The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-13 00:00:00

''4EINSPAPEsit

THE IN

- • .
The intelligence froniteTik.-:.%
s
received yesterday witlOhesititon; :hich we
now been
corroborated; by, several channels, an. by a positive
announcement in the official journa,l. of France.
War has begun in earnest. A naval action has
been fought upon the coast of Asia Minor, ending
in the total destruction of a portion Of the Ottoman
fleet ; and for the first time in naval history, a
Russian squadron has returned to Sebastopol laden
with the spoils of victory. The' war, hitherto con-
fined to the occupation of the Danubian Principali-
ties and to a few partial 'encounters of the hostile
armies, appears to have assumed on the Black Sea
-the character. of 'direct aggression, and the Emperor
Of Russia has thrown down the gauntlet to the
maritime Power's; precisely on that element on which
they are best prepared. to meet him. We have
thought it our duty to . uphold and :defend the
cause of peace, so long •As peace was compatible
with the honour and dignity of the country, and
we feel no regret that tollie very last we have ad-
hered to a course of policy which a just concern for
the best interests of England and of the civilised
world prescribed. But we' haVe never concealed
our opinion that the events occurring in the -East
might ere long compel us to meet by some resolute
measures a sterner alternative ; and we have re-
peatedlY urged upon the GoVernments of England
and France the necessity of being prepared with a
plan of Operations adapted to such au emergency.
If the intelligence last received be confirmed in
the manner in which it is related to us, the time
for these resolutions to-take effect is already come.
It must, however, be remarked that great per-
plelity and uncertainty still hang over the details
Of this important event. All the accounts received
of it appear to have been despatched from Odessa
on the sth inst., and to have passed through Vienna.
They are, therefore, altogether Russian statements.
On the other hand, it is' well ascertained that on
the 28th of November, two days prior to the action,
the principal divisions of the Turkish fleet were at
anchor iu the Bosphorus. Admiral Slade had
. brought back his division some days before, with
the exception of one frigate, which had taken
shelter at Sinope, and great satisfaction had been
expressed that at this inclement season of the year
the line-of-battle ships and frigates were safe in
harbour. It would seem probable, therefore, that
the squadron which the Russians have demolished
was a convoy bound with troops and arms for some
point on the coast of Asia ;' and the most probable
version of the story seems to be that the Russian
cruisers pursued this convoy into the roads of
w Sope. It has also been suggested that, as Sinope
is a naval arsenal, it is possible that some of the
vessels destroyed by the. Russians were hulks in the
port. Sinope is the best harbour on the coast of
Asia Minor, situated about 300 mles from the
Bosphorus, and at the narrowest part of the
Black
Sea, being only 42 maritime leagues from Sebasto-
pol. The town of Sinope is built on the isthmus
of a peninsula jutting out into the Euxine, and
forming two capacious harbours. That to the
south-east is used by the Turks as a naval
station. The town is a square, flanked with
towers, and covered by a small citadel ; but, in
spite of the importance of the place, it has
long been considered the most vulnerable point on
the whole north coast of Asia Minor. The land
batteries, whatever they may be, appear to have
been quite incompetent to meet the fire of the
ships, and this engagement furnishes another
example of the comparative weakness of ordinary
fortifications when opposed to modern naval gun-
nery. Among the Turkish forts there are scarcely
any strong enough to beat off a line-of-battle ship.
However, after the destruction of no less than
twelve urkish vessels, without taking a single
prize in a state to be removed to Sebastopol, the
Russian ships were themselves in a condition to
reach that harbour with difficulty. The havoc
which is described to have taken place shows that
the ships on both sides were fought with great
gallantry ; and the Ilaissians, who first surprised
every one by allowing themselves to be beaten on
land, have now surprised us again by an exploit at
sea. They had, however, by their own account, a
vast superiority of force, and Osman Bey, the
Turkish commander, only surrendered at the last
extremity.

Whatever doubt may still prevail as to the cir-
cumstances which preceded this action and the
mode in which it was fought, there can be very
little as to its naval and political consequences.
It tends to give the Russian navy an ascendancy
on the Black Sea which the Turks have hitherto
disputed ; and it calls upon the maritime allies
of the Porte in very positive lang,uage to supply
that naval protection of which she more than
ever stands in need. If it should turn out
that the Russian squadron fell in with a
convoy bound for the army of Asia, and
pursued these ships into Sinope, this act may, in
the present state of warfare between the two
Powers, be considered justifiable. But if, as is
equally probable, these Russian ships of the line
were sent out from Sebastopol to burn, sink, and
destroy the Turkish squadron, not on the high
seas or on the coast of Circassia, but at anchor in
their own fortified harbour, this proceeding of the
Emperor of Russia goes to the last extremity of
aggressive war. It disposes at once of the assur-
ances, till now so pertinaciously repeated, of his
desire to stand on the defensive only, even since
the Turkish declaration of war ; and, had it not
been for the presence of the English and French
fleets in Beicos Bay at this moment, the enterprise
which directed this blow against Sinope might
have aimed a still more formidable attack upon the
Bosphorus and the capital. A more violent and
offensive measure could not have been resorted to ;
and the importance attached to it by
m .Russia may
be inferred from the fact that Prince ense off,
the original author of these calamities and the in-
strument of this fresh outra elle'
wusrrofiettlhifsrovmictOodr
to St. Petersburg to lay the victory ata
the feet of the Czar.
The effect this event will.have in Europe is not
less serious. It dispels the hopes we have been
led to entertain of pacification, for we cannot share
the opinion that this success will lower in
,any de-
gree the temper
or pretensions of Russia; and it
imposes Upon the allied fleets more peremptory
duties.lndeed, as this blow on the naval re-
sources of Turkey interrupts her communications
with()
her T r ebi
Asiaticzol l f I
array,andlatouin it is highly injurious
t
and all would be lost if the
command of he Black Sea were suffered to pass
into the hand c.f
the enemy. The British Goivern-
meat and its allies will have, from the moment
this intelligence is confirmed, to deal with a state
of affairs fax more decided and momentous than
any which this question had yet assumed ; and we
earnestly trust that the Cabinet will prove itself
equal to the emergency. It scarcely devolves, in-
deed, on the Ministers of the Crown noW to de-
termine what positive steps are to be. taken under
these circumstances ; for we cannot doubt that
after such an ,act of Aggressive war, committed
upon a State under the shelter of the united. flags
of France and England, the Ambassadors and. Ad-
mirals at Constantinople have resolved at once
upon the measures required. The Government at
home, as yet less thoroughly informed of the• state
of the case, must await the arrival of despatches
before they adopt steps involving the whole ques-
tion of peace and war ; but, probably, before such
.despatches can be received here or in Paris the
Envoys on the spot will have acted upon the
powers given them in the event of a direct aggres-
sion by Russia On the Turkish coasts. It will
remain with her Majesty's Ministers 'to afford
:an effectual support to, that, decision by the usual
communications to Parliament, and by placing
our present relations with the Russian empire
in their true shape, - Having exhausted every
means that forbearance and ingenuity could suggest
for the restoration of peace, but haVing at the
time pledged the honour. and the naval forcess of
England to bring this dispute to a successful
termination by other means, if all negotiations for
unworthy of the p .
peace should fail, it *ould'be uUlv
gtiaantiownsp omcceupLiNn7eth6enwtorarledted, aaitteispecciutlis ar -o°bBll--
•
hesitate when wpheoenotehear
ce°llresrseolvtdeltehaart don, to
Sea, with all the various i
dictate conditions to Europe, before
eia Ilissh.allTniolet
irte,roesrtcsoennvceortmpliesinßglaictks
shores, into a Russian lake. They desire that a
course Of consummate hypocrisy should be pun.
ished.by
i signal defeat, andat a stop should be
put to these aggressions. The. Emperor of Russia,
who began this war without a pretext, is carrying
it on-without disguise, and ,it therefore becomes
the iinperative duty of the Pour Powers, who have
so recently
recorded.their determination tp put an
end to
.it, to take all the measures which that
object may demand. -,

MODEL LODGING HousEs.—The Bishop of Gloucester
and Bristol has just issued a pastoral to the inhabitants
of the latter city, urging them to use every exertion
for the establishment of model lodging houses.
PLuminc-ZINC.—The discovery that a thin sheet cf
lead, allied to one of zinc, acquired properties of endur.
auce which these distinct metals do not possess uncom.
blued, is giving rise to experiments in various latitudes,
and more or less impregnated atmospheres. in these
trials are included all the ordinary metals used for the
covering of domes, roofs, the floors of halls, etaircas q;,
e4c. , and the comparison appears to be singularly is
favour of the plumbic-zinc. Upson the conviction of
these experiments others of high chemical considerati(
are to be entered into, and the conclusions will be pub.
lished by the discoverers, Messrs. Morwood and Rogers,
of the Steel-yard, London, who, although commercially,
cannot be more earnestly interested than the scientific
world in the results adduced.

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