The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-24 00:00:00

The Battle of Balaclava,

Mr W. IL Russell, in a letter to the Times, says
" With reference to the statement which appears in the
Times of Aug. 16 from Mr Hedworth Joliffe, late Lieute-
nant of the 4th Light Dragoons, I have two remarks to
make—let, that the brilliant charge of the Chasseurs
d'Afrique on the Russian guns on our left was not made,
as Gen. de Todleben writes, and as Mr Joliffe seems to be-
lieve, to alleviate the retreat' of our Light Cavalry on the
day of Balaclava, but was an independent charge to which
the Chasseurs advanced (as could be seen by all who were
on the ground above the scene) almost simultaneously with
the advance of our leading squadrons. The battery
which the Chasseurs charged was on rising ground
on the right of the Russians, and some distance
from the guns attacked by the Light Brigade,
and it is no doubt true that the 4th Light Dragoons,
who diverged rather to the left as they advanced, were ma-
terially benefited when they retired by the results of the
charge, is the gunners had not recovered the effects of it
as the remnants of our horse were falling back; but a little
attention to time and position (which it is no discredit to
Mr Joliffe not to have been able to bestow on the situation
at the time) might have satisfied the writer of the letter
that the denial of Da Todleben's statement that the Chas-
seurs charged after the English were obliged to retire was
correct. The second point in his letter which I desire to
notice is Mr Joliffe's assertion that 'this charge has been
ignored by our historians.' The contrary is the case; at
least I am not acquainted with any account in print of the
Light Cavalry combat of Balaclava which does not mention
in terms of praiss, if it does not do full justice to the gal-
lant onslaught of the Chasseurs d'Afrique on the Russian
g was,"

The Nile Sources.

Richard F, Burton, F.R.G.S., in a letter to the Times;

says :
"Sir,—ln your leader of the 19. h of September there is
an allusion to the discovery of the Nile sources, on which,
perhaps, you will allow me to remark.
" The sad event to which your excellent article refers must
seal my mouth concerning many things. But without dis-
respect to the memory of Captain Speke I may say that the
popular version of the discovery cf Lake Nyanza and of the
' settlement of the Nile sources' is in advance of fact.
" On our return to Kazeh I was preparing a march upon
the Nyassa Lake, since laid down by our great African, Dr
Livingstone. My journals were also to be written up. For
these reasons I despatched my second in command, Captain
Speke, to prospect a water—' the Nyanza'—of which dubi-
ous tales had been reported by Arabs and Africans. This
most energetic explorer returned with a conviction that he
had discovered in it the sources of the Nile. Now, the
sources of rivers are not in lakes ?
"After his return to England Captain Speke was enabled
by the recommendation of the Royal Geographical Society
and the liberality of her Majesty's Government to organise
another expedition for the purpose of deriving the Nile
from the Lake Nyanza. My project was to set out from
Mombas and march to the N.E., but two explorations at
the same time were not considered necessary.
Captain Speke succeeded in striking the N.E. shoulder of
a water which many geographers think is a broadening of
the Kitangule river, not his original Nyanzi. Oa the other
hand, the Assua affluent, coming from the S.E , is accord-
ing to most foreign geographers the true Nile. Again,
Drs. Livingtone and Kirk, after visiting the Nyassa lake,
and finding no effluent faom the Tanganyika, compel us to
believe that the latter drains into the " Luta Nzige," and
is thus the western leke reservoir, of Ptolemy—Nyanza
being the eastern.
Being about to publish a pamphlet upon this subject, I
will trespass no more upon your valuable space. You
will, however, perceive that in recounting the last brilliant
episode of Captain Speke's brief but useful and eventful life
the discovery of the Nile sources can hardly be held a thing
settled in all future time.

RICHARD WIIITTINGTON.—But no exaggeration
was needed in dealing with the merits of so remark-
able a man. When his story is stripped of every extraneous
ornament, and reduced from its romantic aspect to the sim-
plicity of truth, it will be impossible to withhold from him
a liberal weed of praise. The example of his successful career,
and of the admirable uses to which he dedicated his great
wealth, must often have stimulated or confirmed young
citizens in zealous industry or christian benevolence. The
tale of " Whittington and his Cat," almost rivalling in
interest the stirring legends of the nursery, must have fre-
quently fixed many an apprentice's
fancy on the possibility of
a prosperous future, may have filled troubled and desponding
hearts with the echoes of distant joy-bells, promising a
happy and honourable life. The value of such wise histories
can scarcely be overrated. 1:-Ie who muses over the stone at
Highgate, or in the College garden adjoining, and in his
poverty (if it be not criminal) comforts himself with a hope
that, like the despised Richard Whittington, he may one
day conquer fortune and position, should not be laughed at
as a mere dreamer, Within our own memory several chief
magistrates of London have reached that dignity from the
humblest ranks. One rode in the gilded city coach, over
roads he had once assisted in paving ; a second, who became
a singularly astute and fortunate merchant, was for years
a tide-waiter at the Customhouse; and a third handled
the trowel, a working bricklayer, almost within sight of
the Mansion-house, where, in middle life, he was to pro-
side as Lord Mayor. It is especially the gl,,ry of London
that such uulooked for events in the annals of commerce
are of everyday occurrence. No clerk, no warehouseman,
no apprentice, need suppose ho must always be doomed to
an interior post. llogarth,
in his graphic delineation of
the career of two poor boys—the idle and industrious an.
prentices—tells us in the indelible symbols of art, governed
by the hand of genius, that the highest rewards belong as
of right to the all-achieving force of integrity and perse-
verance, and that poverty can never be a disgrace or an
ultimate injury, unless it be associated with sloth rnd im-
morality.— City Press,
OPENING OF AUTON HALL AND PARK.—On
Thursday afternoon the formal transfer of the property to
the municipal body was celebrated by a banquet given by
the mayor in the great gallery in the hall—a fine old man-
sion of the Elizabethan era, in excellent repair. The guests
numbered about 2,000 persons, and included the members
of the council, several of the county gentry, the borough
officials, and some of the leading inhabitants of Birmingham.
This is the third public park which has been dedicated to
the use and recreation of the people of the town within the
last few years. The hall, it is understood, will be fitted up
and furnished as judges' lodgings, in the event of the Go-
vernment authorities granting the prayer of the memorial
of the corperatiQn to constitute Birmingham an assize
town.