The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-27 00:00:00

( From the Daily News of this day.)

Let due honour be paid to every meritorious
quality, even in an enemy. We have not been
slow to comment upon the fanfarannades in some
of Prince Gortschakoff's despatches, the insidious
perversions of truth and the downright falsehoods
in others. But it is impossible to read the letters
of our Crimean Correspondents, giving an account
of the last days of South Sebastopol, without ar-
riving at the conclusion that the man is a consum-
mate general. It is now clear that the evacuation
of the south side of the harbour was not the result
of sudden panic. Arrangements must have been
deliberately made some time before for retreating
as soon as it was no longer tenable. As far as the
safety of the Russian troops is concerned, these ar-
rangements were completely successful. Every man
who could be moved was conveyed across the har-
bour in the face of a victorious enemy. The colossal
preparations for inflicting destruction on a great
scale upon the conquerors who should first enter
the abandoned forts happily failed in a great mea-
sure, but they were skilfully des*ned. The calm
foresight of the chief was worthily seconded by the
devoted valour of his soldiers. The assailants were
obliged to fight hard for every inch of ground on
the day of the assault, and only in the Malakhoff
were they able to maintain the positions which
their impetuous onset had wrested from the enemy.
Sebastopol has been won by fair fighting ; its late
defenders have shown that they are "no babes to
play withal."
This simply just tribute to the valour and skill
of our foe is the best eulogium that can be pro-
nounced on the victors. The masterly depatch of
General Niel (which, along with the despatch of
General Pelissier, appeared exclusively in the
whole of our morning impression of yesterday)
shows that the conquest of Sebastopol is the result
of a plan adopted at the first, and steadily perse-
vered in. The storming of the Malakhoff, and still
more the storming of the Central Bastion by the
division under General de Salles, are feats that.
would have added to the laurels of the armies
which conquered at Austerlitz and Jena. The
share taken by our countrymen in the exploits of
the day affords room for diversity of opinion ; but
no stain has been left upon British courage—on
the fame for unblenching valour acquired by the
present generation on the fields of Alma, -Bala.-

laava, and Inkerrnau ; whilst the regimental offi-
cers engaged have done all that could be expected
of gallant gentlemen and ripe soldiers.
The truth, however, must be told. The English
soldiers who fell at the Redan are victims to the
incapacity of those in command. We publish
this day letters from three correspondents—all of
them men of intelligence, observation, and a high
sense of honour and veracity, but differing widely
in natural temperament, acquired habits of viewing
the events of life, and-the point of view from which
hey observe the proceeding of the Bth of Septem-
ber. From a careful collation of their communi-
cations it is apparent that there has been a wanton
and needless waste of British blood. It is allowed
on all hands that the French assailants of the Mala-
khoff, whose trenches had been pushed close up to
the ditch, reached the breach almost unscathed by
the enemy's fire. Their trenches were extensive
and roomy—capable of sheltering large numbers of
soldiers, perfectly protected from the fire, without
being crowded ; and thus the column of assault
could be made strong and the supports moved up
with perfect regularity and promptitude. The
English trenches, on the contrary, were twice or
thrice as far from the point to be assailed as the
French, and were so narrow and inconvenient that
the troops assembled in them were so crowded
as to render the preservation of order utterly im-
possible. Either from this cause, or from gross
ignorance of their business on the part of those in
command, the assailing column was deficient in
numbers, and it was left unsupported to maintain
a hopeless struggle under a deadly fire. Yet
we learn from our Correspondent late on the
Danube that reiterated remonstrances had been
made by the French commanders on the ground of
the danger and impolicy of not pushing the sap close
up to the ditch, but in vain. Our publicly accre-
dited Correspondent for the Crimea affirms that
General Codrington, for some mysterious reason,
kept back the troops which crowded the trenches
till the Russians had time to bring up their re-
serves, and that his aides-de-camp, ignorant of the
topography of the trenches, carried his orders to
the wrong regiments. And lastly, our third Cor-
respondent—who has traced the events of the
whole siege in what we may call a regular journal,
compiled from actual observation—states that
owing to want of proper command the most com-
plete and paralysing confusion,pervaded the whole
of the attack. These three gentlemen move in
entirely different circles, and their letters were
written and despatched before they could have
any communication with each other. Their
views, too, are corroborated by two witnesses,
who are animated by sentiments the reverse of
inimical to those in command. General Simpson,
in his confused and uncommunicative despatch,
admits the damning fact that the trenches
were so over-crowded that the supports could
not be moved up. The principal correspondent
of the Times—we are certain, from sincere
conviction—labours hard to show that the fault
in the assault of the Redan lay with the men, not
with the commanders. Opposed to this view there
are numerous circumstances that cannot be over-
looked. The writer to whom we allude would seem
to imply that the assailing column was composed
exclusively of raw recruits. If this had been the

case such ii selection would reflect Severely on the
judgment of those in command. But our own Cor-

respondent, who visited the scene of slaughter about
noon on the day after the assault, writes ; "By the
time I reached the fatal open in front of our fifth
parallel the dead had been gathered off the ground
—the officers having been taken to the camp and
the men thrown into the broad deep ditch of the
Redan. . . Those who had died within the Re-
dan had also been gathered into the ditch ; so that I
looked upon nearly all the British who had fallen in
this last scene of an eleven months' tragedy. The
first fact that struck an observer was, that nearly all
who lay there were old soldiers, men who had borne
the heat and burden of the day ; hardly a beardless
face was to be seen." And fora proof that these vete-
rans fought bravely, we need only refer to the fact
that the time they are estimated, by Generals Simp-
son and Niel, to have kept their ground against over-
powering odds varies from one to two hours. And
there is another fact, stated by the correspondent
of the Times himself, that forbids us to attribute to
the gallant dead the blame which must rest else-
! where. " Colonel Windham saw there was no time
!to be lost. He had sent three officers for reinforce-
' ments . . . . and now he resolved to go to General
Codrington himself. Seeing
Captain Croaloch, of
the 90th, near
him, busy encouraging his men, ani
;exerting himself with great courage and energy to
;get them into order, he said, "I must go to the
IGenetal for support. Now, mind, let it be known,
iin case lam killed why I went away." It is the
iold story over again. We have soldiers and regi-
mental officers in the Crimea unequalled by those
:of any army of present or former times ; but we
have men in command who are utterly incompe-
tent to make a proper use of such an army.
Now, as from the beginning of the war, the fault
is in the home authorities. They have learned
nothing by the experience of last winter ; they have
remained unmoved to penitence and amendment
by the dread revelations elicited by the Sebastopol
Committee. We have heard the remark made by
veteran foreign officers of high reputation, that, in
their intercourse with our Ministers, they have
been impressed with the painful conviction that
there is only one man among them—Lord Hardinge
—who understands anything about military affairs.
How could it be otherwise Y The only other soldier
among them is the Minister at War, and his expe-
rience is confined to what lie acquired as a subaltern
officer iu a marching regiment in country quarters
long years ago—before he had laidrdown the sword
to devote himself to party politics. When Parlia-
ment meets, the public will look for another Sebas-
topol Committee ; and if the people are true to
'themselves they will take good care that their re-
presentatives in the House of Commons do not fol-
low up the investigation by a scandalous shrinking
from pronouncing a well-deserved condemnatory
judgment.

A loan is to be effected by Belgium to the extent of
25, millions of francs, it is believed, towards the end o:
November.