The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-28 00:00:00

We have been favoured with the following ex-
tracts from the letters of one of the Roman Catho-
lic chaplains in. the East :
" When I consider the provision the Government
has made for the Catholic soldiers, I, for one, feel
thankful. None can so well understand the full
extent of the boon as the men themselves. Msny
a silent prayer for blessings on their benefactors
will arise from the expiring hearts of the grateful
soldiers, who see that, among the many consola-
tions afforded them by this country, that which
they prize the most—their religion—has not been
forgotten. Nor can the
exertions of the bishop (Bishop Grant), the sol-
diers' friend, be fotigotten : for it is owing to his
quiet and conciliatory manner and action that re-
ligion here soothes the dying moments of the sol-
dier. . . . I spent a short time wish the nuns
here ; they aro very comfortable, and look exceed-
ingly well. Such devoted souls must bring a bless-
ing wherever they go. . . . For the benefit of
those who may follow us I would recommend no-
thing but flannel to be provided. Every possible
thing that can be imagined can be procured here
(Constantinople) nearly as cheap as in London. It
seems strange that in the letters sent home this
has not been stated. Money, money, money, let
that be brought out; nothing else is required. A
carpet-bag, a good purse, adivring heart, a care-
for-nothing disposition—no more."

" Balaklava, Dec. 1..

" I sent you a letter from Constantinople, which
letter I hope you have received ; a fact of which I
feel much doubt, as things • are so miserably man-
aged here. I left that city on the 221 of last
month with only one desire, that very soon the
"OrogAlifgtrrth:heen otitioTa.--VrSt-.74
Sophia, and the magnificent capital, of the Sultan
reduced to a pile of ashes. No great loss, I assure
you, to the worts in general, aei to individuals in
particular. For, as I told you in my last epistle,
on entering this city, the splendid fabric raised by
bookmakers reduces itielt to mud and abonina-
tions, chthouques, filthy Turks, and piles of stones
called streets. The Bosphorus, on leaving Stam-
boul, is very beautiful on both the Asiatic and
European side. The sweet waters are, however,
soon changed for the devouring Black Sea—black
truly, for the staters are literally so. On my first
shit to its dominions it professed to be quiet.
It was high time, after swallowing up close • to
Balaklava 30 vessels. As the captain of our vessel
had to receive orders from the Admiral of the
Fleet before we entered Balaklava, I had the op-
' portunity of passing before Sebastopol at three
• miles distance. For the first time in my life I
saw God's creatures blazing away at each other.
Over the hills, as barren of trees and vegetation as
any desolation of nature you ever saw, the camps
of the allies were thickly scattered. Balaklava in
Summer perhaps may be something—l moan when
left to itself and its small Greek population ; but
in winter, with terrible sudden storms howling
• round its rocky mountains, its houses half-demo-
lished, its streets, such as they are, pools of mud
and filth, living skeletons of men and horses, all
in the greatest confusion and disorder—l really
cannot tell you what it is. Everything is mud or
covered with it.
" S— and B have had to leave the camp ;
their health requires it. C-- and myself mount
guard there, so that I shall be under fire at last.
I hope I shall be able to jog on, with a tent for
my houSe, salt pork for my dinner, and the ground,
alas well saturated, for my bed. What do you
think of that ? This would not suit you. Scutari
is comfort itself compared with the tents up on the
hills of mist and mud. I expect to be there in a
'ew days. The continued rains have produced a
great amount of sickness—dysentery and cholera.
I shall have an abundance of sick. To be out
hero for one flay would drive many of our
warlike dreamers mad. They talk of the glory
of anus, and with every comfort about them, and
over their good cheer kindle at the splendid
deeds of valour. Let them come here. You can-
not by any contrivance imagine the wants, the terri-
ble endurances, and the awful fatigues of our poor
men. Oh, London, come and behold your Guards I.
Here they are. What do you think that half-
starved piece of humanity is, with a hayband tied
round his legs to keep his trousers together, and
with a ragge ,00at, and a face- that saw soap the
last time that it smiled across the Euieine ? Is he
one of the Guards ? Yes. This unfortunate little
village is now one straggling mass of men and
horses—worse than those that Henry reviewed
before the battle of Agincourt—powder, shot,
shells, arc. Keep on your legs by all means, for
if you are down it is all over with you. I have
been attempting to have my traps 'taken' to the
camp. It is impossible, for there are not sufficient
horses, such as-they are, poor starved things, to
drag food for our men—impossible ; don't think of
it. We have all of us to struggle with impossibi-

lities, and overcome them too, or give 4. On
Monday I must leave all my goods behind, and
endeavour to reach the camp, with the prospect of
sleeping under the heavens. You must not believe
any report that speaks of difficulties being thrown
in our way out here. Everything that can be done
for us is. We receive kindness from all, and every
possible facility for exercising our duties. Such a
thing as distinction between Catholic and Protes-
tant is unknown. You will pray for me. When
lam settled in camp—a pretty settlement truly—
I shall perhaps ask you to send me a few thiugs."

The following is an extract from a letter recently
received from a soldier on service in the Crimea,
dated December 7, 1854 :
"Our hospitals are all got quite full again ; it is
quite a common occurrence to have to take a man
to the hospital in the middle of the night ; the poor
fellows got cramped in the inside from cold, which
strikes to their very hearts. We have only one
blanket to roll round us when we lie down, and
our tents, owing to so much rain having fallen,
are very damp. I hare seen men after a heavy
rain in the night wake up and find themselves
in a puddle of water. Our men are in a shocking
state here. The French are far before us in
every respect in regard to the private soldiers'
comfort. The French have hal warm clothing sent
out to them; our people have been talking about
doing so, and that is all. What is our boasted
wealthy nation thinking about, allowing tlr.ir army
to remain in such a wretched state as we are now
in Our soldiers do not blame our countrymen
generally for their miserable condition—quite the
reverse ; for they often speak of, and do feel grate-
ful for their generous and noble conduct of our
people in subscribing towards the relief of our
soldiers' wives and families. It is those who have
the management of affairs that our soldiers blame,
and Ido not think they are far out. Many of our
poor fellows have scarcely a bit of shoe to their
feet, many others not a shirt to their backs, and
the consequence is that our men are dying quite
fast—in fact, the whole of our army is in a very
weakly state. . . . The French and English
soldiers are still on the best of terms. We are not
doing much at present. A great number of our
large guns are nearly disabled through being fired
off so many times, but we are now getting up some
very heavy mortars, and we shall see what they
will do: In my humble opinion, however, this
place is only to be taken at the point of the
bayonet ; the Russians will stand firing at until
further orders,' but they will not stand the
bayonet. The road from here to Balaklava is in
a dreadful state, and not having sufficient cattle,
wo can scarcely get provisions up ; in fact, some
days we hardly get any rations at all. Our
cavalry have lost a great many horses, owing to
the shortness of corn and severity of weather.
The poor things have no covering whatever. The
French horses look first-rate.
"P.S.—Each man has just been served out with
one Guernsey shirt, which is a great godsend I
assure you ; we now live in hopes of getting some-
thing more soon. The enemy in our rear has
begun to retire, but what their object is at present
we do not know."

(rnoid AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN ITT! CIISD TO TIM
TURKISH CONTINGENT or THE ARMY IN THE EAST.)
Camp before Sebastopol, Dec. 7.

My dear --, I herewith send you a map of the
country through which we passed on our march
from Old Fort to Sebastopol, in which is also laid
down the position of the different armies. I have
taken it partly from the large map furnished by the
French Government to the head-quarters of each
division, corrected from different sources, and my
ow•n observations*; and although roughly and
hastily done with the limited ways and means one
has in camp, I think I may say it is as correct as
any I have seen. Bcforo I could begin I had to get
a good door to form a table, and having at last ob-
tained one, I laid my acquisition across an empty
biscuit barrel, and placed another for a chair, with
a smooth stone for a pallette. I hunted at the
bottom of my haversack, and among remnants of
biscuit, rice, salt pork, tin pots, and other divers