The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-05 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF THE TCHERNA

(Prim,* Morning Pod of this day.)
Prince Gortsehakoff's detailed account of the Teller•
naya battle attributes the defeat of the Russians to the
precipitate wanner in. which aide-dc-camp Gene-ral Read
attacked, the left of the French position, without wait-
iog for General Liprandi's advance to make itself felt
the'centre and 'right. It is distinctly to this error of
his lieutenant, slain during the action, that the Russian

commander ascribes his defeat. He admits great losses,
for which he accounts in a different manner; and his
',pinion is, that though the losses must, in any case, have

.been heavy, yet, in spite of them, he would have won the
battle onlyf .r the eadse we have m-ntioned. If we cm-

pare General Delia Marnaora's and Gerieral'Pelivsier's re-
porrt with this Russian ,d, spatch, we find all tallying and
agreeing in such a manner ahotit the main facts, that a
very perfect picture of the action is obtained. The
Sardiaiaa commander -felt, a ith a sort of quick mili-
tary instinct which deie hi n credit, 'that the Rus-
sian attack Would be pretty much what it proved to
he, rather, than _what •PI ince G-rtschakoff intended
to make it, and that the main ptress and weight of
it were destined to bear upon the French. This hap-
pened ; andit is quite consistent with the truth of the
Russian general's complaint that .there was a want of
si,uultaniety in the tunsieinE;nts of his stihordinatei—that

'Genetal Read, went on too soon, and Genrrpl Liprandi
too late.' tot, the Pant= being such, we entirely believe
the Prince's inference from them to be an error. Had
those two generale been more mindful of their superior's
orders, the whole ons,t ,Aould, have been a far more
military affair, bet not, we are convinced, more success-
ful ; and as to the losses . it seems to us they would only
have been the I:rger. Napleon long since showed the
world that' a'great combined attack is a business of stop-
watches ; but then he had troops on whom he could
rely when
,they were sober—nay, even when they were
famished ; and, once mere, we say that no amount of
generalship will -rrevent the Russian troops from being
very roughly handled on the field by such men as Gene.
ral Pelissier and General llt Ila Marmo a command.

There is something cOrion-sah;;;i; e-o-mm7--n-c-e-rnetit

of Prir.ce Gortsch4Off'e n pon if you &ware it with
the segnul. Some one in France predicted that the Rua-

sian despatches would pronounce this great battle a
" reconnaissqq.ca en ft)red; and truly the Russian Prince
begins by saying that understanding the Allies had re-
ceived reinforcements, he felt compelled to go out "to
reconnoitre.'? But, presently, as if seized and absorbed
by the serious realities which he is relating, he forget;
this vain Oozing, and speaks of the battle as it deserved
to be spoken of.
General Della Marmora seEens to have at once under-
stood both what the Russians intended, and what they
would be able to accomplish. In his own front there
would bp only, a!:lemonstration of artillery, but the real
attack was against the,French. He accordingly, with
the comp sure and the assured hand of a player who
knows his frame, altered the' r,irection of fii batteries, and
sent down his riflemen, or Bersaglieri, to be in readiness
fora fresh-start across the canal and the river. Almost
immediately ti e events were seen to correspond with
his anticia4tion—his guns raking and enfilading the
dense masses who advanced against the French, and, at
the same time, hindering the Russian batteries from
forming. It, was the most judicious and r aralysing
employment of artillery we have yet had in the battles
of the Crimea. Whole gaps were seen to open in the
thick mobs ofsoldiery with which ,the Reggaes always
make their attack : and the Zonaves—the nimblest,
re- ist intell gent, ai-d most attentive of troops—impri,ved
the moment by gallant, bayonet charges. We must say
ai the Luiaves they never do allow opportunity .t,al
And now we will return, fir a moment, to Princelt is
Gortschakoff's 'remark about hi's heavy
quite clear that when a lofty po-itiort, delfsPid°6:ll--r a.r.tii-
e'ivay, of effecting
lery, is to be assailed, there is only on
that it Pain-
the attack without inch a murderous
order. of miles
ye na
et
rhoesys
ffurci,mantdbet''srereibniee.
When men come up slops crawne ,
gfo:f.pe,. _asr,pleaing multiplicity of
eiTellbattiwrae.yacilsoinfliotsthl(l9B7• hdv batteries
terval is
or raked by the grariie:iotati:
try to get up Such a'srArq.„ .ixtv deep, every hal
t the gunners are astonished and
separate form-,
, first, ivhen they do fire, they inflict
bas
rnaianTianiataaali,g.htlit:;:iaf tndjmy
easfiwanantrikin:iefislutdiewninhi
puzzled ; and, 1 saecZ Jury
c„mparativ,eiY P,'7r,ht is.gAined by- a multitude, h
cleared, and the heir, ,
stop Pea, are united and r e'
w o'
othf"June. Nothing (on l well be conceived
sui:of the bayonet. e-aksembled,
Z took th , thus the ouaves_, Marnalon on the
It wa
powerless ag tins them.
famous
n:ar than the
more sing-- .appearance of their advance, or
the manner, in which they clambered up the deadly elope
Artillery was illibyeef7tghtte *or
would have swept a whole battali'm off the earth, wasted
onits power a single assailant, or perhaps on his turban.
h only We should be at a a:,.- gun, which
for one fact explanatory of
all the rest, to account for those dense format ns which
multiply the losses of
Russia twenty-foldin every defeat.
It needs . good troop, really good troops, thorough-
.breri troops, to confide them, in presence of the enemy,
to this loose order, in which every man has but his own
individual spirit,
A faint-hearted people' ust have a bottle of brandy and
alertness, and mettle to sustain him.
a great crowd behind. Of 'course, there is an immense
sparing of bloodshed where- the loose order can be
adopted ; and you almost neutralise artillery into the
bargain.. " A battery can.defend itself," said Frederick
the Second; " it needs.not a guard," he continues
'(in-the instructions which he published for the officers
of the Prussian arnay),- " and' it is generally taken, if
at all, only because the-guard hoe rushed out to charge
the assailants, and,then return pelt-ade with these, ob.
strutting its fire."
This may be all very 7true as against* Austrian and
'
Russian troops, but give the necessary instruction and
practice to A body of out. Highlanders, or Connaught
Rangers, or Rifles, or to the French Zouaves, and then
we should be curious to examine, on an ordinary field of
battle, the position of thatbattery which such soldiers
would not contrive to approach—of-which such soldiers
would' not bring down the gunners, -and whichsuncldieosis
dkrs would not silence and capture. The.Bireg,-;
' formations*Plain,the' greatness
of
ith' a
eirra r
ete of the
exhibiting the essentially unmilitary ch
Wig:4 while