The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-06 00:00:00

THE WEATHER-SUN OFFICE, MARCH 6.

THERMOMETER, IN THE. SHADS.
47—highest since noon yesterday.
42 —lowest this morning and during the night.
45—this day at noon.
BAROMBTAR-30 23—rising again.
WIND, N.N.E., rather fresh, with doll, cold weather.

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LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1856.

Some light has at length been thrown on the
untoward event that " satisfied the honour of the
Russian arms," and inflicted serious injury and
indelible disgrace on the cause which the Allied
Powers had made such serious sacrifices to main-
tain. The official " papers relative to the military
affairs in Asiatic Turkey, and the defence and
capitulation of Kars" have just been published.
Authentic data are thus supplied from which
every man can forni bis- own judgment as to the
causes that led to that deplorable catastrophe, and
enabled the Cult to offer something approaching
to an equivalent (in the eyes of Asiatic potentates)
for the fall of Sebastopol and the other reverses
that attended his areas in the Crimea, the Sea of
Azeff, and at Kinbourn—which enabled him to
maintain at least a portion of his quondam, prestige
in the eyes of those whom it was of vital import-
ance to impress with an accurate knowledge of his
true position. Tbey are indeed of a truly painful
character,, and prove beyond the possibility of
doubt the gross mismanagement and incapacity,
or Jornething worse, to which the fall of Kars and
the sacrifice of the gallant men by whom it was
so efficiently defended may justly be attributed.
It is, of course, impossible within the compass
of an ordinary article to di cuss all the matters
contained in a blue book,,containing no less than
356 pages and 300 despatches. It is only pos-
sible at present to glance at the salient points,
and to indicate how the parties chiefly concerned
are thereby implicated in these unfortunate pro-
ceedings. There will, of course, be a complete
discussion in Parliament of the entire matter,
when the contents of the voluminous addition to
the Blue Book literature have been completely di-
gested, and maturely considered by Honourable
Gentlemen. It is to be hoped that the result
will be to place the responsibility on those by
whom it should fairly be borne, to justify the
innocent, and to cast the entire burden on the
real offenders.

One fact is clearly and unequivocally esta•
bliehed. General Wu.Lum and hie devoted cox•

panions pass triumphantly through the ordeal.

All that w as possible for men to accomplish
was eflecte d. They discharged their ardu-
ous land Cin aportant :duties with ability, fidelity,
and zeal, and had their urgent representa-
tions rec,aived the attention to which they
were pre-eminently" entitled, Kars would
still remain a Turkish possession, and Russia
could offer no set-off against the capture and de-
struction of Sebastopol. The greatest, most bril-
liant success that could have been achieved would
not have reflected greater honour on General WIL-
LIAMS than the truly noble stand wlaich he made
under most discouraging and adverse circum
stances. Had we had men of such sound judg-
ment and indefatigable energy in other situations,
we should not have an inquiry pending into the
causes of the serious disasters that occurred to the
army before Sebastopol.

It is also right to say that the conduct of Lord
CLARENDON was much better than had been
generally supposed. So far back as the 11th of
January, 1855, the Noble Earl remonstrated with
Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE on his gross neg-
ligence, regretting the silence which he, the natural
protector of the British Commissioner, observed
towards him when "surrounded by robbers and
traitors," and requiring the Ambassador to afford
all the assistance in his power, so as to have the
ortress put in a proper state of defence. We cer-
tainly cannot complain of any act of commission
on the part of the Home Government. Whether
they stand 'so clear from sins of omission is
another question. It seems to us that there
should have been a little more energy of
remonstrance on the imperative necessity of
forthwith relieving the beleaguered city, and
taking care that the money which was
lying idle in the Bank of England, and which
was absolutely essential, should be promptly de-
voted to the chief object for which it had been
raised. These matters will remain for future
consideration. We may also add, that Lord
CLARENDON strongly advocated the propriety cf
OMER PACH♦ advancing by way of Erzeroum, but
he was unfortunately overruled in that respect,
and we have witnessed the melancholy result of
that grave mistake.
Another person, who seems entitled to :treat
credit for his conduct, is Mr. BRANT, formerly
consul at Etzerouns. This gentleman strenuously
and emphatically remonstrated with Lord STRAT-
FORD on the gross negligence displayed. He said
—"I ask your Excellency, is the Kars Army to
be allowed to perish ? Is nothing to be done to
relieve it ? for all that the Porte has lately done is
quite insufficient for the purpose. I have before
pointed out that ON[ER PACIEA'S tinily should have
keen directed on Kars by wayof Erzeroum, and not
on Georgia. And had that been done Kars might
long since have been saved. I now fear it must
surrender, and to confer honours on its gallant
defenders while they are left to perish, is a cruel
mockery and an indelible disgrace to the Turkish
Government as well as to those of the Allied
Powers !" This is the bold and straightforward
language befitting an English official, and such as
will command the unqualified approbation of the
Nation. He also on another occasion attributes
all the danger to the apathy of the Porte, and
the cowardice and imbecility of SELIM PACEEA !
With these parties our approbation must cease.
A very different feeling will be excited respecting
Lord STRATFORD, who left fifty•four urgent de-
spatches of General WILLIAMS unanswered, on the
shuffling and evasive pretext that he was anxious
" not to occasion disappointment by announcing
measures which might or might not be carried
into effect !" Would not anything have been
better than the total and unbroken silence that
must so greatly have discouraged the gallant ap-
plicant ? While lit, forgot to obtain, or even
to ask, from the Turkish Government the
recognition which would so materially have
strengthened his hands and enlarged his authority.
For these matters Lord STRATFORD will have to
render a heavy account to the Nation ; and his
tardy efforts in a right direction cannot re-
deem his culpable apathy and indifference,
to which much of the evils that followed may b. 3
ascribed.

We regret to find that the French authorities
did not pull with the English as strongly as could
have been desired. There are also just grounds
of complaint against, not only the incapacity,
but gross corruption exhibited by many Turkish
officials, and that led to the strong language used
by Lord CLARENDON when speaking of General
WILLIAMS as " surrounded by robbers and
traitors."

All thes3 matters must, however, be brought
before Parliament, when the truth will be fully
elicited, and every participator in these transac-
tions treated according to his merits or demerits.

JAMES THURGOOD has been found guilty of
being accessory to the wilful murder of WILLIAM
HALES, and sentenced to death. THURGOOD was
a poacher, HALES, a gamekeeper, and the latter
dies in virtue of a blood-feud between the two
classes as embittered as any between the savage
clans of the desert tribes. Murder, whether in
Ireland or in England, must he put down at any
cost ; society cannot tolerate, cannot well co-exist
in a civilised state, with blood revenge ; but,
assuredly it has something more to do than
merely to convict and execute the murderer. It
must first be asked whether the legal provocations
to murder are worthy of civilised society ; and if
eviction laws and game laws remain in a form
which converts men into ruffians, Legislators have
much to answer for if they do not modify or
repeal them. The " sacred right" of property
in land is net, however, -what we wish now to
dwell upon, let it be ever so "sacred—and we
would only ask, is it civilisation that property in
pheasants and hares should be equally sacred?
There is a horrible fierceness gendered by the
attempt to maintain and enforce the latter right.
It is attacked and defended in mortal encounters.
Men armed with guns perambulate nocturnally
the game preserves of the squire, and poachers,
armed with guns, enter them to capture the arti-
ficially valuable prey. Sheep and pigs are
certainly worth much more than pheasants, and
we suppose outnumber them, and numerous
are the stomachs whiat need and desire the
food they would furnish ; even poultry
are not very much less valuable than game—
yet we
of shepherds,
do not read of night encounters
swineherds, or poultry keepers,
with sheep, and fowl stealers. There is a pecu-
liarity in the case of game, of which, argue as we
will, we cannot alter the f Let. The shepherd is
not, like the gamekeeper, the Squire's pet, and
the enemy of half the village ; and the sheep-
stealer, on the ether hand, is not commended or
concealed by his neighbours. It cannot be era-
cated from popular feeling, that poaching, per se,
is no crime ; and the hungry villagers who wily
give evidence willingly against the sheep-stealer,
or even the robber of the hen-roost, will screen
the poacher if they can. The English peasant
understands and respects the rights of property,
but he does not believe in the right of pheasants
and hares to that venerated designation ; and all
the national schools and the magisterial lectures
on the subject will fail to convince him. The