The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-05 00:00:00

We consider, then, that 70,000 men may have bees
the effective strength of the Russian troops in the Crimes
at the moment our troops landed, and on the hypothesis
that reinforcements could not have arrived. It is very
true the statement has been made that 40,000 men had
brew sent from Odessa;-but in the first place the ad-
mirals have never considered the garrison of this place
stronger than 18,000 or at most 20,000 men, and it is not
piobable these have been removed, when expecting a
visit from the allied fleet. As for the main corps of
Prince Gortschakoff, having to march across the steppes,
its could not arrive before the end of November, and we
need not therefore allude here further to it.

For the rest, the despatches from our victorious
army will soon let us know what we are to think in•this
respect. •

THE FRENCH COMMISSARIAT.

In the Moniteur of yesterday is published a somewhat
lengthy, but interesting and instructive report from the
military intendant of the army of the East. The topics
reported on are the arrangements made for hospitals,
the provisioning of the troops, encampments, and trans-
ports. We subjoin that part of the report which relates
to the provisioning of the army.
These wants being well understood, I set about sup—
plying them. I freighted at Constantinople all the sail-
ing and steam transports that could be found. I suc-
ceeded in getting a sufficient number of them, not merely
for the first convoy, but in order to prepare for the
second, so that it will be ready to sail the moment the
steamers detached from the squadron shall come and
fetch them. Moreover, I got the admiral of the Otto-
man squadron to take on board his ship 450 tons of
our provisions. Thanks to these means, the supplies of
provisions calculated for 30,000 persons drawing rations
are composed of—
'Biscuit 25 days
Flour, 'l5 days Ration for a meal and for soup.
Rice, 45 days. ations at 90 grammes each.
Salt, 55 days.
Sugar t5O days. Double ration. The navy will no
Coffee c supply any.
Wine, 800,000 rations.
Brandy, 400,000 rations.
Salt provisions, 17 days.
Fresh meat, 10 days.
Your Excellency will remark that the victualling in
animal food is relatively small. I could not possibly
procure a greater quantity of salt meat. Not one of
the vessels sent from the English and French seaports
bad arrived before my departure. I hope some will
reach Yarna before my second convoy puts to sea. As
for the fresh meat, I have not had shipped on board
more than 800 oxen, because there were no ox-stalls on
deck. However, Ido not think we shall run short of 1.
meat. The navy is to supply me with salted meats for
12 days. We shall then have provisions for 39 days ;
now, 39 days after the landing, we shall surely by that
time have received the second convoy. Besides, the
question of Sebastopol will be decided, and it is probable
that we shall find cattle by that time for sale in the
Crimea.

The fodder question was the most difficult to be re-
solved in a satisfactory manner ; neither has it beam,
except in so far as bailey is concerned. Not only is the
hay difficult to send for au expedition of this nature, but
we had very little of it at Varna. The greatest part of
what was there has been distributed to the deck-stalls
and stables. There is hardly enough left for a week is
the convoy, but there is barley for about 40 days, taking
the ration at 5 kilogrammes. I hope we shall find hay
and straw in the Crimea. The commission sent by the
marshal to reconnoitre the coast saw plenty of haystacks
not very far off from the plate of landing. If the Rus-
sians have not destroyed this precious resource, it will
remove the only serious difficulty of the expedition in
a commissariat point of few. This difficulty will
always exist, Monsieur le inistre, wherever forage
cannot be procured in the countries occupied by the
army. The transports by sea are so slow, so un-
certain, on account of the two straits they have to
sail through, that, despite the great resources derived
from Algeria, and which your Excellency placed at my
disposal, despite those, equally important, which I have
collected on various points of Turkey, I am always ex-•
posed to a scarcity of hay.
We only saved seven field ovens from the fire at Varna.
I take them with me ; the army will then, from the first
opening of the campaign, be able to receive bread every
third day. I carry with me besides iron and baking
materials for making twenty ovens. • A ship laden with
bricks, another with boards and posts, are in the convoy.
Besides these, several ships have bricks in ballast.
The probable spot for landing is completely bare.
No wood is to be seen for a certain distance around. I
had to foresee the case, in which the resistance of the
enemy would not permit our divisions to take up imme-
diately their positions on the wooded grounds : I conse-
quently had some ships in the convoy laden with '6,000
cwt. of firewood.