The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-18 00:00:00

FRANCE.

Our usual Paris Express of yesterday evening
has not come to hand, in consequence of bad
weather in the Channel.
The Afoniteur of yesterday morning publishes
the following report from General Canrobert :--
" HEAD-QUARTERS, BEFORE SEBAS-
TOPOL, Nov. 2, 1854.
" Monsieur le Marechal—Since the 28th Octo-
ber, the date of my last report, the attacks have
gone on slowly but steadily against the place with
the pickaxe and blasting, and to day we are within
140 metres of the projecting front of the mast-
bastion. I am establishing a third parallel, or
place d'armes, at this distance, as extended as the
width of our counter-fort on which wa advance
will permit.
" We were able to terminate our new batteries
on the night between the 31st October and Ist
November. They opened their fire this morning ;
and our fire during the day was so favourable that
it dominated that of the place, which grew slack in
the afternoon.

" The enemy was, however, enabled by sheer
numbers and exertion to repair in the night the
damage done. They brought all the field-pieces
they could muster to bear upon us, and this morn-
ing before daybreak our works of approach and our
batteries were assailed by the most violent artillery
fire perhaps ever heard. Happily, badly directed
during the night, it only caused us a very insigni-
ficant loss and no material damage.
" Between the outer enceinte, the fire of which
we have succeeded in dominating, without, how-
ever, silencing it, and the town, properly called,
there is a space of ground occupied by barracks
and isolated dwellings ; the enemy has there
emoted new means of defence, and a more obstinate
defence cannot be imagined.
" The Russian army continues to occupy the
valley of Balaklava and the heights in the rear.
" En résumé, Monsieur le Marechal, we have
,made, despite obstacles of every description, real
progress in our works. The engineers of the army,
in conducting our approaches so near the enceinte,
We almost achieved. the impossible, as in fourteen

days we have reached the third parallel, sapping
our way through solid rock, where three or four
days are required to do the work of ono night on
ordinary ground.
" The weather is cold but fine. The health of
the army is satisfactory, although the siege opera-
tions have exceedingly fatigued the troops ens-
ployed.—l am, &c.,
" General Commander-in-Chief of the
Eastern Army,
" CANR OBERT.
" To H. E. the Marshal Minister of War."

THE PRINCIPALITIES.

A correspondent in Constantinople lately drew
attention to the manner in which the Austrians are
exercising their self assumed protectorate in the
Principalities, decidedly as little beneficial to the
inhabitants as the Russian tyranny was. A private
letter from Jassy, of the Bth inst., shows that the
gain made by the Moldavians and Wallachians in
exchanging the Russians from the Austrians is
pretty much what a tenant makes by exchanging
an execution for a distraint. In this letter it
is mentioned that on occasion of the Russians
retiring from the Principalities the joy was
universal, even including those who had been
accustomed by long habit to look on Russia as the
liberator of the country. When the Austrians en-
tered the Principalities in the place of the Russians
there was no such thing as an Austrian party exist-
ing anywhere in the population, arising out of the
apathetic part which Austria had hitherto taken in
the Eastern conflict, and which allowed Russia to do
as she pleased.
" Up to 1848 Austria was more distant from the Prin-
cipalities than England and France, because we were
always at least ea rapport d'idces with the latter. Since
1848 Austria had become better known to us from her
war in Hungary, and the news of her approaching
occupation was hailed with delight. We looked forward
to seeing order and security restored that had been de-
stroyed ever since the entry of the Russians in 1848.
We have been fearfully disappointed, It seemed impos-
sible that the Austrian troops could be the dis-
ciplined soldiers of his Apostolic Majesty, although
seen in comparison with the Russians who had just
left, and the Bashi Bazouks, who were still encamped
in the plains of the Danube. One speedy re-
sult of the Austrian occupation was the rapid in-
crease of the Russian party ; at the same time no
Austrian party sprang up. How has it come about, you
will ask, that the German troops,' as the Austrians
are called, have made themselves so hated ? I will tell
you. By an arrogance peculiar to themselves, with
which they address everybody, they give themselves the
airs of conquerors established by a long possession ; by
a neglect and slight of all the civil and religious habits
of the people ; by their immense pretensions and immo-
derate demands ; and by a total R ant of discipline that
deprives the population of all feeling of security. I will
give you some instances of this.
" When they first arrived, a small detachment en-
tered a village not far from Jassy ; as the principal
householder of the place was absent, they entered his
stables, took out his horses, fetched all sorts of vehicles
from the peasants' houses, and, sabre in hand, com-
pelled the tgentleman's servants to drive them the next
stage. In another village, near the town of Roman,
they took violent possession of the manor-house, and
bivouacked there the whale night. They require the
peasantry to furnish them with beds changed twice a
week (probably the straw or leaves to fill the mat-
tress), which they are not accustomed to at home,
and are not entitled to claim of us here. Their con-

stant derision of the religion and habits of the population
exhibits itself frequently in practical excesses. They will
not pay for the provisions which the local government
has procured for them. The local authorities must also
pay for the carriages that the officers hire for their own
use in Jassy- The soldiers pay for their purchases in
Austrian paper money, but demand that the change
shall be given them in cash. In Jassy the Austrian
soldiers have put to death four inhabitants, for which it
is true the murderers were condemned and shot. They
have several times set fire to houses. Theft has become
so common there now that the inhabitants begin to take
no notice of it."
After mentioning a variety of smaller matters,
the letter concludes with the remark that " the
manner in which Austria makes use of her posi-
tion in the Principalities is the best key to the mo-
tives that led her to participate in the Conferences
of Vienna."