The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-20 00:00:00

Thz

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1854.

Never was the British nation more thoroughly
excited than at the present moment. Never was
it more firmly determined to succeed in the under-
taking in which it was for the time being engaged.
A fierce and unbending resolution to carry out the
laudable objects for which we reluctantly entered
into the war animates every British heart. We
use the word in its broadest sense, as expressing
the whole United Kingdom ; and we believe that
few could be found with sufficient hardihood to
suggest to a meeting of Englishmen the policy of
raising the siege of Sebastopol, or patching up a
dishonourable and temporary " armistice" with
the Northern Despot—we shall not desecrate the
term "peace" by applying it to that which could
not be regarded as permanent or lasting.
It is felt that not merely the policy of the
Western Powers,
depends ou the but the security of our homes
result of the fierce struggle—that
it is not merely
French and British honour, but
the sacred cause of Freedom all over the old
world that is at issue. Muscovite morality is now
duly appreciated. The CZAR openly adopts
" The good rule—the
old
simple plan,
That he should take who has the power,
And he should keep who can?,
His professions of moderation can no longer de-
ceive any save the wilfully blind.
We can no
longer find a Minister—nay, more, the Minister
par excellence—the head of her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment—rising in his place in Parliament to
proclaim that he thought the ATJTOCRAT'S ap-
prehensions justifiable and his demands reason-
able ! !"

NICHOLIS has flung aside all disguise. He has
determined to BEAT England and France con-
jointly—to compel the Western warriors to suc-
cumb before his semi-barbarian hordes. And he
has made efforts worthy of a nobler cause. For
the gratification of his arrogance and cupidity, he
has displayed an amount of energy and activity
which brings to shame our comparatively puny
exertions. Without regard to expense, At any

cost of men or money, he has resolved that
Sebastopol must be saved--that the besieging
armies shall be driven to seek refuge in their
ships, become prisoners of war, or perish to the
last man in the discharge of their too arduous
duties. With that view he has forwarded every
available man to the Crimea, and has even sent
his two younger sons to participate in these efforts ;
while we—it is with shame we record it—are
only beginning to shake off the apathy by which
we have so long been oppressed, or to make any
exertions worthy of the glorious cause in which
we are engaged.

Now we are inquiring for transports, while so
many have been lying idle at Balaklava. It is
now we are talking of raising sufficient men to
sustain the army which we have so long left to
fight a contest that would be unequal but for the
superhuman powers they have displayed, the dar-
ing gallantry that carries them triumphantly
through every ordeal. " Triumphantly," we
said, but with what fearful sacrifices of life
—what toil and suffering to the survivors !
We hear of nearly 20 per cent. of their numbers
cut off in a single day !—of one fifth of our avail-
able force being killed or wounded on the sth of
November ! But even that, fearful as it is to
contemplate, is scarcely so bad as the incessant
wear and tear from over-fatigue, exposure, and
privations of the most deplorable character. Pesti-
lence and famine are doing their deadly work as
surely as the Cossack lances, or the Muscovite
cannon or rifles. We do not provide fitting shelter
or food for our brave fellows. While the French
and Turkish Auxiliaries had at least their tents,
our men were stretched on the bare earth without
any protection from the inclemency of the weather.
While the French had not only an adequate supply
of wholesome and palatable bread for their own
wants, but were enabled to bestow some on their
English brethren in arms, our victims of a defec-
tive and badly-organised commissariat were starv-
ing in the midst, or at least within sight,
of plenty. It was little satisfaction to think
that there were capital tents, battened up under
hatches in the various ships, floating proudly
within sight, or that While going to bed supperless
for the fourth or fifth time in the week, to know
that there was abundance of every kind of provision
in the vicinity, which might be available, if better
regulations were established. Under such circum-
stances our men—sturdy to the last—withered
away to less than half of their original numbers,
while although some reinforcements have arrived,
they are inadequate to supply the daily loss—
much less to bring additional forces into the field,
against the Muscovite increase. It is true that some
had landed on the 6th, 7th, and Bth, at the rate,
we are told, of 1,000 per diem ; but that was
scarcely sufficient to replace the loss of the sth
inst., without making any provision for the daily
expenditure from sickness, over exertion, or
casualties from the siege operations. Yet with
even that slender addition, our men had been en-
abled to make offensive demonstrations against
the left flank of the Russians—demonstrations
which had caused them to retire from the
position which they had won through the mis
conduct of a party who did not worthily
sustain the Ottoman reputation. This is much
to have accomplished with little more than 50,000
French and English against such numerical supe-
riority. Let, then, the fitting exertions be made
at home and in matters merely dependent on
L. S. D. profusion in all necessary matters
will be found true economy in the long run. The
CZAR, has determined to save Sebastopol at any
cost. We must resolve to take it at any expense.
He is not chary of the lives of his miserable
serfs. We must not clutch our money-bags too
tightly, or refuse to draw our purse-strings freely
in such a cause. We still can conquer—if we
only persevere. With all the efforts of NICHOLAS,
he has not succeeded in weakening our position
which still menaces Sebastopol, and from which we
hope, ere long, to see the destruction of that
quasi impregnable fortification.
Our loss of general officers has been as formi-
dable in proportion as of the men. We have lost
the gallant CATHCART, the worthy son of a dis-
tinguished sire. GOLDIE and STRANGWAYS have
accomplished their glorious destiny, and died in
the face of the foe on the field of battle. DE LACEY
EVANS has been driven by sickness from the
field ; BROWN, second to none in" the
British army, a model soldier, has lost
an arm, and the Gallant Light Division must fol-
low another—they can never find a more distin-
guished—leader. Besides these, ADAM s and
BENTINCK, and BULLER and TonnEsss—illustrious
names—have bled on the field, although happily we
may hope that they will speedily be restored to
health and strength, and their inestimable ser-
vices still be available to their country. But we
do not on that account require additional generals
from their country. We have good men and
true _ still left to commmand our troops.
With RAGLAN, and BURGOYNE, and CAMP-
BELL, and PENNEFATHER, aye, and many other
experienced leaders, we have nothing to fear.
Besides it is only fair that those who have borne
the brunt of the encounter should also reap the
rewards of victory—that promotion, even to the
highest rank should be accorded to those who
have so nobly exerted themselves on the field and
in the Council, and who have successfully resisted
all the efforts of the Russian troops.

Many persons are already beginning to
croak on the subject of the inexhaustible (!) re-
sources of Russia, and to assert the decided in-
feriority of the Western Powers in these
important particulars. A little calm re-
flection may, however, lenallle all who have
no sinister motives for desponding, or
rather for exciting despondency in others, to
shake off their unreasonable apprehensions, and
to arrive at sounder conclusions in these matters.
Great as the resources of the Czin unquestion-
ably are we shall be enabled to show that in every
essential point they are far beneath those of the
nations that have tardily and reluctantly, but
still resolutely buckled on the armour to meet his
unjust aggressions, and to cause justice and in-
tegrity to be respected throughout the entire
world.

Men and money ! " The sinews of war, "in
the broadest sense of the phrase, are the matters
in which comparisons have been male by no
means favourable to England. It is said that
Russia has no less than sixty-six millions of sub-
jects, while England has scarcely twenty-nine
millions ! and thus that considerably more
,than
two to one could be produced in any continued
contest. France, our faithful and efficient ally,
would, however, with her thirty-six millions,
nearly
bring about a counterpoise in point of
mere numbers, as there would thus be on the
one side sixty-five millions of French and English
against sixty-six millions of Muscovites—a diffe-
rence not
sufficient to excite a fear in any heart,
particularly when
physical we consider the difference of
power as well as of intelligence, and of
'the various qualifications necessary to constitute
an efficient and useful soldier.

We shall not, however, for the time being allude
further to France, although certain. that we may,

in any emergency, implicitly rely on her friendly 1
and cordial co-operation. We shall be contented
to prove that, as far as England alone is con-
cerned, she would have nothing to dread against
Russia single-handed, and without the confidence
in the justice of our cause with which we are
" trebly armed."
In the first place, then, it must be remembered
that the twenty-nine millions thus referred to
are not merely British subjects, but inhabitants
of the British Isles concentrated within a com-
paratively limited space, and readily brought into
contemporaneous action, while the hordes of the
CZAR, occupy his wide-spread territories, in dis-
tricts wherever they could not easily be collected
together to any given spot. As well might we
glaim the one hundred and fifty millions of
British subjects spread all over the face of the earth,
in lands where the sun never sets, as Nicholas
boast of his sixty-six millions, some of whom are
not merely unavailable for warlike purposes, as
the wandering Esquimaux, or Samoiedes, or those
who inhabiting the dreary regions of perpetual ice,
have too much to contend with in the severity of
the elements, to do much against an armed enemy.
But it is not merely toeless multitudes that he
reigns over, but there are many, too many, who
enly await the signal for rising with any reasonable
prospect of success, the opportunity so long and
anxiously looked for to avenge their outraged
nationalities, and to become sources of weakness
and not of strength—the sharpest thorns in the
Russian side. How long could the noble-
minded but oppressed Poles be relied on by
NICHOLAS ? In place of having men prepared to
struggle to the last in defence of their homes,
there would be patriots ready to shake off
the yoke by which they had so long
been oppressed, and to take advantage of
any chance, justly feeling that the hour of Rus-
sia's difficulty would be Poland's opportunity.
We have seen from our own prisoners of war
that Fins will not associate with Russians—that
they are, in fact, strongly opposed to each other
in every particular. The same .may be said of
those who have from time to time been swallowed
by the insatiable maw of Russia—who have been
first taken under its protection (.9 and then amal-
gamated. They differ, indeed, widely from the
English, Scotch, and Irish, always overflowing
with devoted and affectionate loyalty to their
Sovereign, and ready at any moment to unite
against the common foe.
Speaking nothing of the difference of quality—
and wheie is the soldier or sailor that would
dread two Russians?—we fancy that the numerical
difference would not, on close investigation, be
found so very formidable as it has been made out.
We must also recollect that in having the un-
questionable sovereignty of the seas wo can guard
our own shores against Russian aggression, and
at the same time direct our blows against
any portion of the vast and unwieldy monster
against whom we are opposed.
It scarcely requires any argument to prove our
superiority on the pecuniary part of the question.
We may, however, take some future opportunity
of placing it in a broad light, and showing that
of the sinews of war—money, with all its bound-
less power, is unquestionably in favour of the
" little Island in the West"—when compared
with its Leviathan opponent.