The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-08 00:00:00

THE SI7N, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING OCTOBER 8, 1855.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Peninsula would dictate that their names should
be brought forward. Next to the Highland Divi-
sion comes the list forwarded by Colonel the Hon.
A. Spencer, who, with a brigade of the Fourth
Division, was sent to reinforce the Highlanders,
and who " reports in favour of" his personal and
the brigade staff, but in what these officers distin-
guished themselves we are left to find out as best
we can. Then comes the list of officers " brought
to the notice " of General Simpson by General
Markham, although what the latter did to distin-
guish himself—or what from the position he re-
mained in all day he could see of the struggle in
and about the Redan—does not appear on the face
of the despatch now under notice. The Bth of
September was a day of slaughter for thousands of
our gallant countrymen, both offieers and soldiers ;
and from it, too, we may date the death of mere
than one military reputation in the higher ranks of
the English army. Of the distinguished gallantry
of one officer whose name is " brought to notice "
by General Markham there can be hardly two
opinions—we allude to Colonel (now Major-Gene-
ral) Windham. But it was hardly necessary that the
stamp of approbation should be affixed to that name
by the leader of his division. Windham's name
will only cease to be remembered by England when
the contest we are now engaged in shall be no
longer recorded in history ; but there were wit-
nesses enough of his gallantry present with him in
the Redan, without the testimony of those at a
distance. After General Markham's list comes
that of General Codrington, in which—apparently
as a matter of course—the divisional staff are
one and all brought forward by name, leaving
the general reader to ask the not unnaturai
question, whether the names of these officers are
"brought to notice" ex officio, or on account of any
gallant act performed during the fight ; and, if the
latter, what their deeds of bravery or devotion
were ?
But how fare the regimental officers—the fighting
men of the army, as they may with propriety be
called—in this " list of names" which General
Simpson " brings to notice," or rather which " are
brought to his notice" by his division and brigade
leaders ? If the despatch before us were the only
test by which to judge of their respective merits,
the world would say that whilst every staff officer
of the three divisions had so distinguished himself
as to deserve that he would be specially mentioned
by the Commander-in-Chief, of those belonging to
the regiments that assaulted the Redan only here
and there a chance captlin or subaltern did his
duty so valiantly as to be deemed worthy of having
his name publicly recorded. General Simpson's
despatch either means nothing or it means this—
that every gentleman belonging to the staff of the
Highland, Second, and Light Divisions, and to the
Brigades composing those divisions, was on the
Bth September a hero, but that in the regiments
there were only a few—a very few in proportion—
who were deserving of any honour. And yet, as a
glance at the Army List will show, there are many
regimental officers now fighting in the Crimea who I
went through the baptism of fire five, six, ten and
twelve years ago in India ; whilst on the staff there
are many young men who have now attained to a
brevet rank of field officers, and who a year ago
were but subalterns.

(From the Times of this day.)

For a whole week the telegraph to the Crimea
has been as good as though it had never existed t.
the British public, and, if the War Department ha 6
received any messages beyond those of mere routine,
it has not thought it necessary to give them to the
world. Of present operations against the enemy
and of future prospects we therefore know. little.
A cavalry combat has taken place five leagues north-
east of Eupatoria. This would seem as if the
French meditated a diversion from that place and
operations on the Russian rear, while the main
army endeavours to assail the position from the
south. The state of the country as to supplies, the
presence of water, and tie nature of the Russian
defences, were probably the subjects on which
Marshal Pelissier wished to be informed when this
force was directed• to proceed a day's march into
the interior. There can be no doubt that the
enemy's attention has been directed to all these
things, and that every obstacle which a devastated
country and destroyed wells can oppose will be met
by the allies. In the meantime the road which the
French are making from the Valley of Baidar to
the plateau of the Upper Belbek seems, by Prince
Gortschakoff's despatch, to progress, and it is
probable that an attack on the Russian position
will be made on the left flank. The great prepa-
rations of the Russians to defend the Severnaya
seem to arise from a fear of a landing at the mouth
of the Belbek and anattack on their right, but there
is little reason to believe that such an enterprise
will be attempted. There can be no doubt that our
enemy look to the difficulty of field operations at
so late a season, and expect that the rains of winter
will commence before they can be dislodged from
their positions. It is possible that any hardships
will be endured to enable Russia to point to I►er
army on the north side of Sebastopol for the next
six months. We believe and hope that energetic
action during the present month willsuffice to drive i t
back at least on Simpheropol, and make Sebastopol
wholly our own. In this our state of ignorance as
to what is to be done, or even what is intended, it
is satisfactory to see that the recent speech of Lord
Palmerston is not in a diplomatic spirit. He talks
of Sebastopol in a tone of triumph, and of the
operations that are to follow in a tone of determi-
nation. He speaks of the results of the contest i
terms which would hardly be used were those re-
sults merely the limitations of April. Great. dan-
ger, great losses, financial ruin, new military dis-
asters to Russia, will be the consequence of a
persistence in holding the Crimea ; unless Lord
Palmerston greatly change his present mood, little
diplomatic advantage will be gained by the Cz tr
from any affectation of invincibility. The stub-
bornness of Gortschakoff and the strategy of Mou-
ravieff will not avail to save the Crimea for
Russia.

From this uncertainty of movement, and perhaps
We may add, as far as our Generals are concerned,
of infirmity of purpose, we turn with something of
relief to the despatches of our enemies, which,
while they show the dogged determination of the
foe, attest and heighten the glory of the allied
arms. It is evident from Prince Gortschaketrs
report, which we published a day or two ago, that,
though that general had no great success in the
Principalities, and though he has no great reputa-
tion among his countrymen as a strategist, the
event has justified the last act of the Emperor
Nicholas when he removed Menschikoff, and sent
Gortschakoff to take his place. He knew the
stubborn courage, the minute military know-
ledge, the caution, the coolness, and, above
all, the desperate Russian spirit of the man
who had so long and, in some cases, so unscru-
pulously served him. He also knew tile
General's influence with the troops, to whom for
years he had •been the representative of terrible
severity, but also of rigid justice and unceasing
attention to the soldiers' wants, feelings, prejudices,
and passions. He had high rank and au historical
name ; he was proud, but not, like Paskiewitch
and Menschikoff, eager for personal deference and
swayed by personal flattery. That no scruples or
compassion would prevent him from holding in
rigid control a garrison, even at the last extremity,
might be judged from his past career. A quarter
of a century before he had carried on war in Po-
land with fearful severity. Such was the man
chosen by the Emperor and his counsellors for the
command at Sebastopol as soon as it became known
that the allied armies were recovering health and
spirits, receiving large reinforcements, and, with
new and powerful artillery, preparing for the great
bombardment of April. He was, indeed, a man to
tand undismayed under an " infernal fire," to feed
for months his batteries with men, to see regiment
after regiment disappear, with only the same soli-
citude that he would watch diminished stores of
shot and shell. He was a man to defend as long as
defence was possible, and then to destroy with a
resolution which the world knows not whether to
call barbarous or heroic. What he and his men
passed through during the last month of their re-
sistance we now have learnt from the General's
own address to his troops. No English writer
would have dared to rate the Russian loss so high;
it would have appeared an ignorant exaggeration.
" During 30 days," says Gortschakoff, • " the gar-
rison lost from 600 to 1,000 men a-day." This is
independent of the slaughter of the last three
days' bombardment, and in the last supreme strut •
gle during six terrible assaults. What the Russian
losses have been during the whole campaign it is
scarcely possible to conjecture, for we believe that no
adequate idea has been formed of the terrors of this
wonderful siege. Disease, cold, and combat have I,ti
men low in n umberswhich it requiressome boldness to
state. We say nothing ofthe allied loss, but that of the
Russians seems likely to have fallen little short ef
200,000. Never in modern times has there been
so great a destruction on so limited a field.
After having dwelt upon the valour and endu-
rance of the allied host which won this long con-
tested victory, we may well do justice to the geniliq
of the hostile General. When we praise the man
whom we have defeated we, in fact, praise our-
selves. His courage and determination, the de-
votion of his officers, and the dogged, unflinching
resistance of his men, have received the tribute oil
their enemy's applause. But the military skill of
the evaluation is also deserving of its meed. While
under. the concentrated fire, at close range, of the
Allied guns—while losing nearly 1,000 men a-day,
4ortschakoff began to prepare for his retrea t
across the harbour. With immense labour a bridge
of barges was laid over an inlet of the sea, the
width of which is nearly 1,200 yards. At the close
o f that fatal day, which made all further defence
impossible the General, without any suspicion on
the part of the wariest of his enemies, blew up his
fort, fired barracks, hospitals, and houses,' and led
40,000 men, with probably 10,000 wounded, in
narrow column over a frail structure two-thirds of
a mile in length. His position during these last
most effective preparations may be judged from
the fact that in 24 hours after the opening of the
bombardment the allies had fired 70,000 shot and
16,000 shell into the place. It was under this
tempest that Gortschakoff laid his last galvanic
wires, and carried his▪ last stores across. What
should we say
in England to a General of ours who
performed so surprisi▪
ng a feat ? Should we make
him a Field-Marshal ! Not unless he had servo!
in Spain. It is probable, however,
.that our Gene-
rals would never conceive such an idea, as there
is no precedent for it in the Peninsula. Tle
originality and success of the retreat are as
worthy of commemoration as the stubbornness
of the defence. And now comes the moral
of this
story. After all this heroic resistance, it is said
that Gortschkoff is to retire, and to be succeeded
by Mouravieff, or some other General. Why ?
Because Gortschakoff is good in a siege, but bad mu
a campaign. Verily the Czar is wise in his gene-
ration. He chooses his Generals not because they
are old, but because they are fit for the work they
are required to perform ; and, when a portion of
the work is done, he removes this or that General
without remorse, simply because the exigencies of
the public service require another man.

If our English staff were composed of officers
who had gained high professional testimonials at
any military college—of men selected because they
were good draughtsmen, or well acquainted with
the subtleties of tactics, or perfectly conversant
with any other science whatever, useful for soldiers
—there would be less occasion to find fault with
this perpetration of an old abuse. But even the
whole world is perfectly well aware that per-
sonal or family interest or connexion are the only
stepping-stones towards a staff uniform, and that
whilst his regimental comrade—probably his senior
—was three and four times a-week braving death
in the trenches, the Aide-de-Camp, Brigade-Major,
or Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General is quietly
husbanding his health and strength in his chief s
comfortable quarters, it becomes really too much
of a good thing in these days of open council, to
reward one man for what another has suffered—often
for another's death. One single instance of this will
suffice for any reasonable man. In the Rifle Bri-
gade there are two officers, bearing the regimental
rank of captain. The one of these--who belongs
to what may be called the unprotected class—en-
tered the service in 1834, exactly 21 years ago.
After seeing a vast deal of service in India, this
gentleman—who purchased all his steps—ex-
changed into the Rifle Brigade, with which corps
he has served in the Crimea since the commence-
ment of the war, and has never been absent from
his duty a single day—he is still a captain. In the
same regiment with his officer, but much junior to
him, is a scion of a noble house who entered the
service in 1846. Being a relative of the late Lord
Raglan, he was appointed to the Head-Quarters
staff when his corps was ordered abroad. In De-
cember last this young man became a regimental
captain, and was forthwith promoted to brevet-
major—why, the Horse Guards alone can tell, ex-
cept it was because he was on the staff, and that he
was on the staff because he was a relative of the
Commander-in-Chief's. Lord Raglan dies, and
General Simpson succeeds him, when his lord-
ship's relative is kept on as a delicate compli-
ment to departed greatness—a sort of living wreath
of immortels hung upon the Field-Marshal's
tomb by his successor. Sebastopol falls, and the
fortunate youth is entrusted to carry the not
over luminous despatch of his chief to England.
For this he is made lieutenant-colonel—his senior
captain by eleven years in the army and by a
dozen steps in the regiment still remaining captain.
Thus it is that the Horse Guards reward merit and
long services, taking no account of family influence
or personal interest ; and thus it is that we expect
our regimental officers to be content with their
hard lot, and to cultivate the vine that others may
pluck the grapes.
Will nothing stop this perpetual military job-
bing? If heedless of the gross injustice done to
the unprotected officers of the army, can the nation
remain silent under the sneers and wonderment of
our French and Sardinian allies ? We are apt to
call the Emperor Napoleon despotic, and to think
that his will is all-powerful, but unless his Majesty
wished his army of all ranks to rise in one general
mutiny, he dare not perpetrate one single such job
as our War-office Gazette calmly announces by the
dozen to the world ; and it will be well for England
if a powerful voice is raised to put a stop to these
unjust practices. We last year murdered a third
of our army by neglect ; let us in time stop those
who would " according to custom " make our
officers discontented by undue and most partial
advancement of those who do next to nothing over
those who have for twelve long months borne the
heat and burden of the day. We cannot afford
any longer to make a war army the means of push-
ing aristocratic youngsters to high rank, unless
they are distinguished by professional merit as well
as good birth. All such abuses as we have pointed
out must be reformed, and either General Simpson
or his successor must be made to look to gallantry
or distinction in the field as the only claim officers
can have to be mentioned in the public despatches,
or recommended to her Majesty for brevet promo-
tion. Regimental officers ought—and must—have
the lion's share of military reward, inasmuch as
they have to brave all the danger. There is not a
man in England but rejoices in General Windham's
promotion ; while there are but few who do not
cry shame on the small portion of praise,6advance-
went, or honours awarded—or likely to be awarded
—to those who so nobly fought by that gallant
officer's side. If these matters are not reformed
now, it is to be hoped they will be so when Parlia-
mentepymae eptsu
b;
ioct he
he
ar
tw isseel,d hme qa
allows
oe swt
si o
int s wwi 10l r bed s ttaok
be
en
unheard or its opinions to pass unheeded.

-----LEwEs, Saturday
ESCAPE OF TWO RUSSIAN C
morning thelptw ETB.—was thrown into a
--xcTitehmisent by a report that
of the younkers
escaped from custody,
sEtavteenion,f;
,d7rders, pen.
confined iu the War Prison hagdeve.escr
afterwards
wtheers making
TaBheiligent search
for the fugitives, but without success, officials
~ainodn e rssh, oarntdi yo
t b er
period
at which they effected this escape does not appearexact
( From the Daily News of this d
“ay.) known, nor the manner in which they diit Tto be
If the French army ever read General Sim ' both in the hospital for sickness, and have 1"
left
last . despatch, published in these columns o psoti , wered
in their ward. As the to the
SatTur_
varioustheir prison
it isentrance
day last, it will puzzle them not a littlleidroersssare locked by night,probabledthat
object of the document is to transmit to Lord. Pan_l'' they
got outsoon after dark on Friday evenin,
mure "the list of the names of officers and
must o
have
done
by
scaling
the walls, evening,
thishas
brought to my (Commander-in Chief's) noticeim el" been done on two previous occasions, and which a child
the generals of the Highland, Second, and Liod'iY‘ might do. As they have left their prison clothes be-
Divisions, on the occasion of the attack on The' hind, their attire is not precisely known, and if it was
Redan on the Bth September ;" but it would have they have the means of procuring fresh, as they each
hwaidtha large sum of money. One, it is said, decamped
been shorter and more to the purpose to have sail
to
other
rwards of 100/., a portion of which belong. I
that the names of all officers having staff appoint-
In the course of the day
ments in the aforesaid divisions—together with the governoPrisoners.
received
information that two foreigners
those of a few regimental officers who had distill- ha.,l been sreen'
miles
olletshe neighbourhood of Chailey,
guished themselves in such a way that it was iin- which is about 9 from Lewes, early in the morning.
possible to overlook them—had been recommended, A fly was immediatelyeompanied by someof ptrhoecured, and Lieut. Mann,
facr-
one and all, for a step in brevet promotion. First
hChailey, and madediligent search
officials,h started. c
in order comes the Highland Division, commanded a dilige
by the brave Sir Colin Campbell. Of this division, ut they could get no tidings of them,o fora itihe fugitivetso,
striegularly enough, General Simpson merely gives Lewes,certain havingaccomplished nothing. nlwas returned
pretty
they had not left the town by the
list. of the divisional staff, but does not say no 1 railway, and,
c ue could be obtained of them -
that Sir Colin recommends gentlemen as
any of these burbs, it was suspected that they werein any of the for special special honours,secreted in the
What is the most natural town. Inspector Ddcvof
thing to be inferred s, the East Sussex constabulary,
from?that the was put on
this . Why, .
.which
the search, and this evening he
gallant old Llighlande • i guinea he had been making in vain re.sumed in•
to which his troops were disgusted at the inaction during near]
that he condemned, and annoyed
the whole of Friday night • his P
still unsuccessful, and as , renewed efforts werey
more prominent part in the fight
allowed to take a
runaways is unknown, yet
ethke.whereabouts of the
forward the names of any I'oll4, declined puttim; I
i or cadets, which does not Theirtitrlea thole thatt of younker3
no way had any opportunity of
fs who had in i
' of parole, but the cadets are allowedmouot
forthe privilege
themselves above their fellows. 1 distinguishing ' time every day. They are both Finns, ad from
certain
Division, staff officers—and they In
nthe Highland ,
l inn been in England a year, have acquired a r In
moderateh ay - i
tioned, for the reason, we presume,°thTare men- ' knowledge of the English language. One of them left 11
staff officers, and that the good old they are his photograph in his ward, and it is in the h d
an a of the 1
custom of the polices