The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 185 5.

LINES LEASED AT FIXED RENTALS.

MARKET NEWS-THIS DAY.)

FRENCH AND ENGLISH. RIVALRY.

Paid.l

AILWAY/.

Leasing
Compans

Closing Prices
yesterday.

Baldness
this day.

COVENT' GAT EN.

Owing to the severity of the .reather, the supplies of
vegetables in to-day's market were imited, and the demanl
for them was steady. In fruit vey little was doing.
FRUIT.—Pine apples, English, 6::to 8s Od per lb; apricots,
Os to Os per doz. ; hot-house grapes, Cs Od to lOs Od per lb ;
foreign ditto, 10d to is 3d ; moons, Os 01 to Os each
peaches, Os Od. to Os ' • nectarines, )s Od to Os per dozen ;
apples, 4s Od to 8s Od per btshel ; pears, 2s Od to
Gs Od per half sieve; Orleans piling and green gages Os to
Os Od per punnet ' • ditto, Os to Os 41, and common plums,
3s 0 ; to Os Od per half sieve ; cherres, Od to Os per pound ;
lemons, 61 to is per doz.; oranges,lsOd to lOs per 100; fil-
berts, 93s per 100 lbs ; cobnuts, 180 s to Os ; almonds,
Os to Os per lb. ; walnuts, Od to Oct per 100; figs, is Od
to 2s Gd per lb.
VEGETABLES.—Savoy cabbages, 6d to is Od per dozen ;
red ditto, 2s 0,1 to 4s per dozer ; French beans, Os Od
to Os per half sieve ; brocoli, 61 to is 4d per bundle;
potatoes, 95s to 125 s per ton ; vegetable marrow, Od each ;
peas, Os Od to Os Od per bush.; braid beans, 9d to le per half
sieve ; turnips, I d to 23d per bunch; carrots, 4d to Gd per
bunch; cucumbers, is 6,1 to f,s each ; garlic, Os Gd to
Os 8d per pcund ; spinach, 2: 01 to 33 01 per sieve ;
onions, 2s Gd to 4s Od per bush. ; Spanish ditto, is to 3s
per doz. ; leeks, '
2d to Od per bunch • shallots, 6d to 8d ;
horse-raddish, is Od to 5s 0 i per bundle ; parsley, 21
to 3d per bunch ; celery. Od to is 4d per
bunch ; endive, is 6cl to 2s per wore ; beet, 8d to is 3d
per doz. ; parsnips, is 0,1 to !s Od per dozen ' • small
salad, 3d to 0,1 per punnet ; muslrooms, is 3d to is Gd per
Pottle ; artichokes, 43 to Gs per cioz. ; cabbage lettuces, 9d
to is Od per score ; sorrel, Gd to is per half sieve ;
radishes 9cl to is per dozen hands ; tomatoes, 3s Od to 4s
01 per half .fieve ; chillies, is to is 6d per 100; Brussels
sprouts, is 6d to 28 6d per half sieve; capsicums, is to 2s
per 100.

(From the Press of this day.)
If the remarkable prophecy of Mr. Disraeli, that
" every Minister of the Coalition Cabinet would be
damaged eventually by his connection with it," -termi-
nated in mischief only to Lord Aberdeen's colleagues,
many persons would regard such a result with the com-
posure of contempt. But it appears plain that the
national credit is now seriously involved in the conse-
quences resulting from the culpable adoption by the
Ministry of the inefficient (if not imbecile) Ministers
of the War Department. The fact can no longer
be concealed that, while our soldiers are second to
none in courage and endurance, the campaign of
the English in the Crimea has been decidedly
eclipsed by our French Allies. Although proud
of ' the union with our illustrious neighbours,
we cannot forget that between nations there is
rivalry in the flank as well ai in the front, and the his-
tory of human nature shows that emulation on the same
side is often attended with keener feelings than when the
-antagonists are avowedly opposed.. Banisters employed
by one client in a great cause, physicians in consulting
for a serious cme, divines in unfolding the intricacies of
a knotty subject, are evidently as anxious to excel each
other for the sake of their personal reputation as if they
stood upon opposite issues, and contended for different
objects. So, also, in the history of Parliament we can
see that the competition between rivals is just as spirited
as between antagonists.

To apply these considerations to a practical purpose
we must remind our readers that rivalry between
nations partakes of the ind►vidual law that we have here
indicated. National competition in war, manufactures,
commerce, science, and literature is just as zealous and
as stimulating as if single persons and not whole com-
munities were the competitors. How stands the case at
present between ourselves and our gallant associates the
French ! In science and letters and civilisation we have
both run a long and glorious race of competition. In
more deadly rivalry we have shown heretofore that we
were foemea worthy of combatting with each other. In
our famious wars the fiery impetuosity of the French
chivalry, and the terrible steadiness of the English reso-
lution, have been recounted with honourable impartia-
lity by both French and English historians.
Unhappily, however, it would se'm that in the pre-
sent contest the French have decidedly surpassed us in
the art of carrying on war without grievous losses.
The miseries endured by the French have been
trifling compared with what our troops have had
to undergo. Our brave allies have, like our own
glorious heroes, encountered the swarming numbers of
the Russians. They have displayed prodigies of personal
courage in the battle-field ; but they bad not to endure
being served with green coffee, without means to roast
or grind it ; nor were they put upon half, and even
quarter, rations of raw, fat pork, without any fuel to
cook it ; nor were their wounded allowed to lie in the
sludge without beds of any kind ; nor had they to endure
such horrors of the middle passage as were reserved for
our wounded champions ; nor had they—but we cannot
go through the list of horrors which the French escaped,
and to which our soldiers have so cruelly been subjected
by the scandalous neglects of Ministers in office.
Well, and what is the result ! Look to the evidence
supplied by the columns of the most potent supporter of
the Coalition. In the Times of January 15th, we read
from one of its best correspondents writing from Con-
stantinople—" At this moment, the Turks are full of
admiration at the greatness of the Western Powers, and
especially of France." Then, after recounting the " en-
ergy " shown by the latter nation, the communication
states—" It is not without something like humiliation
that an Englishman finds how 'small a part his coun-
try fills in comparison with its ally, and how uni-
versally this struggle is spoken of by the people of
the country as a war between France and Rus-
sia." Surely this statement is most painful, and
deserving of the most serious attention. It is
more remarkable, as the writer commemorates
how great was the effect produced by the first ap-
pearance of the English in the East. It would seem,
however, that owing to the evident earnestness of the
Emperor Napoleon's policy, and his great resources,
the skill of his cfficers, and the general effectiveness of
his forces, an impression not flattering to England, as
contrasted with France, was produced at Constantinople.
But there are still later, and more mortifying, testi-
monies as to the superiority of our French rivals. In
the Times of yesterday (Jan. 19th) Cul. Elves Napier
has published a long letter, addressed to him from
Sebastopol, under date of the 2Sth December. Its
writer is an officer, and some of his statements are painful
to our national pride, though we fear that they cannot
be disputed. Thus he writes—" The French seem
to have everything, plenty of clothing, food, and forage ;
their horses look fat and sleek, and their commissariat
mules splendid ; they beat us in everything but fight-
ing—both armies know that." This is, indeed, a painful
admission, but it is corroborated by a letter from an as-
sistant-surgecn, printed in the next column of the same
journal, who says "The French, as I think I have told
you before, beat us into fits as to arrangements and
comforts."

Unfortunately, these facts cannot be gainsaid. Hun-
dreds of private letters tell the same tale, and the cor-
respondents of the various journals, differing in many
things, are nearly unanimous upon the superior feeding
and comforts enjoyed by the French. We know that
it is asserted, on excellent authority, " that the French
alone have an army in the Crimea now." Our force is
completely disorganised, and in whatever is under-
taken against Sebastopol, the French must have the
" entire direction." Wooden houses are sent out, to
arrive in January, for nwn who have been left to a Cri-
mean winter through Deerribtr. The whole English
commissariat system has broken dlwn for want of wag-
gon-trains and adequate horses. The troops cannot get
up their biscuit and beef, and is it expected that they
can convey their wooden houses from Balaklava ? And
side by side are the French, " with plenty of everything."
Surely the contrast is deeply humiliating to any man
with a spark of honest British pride. No nation excels
the English in method and practical talent for affairs.
In the difficult art of colonisation we have surpassed all
the world, and yet our army exhibits this melancholy in-
feriority in its physical condition.
And-why is this the case ? Its men are of the same
stock as those who filled the Crystal Palace with won-
der=, and who have challenged the world to excel their
industrial ingenuity. Many of its officers are of tried
experience and courage, and how, therefore, can such
mortifying contrasts have been shown 1 It is because a
great Red-Tapist presides over our War-office, and be-
cause no military man is in the Cabinet. It is because
the most important of Ministerial offices is given to the
worse than second-rate capacity of the Duke of New-
castle, a politician who never previously discharged the
duties of any great office of the State, and whose innate
mediocrity of mind is patent to any one who ever passed
an hour in his company, or listened to him twaddling in
the House of Peers.

There are persons who will say, while sighing over
these statements, that the French have the advantage
of an old military system, and that our English army is
only improvised. The assertion savours of calumny
against the institutions of our country. We shall not
here discuss the issues raised by that question, which
can be better treated elsewhere ; but we are desirous of
fastening attention to the fact that under the vaunted
" administrative powers " of the Coalition, our army
and our public service have been defrauded of the ho-
nour due to them. Nay, more, there is a case proved
by the advocates of the Coalition, that our Ministerial
mismanagement has tarnished the national credit and
sullied the fame which our combatants at Inkermann
and Balaklava, so gloriously supported. Our soldier-
ship is admitted to have been first-rate, but of our states-
manship it is enough to say that ten thousand brave
men perished under the fatal rule of the destructive
Duke of Newcastle. Never had any country so incom-
petent a Minister of War. Nor can it be a matter of
surprise that such painful comparisons are drawn in the
East between the French and the English so long as the
latter perish under a War Department whose adminis-
tration is more calamitous than the hostility of the Em-
peror of all the Rus,ias.

TILE CRIMEAN SESSION.

There have been Parliaments and Sessions of so
distinct a character as to go down to posterity with
some titular addition. There was once " the Un-
learned Parliament," more recently the "Long
Parliament" and the "Rump." But, when one
comes to think of it, no session ever deserved this
sort of honour so much as that which came and
passed by so mysteriously before Christmas. Ono
might almost have forgotten it, among rumours
good and bad, Christmas extravaganzas, and the
continual flow of dismal tidings from the East,
were one not reminded of the fact that Parliament
meets next Tuesday. Yes, the Session, in the
dull, working-life sense of the word, begins next
Tuesday evening. Then, what was it that we had
in December? What did it do ? For what pur-
pose were a thousand noblemen and gentlemen
summoned from all parts of the United Kingdom,
as one further remembers, in hot haste, before the
day formerly named pro forma ? Rumour said
that money was wanted, and nothing was more
likely than that, when British life was poured out
as freely as water, England might hasten to redeem
her thousands with her millions—her dear men with
'her cheap money. Of one thing we are certain, that
England would readily have consented to sacrifice
everything, whether presently or prospectively
burdensome, for the rescue of her sons and the
maintenance of her honour. However, that object
was instantly disavowed, as being a matter of
no urgency, and quite unworthy of the sum-
mons which had excited all this speculation. Well,
Parliament met. All that it professed to do was
comprised in two measures ; the one an act enabling
Government to move the militia regiments abroad
with their consent ; the other one permitting regi-
ments of foreigners to be trained in this country—
that is, virtually permitting the formation of a
foreign legion. The two measures were treated as
parts of one whole, and were discussed very seri-
ously indeed. Doubts were expressed as to the
practical value of the second measure, and some
amusement was shown when it was admitted, on
the part of the Government, that they had no idea
whence the foreigners were to come ; but no one
doubted the sincerity, the earnestness of Govern-
ment. It was supposed to be, if anything, too
desperately bent on its measure. It doatedon its
one pet. It was prepared to run all sorts of risks
at home and abroad for this one great stake. The
jealous honour of Englishmen and the nervous ter-
rors of foreign potentates were alike disregarded
in a measure which the present generation, in its
innocence, abhorred as much as the pressgang, the
slave trade, and other time-honoured institutions.
That England, the mother of heroes, the peopler
of the world, the prolific parent of the United
States and British America, of Australia, and
raany other busy shores, should go about seeking
men to fight under her banners in default of
her own children, seemed so scandalous that the
first feeling of the nation was to reject the
measure without a moment's inquiry. How-
ever, a swarm of precedents and a cloud of argu-
ments were shown for it, and, when they failed,
Ministers appealed to the confidence of the nation.
This was as much as to say, " We know what we
are about. We are doing our work • quietly, but
securely. Do not distrust us or disturb us. Time
will prove us in the right. Wait, and you shall
see what you shall see." The nation acquiesced
rather sulkily, with a protest. Such was the con-
fidence demanded from the nation. How has it
been justified and redeemed ?
The answer is, " Not at all." The two mea-
sures have remained a dead letter. A thousand
noblemen and gentlemen have been summoned,
and the solemn pageant of Royalty has been in-
voked to procure the engrossment of two docu-
ments, which so far, are about as valuable as a
lease and release of laud from Stokes to William
Styles in the year 1500. Not a militia regiment
has been sent abroad, not a foreigner enlisted at
home. So far as regards any actual operation, the
bills might just as well be now in the hands of the
intended movers ready to be laid on the table next
Tuesday or Wednesday. Were we wrong in de-
preciating the measure, which has proved thus
abortive Were we rash in condemning that
which refuses to be tried ? Why, the whole has
been a leap in the dark. Up to this date,
whatever private instructions Government may
have sent to its Ministers and Consuls abroad,
all that has been done in foreign countries has
been in the nature of the most emphatic pro-
test. Even in Switzerland the Confederation has
warned recruiting agents from its territories.
Other States have (toile the same their own way.
From our correspondent at Kiel it appears that
Government has not ventured to do anything at
almost the only place where such extra-national
schemes could be carried out—in the free city of
IHamburg. The experiment has been tried for
them, and has failed. An adventurer from the
famous Schleswig-Holstein army—a man who
might, perhaps, rally round him some of those war-
like spirits—hearing of the proposed Foreign
Legion, went to HaniburL for further information,
and thinking, too, that he might even find a
_British agent authorised to treat with him. All
the reply to his inquiries he got in Hamburg was
an edict denouncing punishment and expulsion
from the territory on all whoZmight be instru-
meetal in engaging recruits for the service of any
foreign State. He returned home, and has natu
rally given up all idea of serving a Government
which has shown so little earnestness, not to say
sincerity, in its measures. The news elsewhere is
utterly blank on this subject. Sardinia, indeed,
has joined the league, and we expect a Sardinian
contingent ; but they will be allies, not mere
auxiliaries, and their services would be just as
available without the Foreign Enlistment Act as
with it. This act, then, is a complete failure so
far. Perhaps it will be said that it was only an
experiment, and, as such, not warranted against
failure. It certainly is not in the power of British
statesmen to make all the peoples and Governments
of Europe on a sudden chivalrous and brave. We
can enlist them in the service of European inde-
pendence if they will come, but we cannot force
them to fight a battle which is really for them-
selves.

But what is to be said for the Militia Act, of
which the whole operation is British 7 Why, Go.
vernment has not sent a single regiment to tho
Mediterranean, and we hear only to-day that one
is to be sent. Might not that ono have waited
until after Tuesday next ?

If a sitting so abortive, so visionary, and unprac-
tical deserves to be remembered at all, let it be
called the Crimean Session. It partakes of the same
character as all the operations of this horrid war.
There is bluster, preparation, schemes, promises,
and everything but one thing, and that is perform-
ance. The December meeting has ended as it be-
gan, just as the siege of Sebastopol leaves us where
it found us on the 28th of September last. Like a
bad tenant, our General promised us Sebastopol
first at Michaelmas, then on Christmas-day, and
we shall think ourselves very lucky if we get a re-
spectable instalment of the city by Lady-day. As
with the whole, so with all the parts and details.
The vastest preparations that ever were made all
end in a haze of impossibility. Seven miles of bad
road interpose between all the resources of the Bri-
tish empire and the salvation of her grand army.
Never was there such a satire on ships and steam,
on hearts of oak, and all that we are proud of. We
see them all end in nothing, fairly stuck in the mud,
floundering in bilge water and in harbour filth,
dying in the ditch, sinking into a literal Slough of
Despond.
Such, too, as if by a law of fate, was the charac-
ter of the December sitting. It has come to no
more than shiploads of winter clothing, huts, and
railways sent to the Crimea. There it lies, a
wreck on the bleak shore of the past. Not a plank
remains of the two bills, which only two months
ago Ministers were ready to die for. A mysterious
cause vitiates our measures and stultifies our
counsels. Both at home and abroad they come to
nothing. Instead of the thrilling words and glow-
ing deeds of working life, we see dreams, chimaeras,
fantasies, impossibilities looming big upon us in a
mist of threats and premises, but evading our grasp,
and finally disappearing from our view. Some-
thing is wanted to release us from this unprofitable
circle, this perpetual retracing Of our steps, that
. Something must
obnelyclolneaevteos
,duissewnho.riraentwe began Government,
the army, Parliament,
the.nati?n, of this Cimmerian obscurity
of vision and inanity of performance. Such is not
the usual character of the British people ; Fo in
that people, we have no doubt the remedy is to
be discovered. Th© way to reach it is too large a
question to be despatched in a day.—Times.

SACRED HARMONIC SOClETY.—li,ast evening the mem-
bers of this society favoured the public with the Judas
Muccabcus of the divine thindel., A more appropriate
oratorio could not be selected in these warlike times,
abounding, a; it does, in so malty patriotic sentiments
and touching and spit it-stirring allusions to the hazards
and vicissitudes of war and the Vlessings of liberty and
peace. This sacred drama was evidently produced with
great care, nothing being omitted necessary to an effec-
tual interpretation of the great composer. The orchestra,
consisting of nearly 700 (includin 16 double basses),
under the able direction of Mr. Cotta, performed their
parts with unerring precision, and, notwithstanding a
request that the audience might give no interruption by
applause or encores, elicited repeated marks of approba-
tion. The principal vocalists were Ma demoiselle Ruders-
dorff (the Israelitish Woman), Miss Messent, Mrs.
Lockey, Mr. Sims Reeves (Judas), Mr. 'Weiss (Simon),
and Mr. T. E. Williams. There wao an overflowing
audience, and hearty and repeated a. Anowledgments
were made to the musical powers of the vocalists, parti-
cularly those of Mdlle. Rudersdorff and P dr. Sims Reeves,
who achieved many triumphs during tl Ike evening.