The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-21 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEIMER 21, 1854.

"SI vii pacem, para helium." There are few
rules better established than the foregoing. A
constant state of preparation for war is unques-
tionably the best guarantee for permanent and.
lasting peace. It may be very wrong, but so it
is. Even the best-disposed nations are a little too
much disposed to encroach on the rights of others,
and to insist on concessions from weaker states,
which a conscientious and impartial arbitrator
would by no means feel disposed to award. This
reliance on " the strong arm" is the natural result
of the absence of any international tribunal, which
could decide all diplomatic differences, and pro-
nounce a decree that all " nations and languages"
should be compelled to respect. The establish-
meat of an universal tribunal of this description
was a pet crotchet of the Peace Society, but there
was one obstacle to the realisation of the Utopian
project, a formidable one, certainly; for it was that
the matter was wholly and absolutely impracti-
cable ab initio, and that no reasonable anticipation
could be entertained of carrying it out until the
revival of the Golden Age, when " the Lion
should lie down by the Lamb," and the dove
should bring up its progeny to nestle along with
the young eaglets.
The nearest attempt to such a tribunal is the
association of several powers to compel the observ-
ance
of equity by all others ; to protect the weak
against the strong, and to prevent unwarranted
aggressions. This is the cause in which the
Western Powers have engaged. They have nothing
to gain for themselves—no personal objects to
achieve as equivalents for the blood and treasure
that should necessarily be expended in the cause
of Justice. This is a Goo-like mission ; and those
who condemn the war, or say that France and
England had no right to interfere, might as well
censure the efforts of private individuals who
assisted to arrest a robber, a burglar, or a mur-
derer, because the violence had not been com-
mitted against themselves personally.
So much for the origin of the war, which has
been entered on from the purest motives—which
could not be avoided without indelible disgrace
and even danger to England. We say " danger,"
because if Russia had been permitted to proceed
unchecked in so reckless a course, we, or our chil-
dren should, ere many years had elapsed, have
been compelled to enter on a far more sanguinary
and exciting contest, in which our very existence
would be imperilled—the free institutions of the
country, the lives of our men, and the honour of
our women resting in the mile. Such a cause
required super-human exertions. We could only
reason with such a man as NICHOLAS by practical
demonstrations, by proving beyond the possibility
of doubt that we were ill earnest in our
determination to keep him within check, and that
We had the power of doing so, so as to render any
resistance on his part worse than useless.
Now on both these most important points we
have completely failed. The insane murmuring for
" Pea(*) per, peace," at any price or on any
condition, induced the AUTOCRAT to persevere,
supposing that his
"friend of forty years' stand-
ing" Was like the blushing maid who, whis-
pering--

" I will ne'er consent—consented ;"
who, making a coy show
of resistance, sufficient
to save his credit, would eventually have allowed
him to take his own Way, and do just as he
thought proper. Nor were our demonstrations
so formidable or decisive as to induce him to
modify or alter these views. The Allied. Fleet,
the undisputed command of tli,
which had
Euxine, lay idly floating in the 805p177:,,;17:
Russia.a vessels were bearing reinforcements to
the Coast of Asia, or—shameful to narrate—per-
petra Ling the massacre at Sinope. When actually
engaged—for instance in the bombardment of
Odessa—our Admiral apologised for so avenging
a gross and unwarrantable insult to the British
Flag—gas well as a deliberate violation of all the
laws of nations.

Nor did we, in the first instance, display much
greater energy with our land expedition. The
forces originally placed under Lord RAGLAN'S
command, from the sailing of the first detach-

ment until the end of June, consisted of only 21
battalions of the line, 3 battalions of the Guards,
and of the Rifle Brigade, being in all about 25
battalions of about 800 rank and file, and amount-
ing, therefore, in round numbers, to 20,000 men.
We are told by the ABERDEEN organ that the
primary object of the expedition was the defence
of Constantinople against the apprehended advance
of the Russian army, if Prince GORTSCHAKOFF
succeeded in defeating the Turks and forcing the
strong places on the Danube. Hence the occupa-
tion by our troops first of Gallipoli, then of Scu-
tari, and lastly of Varna.
There they were suffered to remain idle and
inactive, until their ranks were more than deci-
mated by disease, and the meu themselves dis-
gusted by their compulsory sloth. Our Allies
were attacked on the line of the Danube. OMER
PACIIA displayed wonderful skill in resisting the
continued onslaughts, but not a British trigger was
despatched to his assistance—not a bayonet
glistened in the sun—while moving against the
invading troops. Silistria was beleaguered. It
might have fallen without English national aid.
None, save BUTLER, NASMYTH, and a few gallant
men who lent their individual assistance, made the
slightest exertion to save that important fortress.
The voice of public opinion which forced its way
into:the recesses of Downing-street, combined with
the failure of the Russian army before Silistria
and the retreat of PASKIEWITCH, changed the
character of the war. We proceeded from defen-
sive to offensive operations. The expedition to
the Crimea became the grand object of the cam-
paign. Throughout the summer, therefore, in-
creased reinforcements continued to join the Bri-
tish army. The detachments sent out from this
country amounted to about 3,)700 rank and file,
and the six battalions added since June, which
composed Sir GEORGE CATHCART'S division, toge-
ther with another battalion of the Rifle Brigade,
consisted of 5,600 men.

Adding these to the orignal 20,000 infantry,
there were (including cavalry and artillery) about
30,000 English troops landed in the Crimes ; of
whom about 26,000 disembarked at Old Fort,
while from four to five thousand subsequently
joined them—not in time, certainly, to partici-
pate in the glories of Alma, but to recruit the
ranks and supply the places of those who had
perished on the field, or were conveyed to Scutari
insearch of health. Notwithstanding these valuable
additions, the available troops fit for duty were
reduced before the battle of Sebastopol to less
than 16,000 fighting men, with which number
we withstood the onslaught of nearly 60,000
Russians, and gained a most glorious and decisive
but sanguinary victory, in which nearly 2,500 of
our men were placed hors de combat—namely,
38 officers (including three Generals) and 442
men killed, and 96 officers (including five Gene-
rals) and 1,763 men wounded. The following
day additional reinforcements arrived—the 46th
and other British regiments or detach-
ments of regiments joined the troops ; and we
hear the British were receiving reinforce-
ments to the extent of about one thousand
men per diem. We also know that within
the last few weeks the 68th Regiment has been
despatched from Gallipoli, the 62d from Malta,
and the 97th from the Piraeus, forming a further
addition of 2,400 men. These troops had not
joined Lord RAGLAN'S army at the date of our last
letters, but have doubtless since reached the
Crimea.

We also learn by the Telemaque, which left
Constantinople on the 10th, and arrived. at Mar-
seilles yesterday, that the Napoleon had sailed
from the Bosphorus for Balaklava on the 7th with
2,000, and the San 6, on the same day, with 1,100
troops. From England also, within the last
ten days, six powerful steam transports, or
men of war, carrying on an average 600
rank and file each, have been despatched to
the Crimea ; and it may be anticipated that
they will laud 3,500 men at Rilaklava about
the beginning of December. At the same time,
the 34th and 71st Regiments will proceed from
Corfu, the 17th and 89th Regiments from Gib-
raltar, and the 90th from Dublin. These five
battalions are at their full strength of 850 rank
and file, and consequently form an additional
body of 4,250 men. The reinforcements which
will reach the British army in about three weeks
from the present time, independently of those
previously sent, and which must by this time
have arrived, may be rated therefore in round
numbers at 7,730 rank and file, who have been
prepared and despatched on active service in this
present month of November.

There have thus altogether been 19,000 men
added to the original body ; so we find that the
rank and file of the British infantry already landed
in the East, or now on its way to the Crimea,
amounts in all to 39,000 men, exclusive of
officers, non-commissioned officers, and musicians,
or the artillery and cavalry divisions of the army.
But how many of these have fallen in the field
or perished less gloriously from over-fatigue,
exposure, or disease ? We must, however, admit
that even the full number, if all were available,
would be below what might be expected from the
British Empire. France, fully aroused, is sending
an army nearly equal to that which she for-
merly despatched; she is only awaiting the steam-
transports which we can supply. Even so early
as the sth instant, 5,000 French troops had left
Constantinople for the scene of war, and ten times
the number will doubtless follow. We have
then only to repeat the demand for "Rein-
forcements, reinforcements, reinforcements !" It
is true that our Ministers have at length shown
themselves alive to the magnitude of the crisis—
that they are now recruiting at the rate of 1,000
per week. This, great as it is, should be in-
creased, so that we might render justice to our
gallant fellows, and worthily fulfil the mission in
which, in conjunction with our faithful ally, we
have engaged.

In one point of view we do not regret that
Sebastopol has proved no easy conquest. It has
put England to the proof, and she will bear it.
Hitherto there has been little to try what we at
home are made of. But for the conflict between
England and her Prime Minister, other nations
might have supposed we preferred ignnominious,
unrighteous, and unstatesman-like peace to the most
righteous and necessary war. The diplomatic
waltzing of our Government with the Russo-
German Powers at Vienna, and the hold-back
style in which troops and ships were worked for
the East, tested, however, the country a little ; it
became too clear for our Cabinet to miss it, that
fight they must. Again, the universal pleasure
when, late as it was, the expedition actually sailed
for the Crimea, showed the wishes of the country
unmistakeably. None could doubt that the war
witl Russiae then
w'li"report of the Tartar," too easily beliov'd,
almost turned the brains of all genuine Europeans
with ecstasy, everything had been successful or
hopeful ; the Turks had inflicted the severest
disgrace on the Russian arms ever experienced by
a modern army ; the expedition had been a. mar-
vel of good management and success ; the victory
of the Alma had displayed the incalculable supe-
riority of armed freemen over armed serfs ; and

the " masterly flank movement" ou Rtlaklava
followed, being hardly inferior to another victory
in its success and value. Now, however, began
the demand on English patience ; while the gene-
rality were expecting, in a few days at most, to
hear of the sudden fall of the robber hold, prudence
counselled more deliberate and careful measures.
It seemed desirable to spare our soldiers' lives,
and to substitute the slower and surer process of
beginning with long balls for the murderous losses
attendant on an immediate assault. It would now
appear, could we but have known it before, that
an assault, while the terrors of the Alma were
fresh in Russian minds, and before reinforcements
could arrive, might have been the least-costly
method, and might have saved lives since sacri-
ficed to disease, and to gaining fresh victories
over Austrian "reinforcements from the Danube."
Russian earthworks equal to our own, provided
with guns as powerful, and with ample supplies
of others to replace the dismounted ones, with
ammunition also in vast abundance, have combin-
ed, with other circumstances, to delay the final at-
tack ; while the very losses attendant ou victory,
and the augmentation of MENSCHIKOFF'S forces, by
the reinforcements liberated for that purpose by
Austria, make an imperative demand, not only
on our patience, but on our resources also.
Now, then, is come the time for our country
to show what sort of stuff it is made of.
Now, to insure success, to spare the lives
of our noble and gallant soldiers, to out-
number sufficiently the enemy in the Crimea,
and we should like to include what we from

the first suggested,—to land sufficient troops at
Eupatoria, or somewhere near, to cat the enemy's
line of communications at Perekop,—to do this,
or the former part at least, England should send
out as many thousands as have already gone, and
raise as many millions at once, as she has pro-
posed to do, by taxes during the year. Such a state
of things was the grand hope of NICHOLAS. The
nation of manufacturers and shopkeepers would,
he sapiently judged, soon tire of the cost of war
He will see. If he be right, the Press, at least, is
not the voice of the people. With a unanimity
unparalleled, the demand is—Let the Government
do its part, and we will do ours. As yet our
brave soldiers have been the only sufferers ; they
have borne the brunt of battle. We will take
our turn now. Cost what it may, we will send
them reinforcements, which will keep the enemy

at a respectful distance, and which will bring the
contest to its predetermined issue, without need-
less waste of valuable life. This is the universal

feeling. Even a reasonable Quaker would demand
larger reinforcements than any one else. Since
it would be the surest means of inducing the
enemy to give in, would lessen fighting, and thus
save human life on both Bides.

NICHOLAS shall certainly soon understand that
we are not a nation of selfish-croaking Austrians.
English shopkeepers and manufacturers, with one
notable exception, are men of like flesh and blood
with English farmers and English sailors. If
there be a selfish, narrow-hearted creature amongst
them who would rather put a little more into his
till than do his part towards humbling the arch-
enemy of Europe's liberties, and saving his
children the sight of an armada of Cos-
sacks— so conscious is ho of the universal
patriotism that for shame's sake he dare
not openly vainsay it. Neither high prices for
corn, nor a tight money market, nor diminished
trade, will bring Englishmen to the feet of a Czar.
Let him not think it. He may rely upon it that
all our people fear is half measures. They dread
a patched-up peace. They want to see Ismail
follow Sebastopol, and the Danube thoroughly
opened. They want to see Poland on its feat again,
Finland emancipated, Cronstadt and Sweaborg
demolished, and Asia free. They are confident
that the investment of resources now begun would
be most profitably continued till the work is
completed. They fear the vacillation and half-
' heart3dness of their own Government much more
than they fear fur their pockets, and incompar-
ably more than they fear the CZAR. Let that
potentate thoroughly understand that though
Englishmen are chary of soldiers' and sailors' lives,
more so than the latter brave fellows are of their
own, that it is characteristic of JOHN BULL that
he will spend his last shilling to avoid being
beaten, or to defend his own or his neighbour's
rights.

MANCHERT MR MEMORIAL TO
WELLINGTON.

From a visit to Mr. Noble's studio, in Bruton-
street, Berkeley-square, we had an opportunity of
seeing that the above memorial is progressing
steadily and most satisfactorily. The modelling
of the colossal statue of the Duke is already
brought to a highly successful close, and the
model has been forwarded to the foundry to be
cast in bronze. The treatment of the statue,
though in the modern costume, is very broad,
simple, and effective, and the likeness is power-
fully preserved. The event in the Duke's life,
selected by Mr. Noble for the statue, is that when
the great soldier-statesman delivered the following
memorable words in the House of Lords :—" I
am one of those who have probably passed a
longer period of my life engaged in War than
most men, and principally in civil war ; and I
must say this, that if I could avoid by any sacri-
fice whatever even one month of Civil War in the
country to which I am attached I would sacrifice
my life in order to do it." And in the statue
there is a grand character worthy of the calm,
dignified moment immediately after such words
had been uttered by such a man. The other
figures of the memorial are also progressing most
favourably, and there can be no doubt that when
completed they, like the principal figure, will re-
flect great credit on the sculptor.