The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-13 00:00:00

whole army engaged in it, yet they have lost 26
officers killed, 113 officers wounded, and, it is
said, near 2,000 altogether killed and wounded.
It is scarcely possible to hear so terrible an an-
nouncement without asking, as if one had never
asked before—is it possible that anything can jus-
tify so terrible a sacrifice ? What point of honour,
what political consideration, what remote prospect
of advantage, or precaution of self-defence is worth
the mutual slaughter of 30,000 or 40,000 men ?
There are persons—nay, there are Governments
and nations—that are prepared with their answer,
and it is, that it, is better to submit to some trifling
modification of liberty and imaginary diminution
of honour than perish miserably in a ditch, or
languish, still"more miserably, a cripple, a burden,
a spectacle, a nuisance to society, without .enjoy-
ment, power, or even consideration. It is enough
to reply that this is not the answer of Englishmen.
It is not our nature, nor have we been bred to it.
Could we suppose ourselves in any way making
such a decision we should never cease to repent it,
and every day purchased at the cost of such sub-
mission would be so much more misery. In honour,
as in religion, we willingly spend life to save it.
In honour, as in religion, we prefer freedom and self-
respect, though with wounds and broken health, to
comfortable degradation or exile. We are fortified
against the misgivings that weak nature may sug-
gest at the thought of these lamentable losses and
sufferings. No price is too great for honour, This
is felt not merely as a public consideration, but still
more deeply and tenderly as the precious balm of
private sorrow. We will venture to say that there
is not one pafent, one brother, one child of an age
to appreciate -honour—we could almost add, one
wife who would wish her husband had not been
there, or that England had nor eiarded the ag-
gressor in his stronghold. If anybody doubts this,
let him read over the names, mot of them already
honourable, some of them noble, and he will find,
one by one, that he cannot doubt how such and
such a family will Lear to have paid its dear
tribute to the cause of our country, of liberty, and
of honour. _ _ _

But, apart from reflections that would have oc-
curred even if the assault of Sept. 8 had failed as
much as that of June 18, it must be a comfort to
everybody to know that the price has been paid for
a substantial advantage. Instead of that horrible
struggle in the trenches, all but hand to hand, in
which latterly the British army had been losing 50
a-day killed and wounded, besides the 'victims of
disease, and in which it is said our allies lost seve-
ral hundreds daily, we have now gained the prize
of a twelvemonth's contention, and put the land
' harbour between us and our foe, so that we can
now rest awhile. This advantage we have obtained
at a cost which, terrible as it may seem, is little
more than a month's consumption of men. Sebas-
topol is now ours, though so many who have won
it for us, and have fought their way to its walls
step by step, from Kalamita Bay to the bloody
rampart of the Redan, have not survived to enjoy,
or even to know, what they have given us. Nor is
Sebastopol so entirely destroyed as the Russians in-
tended. It hasnow been traversed by the conquerors,
and found to be something more than a heap of
blood-stained ruins. The establishments and
magazines, the cannon, the stores of projectiles,
and other provisions of war, while they swell
the value and honour of the prize, prove also
that it was not mere exhaustion that drove the
Russians across the harbour. They prove also
how long the would-be conqueror of the East had
been preparing for the execution of his long-
cherished scheme, and how correctly he appreciated
its dificulties. What, however, places beyond a
doubt the impottance of this achievement is the
vastness, the ingenuity, and the completeness of the
inner lines of works, on which the Russians ex-
pected to dispute our advance step by step, even
when we had gained the Malakhoff and external
fortifications. The dogged Russian must have
been thoroughly beaten to give up without a
struggle the result of sa much labour and skill. It
is true that the war is only to begin again, but for
the present there is some sort of respite from the
hideous battle of the trenches, and that itself will
give new health and spirit to the allied armies.
That rest is not the least of the blessings which
the martyrs of the Bth have procured for the sur-
vivors.

OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

( From the correspondent of the Morning Post )

CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, AUG. 28.
The rumours of attack have quite subsided, al-
though it is not improbable that, for that very
reason, it may come suddenly upon us ; but as we
are well prepared at all points there is not much
to be feared ; and but for the sacrifice of life which
it must necessarily entail, would be, perhaps, de-
sirable. It was tolerably quiet during the whole
of last night, but being as light nearly by night as
day, with the moon and clear sic! we are now en-
joying, sorties cannot be made or works carried on
in any obscurity. The mail reached us last night
to 13th Aug., but seems to bring little News of
gen,;ral interest. The weather is to-day again very
hot.

AUG. 29.—1 was aroused, as I believe were all
others, except those who could sleep through a
bombardment, in the small hours of this morning,
by what at first almost made one imagine a shell
had burst within a few yards—the loud report and
concussion causing you to look round to ascertain
what damage had been done. All, however, was
perfectly still and quiet, and but for the unmis-
takeable evidence of having been shaken on my
stretcher, au I the rattle among bottles, might have
considered it nightmare ; but the explosion of a
magazine was the more correct and lamentable con-
clusion. On looking out a dense volume of smoke
was rising from the Mamelon, or appeared to
be in that direction, but I since find it was
the French magazine in what is termed the
Middle Ravine. _How the accident happened
appears uncertain, but, whether through care-
lessness or the bursting of a shell, the terrible catas-
trophe is the same. It is said that no less than
400 men hay' been killed and injured, and those
the best of troops—the Zouaves of the Guard.
Among the dead are nine officers, and fifteen men
in our own trenches more or less injured, as, of
course, are much of the works—a new battery that
had been constructed in the Mamelon for the pur-
pose of opening on the Redan, and which had never
been unmasked, being entirely buried.
There is a report, to-day, that the Russians have
recrossed the Balbec, and that they are about to
make a general attack along our whole front, as well
as in the rear. The numbers that are seen to cross
to this side on the pontoon bridge rather strengthens
the expectation, and it is supposed 'that, if they fail
in gaining any advantage from the attack on our
trenches, that they will abandon the south side, as
the bridge will now enable them to retire and save
their men. Such is the tamp talk.

AUG. 30.

I am happy to find that the casualties caused by
the explosion yesterday morning are not so many
as at first stated. The killed amount to 30 men and
four officers. The maimed to 150 ; among the
latter five officers. At all events, it is a loss to the
force, at this moment much to be regretted on
other grounds than those with which such a calamity
would always be viewed.
Nothing of interest has transpired here to-day
that lam aware a. Some little movement has taken
place among regiments, by the Buffs leaving their
old camp ground, and taking up new in the lines
of the Second Division, the 9th Regiment moving
to the ground lately occupied by the Buffs.
AUG.. 31.

Another loss of life occurred, I regret to say
again last night in our trenches, and not in the
most satisfactory manner. It appears the enemy
had a small party of men thrown out so far in
advance of their works as to be occupying a
quarry in front of on fifth parallel. The
field officer . commanding" sent out a party to
turn them out of it, and, owing to the clear
moonlight, three officers were slot, one after
another, as they took command of the men who
were to assault. The Russians, who were in such
a strong position, had only to shoot down the men
who approached. The 97th was the regiment en-
gaged, and lost 17 men, besides the three officers,
Lieut. Preston killed, and Lieutenants Brinkley
and Ware wounded. The weather was so exces-
sively chilly during 'the early part of this day,
that ordinary summer clothing was hardly found
warm enough. During the afternoon it threatened
rain, and although it would have been generally
welcomed, I doubt if it would have been so by the
sailors in the Naval Brigade, who bad erected a
most elaborate theatre for the performance, which
I have just returned from witnessing, and, like all
others, was highly amused. If the acting was not
of a very high order, the hornpipes were unde-
niable ; and the painting, the scenery, the music,
and the company were also : among the latter,
who were the guests for the evening of Captain
Keppel, were his Grace the Duke of Newcastle,
Major-General Sir Bentinck, besides other big
wigs too numerous to mention. The theatre was
erected at the hottow of a steep` close 'Clcsio-to the