The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-17 00:00:00

ARRIVAL OF FRENCH TROOPS.

The following is dated Gallipoli, March 31 :
This morning the French steam-frigate Christophe
Colombo, towing the transport No. 6, arrived here,
having on board Generals Canrobert, Bosquet, and
NEartinprey, commanding the Ist and 2d division,
and the general staff of the French army respec-
tively ; also 600 men of the chaoeurs a pied, with
Some sappers, and 30 horses for the staff. The
generals landed at half-past 11, and were received
by the Pacha of Adrianople, who has been here for
some days for that purpose, and the president and
members of the commission sitting en permanence to
facilitate transactions bet ween the foreign armies and
natives. The Commandant, or rather Col. d'Anglar
(the latter is his rank in the Turkish army), who has
for some years been engaged in organising the light
infantry—with what mat success Oltenitza showed
—came down from Stamboul last night, and was
also present at the landing of the generals. It is a
pity that we, too, have not more officers who know
the Turkish language and manners. Major
Collingwood Dickson, of the Royal Artillery, who
for five years superintended the Turkish laboratory
at Constantinople, and who also served in the
Syrian campaign is the only one we have. He is
now attached to the general staff of our army, and
is in Bul aria collecting information. The troops
commenced landing at half-past ono, but did not
all land to-day. Another steamer, the Africaine,
a screw transport, has arrived. She has stores on
board ; also 100 men. All excitement amongst the
natives appears to be confined to the younger por-
tion. The fact of its being Friday (the Turkish
Sunday) will in some measure account for this, for
the Turks have not struck me as being the apathetic
people, in manner at least, that they are generally
believed. Yesterday Mr. Wrottesly inspected the
town to see what troops could be accommodated.
The Greeks seemed greatly pleased with the pros-
Peet of having English soldiers in their houses; and
in. one or two houses, too bad to put troops into,
the people seemed very much disappointed. Mr.
Wrottesley had the tact to call on the Greek arch-
bishop a day or two since, which may have had some
effect. The Turks are naturally not quite so wil
g, because they must entirely vacate any of the
Rouses where Christian soldiers are admitted, if they
Wish to live in the extreme privacy they like. As
their houses are, as a general rule here, not so good,
Or more correctly speaking, much worse, than
those of their Christian fellow townspeople, it
Would be a pity to inconvenience them. The
villages of Yeni Keni, about five miles from Old
Troy, and Yeni-shaor and Erin Keni between that
and the Dardanelles, also the latter town hive
been examined and found capable of accommo-
dating about 6,000 men. At Nogara Point, too,
there is an empty lazaretto, and there are several
'Villages on the Thracian shore of the Dardanelles ;
80 that if a division, or even a larger portion of our
army, arrives before the declaration of war, the men
will be under cover, such as it will be. If war is

declared before the' Russian reinforcements arrive
at the Danube, it is evident that by sending
steamers enough, French and English troops can be
Bent to Ahe mouth of that river or to Kavarna Bay,
or somewhere thereabouts, in such numbers that,
combined with the 40,000 Turks now in that
neighbourhood, and more than might be brought
there, the allies would be in superior force to the
Russians, and we may begin the campaign under
very favourable circumstances. The time for this
will, however, most probably be past before war is
commenced, and in a month or six weeks Russia will
probably have 300,000 men at the seat of war.
During the autumn the Turks gave all their at-
tention to the sea batteries of Varna—which is a pity,
as the land batteries may be required if we delay
much longer. A. strong intrenched position on that
shore of Bulgaria would be most useful to us, for
if outnumbered there, we might leave 15,000 or
20,000 Turks to defend the position, and ship the
rest of our available forces for the Crimea. This
would not, as may at first sight appear, permit the
Russians to advance further, leaving nearly 25,000
to watch this position ; for if they (Ed*so we might
retuen to out secure landing-place at any moment,
and fall on their communications in force. For
safety, then, they would always be obliged either to
take the entrenchments, or leave in the neighbour-
hood a force nearly equal to the entire moveable
army of the allies. Schumla is not tenable against a
Much superior force. Omer Pasha thinks he can beat
the Russians singlehauded ; the latter have now an
army of 100,000 disposable men in a straight line
between his right and left flank (a distance, by the
waY, of about 300. miles). This separation of his
army was necessitated by the position of Servia,
but evidently tends to weaken him. We are going
to seize, as soon as war begins, and fortify
,as a de-
pot for coals, " the island of the serpents,' as it is
called, at the mouth of the Dai übe."