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

GENIIRAL SIR DE LACY ETANS AND

LORD RAGLAN.

The gallant member for Westminstar has again landed
in Old England, and we are glad to learn is recruiting
his shattered constitution at Folkestone. Ws under-

stand that his broken health has been much restored by
his voyage home, although there is no chance that he
can safely resume his Crimean command. The climate
of the East in autumn and winter, with constant ex-
posure under canvas day and night, and no rest for body
and mind, proved over-much trial for a veteran soldier
68 years of age. Indeed, the command of a division of
the army, under such circumstances as those in which
the Allies are placed in the Crimea, is perhaps the most
incessantly onerous and responsible. We need not re-
peat the universal opinion of his comrades—British,
Irish, and French—on the last service which he ren-
dered to his country. Political detraction and prejudice
for a while deprived Sir De Lacy Evans of the rank and
rewards due to his extraordinary military career and
his hard-earned distinction as a soldier. The reluctance

with which he gave up his command, and the opinion of
Lord Raglan, on the occasion, are fully stated in the
following correspondence, commuricated by a friend
of the gallaat general, and whici we take on our-
selves the responsibility of making sublic, though with-
out his permission. The letters are alike honourable to
both, and there can be no reason vshy the friends and
constituents of the member for Weszainster should not
be gratified by their publicity :
H.M.S. Britannia, Nov. 11, 1854.
My Lord,—On the 30th ult. an aide-de-camp of mine
had the honour of informing your lordship that after be-
ing confined to bed in my tent for nearly two days I had
a severe fall on my head, my horse partly rolling over
me, which added to previous suffering from illness or ex-
haustion rendered me totally incapable of dety. Your
lordship immediately granted me suds leaves of absence
as I might require, and had the goolness even to send
your carriage to convey me to Balsklava. Hearing
on the 4th, however, that some attack against the
enemy was intended, I wrote the nsfitary secretary to
ask when it was to be, being desirous, if possible,
though far' from well, to be at least present at it.
Col. Steele was so obliging to reply, "Lord Raglan
begs to say you must not think of moving until you are
quite strong." On hearing heavy firing on the morning
of Sunday, the sth, though the weat'aer was bad and I
had taken mercury, I proceeded as fast as I could to the
point of attack, and remained there till the close of the
battle, but felt neither justified nor ft to take the com-
mand of the division from General rennerather, which
he had exercised with so much ability in the previous
part of the day. Your lordship on hearing that I was
on the field sent for me, and with your usual kind con-
siderateness desired me to go back to the ship I had been
staying in—which, acknowledging my inability for any
useful active service, I obeyed. But the fatigue and ex-
posure to weather I had undergone did me injury.
I have now for nearly a fortnight had the benefit of
the greatest care and hospitality possible, and a warm
cabin, from my generous naval friends Capt. Dacres in
the first instance, and now no less so from the Admiral-
in-Chief in the liritannia. But five months without ces-
sation under canvas, with some unavoidable privations
and alterations of temperature, latterly at night not un-
frequently severe cold, with the shock occasioned by my
n poetuo ti
and
ds
advantageste b-eae ir
atest.iiiiAlenftd
withwitla
fic thl year.beli
e v a Inn;
dfaelol,c4hajwie
ughadtothtehier
chance,lffeonofo one
ehein
service,
other officer of the same ecirebeed age and rank Ilas had
allthe mai:sr pere7enntti
but little feeling of strength or freedom from ailment.
This has been greatly misled to by the heavy and pecu-
liar responsibility that lately fell to my lot for almost a
month, namely, from about the 4th, I think, till the 30th
of October.

-----..
I feel ix consequence much depressed, worn out, and
exhausted. A severe chronic complaint I am subject
to having been also extremely aggravated during the
cold nights we latterly had in camp, and which are now
becoming more frequent and severe with the advancing
winter season. I should not, however, have been so
prolix, for in your lordship's letter of the 31st you were
pleased to refer to some of these circumstances as fol-
lows :—" Nothing can -,have been mere satisfactory
than the whole of my intercourse with you, and it is
painful to me to see it interrupted. But unfortunately
no man can command health, and you have had to un-
dergo not only great fatigue but anxiety of mind, since
your division has occupied the important position it now
hosldusc,hanexdprseossgiaolniasnotf ly
a few days ago." maintained under your
approvaldirec-
tions
from Sour lordship are
indeed a groat happiness te me to have received.
About a month ago, when the generals of divisions
were summoned to head quarters to receive a commu-
nication, recollect my mentioning
that I
lordship
nlblet'y to attend by taking ammonia
had your
been
only able
and other stimulants. Daring the occasional northerly
windseeenivt' •ye (1
obliged
together so
whollyt tool
shaveed? a mygtaevnet
andfor
c
w
unopened tent doors. Some
also of your lordship's staff will remember how often in
bringing me orders they found me on my bed, or rather
twenty
I fourwas
hours
orders through my
in my blankets, on the ground, when I ought rather te
have been, if I could, on horseback. I was well aware,
though others may not ha-re been, that this invalid con-
dition prevented my attending to many things which I
knew it was urgent I should have personally seen to
and executed.

Under the;e circumstances, instead of asking your
lordship for longer leave, which I am sure you would
grant,'l thinkritistshieon to resignmorepr my staff appointmentopercourseteso
solicit your
with thislordship's permission
the very arduous executive duties and
responsibilities of which ny impaired health and want
of strength render me no longer adequate to. And I
trust that the several wounds I hays received, and the
services I have faithfully endeavoured to perform in
various parts of the world, rill be deemed to render me
deserving to close at length my active duties, when
unable to continue them with justice to the public ser-
vice or to myself.
I have nIY tee repeat ray expression of warm
gratitude nowforte uniform kindness and indulgence I have
been treated with by your lordship.
And have the honour to
iren7Gin.cy.Bou.
(c your lordship's most
humble and obedient Servant, Du LACY EYINS.
To General the Lord Ragaopy.

tatitri letterT. 13,0 f the
1854, at night.
Lmoyr d
dear
General--Your
Reply,a
reached me this afternoon, when I was engaged
and I have not until
npre-
paringolvrtfcooumnntyda
idialessmpoamt
whatceh moment to tftooorrmetphel:y
arntnoadii
will,
I am sure, be to
the Second Division, and many others, your gallant
companions in arms, most P.Bakful intelligence—your de.
sir
Your staff appointment
with
thto be
hisam
permittedrywhichtoyoruersn impaired health and want of
strength render you disqualified for in your own estima-
rieved to have to udge of his own feelings
andtion
bodily E ve rpyo
wmearns i
as
ntdh eI baems t
acknow-
ledge that you may be right ilk your impression of them;
but I, and those whom you have so recently commanded,
with such advantage to the public service, know that
your mental faculties and gallant spirit, enabled you no
longer ago than the 26th of last month to meet the
enemies of your country in the field, and successfully to
repel a most powerful attack on the position occupied
by the-Second Division.
I view the loss of your assistance with the deepest re-
gret, but I cannot ask you to stay after the statement
you have brought before me of your sufferings from ill-
ness, anxiety of mind, exposure to the weather, and
over fatigue. You will be at liberty to go when you
please, and be assured that you will carry with you my
best wishes and those•of all with whom you have been
associated. I trust that English air, and the comforts
of home life will gradually restore you to health, and
enable you long to enjoy the reputation your services
have acquired for you.
I cannot close my letter without sympathising with
you on the death of your first aide-de-camp, Captain
Allis, who appeared to me to be a most promising
officer, and fully to deserve your confidence and good
opinion.
faithfully yours,
RAGLAN.
Believe me, my dear general, very

Lieut.-General Sir De Lacy Evans, K.Q.B.

DOVER, Dec. 29.—Among the arrivals this day at the
Lord Warden Hotel, from the Continent, are the follow-
ing officers from the Crimea, wounded :—Capt. Trevel-
yan, 11th Hussars ; Captain Crosse, 88th ; Lieutenant
Baynes, 88th ; Lieutenant Wallis, 33d. Captain
Duplat has also arrived this afternoon from Vienna,
with despatches for Lord Clarendon.

of our incurable national self-complacency. Are
we not the two most civilised Powers of Europe,

ourselves the wisest and best, if not also the
bravest of the two, fighting against the most
barbarous Power ? Is not Russia a nation go-
verned by a despot, assisted by tools, by means

of ukases, the knout, conscriptions, Siberiti, forced

contributions, martial law and a-system of per-
sonal brutalities from which even the highest

nobility is not secure ? How is it possible but that
the free genius of our own favoured country
should prevaiqunder all circumstances whatever,
against a form of society so low that it may be
called abhorrent to human nature itself ? May
we not be sure that, even if things are
bad enough with us— worse-looking possibly
from our comparative innocence of war they
are, in reality, still worse with the Russian
army, and that even in this fatal struggle
with climate, with winter, with storm, and with
famine, we are beating the Russian,. or must
eventually beat him ? Now, in this great depre-
ciation of the foe, and in the particular reason for
this depreciation, lies our principal danger. We
despise Russia for the very reason that we ought to
fear her. We hold ourselves vastly her superior for
_ _
a

point on which we ought rather to take a lesson
from,. her. She is a barbarous Power. Grant #;.
and a purely militaryrrik * i stein s
worked with a rod of iron. The Czar treats her

nobles as they do their serfs. Generals are sent to
Siberia or reduced to the ranks ; governors of cities

are sentenced to work on the— roads ; nobody
knows whose turn may come next, or how terrible
it may be. It is a crime to be incompetent. For
a moment's vacillation the services of a long life
are forgotten, and it is rebellion not to understand
rightly an order that admits of two construc-
tions. The Imperial family itself is not exempt from
this iron law. The incompetent heir is put aside,
and his partisans disappear. In such a system the
hardest metal is a necessity of State. When the
instrument once yields, or permits its edge to be
turned by the soft compunctions of humanity or
personal kindness it is thrown away. It may be good
enough in its place, but will not do the work of
the Czar. Such is the quality of the Russian system
that we may perhaps hate or despise it, and that
we may afford to do so in time of peace, but we
cannot afford to do so in time of war, or in any
affair that relates to war. We cannot afford to
fight with soft iron against hard iron, with foils
against naked swords, with holyday pageants
against the grim reality, with courtiers against
warriors—in a word, with peace against war. Yet
that is very much what we are vainly attempting
to do.
It will not be denied that if the Czar, by a per-
sonal inspection or otherwise of an army, ascer-
tained it to be in the condition of our army be-
fore Sebastopol, he would instantly put it into
entirely new hands. ETOIL were the case not so
bad, it will not be doubted that rebukes, peremp-
tory orders, and other measures of rigour would
soon be heard of, and that every man in the ser-
vice would be put on his mettle. But if we want
to know how Emperors and great generals manage
these affairs, we have an example in the corres-
pondence of Napoleon, particularly that with his
brother Joseph. It was not with good nature
that this man conquered half Europe. He in-
structed, commanded, reproved, rebuked, and
abused everybody, without any exception. He
would have everybody about him at his post and
up to the mark. Ho required his viceroys and
marshals to do as he did, and transmit downwards
the vigour of their chief. If our system be not
one of aggression, if we are actually denying our-
selves the prizes of conquest, and seeking only the
barren honours of justice and humanity, never-
theless the work itself is not in any respect short
of that undertaken by Napoleon Bonaparte. In
attacking Russia we are simply attempting to do
what he could net do, to cap his greatest triumphs,
and to redress his worst failure. This we attempt
to do with about one-fifth of his force, and with
the still greater disadvantage of a divided com-
mand. To succeed after his disappointment would
be almost miraculous. If he, then, ever required
an iron will, an iron head, iron instruments, and a
whole system of iron, as, indeed, he always did,
much more do we. Yet everybody knows that the
whole conduct of this expedition, from first to last,
has been rather that of an encampment at Chob-
ham than an invasion of the soil of Russia, and
an attempt to destroy the strongest place of the
strongest man in the world. Ministerial favour,
nepotism, routine, official punctilios of a hundred
kinds, have all been observed in a battle of giants.
We are hampered, not by the inexoraqle condi-
tions of the war, bad as they may be, but by the
silken bonds of class, clique, and kin. The real
administrators of the army are much too kind-
hearted to peach against one another, or to give
one another unnecessary pain. They are all good
fellows, and though one, if report speaks true,
who should be the very eye of the chief, is almost
blind, another never had much capacity, and has
had no experience, a third is too infirm to appear,
except in a carriage, and the staff is otherwise
crowded with beardless youths, gone to the Crimea
to learn their profession, we are no more likely to
hoar of any complaints than the vulgar public is
to hear the quarrels at a ball at Almack's, or the
mishaps of a dinner at Windsor Castle. The Czar
is not to be tied within his own dreary continent
with such gossamer wets as those. We smile at
the Chinese, who defend their empire with paper
ramparts, mock steamers, the clashing of swords,
and the sounding of gongs ; but what will the world
say of us should it be found that our army had
invaded Russia under a staff as showy and thea-
trical ?
Then we are told it is the duty of every true
Englishman to enter the official conspiracy, and
help to conceal the true state of things from those
twin horrors—the British public and the Empe-
ror of Russia. 'We aro always to report "an im-
provement for the better"—reinforcements ar-
riving, supplies getting up, the roads under
repair, the winter clothing coming at last, the
weather improving, and something decisive about
to be done. What can be the use of attempting to
conceal from the Russian Generals what scores of
spies and deserters report to them every day ?
Whatever we happen to know they have known
a fortnight before ; but at all events the
people of this country ought to know that such is
the mortality aid sickness in our army, that though
reinforcements are poured in with a profusion
utterly unparalleled in history, the army refuses to
increase, or to become equal to its position. We
shall not now reiterate the reasons which prove
that the fault is mainly in the commanders, though,
if the excuses made be admitted, and if Lord Rag-
lan has really undertaken the same amount of work
as the French with half their force, and half their
facilities of landing and conveyance, he has com-
mitted the capital error of being outwitted by his
ally. Never could there be a more fatal defence
than one which admits everything we have said, and
adds thereto another charge greater than all the
rest put together. For our part, we will not press
the indictment so far ; we will content ourselves
with indicating the great disorganisation of the
army, and demanding that the most vigorous steps
shall be taken to reclaim. it, if possible. Let every
officer be sent home who is not thoroughly up to
his work, and who will not put his whole strength
into it. Let reprimands, orders, admonitions, and
supercessions be sent out. Since Lord Raglan
sends home no information as to the state of his
army and the condition of his camp, Government
has no choice but to act upon the information con-
veyed in thousands of private letters, and open to
the whole world. With that mass of evidence be-
fore him, the Duke of Newcastle incurs a most fear-
ful responsibility if lie allows a good-natured regard
for this man's feelings or that man's connections to
prevent the discharge of his plain duty to the
army and his country.

NARROW ESCAP OF LORD CARDIGAN.--Corpora
John Robinson, of the 13th Light Dragoons, in a letter
addressed to a friend in Doncaster, dated Nov. 2, thus
describes the narrow escape of Lord Cardigan in the ca-
valry charge at Balaklava, and the part he took in his
lordship's rescue :—" Just as I was unpriming ono of
the enemy's guns, and passing another, there were three
pairs of horses in it, and there was ono man mounted on
the centre pair : ho was in the act of dismounting when
I galloped past hisl and gave him a cut and a draw
across the throat, which I thought was the quickest way
of getting rid of him. I did not ride many yards further
before I saw our commander, Lord Cardigan, very nearly
thrust off his horse, and if it had not been for me, the
old bey's lie would not have been worth a row of pins.
I saved him, for I directly saw a Russian had marked
him, for he drew his lance and made at his lordship, but
I was too expert for the rascal. I parried the well-
meant stroke, and then he bolted as if Old Nick was after
him,"—Leed§ Mercury.

The Press of Saturday contains an enigmatical
announcement, in which it speaks of—
" Ar. event now in progress, which will excite the
greatestinterest in Europe."
* " It is not to be expected that dynastic considera-
tions can wholly be excluded from the policy of courts ;
and such considerations'` * * will soon assume a shape
to demand the gravest deliberation."
We do not profess to understand what our ora-
cular but generally well-informed contemporary
means ; but we wish to impress upon our readers
the following facts, which in connection with cer-
tain rumours which have been afloat for some days,
we consider may give thesis something upon which
they may " chew the cud of bitter fancies" during
the recess.
The enrolment of the militia has been delayed
for more than twelve months after its absolute
necessity had become apparent, and is now em-
bodied for foreign service.
Our home recruiting has been " burked "—we
can use no other word. Our Government has—to
all appearance wilfully—destroyed our army. We
use the word advisedly, because, although igno-
rance and incapacity may be alleged in defence of
the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Sidney Herbert,
no such excuse can be plausibly advanced in favour
of Lord Palmerston and some others of the Coali-
tion. They must have known the inevitable con-
sequences of their colleagues' blunders. Mr. Sidney
Herbert states that he has sent 54,000 men to the
Crimea. Now, no one will venture to estimate
Lord Raglan's army at more than 24,000 men, in-
cluding all reinforcements. Whore are the 30,000
Our Government has systematically set its face
against all voluntary associations for defence, thus
absolutely refusing the people the use of arms even
for the protection of their own homes and families.
Be it observed that this is the act of a " Liberal
Government." The Tories were not afraid to arm
the people. In 1813 the number of volunteer
cavalry alone amounted to 68,000 ; the local militia,
exclusive of the regular force of that description,
amounted to 304,000—three hundred and four
thousand armed men. Our "Liberal Government"
have now got permission from a servile Parliament
to enlist, pay, aye, and bring into England by
degrees, an indefinitely large force of Belgian and
German mercenaries.

Surely there can be no connection between these
startling facts and the dark inuendos of the Press.
If there be any scheme on foot to the fulfilment
of which such preparations as we have indicated
above can be mad• ancillary, there must be persons
somewhere far more foolish and wicked than we ever
conceived to bo possible. We do not mean the
Ministry, for we are quite aware that they are
foolish and wicked enough for anything.
The utter falsehood of the alleged necessity for
the employment of foreign troops may be gathered
from the following statement of the number of
armed Englishmen on foot in 1813. We quote from
Sir A. Alison

. _
Land forces, including the British troops in Men.
India
Embodied regular militia 93,000
Volunteer cavalry 61,000
Local militia and volunteers
_ .

Sailors employed on board 102 ships •f the
line, 219 frigates, and smaller ♦essels,
amounting in all to 613 sail of different

sizes

Marines.

118,000
13,000

Total 897,800
Nearly 900,000 men. The population of the islands
has since increased one-third, and Ministers, for
some purpose or another, have the audacity to assert
that we must fall back on the employment of Bel-
gian and German mercenaries.
We ask with what end and object ? for we think
it is obvious that the alleged necessity is neither
more nor less than a downright falsehood.—Morn-
ing Herald.

THE TERMS OF PEACE.

(From the Examiner.)

It is understood that the indirect negotiations which
have been pending at Vienna, and failing which the allies
expect the crisis which may lead to more active help
from Austria, have definitely failed. What the Czar
offers, as might have been anticipated, is not satis-
factory.
We do not profi.ge to be acquainted with the details
of these negotiations, but as to the main question which
they have broken down we have no reason to doubt the
information communicated to us. Agreement even as
to the construction of the four points was thought not
unattainable, hut it was on the condition required by the
allies for the liberation of the Black Sea from the naval
and military inculaux of Sebastopol that every hope of
accommodation vanished.

The Czar will listen to no stipulations limiting his
power over the fleet and the fortifications of Sebastopol.
Maintaining that each Sovereign must be left to do what
he likes within his own territories, and that none can
have the right to question his preparations at Sebasto-
pol, he argues that the Sultan, in like manner, is at
full liberty to convert Sinope into a fortress and arsenal,
which he may make, if it so please him, as extensive and
as formidable as Sebastopol.
Such is said to be the reasoning and resolve of Russia;
and manifestly, if assented to or acted upon, the change
would be merely from open war to a state of antagonism
as fatal to the general interests of Europe. Each coun-
try would he unceasingly engaged in constructing for-
tresses, training and paying armies, building fleets—
always preparing, in short, for no remote hostilities. It
would be that most undesirable and most insecure of all
things—an armed peace ; for with Russia and Turkey
in such attitudes, how could Europe disarm ?
Russia would characterise it as not less outrageous to
demand of a great power, than humiliating to suck a
power to consent that she should limit her number of
ships, and cease to make her batteries formidable in any
sea. The first maritime countries, however, have not
shrunk from entering into stipulations of this kind.
England and France made mutual concessions not many
years since that each would keep only a certain number
of vessels in the waters east of Malta ; and what would
seem to have been demanded of Russia was something
tantamount. If Russia maintain her great fleet at Se-
bastopol, England and France must keep a correspond-
ing fleet in the Black Sea or the Bosphorus ; and suck a
state of things would be as expensive and disquieting as
war, without any trope of ultimate satisfaction from such
resuls as are produced by war.
It is idle to set up the point of honour in answer to
the demand for a guarantee against aggression. What
now must be forced from Russia is the satisfactory secu-
rity that her future intentions are those of peace. If
her fortresses in the Black Sea are to be kept armed to
the teeth, Russia still meditates war. Her very de-
mands prove it, and necessitate a continuance of the
existing struggle till material guarantees shall be ob-
tained for the effective re-establishment of peace.
They lie before us in the Crimea, and the first condi-
tion now, to whatever we may hope hereafter to
achieve, must be the completion of that enterprise. It is
no longer upon the Danube, but in the Crimea, that tran-
quillity must be conquered. The line of the Danube is com-
paratively safe, but after allthat has passed an honourable
peace is not possible which would leave Russia possessed
of the Tartar province. To do this would be to leave
Turkey in a far worse strait than we found her. To de-
prive Russia finally, decidedly, and by force of arms of
the Crimea, is the work we have now, therefore, impera-
tively to do. We have half accomplished it ;it may
take the summer to complete ; tke Sea of .kzeff may
have to be entered by vessels fitted for the purpose, and
the amount of reinforcements required for the reduction
of the fortresses of the mountains, as well as of the
batteries of Sebastopol, may be 'larger than we have
even yet taken into calculation. But there the great
obstacle to peace now lies, and it can be removed only
by the sword. As long as the Czar retains the Crimea
he will persevere in his projects against Turkey ; and it
is not till we are finally masters of that province that
the possibility of peace to Europe can ever be restored.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, iJicimßEß 31.

The University sermons were preached this day in the
morning by the Rev. R. P. Tiddeman, of Magdalen Hall,
and in the afternoon by the Rev. G. Rawlinsen, of Ems.
ter College. To-morrow the sermon will be preached by
the Rev. W. Bedford, of New College. The Rev. G.
Marshall, of Christ Church, will preach on the feast of
the Epiphany.
The election of a new President at Magdalen College
will take place on Friday next. The mode of election is
unusual. The Fellows present divide for the purposes
of the election into two bodies, one consisting of the 13
seniors present, and the other of the remainder. The
members of the latter body vote each for two names, and
the two names which, after a scrutiny, are found to have
had the largest number of votes given in their favour
are then sent ion to the seniors, who decide between them.
Laymen and clerics are equally eligible.
Exeter College has sent in its scheme to the Royal
Commissioners.