The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-23 00:00:00

ILIIL TVA Y TRAFFIC RETURNS.

GREAT NORTHERN RAlLW.l7.—Traffic return for the
week ending Nov. 12, 1854 1'21,670 0 2
Corresponding wwek last year 18,115 9 I;
LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE RAlLWAY.—Traffic re-
turn for the week ending Nov. 19, 1854 £18,629 4 0
Corresponding week last year 17,488 9 2
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic return for
the week ending Nov. 19, 1854 £4,328 14 1
Corresponding week last year 3,615 0 1

Increase in 1854., • £7l3 14 0

TILE ELVIYEROR NICHOLAS.

We extract, says the Constitutionnel, from a let-
ter from St. Petersburg, the correctness of which
we can guarantee, the following details as to the
state of affairs in that capital :—" The Emperor
Nicholas, notwithstanding the pre-occupations of
the war, still keeps to his usual habits of taking
solitary walks. He may frequently be met in the
streets on foot, protected however against the in-
discretions of curiosity by the police regulations,
which forbid any one to speak to him. Although
his face has long since contracted a character of
impassibility, it is readily seen that terrible storms
have assailed his mind and reacted on his physical
strength. He has got much thinner, and his hair
is almost white. We have already spoken of the
honourable treatment given to two of our officers,
MM. de Dampierre and Lagondie. The two fol-
lowing anecdotes may serve as a pendant to that
trait of character. A Frenchman having been in-
sulted by a tradesman in a large way of business
the Emperor was informed of it. He sent for the
tradesman, and demanded the reason of his con-
duct. " Because I detest the nation," was the re-
ply. " You have no other motive, and it is from
hatred of the French that you have acted so ?"
"Yes, sire." " Well, then, I will give you an op-
portunity of gratifying that resentment, you shall
be sent to the army in the Crimea." On another
occasion the Czar was informed that some nobles re-
fused to pay a debt they owed to a French trades-
man. He sent orders to them to settle their ac-
counts immediately. It may be remarked that, of
all foreigners, Frenchmen are regarded with the
least dislike by the Russians. The English are not
so well treated, but the Austriaua are the object of
general animadversion. Every kind of vexation is
heaped on them. The consequences of the war are
severely felt in the capital. With the exception of
bread, the price of which is moderate, in conse-
quence of the abundance of the late harvest, every
thing is excessively dear. A bottle of champagne
costs from 20f. to 25f.; sugar is if. 50c. a pound ;
salad oil sf. a bottle, a glass of brandy 60c., and
other things in the same way. The supply of coal
is completely exhausted. The gas works are sus-
pended, and it is found necessary to light the capi-
tal with oil, which is very expensive and insuffi-
eient. The steam-boat which runs to Cronstadt, as
well as the locomotives on the railways, are com-
pelled to beat their boilers with wood. The aspect
of the city is very gloomy. At the first commence-
mencement of the war the lower classes were rather
enthusiastic, while the upper classes, whose for-
tunes were affected, were morose and desperate.
Popular demonstrations were organised in honour
of the Czar and holy Russia. The processions of
the moujiks called to mind the manifestations which
with us followed the revolution of February. But
this effervescence subsided by degrees, and, more-
over, the Government began to get uneasy at those
patriotic fetes, which brought into the streets idle
workmen heated by copious libation. Since then
a veil of melancholy has hung over the city. The
nobility, who are much in debt, can no longer get
credit ; trade is at a stand, and the people are suffer-
ing. A number of the largest establishments are
closed, and the manufactories which still remain
at work have dismissed the half or two-thirds
of their hands. The principal hotels aro going
to ruin. The price of rent has considerably
diminished. The people hear little or nothing
of what is going on at the seat of war. The
foreign journals arrive in a very lacerated state, the
police cutting out everything that displeases them.
The news of the battle of the Alma was not known
to the public until four days after the intelligence
of it had reached the authorities. The only &saps
left at St. Petersburg are the 45,000 men of the
Guard. Last month there were several reviews, at
one of which 36 standards takeu from the Circas-
sians were presented to the Emperor. Only one
of those standards was, however, genuine, the re-
mainder were of Russian manufacture. This ex-
hibition produced a very bad effect on the enlight-
ened part of the public."

THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

(Prom the Pays.)

Amongst memorable sieges there is one—that
of Dantzic, in 1807—which has a good deal of
analogy in certain respects with the siege of Sebas-
topol. Like Sebastopol, the town of Dautzic was
strongly defended by a peculiar system of fortifica-
tions. It possessed, in addition to its fortified en-
ceinte, a defence composed of detached forts; and
a garrison of 18,000 men was stationed within its
walls. It was not invested, and it could receive
relief not only from the land side, but also from
the Baltic by the English fleet. Marshal Lefebre,
who was charged by the Emperor Napoleon I. with
the command of the besieging troops, found it diffi-
cult to understand the slowness of a methodical.
siege. He spoke continually of attempting an as-
sault, even before a breach was opened. The
mili-
tary science of the Emperor did not admit su;ili
temerity, and accordingly he joined with the mar-
shal two scientific officers, on whose talents he
based the success of his designs. The investing of
the place commenced in the course of the month
of March ; but the trenches were only opened in
the night of 2d April, 1897. Carried on regularly,
they, after various incidents and operations, arrived
towards 20th May, not fewer than fifty days after
the opening of the trenches, at the open road or
fosse which separated the walls of the place from
the assailants. The assault was fixed for the night
of the 21st, but the place did not wait for it—it
capitulated. Let it be remarked that the town
supported 51 days .of a regular siege, energetically
carried, on. The second siege of Saragossa, the
celebrity o' which has left such terrible souvenirs
in the history of the war in Spain, commenced by
the opening of trenches at 341 yards from the first
line of defence of the place on 29th December,
1809. The fortifications of the town were not re-
gular, and the place principally derived its strength
from the heroism, fanaticism, and the relative
number of its defenders. The second parallel was
opened on 2d January, 1810. Our labours were
principally supported by means similar to those
employed at Sebastopol—that is, by riflemen
placed behind bags of sand, and firing with great
precision on all the enemy's embrasures. Our
batteries only opened their fire on 10th Jan. After
taking by assault two outer works on the 11th and
16th, the siege continued with various incidents.
At length, the general assault was given on the 26th
January, and it made the French masters of the
outer enceinte, that is to say the fortifications. But
at this moment the most terrible episode of the
conflict commenced. It was necessary to besiege
every district, every convent, every block of houses.
This second siege, after a sanguinary defence unex-
ampled in modern history, lasted until the 20th Fe-
bruary, the day on which the garrison, reduced to
10,000 men, capitulated to the Duke of Montebello.
The siege of Saragossa lasted 50 days from the
opening of the trenches. The attack ou the citadel
of Antwerp, in 1832, occasioned the most complete
and most regular application of the modern art of
sieges. The trenches were opened on the 29th No-
vember. The fire against the citadel commenced
the 4th December at 11 o'clock in the morning
from 82 pieces, which were soon increased to 104,
and half of them throw shells. On the 20th, after
the capture of the lunette St. Laurent, our artillery
made, in the left front of bastion No. 2 of the cita-
del, an enormous breach which rendered the as-
sault practicable and imminent. The place capi-
tulated on the 23d. It supported twenty days'
fire. The capture of Rome, in 1849, was effected
under nearly similar conditions, with the excep-
tion that the incidents of the war were of greater
importance. The trenches were opened on the 4th •
June, 1849, and the town capitulated on the 29th
of the same month. Let our readers now take into
account the immense resources collected in Sebas-
topol, and the necessity under which the besieging
army is placed of protecting itself against the di-
version of a large enemy's army keeping the country
expressly to harass it, and they will certainly see
that the siege of Sebastopol presents more resem-
blance to those of Dantzic and Saragossa, than to
those of Antwerp and Rome. There will conse-
quently be nothing alarming or extraordinary in
the event of its being further prolonged."

GENERAL SCREW STEAM COMPANY.-At an adjourned
meeting of this company, held yesterday, the result of
the ballot on the amendment for rejecting the directors'
report was a majority of 377, the respective votes beim.
2,038 and. 1,661. A protracted discussion, which occu-
pied three hours and a quarter, then took place respect.
ing the appointment of a committee to investigate the
accounts, the assistance of two professional accountants
being agreed upon, and, after a variety of suggestions, a
resolution to that effect was passed. An absence of re-
gularity in the proceedings caused a great waste of time,
and gave rise to much dissatisfaction.

_
A. letter from Christiania of the Ist states that an at-
tempt was lately made there to steal the insignia of the
King Jom of Norway. Orders having been received from
Stockholm by the keeper to send to that city the Royal
bane er, %%hick was to be used at the inauguration of the
equestrian statue of Charles Jean XIV. (Bernadotte),
he pr.teeeded t:) the keen of the fortress of Ackershuis
to tak a the object out. But what was his astonishment
to pre d th.lt the iron door had been forced open.
Furtner on another door of oak had also been opened,
the..._ part round the lock having been cut away.
From this last-named door runs a long narrow pas-
sage I eading to a cellar in which is awinding stair-
the thieves
case ut the top of
regalia..
to the u
Here everythingwhichis the room containing the
!!cendi,
-,!vas found in perfect order,
apparently not being aware of the manner of
.0i
orwd
fit:gis
exceedphp,getryeahnaemiebeetr:
Part The Royal banner
ebasntnueffr
of
which nt was composed is
the 11th century ; the handle is said to have been woven ids
inerusted with precious
stones and golden ornaments.lt was the next day sent
Off t(..` Stockholm under the guard of fifty soldiers.

TEE ENGINES OP WAR.

Warfare being fortunately an exceptional state of
human existence, the fell engines of destruction which
do its behests are not improved, and new ones added to
their number with the equable fecundity characteristic
of the onward march of peaceful arts. 'War—real active
war, entrapped, unpanoplied—is far too terrible a game
to enlist permanently the sympathies, or move the in-
ventive energies, of civilised man. The last ensanguined
drama of a campaign once over, even the man of war by
profession, the soldier, ceases to ponder over new means
of increasing the number of death's holocausts. He
gladly consigns to oblivion, so far as in him lies, the
stem realities of his profession, its horrible memories

of death and mutilation. He troubles his head no
longer with the problems of rendering gunpowder more
strong, or lengthening the flight of projectiles. Hence-
forth he is conspicuous only in the throng of civilian life
by the splendour of his gala costume, and his easy adap-
tability to every unforeseen circumstance.
But once let adverse nations go forth to battle, and
the spirit of destructive invention is astir. The hitherto
peaceful votaries of science then come forth each with some
new scheme of killing. One strives to abolish the sooty
food of guns in favour of some more potent substitute—
another modifies the construction of a gun, or alters for
better the form of a projectile. No sentiment of philan-
thropy, no feeling of compunction, checks the current of
inventive genius. Contrivances designed for the wholesale
slaughter of human beings are pondered over with all
the equanimity that might belong to the blasting of a
rock, the planting of a coffer-dam, or any other scientific
domination over inanimate matter. The present cen-
tury has been exceedingly fertile in contributing to the
inventions of this branch of exceptional industry. The
earlier portion of it ushered in the congreve rocket and
the spherical case shot—projectiles both of tremendous
powers and various applications. The period of the
nineteenth century at which we write is marked by the
adoption of numerous improvements in old warlike en-
gines, and by the discovery of others entirely novel, to an
extent unprecedented in any former period of equal dura-
tion. The long train of these deadly aids was first
nshered in by the general employment of percussion
locks for military use—an adoption which renders small
fire-arms superior to their antecedents almost in the
ratio of flint locks over their more clumsy antecedent
—the slowly-burning match. Almost contemporary
with the general adoption of percussion locks by each
of the five great European Powers, each of them
separately devised and carried more or less com-
pletely into execution some improvement of the rifle
gun. Well recognised as were the advantages of rifles
over muskets on the score of accuracy of aim, never-
theless those deadly arms possessed many drawbacks in
a military sense. Of the latter, perhaps, the consider-
able effort and time required to rani the ball fully home
to the charge were the greatest ; they were conditions
fatal to the general adoption of rifles by troops of the
line, and circumscribed the application of the arm even
as regards special rifle corps.
Belore the rifle gun could become a generally
adopted and universally efficient military arm, it
was indispensable that the defects adverted to should
be remedied. Two principles of operation forthwith
suggested themselves—either to load at the breech,
or to devise some means of making a bullet enter the
mouth of the gun loose and come out tight. Nothing
but the difficulty of perfecting certain mechanical ar-
rangements in the gun itself prevented the accomplish-
ment of the former ; but, as to the latter, its accomp-
lishment seemed hopeless. Both problems nevertheless
have been solved—one in the Prussian needle gun,
the other in at least two varieties of rifle— the Minid
and the carabine a tige. Fortunately, too, nearly
all the recent improvements in rifles necessitated
the abolition of spherical projectiles—balls properly so
called—and the adoption of conoids—projectiles so
admirably suited by their form to the nature of rifle
guns, and so readily suggested by the very principles on
which these weapons depend, that the wonder is conoids
should have remained untried so long. One of the most
beautiful modifications of the rifle is due to the inge-
nuity of our own countryman, Mr. Lancaster, who,
perceiving the disadvantages attendant upon grooved
rifle guns, abolished grooves altogether, and bored his
rifle barrels with a rotating oval. When first Mr. Lan-
caster applied his oval principle to small fire-arms, he
probably did not contemplate the result to which it
might lead, but an author writing on the subject of pro-
jectiles in general, ventured to predict that, if ever the
problem of rifling ordnance should be solved, Lancaster's
principle of oval boring would contribute to its solution.
The prediction has been verified.
Certainly not least amongst the novel forms of fire-
arms are the repeating weapons of Colt, Adams,Witton,
and Dawe, and many others who have devoted them-
selves to this part of the subject. The repeating prin-
ciple, by means, of a revolving breech, affords an example
of the intimate alliance subsisting between two separate
discoveries, rendering one dependent on the other. The
idea of a revolving breech is by no means new. Long
before percussion locks were known or possible, rotating
flint acting pistols had been made, but they were totally
unfitted for actual use— in fact, until the discovery of
percussion locks, a safe and efficacious repeating pistol
could not have existed.
What next are we to have added to the grim armoury
of Bellona ? A contemporary gives place to suggestions
for abolishing gunpowder, and using other chemical
agents in its stead as alpropulsive force. Nothing can
be more absurd than such proposition. Gunpowder is
nearly too strong fur gun metal as matters stand ; why,
therefore, abolish, or think of abolishing, au old tried
friend 1 There is no hope, we say, in this direction.
Until guns can be made stronger than they are,
we dare not charge them with a stronger agent than ordi-
nary powder. Nevertheless, it does seem a pity that
some of the terribly explosive compounds known to elle-
miits should be lying idle as mere curiosities when a
few pounds weight of one out of many of them, brought
up ()lose to the casemated wails of Sebastopol and fired,
would shatter Cie grasite to fragments. Ordinary fulmi-
nating silver, for instance, is of this kind. To load a
shell with it and discharge that shell from any variety of
gun would be madness. The first impact of discharge
would infallibly burst the shell in the gun, and the result
wouli be frightful. There seems novalid reason, however,
to prevent the use of fulminating silver in connection
with congreve rockets. In this case the first impact is
trifling—by no means sufficient to ignite fulminating
silver; and the latter might be cemented in a cartridge
of gutta perch:, and only slipped into the rocket head
when required. Congreve rockets, we know, are some-
what erratic, but at a breaching distance they can at least
be depended upon to hit some part of a large fortifica-
tion. At any rate, there seems but little hope of em-
ploying as military agents the extremely violent explosive
compounds known to chemists otherwise than in con-
nection with rockets.—Morning Post.