The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-29 00:00:00

VARNA.

There are unmistakeable signs that the army is
about to move. Ido not speak of the secret con-
ferences of Generals, of the hasty despatches flying
between Rustchuk and Varna, and between Varna
and Constantinople, of the uneasy movements of
Lord Stratford -de. Redcliffe from Therapia to
Stamboul and back again, or of the activity
of aides-de-camp, and the fussiness of the
staffs ; but day after day. French and English
war, steamers and transports arrive here with
large horse boats in tow, fit for landing men,
and horses, and guns. A number of a peculiar
but useful kind of vessel has been constructed at
Constantinople and elsewhere for our use, and sent
up to Varna. Each vessel consists of two of the
large Turkish boats of the Bosphorus, which are
about 50 feet long and about 8 feet broad, fastened
to another and planked over at top, so that there is
a little kind of raft formed, not drawing more than
a foot of water, and capable of landing two heavy
guns and their men, or of carrying 150 or 200 men
with the greatest ease. The quantity of stores com-
ing out is enormous, and all the large steam trans-
ports are ordered to supply themselves with six
weeks' provisions for the number of men which
each is calculated to carry. Each of the transport
ships bears its distinctive .flag, so as to prevent
confusion, and each under the command of a
naval officer. Thus, each division of the army
will have a division of transports for its spe-
cial service and carriage, and each division
of transports will be conveyed by a squadron
of ships of war. This grand fleet consists of
steamers of a magnitude, burden, and speed
hitherto unknown in any operation of war—of such
vessels as the Himalaya, the Simla, the Emeu, the
Hydaspes, the Melbourne, the Victoria, the
Orinoco, the Avon, the City of London, the
Emperor, the Colombo, the Tonning—and of
sailing vessels which would constitute a formidable
navy of themselves alone. Our men-of-war
steamers could probably land 20,000 men in their
boats in two hours ! The artillery which we have
out here at present, under General Cator, consists
of the siege train (30 guns out), commanded by
Captain Gambier (vice Flude, gone home sick) ;
the Royal Horse Artillery, Colonel Strangeways ;
the Artillery of the Light Division, Col. nacres ;
of the First Division, Col. Lake ; of the Second
Division, Colonel Dupuis; and of the Third
Division, Colonel Fitzmayer. Each division has
12. field guns attached to it, so that there are. 48
field guns in all. There are; besides, 12 guns of
is calculated that our boats
uHnos.rse-It Artillery—the latter are 6 and 9
thepounder iloa
l guns.
I will suffice to land these 56 guns at one trip ; but
the facilities for landing the heavy siege guns are
not so evident. Toe French siege train has not all
arrived at Constantinople, but it is stated some of
it is lying in the Bosphorus.
Relative to the great fire, "a correspondent writes
as follows :
" I have just returned from a visit to the ruins. The
scene would be grand, but that the dense clouds of smoke
from burning wood quite blind and almost suffocate you.
The great mass of fire is got under, though it still burns
and smoulders, or bursting out into a flame as it seizes
upon some abandoned house upon its precincts. About
30 houses have been destroyed in this manner during
this afternoon and tonight. One half of Varna is a heap
of fiery ruins. As I have already said, it broke out in
the midst of the most thriving and busy parts of the
town • every shop and store, every magazine and canteen,
has been destroyed.
"The damage is estimated at 100,000,000 of piastres,
about 800,0001. sterling. Th;s statement, I should ima-
gine, must be exaggerated, though the total loss of the
•English, French, and Turkish army and commissariat
stofes must make something enormous. Half the natives
of the town have been reduced from comfort to beggary.
They have literally lost everything they possessed iu the
world. . .
"Three incendiaries, who, it is said, were taken in the
act are in custody, and according to general report will
be shot to-morrow ; and I have heard from 50 sources
that a French serjeant of engineers captured a Greek to-
night while in the act of setting fire to a lumber-room in
the general hospital here. It is said that he was taken
out by the guard and massacred upon the spot. If the
statement is true, the punishment was almost less than
he deserved. It is complained that an immense number o
k.
•obberies were committed during the fire. 4,000 of the
Fre. nch troops, Sappers, Engineers, Zouaves, and sol-
diers of the line, with a large force of English and
French a, `hors, are to remain on duty and throw water
et: the
sail t:'lazing ruins until all signs of fire areextinct.
rel Theyrelieved eodf ce
ov
vie
rrys:• 1
~.. have4hou nr
so.
It et nt s
will, abne d
a, wf
oo
rr
tkning
igh
to bard,
r ore
three
weeks yet before ~-'ll
fire is extinguished, as in some
places the mass of bu.o
-et
to the depth of 20 or 25 I. •
ire it is believed that the in-
" In consequence of trhein:
oat owed for the
tended embarkation of the t:"P8 is P
d whole materials cover wh acres
present."

ditches by the road-sides, under the blazing
rays of the sun, covered with swarms of flies-.
You see them in stupid sobriety gravely paring,
the rind off cucumbers of portentous dimen-
sions, and eating the deadly cylinders one after
another to the number of six or eight, till there
is no room for more—all the while sitting in groups
n the fields or on the flags by the shops in the
pen street, and looking as if they thought
they were adopting highly sanitary measures for
heir health's sake ; or frequently three or four of
hem will make a happy bargain with a Greek for a
large basketful of 'apricots, " killjohns," scarlet
pumpkins, water melons, wooden pears, and green
"gages" and plums, and then they retire beneath
the shade of a tree, where they divide and eat tle
luscious food till nought remains but a he qit of peel,
rind, and stones. They dilute the mass of fruit
with raki, or peach brandy, and then straggle
home or go to sleep as best they can. One day I
•aw a Zouave and a huge Grenadier staggering up
the street arm in arm, each being literally laden
with enormous pumpkins and cucumbers, and in
the intervals of song—for one was shouting out,
" Cheer, boys, cheer," in irregular spasms, and
the other was chaunting some love ditty of a very
lachrymose character—they were feeding each other
with a cueumher. One took a bite and handed it
to his friend, who did the same, and thus they
were continuing their amphibian banquet till the
Englishman slipped on a stone and went 'down into
the mud, bringing his friend after him—pumpkins,
,:ueumbers, and all. The Frenchman disengaged
himself briskly, but the Grenadier at once composed
himself to sleep, notwithstanding the entreaties of
Phis companion. After dragging at him, head, legs,
arms, shoulders, the Zouave found he could make
no impression on the inert mass of his friend, and
regarding him in the 'most tragic manner possible-,
lie clasped his hands, and exclaimed "Tu es lh,
clone, mon ami, mon cher Jeeon ! Eh bien, je me
coucherai avec toi ;" and calmly fixing a couple of
cucumbers for a pillow, he lay down, and was soon
snoring in the gutter in unison with his ally. I
was glad to see them taken off to the Corps de
Garde in abOut five minutes afterwards, as a lucky
patrol happened to come its round through the
street. The Turkish soldiers are equally careless
of their diet and living.