The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-04 00:00:00

THE NEWS FROM T.UE CRIMEA.

The Pays of yesterday morning „-has Fine 4eful re-
marks on the private telegraphic despatches which reach
us from St. Petersburg, and which, notwithstanding the
evident falsehood or exaggeration of the news they oon-
tain, produce, in the absence of official accounts from
the allied armies in the Crimea, occasionally a certain
amount of despondency. When the article of the Pays
was written, the means of the writer to show- how little
credit was due to the Russian accounts were more
limited than they would have been if the accounts pub-
lished yesterday in the Moniteur had been before him.
A singular fact has struck the at-
The Pays says :--«
tentien of every one since the commencement of the
siege of Sebastopol, or rather since the landing of the
allies in the Crimea, and that is, whilst our generals-in-
chief, disdaining charlatanism and boasting, send but
very few reports to their government, either written the
day after a victory, or pointing out some positive results,
Europe has been inundated every day with Russian
despatches, direct from St. Petersburg, and the official
source of which was a secret to no one. This search after
publicity on the part ofthe Czar caused
. the more surprise
as hitherto all his military opers.ons have been kept per.
lectly secret. It is well known that mystery is one of this
main springs of the policy of illus.ion and falsehood of the
Russian Government. This rnysteryallows it to act at will
on the imagination of its people, and at the same tine to
hide from Europe the real mi,eries and desolations of its
apparent grandeur. The best-inforn.,ed writers have
never been able to arrive at the truth Its to the loss in
men and money which its conquests have cost it. Its
whole history is a piece of stage acting, wi:ere the parts
are distributed beforehand for the greatest glory of the
Russian flag, and which is carefully kept from the ex-
aniination o the foreign press, for fear of seeing itself at
every moment convicted of falsehood and bad faith. It
was, therefore, very extraordinary that on the occasion
of the present war, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg
should suddenly depart from all its tradition to publish
teheunderstand,ofour
every day a bulletin from Prince Menschikoff. People
s
in to
wnow
h tbheeg
gbyenceorrealps, thataring fresh manmuvre to disturb the public mind, and create
tihtese wasbulletinsonlya
uneasiness as, to the consequences of the war. The Go-
vernment of the Czar evidently does not public make the
confidential and detailed reports of its genera in 1-':c hief.
What it requires to act on public ' opinion are special de-
spatches drawn up in vague terms, which, though they
may be contradicted by information from the Crime:. will at least have produced a certain emotion in the pub-
lic mind, particularly in Germany, and amidst the diplo-
matic intrigues which are still carried on in the Confede-
ration. The flagrant bad faith of this manoeuvre will
strike every eye by comparing the last despatches of
Prince Mensehikoff tramsmitted from St. Petersburg
with the contradictory ones which have arrived from
Varna, and which come down to the 25th ult. At that
date, according to all the information, the bombardment
continued without interruption; the Quarantine Fort had
been silenced ; a first breach had been made, and the
general assault was imminent. According to Prince
Menschikoff, on the contrary, no advantage had been
gained by the allies, and nothing of importance had
taken place. To-day the same comedy continues almost
in the same terms, with a little more obscurity, and pro-
bably a little more falsehood, for we receive one after
another the three following despatches :—' Vienna, 31st
Oct., Evening.—A Russian despatch from Warsaw states
that the English entrenchments have been forced, their
cavalry dispersed, and their cannon dismounted.'--
Vienna, Ist inst., St. Petersburg, 31st ult.—The last
despatch, from Prince Menschikoff states that nothing
important had taken place up to the 27th. The first
despatch of yesterday wasalmost entirely false.'—'Berlin,
let. A fresh despatch from St. Petersburg, dated to-day,
confirms that from Kichineff, on the 20th. It adds, the en-
trenched camp taken from the enemy was atßalaklava. At
the same time a French battery was destroyed by flee
on the 26th before Sebastopol.' Thus, according to
Prince Menschikoff, Sebastopol on the 27th was still in
the same state ; the allies had not obtained any advan-
tage, and the guns of the Quarantine and south batte-
ries doubtless continued to reply vigorously to our fire.
On the other hand, the French had had a battery de-
stroyed, and the English their camp forced and their
guns dismounted. In the despatch of the 31st, how-
ever, this last advantage appears to have been gained
under the very walls of Sebastopol, by a very vigorous
sortie of the besieged ; whilst on the following day it
was only an isolated camp near Valaklava, and carried
perhaps by a coup de main without importance.
The despatch of the Ist inst., in order to reduce to
nothing all these exaggerations, avows that the one
of the previous 'day was almost entirely false. As
to the death of Admiral Nachircoff, the bombarder of
Sinope, as to the thousands of victims which encumbered
Sebastopol, the powder magazines blown up and the
town in ruins, not a word is said. It is only necessary
to oppose to these hypocritical recitals the following
despatches from Varna. (The Pays here gives the two
despatches from Varna published in the Monit eur.) The
German journals are also explicit on the progress of the
allied armies, and on the imminence of a definitive
result.' The attack of General Liprandi on the flank of
the English army is even called in question by the Press
of Vienna. This journal states, on the contrary, that
the fire of the besieged was weak, that the two powder
magazines have blown up, and that the .A.nglo.French
guns have caused immense damage to the town. These
evident successes certainly have not been obtained without
painful sacrifices. It is possible that an isolated battery
at Balaklava may have been carried by a coup de main
of General Liprandi, and that our ships may have
suffered in the attack on the forts which protect the
entrance of the roadsted, but the important fact, which
the Russian despatches designedly pass over in silence is
that we approach the object in view, that the operations
have gone on with mathematical precision, and that
Sebastopol, whatever may happen, will fall into our
hands. On that day Prince Menschikoff will probably
write to his Sovereign that nothing important has taken
place in the Crimea, and as his despatch will be known
24 hours before that of our Generals, the Russian agents
will have had 24 hours more to work on German hesi-
tations for the benefit of Moscovite invincibility."

PRINCE MICNSCHISOFF'S ACCOUNT OF
THE BATTLE OF ALMA.