The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-25 00:00:00

THE ENGLISH ARMY BEFORE SEBAS-
TOPOL.

The Pays yesterday entered the lists relative to
the state of the English troops before Sebastopol.
It does not deny that much suffering has been en-
dured by the English army, but at the same time
it affirms that the accounts given are greatly exag-
gerated. The following are its observations :
"We are at the same time astonished and distressed at
the attitude lately assumed by a part, and unfortunately
an influential part, of the English press. For some time
past it has been uttering cries of distress, which at pre-
tent resemble those of despair. If we may believe its
affirmations and fts letters, the English army in the,
Crimea may be considered as utterly lost ; there can
scarcely remain 20,000 valid men out of the
53,000 men who formed the contingent of Eng-
land in the allied army ; the remainder have perished
miserably, those who have escaped the Russian shot
having fallen victims to disease and to the defective state
of the military organisation. Such is the sad and
melancholy picture which the English journals draw of
the situation of the British army in the Crimea. Every
day a voice is raised in the ranks of the London press,
exclaiming, like Cmsar---‘ Yarns, restore me my
legions l" Every day a new article arouses public opi-
nion against the Ministry, on whom the responsibility
of all these disasters is thrown. Is this violent pole-
mic free from exaggeration I We must be permitted
to doubt it. We certainly will not say that the
English army has not suffered very severely since its
landing on the coasts of the Crimea ; but, thank God,
there is a great difference between that and the total de-
struction of which the English journals speak. We also
in our turn receive accounts of the situation of the
allies before Sebastopol, and never has it been men-
tioned in them that the English army was devastated
and weakenad as it is represented to be by the
English journals. If Lord Raglan were reduced, as they
affirm, to have only 2,000 men under his command
can it be be believed that he would so sacrifice them to
the last man, and would not be the first to raise a cry
of grief and despair ? If the state of the English troops
was so frightful, would not our generals and our sol-
diers hasten to their assistance with the ardour of
that generous sympathy which now unites the two
nations These same letters, which draw such a me-
lancholy picture of the distress of the British troops, re-
present the French army as admirably organised, and
abundantly supplied with provisions and stores of
every kind necessary for the comfort and health of tho
soldier. They affirm, and all our own information con-
firms the statement, that the health of the French troops
is as satisfactory as it is possible to desire ; and they
are very warm in their commendations on the ()icier,
regularity, and minute foresight which distinguish our
military commissariat. Can it be believed that, with
this relative comfort, our soldiers would nut have
been happy to allow our brave Allies to profit by it
To think otherwise would be to do injustice to
the devotedness of our army. Every man among
them would, if necessary, share his bread and his blanket
with our heroic brethren in arms ; there is not one who
would not have submitted to the sacrifice with that

feeling of joy at doing good which, we are proud to say,
is one of tho distinctive traits of the French national
character. At Balaklava and at Inkerman we saved
the English army, when attacked by an over-
whelming number of the enemy ; we should not
now hesitate to prove to it that our fraternal
feeling does not exist only on the field of battle,
but that it is even stronger in the camps and in the
intimate relations of the two armies. All these consi-
derations render us very suspicious of the truth of the
melancholy letters with which the English press has
been filled for some time past. But even should these let-
ters be of better authority than we are disposed to attach
to them—is that, we may ask, a sufficient motive for ex-
citing the public, for alarming families, for declaring all
compromised, and for attacking the English Government
with a violence which resembles passion? Such an
attitude is wanting in patriotism, and is not worthy of
a powerful nation. A. great nation ought to support
the vicissitudes, and even the misfortunes of war with
more calmness and sang froid. England has for the last
40 years expressed the strongest antipathy for the sys-
tem of standing armies. She has devoted all her active
force to works of industry and to the all-absorbing
activity of her manufactures. The war which has now
surprised Europe has found England neither organised
nor ready for the struggle. Soldiers and armies are not
formed in a moment. Thanks to our military system,
and to that glorious Algeria which is such an excellent
school for our soldiers, the French army is always ready
to enter the field, and it carries with it that courage
which is calm even in its fullest ardour, which cad only
be acquired by the practice and exercise of arms.
This ought to be a serious lesson for England.
Experience has now shown her that her old generale
were right in calling loudly for the permanent establish-
ment of a respectable military force. Such is the funda-
mental fault which is called reform. This is the essen-
tial fact which ought to engage the attention of Parlia-
ment much more than a struggle against a Ministry, or
the exaggerated recitals of anonymous correspondents
of the press."

The Courrier de Marseille, of the 23d inst., pub-
lishes the following letter, dated before Sebastopol,
the 7th inst. :
" The weather has been frightful for some days,
snow having fallen without intermission during 24
hours. But this was not the greatest inconvenience
we had to endure. The sun appearing converted
that snow into liquid kilud, which now covers our
camp, and renders all the roads impassable. To-
wards evening the cold again sets in, which is endur-
able in our cantonments, but extremely painful to the
mon on duty in the trenches. It appears certain
that a great portion of the corps of Liprandi has