The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-04 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1855.

The Russian version of the proceedings which
led to the fall of Sebastopol has at length been
published, and will be found in another part of
our impression ! Prince GORTSCIIAKOFF, in a
General Order, addressed to the Army of • the
Crimea, has endeavoured to apologise for the
failure, and the compulsory evacuation of the
city, so earnestly defended to the last possible
moment. That be should strive to vindicate the
character and courage of the troops under his
command is very natural, and it is but simple
justice to say that they very bravely and effici-
ently defendedtheposition entrusted to their care.
What he says, then, respecting the obstinacy of their
opposition, and the gallantry and heroism dis-
played during the course of the siege may be re-
ceived with indulgence. But there are some ad-
missions of peculiar value which cannot possibly be
explained away, which prove beyond doubt the
superiority of the Allied forces, and that the so-
called voluntary evacuation of Sebastopol was in-
evitable, no choice remaining to those who had
Lost the key to their position, and could oppose
no further effectual resistance to the captors and
occupiers of the Malakhoff.
Lot the Pro-Muscovite Press of Germany who !

hailed the evacuation of the south side as a bril-

liant tactical manoeuvre receive their answer
from the Russian commander. He says—
" To continue, under these circumstances, the
I defence of the south side would have been to ex-
, pose our troops daily to a useless butchery, and,
their preservation is to-day, more than ever, neces-
sary to the Emperor of Russia.
" For these reasons, with sorrow in my heart,
but with a full conviction, I resolved to evacuate
Sebastopol, and take over the troops to the north
side by the bridge constructed beforehand over the
bay and by boats."
There is another matter—which we have already
referred to—which receives a strong illustration
from this address. We alluded to the melting of
the Russian resources in the Sebastopol Crucible,
i and the serious losses which Russia incurred in the
protracted defence, which was thus more beneficial
to the Allies than if the stronghold had been
'taken by surprise or captured after a brief con-
flict. Had it been so, it would merely have
been a town taken ; but all the resources of
Russia were exhausted to render the defence suc-
cessful. But her most strenuous efforts were
fruitless. Sebastopol became the arena in which
the fate of the War was decided. The losses sus-
tained by the defenders in that terrible conflict
may be estimated from Prince GORTSCHAROFF'S
own admissions. He says :
" Taking advantage of the superiority of their
fire at short range, the enemy after the concen-
trated action of their artillery during thirty
days,—which cost our garrison about one
thousand men per day—commenced that terri-
ble bombardment (bombardement d'enfer) from
their innumerable engines of war, and of a
calibre hitherto unknown, which destroyed our
defences, which had been repaired at night with
great labour and at great loss, under the incessant
fire of the enemy—the principal work, the Kor-
niloff Redoubt, on the Malakhoff Hill (the key of
Sebastopol as a point dominating the whole town)
having experienced considerable and irreparable
damage."
After this it is useless to pretend that Russia
could have further maintained the conflict, or that
her troops could meet on anything like equal
terms, even under the most favourable circum-
stances, the gallant soldiers of France and England.

What additional phases of Germanism will
next be exhibited ? What new intrigues are
hatching at Berlin and Vienna, for the purpose of
extricating Russia from the very unpleasant posi-
tion in which she has been involved by her own
misconduct ? These are interesting and important
problems, the solution whereof should be earnestly
sought for. That every possible effort will be
made to save the AUTOCRAT from any real loss
seems certain. A profound, although in some
instances a secret, sympathy for Russia has been
manifested, from the very commencement of the
struggle, by the German dynasties, and we have
no reason to suppose that there has been any
change of sentiment on their part, or that they
would not still play the Muscovite game, so far as
it was possible to do so with impunity. -Unfortu-
nately, too, they have been permitted to exercise
a sinister influence over the proceedings of the
British Government, and serious injury has been
inflicted on the Allied cause, by the truckling to
those who have disappointed every expectation,
and betrayed every promise.

Had Prussia and Austria acted in a bona fide
and straightforward manner, in concurrence with
France and England, at the commencement of
the dispute, hostilities would never have broken
out. But the CZAR calculated, and with good
reason, on the connivance of his vassals, and
their actual co-operation and assistance, whenever
it could be rendered, without involving them-
selves in the scrape. When sounding Sir
HAMILTON SEYMOUR as to the contemplated divi-
sion of the Sick Man's assets, the then AUTOCRAT
clearly showed that they had previously been
made safe, and that he feared no interruption on
their part. It was only England that he wished
to secure, and could he have achieved that pur-
pose he would 14ye braved the anger of France,
and set its Imperial Ruler at defiance. Such con-
fidence might have opened the eyes of any save
the wilfully blind. But ABERDEEN, the good and
excellent ABERDEEN, was then Prime Minister of
England, and his especial followers occupied all the
places in the Cabinet connected with the manage-
ment of the War. The palpable duplicity and
insincerity of both Powers was therefore disre-
garded, and they were permitted to render
powerful, though covert, aid to the AUTOCRAT.
It is unnecessary to recapitulate the manner in
which Prussia became the medium through which
the commerce of Russia was transacted and all
her wants supplied. Large profits were realised
by Prussian subjects, but the advantage derived
by those with whom they were dealing, were in-
calculable. It is more than probable that the
assistance thus rendered was even greater than if
"Cticquot" had shaken off his despicable neutrality,
and arrayed himself openly on the side of his
brother-in-law. In every step and every man-
ner he thwarted England and the English ;
and yet scarcely have we achieved our object
—scarcely has Sebastopol fallen before the im-
petuous valour of the Allies—when his nephew
and heir presumptive appears in Scotland as
the approved suitor for the hand of the PRIN-
CESS ROYAL of England, and is received as the
cherished and welcome guest of our SOVEREIGN,
not at her public Court, where foreigners of rank
may properly attend, but in the domestic circle—
in that secluded residence, where for the time being
she casts aside the cares of State, and enjoys the
social relations of life as a wife and a mother.
Can we, under such circumstances, hesitate in
expressing the grave apprehensions entertained of
the Germanic influence ? Must we not shudder
at the probable consequences of this new alliance
with the cousin of the AUTOCRAT, which will sup-
ply an additional link in the chain connecting
the Courts of England and Berlin, aye, and St.
Petersburg ? Surely our Court is already suffi-
ciently Germanised without such a sacrifice, for
which a more inauspicious time could scarcely be
selected.

The conduct of Austria has been, if possible,
worse than that of Prussia. She not merely
maintained her neutrality, and rendered valuable
aid to Russia, but she wilfully and deliberately
violated her most solemn undertaking. Through
her sinister conduct she enabled the Muscovite
legions to hurry to the Crimea, and was the cause
of the bloodshed on the fields of Balaklava and
Tnkerman ! Nor was this all ; for after her gross
deception in reference to the Conferences at
Vienna—after withdrawing from all her pledges
of assistance and co-operation in the event of
Russia refusing to accept the conditions, of which
she formally approved, she reduced her army at a
critical moment, so as to enable the adversary of
the Western Powers to send vast number
of additional troops to the Seat of War !
If they had prevailed, there would, doubtless,
have been fervent rejoicings at Vienna, and heart-
felt congratulations to the CZAR on the triumph
of his arms. But the heir apparent of the
Ulysses of the House of Coburg is closely con-
nected by marriage with the Imperial family at
Vienna, and thus is Austrian influence maintained
with our own Government !
Under such circumstances we are justified in
looking with anxiety to the next steps of the Ger-
man Powers, and invoking the aid of the British ,

Parliament to counteract the schemes which may
be entered into for depriving France and England
of the legitimate fruits of their success,' and of ex
tricating Russia from the serious dilemma in
which she is placed.

Justice is an invaluable commodity, prized only
by a few, and far from being liberally dispensed.
Flattery, on the other hand, is worth what the
reader pleases, is eagerly sought after, and

liberally distributed. Both, however, are at
times regarded with apprehension, and received
with distaste. Your defaulter or culprit dreads

justice, swallows it as an unpalatable morsel, and
chews it as a veritable cud of bitterness—while
nothing is so unpalatable to a high-spirited man
who has done his duty as flattery. All he asks
for, and that can give him pleasure, is justice—
and that he is surely entitled to. If this be so,
he has a right to complain if justice is withheld
from him, and suffers a grievous wrong if the
denial of it takes the shape of detraction. The
defaulter is aware of this, and when justice is
dealt him seeks to avail himself of it as a plea in
his defence.
The speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
at the Radnorshire Agricultural Society's Meeting
at Knighton, on Monday last, a report of which
appears in another column, furnishes illustrations
of the preceding remarks. The tone of the speech,
it is true, is an improvement on what we have
been accustomed to from Ministerial lips, and some
of the Right Hon. Baronet's remarks, as we shall
afterwards show, have our entire concurrence
still we cannot but take objection to its general
tendency. The speech, in point of fact, is a subtle
—and none the less subtle for its moderation—
defence of Ministerial shortcomings. We are per-
fectly prepared to admit that in a sudden prepa-
ration for War, after a forty years' peace, there
must of necessity have been many shortcomings ;

but we utterly deny, as we have all along done,
that such shortcomings could possibly bear any
proportion to those which have so disastrously
signalised the commencement of the War. No
special pleading in the world will avail to show
that the most probable contingencies were not for
a considerable period overlooked, or suffered to
remain unprovided for—or that there was not
ample time to have organised an expedition to
Sebastopol vastly less inadequate to " the possibi-
lity of success " than that whose valour, fortitude,

and endurance have filled the whole world with

its fame.

Nor can we admit that subsequently " the
War with Russia has been prosecuted with all the
vigour which this country, with its great re-
sources, could command." A hundred facts fami-
liar to our readers testify to the inaccuracy of
the assertion, and we who have never adminis-
tered flattery to Ministerial ears, and certainly
not less than justice, are not disposed now that
Sebastopol has fallen to suffer the injustice done
the brave English troops engaged in storming it
to be employed as a defence of Ministerial default
without an indignant protest.
Having discharged what we conceive to be an
imperative though ungrateful duty, we are at
liberty to turn to that portion of the Chancellor's
Speech which meets with our entire concurrence.
We, like Sir GEORGE, "do not grudge the laurels
which France has deservedly earned in the assault
at Sebastopol," while we contemplate with the
deepest satisfaction the generous and cordial co-
operation the French army has rendered our
troops, and the reciprocation of the noblest and
most generous feelings between them from the
beginning. We glory in having such an ally,
and none the less when we find that ally better
disposed to do our brave men justice than some
of their fellow-countrymen. While those meta-
physical contingents swarming in German cities
and available to no Party, those recreants to duty
who "let I dare not wait upon I would like the
poor cat in the adage," sneer in their small way
over the English descriptions of the storming of
the Redan, and affect to discern there the deca-
dence of British valour ; and while so large a pro-
portion of the Press at home regard the repulse
of our troops, and all connected with it, as cover-
ing both them and their country with disgrace,
we have the satisfaction to know that, in the
opinion of French military ethics, the old colours
remain unsullied, and " that the English troops
did all that could by possibility be accomplished"
on that occasion. With perfect justice is it
added—" We must wait for the more detailed
official accounts, hereafter to be sent by the Gene-
rals, before we are in a position to pass any judg-
ment of condemnation on our own gallant troops.
We must remember that the attack which they
made effected a powerful diversion of the enemy,
and to a certain extent assisted the French in
maintaining that portion of the works which they
had gained, and that at the close of the day
the Redan was in possession of the Allies."
Aye ! and remember, also, that the trenches
wrought by our troops, unlike those oc-
supied by the French, were wrought in
stone, that this occasioned both delay and want
of space for evolutions—that in all probability
the attack was precipitated to support the impe-
tuous gallantry of the French, and that, under
the circumstances, the most able general was as
liable to have his plan frustated as the meanest.
But, to proceed. What Englishman is there but
will concur in the following :
" Nothing can more dishearten a gallant army
at a distance from our shores than captious and
censorious criticism, when they feel they have shed
their best blood in the defence of their country.
I trust that the best feelings of the country will
be enlisted in their behalf, and that everything we
can do in the way of admiration and sympathy will
be willingly bestowed upon them."
So say we. Our gallant fellows want no flat-
tery Justice ; the truth believed of them will
be to them the noblest and most acceptable re-
ward.