The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-12 00:00:00

CIRCASSIA.

The Invalids Kusse of the Ist publishes some
details of the military operations which have lately
taken place by the Russians in the Caucasus against
Schamyl, of which we have had only. a brief men-
tion. Prince Orbelian, wishing to occupy the
plateau of Salatavia, advanced towards that posi-
tion in the middle of June, with ten battalions of
infantry, seven squadrons of cavalry, and ten
pieces of artillery. Schamyl, having received in-
formation of the attack meditated against him,
caused all the families with their flocks to remove
from the villagesinto the interior, and thenoccupied
the villages with his troops. On the 4th July
be himself arrived at Salatavia with reinforcements.
He endeavoured to cut off the- supplies of Prince
Orbelian, in order to compel the Russians to retreat.
The intended manoeuvres of the Tcherkeses were
however betrayed, and they were themselves sur-
rounded and attacked on all sides at once. A small
number of tliem only submitted, the others pre-
ferred to fight to the last, and 400 of them were
killed. Among them were Ismail Naib, the
aitemir of Salatavia, a cacti, and several other
notable personages. The combat lasted five hours ;
the Russians, according to their report, had Only
three officers and eight soldiers killed and 44
wounded. Prince Orbelian attained the object of
his movement, and got possession of the important
post of Salatavia.
Th• St. Petersburg accounts of the 4th inst.
mention a report sent to the Government on the Bth
ult. concerning a very brilliant affair which took
place on the 3d at Glendschick, on the coast of the
Black Sea. The report has been forwarded by
Major-General Filipson, the officer in command of
the Russian troops in those parts, and states that
the Filibustering troops, under the orders of a
certain Colonel Lepinsky, had been surprised by
the Russians landing troops under Major Bones-
chow, who had succeeded in capturing a large quan-
tity of powder, two rounds of grape-shot, 500
grenades, and other valuable stores of ammuni-
Von, which had been placed there in charge of
the garrison, and been thought quite se-
care from any Russian attack. The Russians
are said to have had only eight men severely
wounded and two killed in storming the defensive
works and capturing the guns in position. The
whole affair appears to have taken place ,from the
too great confidence reposed in the courage of the
garrison to defend their position by Lepinsky, who
had otherwise used every precaution in fortifying
the point of danger, as far as science was concerned.
The Russian Government has given orders for
the construction of screw machinery for nine ships-
of-the-line, two corvettes, arid ten garnets, besides
four transport ships. There are at present in the
camp of Peterhoff no less than 4,000 cadets be-
lonzing to the army, princ,pally in the branch of
artillery, and the Grand Duke Nicholasis often
employed in witnessing their exercise in gunnery.

THE PRINCIPALITIES.
The Nord contains the following remarks on the
late diplomatic rupture at Constantinople
" We have received letters which complete and
correct, in certain points, the details given as to
the nature and bearing 3 of the proceedings of the
ambassadors of the four powers on the subject of
the elections of Moldavia. According to these
accounts, what took place was this :—The ambas-
sadors did not demand, ai some of the Austrian
and English journals assert, the dismissal of the
caimacan, nor did they even demand, as most
journals have alleged, the pure and simple annul-
ment of the elections which they knew t be
stained with fraud ; they merely asked that a
strict verification of the elections should be pro-
ceeded to, in order to establish publicly and
clearly whether the prescriptions of the firman con-
voking the electors had been observed or viola+ed.
At any other place than Coustintinople, and on
any other occasion, people would only have seen
in this proposition what it really meant—namely,
the desire to give to Europe and to the popula-
tions of the Ottoman empire a striking proof of
the goad dispositions of the Ottoman government,
or of affording that government the opportunity of
repairing the faults and abuses committed, and'
which might have been ascribed to the blind zeal
of functionaries acting from culpable motives. The