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

SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER H. 1864.

hearsay and vague rumour, while Prince MENsCHI-
KOFF narrates the details with a particularity that
entitles him to a certain degree of credence, more
especially as he has been, on several former oc-
casions, proved to have been tolerably accurate as
to the main features of the different events.
There are also a variety of other rumours, but for
the present we shall only look to those which may
be regarded as official.

It is apparently impossible to reconcile the de-
spatches of General CANROBERT and Prince
MENSCHIBOFF. These come from persons on the
spot, who had abundant means of ascertaining the
facts, and who were bound to tell, not merely the
truth, but the whole truth. In a case of such
gravity the suppressio Teri would be just as
bad as the suggestio falsi ; and concealment,
with the manifest intention of deceiving
the people, and inducing them to arrive at errone-
ous conclusions, would be just as bad as the pro-
mulgation of a wilful and deliberate falsehood.
Now we cannot for a moment suppose that Gene-
ral CA,I4iILOBERT would be guilty of such mendacity.
He has displayed too many high and sterling
qualities to induce us to credit on anything short
of the most decisive and unequivocal testimony a
charge so serious. We are bound to give him
credit for candour and honour ; and the claim
is the more urgent, inasmuch as he has never yet
attempted to varnish matters, or to depict the ex-
isting state of affairs too much coleur de rose.
We yesterday gave the despatch of the French
General, but as so much may depend on the
ipsissima verba, we here repeat it. It is of the fol-
lowing tenour

" The siege works continue. On the 25th the
Russian army showed itself on the plains of Bala-
klava ; there had been no serious engagement, but
the English cavalry had sustained some loss, owing
to a charge pushed too far against the enemy.
On the 26th, 5,000 men of the garrison made
a sortie against the left wing of the English.
This attack was repulsed, and the enemy thrown
back into the place with considerable loss."

Now the attack of 30,000 men, or even of
half the number, could not be spoken of in these
terms—more especially if they had taken posses-
sesion of sundry redoubts, and held even two of
them, from whence they could greatly annoy the
lines of the Allied Forces, and.impede the commu-
nications with the base of operations from whence
all the supplies of provision and ammunition
should be drawn. Nor would a loss of 400 or
500 men in killed and wounded have been spoken
of in such terms. To judge from the tone of the
French General it was a mere Russian demonstra-
tion followed by a slight skirmish, which could not
be termed a serious engagement, and which left
no results worth speaking of. He also speaks of
the sortie of the 26th as having been made by
5,000 of the garrison, and declares that it " was
repulsed, and the enemy driven back with consi-
derable loss."

Now Prince MENSCHIBOFF makes a regular
pitched battle of the affair of the 25th, in which
a most important triumph was achieved. He says:
" Our offensive operations against the besiegers
began to-day, and were crowned with success."
This is a grandiloquent commencement, be-
speaking the Imperial attention to the sub-
sequent events. He narrates, in the tone of a
victorious General, the arrangements made, and
the brilliant manner in which they were carried
into practical execution—how four redoubts, in
which were captured eleven pieces of cannon,
were still in their possession. (It will be recol-
lected that this despatch purports to have been
written on the evening of the 25th.) He also
declares that the principal redoubt of the enemy,
which was defended by Turks, was carried by as-
sault by the Azoff Regiment of Infantry, and then
adds, " The English Cavalry also opposed our de-
tachment, under the command of Lord CARDIGAN.
It charged with extraordinary impetuosity the bri-
gade of Hussars of the 6th division of Cavalry,
but, taken in flank by four squadrons of the com-
bined regiment of Lancers of the reserve, and
thrown back on the cross fire of the guns of the
12th and 16th infantry divisions, which fired
grape, the enemy suffered considerable loss. At
the same moment that it attacked our Hussars the
English cavalry also charged .at full gallop the
heavy guns of the Don battery, No. 3, where
some artillerymen were sabred."
From this it will be found that MENSCIIIKOFF
does not in any way allude to a conflict with the
English infantry or the French troops. He would
have it implied that there was such a contest, but
does not expressly mention it. He also speaks of
his own losses in the following manner :—" Our
loss in infantry does not exceed 300 killed and
wounded. The loss of the cavalry and artillery is
notyet known, even by approximation." But when
speaking of the English loss, only alludes to that of
the English cavalry, which, it is believed, amounts to
500 men. From this statement we may readily
conceive that the affair has been greatly mag-
nified, not only by the Russian General, but by
the captain who gathered the accounts for Lord
STRATFORD, and. that General CANROBERT is not
so far wrong as might be imagined on
the first cursory perusal of the other accounts.
A view that is materially strengthened by the
silence of Lord RAGLAN, who must have forwarded
some communication if the affair were so serious
as had been represented. We must, therefore,
beg our friends not to be disheartened, or to suffer
their spirits to be depressed by the gloomy ac-
counts in circulation, but hopefully and patiently
to abide the result of the authentic intelligence,
which cannot much longer be deferred.

So, then, the boasted Austrian co-operation in
the Principalities has c•me to this, security for
Bessarabia against the Allies, the consequent
liberation of reinforcements from that province
to the Crimea, with the further consequence of
harder work and heavier sacrifices for our troops
before Sebastopol t Even the Times is now
obliged to take up the very position occupied by
The Sun from the hour that disgraceful move-
ment was encouraged by our Government, and
lauded by our great compeer as the perfection of
diploniacy. Even the Times now laments over
the transference to the unfortunate provinces of
"the same obtuse and unrelenting despotism as
saddens the plains of Lombardy, or the marshes
of Venice," and admits that Austria has attempted
to act the sovereign where she came as an
Ally. Probably, however, Austrian despotism
might have passed unnoticed but for Austrian
military villanies. What language of execration
can suit the cool selfishness, and the base injury
inflicted on the Allies by the following conduct ?
Austria, through the infatu. Ited counsels of Eng-
land, is admitted by the SULT:AN into the provinces ;
she enters only as fast as the SULTAN'S troops
clear them for her ; she fires not a gun, draws not

to congratulate the Allies on the victory and. " its
consequences I" Austria will unblushingly :pro-
claim herself the bosom friend of the supposed
omnipotent victors. Nor was that all. In an
official paper, lauded to the skies by the Anglo-
Austrian press—the same which is now compplled:
to denounce her—she tells Prussia that she can-
not interfere with the operations of the Allies in
the provinces they suffered her to enter. Of
course not ; they did not admit her there
to impede them. But mark the consist-
ency in baseness of this degraded Power.
When she was entering the provinces the retreat-
ing Russians faced about a little, and the craven
Generals of Austria halted immediately. It turned
out after the congratulations that the Allies in-
stead of taking Sebastopol by a coup de main, at
the North or South, have some long and hard
work before them. Immediately Austria quakes
before Russia, eats her words about not interfer-
ing with the Allies, and hinders OMER PACHA
from making any movement on Bessarabia ! The
movement is essential to the plans of the Allies ;
the prevention of succour for Sebastopol depends
greatly upon it ; yet she coolly alleges that it will
embarrass her with Russia, if the latter should
think it necessary for strategic reasons to re-
enter the provinces. The• brave congratulator
on the Alma victory and its consequences, the bold
respondent io Prussian demands, quivers like an
aspen at the thought of Russian bayonets, and
sends them to shed the blood of the Allies lest
they should spill a drop of hers.
Now, really, will our Cabinet, and that of
LOMB NAPOLEON, endure such insufferable, such
revolting assumption and meanness any longer ?
Who and what are the perjured recreant Haps-
burgs that they should be parleyed with any
longer ? What does any country in Europe owe
to the last dregs of a long race of superstitious
and cruel tyrants that they should be permitted
thus to play fast and loose with all their en-
gagements, and with the very lives of our gallant
soldiers? Unpardonable, indeed, was the blunder
of substituting HESS for OMER PACHA at Bucha-
rest. But are France and England afraid of him
there ? Let him not deceive himself. Let his
master be informed—if a drop of English blood
still flows in the veins of our aristocratic governors
—that this game will be tolerated no longer ;
that we mean to use the provinces as Turkish
soil ; that we pin Austria to her original pro-
fessions, and to her language to Prussia, and that
we would sooner see all Europe in flames—all
Lombardy, Hungary, and Poland rising together
—than permit one Russian soldier more in the
Crimea, in consequence of her treachery and
disloyalty. Is she, forsooth, to lie permitted
to spare her tailor-made soldiers, the well-
drubbed survivors of Hungarian bravery, and the
saved by Russian intervention in 1848 ; and are
we to be so profuse of the lives of ours ? Why, if
OMER PACHA is not to keep the Russians from the
Crimea, why did not Austria advise him to go and
fight them there while she took the benefit of his
battles on the Danube ?

If this last insult be endured by the Western
Powers, however, let the ignominy be transferred
.
to the right backs. Let Austria have the repu-
tation of knowing but tee well the stuff we are
made of, and bid us " hang a calf-skin on our re-
creant limbs"—she having worn It long
enough. Are not Turkey and we iden-
tified ? Is not a restriction put on her move-
ments a restriction put upon ours ? And are
we, then, to suppose that Lord RAGLAN and
General CANROBERT would permit these feather-
bed Generals in white to bid them let Ismail alone
if they were on the Danube and OALHIt PACHA. in
the Crimea ? It is even known that Lord RAGLAN
had urged the Turkish General to give the Rus-
sians ample work in Bessarabia, and therefore this
Austrian insult is hardly less than a direct one.
We will assume, however, that " timid counsels"
cannot so prevail in our Cabinet as to respect
Austrian cowardice at the cost of our soldiers' lives.
We will believe rather that a special messenger is
on the road to Vienna, Bucharest, and the Danube
to inform Austria, her generals and the Turkish
generals, that England will not tolerate such
assumption, such perfidious and dastard selfish-
ness, one hour longer. If not, the time of Par-
liament's meeting is near at hand, and there aro
Lords and Commons who will know how to vin-
dicate the respect due to ourselves and our Ally,
and to make Europe aware that English Cabinets
cannot sower before such a Government as Aus-
tria but at their peril. As to Austria herself—
detested by her oppressed subjects, detested by
Russia, detested by France and England—her
ultimate fate is utter dismemberment, and con-
traction to her own little hereditary states.

GUN-BOATS VERSUS THREE-DECKERS.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE SUN.

Six,—The power of a ship of war, whether she be
under sail or steam, lies in the size and number of the
gun she carries. As half her guns are on one aide, and
half on the other, and as she can use the guns on one
side only at a time, her real power is thereby reduced to
half the number of her guns ; she must tack in order to
bring the other half in action, and, while so doing, she
is exposed, and comparatively defenceless. The ques-
tion, therefore, naturally arises whether 100 guns may
not be more effectually employed than by placing them
in one ship of such enormous dimensions and draught of
water that it cannot approach a shore either to defend
or attack it.

A gun-boat carrying as heavy metal as a ship , of 100
guns is a one-gun ship of the line ; and 100 such boats
would blow any 100-gun ship out of the water, as they
would be able to bring the whole of their guns to bear
at once.

This appears to be a fair stateineat of the case be-
tween ships of war and gunboats ; but men, unfortu-
nately, are often led away by the apparent greatness,
not by the justness of an idea.

A number of other advantages might be enumerated
in favour of gunboats over ships of war, such as the
greatest facilities for constructing and repairing them,
the possibility of rendering their bows almost shot-proof,
and of thus protecting the whole of their crews, except
the steersman from the enemy's fire—but I will not
now dwell upon them. The cost is, comparatively, of
no importance in a question where the real effective-
ness of our means of attack or defence by sea is con-
cerned. _

In a maritime State, such as that of Great Britain,
the matter is of vital importance, and deserves the at-
tentive consideration of the Government.—l am, sir,

your obedient servant,

Nov. 10.

THE PAIXHANS MORTARS.

W. C.

When Belgium separated from Holland, in 1830,
General Paixhaus, of the French artillery, was sent to
assist the Belgians in the siege of Antwerp. In company
with General Busen, he reconnoitred the citadel, and
found it to be a place of extraordinary strength, Every
point was well sheltered from the effects of shells, and
there was moreover a big ditch, which could be filled
with water from the sea.
The French general proposed then to King Leopold
to shorten the siege by means of a mortar, of Which the
shells would weigh 1,000 lbs., and contain each 100 lbs.
of powder. This, it was thought, would with a few
blows decide the struggle, and cut short the pains and
miseries of a protracted siege. The proposal was be-
lieved to be inhuman, and it was not until after 50,000
atti ca
yLn
itoehngaetbi
thellws
aastnd shells
monster
rmosutgehr had been
brought out.
a spent
charcoalin vainca st
iunpgo the
inn
a d e
Nine shells were fired—huge flying mines—one of
Twowlii dachbyus arstfti
en r the
the a rr,s:tin shedelirchLds fired
descended in
Dutchthe eitasduerl:
rendered.

a sabre, loses not a soldier, it soldiers such cowards Surely, if such a mortar could be cast, and used with
ought to be called. She ro/Anises to hold the pro-
these tremendous results in 1830, the progress of science
P
and engineering should enable us in 1854 to produce
vinces for the SULTAN, and insults all his superior
thissuffer
only individual mortar ?
officers, civil and military. 'What the poor provin-
Our indefatigable enemy is said to be even now actively
come.thenT.he But
vie_ e n gag ed i n s trte ndgttheeon i nugia
that
the awl reeaadrye
tiom pmreagknoaanotherabler
-
andtres s o
grefgauilierde
atostrreodnugceer
demonstrationfes ain the Baltic next spring—the finest fleet
Alma. was gain. ed, and it was cur- that ever sailed from our shores a
tent at Vienna, as els( :where, that still
arojectinlenrof the description description above
more splendid "consequence a" had followed ; the
poltroon sends straightwayto force
mentioned neat
Cronstadt this year—we shallcertainly
andwouldbe foundp an extremely useful auxiliary
the French Emperor in the destruction of this important stronghold.