The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-24 00:00:00

she has escaped by the capture and de-
struction of that menacing stronghold, that
Northern Sebastopol. Under such circumstances,
then, she could not hesitate as to the side
on which to array her forces. Besides, as a
military force could scarcely act against France or
England, it must be against Russia that it is in-
tended to operate !
We feel all the importance of this demonstra-

tion. Russia can never be completely humbled
until its Northern as well as its Southern
claws be clipped. And this can only be done
through the instrumentality of Sweden, and with
the assistance of Swedish troops. Theie is no
necessity for depriving it of the means of defence ;
all that is required is to limit its means of aggres-
sion—to prevent it from menacing inferior powers
if they do not yield implicit obedience to its
views.

The great want of the day is confessed on every
hand. We want a Minister of War ; one with
competent abilities and competent powers. All
the rest would then come quickly right. Great,
we acknowledge, is the sweep it would make of
official and aristocratic rubbish, and well tried
ought the ability to be to which the requisite
powers should be intrusted ; but necessity is a
stern teacher, and the whole nation is now well
schooled in his instructions. We acknowledge
the general War policy of our Cabinet to have
been most aimless and perverse, one partly wait-
ing on the accidents of the hour, and partly
shaped to the wishes of German Governments;
but that is not our point just now. On the
Cabinet, as a whole, on its head especially, rests
the blame of all that. It is the administration
of the War which cannot be tolerated one hour
longer. We will say at once, that, with the
highest respect for the Duke of NEWCASTLE as a
man, we have but little for the Minister of War.
How can we?

It may be said lie is the victim of the system.
We reply, he has no right to be. He knew
beforehand what the system was ; he knew that
his orders might have to wait on the caprice, idle-
ness, or official bigness of three or four depart-
ments ; all this he knew. It was, therefore, open
to him to demand powers which should enable
him to give the nation something for its addi-
tional 17,0001., the cost of his office, or to decline
taking it. He had, indeed, the alternative of
retaining the colonies, for which he had shown a
respectable measure of fitness, or of taking the
new and more ambitious office. Now, with all
our respect for this worthy Duke, we think he has
not the shadow of a title, on the ground of the
nature of the office, to clemency. He sought the
office, not the office him. He clings to it in the
face ©f the most disastrous mismanagement. He
merely declines to defend every detail ; but the
country is satisfied that the details to he repre-
hended make up the greater part of the duties of
the office. It is utterly inexcusable for a man to
thrust himself forward on the nation if he knew
that he undertook to work a system in which nine-
tenths of the details would be mismanaged—as it
has proved, fatally mismanaged. But if, indeed,
he did not know that the system would work thus,
what language of censure is strong enough for the
audacity and self-conceit which could so ignorantly
undertake the work 7

The other excuse is that he must have time to
serve his apprenticeship. We repudiate such fatal
lenity. Why must he ? Is it essential to have a
Duke in the office, or even an Honourable or a
Sir ? The country would rather see all the Dukes
in England relegated to their countrt:lnaneinnns
than our troops starved, frozen, or sickened into
Crimean graves, to keep a Duke in office. We
fear the honest verdict of a competent inquiry
would be—" A well-meaning man, of very re-
spectable abilities, and very high rank and con-
nexions, but utterly below the requisitions of a
War-office in time of War." We are sorry, even
in Lis official capacity, to censure so respectable a
nobleman as the Duke of NEWCASTLE ; but the
time demands honesty. We do not ask a better
heart, but a better head wo must have. Our re-
presentatives must do their duty ; party con-
siderations must be thrown to the wind, and the
one demand must be a man who hays given proofs
of capacity to provide for large bodies of men—to
find the right subordinates to cam► out his plans
—to ride rough-shed aver all the: fripperies of
routine—to make his will law, eve:u if it drove an
office full of aristocratic dandies from their desks
to their mothers' homes ; in a word, competency
and a decision of character which would compel
chaos itself into order.

These great requisites are to be found. We
will not mention names. The mere statement of
the essentials will recal some to the recollection of
most. We believe it would riot be difficult for
LOMB NAPOLEON to tell Lord A:I3ERDEEN Of half-a-
dozen men, any one of whom, were he Emperor
here, he would put Pith confidence over the War
administration—men who, w. ith all the disad-
vantages of a set of obstructiv.a officials, would, if
clothed with the requisite a:athority, and made
perhaps temporary dictator; in the War De-
partment, soon see our troops well provi-
sioned, well clothed, and •Rreil sheltered, and
the guns and ammunition of all kinds, in
ample supply, and in their pla bees. Those are the
fundamental necessaries of wr irfare, without which
the greatest courage and the highest skill are help-
less. And these are the thin ge which have been
so shamefully, so inexcusably deficient ; sent too
late—unable to reach the clan Ip, if sent—unfit for
use, if they have been carried there, no one knows
how. Such are the daily tidings brought by the
post. Into the reiterated and provoking details we
need not enter again. We w ish but to arouse
the public to insist that the War Ministry shall
forthwith be given to a man equal to his post.
We care not whether he was tmined at Oxford or
at a British School; whether he be a Duke or a
simple Mr. ; but we affirm that, if our represen-
tatives do not demand a man equal to his post,
the homicide of future thousands will be justly
chargeable at their door. It is theirs to say,
"We vote no more millions of tin nation's money
until we have a man who can manage to use it as
the nation expects him."

Admiral Dundas arrived at Berlin on the 19th, and
intended to remain there some days before returning to
England.

VIENNA, Jan. 23.—Count Buol has received the
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour,. and M. Drouyn
de Lhuya that of the order of St. Stephen, in Austria.
The Correspondance of Berlin, states that the Offen-
sive Alliance has reached its conclusion, but that it will
not be made known until the time shall come for carry-
ing it int) effect.
_ _

Yesterday the Lords of the Admiralty gave notice, in
the Underwriters' room, Lloyd's Royal Exchange, that
more steamers of 400 tons and upwards were required
by Government to convey troops and stores to the
Crimea, as also a steamer of 500 tons to carry medical
stores to the hospital at Scutari. These vessels are to
be engaged for three months certain.
The French Government has just purchased the la.t
picture of M. Ingres, "Joan of Arc before the High
Alter at Rheims." After having forined one of the at-
tractions of the Universal Exposition this fine work will
be placed i❑ the gallery of the Luientbourg.
The Academy of Inscriptions and Thdles•Lettres has
named M. A. de Boisseau, of Lyons, Nv hose learned work
on the ancient inscriptions found in. the city is well
known, a corresponding member.
We read with regret in the Debats the announcement
of the death of the Count St. Aulaire, formerly French
Ambassador to the Court of St. James's.
There is no truth in the report that has been current,
that M. Turgot, the French Ambassador to the Court of
Madrid, thinks of resigning.