The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-16 00:00:00

:///,
' /
/

THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE RUS.
SIANS AND THE ALLIES.

.
There is a great simplicity in the struggle be-
tween the Russians and Allies. It is purely a ques-
tion of supply. Everything else appears to be
known, proved, indisputable, and capable of the
exactest appreciation. We may safely assume that
the Allies will hold their ground in the peninsula
they have occupied as long as theycan muster even
One division of their armies ; that they will stand
any amount of charges as long as they can form a
line two deep ; that they will turn out night and
day, and take their turns at the trenches, so long
as the blood flows in their veins ; that as long as
it will answer any purpose of offence or defence
they will continue to batter the walls and earth-
works before their ; and that whenever they have
a fair chance they will rush to the assault of the
city. They surpass the enemy in courage, in stub-
bornness, and in skill, and are not inferior even in
hardihood ; otherwise they would not have
triumphed on every occasion, while acting on the
offensive or on the defensive. On the part of the
Russians it may equally be assumed that they will
attempt to waste and weary out the Allies by in-
cessant attacks, by sorties, by diversions, and by
surprises ; that they will not spare their men, and
that their men will do their duty quite as well as
Russians have usually done it before. As to the
question of skill and strategy, it would be very un-
just to the Allies to doubt their equality, for if
they have made mistakes, so also have the enemy,
and if, we have occasionally lost more men than we
ought to have done, still we have uniformly been
conquerors. When all-these elements of the ques-
tion are thus known, and, so to speak, fixed quan-
ties in the calculation, there only remains one
element undetermined, and that is the numbers
of men and quantities of material we can seve-
rally bring t 3 the point of collision. That point
seems almost intended by nature for some such
mighty struggle. It is, towards the Mediterranean,
that is virtually to the whole world, the most -
southern and most accessible point of the great
Russian empire. It is the salient angle of a whole
continent, occupied by serfs and nomadic tribes,
under an Asiatic despotism. But it is washed and
almost surrounded by a sea which belongs to the
great ocean that surrounds the whole world. From
the coast of Cape Cherson you may walk on to
Siberia ; once on the water before it,. you may sail
to every shore, ocean, bay, or navigable stream.
The Russians are masters of the continent,—we of
the sea • and the only question is, which can bring
up supplies to the battle-field the quickest—the
Russians with their continent, or we with the sea.
If anybody doubts this view of the question, or
thinks it inapplicable, he has only to consider the
successive news flashing across the continent almost
day after day. It is true we are only hearing, as
it were, the boom of the distant guns, and are still
left in suspense as to the real character and exact
results of the fearful conflicts of the sth, and again,
as it now appears, on the 11th. In both cases we
are told that the loss of the Russians was very great,
and that ours was only less ; while it is thought a
matter of congratulation that the Allies remained
masters of the field. We may suppose--and it is
neither an improbable nor an agreeable supposition
—that the loss of the two sides was in much the
same ratio as at the battle of the Alma—that is,
two to one in our favour. At this rate, in about a
week we should lose five thousand to ten thousand
of the enemy, and in two months' time should
achieve the destruction of 80,000 Russians, at the
cost of the whole Allied army. There is nothing at
all out of the way in this calculation, when it is con-
sidered that we have to throw into our losses the
constant drain by sickness. As a matter of fact
this is, and always has been, the Russian mode of
warfare. That Power, mancipiis locuples, egen
ccris, always has been lavish of life, and ready to
pay two of its own for one of the foe. The artil-
lerymen who turned their guns on the ineiee of
British and Russian cavalry on the 25th acted en
the customary calculation that a Russian dragoon
counted for nothing when there was an opportun-
ity of destroying a British one. 'Whenever, then,
the enemy can attack us with a reasonable hope of
losing only two to our one, we may depend upon it
that he will, and that the Emperor will hail it as
a victory over us. Ho will not grudge two Boro-
dinos to destroy the two invading armies. When
such is the calculation evidently acted upon, and
the result answers to it, what is it but a question.
of supply ? All things considered, we really can-
not expect to continue always killing and wound-
ing two Russians to our one ; at least, we cannot
hope to do more than this ; we may do less. But,
at all events, if the contest goes on at its present
rate, our forces now in the Crimea will be destroyed
somewhere about New Year's-day, and we shall
have the doubtful satisfaction of knowing that the
Russians have lost twice as many, but are at last
"masters of the field."

This would be a very gloomy prospect, and we
should feel much as we did when we heard of the
rising at Cabal, but for the all-important circum-
stance mentioned above—viz., that if the Rus-
sians are masters of the continent, we are of the
sea. In fact, we arc to all practical purposes
nearer the seat of war than the Russians, as
we can get up our supplies to it in less time
from any barracks in these islands than the
Russians can even from Odessa. From the southern
coast of France and from Algeria the distance is
much less still ; and, with the aid of the vast
steamers at our command, in spite of the bad
weather that may now be expected, we can get any
quantity of men and material up to the war faster
than the drain we have reckoned on. If we do
this, we entertain no doubt of the result, for the
enemy are in want not only of men—coming up
very slowly, and brought into action before they
have recovered from the fatigue of a rapid march
—but even of food, and still more of ammunition.
They must bring everything overland, and when
we find the seven miles from Balaklava to the bat-
teries no small part of our labour, we may be sure
the Russians find it no easy work to transport
heavy material for several hundred miles. The
" fruitless sea," as Homer calls it, is not so barren
as land, when it comes to supply war. We may do
just what we please ; we might put every regiment
in the service on the shores of the Crimea by the
16th of next month, and every needful supply.
We might arrange with France for any portion of
her large army, and laud it on Cape Cherson by
Christmas at the latest. We may, if we please.
It is, then, our pleasure to do so, short of this,
whatever is necessary to supply the constant drain?
That is what we have to ask ourselves, and what
everybody is mentally asking of the War Minister.
Is he meeting this drain ? Is he keeping the British
army at the very low standard which from the first
was thought only just sufficient for this enterprise?
Reinforcements have probably arrived by this
time, and more are on their way. The Sinai brings
news of about 5,000 new French troops that would
doubtless be in time for the battle on the 11th. We
are now sending out, they say near 7,00 G, and are
assisting the French with steamers and provisions for
the conveyance of their troops. They are at work, it
is said, night and day in the Tower, sending out
clothing and other material. But the question to
be kept steadily in view is simply this,—Are we
sending out supplies adequate to the drain that we
know to be going on ? If we are, nobody need be
under any apprehension that the Allies will at
least stand their ground in the very excellent posi-
tion they now occupy. If we are not,—if we are
allowing them to be drained at the rate of about
a thousand a day by a succession of costly victories,allelea
then we are throwing away all the
exertions of this year, and no small partu
wecan divine,
unless it be to save a little labour in letter-writing
_
unparalleled
na-
tional prestige, for no purpose that e
nnies.
and accounts or the balance iu the Exchequer.—

Count Henckel von Donnorsmark, councillor to the
He is said to be the bearer of despatch?' containing pro-
-cooffinficed,onwctioct thhaesplaerdt
to
of
thean ems.a
Prussian Legation at London, will return to his post.
positions or communications from this Government to
Lord Clarendon.
It is rumoured that the Berlin police has succeeded in
rest of this person, and of another individual
ateblergearcallphqfc
stock-broking speculations. engaged in
rieye discoveringe
NI. de Pulkammer, chief president, and M ii„, xf•A,,l
flycht, presidial councillor of the Grand ---11.
have received, the one the third Duchy of Posen,
and the other the second of St class of St. Stanislas,
Empe-
ror of Russia. .Anne, from the

MIXED MARRIAGES IN RUSK). —A. letter from Bor•
lin, in the Constitutionnel, says
sures destined to bring. all
Church may
pale of the Russo-Oriental Church marAymmbigeotiasmg
in
ev,iritsuheeenfoewfohritchh anyto wienthtthieoinnmetiehase-
recent ukase,
a mixed marriag ilrerson, the issue of
g ded as be.
longing to the Greek Church. Theecerleebarration of all
mixed marriages, in which one of the parties belongs to
the Greek Church, comes under the duties of the Rus-
sian clergy. All natural children, to whatever confes-
sion the mother may belong, as well as all foundlings,
must be inscribed in the communion of the Greek Church.
Every majorat in Poland, and in the provinces formerly
connected w:rth that kingdom, cannot come into the
possession of the lawful heirs except they belong to the
Russo-Oriental Church. Of late years adhesion to that
church has been regarded as the sine qua non condition
of the creation of any majorat, and the Emperor only
made one exception to this fanatical rule in favour of
General Count Rudiger. At the time of the publication
of the ukase above alluded to, the general protested
against its consequences, and refused to see his children
• thee u all his
amffeemrebdertsoerfetshigen his majorat, and to gi p Greek Church. He at the game tune
offices. Thanks to this energetic resolution, the general
gained his point for the moment ; but he has since con.
iidered it prudent to obtain permission fro the Fiat
peror to sell his estates