The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-23 00:00:00

T.llO Seg. 140NDON, THritilDAY OVtISYINtI, wovitmunn N. Mt.

heart of one person high in office might beat
with delight could he but persuade himself
of the sincerity of his old, but convicted,
friend, and could he believe that the Eng-
lish and French people might he hoodwinked
by diplomacy. This last attempt, however, will,
we trust, decide the country whose Parliament is
soon to meet. They know it means one of two
things, either that the CZAR begins to fear he shall
get much the worst of it, and is anxious to evade
the due reward of his crimes ; or, that he wants
to paralyse the energy and preparations of the
Allies during the coming winter, and thus to open
the campaign next spring at less disadvantage.
The latter is by far more likely. The people
know this, and we defy our Premier to relax the
exertions of Government without relaxing also his
hold on office, and insuring a notice to quit next
session.

We lay down one rule as imperative. The
haughty aggressor must be smitten and chas-
tised till he be compelled to offer terms
direct to the Allies, and cease to send such
a dirty-handed mediator as Austria to us. Eng-
land would rather have her for an enemy than
an agent. We have become so - heart-sick of
her fair professions when Russia was giving way,
and her cowardice when the CZAR spoke
gruffly ; so disgusted with her haughty occu-
pation of the Principalities, and incensed
with her traitorous protection of the Pruth
against OMER PACHA, and the consequent
liberation of Russian troops for the Crimea,
that we scout her assuming the mediator's
part as a gross insult. The wearer of the
white uniform will never be endured as the
bearer of a Russian flag of truce ; ho has more
need to bring one from his own master, for the
heart of England is as much at war with Austria
as with Russia. We would fain hope Lord PAL-
I MERSTON'S visit to France may be a secret mission
to give effect to his country's anti-Austrian senti-
ments. Time was when he enjoyed a tolerable
share of her antipathies; well, on all accounts, if his
hatred of her knavery be just now stronger than
hers ever was for his English dealing.
We do not hear that the Court of Vienna has
sent any " congratulations" over the Victory of
Inkerman. " The consequences" have, perhaps,
not been trumpeted by any Tartar, or, per-
haps, they are reserved till Sebastopol actually
fall. It may well be, however, that she
feared the reply, "Send your congratulations
to our gallant dead, and to the 5,000 dead
Russians too whom you emboldened to venture
on English and French entrenchments." The
Battle of the Inkermau, so glorious to our arms,
but so destructive of valuable life, was due ex-
clusively to Austria. Had she taken the part
she ought in the contest, especially from the
moment she entered Wallachia, or had
she only encouraged OMER PACHA to oc-
cupy the Russian troops in the defence of
Bessarabia, we should not have heard in
the despatch we published yesterday of MENSCHI-
KOFF'S beaten army of the Alma augmented by
reinforcements froin the Danube and the southern
provinces to nearly 60,000 men. Austria is
answerable for this, answerable for the prolonged
siege, answerable for Russian, English, and
French blood ; answerable to Russia for congra-
tulations on her first defeat in the Crimea ; then
answerable to the Allies for having aided to oppose
them. Verily, in the day of reckoning, this
double-tongued and selfish power will become the
execration of victors and conquered alike, instead
of being rewarded for such transparent duplicity
with the honourable post of Mediator.

Never has an English army more faithfully and
efficiently discharged the duty it owed to its coun-
try than the daring handful of men brought into
action on the memorable sth of November—in the
battle of Inkerman. They displayed during that
trying day the highest qualifications of veteran
soldiers, and elicited the admiration of friends and
foes. General CANROBERT declared—and praise
from such a source is truly acceptable—that "two
divisions of the English force sustained, with that
immovable constancy (or solidity) which we know
so well to be the characteristic, of our Allies, the
unequal combat." He also in his despatch says
that "the English Army sustained the combat
with the most remarkable firmness." We dwell
on these points with pardonable complacency—for
nothing is more acceptable than the appreciation
of congenial minds—and we can easily understand
how grateful to the hearts of those engaged, and
their numerous friends and admirers, will be
the graceful tribute thus accorded by the dis-
tinguished Commander of our faithful Allies,
the man who, having freely shed his blood at the
heights of Alma on the 20th of September, was
again wounded on the sth, while rendering his
constant assistance and cordial co-operation,
which Lord RAGLAN could not " too highly
extol."

The simple facts, such as we have received
them from our own commander—one on whose
statements we can place implicit reliance—tell
even more powerfully in favour of the devoted
band who withstood that fearful encounter fur
more than eight hours, and remained masters of
the position, having effectually repulsed more
than four times their own numbers, and placed a
body more numerous than themselves hors de
combat. It is, indeed, difficut to credit the
almost miraculous results achieved on that glori-
ous day. But we have them on unquestion-
able testimony, such as no Englishman will feel
disposed to cavil at. Field-Marshal Lord RAG-
LAN—we rejoice to give him the title so de-
servedly earned on that memorable day—tells the
War Secretary that " he will be surprised to learn
that the number of British troops actually engaged
little exceeded 8,000 men, while those of General
BOSQUBT'S division only amounted to 6,000, the
remaining available troops on the spot having
been kept in reserve.
Here, then, were 14,000 men who sustained the
onslaught of more than four times their own num-
ber unflinchingly, and without yielding a single
inch of their position. Lord RAGLAN, n o inex-
perienced judge in such matters, says that he " is
led to suppose that there could not have been less
than SIXTY THOUSAND," of whom they left nearly
FIVE THOUSAND dead on the field ; and their
" casualties amounted in the whole, in killed,
wounded, and prisoners, to not less than
15,000!!!"

Fifteen thousand loss I Nearly double the
number of the English troops engaged, and more
than the entire body of the Allies who took part
in the contest. To understand the terrible ordeal
through which our brave defenders passed so
triumphantly we must keep in mind the advs.n-
tag:es under which the attack took place—the
enemy having it in their power to select the point
on which they could fling their entire force.
it '.They had been for some time preparing. Lord
inst., explained the
l'A-14-1 in a previous despatch of the 3d
remarkable troop, in great increase of the Russian
the valley of the Chernaya. From the
time v 'l3 en they caused the contraction of the Eng-
lish IL-ie,s,
after the sharp Brush of thel
t hey ha d steadily augmented their troops ; and
rkabe
Lila au; ;menta.tion became ~
02n5
the
u4l lt.
• •
ingot ?when, the arrival of large lames of troops .