The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-14 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Letters are daily pouring in front the Crimea
complaining of the cooking and distribution of food for
our brave army. Leaders have been written on the sub-
ject, yet nothing seems to be done for the amelioration
of such an evil. One letter describes a soldier, after
nine hours' engagement with the enemy, being compelled
to eat his own ration of pork in a raw state, for want of
time, fire, or cooking utensils. lam happy to say that
this sad state of things could be easily remedied at a very
trifling cost, by adopting an apparatus of which I send
you a drawing and description. I shall only be too
happy to give gratuitously my assistance towards estab-
lishing an army kitchen, and teaching a few soldiers its
use.

Each apparatus is capable of cooking for one thousand
men every two hours, and requires four persons to attend
to it. You must agree with sae that it would be pre-
ferable t• have a few plain cooks for the army than, as
at present, an army of cooks.
With the highest consideration, I have the honour to
remain, yours very obediently,
10, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden.

A. SOYER.

The following is an explanation of the above kitchen :
—The carriage is made of sheet-iron, weighing, with
water, fuel, &e., a little more than one ton. The lower
part coxsists of a circular steam boiler, and the upper
part of an oven. Over the oven are placed the various
pans containing the rations required to be cooked by
steam, and on each side is a hanging shelf, which will
also hold steam saucepans in front, and round the driver's
seat is a reservoir for water, and a place to hold the con-
diments, &c. The plan of working it would be to draw
it near to a stream or reservoir of water—if brackish or
muddy it does not matter—(any tainted water is made
good by first converting it into steam)—there fill the
boiler and reservoir, and remove it to uny convenient
spot. The fuel may consist of wood, coal, turf, &c., &c.
Within one hour after the fire is lighted the steam would
be up, and the oven hot, and with one six feet long and
three feet wide, rations for 1,000 men could be cooked by
baking and steaming in about two hours, and the appa-
ratus moved on again, or it would cook whilst on the
march, if on an even road. Its advantages are—saving
of time, labour, men, and food, and the certainty that
the men could get their food properly cooked. The cost
•f each apparatus would not exceed 1001.

" OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE."
(Prom Punch.)

Gay Gordons, fling up every bonnet !
Drawn—discussed----settled—ratified, fast—
With the broad seal of England upon it,
Here's the Treaty with Austria at last !
'Twill foil Russian projects so sinister ;
'Twill finish the war—clear and clean ;
And better than all, as Prime Minister,
'Twill secure us " Ce cher Aberdeen."
In short, all the Tadpoles and Tapers
Declare 'tis a masterly coup,
Here's none of your one-sided papers ;
'Ti. off-ensive and dc-fensive too.
" Off-ensive ?" the country will say,
The description is perfectly true ;
For as Hamlet remarks in the play,
"There's offence in't, and much offence too."
Offensive it is—beyond doubt :
For grievously all it offends,
Who would see Right and Wrong fight it out,
And not shaking hands, like good friends.
Offensive to all who remember
What Austria ever has been,
Still trampling out Freedom's last ember
Wherever its glimmer is seen.
To all who, for Italy feeling,
Would loose Austria's gripe from her throat ;
Who would listen to Hungary's appealing,
And lend her a hand 'gainst the Croat.
To all who, by history's warning,
Have learnt to believe that the night
Must still be at odds with the morning,
As darkness is hostile to light.
To all who in gen'rous aversion,
Hold tyranny, perjury, lies,
Priest-craft, state-craft, and crushing coercion
Of men's minds, bodies, hearts, heads, and eyes.
Yes. "Offensive," whate'er its conditions,
Every treaty with Austria must be.
But this has " defensive provisions."
" Defensive" of what? Let us see.
Defensive of France or of Britain ?
Thank God, our defences we seek,
Not in lies acted, uttered, or written,
Whether Russ, or Pruss, Austrian, or Greek,
Our defences are those that environ
Free hearts that to free hands appeal.
Our navies' hard oak and hot iron,
Our armies' cool heads and cold steel.
Still your treaty we own, is " defensive"
Of Austria's ill-gotten gains,
• Which the Hapsburg has found it expensive
To defend at his own cost and pains.
Defensive of rights of possession,
(Sole rights that e'er Austria has known),
Defensive of lawless aggression,
That shakes on a tottering throne.
Defensive of frontiers Gallician,
Of Hungary's corn-bearing plain,
Defensive of winnings Venetian,
Of Lombardy's vine-clad champaign.
To command of the Danube we'll hoist her,
Give her aid if a subject rebels :
So Austria swallows the oyster,
And gives France and England the shells I !

GENERAL POST-OFFICE, DEO., 1854.—The packet
conveying mails, once a week, between Grimsby and
Gottenhurgh, under a contract with the Swedish Go-
vernment, having ceased running no more mails for
Sweden can be sent by that route until the re-opening
of the navigation next spring, of which due notice will
be given.
THE COMING MAN.—We have received news of this
most important and invisible individual. Ile was already
on his way—he was coming as fast as he could come—
he had actually got a peep of the present Age, but was
so disgusted with the little he did see, that he imme-
diately went back again.—Punch.
A BRIGHT FUTURE.—According to the doctrines of
111 r. Bright the Quaker, and the Peace Society, all war
is wrong, and therefore war against an armed gang of
brigands is wrong. If, then, these doctrines were put
into practice, the country might be ravaged by troops
of banditti, and there would be no means of putting
the robbers down. So the consequence of carrying
out Peace principles would be that Peace would
be broken with impunity : and as there would be
nobody at home to preserve the Peace, in order to re-
store it, somebody would very soon come from abroad,
—Punch.