The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF T.

( From the Times of this clay.)
If the intelligence from Sebastopol which reached
Vienna yesterday morning, and was forwarded to US
t- r publication in , the course of the day, had been re-
.!eived ten days ago, it might, and probably walla,
!rave produced st very important change in the !-Afhirs of
Enrope. But the unaccountable inaeton of the Allied
r.triies and the silence of their batteries a• the most en'
;Ica' moment of these opfratons have led the Ru-sans
I reject terms in all respeet=, more moderate ti an they

Tel any right to expect. and the same causes have un-
ioubtedly eau-ed Austria to relex in the supple she
had hitherto pledged herself to give to the estern
Powers. In short, the success of Lord John Russell's,
mission and of M. Drouyn de l'Huya's j ,urney meinly
-lepended on the impulse which might be given to these
:iagotiationa by decisive advantages obtained in war ;
and the only justification of the protracted absence of
our Plenipotentiaries was the hope that this interval of
time would be used with effect by the Allied commanders.
+range to say, it hail precisely the opposite effect.
.1 notion appears to have prevailed at head-quarter,
aefore Sebastopol that some miraculous interposition of
liplematic skid was about to nnravel this tangled skein
without the ugly realities of a bombardment and an as.
aault ; and, aiteough every gun was ready to open its
fire along the whole line on the 3d, this operation was
iterally delayed for six days, in the vain hope that
some tidings of peace were -on the way from Vienna.
.Ve leave the military authori'lea •to efotat ahem own
,pireon of the effect of this delay on the anarelt Tad
,:etelit of the army ; but, politically speaking,
we are confident . that this appearance of hesi-
t =tion and forbearw,ce -is the very worst system
that can be pursued, and that we owe the :allure
•if the attempt to restore peace to the want
of promptitude and decision in conducting every act (.f
the war. In the same spirit of mistaken kindness we
learn that. when titre teary &MUTT. halt iipeiftettliar fire
egainst Sebastopol, and had. crushed with the terra.:
weight of their shells one or two considerable building-
ie the town, -Lord Raglan hastened to give ()Hers that,
from what he term. ,emotives ef humanity." oar file
should he confined to the military defence- of the enemy.
eebeatopoi is at this ineineet a fortress covering an
a,rrny, The non-combatant part of the population ha-
leng since left it. The place itself exists only for the
aurpnse of aggressive war, and, so far are we from pr.-
leasing any motives of forbearance tewards a town
MA we have been seeking for seven months to destroy,
• hat we should learn with undisguised satislaction that
he effect of the bombardment had been to reduce it to
a heap of ruins. If Lord Raglan has, indee interfered
to protect the city, we can only say that he has shown
his indulgence to the enemy at the expense of his osn
soldiers.
It is uncertain what reliance can be placed on the
statements of the Vienna Presse of yesterday morning,
which are the latest accounts that have reached this
country ; but there is no donbt, from the different de-
spatches which have arrived through English, French,
Anstrian,
_and Russian chancels, that the attack was
pro=ecuted with extreme vigour and considerable success.
Tee fire commenced at 5 a.m. on the 9ch of April, and
continued without interrup.ion throughout the night
and the following day. Prince Gortschakoff (whose re-
ports have usually been more accurate than those of
his predecessors) reports a loss of 833 men, which
is considerable when caused exclusively by a fire
against covered defences, and, although he states that
the Russian batteries have replied with success, he does
not dispute the extent of the damage which such bom-
bardment must have inflicted. The allied forces were
in a condition to open their fire from no less than 500
guns and mortars, the greater part of which far exceed
in range and in weight the guas employed at any former
siege. In fact the Allies have brought to tear against
Sebastopol an amount of a- tillery equal to at least
five ordinary _siege trains in number, and superior in
calibre. These enormous pieces of ordnance have
hitherto been altnest exclusively used in marine artillery.
There is no instance of such an extent of batteries,
armed in such a manner, against an intrenched town,
and, if any can tie placed on the opinion of Sir
John Burgoyne, be is known to have expressed his con-
viction at Vienna that it is impossible for the place to
hold mat ag,inst such a fire as the Allies were about to
open against it. On this point, however, all specula-
tion is now vain, for at the time at which we are writing
the attack must already have ended in one of the two
alternatives of success or failure.
If, however, as we hope, some decided impression has
been made on any part of the defences of the place, and
the guns of the Russians have been silenced on any
front, it remains to be seen what measures the allied
Commanders are prepared to take in order to avail
themselves of such an opportunity, and to press home
their advantage over the enemy. It is clear from the
language of the letters received by the last mail that
the plan of an assault was by no menus abandoned,
although the feasibility of that operation depended on
the effect of the bombardment. The force of the
British Light Division is again reported to amount ti
3 800 men fit. for duty,-.under their galant leader, Sir
George Bream. The First Division, equally well coin-
maimed by Sir Colin Campbell, nutnnera 4 697 men, of
svhom 3,500 are effective. The N.i.val Brigade has uni-
formly maintained its strength at 1,000 men, and the
landed Marines are 600 —equ to one battalion. 'I be
effectives of the Second, Third, and Fourth Divisions of
the army exceed 3,000 men each, and this force is daffy
anmented by the arrival of reinfoicements and the re-
turn of convalescents from the hospitals. We have
therefore on the spot a force able to bear an honourable,
and possibly a decisive, part in this contest. We know
net whether it be true that Omer Pasha has landed at
Kainiesch with 15,000 Turk, for the lines of Eupateri
are now so considerably extended that they require a
large force to defend them ; but, if any Turkish troop•
can be spared, we do not question their gallantry in an
assault on such a place as Sebastopol, as they will be sup-
ported by the flower of the two finest armies in Europe.
It remains to be see., also, what part is reserved for
the fleets under Admiral Brunt and Sir Edmund Lyons
at this decisive moment. Since those officers have as-
sumed the chief command of their respective squadrons
we have heard much loss of their movemeets than we
did before, and their exertions have been confined far
the present to the establishment of a more effectual
blockade ; but we cannot doubt that they have in pre-
paration measures of a more important character. The
British squadron, more especially, has now been rein-
forced by several screw line-of-battle ships—the Royal
Albert, the Hannibal, the Algiers, the Princess Royal,
and the St. Jean d'Acre, which greatly augment its ac•
tual force ; and after the experience we have acquired
luring the progress of this siege, and since the unsuccess-
ful cannonade of the 17th of October, it is to be supposed
that the admirals have in view a plan of attack mere
effective than that which was frustrated by several dif-
ferent calms on the former occasion. A few days more
will, however, remove our present anxious uncertainty,
awl we doubt not that the British fleet, as well as the
British army, will be found in its right place, by the side
our brave. allies, on that great day which may decide
fate of Sebast.pol.

(Front the Times of this day.)
Sir Charles Trevelyan has told his story, and thus far,

like all the other actors in this tragedy of errors, he
seems to succeed in shifting the blame from his own de-
partment. It is only in the intermediate line between
the province of one department and every other around
it that anything wrong can be suspected, and the public
is left to make out for itself how so many conscientious,
intelligent, and laborious officers have collectively
produced such confusi"n and disaster. Various at-,
counts will be given of this result, such as
want of unity, want of a master mind, or want of
mutual confidence ; but, without attempting to
lay bare the root of the evil, and say in ten words why
we have lost half our army, we will content ourselves
with a brief sketch from the evidence befcre

us a step towards the solution of this question. Toe
service represented by Sir Charles is the Coin nisaariat ;
the chief personsge• described is Mr. Filder, the Corn-
missary•Genei al in the Crimea, This gent'e :.an has been
the sill i •ct of many an angry remark. Generals, Briga
diers, and Colonels were constantly at him for supplies,
awl were not always successful. His name ha: figured
in many a private letter and in some of the evidence
eiven before the Committee. Though our oen c-rres
pondent has said kind things of him, and sing ed him
nut for special approba‘ ion, the Commissary General has
not been treated with uniform respect in these columns.
Anyhow the name of Filder has acquired a sad and
di-astrous prom nence in this history. He stands out
in as bold relief as any other worthy of the war. Thoueh
vague and even dull, he is a luminary that shines with
no borrowed lustre. Without rank or honorary appen-
dage of any kind, without the splet•dour ef viotery or
tie interest of d,feaf, withou'. ev n a m iitary charm tor,
except in some s.irt as a female of the military speci!,
Mr. Filder is a very censpicuous persena..:,e. N-ny:. tt
has occurred to most people as rattler -tram teat; vir
Filler should be the subject of so much cthensturnemeteheatt
so much should depend •on one man, andin
the
greatest
a soldier ; that our triumph or our failtubree
world should
deed of arms ever attempted clerk
aixty-f.,ur ye.r9
rest with a humble civilian, , _
,daling off novv and
.then
hours together, and just t
_rant
tha`, Mr. Filder
old, sitting on his stool at his desk
to a comfortable meal. u fT t.venty-four
body has yet ventured to i
a very u, accountable thing
that it does seem to
us
and .
to saythe continuirice of
did his work ever so ill, gra.,nostinbizet.o
o,l,rowr,lehtahva:
oahnlyy.
Bosphorus, 1-tau's, the dominion of
the gloryindependencethattheEngland,
of France, the reign of Napoli on 111., the interests of
• tii e of
sideat su ur theflpPre
humanity, the issue of the great Battle of irma
gledsati:n)ne,
a 4 Dr. Cumming assures us, the latter days off
Palestine,
the the sovereignty of India, and the destiny
temper and his
should all depend on Mr. Filder, on his
digestion ;on his stock of f•K Aseapand 0 the world,
quill pens, or
whatever else may he supposed to
Ilfft-et the excitable
nerves or the precarious appetite oh a respectable elderly
clerk,

- This Mr. Filder we have never seen described ; be
may be a wail of impoqng presence, and thire is no-
thing in the accuuLts of his position inept siAent w.th
the mot degrading ideas. So, when we are told that