The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-17 00:00:00

GET WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tuileries, while Kars was left all the while to the
frightful chances of a compulsory surrender—when
by the timely interference of a body of French or
English troops despatched from the neighbourhood
of Kamiesh or Balaklava, the siege of Kars might
readily enough have been raised, and the only
laurel reaped by the sword of Russia since the
War commenced have added a new cluster of im-
perishable leaves to the coronal already woven so
profusely about the helmets of France and Eng-
land ? The answer to all this is discoverable
either in the incapacity of the Allied Commanders-
in-Chief, or in the insincerity (as to a really ener-
getic prosecution of the War) or in the criminal
procrastination of the Allied Governments.
Which of the two—History will in the end
pronounce : possibly distributing to each their
due share of the infamy in relative proportions !

Trig DAT—Morn. 55 min. aft. 7—Evening 30 min. aft. 8
To-MORROW—Morn. 5 min. aft. 9—Evening 37 min. aft. 9

THE WRITHE ft—SITN OFFICE, Dec. 16.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
51 highest since noon yesterday.
41 —lowest this morning and during the night.
45 -this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 30.33—rising.
N.N.W.—Light, with fine clear weather, inclin
ing to frost.

DECEMBER 17.
46 —highest since noon yesterday.
40 —lowest this morning and during the night.
41 —this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 3013—falling.
WIET', E.—Moderate, with dull, c,ld weather.

reel - Atn,
Iy,a,pApek4

However—after all is said—thus closes the
winter campaign in Asia with a deplorable loss to
the Allies and a notable victory for the Muscovites.
Let the remembrance of it be as a remorse to the
conscience of the united arbiters of the future
destinies of Christendom ! Goading them to some
more resolute policy when the spring shall have
enabled then to resume hostilities in earnest—in
Asia against MOURA.VIEFF, in Europe against
TODTLEBEN, OSTEN-SAQKEN, and GORTSCHAKOFF.
Something more will then be expected from 01,110,
PACIZA than the inadequate triumph of Ingour—
something more will be looked for from Marshal
Pzussizu than the inconclusive capture (however
heroically effected) of the Malakhoff. The Com-
manders-in-Chief of the Allied Legions, in truth,
have yet, it seems, to, learn the advisability of
following up with urrelaxing energy, on the
instant, triumph after triumph—from the inau-
gural battle of Oltenitza to the final storming of
the titanic earthworks of Sebastopol.

most so when she is professing friendship or'
" tendering her good offices." We have in every
instance, when we listened to her blandishments,
been deeply and bitterly deceived. We lost much
valuable time in " waiting for Austria," when
anything approaching to a decided course on her
part would have averted the War, by convincing
Russia that the crossing of the Pruth would be
regarded as a cams belli that would be resented
by at least three of the great European Powers.
We again committed a grave mistake when we
permitted her troops to occupy the Principalities

—to do that without remonstrance which we
proclaimed war against Russia for attempting.
But for the unflinching courage of our soldiers in
October and November, 1854, sealed with their
blood on the glorious fields of Balaklava and
Inkerman, we should have severely expiated our
error. The mischief was, however, happily
averted, and Austria, whose duplicity involved us
in the scrape, was, on the tidings of our un-
equivocal success, quite ready to take advantage of
her position, by pretending to be the faithful ally
of the Western Powers. It was under such cir-
cumstances that the Treaty of the 2d Dec., 1854,
was arranged, of the spirit of which there could be
no possible doubt, whatever quibbling or special
pleading might be raised on the terms in which
it was expressed. It is needless now to refer to
the manner in which that solemn undertaking was
violated. That is unhappily a matter of general
notoriety, and it scarcely required the corrobo-
rating evidence afforded by the active and unim-
peded supply to Russia of the materiel of war
through the Austrian territories, or the infamous
outrage committed on Colonel Tun while wearing
the British uniform and engaged in the service of
Great Britain, or the disbanding of her troops at
peculiarly 'critical periods, to convince any unpre-
judiced person of the faithlessness and duplicity
of that Power.

When the settlement er allowance of the PRINCE
CONSORT was under discussion in Parliament it
was universally considered that 30,0001. per an-
num was not only a sufficient but a very liberal
appanage. Indeed Mr. HUME besought the
House, of which he was a respected and influential
member, to consider the temptations to which a
young Prince with so large an income as 30,0001.
a year would be exposed, in the vicinity of a me-
tropolis like London. It was, however, considered
befitting the dignity of the SOVEREIGN that her
Consort should be placed in a perfectly indepen-
dent position, beyond the possibility of annoyance
in money matters, and to obviate the necessity or
even the inducement of grasping after profitable
sinecures or employments scarcely consistent with
the high position in which he was shortly to be
placed. The large grant was therefore all but
unanimously carried, although the youthful Prince
would have no establishment to keep up, all such
expenses being defrayed from the Civil List.
The 30,0001. per annum was therefore entirely
for the privy purse, or what persons of inferior
rank might term " pocket money." It was
exactly half of that fixed for the Royal privy
purse, which had many urgent claims to meet,
from which that of the Prince was exempted. To
preclude the necessity of accumulating money for
the possible contingency of his being left a
widower, it was further provided that in such case
the 30,0001. should be increased to 50,0001.
Experience has, we believe, proved that the
estimate was abundant, and far more than suffi-
cient to cover every outlay of his Royal Highness,
who has certainly not erred on the side of extra-
vagance, but has already realised a very handsome
capital. We do not complain of this prudent
" economy," which, on the contrary; seems very
laudable, and only allude to it for the purpose of
showing that there could be no pecuniary pres-
sure on the Prince to induce him to seek lucra-
tive appointments, to the exclusion of those who
had, by highly meritorious services in the
field, nobly earned the etium cum dignitate
which they were intended to confer. Ho has,
however, been appointed Colonel of the Grenadier
Guards, as successor to " the Iron Duke," the
pay of which was, on the recommendation of the
Commissioners appointed to consider the subject,
retained at 3,0001. per annum, while the other
regiments of Guards—the Fusiliers and Cold-
streams—were fixed at 2,0001. each, ordinary
regiments being about a moiety of the latter
amount. But Prince ALBERT was not merely the
Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. He was also
nominated Colonel-in-Chief of the Rifle Brigade,
Ihaving previously been Colonel of the 11th Hus-
sars, or Prince ALBERT'S Own, and of the 60th
Rifles. He is also Governor and -Constable of
Windsor Castle and Ranger of Windsor Park,
" Chief Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall," and
" Lord Warden of the Stannaries." There are
sundry other matters, both of honour and emolu-
ment, to which it is at present unnecessary to
allude, but which, at a moderate calculation, add
some 10,0001. per annum to the revenue of his
Royal Highness.
Under these circumstances, and being, we be-
lieve, the only military pluralist commanding two
regiments, one of them the most lucrative of any
in the service, it is to be regretted that the Prince
should have suffered himself to engage in a matter
which has brought the subject prominently before
the public. Inquiries have naturally been made
as to how far it is right or proper that his Royal
Highness should engage in these matters. The
30,0001. per annum was either adequate for his
rank or not. If the former, he ought not to enter
into competition with meritorious officers, who
have no " Royal road" to rapid promotion ; if the
latter, the matter should be brought before Par-
liament, to have the mistake committed in 1840
rectified with all convenient speed ! We have also
the by no means improbable rumour that the
Prince is to he the next Commander-in-Chief
whenever Lord HARDINUE may think proper to
retire. All these matters have occasioned consi-
derable uneasiness in the public mind. That
u n easin
beset at rest, and means
adopted uneasiness
ascertain the position which it is expe-
dient or constitutional that the husband of her
most gracious MAJESTY, the " alter ego" of our
dearly-beloved Qu'EFS, should occupy in this
country. The matter is one of the deepest inte-
rest to every loyal subject, and should accordingly
receive the earliest attention of Parliament.

Why then should we so often fall into the pal-
pable trap? Even wild animals avoid the snares in
which they have once been nearly trapped, and
should we again be caught we should certainly
expose ourselves to the ridicule of Europe, of
which we shall be the laughing-stock and tho re-
proach.

CLIFFORD'S PLAN OF LOWERING
SHIPS' BOATS IN A GALE.

In our notice of the proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers on the sth of April last, we gave the re-
port of that body on this admirable invention, which
was, " that it was evident that by this system the dis-
astrous effects of undue haste in rushing to the boats
in cases of danger would be cmpletely obviated." With
so strong a testimony as this, backed as it has been by
another from the National Life Boat Institution to the
same effect, it must seem strange that so much needed a
remedy for a national evil has been neglected and passed
over. This, however, we are happy to find will no longer
be the case, as the Emigration Commissioners have,
after a careful consideration of the plan, ordered it to
be fitted to the Aurora, the next ship on their list to be
dispatched from this country to Australia with emigrants
and superintended by Captain Lyons, one of their ablest
and most efficient officers and a first-rate seaman, who
has special instructions to test its qualities. Of the re-
sult we entertain no doubt, and the commissioners will
be entitled to public gratitude should they be the means
of bringing into general notice an invention so generally
needed and which if successful will supply a deficiency
long felt by all nautical men to exist in the naval service.
The Aurora lies in the West India Export Dock, Poplar,
and the general care that has been bestowed ou preparing
her for the reception of the emigrants reflects the
greatest credit on all concerned in her equipment.—
Morning Paper.

LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1855.

The lamentable rumour of the Fall of Kars is
at last confirmed. Intelligence to that effect has
arrived by way of St. Petersburg. There re-
mains no longer any roam whatever to cling with
a tenacious and almost despairing hope to the bare
possibility that a diversion might after all be
effected either from the north by OMER PAM& or
from the south by SELIM PACHA, thereby com-
pelling General MOURIVIEFF to raise the siege,
and thus even at the eleventh hour extricating the
gallant WILLIAMS and his heroic garrison of Turks
from their most perilous and desperate situation.
Famine, in truth, has achieved in November what
the furious onslaught of the Russians altogether
failed to accomplish in September. Upon the
29th of the month last mentioned, as history will
infallibly record in characters of fire, the indo-
mitable defenders of Kars repelled the vastly
superior numbers of their Muscovite assailants by
the sheer force of a courage unconquerable by the
sword, the bayonet, and the cannon-ball. Abandoned
entirely to their cwn resources the heroes of that
famous day have at length, nevertheless, been
driven to the dread necessity of surrender by the
inexorable stress of utter and absolute starvation.
Ravaged by disease, they still contrived to main-
tain their position until their weapons of defence,
as it were, fell from a grasp relaxed by the palsy-
ing influence of extreme hunger. Subdued at
last as they have been, it must be recorded of
them that they have succumbed not to Man, but
to Nature. Artillery and infantry were, so to
speak, innocuous against the bulwarks of their
dauntless and indomitable heroism—a heroism
which only proved powerless when paralysed by
fever and famine combined. Theirs be the glory
of the defence. The shame of the defeat devolv-
ing exclusively upon those to whose indolence or
incapacity it is owing that the heroes of Kars
were abandoned in cold blood to the ghastly peril
of positive and hopeless starvation. Nothing can
exonerate the Allies from the grievous blame at-
taching to them for the atrocity of thus yielding
up, without an effort to relieve them, the glorious
champions of the ever-memorable 29th of Septem-
ber. A little foresight, and Kars might still have
been withheld from Russia—might still have been
a name of terror instead of a cause of triumph
to . General MOURAVIEFF. Why, for example,
was it ever left to the caprice of SELIM PACHA to
advance or not, as he might
deem it expedient,
with the inestimable succour for the beleaguered
under his banners in the Armenian
fortress, placed
capital of Erzeroum ? Why, again, Was the arri-
val of OMER, PACHA upon the Asiatic coast of
Turkey, in his supreme capacity as Commander-
in-Chief of the armies of the SULTAN, delayed
until all further opportunity should be denied to
himof carrying assistance betimes to the daring
defenders of Kars, collected together under the
orders of KMETY and WILLIAMS ? Why were
whole regiments of the veterans of the French
army being shipped homewards from the Crimea
across the waters of the Mediterranean to be laid
up in lavender in the vicinity of Paris ? Why
were crowds upon crowds of the English officers
allowed to maunder away from the "blood-stained
ruins" of Sebastopol intent upon "urgent private
affairs,"
meaning thereby, of course, in the majo-
rity of instances, the snug
festivities of Christ-
mas ? Why, we ask uvrerser abstirdities,of this ,kind.-
tolerated by the Cabinets of St. James's and the

We fear that there is but too much foundation
for the sinister rumours of another Austrian in-
terference with a view to the opening of new ne-
gotiations. A generally well-informed contem-
porary—one who may be supposed to speak "on
authority"—has announced that " Count ESTER-
HAZY, Austrian Ambassador at St. Petersburg,
was to leave yesterday for his post, the bearer of
the ultimatum which Austria had resolved (!) to
press upon the acceptance of the CZAR." The
nature of this " ultimatum," is more than hinted
at. It is, indeed, spoken of as a matter of general
notoriety ; and if the terms be rejected, then
Austria is determined—not to take an active part
in the quarrel, not to draw the sword in earnest
_but "to withdraw her Ambassador from St.
Petersburg !"

" 1 vneo Danaos et dons ferentes."
Such was the exclamation of ono who might saved
Trey in the olden- time,t his. prudentadvice.had
been listened to. We also dread Austria, and

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER l7, 1855.

Mr. G. B. Price's (11th Hussars) b g Old Tom. (Capt.
Connell, R.A.) Blue, pink sleeves
Brig.-General Lawrenson's br g Signal. (Owner.)
Mr. Wilkin's (11th Hussars) g g Charlie. (Owner.)
Black and white hoop, black cap.
Mr. King's (11th Hussars) b g Prince Rupert. Blue,
black cap.
Mr. Williams's (R.H.A.) br m The Half Pint.
Lieut.-Col. Campbell's (46th) br. g. Sir James Mason,
(Owner.) Yeilow, black cap.
Major Dowbiggin's b. in. Etty.
Second Race-12.45.—The Alliance Cup, a Sweepstake
of 31. each, with 401. added, for all horses (the winner
of the first race excluded). The second norse to re-
ceive AL list each. Two miles.
Major Biddulph's (R.A.) Viking 1
Mr. Wilkin's (11th Hussars) br. m. Dinah, late Per-
fection. (Owner.) Black and white hoop
Mr. Baker's (18th) br m Kathleen.
Major Manley's (Inniskillings) b g Valentine.
Major Garratt's (46th) b g Meanee. (Owner.) Red.
Mr. Dixon's (7th) b m Little Kate, late Miss Kickemoff.
(Major Wombwell.) Black.
Third Race-I.3o.—The Sebastopol Handicap, a sweep-
stakes of 21. each, with 251. added, for all ponies 14
hds 2in and under. One mile.
Captain Campbell's (R.A.) ch In Portia, 10 at 7 lb.
(Owner.) Blue, black cap
Major Garratt's (46th) g. g. Brass Hat, 10 st.
Major Lewis's ch. p. Growler, list. 41b. (Owner)
Green, pink sleeves.
Mr. Peacock's (30th) b. p. Clinker, list. 21b. (Owner.)
Mr. Vansittart's (11th Hussars) br. p. Schumla, list.
(Sir W. Gordon.) Blue, black cap.
Mr. Wingfield's b. p. the Turk, 10st. 71b.
Captain Lamb's (49th) b. p. Jolly Marine, lOst. 41b.
Captain Cornat's (Chas. d'Afrique) g. p. Biquet, lOst.
(Viscount Talon.)
Mr. Wynne's b. g. Kickemoff, lOst.
The Trakty Cup of 201., for all horses, the property of,
and to be ridden by, officers of the French and Sardi-
nian Armies. One mile on the flat.
The Consolation Scramble—a Handicap Sweepstakes of
21. each, with 251. added for beaten horses. To be
entered immediately after the Sebastopol Handicap is
run for. One mile. Steeplechase course.
Mr. Baker's (18th) Kathleen, list 1
Mr. Wilkin's Charlie, 12st. 71b.
Lord Ennismore's the Robber, 12st.
Mr. Cockburn's (11th Hussars) Zig Zag, 12st.
Mr. Barlee's Sultan, 10st.
It will be observed, that the Royal Artillery
came out in an astonishing. manner ; all the races
were won by " the gunners."
In the evening 110 of the officers interested in
the sports of the day, and their friends, dined at
the restaurant of the Third Division, Colonel Dau-
bony in the chair, and the foundation was laid for
an army jockey club, with a permanent fund for
races wherever the troops may be encamped. The
night was pitch dark, and the rain fell in torrents ;
as the camp is intersected by deep drains, and full
of all kinds of unpleasant trous de loup, many of
the company nivouacked on the floor of the shed,
and only left at dawn.
The rain has now ceased, but the wind blows
strongly from the eastward, and the sea is high.
The mud is deep all over the camp, and the road
has settled so much in various places as to require
considerable repairs. The weather looks exceed-
ingly threatening, and the gale increases every
moment.
The waste of property as of life in war is prodi-
gious and unavoidable. I firmly believe that for
3 feet deep the whole of the quay of Balaklava, near
the Commissariat landing-place, is a concrete of
barley and corn. The sacks are often badly tied or
rotten and full of holes. It is no uncommon thing
to see a Croat or Turkish labourer waddling slowly
along with a sack on his back from which the corn
is descending in streams against the back of his
legs, till be arrives from the ship at the store, and
then to behold him depositing the collapsed and
flaccid bag on the heap with the greatest gravity and
satisfaction at his success in diminishing his lead at
every step. In the various Divisional Commisa-
riat depots there is also an enormous loss of grain
from similar causes, and from shifting the sacks
and the distribution of the rations. But it seems
to be impossible to prevent these losses, which are
regarded as incidental to a state of war.
SATURDAY, Dec. 8.
A dreadful gale passed over us last night. Many
huts and tents were blown down all over th• camp.