The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-04 00:00:00

tile, wanderiug (elder s.oild of 22i.lbt f:-e' • • ,
listening to the gossip of the soldiers. Deumieie. tuey
heard many grumbles of malingerers, many rash judg-
mentsof conceit and ignorance ; but at times they picked
up useful suggestions, and, most important of all, they
learned thetemperand disposition of their soldiery. What
these night rambles did for generals of the olden times
the numerous letters published in the newspapers may
do for our commanders before Sebastopol, and for our
Government at home. Not every criticism in these
letters is to be despised or superciliously cast aside. And
the complaints of the soldier ought at least to be in-
qired into, and, if well founded, redressed as far as pos-
sible. The alloy of petulant and presumptuous criticism
to be found in some of the letters, ought to be patiently
endured as inseparable from the pure metal. But the
general !public, in reading the documents referred to,
will do well to bear in mind, that though it is evident
there is much in our military arrangements that calls
urgently for reform, the organisation of the army has
been immensely improved since the beginning of the
Peninsular war. What we want now is, not an army
reform bill, but the perfection of details left incomplete
by the searching reforms introduced in consequence of
Ir
our Peninsular experience. What seems most wanted i
au augmentation of our light cavalry, for picket and
outpost service, and for patrols ; an improved organisa-
tion of the commissariat and transport services ; and an
addition to the strength of the medical department, and
its attendants. The understanding of Messrs. Pete and
Co. ought to be turned to account, for the organisation
of a permanent corps of artificers and labourers. The
pioneers of our army deficient in number, and not avail-
ableplaFcreodmbythseucchoanscidoerprascamsnheoref
osuurggoewstneda.riu,
for many emergencies ; they might be usefully re•
we turn
to that of the enemy. It is to be feared there is toe
much truth in the reports in circulation respecting the
atrocities perpetrated by the Russian soldiers. e are
told, indeed, that the Russian generals and their staffs
are brave and chivalrous. This may be true of some of
them ; but it is obvious that not a few, eves of this
superior class, have become in--the campaigns of the
Caucasus and the military operations on the Russian
frontier towards Tartary, soldiers of the same stamp as
the Tillys and Wallensteins of the Thirty Years' War.
And the character of the common soldiers is rude as it
is daring and enduring. It is customary for the ener-
getic and enterprising of the Russian serf to obtain leave ,
from their lords to travel in search of employment, upoa
the .00nditien of paying tribute out of their yearly earn.'
ings. These men soon become nomades, without a Wither
They travel over the whole empire with their axes, with
the aid of which they can perform all kinds of service.
Throughout the working period of the year they sleep in.
the open air, snatching their precarious meals wherever
they can procure them. Industrious and trustworthy
"while employed, they indulge during the winter months
in every sensual pleasure their summers earnings oaa
obtain for them. Such men are the materials out of,
which to make hardy and unscrupulous soldiers ; sad
when hounded upon their foes by priestly exhortations,-
in which the excitements of bigotry and avarice are.
blashphetnously blended, there is no atrocity of which
they are not capable. It is the duty of our Comman-
ders not to shrink from the sternest measures required
to intimidate the Russian Government and its Generals
into the exercise of a more vigorous control of the savage
disposition of their soldiery. It is the duty of every
civilised European Government to unite to drive back
such barbarous armies.

OUR SUCCESSES IN THE CRIMEA.
(From the Derbyshire Courier.)
Our successes in the Crimea have been achieved by the
unflinching courage and the devoted self-sacrifice of our
soldiers. One to four, or one to seven they have thrown
themselves into the breach to conquer or 'die. Are the
means by which the necessary resources are to be raised
at home to be attended with equal sacrifices ? Are our
merchant-1 and traders, our industrious and hardworking
producers of every kind to be half ruined be!ore a sound
financial system be substituted for the present annoma-
bons and pernicious one ? We tell Mr. Gladstone that
if ho wishes to raise, for any length of time, taxes, or
loans commensurate with the enormous demands of the
expenditure of a great war, he mu-t adopt the bald and
sagacious financial system of William Pitt, that system
at which he ventured in his arrogant iviorance to sneer,
but which enabled Mr. Pitt io do—what Mr. Gladstone
can only humbly hope to enaulato him in doing—viz., to
carry this country safely and successfully through a great
European war.
A. Bank Restriction Act, or some measure similar in
its operation to that bold measure of Mr. Pitt, can alone
--even allowing for the fortuitous assistance which the
gold discoveries have afforded to the puny financiers of
our days—enable us to prosper at home and sustain
abroad the deadly combat with the Russian Autocrat in
which we are engaged.

AUSTRIA AND THE WESTERN POWERS.
(Frain the Mo fling Post.)
It will be seen, from the important despatch which we
publish in another column, and which we were the first
to make public in an extraordinary edition yesterday,
that the anticipations in which we indulged ten days ago,
and the expectations we have not ceased constantly to
express, have not been unfounded. Austria has taken,
as we signified she would, another step, and has entered
upon a closer union with the Western Powers.
On Saturday last, the 2d inst., the Plenipotentiaries
of England, France, and Austria, signed, as we are
informed by the French official Moniteur, a Treaty of
Alliance.
Till the formal ratifications are exchanged, the public
cannot, of course, be placed in possession of the text an&
stipulations of this important document. But it is at
once most obvious that, in presence of war, by signing a
treaty with England and France, Austria places a barrier
between herself and Russia.
Of the effect this measure will produce at St. Peters-
burg, we cannot, of course, judge. It may possibly lead
to an attempt, more or less sincere, for peaceful negotia-
tions, or it may precipitate the further extension of the
war.

If it lead to further extension of hostilities, it is im-
possible not to be struck by the great advantages pos-
sessed by a Power which has two hundred and fifty
thousand men near the heart of the Rusiian Empire,
and where, moreover, but one hundred thousand are at
present opposed to them.
If it lead to negotiation, it is presumable that the
Emperor Nicholas may be much influenced in any pro•
positions he might make by the new position of Europe,
and even that, both his necessity and his pride would
find convenience in yielding to the great States united
rather than to two only of them.
We publish also, in another column, the additional
article of the Treaty of the 20th of April, signed by
Counts Buol and ,Arnim on the 26th ult. Into its
merits, those of the joint proposition presented•by Auto
tria and Prussia to the Diet, or those of the resolutions
come to by that Federal body, it were idle to enter ; it
would lead us at once into that world of wordy specula-
tion in which Germans delight to waste their time.
It is plain to common sense that the action of Austria
must influence Prussia and Germany. On the one hand,
they may remain bound to her and unite in her bond
with the Western Powers, or Prussia may choose a more
isolated policy, in which the other States may or may
not follow her. This would place her in a more difficult
position than ever, and virtually annul the engagements
she has just entered into with Austria.
We shall accept with the greatest pleasure, as with
the greatest advantage, the real assistance of Austria in
the armed struggle for Right—that struggle which Eng-
land and France took alone, and which they are deter-
mined to prosecute to a successful issue. But that great
and noble war in which they are engaged has for its im.
mediate object the advantage, of a State in whose inte-
grity and independence Austria is more than any other
Power vitally concerned ; and though it had seemed at
first as if the Cabinet of Vienna had been unaware of its
truest interests, and doubtful of its safest policy, the act
announced by the Moniteur seals a new resolution and a
I better course.
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