The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-07 00:00:00

by an enterprise as daring and unparalleled as thai:
which has suddenly given the English people a park:
and a palace, and, in so doing, has called up Fairy-,
land from among the green woods and meadows
of Sydenham, as at the beck of the wand of some
potent necromancer.

THE SIEGE OF SILISTRIA.

The Russian loss in the last assault on Silistria
is estimated at 3,000 men ; and it would seem that,
at the date of the latest accounts, further opera-
tions had been suspended. The governor of the
fortress, Mussa Pacha, is not only a resolute sol-
dier, but a skilful artillery officer, while several
Prussian and English engineers are giving their
assistance in the defence; and, on the whole, there
is reason to hope that the siege may eventually be
raised or abandoned. The timely despatch of a
large body of French and English troops to the aid
of Omer Pacha, in compliance with his urgent so-
licitations, has, to a great extent, removed the un-
favourable impression which had been produced by
the apocryphal statement that the allied generals
had determined on abandoning the Danubian for-
tresses to their fate. The gross breach of duty
which would have been involved in the publication
of the plan of the campaign sufficiently proved
that neither Lord Raglan nor Marshal St. Arnaud
could have allowed their intentions to transpire ;
and it was obvious that the alleged rumour was,
in fact, a suggestion closely connected with the
contemporaneous report that Russia would abstain
from advancing on the Balkan. There is never
much advantage in dilettante discussions on the
strategic possibilities of the war ; but it was neces-
sary to remark that the admitted defensibility of
the mountain passes by no means proved the expe-
diency of abandoning the plains, with their for-
ttresses, to au inferior enemy. The recommenda-
tion that Prince Paskiewitch should be allowed to
conquer and retain Bulgaria proceeded from a
quarter in which hostility to Russia is a feeling
of
very recent growth.—Morstny Chronicle.
Th

le regular investment of Silistria appears to
me
30th,enced tohneroerfsohreo,rttlhyebetwfoerlfeltdae IyBtoht
ohf mave
abey ;enoncotinh
the siege would have been attained, and on that
day, if our intelligence prove correct, the Russians~
had met with a check which would oblige them to
do most of their preparatory work over again. All
this favours the hope that the fortress may be able
to hold out until a junction has been effected by
the French and English troops, and the Turkish
forces under Omer Pacha, concentrated in front of
Schumla. It will then be seen whether the Rus-
sian commanders have sufficient confidence in their
soldiers to accept the battle which the generals of
the allies may be ready to offer them. To decline
the contest; and to raise the siege of Silistria,
would have as bad an effect for the Russian arms
as a defeat.
It will be rather a remarkable coincidence if the
first great battle in the present war should take
place in front of Silistria. That fortress is situated
in a commanding position, on the right bank of the
Danube, midway between the points where two
rather considerable Bulgarian streams join its waters.
Eight or nine miles above Silistria, the Sara or
Driste falls into the Danube ; and as many miles
below the fortress the stream which flows through
the Tabani valley mingles with the river. The for-
mer of these affluents has its source in the vicinity
of Schumla ; the latter in the vicinity of Pravady.
For about twenty miles inland kora Silistria the.
courses of the streams are nearly parallel—the dia.
tance between them averaging from 16 to 20 miles.
Both flow through deep and narrow valleys ; the
ground between them is considerably elevated
above the river, gently undulating, and in parts
intersected by ravines. Further to the south are
the elevations of the mountains among whicb.
Shumla and Pravada are situated. Shumla, Pra-
vady, and Varna are nearly in a straight line, ex-
tending from west to east ; Shumla is about twenty
miles from Pravady, and Pravady about the same
distance from Varna. There are high-roads—such
as are found in European Turkey—from Shumla
and Pravada to Silistria. The former keeps the
high ground between the two streams we bare
named throughout, and is about sixty-five or
seventy miles in length ; the latter is ninety
miles, keeps the high ground for the first two-
thirds of the distance, and then descends into the
Tabani valley. Taking all these circumstances into
consideration, it seems probable that, in the event of
the Russians acceptinga battle in front of Silistria in
preference to re-crossing the Danube and abandon-
ing the siege, the fight will take place on the elevated
plain, south of the fortress, between the Sara and
the Tabani valley, on both sides of the high-road
from Shumla to Silistria. In this case the right
wing of the allies and the left wing of the Russians.
will confront each other somewhere in the neigh-
bourhood of Kainardji. It will have the aspect of
a providential arrangement if the cobweb meshes,
which the poisonous spider diplomacy of Russia
weaved over the Ottonxin empire in the hours of
its uneasy slumber, are broken and scattered to
the winds by the valour of the allied troops on the
very spot where they were insidiously spun.—
Daily ews.