The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-19 00:00:00

SCRUTATOR:

" THE TIMES" AND THE HERO OF THE
REDAN. •

TO THE EDITOR OF THE M•RNING ADVERTISER.
Sir,—lt is impo4sible to judge at present, before
we have the complete details, whether General
TViudham has, or has not, conduct d himself like
an able commander in the reverse which he has
lately met with—the only one the English have as
yet fairly encountered in India. But, it appears,
the Times is res ,lved to support him, right or
wrong. Mr. Russel!, the Special Correspondent,
and the Times itself, have dubbed General Wind-
ham, the Hero of the Redan, and to admit that their
hero could conduct himself otherwise than as a
hero, would be to admit that the Times was not
Infallible, and to such an admission your great con-
temporary would never submit. It is only about
two years and a half since the attack on the
Redan, and it is almost already a forgotten affair ;
such have been the innumerable incidents of the
present warfare in India. But it is worth while

lo refer back once more to this episode of the
Crimean struggle, were it for nothing else than to
show the immense influence of' the Press, and how
reputations are obtained and destroyed. •
The Redan, we all know, was assaulted before
the approaches were sufficiently near to admit of
a successful attack. The Malakoff was quite
ready for the assault; the attack upon the Redan
was undertaken principally to afford a diversion in
favour of the Erench. The attack upon the Redan
failed ; but Pelissier, Niel, the 'General of the
Engineers, Hamelin, the French Admiral, and the
Commander-in-Chief of the Sardinian army, all of
whom had seen the assault frOth the heights, de-
scribed the conduct of the- English as admirable.
This would not, howeier,' do for Mr. Russell,
the Special Correspondent. He was determined
the English should not enjoy the honour conferred
upon them by the generals I have just referred to.
He could not, however, contradict what they had
described, and which had been witnessed by the
three armies. But he narrates what took place
within the Redan after a few hundred English had
obtained a footing there. This, of course, Mr.
Russell could only report from hearsay, for he does
not exactly venture to tell us that he himself ac-
companied the assaulting column to this point. He
does not, however, give us the name of his infor-
mant, which he was bound to do when he took
upon himself to attack the honour and the courage
of the English soldiers.

Mr. Russell tells us in his correspondence that
Colonel Windham—he was only colonel at that
period—behaved, like a hero, but that he was not
seconded by his men; that he wanted the soldiers
t2SI44II)(II44IIPIAIV*I4AIt PCB Uftlldalad,
that Colonel Windham, finding that the Redan
could not be taken by the men with him, deter-
mined to return to the trenches to bring up himself
a fresh body of troops ' • but in order that there
might be no mistake as to the object of his absence,
rielonel Wiindham made it known that his sole
object in leaving his men was to bring up rein-
forcements ; that during his absence, before he
could bring up the fresh troops, the nglish were
at last dislodged from the Redan, ti • great, r part
being killed.

Such was the substance of the correspondence
sent by Mr. Russell to his newspaper. I refer you
to the Times of that period. Everybody at the
moment believed it. The poor English soldiers
were set down as cowards. Colonel Windham was
thus manufactured by Mr. Russell and the Times
into a hero, and has been ever afterwards styled
by them the Hero of the Redan. Now, to all this
flaming narration of Mr. Russell Were is one
objection—it is totally contrary to fact. Ido not
exactly charge Mr. Russell—who, not being there
himself, could only report from hearsay—with
writing what he knew to be false. But, in order
to exculpate himself, Mr. Russell is bound to name
his informant, which he has never yet done. The
fine romance of Colonel Windham leaving his men
in order to bring up reinforcements, and being so
anxious his honour should not suffer by its being
supposed that his absence was occasioned by any
other cause—all this romance, I say, had not the
slightest foundation ; for it is now well known to
every officer who served in the Ci imea that Colonel
Windham left his men, not to bring up new rein-
forcements, but simply to inform General Codring-
ton that it was utterly useless to sand up new forces
—the Redan was impregnable.
Whether Colonel Windham was right or wrong
in leaving his men at such a moment, and for such
a purpose, I will not take upon myself to say ; I
will only hint that, had Lord Cardigan done the
same, we should never have heard the last of it
from the Times.

General Windbam was an officer of the Guards
and of the Staff, and is the only one of the aris-
tocratic class who has been sent to India as
General. Codrington volunteered, but was re-
fused. He owes this appointment entirely to his
name of the hero of the Redan. But for this name
all the generals sent to India would have consisted
of such men as Colin Campbell, Havelock, Neil,
Wilson, and other soldiers of fortune, to whom,
when at a pinch, the Horse Guards are always
obliged to have recourse.

Tile Times has thus not only had the honour of
erecting General Windham into a hero, but it has
also had the honour of sending: him out to India as
the Lieutenant of Sir Colin Campbell.
Your obedient servant,
Jan. 16, 1858. SUUM CUIQUI TRIBUTUM.