The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-16 00:00:00

THE SUR., LONDON. TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBP,TI 16 1856

although a very valuable acquisition, would not
aceomplish all that is required for the protection
of Turkey and the various districts abutting on
the Euxine. A new fleet could be created at
Nieolaieff and Kherson, and brought down ready
f. >r action at any time. We should still main-
tain a powerful naval and military force, reE.cly
for action at any moment. The army which had
escaped from the Crimea would- provide ample
occupation for the Allied forces, and through their
aid the CZAR might be enabled to prolong the
contest, and materially increase the sacrifices which
the Western Powers have so cheerfully encountered.
The case would, however, be altogether changed
if we retained the hold which we have got over
his Crimean army, and prevented them from
moving out of the trap in which they are caught.
We might then follow up our successes to any
point we thought proper, completely paralyse the
action of Russia, and compel her to become a
humble suitor for the mercy to which she has so
little claim. In fact, all that we could desire or
demand would be placed within our grasp, and
we might stipulate for concessions in other dis-
tricts against which the allied arms have not as
yet been directed.

We believe that this great desideratum may
easily be accomplished ; nay, more, that it is
in course of execution. To do so it is only necessary
to cut off the supplies, and while they are threatened
from the Sebastopol quarter to intercept commu-
nications with Perekop and the military road
across the Sivash. The first of .these steps has
already been taken. We yesterday mentioned
that General D'ALLONVILLE occupied positions
commanding the road to Perekop, and Sir CoLIN
CAMPBELL, with his gallant Highlanders and a
strong force of infantry and artillery, is prepared
to co-operate with the French Commander, pre-
venting the arrival of men or food via Perekop,
and ready even to arrest the flight of the fugi-
tives. Should they be driven across the Steppes
by PELISSIER and SrmrsoN, we need scarcely say
how difficult it would be, if not absolutely
impossible, for men retreating rapidly be-
fore a victorious and pursuing army, to
rally sufficiently to encounter a fresh and vigo-
rous foe, who could choose their own field of
battle, although of far inferior numbers.
One point there remains to be attended to--
that across the Sivash by the Tchongar penin-
sula. A glance at the map will show how easily
this means of escape could be cut off. It lies but
a short distance to the west of Genitchi. A few
flat-bottomed boats or ships' barges would pro-
bably suffice for the operation, which was long
since suggested, and ought to have been thought
of. It was indeed a necessary corollary to the
Genitchi problem, and when the bridge to the Spit
of Arabat was destroyed, that to Tchongar should
not have been permitted to remain available
either for the supply or the retreat of the Russian
army.

A few days must bring the solution of our
hopes and fears in this matter, and teach whether
the Governments of France and England have as
ypt resolved on the vigorous and unflinching pro
sdcution of the War. We earnestly trust that it
may be in accordance with the aspirations of the
Peoples, and befitting the honour, and dignity,
and material interests of both nations.

Among the results of the capture of Sebastopol
may be numbered a letter to the newspapers by
Sir CHARLES NAPIER. " Nothing very remark-
able about that," says some inveterate cynic ;
" had it followed the overthrow of an old woman's
apple-stall nobody would have been surprised in
the least." Why, really we must, however reluc-
tantly, admit there is some force in the remark.
The brave old Admiral is inveterately rash in the
command of the quill. No orders of any sort,
treacherous or honest, reach his head-quarters
ashore, and we are afraid he can't stand the want
of contradiction, and impulsively pitches prudence
overboard in consequence. Week alter week, for
months past, you could no more take up a file of
newspapers at the end without seeing a long
epistle with his signature attached than you could
do so without observing columns of lucubrations
about the War, or convincing testimonials to the
virtues of HOLLOWAY'S pills. In point of fact
his letters have been so numerous that, without
reference to their quality, many have gone so far
as to say they were quite a drug in the newspaper
market ; while others, who deemed one more than
enough, attributed to them highly aloetic proper-
ties. And of a verity for bitterness aloes is a joke
fo them. They really did disorder the region lying
beneath the epigastrium. You couldn't attempt
to be discursive about them without a peremptory
summons to surrender, which, of course,
put a period to your eloquence. Not,
however, that they needed explanatory or ro-
futatory amplification. They were only too
convincing. One dose removed every obstacle,
and the rest was sheer purgation. Never good
fellow in our time was so urgent to be taken, so
bad to take, and so exhaustive to his friends, as
Sir CHAELES has been latterly.
We are heartily sorry for it, because we think
highly of his abilities, and believe him to have
been badly used--vertically Grahamised, if we
may be allowed so gingerly an expression. Heartily
sorry to see a brave and successful commander,
bearing an illustrious name, so committing him-
self. Heartily sorry to see an old man, at whose
lightest word thousands of brave men would have
rushed unhesitatingly into the jaws of destruction
—an old British Admiral, at heart so patriotic, and
who has done as much as most men to illustrate
our naval greatness—lowering his personal dia-
.,
nity and injuring his country's cause by unseemly
quarrels and untoward revelations. Did he never
hear of the dignity of silence ? Is he unacquainted
with the story of the Spartan youth, who mutely
endured the pangs of disembowelment ? Cannot
he conceive how measurelessly superior the tran-
quil scorn involved in a tacit reliance on the ver-
dict of time on his actions and those of his op-
pressors is to the sort of thing in which he is in-
wre wish to HEAVEN he could ; but
in relationl
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even if he has no regard for his own dignity, for
the interests of the country, and the good of the
incessant
service, what good can this
letter-
writing do him ? Does he think it will advance
whatever claims he may possess to the command
of the Baltic Fleet ? If the Ministry are favour-
able it can't be necessary to write to the news-
papers ; if unfavourable, it can't be wise to bore
the public, as he really is doing. Is it that he is
anxious about his professional reputation ? Why,
it is only since he took so very severely to letter-
writing it has been seriously impugned. The
people of this country, in the main, like their
work done with as little noise as possible, and,
as it were, instinctively set down a noisy fellow
as an incapable, and the more he attempts to per-
suade them he isn't, why the more they don't be-
lieve him. Nobody doubts, or has, for some
time past, doubted, that Sir CHARLES played the
part of a judicious and brave commander while at
the head of the Baltic Fleet. Time soon cleared
away whatever mist might have settled on his