The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-19 00:00:00

TURN OF THE TIDE-TUE WAR,

When the Russian army under General Luders
endered the Dobrudscha, about seven weeks ago,
different opinions were formed in Europe of the
nature and object of that operation. By some it
was believed to be the commencement of a direct

.attack upon the ciiieFoi;;;Ciltheii.lll;ish army,
intended to take advantage of the earliest moment
adapted for military operations, and to anticipate
by a bold and skilful advance the heats of summer,
the pestilential effluvia of the anubian marshes,
and the arrival of a more formidable enemy. By
others this movement was conceivedfor to be one of a
purely defensive character, the purpose. of pre-
venting the Turkish force's from
Russians in Wallachia, and. frotioutflank. mg the
,treateuing their
base of operations, while it strengthened
owned. the Rus-
siansstession of the
command of the river by the
forts of Matschin and Isakstcha so
oPf as to render the
Lower Danube more difficult'to the
steamers and gunboats of the combined accessflet But,
however these conflicting opinions may havees been
contradicted or confirmed by subsequent events,
one thought it possible that the Russian generalsilo
should prop, bse to themselves toremain stationary in
such a position, which has all the defects a military
station can possess. It is at once insalubrious and un-
safe, inaccessible except to the enemy whocommands
the coast, and communicating by one or two points
only with the main body of the army on the oppo-
site shore of the river. All supplies of food, am-
munition, and reinforcements must be sent by
bullock carts for upwards of 60 miles from the
bridges near Galatz and Brailow to the scene of
operations. The coun ry produces nothing, and
hardly furnishes any. water that i+ not brackish or
infected. The Turks, on the contrary, remain
within comparatively easy reach of their head-quar-
ters ; the deficiencies of their advanced guard may
be easily supplied ; and, even in case of defeat, they
would only have to fall back on the best part of

Oilier Pasha's army.
Nevertheless, in this extraordinary and destruc-
tive position the Russians have remained since the
24th of Mach, a delay only comparable to the
blunders and the fatal consequences of the Vial-
cheren Expedition ; and we now begin to receive
some of the particulars to which such a state of
things has given rise. A letter of the 30th of April,
addressed to the Vieana .11edical Gazette by one of
the me lical officers serving on the spot, will be found
in another part of our columns, and well deserves
an attentive perusal. It furnishes the most
authentic information that can be obtained of the
hardships to which the Russian troops are sub-
jected, of the pestilential nature of the district, and
of the extraordinary energy with which the Turk-
ish outposts have defended their lines. " The am-
bulances of the Dobrudscha fill with such rapidity

that consignments of sick and wounded must be
made twice a-day to Hirsova and Matschin, and
from those places to the left ba,uk of the river."
Even there, however, it is impossible they should
find proper accommodation, fir seven hospitals in
the miserable adjacent towns are already over-
crowded, and, farther, bed accommodation has
been ordered for 2,000 more patients. The number
of wounded in the Dobrudscha since the passage is
stated to he 2,600 men, which implies a total loss
in killed and wounded of double that number. In

the mouth of April 31 per cent. of the wounded
die liu hospital—a very large proportion, even ac-
cording to the averages as published by the Russian
me heal staff. Although, therefore, we know little
of the details of these operations, it may be con-
sidered certain that incessant attacks have been
made by the Russians on the Turkish lines; that
they have been generally repulsed, and that the
Russian losses have been most severe. We have also
information of a later date than this letter, which
states that early in May the symptoms of the
:spring fever, well known to Muscovite armies by
its terrific ravages in former wars, had begun to
show themselves among the troops, and had pro- •
duced a greater consternation than the resistance
of the enemy. Reports of the ravages of this pecu-
liar epidemic in the campaigns of 1828 and 1829
have been published by Dr. Seidlitz and others
who were al,tached to the medical staff at that
time. They draw a frivhtful picture of the viru-
lence of this disease, which might in some cases
be compared to the plactue itself, and there is no
doubt that it annihilated a very large proportion
of the Russian army in those years. The fact that
it now seems to have recurred at precisely the same
season is well deserving of attention, and it seems
almost incredible that a geneial should have deli-
berately kept a division of his army in the very
position where they are most exposel to this del( -
terious influence. The nearer the Russians are to
the course of the D twilit, the more they will suffer
by these fevers, while the troops stationed on higher
gonind may escape them altogether.
Facts such as these present the horrors of war to
the mind in the most palpable and repulsive, but
also in the truest form. The stir and clamour of
the field of battle, the glory of the effort and the
grandeur of the result, may make us overlook the
heavy cost of sufferi ig and of blood. But the regi-
mental hospital, choked with masses of the dying
and the dead, who expire under the stroke of an
invisible foe, is a scene which might well give a
p.a., nto the must heartless of conquerors. We re-
sent the political duplicity anti ambition of the Em-
peror of Russia—we view with disgust his appeals
to the religion which he outrages while he invokes
it—but the picture of these poor serfs who are
dragged away by tens of thousands to rot in the
marshes of the Danube—the helpless, ignorant, and
miserable victims of an all-powerful Sovereign—in-
spires us with a stronger sense of the brutal enor-
mity of these crimes, and brings home to the ima-
gination the great evil of war multiplied in a
thousand shapes of individual suffering. There is
a prodigality of human life in these Russian enter-
prises which is not even palliated, as it was in the
wars of Napoleon, by the splendour of military
success. The Russian Government must already
be aware that nothing can he made f its present
military position. It has failed to overcome the
Turks singlehanded, and already, in addition to
the Turks, there are 40,000 of the finest troops iu
Europe within a few hours' sail. If so much aa an
attempt be made on the passes of the Balkan, that
is, as we understand it, even on Shumla, Austria
and Prussia have both bound themselves by treaty
to make it a ease of war against Russia. To ad-
vance under such circumstances is impossible, to
retreat may soon become almost equally difficult.
The Emperor Nicholas cannot delude himself with
the idea that he and his forces are in a condition to
give the law to the E in open defiance of the
recorded will and the fleets and armies of the rest
of Europe. hll the evils he is about to inflict upon
his people from this time are purely gratuitous, and
can lead to no result favourable to his honour or
dignity. He alone in all his broad dominions bears
the responsibility of this war, and nobody believes
that the war would be carried on for another week
if ho ceased to direct it. He endeavours to impose
on pubLc opinion ; but ere long the extravagant
fictions of his bulletins and the affected fanaticism
of his manifestoes must be found out. His appeals
to his people ate like everything else he has saido:aaiti
this question—untrue ; and we cannot doubt they
when these disasters become better known, ast luey.
must be even in Russia, they will exerciser a )se
facial effect on tho duration of the war.— tine .

utter of spurious half crowns are in cu.-
PAYMENT OF CLERGYMEN IN MARYLEBONE.—Yester- tallied that a num
°ductsl from the dies in brass, and
day a government bill in the House of Commons was COUNTERFEIT HALF-Caowivs.—The Mint have
.aaoe.r.
culation. They are prwith
silver ;the milling round the
was printed to increase the salaries of the ministers of Altogether these are pronounced the
peculiarity of the
Portland Chapel, Oxford Chapel, and Wet beck Chapel in edge is
.petr.oeL
of
the
genuine coin yet produced. The
are then electroplatesf.t
Marylebone. The salary in no case is to exceed 6001. a b,,esot
iimi reteletors" are useless, as the brass will not bend ;
3 ear, payable out of the receipt of each particular chapel.
L A DVERTISENIENTd—Iier Majesty's Ito) al Letters g and by their weight being lighter by one penny-
Patent, for valuable and extraordinary improvements in lin,ht than the genuine half-crown.
theyc 'are only to be detected by the
the most powerful and brilliant Telescopes, Camp, Race- JACKweIgS ACCOUNT OF THE BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA.
lee Alt, exactly at half-past six a.in , the Sampson
course, Opera, and Perspective Glasses, to know the
* -I
t in among the vessels in the Mole and the
distances of objects viewed through them—of great jai- —At
portance to the army, navy, and other,. Messrs. S. and. let go rig i . . ....
B. Solomons, opticians, 39, Albelnarle-street, Picca,dilly. batterie-: there, and the first that felt by that shot was
Observe—opposite the York Hotel.--These telescopes pos- an Englishman ; the shot passed through a Russian
sess such extraordinary powers that seine, 3A inches, with brig arid killed a mete of a merchant-ship. They returned
style, and their guns could not reach our chips I y half
scope can b
-
an extra eye-piece, will show distinctly Jupiter's means, the fire, but the steamers lay off and put it into them in
shell a
Saturn's ring, and the double stars ; with the same tele-' seen a person's countenance three miles a mile. They continued heaving shot and d
and a half distant, and an object from 12 to 14 miles. rockets till 12 o clock, when by that time a part of
They are of larger and all sizes, with increasing powers the town was on fire and all
u adron
continually
accordingly.— The Royal Exhibition, 1851. the shipping, and one
of their ma, • ies blew
newly invented, very small, powerful waistcoat-pocket _
that maw up. The admiral made a
the Mole wasllwas killed or
glass the size of a walnut, by which a person can be seen signal no man in the 8-
- Valuable,
and known IA mile distant ; they answer every purpose wounded. It was awful to see the destruction of
on the race-course, at the opera-houses, country scee - life on shore ;
nery, ar.•.l ships are clearly seer at 12 to 14 miles,. y i and whole gun's crews swept away, and the
are invaluable for shooting, deer stalking, yaehtulg, v° , men ran from their • they
guns , could not face the
sportsmen, gentlemen, gamekeepers, and tourists. Opera, I fire that was
wonderful ' pouring in on them ; they could not re-
race-course, camp, and perspective glasses, with . treat, asssquadrons of cavalry were driving them to their
distant. Newly-invented Spectacles ; immediately the) , guns at the point of the sword, and horses and men fell
are placed before extremely imperfect vision, every k together in one heap of slain. After dinner we corn-
object becomes clear and distinct; the most
laged, de- i menced again at another place, and so continued till
festive sight is brought to its youthful, nature
Oran aud ori- 1 sunset, when the admiral made the signal of recall, and
• I state. Deafness—New Discovery—The c Vi- Iwe
gina then proceeded to join the fleet, leaving half the
brator, au extraordinary powerful, small, newly-invented • town in flames, and hundreds of men lying on the beach
instrument, for Deafness, entirely different front all others, '
i dead We don't -
know when we shall attack it again,
to surpass au thin of the kind that has been, or pro- . '
ba.bly ever can b©, produced. Being of the same as we think they have sent to Sebastopol for their fleet;
' ekeour es the skin, is not perceptible ; it enables deaf ' putting
and it is reported here that the admiral intends _
persons to hear distinctly at chnrch and at public as- to sea, so as to decoy the fleet out, and make them be-
; the unpleasant sensation, of singing noises in lieve that they have driven us off. But let them come
- the ears is entirely removed ; and it affords all the assist- i out; they will never return, for Sinop° rou,t be avenged.
- ance that possibly could be desired.-39, Albemarle-Areet, iWe have already shown them what they have to expect.
PiocadillY. Observe, opposite the York Hotel. ! Plytaout4 Mail.