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

THE FATE OF SEBASTOPOL.

A. letter from Paris this morning says :—"This is the
moment for the most disheartening rumours. They are
circulated abundantly, and are believed with too fatal
facility. It is said that the amount of reinforcements
reported to have reached the Russian head-quarters is
very considerable, and that despatches to that effect have
been received by the Government. There is nothing ex-
traordinary in the fact of the Russians receiving rein-
forcements, seeing that Perekep is still open to them.
Why that door has not been shut up I have not seen
satisfactorily explained. Whether the shallowness of
the water prevents ships from reaching close to the
shore, or that the Allied army could not afford to de-
tach a sufficient force to that point, I know not, but it
is certain that as long as Perekop lies open the Russian
army can be constantly reinforced.
The same unmanly feeling of discouragement
which I noticed yesterday still prevails among a
certain portion of the Paris public, and I fear that
the panic is encouraged by those who ought, on the
contrary, to inspire hope in the prosperous issue of a
cause so just as the one we are engaged in. It is
difficult to discover any good grounds for such a state
of things. The fable of the Tatar had deluded us into
a belief that Sebastopol was not only taken, but even
when the error was discovered, that it might yet be
taken by a coup de main. ; and now when we are obliged
to reduce it by the slow but certain process of a regular
siege, we lament as if we had hitherto met with nothing
but disaster and defeat ; and in our absurd impatience
we even forget that such a battle as the Alma has been
fought and won. There is nothing really unsatisfactory
in our position. We have, under enormous difficulties,
and in the face of formidable fortresses, and liable to
be harassed every moment by a large army, successively
pushed our approaches close to the defences. Our losses
are shown not to be so great as was supposed, and as
might have been expected under the circumstances. We
have beaten the Russians wherever we have encountered
them, from the heights of the Alma to the last sortie
from Sebastopol. We have proved ourselves superior
to them with all our disadvantages, and whether thee
met us in the open day, or stealthily approached
us in the darkness of the night, we have in-
variably repulsed them. Much of 'the murmuring and
discontent we now witness may, perhaps, be attributed
to the fact of one date after another being fixed in the
accounts published in the Moniteur for the taking of
Sebastopol. The nervous public, finding that neither
on the 23d, nor on the 25th, nor the 28th October, nor,
as recently announced, on the Ist or 2d of November,
has the event taken place, are naturally disappointed,
and begin to think either that the Generals are not
equal to their task, or that the obstacles are too for-
midable to be overcome.

RETIREMENT OF MR. WOODIFIELD, OF THE CUSTOMS,
Inspector-General of
LONDON.—R. Woodifield, Esg
the Imports and Exports at the Custom House, after
a
upwards of half-a-century's labour
in the
annum,
service,
has
retires on his full salary of 900/,
per
proved himself to be an invaluable public servant, and
has gained the highest esteem from all w•ss,
parties
whom his official career has brought him in contact.—
Civil Service Gazette.
A TICKET-OF-LEAVE MAN.—John Green, a native of
Bisbrooke, in this county, was convicted at the Easter
sessions, 1850, of felony, and sentenced to seven years'
transportation. After serving three years at the convict-
hulk, Portsmouth, he received a license of leave for his
good conduct, and shortly after his arrival at Bisbrooke
it was evident to the good people there that Green had
the same inclination to appropriate his neighbour's pro-
perty to his own use as be manifested before his depar-
ture ; and for helping himself without leave to some
kidney beans growing in a neighbour's garden, he was
committed to the house of correction at Oakham for two
months. The period expired on Friday last, and as
Green was leaving the gaol a Mr.Tukner, of the metro-
politan police, introduced himself, very much to the an-
noyance of Green. The officer very politely addressed
him thus—" Mr. Green, I am sorry to have to inform
you, that, in consequence of her Majesty's Secretary of
State having revoked your license of leave, I am autho-
rised to take you before Thos. J. Hall, Esq., chief me-
tropolitan magistrate, who I have no doubt will send you
to your old quarters at Portsmouth, where you will have
to
undergo the remainder of your sentence of transporta-
tion."—Stamford Mercury.