The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-17 00:00:00

a shop below stairs and a caf6 above, containing a bil-
liard table, but having what must be rather a drawback
to the game, oiled paper windows instead of glass. The
church itself appears quite out of its element, and rather
solitary, having no building to keep it anything like in
countenance. It is built of brick, whitewashed, and
has a tiled roof, from which rises a spire, covered over
with tin and surmounted by a gilt cross. The inside is
painted in the most gaudy style of fresco, by an artist
btt indifferently acquainted with the usual proportions
ej. the human form, or perhaps by one who thought that
saints have twice as long legs and half as wide
shoulders as ordinary men. There were a couple
of thousand Turkish cavalry horses saddled and
their riders armed, ready to turn out at a moment's
warning to fight the Russians. On the 28th instant a
force of three regiments of cavalry, two batteries, and
some infantry, appeared before the Turkish outpost
Thriglawitz. The Turks mounted and retired ; the Rus-
sians advanced one battery, while the other fired and
thus; pursued them. Ismail Pacha, the gallant com-
mander during the action in the village of Citale, hear-
ing the firing, rode out with his staff to meet the re-
treating troops, and took command. The Russians
having, however, gained their object, ceased firing and
occupied the post. The Turkish cavalry retreated
in not too good order, it is to he feared. The
Russian shot apparently frightened them much
more than it hurt them, as there were only a
couple of horses hit. The loss of this post involved
that of Pojana, as this line of retreat to Kalafat
would be easily cut off by a force from Umglawitz. A
messenger was therefore sent to Pojana with orders to
the troops to retire, which they did in hot haste. Golentz
one hour's march on the road to Citale, and Chaupart-
sin, on the road to Pojana, are now the only villages
held by the Turks. On the following day, the 29th, 300
Cossacks made a dash up towards Kalafat, drove the
pickets in, who imagined that there was a large force
behind them. They got up to within 1,500 yards of
the works, when three round shot were sent after them
from as many Turkish batteries ; the Cossacks, who have
an extreme aversion to that species of missile, gallopped
back again. Their escapade had the effect of turning out
the whole Tuikish force, who remained under arms for
some hours. The driving in of the outpost portends, doubt-
less, an attack on Kalafat; that being of course the first
operation, for they were situated so far from Kalafat that
it would be rather too much work to drive them in, and
then march for three hours, reconnoitre, and attack
Kalafat. The delay in doing this appears to be utterly
incomprehensible. The troops moved out of Bucharest
on the 12th of December, and on the 28th of January
the outposts are driven in ! This species of generalship
may truly be called Fabian. The Turks have not been
idle meanwhile. The entrenchments, which were of the
feeblest profile, have now been altered to fine parapets,
with ditches on the exterior. The batteries were good
from the first day, but they were only connected,
as formerly described, by a covert-way, with no
ditch in front, and one flank was completely open.
The weather having become a little less severe, and the
frost having no longer made the ground impracticable to
the spade, the Turks have kept themselves warm to
some purpose, and if the Russians do attack them, they
will find the defences very different to what they would
have done three weeks back. Reinforcements have been
thrown into Kalafat from various stations on the
Danube, so that the force at present there may amount
at the lowest calculation in round numbers to 20,000
men of all arms, with a considerable number of guns,
half of which are of large calibre. Add to this the well-
known obstinacy with which the Turks defend their
entrenchments, and the lesson they gave the Russians
at Oltenitza and Citale, it may be fairly said that there
is every human probability that any attack made upon
them, even by double their numbers, will prove unsuc-
cessful. The inhabitants of the villages lately in the
possession of the Turks have deserted their houses,
bringing bag and baggage with them. 'The "barbarous"
Turks lend them boats to take them across the Danube,
where, doubtless, they will seek shelter with their bro-
ther Christians—the Bulgarians. How they managed
to escape is a mystery which remains to be unravelled ;
bet however that may be, it is a pretty fair expression
of their opinion of Russian protection—they prefer the
" barbarous" infidel to the civilised fellow-Christian.
The treatment of the only two prisoners made at
Male is another instance of the " barbarism" of the
Turks. This day the writer saw one of them seated
with an unarmed Turkish soldier, his only guard, em-
ploying himself eating caviare and bread, and washing
them down with a glass of rum and water. The captive
soldier then regaled himself with a cigarette, while en-
gaged with a refugee pole. He was dressed in the uni-
form of his regiment, but had over his shoulders an ex-
cellent blanket great coat, which had been given him by
the Turks on his complaining of cold. Some time back
he was taken by his barbarous captors to the bath at
Widdin, where he was duly washed, shampooed, &c.
Truly there are numbers in the Russian ranks, and out
of them, who would like to be made prisoners to be so
treated."

FRANCE.
The Emperor's letter to the Czar Nicholas has
been printed in the form of a placard, read publicly
in all the barracks of France, and profusely distri-
buted throughout all the communes in the depart-
ments. At the corners of every street in Paris it is
to be seen in large characters. In short, no means
have been spared which could contribute to the
making known to the good people of France the
:steps taken by the Emperor to make good his pro-
mise—" L'Empire, c'est la pain"---and to rouse their
feelings against the oppressor of Turkey. But,
notwithstanding the publicity given to the docu-
ment, it is doubtful if the effect has been good,
even in France.
In Bonapartist circles it is said that at the au-
dience granted by the Emperor of the French to M.
de Kisseleff, to allow the latter to take leave,
the head of the State displayed towards the am-•
bassador a tone and attitude of commiseration
which exceedingly annoyed the representative of
Russia. The report goes that the Emperor of the
French used language very nearly, if not altogether,
running thus Say to the Emperor of Russia
that I am deeply afflicted to see the relations be-
tween my Government and his own brought to a
close. Assure him from me that, should war break
out, I will do all I can to diminish the effect of the
disasters that must fall on him ; and I will endea-
vour as much as in me lies to prevent any annoy-
ance to him personally." It is stated that M. de
Kisseleff 'withdrew from the audience much an-

noyed.
It is said that not only did the Emperor of Russia
give a flat refusal to the propositions made by the
Emperor Napoleon, but that he treated General de
Castelbajac with great discourtesy. Others say that
the letter was not despatched from Vienna till
the 9th of the present mouth, when Count Orloff
took charge of it ; and that it must have appeared
in the lifoniteur before it got into the bands of the
Czar. M. de Hubner, the Austrian Ambassador
in Paris, stated two days ago, in a public salon,
that the publication of the Emperor's letter had
destroyed the last chance that remained for the
maintenance of peace.
It is rep orted hare that England has offered to
advance some millions to Turkey, on condition of
getting tho island of Candia as a guarantee.
A despatch from Berlin states that great exaspe-
ration was produced at tl.e Palace of St. Petersburg
by the receipt of the letter from the Emperor Na-
poleon.
The Minister of War has decided (in order to
relieve the industrious population as much as pos-
sible) that the married men of the conscription of
1851, lately called to active service by an Imperial
decree, may remain at home for the present if they
have not the means of procuring substitutes. The
same exemption is granted to the married men of
the conscrtiption of 1850 who have not yet joined
their regiments.
Some of the foreign journals having indulged in
speculations as to the object of the mission of Baron
Brenier to Florence, the Moniteur says :
" Baron Brenier, director at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, proceeded to Florence to follow the negotiation
of a postal convention. The motives some journals
have attributed to his presence in Italy are altogether
devoid of foundation."
The Patric has received a second notice for pub-
lishing intelligence described as " totally false."
A loss of not less than 6,000,000 f. is said to have
been incurred by the fall at the Bourse, by a well-
known political and speculating persopage. The
loss is attributed to the paragraph published by the
Patric on Tuesday, and which produced for that
journal the warning it has received from the
Minister of the Interior.
The Bourse was heavy yesterday, without much
business doing. In the absence of all political re-
ports, the speculators appeared to wait the official
communication of the Emperor of Russia's answer
to the letter of the Emperor Louis Napoleon. The
Three per Cents. opened at 68f. 10c., rose to 68f.
15c., fell again to 67f. 80c., and closed at 68f. for
the end of the month. The Four-and-a-Half per
Cents. closed at 97f. 50c. ; Orleans Railway Shares,
1,072 f. 50c. ; Rouen, 895 f. ; Havre, 450 h ; Great
Northern, 740 f.; Paris and Strasburg, 715 f. ;
ditto, New, 567 f. 50c.; Paris and Lyons, 822 f. 50c.;
Lyons to the Mediterranean, 650 f. ; Western of
France, 572 f. 50c. ; Bordeaux and Cette, 540 f.;
Lyons to Geneva, 455 f. ; Shares of the Bank of
Credit Mobilier, 610 f.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FRENCH
ARTILLERY.

The Maniteur contains a long report from Marshal de
Bt. Arnaud, Minister of War to the Emperor, recom-
mending the adoption of certain changes for the better
organisation of the artillery. The new mode of warfare,
introduced by the Emperor Napoleon 1., the report de-
clares, being of a nature to require far greater cele-
rity, had rendered the old carriages and materiel
introducod by General Gribeauval quite inadequate
for the purposes of modern warfare, and had caused
a lighter and much more commodious description of
carriages to be adopted. The alterations which the Mini-
Atter of War now proposes is to place the personnel of the
artillery-corps in harmony with the improved materiel;
a.nd for that purpose he suggests that, in place of
haring the various kinds of service—that is, the
horse artillery, the artillery of the line, and the
foot artillery all united together in the same
regiment, there :shall for the future be as many