The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-30 00:00:00

"THE SUN"

THE MOMENT THE

EXTRAORDINARY GAZETTE

IS ISSUED,

TOGETHER WITH A LIST OF THE

KILLED AND WOUNDED.

Orders received by all News Agents, and at " THE
SUN" OFFICE, 112, Strand, London.

.(1),0 Aux,

STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFB, to the effect that he felt
it " his duty to caution the public against expect-
ing any details for several days, as he feared
that none could be received before the 6th
October ;" and adding "Everything which
is received by the Government will be pub-
lished immediately." Now, after this expli-
cit and unequivocal declaration, a Noble-
man and a Gentleman would scarcely suppress
matters of importance respecting the condition of
our troops which the Government had received.
A higher authority must have been exerted, and
we ma only 'ascribe the untoward occurrence to
1 the authority of Lord ABERDREDT, the head of the
IGovernment, who had returned to London nearly
a fortnight since, and duzing the interval between
the arrival of the despatches that had been so
promptly circulated, and those which have been
so unaccountably withheld. If this be so, the
Noble Lord will have materially added to the
grave matters for which he must answer when
the day of reckoning arrives—a day that cannot
be deferred beyond the first week after the meet-
ing of Parliament.
We must say that the representatives of the
people have, by their own culpable apathy, mate-
rially contributed to produce this result. When
the extraordinary credit for three millions
1 st

,erling was demanded by Government
we earnestly protested against it, on the
ground that it would place the entire control
and management of the war in the hands of the
CZAR'S " friend of forty years' standing," and that
it would enable him to dispense with the attend-
ance of Parliament for at least six calendar months.
This protest has been proved to be but too well
founded. If a winter session was necessary
greater respect would be paid to the public wishes.
But as three months are still before him, these
can, for the time being, be slighted with impunity,
and the advantages obtained, at so serious au ex-
penditure of men and money, may be deliberately
i sacrificed.

These are matters in which every journalist, no
matter what be his political opinions, is equally
interested ; and we trust that all our brethren of
" the fourth estate" may assist in enforcing the
performance the of Duke of NEWCASTLE'S promise,
and the immediate pub ication of everything re-
ceived by Government from the Seat of War, un-
less, indeed, it be to the public disadvantage.

In the Imperial letter of condolence to the be-
.caved widow of the gallant ST. ARNAUD the Em-

peror stated that tho departed hero had "atiso-

elated his name with the military glories of
France, when, having decided upon landing in the
Crimea in spite of timid counsels, he gained with

Lord RAGLAN the battle of Alma, and opened to
the army the road to Sebastopol." This is a
very significant assertion. It proves beyond the

possibility of a doubt that there had been " timid

counsels" by persons holding influential appoint-
ments, and that if these opinions had not been de-
cidedly over-ruled the impolitic and disgraceful
inaction that so long prevailed would have been
continued to the last, and that, at all events, the
expedition to the Crimea would not have been
undertaken. It is of vital importance that it

should be clearly and distinctly ascertained who
are the persons referred to in such terms by the
fruperial letter, and the more so, as sinister
rumours prevail in Constantinople; and it is more
than hinted that " the Allies ar;:, to take up their
winter quarters at Scutari, after the fall of Sebas-
topol'.'—thus abandoning the advantages they bad
acquired by the vigour of their troops, and en-
couraging the CZAR to persist in his perverse and
obstinate refusal to abate his unwarrantable pre-
tensions.

We cannot conceive a more dangerous or dis-
raceful course. It would, of course, be com-
mented on throughout the Russian dominions as a
compulsory withdrawal. It would encourage
Prussia to side openly with its formidable neigh-
bour, and thus inevitably lead to a general war of
as much more onerous character than that which
we have hiterto waged. The expenditure of blood
and treasure would be more than quadrupled, and
the national resources taxed to the uttermost. It
becomes, then, of the most serious consequence to
subject the authenticity of this rumour to the
most stringent tests ; and the more so, inas-
much as the accounts from the Crimea show
that it is almost certain that the capture
of Sebastopol must have been completed ere this,
and that in all human probability the Union Jack
and Tricolour are at this moment proudly waving
over the demolished fortifications of what was
once the Russian stronghold.