The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-16 00:00:00

to the House of Commons, and through it to the
country. Messages were sent from the Admiralty to
the War-office, from the Ministry of War to the Ord-
nance, from the Ordnance to Deptford, and then came
back to the source from which they originally pro-
ceeded." In short, we have a War Department only in
name. The Ordnance, the Transport Service, the Com-
missariat, the Horse Guards, are as independent of one
another—each as much bent upon doing everything for
itself, without interference from the rest—as ever. The
Minister at War may issue commands, but these subor-
dinate departments only obey them if they like and as
they like. For this scandalous state of anarchy in the
service many are, doubtless, more or less to blame ; but
the principal responsibility must rest upon him who
undertook to fuse them into a harmoniously working
system, and has failed to do so. The Duke of New-
castle cannot have imagined that he could work his de-
partment without a staff ; and with what kind of a
staff has he surrounded himself A glance at its com-
position will show that, with one exception, he has
selected his subordinates, not from the War-office, but
from the Colonial-office and the Treasury. He is en-
deavouring to work in a field entirely new to him, with
the assistance of men who know as little about it as
himself. As for Mr. Sidney Herbert, no one can
imagine why a Secretary at War has been left in the
new arrangement, except to be in the way of the Minister
at War.—Daily Ncws.

LETTERS FROM THE SEAT OF WAR.

CA.UP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL,
DECEMBER 30.

Early this morning a reconnaissance was made by two
regiments of Highlanders and the left wing of the 2d
Battalion Rifle Brigade (which wing is attached to the
forces under the command of General Sir C. Campbell),
together with a French division, consisting of two regi-
ments of cavalry and one brigade of infantry, with six
pieces of artillery, under the command of General Maurice.
The whole were under the command of Sir Colin Camp-
bell. The French portion of the reconnaissance assem-
bled opposite the village Kadakoi, and marched across
the plain in the front of that village, in the direction
of the Tchernaya and Baidar rivers. The English
moved along the heights in front of our position,
towards the Baidar pass. This allowed the latter
to watch the movements of the French, and had
anything serious occurred they might have marched
down to their assistance. The French succeeded in
driving the Cossacks and Russians from their advanced
position, setting fire to their huts, and driving them back
to their main body, but this was not accomplished with-
out some little difficulty and obstinacy on the part of
the Cossacks, who, contrary to the general rule, stood
their ground with bravery. They fired a few pieces of
artillery, and one Cossack ran a Frenchman through the
body with his lance. The French in this affray lost 13
killed and wounded. The village of Chergoon was set
on fire ; but, unfortunately, only 12 houses were burned.
The French, however, burned the whole of the huts
occupied by the enemy in the position they retired from.
If no other good was accomplished the enemy had a
comfortless night, as the snow fell hsavily during the
night. It was expected the French would have re-
mained out all night, but after dusk they returned to
quarters. The Russians remained on the :dart, and
were observed in motion from the hills. Col. Gordon.
Assistant-Quartermaster-General, head quarters, accom-
panied the party.
The Queen of the South, steamer, with 250, the Tyne-
mouth, steamer, with 300, and the Harbinger, steamer,
with 80 sick, sailed this day for Scutari
The Emperor steamer had also sailed for Eupatoria

for cattle and bAt-borses.
The Jason steamer has sailed for Conbtantinople,
where she will coal, and afterwards proceed to Varna
to embark Turkish troops, and convey them to Eupa-
toria, to strengthen that garrison.
Eupatoria, is a town of great service to us. We re-
ceive a good supply of bit-horses, and a great number of
cattle for the troops from the natives there. English
gold will do anything.
The Thames steamer has taken a few sick to Scutari,
and, after coaling, will proceed to Varna to convey
Turkish troops to Eupatoria.
The City of London steamer, which arrived on the
28th December, brought 232 bullocks, 50 horses, and
450 pack saddles.
The steamer Hetton, from England, has also arrived
with 80 huts, 85 stoves, and a quantity of wood for
hutting.
The Magdalena, besides the 18th Regiment, of 850
strong, brought 40 tons of warm clothing and some
ball cartridge.
The siege operations are nearly at a stand-still ; quite
so on the part of the British. Last night a very heavy
fire was kept up by the enemy, but reports of this
morning state " nothing more than usual happened." On
the 26th, great numbers of men were observed to march
down from the Fort Sanverem, in Sebastopol, to the
water-side, and were conveyed over the harbour to the
north side in boats, the boats returning empty. The
enemy have erected a small battery of four guns oppo
site to Gordon's Hill, and have posted sentries in ad
vance.

DECEMBER 31.

The enemy, after the reconnaissance of yesterday,
assembled in force this morning, and seemed inclined
to face the allies. They shelled our working party in
the trenches last night. The night was clear and
moonlight, and every move on the part of the British
was easily seen by them. So sharp did the shot and
shell come from their batteries that our men were
compelled to withdraw the working parties. One man
of the Light Division had his leg blown off.
A great cry is now made for want of fresh meat for
the troops. Scurvy has made its appearance, and only
about once or twice a month do the troops obtain fresh
food. Sir Edmund Lyons said the other day that nothing
was more easy than to procure cattle from the different
ports along the Asiatic and European coasts of the Black
Sea. Upon a question being put by Sir Edmund Lyons
to Lord Raglan the other day, as to whether he was
prepared to give 6d. or even is. per lb. for meat, hie
lordship answered, " Yes ; even ls. 6d., sootier than
the men should want fresh meat." He added " that
the country did not mind what they paid, providing
they could give good and wholesome food to the troops."
According to the system of our commissariat, with the
♦iew to purchase cattle, it is necessary to send an officer
of that department to collect, at a certain port, as many
head of cattle as he possibly can, and then ship them to
the Crimea, The French are quite different ; they send
an officer, who proceeds in a small vessel to every creek
and harbour, collects 10 here, 20 there, and so on, and
returns in half the tittle, besides insuring the troops a
supply of fresh meat regularly. If our present system
is followed, and the troops have so much salt meat,
scurvy will do as munch this winter as the cholera did
last summer. Already ninny are severely attacked,
and every day increases the evil.
The British commissariat at present are not nineh
more than issuers—for this reason, all provisions are
brought to the army from England, the cavalry are em-
ployed to carry it up from Balaklava to divisions, tho
commissariat doing nothing more than issue it out.
The correspondent of the 1 inte3, some time back,
stated that nothing could exceed the regularity of our
colomissaria,t in its issues. Had the writer inquired of
an individual soldier, and not trusted to what a com-
missariat officer stated,, his tale would have been very
different. Daily, now, are the men without a bit of
meat in some divisions—first in one and then iu another,
and there is no regularity whatever.
The Europa, from Varna, with 66 soldiers and 180
horses, has arrived, together with gabions and timber.
The Sea Nymph, from Constantinople, with planking
and miners' tools. No. 86, transport, Lady 111‘Naghten,
is gone to the Gulf of Perekop fur forage. We can even
purchase at that place, although in the enemy's country
—English gold does it all ; there is no resisting it.
The harbour of Balaklava, is crammed with shipping,
bringing timber and warm clothing.

JINUATtY 1

I visited Balaklava this morning. Nothing can equal
the confusion—the mass of consignments of warm
clothing, blankets, hutting materials, stoves, charcoal,
forage, barrels of beef and pork—all jumbled into one
heterogeneous mass. A barrel of pork stands beside a
bale of blankets here, and a stove beside hutting
materials there, and so on. So rapid have been the
arrivals, and so eager for disembarking, that the wharf
and all around is like one vast storehouse, without form,
fashion, or order. From the huts which have arrived
the Quartermaster-General has determined to erect a
few at Kadakoi as a receiving store, to ease the stores at
Balaklava. The harbour is very small, and hence the
confusion. The town does not afford a sufficiency of
stowage for the immense mass of clothingand the hutting
materials which arrive daily.
As regards the former, as usual the roofing is on board
one ship, the body of the but on board another ; one
vessel is here, the other God knows where. Beaads
and timber are being issued to regiments. To-day h
regiment has been authorised to draw 5,000 feet of
sheeting, 100 pieces of scantling, and 100 pieces of
rafters. This is for the purpose of the hospitals in
camp. Officers and men are allowed roofing,
,&c., for
walls of huts which they may have built, but the ques-
tion arises, how are they to get it up ! Only by car-
rying it up on their backs. Seine baggage horses have
been landed lately, but still these are not sufficient.
The general opinion is that we shall neither have huts
nor anything else before the cold weather sets in, and
that cannot be long. If we had conveyances up to the
camp all would be well, and we should relieve the har-
bour very much. There are four ships now in quest of
baggage animals, and it is to be hoped they will soon
return. Already a fearful number of men fall sick from
exposure to cold. The British lose upwards of 300 by
death every week, so that they had need receive an
extra regiment every fortnight. I must, however, ad-
mit that a great many of this number are wounded in
action or in the trenches.
Sir Edmund Lyons paid a visit to Lord Raglan yes-
terday morning, after his lordship and staff had at-
tended Divine service.
The Turkish troops are employed in carrying gabions
up to the trenches from Balaklava and from St. George's
Monastery, where '2OO of the Guards are still employed
under Lieut.-Col. Fordyce, Scots Fusilier Guards.
The French are actively engaged in digging holes in
the ground, over which their Nmall tents are fitted very