Quartermaster Carney, 18th Regiment.

The following general order has been published in
consequence of the number of officers seeking per-
mission to return for limited periods to England:—
Head-Quarters Sebastopol, Oct. 27.
No. 1. The. Commander of the Forces has been muoh
surprised at the numerous applications, for leave of ab-
sence which have lately reached him from officers of all
ranks in this army. He has to remind them that they
are still in the presence of a powerful enemy ; more-
over, that they have duties to perform in camp not less
important than those in the field ; and that the instruc-
tion, discipline, and well-being of the troops are subjects
which require the earnest attention of all good soldiers.
No. 2. The regimental promotions and appointments,
published by authority, in the London Gazettes, of the
9th and 12th Oct., 1855, will take effect in -ads army
from their several dates.

No. 3. The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief has
been pleased to grant leave of absence to Lieutenant-
Col, nel Saunders, 19th Regiment, to 15th Nov., 1855.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ainslie, 931, to 3d Dec. Lieutenant
and Adjutant Sidebottom, 3d, to 3d Dec. Quarter.
master Kauntze, 11th Huzzars, to 314 Dec. Surgeon
Dowse, 30th Regiment, to 14th Nov. Assistant-Sur-
geon Haward, 34th, to 20th Nov. Assistant-Surgeon
Raymond, 23d, to 15th Nov.
No. 4. The following appointments of medical officers
are made : —Assistant-Surgeon (2d class) W. Simpson,
M. 8., to be Surgeon to the 71st Foot, vice Dodds, ap-
pointed to the Staff, dated Oct. 9, 1855. Dr. Simpson
will join his regiment. Acting Assistant-Surgeon A.
W. P. Pinkerton, M.D., to be Assistant-Surgeon to the
Forces, dated Nov. 10, 1854. Surgeon Briscoe, Royal
Artillery, having arrived, will do duty with the compa-
nies of his corps stationed on the Balaklava Heights.
No. 5. Lieutenant W. Dunbar, 34th Regiment, is
permitted to draw field allowance and forage as a pay-
master, while performing the duties of that appoint.
ment.

No. 6. Leave of absence is granted at the Recommen-
dation of a medical board to Assistant-Surgeon Milroy,
30th Regiment, to proceed to England; on arrival he
will report himself to the Adjutint-General. Also on
urgent privata affairs, to Brevet Major Estanton, Royal
Engineers, to 29th Feb. 1856. Brevet-Major T. Hack-
ett, D.A.Q.M.G., to 31st Jan. Also, until his retire-
ment from the service, to Lieut.-Colonel J. W. Gals-
ford, 72d Regt.

No. 7. Medical boards will assemble to inquire into
the state of health of Captain R. Champion, Royal Ar-
tillery ; Captain P. L'Estrange, Royal Artillery. The
principal medical officer will be pleased to give the ne-
cesssary directions.—By order.

(Sigred) H. \V. BARNARD, Chief of the Staff.

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.
General Bosquet on arriving at Pau received a
magnificent ovation. A great number of persons
on foot, on horseback, and in carriages went out
to meet him, and amongst them were most of the
English residents. In passing through the town
to the Hotel Saintaraille, where apartments were
prepared for him, loud cries of " Viva le General
Bosquet !" were raised. The garden of the hotel
was filled with persons who received the general
with acclamations. The general presented himself
on the balcony, accompanied by his mother, and
he embraced her, as if to indicate that he gave to'
her the homage presented to him. The Philhar-
monic Society afterwards gave a serenade to the
general, and in the evening many houses, espe
cially in the street occupied by his family, were
illuminated. The town of Pau intends to present
him with a sword of honour.
A telegraph despatch from Havre states that the
steamer Union, which left New York on the 20th
ult., put back to that port on the 25th ult. with a
disabled engine. The whole of her cargo was trans-
ferred to the steamer St. Louis, which arrived in
Havre this morning.
We have received Constantinople journals of the
Ist brought by the Jourdain, but they contain
nothing of interest, beyond what has been stated
in telegraphic despatches.
The Gazette des Postes contains the following
" Varna, Nov. 4.—The fire of the batteries on the
south side of Sebastopol against the northern forts
redoubled on the closing days of last month. Since
the 30th, the floating batteries, armed with cannons
of the strongest calibre, have been ready at Kami-
esch, and are to take part in the fire against Fort
Constantine. The fleet at Kinbourn has received
orders to send the mortars and large gun-boats at
the mouth of the Dnieper to Kamicsch. It is
positively stated that after the arrival of these
boats a fire from land and sea will be simul-
taneously opened against the forts on the north."
BOURSE, Nov. 12, Two o'Clock.—There has been
great firmness in the Threes and Railway Shares,
but business has been dull and the quotations are
about the same as on Saturday. Mobilier were
offered from 1,160 f. to 1,153 f.
Eilla-past Throe... The end of the Boum WAS

buoyant, and all the securities obtained as ad.-
following ad-
vance. The are the last quotations :
Cash. fr. C. End of Sionth
Ij por Cents iio 75 --f. -c.
3 per Cents 64 95 65
; New Loan 65 85
Bank Shares 3190 Roman
Credit Mobilier ll7l 25 Austrian
Belgian Fives — Spanish Threes —
Piedtnentese B5 Home Debt

RAILWAYS—FOS CASH.
tr. C. C.
Or!gnus
Northerm
Lyons , ... ... 1150 New Ditto xd 755
Mediterranean 1215 Grand Central 5BO
Lyons Geneva 660 Teste .
Catte