The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY ,gVENIyG, AUGUST 5- 185 4.

S HARE MARKETS.
(THIS DAY.)

CLUTCHING AT IMMORTALITY.

Leasing
Compans.

Closing Prices
yesterday.

Business
this day.

" A man gets up in the morning on his own premises, but
little knows where he may sleep at 'night." The Czar of all
the Russias has lately been within an ace of offering in his own
person a practical confirmation of this well-known saying.
What 'Would the British public have thought—what would
Eurkiiie have thought—what would the King of Prussia in
his cups have thought—what would Omer Pasha in his fez
cep have thought—what would the allied troops have thought
--Land, finally, what would the Three per Cents, have thought,
if, about this time, the Czar of all the Russias, the Archduke
Constantine, and the Archduchess, and the Russian Admiral
in command at Cronstadt, had been sent home by Sir Charles
Napier ia the small steamer which.had captured them?' Im-
probable as the tale may appear—impossible the catastrophe
—it was fairly upon the cards within* the last few weeks. The
facts are these :—A short while back, while the allied fleets
I were lying before Cronstadt, an English yacht, belonging
to Lords Lichfield and EuSton, with Lord Clarence Paget
on board, ventured somewhat too nearthe guns of the place.
Suddenly a puff of steam was seenon the. Russian side, and a
small Russian steamer put. out -to sea, with the evident inten-
tion of cutting ott the English yacht. On board of that steamer
were the Czar Nicholas, his son the Archduke Constantine,'
the Archduchess his wife, and the Russian Admiral, who all
went forth to enjoy the satisfaction of an easy triumph over
the poor little yacht. She is, in point of fact, stated to have
been in the most imminent danger of capture. The Czar,
however, was destined to be foiled in his anticipated little
triumph, as he has already been foiled in his hopes of many a
great one. An English war steamer, seeing the danger to
which the yacht was exposed, advanced with all speed to her
relief. Shortly she obtained such a position that the English
yacht was safe ; and the only question that remained for dis-
cussion was one between the two small war steamers—the one
under English, the other under Russian colours. Could the
English but have known the valuable freight which that
little yacht contained—could the captain but have known
that by capturing her, or sending her to the bottom,
peace would have been restored to Europe, and pro-
bably a million of human lives, first and last, be
saved, we have no doubt that he would have carried one or
other of the alternativeS into effect, even though his own de-
struction, that of his ship, and of every soul on board of her
had been the inevitable consequence. As it was, he saw
nothing before him but a little trumpery steamer—he had car-
ried his purpose of relieving the English yacht into effect—
and remembered orders, which certainly had been issued, to
the effect that no English ship, upon the mere heroic impulse
of her commander, should be thrust into the lion's mouth.
We have no doubt that this was so, and that when the Eng-
lish captain give his orders for putting the head of his steamer
round, he did so with the feeling that he had very satisfac-
torily discharged the duty with which he had been intrusted.
Little did he suppose, at the moment, that he had lost proba-
bly the greatest opportunity for obtaining personal distinction
which had ever been thrown in the way of asingle man. The
English nation venerates the name of Lord Nelson for the
sake of certain little affairs in which he was engaged
off Cape St. Vincent, at the Nile, at Copenhagen, at Tra-
falgar, and elsewhere, but not all of these wonderful,
important, and heroic achievements combined would have had
such an important influence on the histbry of the world as the.
capture of that' little Russian ship. It was given to. the
captain of a small steamer to change the face of Europe in ten
minutes well employed, but in pure innocence he missed the
chance.
It is seldom, indeed, in modern warfare, still more rarely in
naval warfare, that monarchs themselves run any danger of
capture. Napoleon, to be sure, at Arcis-sur-Aube, was com-
pelled to cross swords with a squad of Cossacks in the
twilight, but he was after all a general, not a king, by trade.
If we remember right, upon one occasion, poor old George
111. was in danger of capture from a French privateer off
Weymouth, and was only saved by some marine chance which
has slipped from our recollection. In Mediaeval history there
are, of course, the eases familiar to every schoolboy of King
John of France at Poitiers, and of Francis I. after Pavia. But
what comparison would there have been between the case of
the Black Prince waiting on a mediaeval King, who went
to battle in a coat of mail, and the grand surprise
of the Russian Czar landing at Portsmouth—no, at Newhaven
—while all Europe was in commotion upon his account? We
are, of course, speculating upon history of a very hypothetical
character; but still the event did so nearly occur as to jus-
tify speculation upon its consequences. In our mind's eye
we can see Lords Aberdeen and John Russell communicating
the information to the houses in their own dry and cautious
manner.. What would Messrs. Bright and Cobden have said?
What would Colonel Sibthorp have said ? The newsmen
would have gone bellowing the information about the streets,
end their cries would have been regarded by the testy old
gentlemen in Belgravia but as mere leasings for the sake of
deceiving the lieges and interfering with their digestive
functions. What should we have done with the Czar, when
we had got him Reckless, unprincipled, and merciless as
he has shown himself to be, we should have been anxious to
treat him like a gentleman, and make him comfortable during
his sojourn among us. But at Berlin and at Potsdam I—let
us suppose the information to have been brought in while the
glasses were well charged with champagne, and the King and
his Russian friends were devising a fresh counter-proposition
which had emanated from the Bamberg Conference. The
Czar is taken !—he is in England—he is in the Tower—he is
pretty well after the voyage—as easy in his mind as can be
expected—but he was very sea-sick. What would the good
folks in Wurtemberg, an4vßavaria who have bedizened their
coats with Russian ribana :and orders have made of the in-
telligence—and M. Nazzini aiid:the Italian Reds 7 There is
the Emperor of Austifik too, liusy with his levies, and re-
joicing at his loan, whiek would have given him still higher
gratification when he CM eto reflect that, the war being at
au end, he was at liberty to apply the proceeds to other
pm-poses. There are, however, two sets of people
whose acts we should have been most desirous
to behold, as the fact' of the capture was forced
upon their convictions. rWe should have liked to be in
Cronstadt while the Czar*as steamed away under the eyes of
the garrison. Next to this, which would perhaps have been
the most interesting point 'of observation, it would have been
most peculiarly delightful to stroll through the Bazaar at Con-
stantinople, and listen to the gossip of the old Turks when
they were at last convinced that their old enemy the Czar
was really within the grasp of the Allied Powers—a prisoner
of war !

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

On the political consequences of such an event we must
scarcely venture to speculate. The imagination of the his-
torian who is called upon to write the history of the events
which did not occur may fairly recoil from the magni-
tude of the subject. Little petty questions, such as
those connected with the Sulina mouths of the Danube, the
navigation of the Black Sea, the freedom of the Circas-
sian mountaineers, the restoration of Finland to Sweden,
Sro„ sink into comparative insignificance by the side
of the chapter which might have been written on
the result of the Czar's yachting expedition off Cron-
stadt. The wonder of it is that all this time we
are not dealing with a fable, nor with the result of a
drunkard's inspiration, but with sober and serious fact. The
Czar of Russia, the Archduke Constantine, and the Arch-
duchess, were the other day as near capture and transmission
to England as it is possible to be without having actually in-
curred such a catastrophe. Such is life and history--such a
strange mixture of chances and improbabilities ? What an end
to the Russian war ; and to think, in all soberness of thought,
that it might really have come to pass, had the captain of a
little English steamer known who were on board the little
steamer the other day off Cronstadt !—Tinies.

THE WAR IN ASIA.

.! •

NAVAL AND- MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.
The Indefatigable, 50, bearing: Vie flag of Admiral H.
Johnstone, hauled off from the yard (Plymouth) to the
hulk on Thursday.
The Datintless, Capt. Ryder, is ordered to take in
ammunition, shell, rockets, shot, and a- considerable
quantity of boatswains', carpenters', and gunners' stores
for the Baltic fleet, audit; ,to leav eWheernetin to-morrow
(Sunday) morning direetknAbe'WYP: '
The African fitearktugarriTiO. at POrtieniktie pester•
day morning, from Sheerness, with thsjffentaof,Admiral
,Corry, which she landed, and sailedLagain in thsi-eirening
for supernutneraries.and volunteers for the Baltic fleet.
The'Rhadatnantlitus steam-transport and the A/alumnae
store-ship sailed yesterday evening for Pembroke, Ply.
Month, and Sedtland. :'t
The Atlibl store-ship ha's tiiierilint oilt'OfeOrelnission,
and her ,crew have one on leave;,-
The Fantome hired freight-i-hip coil Wet loading
tvith provisions from the,C4Lreace yard zvtioVi, and
sailed to Spithead to await orders previoils,f9 er,depar.
turn for Constantinople.
The Hornet, Commander Campbell, :remains at the
Nure, awaiting Admiralty orders for making good her
defects in her machinery, boiler, &c.
The Endymion hulk was towed into the Sound last
evening by the Pike and Confiance steam-tugs, in charge
of Mr. Mills, master-attendant. She will remain at her
own anchors, and the troops, crew, and gear of the Lord
Auckland will be tratklerred to her. The Lord
land will then be thoroughly cleaned.

The letters of our correspondents at Kars and on the
Circassian coast, which we published on Wednesday, as
well as those which appear in our impression of this
morning, are well worthy of attentive consideration. It
will have been seen that important results have already
followed the superiority established by the Allies in the
Black Sea, whilst far greater advantages may be expected
at no distant period. For five-and-twenty years the
Circassians, surrounded by the Russians both by sett and
land, had maintained a ceaseless struggle for indepen-
dence ; bat, se epos as the Western Powers declared{ war
against the Czar, the minor fedi On the coast wernban-
doped by the enemy, and there is every reason to Tope
that Anapa and Sakum-Kaleh, which he stilllsretainsewill
ere long be captured by the alliedarmainentswhil his
just sailed from COnstantinople; Forreierly, reinf ree-
ments•for the Imperial army in Georgia 'might 'be Oft
across the Euxine from SebastopOl or -Odessa:m4 but
now, not a single, ore,gun can reach thre ;gar-
rison of Gumri, except by a tedious xilred. of upsdarde
or a 'thousand miles from Mospow. .Such bencel, the,
geographical conditions of-the war in Asia, it is obiious.
that the Russians are peculiarly vulnerable in that'tjuar-
ter, and that there is the best possible opportunity of
wresting from them the conquests of the last fifty years.
The liberation of Georgia, and the permanent indepen-
dence of the Circassians Lesghis, would establish a -firm
barrier against the enemy's encroachments on the east
of the Black Sea ; and there would thenceforth be no
danger of the gradual absorption of Persia into the
dominions of the Czar, whilst the fancied insecurity of
our own Indian empire would cease to haunt the imagi-
nation eeen of the most inveterate alarmists. What we
-- - -
have already seen of the very limited resources 'Mich THE NEW LONG-GUN RANGE,
g
Russia possesses for aggressive war in Asia, mi 11,u
in-
deed, long since have -taught .us to dismiss frone r III"
,6
RTANT EXPERIMEtiI'S -witri tivr irtrara/sr-
minds all apprehension of what her power could dffoeat • . Rear-Admiralaleerkeleye ,Cr..
land, a }IB., ' Capte
of 414.1eis MilneExeellent ;
-
when bushed further forward through fifteen degreba of Captain Sir Thomas Mait
latitude ; and, as even the small force at her diaper, in gunnery-ship at'Portimenth • Colonel, Chalmer, Inspeo'
Georgia must have been hitherto-maintained in reat tor of Artillery.; Lieut.-Colonel Wilsen, _assistant;
part by sea-borne supplies, it will be exceedingly idiffi- Col. Chesney ; Lieuts-Cols VitilstinseDiteetereof -the La-
cult to maintain its efficiency now that its Maritime bows;• boratory ; Lieut.-Col. Mitchell, Royal Artillery ; Lieut..
Commander Joliffe, of the'Arrbsild -teh
munications with the rest of the empire are cut off' ' es - screw steampa
. gun-boat ; Lieut. Here, -commander' of tfielleatele screw
- Nevertheless, with all ;these advantages, the res It of is
the Turkish operations against the enemy on the e st of steam despatch gun-b Oat isTereiee. Luce,. 66i :dander of
the Euxine has, thus far, been almost enniformlef dis- the Lynx ecrew
of the Wrangler screw iteam despatch steam- despatcli gun-bo4; and- Lieut.
couraging. It will be remembered that, on the 16,th of Risk; commander
gun-boat, arrived at Woolwich doekyareleyeeterdey, at June, Prince Andronikoff defeated the Beteum army;
10 a.m., and embarked in-the Vivid paddleevrheel steam-
sinceunder Selim Pacha, at Urzuglietti ; and a rumoufr 'ha's-
William-Allen, for
largeSouthend, on their way to witness: experiments with
the chief command, has been defeated by .
reached us—which is now, we- regret to say,lcon-
vessel, Master-Commander _Henry
firmed—that the Kars army, of which Zarif Pacha holds gud the numerous ns at long ranges at Shoeburyness. Their lord-
Prince Ifebu-
_shipsr an officers present on the occasion
seen that our correspondent at Kars, in his letter of the
toff, the Russian general at Gumri. It will have been
we ehighly satisfied with this practice, which was come
9th ult., anticipated both the battle and its unf4our-
•a-i6B-pounder at 2. o'clock p.m. with•a-i6B-pounder gun, 10 feet
able result ; and enough is stated by him toaceouet•for
long, and weighing 95 cwt., on Lancaster's pripciple,
gi
the fact that the Turks have failed where -success rdight the bore being oval ,insteadof .round, - which ves the
• largest guns all the advantages possessed by the best have been thought most certain. - . -' '
Since the disaster at Sinope,
the Ottomans harp en-
ying troops and stores
rifles, when shot or shells of a particular description are
countered no obstruction in 4
used. Excellent practice can be made with rifles at con-
eonve
siderable ranges, but until the experiments with Lan-
to their Asiatic army. Both at Batoum and at Kate,
caster 'S 'oval gnns and elliptical, or. egg-shaped shells,
they have been for some time past suprior in numbers
to the enemy, and they have received large accessions of correct aim could not be taken 'at the astonishing dis-
tance of 5,000. yards, the range yesterday. The long
eager volunteers, while the Russians depend in great
period which elapsed during the flight of the destructive part upon the compulsory service of native Georgians,
or of Poles, who are only kept to their colours by the ' projectile .(weighing upwards of 881 b., owing to its
difficulty of desertion and by the terrible punishment
elongated form), caused a feeling of suspense, but when
with which that offence is visited. But all this Duped- it fell, at a distance of 5,000 yards (and in no instance
cal and moral superiority is more than counterbalanced did the shells fall wide or short of the target), the spot
where it burst presented the appearance of the eruption
by the incapacity of the Turkish generals. Indeed, all
of a volcano, the sand being raised to a great height in
the worst features of the old and worn-out systems of
the Ottomans may be found, in that quarter, in full force, the air. Experiments were also carried on with
The Commander-in-Chief at Kars, Zarif Pacha, pos-
Moorsom's shells at 3,000 yards, and the practice with
sesses no military skill—which, considering that he is them and with shot was very good. It was'at one
a civilian, is not, perhaps, surprising. His appointment time imagined by many that the Minie rifle would have
is, of course, due to the favour of some great man at an advantage over Horse Artillery or field battery
Constantinople. The Hungarian General Guyon, who, guns, but it is evident Lancaster's invention will re-
under the name of Koursehid Pacha, holds a subordi-
store the light 6-pounders made on that principle to
nate command, is so thwarted by his superior,as well as the position and advantage they had over Brown
by his inferiors, that even his distinguished abilities are Bess. Several other guns have been made, of smaller
bores, on Lancaster's principle, for the purpose of carry-
of little avail. In a word, there is no doubt of the
bravery of the soldiers, but they want direction ; and
ing on experiments. Their lordships and the large party
while the foreign officers in the camp are ill-sup-
returned to Southend-pier at 5 o'clock p.m., and erns
ported by their incapable commander, there is too much barked in the Vivid on their return to town.
reason to fear that they are quarrelling among them-
selves. This state of things will serve to explain
the almost uninterrupted successes gained by the Rua-
sheians in former wars ; and it is well for Turkey that
European army is managed, in every respect, on a
totraly different system, We cannot discover that the
Ottoman officers have,'/Peaking generally, any idea of
war beyond hard fighting. Skilful combination they do
not seem to understand. On the Danube, the Porto
has fortunately entrusted its troops to the uncontrolled
discretion of a foreigner of high capacity, who possesses
the skill to turn to full account the valour of his sol-
diers ; but in Asia its armies are commanded either by
Turks without skill, or by foreigners without authority,
and the corenquenee has been that troops as brave as
those in En tape have been repeatedly worsted by in-
ferior numberk' We may learn, from our own history,
that the 9st-courageous soldiers can effect little When
their superior officers arc chosen by corruption and
favouritism ; and we cannot, therefore, more effectually
serve the cause of Turkey than by using our influence
to procure the extirteetion of abuses so fatal to the effi-
ciencereof leer armies. i It is not in our power to spare
troopglor all.e.pointi-nihere their presence might be use-
ful, but the example of English method and energy
ought to be found wherever the war extends.
Much may be done by negotiation, as well as by
arms, to advance the interest of the Porte iu the
countries between the Euxine and the Caspian. Russia
has spared no pains to bribe the Shah of Persia into pro-
moting his own ultimate destruction ; and he has been
offered a province as the reward of assisting in the ac-
complishment of plans which, if successful, must end by
placing all his dominions at the disposal of the Czar.
Although the commonest prudence ought to prevent
Persia from lending herself to the designs of the enemy,
we should feel much more confidence in the moral effect
of the defeat of the Russian army, and of the capture of
the frontier towns of Erivan, Gutnri, and Akaltzick. In
particular, the appearance of an English force at the seat
of war in Asia could not fail to have great weight at the
Court of Persia, since the power of this country is already '
known on the other side of the dominions of the Shah.
We may also hope, at no distant time, to gain the con-
fidence and co-operation of the Circassian tribes, The
Sultan's Government has wisely selected certain Cir-
cassians of high rank in its service, and sent them to
their countrymen to explain the objects of the war, and
to solicit their assistance. The mountaineers will, no
doubt, soon discover, that the friendly professions of the
Anglo-French are far more trustworthy than those' of
Russia; nor can they fail to be strongly impressed with
the power of nations whose threatened hostility com-
pelled the Czar, even before the outbreak' of war, to
abandon nearly all his forts on the coast. The more
immediate object of the emissaries of the Porte is to in-
duce a Circassian force to assail the enemy's positions in
the rear, whilst the Ottoman armies at Bateum and
Kars advance against them in front ; and, should these
movements be well combined, the expulsion of the Rus-
sians from Georgia will be almost inevitable.

THE NEW GUN-BOATS.

The Arrow screw steam despatch gun-boat, Lieutenant-
Commander Joliffe, has had her two 68-pounder guns,
on Lancaster's plan, of 95 cwt. each, mounted on board
on their traversing platforms, and will be the first of
the despatch gun-boats ready for sea.
The Wrangler screw steam despatch gun-boat, Lieu-
tenant-Commander Risk, was taken under the cheers at
4 o'clock a.m. yesterday, at Woolwich, and had her
masts put in. At 8 a.m. she was taken into the east
dock to have her bottom coppered, and her progress
accelerated•by the shipwrights and blacksmiths, these
workmen being employed in relays, night and day, to
get the despatch gun-boats ready for sea. Workmen
from the Royal Arsenal are also employed to prepare
the deck fittings for the traversing platforms on .which
the guns are mounted.

Vie Beagle, screw steam despatch gun-boat, bas been
brought down from Messrs. Humphreys, Tenant, and
Dyke's establishment at Deptford, where her engines
were fitted, and has been taken into dock, at Woolwich,
to be coppered,

Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane struck his flag on
board the Victory on Thursday, and proceeded in the
Fanny yacht to the Channel Islands, accompanied by
the Sealark and Rolla naval cruising brigs.

The prospects of the war on the south-east coast of
the Black Sea are, therefore, still encouraging ; and any
reverses which the Ottoman arms have sustained in that
quarter will, it may be hoped, be speedily counter.
balanced on the arrival of the Auglo-French auxiliaries.
But it is not so much to large bodies of troops as to
the skill and energy of individual officers that we
must look for satisfactory resuljs of the campaign in
Asia. According to our correspondent, there are
already 60,000 regular troops at Kars—a number so
large as greatly to exceed the Russian force, and
to be totally unmanageable by its commander, Zarif
Pacha. Besides this army, irregular levies to almost
any amount might be obtained in the Turkish provinces.
The Porte has, therefore, an abundant supply of soldiers,
who are both brave and hardy, but it is greatly in want
of skilful European officers, armed with sufficient autho-
rity to enforce obedience. This deficiency it is the busi-
ness of the Allies to supply. Both England and France
abound in men excellently fitted for the task of convert-
ing the rude Turkish soldiers into disciplined and highly-
effective troops. The officers of our Indian army are
especially qualified for this undertaking, and many of
them have already offered their services to the Ottoman
Government. But the appointment of good officers will,
not alone suffice. The Turks must be persuaded togive
them full powers, and not to neutralise.their efforts by
placing over them an , incapable commander'; and the
utmost influence of the Allies should be etetted at Con-
stantinople to secure this important point. On this
subject there is a conflict in Turkey between new' and
old ideas. In Berope the former prevail, and we see
the result in the victories won by the Ottoman arms on
the Danube. The latter have hitherto preddminated in,
the Asiatic army, and the consequence is.equ.ally appa-
rent in disaster and defeat.—Morning