The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-18 00:00:00

HMI WATER AT LONDON BRIDCIn.

Tara Drrlmninc 3 min. after 5 I Fvoning 17 miu. aft. 5
T -- 3torntnk 34 cn; 7t. titer 5 j Evening 52 ann. aft,. 5

Tavrinr,ll.—sms Om:a, Aug. 18
Ta VELVIONEVM, IN Tilt BRAD&
75—highest ninco noon yesteritay.
62 --:owest t bis morning and daring the night.
75—this day , at noon.

ROY irrrn, 3010.
WIND, wibh fine sunshiny weather.

NIT),
; k
(Q)

11111,

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1855.

Another glorious victory in the Crimea ! The
Russians, seeking to make a diversion in favour
of the hardly-pressed garrison at Sebastopol,
made a formidable assault on the position on the
Tchernaya, with from 50,000 to 60,000 men,
under the com nand of General LIPRANDI. It
was a daring and skilfully-devised project ; but,
thanks to the v igour and efficiency of our gallant
Allies—French and Sardinians—it proved wholly

unavailing. The attempted surprise was a total
failure ; and, after a severe conflict of three
hours, the en emy were driven back, with a loss
of between 4,000 and 5,000 men placed hors de
combat, and about 400 prisoners, who remained
in the hands of the conquerors. The victory
was in every respect complete, and was the more
satisfa,ctory from the fact of the comparatively
little loss sustained by the Allies in the noble
defence of their position. There was, of course,
some loss in this brilliant affair, and we regret
to say that General MONTEVECCIIIO fell mor-
tally- wounded at the head of his valiant
troops, who more than fulfilled the sanzuine anti-
cipations that had been formed of their efficiency,
and proved themselves well worthy to fight by
the side of the veteran soldiers of France and
England !

We learnt, from the despatch of General PELIS-
SIER, that -there had for some days been rumours
of a premeditated attack on the part of the Rus-
sians. Earliest preparations were made for a de-
cisive coup that might prevent or delay the ex-
pected onslaught on Sebastopol. The sick and
wounded wer, N so far as practicable, removed from
Sebastopol, and hospital accommodation provided
for the casual ides that must be looked for in such
a conflict. A repetition of the attack on Inker-
man was contemplated. Warned, however, by
their dearly-bought experience on that occasion,
they avoided t he English lines, and fondly hoped
that the Sard inians and French would prove
easier customelm than the dreaded Islanders. The
expedition was, however, futile. The assail-
ants found a formidable and well - pre
pared body of men, who, after a desperate
conflict, complletely repulsed them, and had
achieved a brilliant victory before the arrival
of the French and English reserves, which has-
tened to the : ipot, burning with enthusiasm to
participate in i ;he laurels likely to be gained in
the affray.
The principa 1 effort of the enemy was directed
against Traktiir-bridge, in the valley of the
Tchernaya, wh' ich had been held by the Sardinians,
Turks, and a I French division. Against this po-
sition a body of nearly 60,000 Russians moved
rapidly on thte morning of Thursday last, and
when day broke apparently overwhelming masses
of Russians wer 7e found advancing to the onslaught.
They had bee n collected during the preceding
night, and wer e ready for the earliest moment. As
we hare already stated the action lasted three
hours, during N rhich the divisions of Generals HER-
' BILLON, CAmotr, FAUCIIEUX, and MORRIS, as well as
the Sardinian t roops, were engaged. No mention has
been made in the telegraphic accounts of the
proceedings of the TurkiM 'troops, but as they
consisted not of raw levies, but of veterans from
the Danube,
the army of we may believe that
they also behaved well wherever put to the trial,
and shared int the ours of the glorious day.
After a sharp conflict r that time, .41.
me, the Russians
finding that the contemplated surprise had totally
failed, and that they could make no impression
. on the gallant defenders, seeing also that the re-
serves were hastening up, retreated on Macken-
zies Farm, leaving between 4,000 and 5,000
killed or wonanded, and 400 prisoners. It will be
sometime b(rfore they recover the severity of the
check they have experienced, or are again in a
position to b ecome assailants.
It is obvio us that the daring experiment which
has so signally failed was adopted as a diversion
in favour of Sebastopol, and we can easily see
ow urgent a nay have been the applications for
some relief frc ru the overworked garrison. It is
scarcelyprobab le that;the next attack will be repel
led, more espec :.ally if, as ivehave already indicated'

there he a combined eftort 1w land and water.
AL: ex-alloldiu.:,iy -results of the ilomix--trdmelat
Sweaborg show how much can be accomplished
against granite forts even at a long range ; and
Sir EDMUND LYONS is just the man to profit by
such a lesson if his hands be not tied by secret
instructions from home. He can render important
services, if permitted to do so ; and, after what
has occurred at Sweaborg, we can scarcely suppose
that the anxiously-desired permission will be much
longer withheld.

Another satisfactory symptom is that announced
in the despatch from General SIMPSON, which will
be found in another column of this day's impres-
sion. On Thursday, shortly after the decisive
repulse of the Russian attack, it was decided by
the Allied Generals that the fire from the French
and English batteries should be opened at dawn
on the following (yesterday) morning. This is
probably continued at this moment, and ere many
days, perhaps hours, have elapsed, something de-
cisive may take place to render unnecessary any
stipulations respecting the demolition of Sebasto-
pol, and of the scanty remnant of the Russian
fleet that has so long skulked beneath its walls.

The Vulcan, which arrived at Dantzic on Thurs-
day with the mailq, brought full confirmation of
the brilliant success at Sweaborg, and also the
satisfactory intelligence that not a single life has
been lost in the English Fleet. Two officers and
about thirty men have been wounded, but not
a single one perished in the brilliant affair, nor
has there been any ship seziously injured. The
most important and heaviest blow struck against
Russia since the commencement of the War has
thus been achieved without any casualty worth
mentioning, to abate the joyous exultation with
which the glad tidings had been received.

At the time when the Vulcan sailed the re-
mainder of the Allied Fleet left, some for Nargen
and others for Cronstadt. It does not appear
that any immediate movement had been made
against Helsingfors to complete the operation so
nalliantly commenced. We regret that there should
he any apparent hesitation as to following up the
•-ictory and obtaining its legitimate results. Hel-
slagfors is a station of immense importance to
6:,ussia. It, is the capital of Finland, the Empo-
rium of the trade of Northern Russia, and it:
dtemolition would strike terror into the hearts ca
l'ae enemy, and more than anythina teud to con-
vince them of the earnestness and uubendiug da-
ta3rmination, with which we are now resolve' to
iirosecute the War. We have so frequently seen
tie evil results of allowing any breathing-time to •
I:lussia that any delay in following up a victory is
o specially to be deprecated.
It is possible that the Admiral, after his very
successful experiment against Sweaborg„ man
laave resolved on an attack on Cronstadt itself.
'Phis is rendered the more probable from the fact
that a portion of the fleet steered directly from
iaweaborg to Croustadt, on Monday last, and that
hose which left for Nargen may have merely gone
t hither for the sake of repairing any trifling damage
sustained during the bombardment. The Admi-
ral may possibly calculate on having Helsingfors
las easy prey at any moment, that he may be de-
sirous of completing the work already more than
half accomplished, and may wish to go forthwith
against the Russian stronghold that covers and
!protects her skulking fleet. Should this be so
ave should readily forgive the apparent inactivity,
more especially if the destruction of Cronstadt
iLud the fleet should allow of any operations in the
:Neva, and against the Muscovite Capital. After
iso brilliant and auspicious a commencement any-
:thing that could tarnish the laurels he has al-
:ready gained, and the still more verdant ones he
:may hope to acquire, would be truly deplorable.
We shall not, however, anticipate any such event,
;but earnestly hope that no sinister influence
:may prevail to save the Autocratic plunderer
from the humiliation and substantial injury
which he has so eminently merited for his wanton
attack on an inoffensive neighbour, and his inso-
lent refusal to avail himself of the too lenient
erms offered by the representatives of France
and England at Vienna. It is particularly de-
sirable that he should be so far crippled as to
enable the Scandinavian nations to breathe freely
by the removal of the sword that has so long
been impending, over thair territories. We know
that there have been stuiater influences in opera-
tion ; that Lord JOHN RUSSELL has declared for
peace at any price ; awl, considering that Sir
CHARLES WOOD was one of his staunchest fol-
lowers, we may well dread the control which he,
as First Lord of the Admiralty, may exercise
over the movements and proceedings of the Fleet.
We shall therefore look out eagerly for further
intelligence from the Bsltic Squadron, - which
-nay, we hope, be of such a character as to remove
our very natural anxiety.

The letter of " A Traveller in Italy," in to-day's
Times, eloquently enforces those views which we
have put forth in this journal on the policy of
England at this crisis. What is termed the Eu-
ropean system is justly designated. as " a fruit-
less and pernicious attempt to raise the fair image
of peace upon a pedestal of crime," and " opposed
in every way to the welfare and improvement of
mankind, by checking the development of the only
true element of lasting peace, m utual confidence,
and good-will between nations." With noble
simplicity the writer affirms, that " international
morality is our only guide to pe:toe ; and this is
comprised in one simple and ;sublime rule—a
recognition of the right of every people on the
earth to freedom from foreign domination." The
closing paragraph of this eloquea t composition is
especially remarkable :—.

" The present is a crisis in our fate. .England chooses
now between virtue and vice for ter future career.
May she choose wisely ! Our hope lie s chiefly in our
free press, with its infinite power for ;good, by the pro-
pagation of the true and the just. Anglia Statesmen
are a century behind the English pecTi'e, and every en-
lightened measure of modern times has been forced
upon them by the pressure of public- •op;nion. Lot us
remember that we represent not t e interests of a
despot, but of a people ; each people a member of the
great human family, and the only trine awl permanent
welfare of each member is to be found in the welfare of
the whole ; in other words, in the pray :ice and the pro-
motion of international tnorality.", _
_ _ _

have These are the principles for m hich we
contended, for which we are eentei iding, and for
which wo will never cease to corn tend. We are
perfectly certain that they must f ind an echo in
the heart of the largest part of the] -4]nglish people,
and that time country only desires t o be raised to
a sense of their retemitude and p racticability to
earnestly adopt their!, and to weld them into our
policy as pain and prc_A of our reo 3gnised system
of Government, to set them up as 3 beacon to light
other nations on their way, and to spread peace—
the true peace which springs from contented free-
dom_not the bastard peace resu: Iting from the
crushed life and enforced silenea of oppressed
races—
through the world. Si re desire not
such order as reigned in I Varsaw when
the st„
etß were fhoded 1 7ith patriotic
blood, and a fainting
overwhelming force, people, beat en down by an
awaited, with' mt power of re-
sistance, the stroke of their ce :ecutioner—not
such order as now rot, ..
wis Ita 1y , and Hungary,
and Poland, where a symbol of li.ivedorn, however
I insignificant, is the signal
for • merciless - persecu-
tion,may afford pretence
and a brave look or tone

for massacre ;—but the order which springs from

from unrestricted pursuits of induhtry, and from
a feeling of security and happiness.

The Times has nothing to reply to the Travel-
ler's Letter except that our views are now tem-
porary and our operations local, because the
War in which we are engaged originated in tem-
porary and local circumstances. What miserable
'ogic is this ! Is policy always to fall
so much behind science that we are
!lever to inquire into the causes of those effects
which injure us. Russia could never have become
90 powerful as she is, and never could have dis-
turbed the world, had not Austria smoothed the
path for her aggression, by crushing every spark
of liberty in those noble countries of Central and
Southern Europe, which, under free governments,
would have opposed an insuperable barrier to
Russian ambition. Never will Europe be able to
breathe freely until Austrian domination is over-
thrown, and the right of peoples essentially inde-
pendent through nationality, to govern them-
selves, and to live secure from foreign tyranny is
recognised as part of the public law of mankind.
At this " crisis of our fate," as the Traveller
justly terms it, we desire our people to meet
publicly, and to state facts which it is impossible
to controvert, as—

That the existence of the Austrian empire, as
at present constituted, presents no barrier to
Russian aggression ; but, on the contrary, from
the weakness of its internal state, induces it to
rely on Russia for support, and from the despotic
character of its Government compels it to regard
Russia as its natural ally.
That the interests of this country, and the
independence of Turkey, were betrayed by per-
mitting Austria to take military possession of the
Principalities, and that the direct effect of that
most impolitic measure is to bring Russia and
Austria Omer together in policy, to unite their
interests, and to induce them to plot for the par-
tition of the Ottoman Empire.

That the only security for the real peace, safety,
and happiness of Europe is to recognise the prin-
ciple of the right of nations es:entially indepen-
•lent to choose their own form of government, and
to be free from the domination of any foreign
Power ; and that the people of England pledge
themselves to exert all their power arid all their
energies to c irry out this principle as regards the
,ilislaved nationalities of Europe Hungary,
Italy, and Poland.
Public meetings, having these objects in view,
vould give to our policy a nobler character than it
has ever assumed before, would warn public men
that they will no longer be allowed to trifle with
the dearest interests of mankind, and would
breathe through Europe the invigorating in-
luences of Hope, first to be followed by the
iohlest, the most thrilling call—and the most
;lorious sentiment that can appeal to the heart of
,nan—the summons to arms for Right and
Liberty.

By this time her MAJESTY, after having been
welcomed to the shores of France by the EMPEROR
of the French people, will have landed at Bou-
logne, where a reception awaited her worthy of
her exalted position and the momentousness of
the occasion that led to the visit.

As the Sovereign of a nation in the fore front
of greatness and of dominions on which the sun
never sets, her MAJESTY'S claims to cordial and
most respectful welcome were of the highest.
But it will be as a generous hostess become a
guest—as a Queen celebrated for her many vir-
tues—as the representative of a proud line of
Kings, and a no less proud people, who for cen-
turie3 past have been engaged in a bitter war of
rivalry with France, and have now become her
fastest friends—as the most, august Ally of the
Imperial head of a gallant people, arrayed in
arms for the preservation of the Freedom and
Civilisation of Europe, that her MAJESTY will be
most cordially and magnificently welcomed—that
her pa= ,age from Boulogne to Paris will be one
prolonged shout of pleasure, exhibition of taste,
and blaze of splendour.
The English people have already testified their
approval of the alliance, and their desire to cul-
tivate the most cordial amity with the French
people ; and this not least conspicuously in the
ovation they so enthusiastically rendered to the
French EMPEROR on the occasion of hi-A visit to
London. They will read with the deepest satis-
faction the reports of the honours paid to their
be!oved. QUEEN ; and while the French people
find whatever latent distrust of England may lurk
in their breasts melt away before the presence of
VICTORIA, to he renewed no more, Englishmen will
treasure in their deepest hearts the memory of their
QUEEN'S reception, and tAke every practical op-
portunity to show how much their liking for the
French has been augmented by it, and how de-
sirous they are the alliance should be perpetual.
Thus, indecd, it ever is, a frank reciprocation of
good feeling goes far to insure its perpetuation,
and we look forward with pride and satisfaction
to an unshaken union of friendship between the
two countries, blessed with fruits over which
Civilisation will have ample cause to rejoice and
be glad, as the result in a great measure of the
exchange of visits between her Majesty the QUEEN
and the French EMPEROR. And if our antici-
pations are realisA, as we believe they will, the
world will have cause to rejoice that called by
PROVIDENCE and the French people to preside
over the destinies cf France, Lours NAPOLEON
magnanimously stretched out his hand in amity
to Great Britain in frank confidence of acceptance,
as the inauguration of a policy which, undeviat-
ingly persisted in, stamps him already as the fore-
most man of his day, and will cause him here-
'after to be regarded by both France and England
as one of their greatest benefactors.

DEPARTURE OF THE ROYAL SQUADRON.

PORTSMOUTH, SATURDAY, 5 A.M.
The Victoria and Albert, with the Queen, Prince
Albert, and elder members of the Royal family on
board, left Osborne this morning at 20 minutes to
5, and is now steering through Spithead, with the
Royal standard flying from her main.
No other vessels in sight.