The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-10 00:00:00

HOW TO TAKE SEBASTOPOL.

A " Traveller" suggests that if we may escort
Ottoman troops from one Turkish town upon the
Black Sea to another, in the present relations of
the Porte with Russia, we are fully entitled to in-
tercept the transport of Russian troops between.
two Russian towns. If it is right that we should as-
sist Turkey in her warlike arrangements, it is equally
clear that we should impede like arrangements on the
part of Russia, otherwise we are simply encouraging
fighting and keeping up the spirits of the weaker
party, while we are at peace with both—a line
of policy utterly indefensible. If this is the
case, then, it is difficult to perceive why our
fleets are at this moment lying in Beycos
Bay, instead of cruising off the roads of Sebas-
topol. If we can give orders to the Russian fleet
at all, surely we may see that they obey them, more
especially when it is of the most vital importance
that they should do so. It is evidently a primary
object to intercept all communication between Odessa
and Sebastopol ; it will make all the difference to
our blue jackets a month hence, whether that for-
tress be garrisoned by ten thousand or by fifty
thousand men. In all probability the garrison has
been considerably increased within the last few
months, but to stop at once all further communica-
tion withl the mainland by sea and force it round
by way of the Isthmus of Perecop would be of in-
calculable advantage, while it would involve upon
the Emperor the disagreeable necessity of taking
the initiative, or, in other words, commencing the
war in downright earnest—a responsibility which,
in spite of all his bluster, he seems somewhat re-
luctant to incur. Upon the same principle, if
we may convoy troops to Georgia, why may
we not ferry them across to the Crimea ? The
time has surely arrived when that mountain.

' ous peninsula -may be occupied by a Turkish
army. With the Russian fleet safely cooped up
in Sebastopol, and the only troops which could op-
pose them retained within its walls for the defence
of the fort, there would be nothing whatever to
prevent Ottoman soldiers from landing in the mag-
nificent and capacious bay of Theodosia, and occu-
pying the entire Tauric Peninsula ; a whole army
might disembark at Theodosia before intelligence
could possibly be conveyed to Sebastopol, a dis-
tance of 120 miles. The intervening country is
composed of successive ranges of calcareous cliffs,
the highest point of which exceeds 5,000 feet ; the
features of the country are bold iu the extreme, and
the history of those wars which have already at
former periods devastated the Crimea prove how
well adapted for defence are its narrow gorges and
inaccessible fortresses. Theodosia lies at the ex-
treme eastern point of the limestone ridge, which
is here easily turned, and thou the undulating
steppe stretches away to the capital of the Crimea,
Simpheropol. Here, however, there are no troops
regularly stationed. The distance from Simphe-
ropol to Sebastopol is 40 miles. Immediately to the
south of Simpheropol and parallel with the coast
runs the first range, of cliffs, beyond which an
extensive and luxuriant valley is bounded on
the south by a still higher range. The only
entrances to this vale, now thickly inhabited by
a Mahometan population, are through gorges
sometimes so narrow that the bed of a stream
forms the only pathway. A magnificent road
leads along the southern shore at the base of the
second range ; but this would not he available
for Russian troops so long as a powerful fleet was
cruising off the coast, commanding it at every
corner, and threatening with instant destruction a
line of noblemen's chateaux, picturesquely perched
upon every available promontory. It would be,
therefore, a safe route for an invading army. It a
strong body of Ottoman troops, in health and con-
dition (after only a two days' passage across the
Black Sea), aided by an entire population in revolt,
and supported by an invincible squadron, after hav-
ing possessed themselves of the undefended crags
of the Crimea and its luxuriant valleys, could not
reduce the wretched garrison of Sebastopol in a few
days, the Emperor may be right in supposing that
he will ultimately conquer the allied fleets and
armies of Europe ; and while we waste the precious
weeks in waiting for " the initiative," we certainly
cannot wonder that he indulges in a delusion which
our present conduct only serves to foster.

DESTRUCTION OF A GLASGOW COTTON MILL. —OR
Saturday morning tho Oakbank spinning factory, near
Glasgow, was burnt to the ground, nothing being saved,
with the exception of a couple of stories at one of the
ends. Three hundred workers will be thrown idle by
the disaster.

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