The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-22 00:00:00

after all the blustering of the Muscovite army and
of the Muscovite Government, that the gallant
stand_taken by the forces of 02,1 ER PACHA, first
of all before Kalafat and after that before
Schumla, has driven the enormous army of
Russia before the arrival of the French
or of the English —to the unavoidable
necessity of a retrogressive movement. Scarcely
credible though it may appear—considering the
disproportion of the forces under O) ER PAcHA
and those under Prince- PASKIEWITCH—it has so
happened nevertheless. When the Turkish arma-
ment was for the most part collected together at
Kalafat—its reputation was enhanced by the san-
guinary triumph Won over the Russians at Citate.
When the head-quarters of the Ottoman Com-
mander-in-Chief were subsequently established at
Schumla—the prowess of the Osmanli we have
seenwithinul thewilling last few days, by the reluctant
raising acknowledged by thef
ee and
this
raising of the protracted but fruitless sieae. of
Silistria. 0

Recollect the magnitude of the Russian army,
and the successes hitherto attained by the
Turkish forces under 03nsa PASHA will appear
in a manner but, little short of the almost miracu-
lous.

According to the most reliable calculations,
the grand total of the fighting men at the disposal
of the AUTOCRAT amounts to between 600,000 and
700,000 fighting men—the real effective strength of
the Russian army being estimated at some 625,000
men in the aggregate. This gigantic force com-
prises-485,000 bayonets in the grasp of the
infantry, 91,000 sabres in that of the cavalry,
and a proportionate array of ordnance under the
artillery. An empire as vast as Russia, and con-
taining upwards of 60,000,000 as its popula-
tion, must be supposed at once, of course, to have
its army of 625,000 men (reduced in peace to
500,000, and capable of being extended in periods
of extremity during war to a total of 870,000, or
nearly 900,000 altogether) to have this army of
625,000 men, very widely distributed. A sup-
position borne out, of course, by undoubted facts-
-345,000 being alone, out of this immense multi-
tude, numbered under the head of Active or Mov-
able—the remaining 280,000 being set aside,
140,000 as a Reserve, or for garrison purposes,
and the other 140,000 as Provincial or Stationary.
The last-mentioned class being devoted, of course,
to the preservation of order in the more remote
provinces-10,000 in Finland, 15,000 in Oren-
burg, 20,000 in Silistria, and 95,000 in the
Caucasus. As to the active movable army of
' 345,000—0 f these 246,000 are distributed in
six corps, leaving 44,000 guards, 33,000 grena-
diers, and 22,000 as the reserve of cavalry. A
glance at any military map brought down to a
recent date; and deriving its authority from reli-
able statistics,* will enable any one to compre-
• hend very readily the capacity possessed by the
CZAR to direct an apparently overwhelming
force, out of this grand total of his armies, upon
the European and Asiatic Frontiers of the SUL-
TAN'S dominion. This capacity the Emperor
NICHOLAS has not been slow to avail himself of,
during the past twelve months especially, and
yet—Europe has seen how the devoted ranks of
the Tuikish 'army have worsted all his plans, have
repelled all his attacks, have withstood all
the boasted generalship of GORTSCHAKOFF
and PASKIEWITC; have compelled the Rus-
, sian forces to evacuate Lesser Wallachia, to
raise the siege of Silistria, and to beat a
hasty retreat from the majority of the fortresses
in Circassia. Are not these gallant Turks worthy
of receiving aid from France and England ? Will
it not be a burning shame to the Western Allies
of the Porte if there be any further delay in the
long-promised movement, which is to bring at last
to the field of battle—to the timely assistance of
Turkey, and to the final discomfiture of Russia—
the heroic bands of the Anglo-French con-
tingent ?