The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-14 00:00:00

consequence wouli have been that we should have been I. now ask you to drink to "Tin 'health of 064011.114
besieged, instead of besieging them, in our own har- Pelissier, T.Tarmora, and Nue Paella ;" Loa
bour. (Hear.) We have row got possession -of -the hope and trust that as their colours are SOW waving ill
south side (there seems no rtasonto doubt) —r,e b,ve Sebastopol, the Russian will ere lons be swept frogs
now got possession of the south of the bar- the Crimea. (Loud applause.)
bnu`— which is, in fict, all the town, and out The next toast was "The health of the aletnbar3
troops will be able with a small force to maintain the Parliament for the County end Burgh," acknowledged
road t, Mackenzie's Farm. We can cross the Tchernaya, by Major Cuinroing Bruce, ALP.
and we shall be able to fight our enemy upon the ogbit The meeting, which was a very enthusiastic •ea
ground, whereas before we could only fight them through 1 throughout, terminated about 10 o'clock.
the town. (Cheers.) I may say that till now we were ; -

tied by the leg. The Russian army, it must be remem-
bered, has frequently been very superior in numbers to
ours—mind you the Russians have not been acting in
regard to their army as we have been doing to ours, or
as any other States in Europe has been doing; for, while
we: have been impraving our civil - institutions mainly,
egad they have been paying tio attention to anything but
their army. Russia is the most gigantic military power
ever seer► upon earth. She hasan artillery never equalled.
let-tire mention, fhr.t while we and th.e.Frenc h truligW
up our siege 'trains, consisting of the usual four-indi
mortars, why, sir, these fellows brought againit us guns
which threw into my own camp shot of no less weight
than eighty-six pounds, while the size of their shells
also outmatched ours. In this country of ours
we have fostered the spirit of freedom of opinion ; but
there is one disadvantage attendant on this. You meet
with people sometimes who think they know everything.
Toere are a good many who fancy they know other peo-
ple's business better than themselves. The consequenee
of this feeling is, that we have had more great generals
and admirals at the clubs and coffee-houses than we had
in the army and navy. It would be no very difficult
matter, however, to show that every movement which has
been wade by that Eastern army there has been good
reason for. (Hear.) Let me allude to one or two circum-

_
Natal !mod Military Intelligence.

---,N.-
.
TharneEf, steam-transport, No. 92, belonging to
the, est India*Mtiil Packet Company, arrived at Spit-
head
.early yesterday morning from the Crimea. She
brings no invalid troops, but about 60 invalid seamen
and inarines, WliO have chiefly been engaged in tb.
trenches:- She lies also four sedeants of the Royal Ar-
tillery, who come home to join their battalions, and a
. few men. from -the Land Transport Corps. Captain
Beynon and seven ol.the crew of the brig John Poynen,
which was run down in the Sea of Mariners, and the
following officers, all (of !Om came home invalided by
illness or woundi W. Napier, Land
Transport Corps ; Capt. Foster, 11th Hussars ; Capt.
Caulfield, Coldstream Guards ; Capt. Ball, 81st Foot ;
Capt. Murray, 79th Foot ; Capt. J. Doherty, of the
Staff ; Lieut. Yates, 11th Hussars ; Lieut. Tertian°,
Royal Artillery • Lient. C. B. Hughes, 62d lost ;
Lieut. Mairis, ; Lient. C. J. Napier, R.M. ; Lima.
Robinson, 7th Foot. Capt. Shearrnan, Ist Dragoons,
comes home on leave, and Lieutenant Yates, 11th Hus-
sars, on promotion. The Thames reports the following
vessels :—August 21, the steamer Severn left Constan-
tinople for Balaklava ; August 24, passed the steamer
Medway ; August 27, the- Trent, steamer, arrived
at Malta en route to Balaklava ; August 29. exohanged
signals with the Terrible, 21, steam-frigate, sad
the Sheldrake, in lat. 37, long. 11 ; and on 4th Sept.
left at Gibraltar the floating battery Meteor, and the
steam-sloop Prometheus, 6. The Thames came into
harbour this afternoon and landed her passengers.
The Tyne, transport, Commander P. Wellington, ar-
rived at Spithead yesterday, and landed some old stores
and invalids from the South American station to-day,
and sailed fur the eastward.
The Lucifer, steamer, sails on Saturday with 78
riggers and seamen, under charge of Mr. Bean, master
of the St. Vincent, 103, to bring the Repulse, 91, new
serew-ship, from Pembroke to this yard, to be fitted out.
The Siinonm, 18, screw troop-ship, Capt. Sullivan, is
to come out of the dock to-morrow and be taken into the
,team-basin, to receive new engines of 600-horse power,
her present engines being only 350-horse power-18'6h
boo week.

stances connected with these movements. Tho troops
were sent out without any specific plan of operations ; the
only thing they were told was to occupy certain lines at
Gallipoli, joining the Sea of Marmora, so as to inter-
o pt the Russians coming down and retreating from
the Bosphorus. Having done this, the Russians in the
meantime crossed the Danube and set to work in be-
sieging Si:istria. Omer Pacha was extremely anxious
that we should send troops to Verna. We have been
told that they were sent there to die of cholera in a
swamp. I tell you, gentlemen, there was no scamp at
Varna at ail. Instead of a swamp, we had the most
beautiful ground you could imagine. It was like the
finest English park with the finest water you could wish.
(Hear.) I do not coneisler, therefore, that we are indebted
to the country in the slightest degree for the disease that
occurred there, and particularly for this reason, that the
troops who never bad been at Varna suffered more than
' those who had been there. And there is another reason
The sailors of the two fleets which had been lying at
Varna suffered twice as much as the troops on shore.
(Hear.) Remember also that by going to Varna we saved
Silistria. The Turks made a very gallant defence there,
but it was not the defence that made the Russians raise
the siege of Silistria, and retire behind the Danube—it
was the presence of seventy thousand troops at Varna.
(Hear, hear.) We are further told that we should have
gone two months earlier to the Crimea ; but it so
happened we could not go. Omer Pacba's army
of 60,000 could not he left to the tender mercies of
150,000 of the enemy. (Hear, hear.) But another
reason was that, as we had gone out with no
specific plan of campaign, consequently the attack on the
Crimea was never heard of by the army till July, and
when we heard of it we knew nothing of the ground at
ail, nor even whether that was apiece that we might land
at. Time admirals had no flat-bottomed boats, and such
as we got we had to improvise. The only thing indeed
we had in this respect was the paddle-boats of the steam-
ers; and I need not tell you that most of our war eteamers
having now reverse propellers have no paddies, and con-
sequently no paddle-boats. Our resources, therefore, in
this way were not at all sufficient, and we had to go
down to Constantinople to make provision for the die.
embarking of the troops. We bought up all the caiques
of the country, and joined them together, and in this way
we made very good means for landing. (Cheers.) We
are next blamed for the late period of the season ar
which we landed ; but it should be remembered that we
could not leave Varna till the Austrians bad taken steps
for keeping the peace in the Principalities. ("Hear,"
and cheers.) The next difficulty was connected with the
advance at the Alma. We are told that Lord Raghte
was very wrong in taking the bull by the horns ; but I
think he did quite right. He saw that if he got nut from
the plain he had not sufficient cavalry. The Russians
were in such force iu the centre that the possibility was,
that they would have made an attack, and cut up the
two armies ; and I mini of opinion, therefore, that my
lamented friend did quite right in taking the bull by the
horns. We suffered no doubt deeply last winter, and
sonic people say that we should have done better if we
had attacked the north side at first. This, perhaps,
looks very plausible ; hut if we had attempted to lay
siege to the north side, we must have had one army to
carry on the siege, and another to keep off the enemy ;
but independently of that we could not have eakly :than-
boned our position for two days, as we might have lost
the harbour, and thereby our means of obtaining provi-
sions and material. The slightest breeze raiser' such a
surf on that coast that it is rendered impossible for a
landing being effected at certain points, and the army, I
am sure, would have been lost when the gales of Novem-
ber occurrech I am not aware that there are any fur-
ther points in connexion with this subjec,`, that I need
refer to. But as people are frequently asking me about
these things, I thought I might take this opportunity of
giving an answer to some of their questions. I have now
only to repeat my very grateful thanks for the honour
you have now done me—an honour which I could never
forget, even were I yovnger man than I am. (Cheers.)
Amongst other toasts was " The Allied Generals," in
proposing which
The Duke of RlclnfoND said—Gentlemen, I trust that
you will not consider that I am intruding too much ft
upon your notice ehen I rise in obedience to the Provost
to propose the next toast. Gentlemen, I was trained in
Wellington's School, and I feel it right to obey all law-
ful commands ; and though I am well aware that there
are many gentlemen here who would perform the task
better than I can do, yet I can assure. you there is no
man in this great empire who feels more deeply thee I
do, that my present toast deserves the approbation and
heartiest cheers you can give it. Daring a longer war
we were unfortunately oppo,ed to the army of France ;
yet the utmost respect existed between the officers and
soldiers of the contending amiss, as Sir George Brown.
will agree with me in saying. (Hear, from Sir George.)
In the day of battle we did our duty to our country and
r sovereign, hut the moment the battle was at an end, tke
officers and soldiers mingled together to such an extent,
that at last the Duke of Wellidgton was obliged to for-
bid them communicating. I say this to prove to you
that war can be carried on in rather a better way than
the present war has been. To the officers in oommand. of
Sebastopol—l cannot call it a siege, for it is no siege
unless you invest the place in full—l give full credit. I
think their defence of that fortress has been most gal-
lant and most meritorious to then. It would have
gone down to history as a great feat of arms,
lout
it has been stained by the greatest of all crimes, that of
firing on a flag of truce. (Hear,) Gentlemen, I am to
ask you to drink the health of Generals Pelissier, Simp-
son, Marmora, and Orner Pacha. (Cheers.) I feel that
in doing this, it is not necessary that I should say much
to induce you to drink the toast in a full bumper. You
all know them well. The allies have done their duty—
they have emulated the achievements of the army which
went before them. As a soldier of the old army I may
say that our present troops went as far, and perhaps
farther than their predecessors ; for though we never had
that dreadful disease the cholera amongst us, they have
sot, on the other hand, had those long terrible marches
where we had to send our sick and wounded a hundred
leagues to bead-quarters. There is one thing quite
clear : the British army before Sebastopol have proved
true in the field of battle—(hear, and applause)—and
that they have endured their privations with very
little grumbling indeed. I remember when the mien in
my time hag little else to do they grumbled ; but
next day, when work had to be done, they would Lead
the storming party just as if they bad never grumbled
(Applause.) But we British hold that we have a right
to complain ; still, when we are called upon to eomo
forward to do our duty, there are few of • us who will re
•
fuse. (Hear, hear.) In this war there has been—
and I
fear we shall still hear of
.more— there has been a sad
loss of life ; but I do hope and trust that the result of
the Russians evacuating Sebastopol will lead to a peace
which will be lasting. Let me say, however, that I for
one will never consent to a patched-up concern. (Ap.
pewee.) I say that the allies have shed too much valu-
able blood in the Crimea to allow any diplomatist to
manceuvre a peace. (Hear, hear.) I say that we ought
to obtain those guarantees which shall secure to the
civilised world the great blessings of peace ; and I con-
eider that any man who would agree to a patched-up
concern will deserve the reprobation of his fellow-mess
Gentlemen, I propose to you the toast of the Allied
Generals, and beg to assure you that the only regret
which I have felt is, that I have been too old to share in
the danger. (Hear.) Nothing would have given me
greater pleasure than to have commanded a battalion in
Sir George Brown'i. Division
; and I am sure that though
Sir George might have got better officers, he would, at
all events, have felt that he had not a more zealous one.

The Great Tasmania, sailing transport, No. 210, is
re-fitting for further service.
The Baron Von Humboldt, screw steamer, is in
Woolwich basin, undergoing repairs.
The Castor, frigate, 36, arrived at Plymouth on Wed-
nesday afternoon from Chatham, and saluted the Port
Admiral. She is bound for the Caps of Geod Hope,
and takes out a small mail from this port.
The Inflexible, 6, has been ordered to be masted and
brought forward for temporary service.
Two more mortar-boats, Nos. and 16, were towed
up to Woolwich yesterday morning by the Lizard from
Shesruess. They are to be stripped and laid up at
Deptford. The Hollander also arrived yesterday morn-
ing at the dockyard from the Crimea.
Yesterday afternoon the ceremony of launching the
Pearl took place in the dockyard at Woolwioh. At
two o'clock precisely Commodore Shepherd, Saperin-
tendent of the Dockyard, arrived on the platform which
sad been erected for the occasion, escorting Miss Gor-
don, one of the daughters of Rear-Admiral Sir James
Alexander Gordon, K C. 8., Lieutenant-Governor of
Greenwich Hospital. Having taken a very brief sur-
vey of the ship, Commodore Shepherd placed the gar-
landed bottle of wine in Miss Gordon's Lauds,
,which
h e immediately dashed against the cutwater,
" Success to the Pearl." The National Anthem
and " Rule Britannia" were struck up, and the Luca
hegan to cleave the wedges from the keel, thereby
allowing the vessel to drop on the bed. The artificers
were then ordered to knock away the blocks and set
free. The ship then made her first movement, and de-
scended slowly to the river, amidst the applause of a
.at 03 concourse of persons. She is an Oegentiy-built
vessel, and his a remarkably clean run from fore to aft.
Her dimensions are as follow :

Ft. L.
Length over all
Length between the perpendiculars 260 0
Length of the keel for tonnage
Breadth extreme 4O
Breadth for tonnage ............
Breadth moulded 39 4
Depth is hold
• • 23 6
Burden in tons 1,468 76-94
Armament, 20 8-inch 60 cwt. 9 feet; 1 68-piaster
95 cwt. 10 feet.
Power of engines, 400 h. ries.
The Pearl was built by Mr. M Thereon Rl4, the master
shipwright of the dockyard at Woolwich. She will
,tarm,liately taken into the basin to receive her weer
and Ittiage.