The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-21 00:00:00

General Simpson and his successor. Admiral
Hamelin, the Duke de Malakhoff, Marshal Can-
robert, Marshal Bosquet, Generals Regnault de
St. Jean d'Angely, De Salles, Niel, M'Mahou, are
all present. These men saw the landing at Old
Fort covered by a British fleet ; fought action after
action in company with the British ; they shared
with them in the dreary labour of the trenches for
eleven months ; they saw tens of thousands of
their men brought to the seat of war in British
transports, and their sick carried down to the Bos-
phorus by the same means. They have been
thanked as a body by the British Parliament, and
wear severally the Order of the Bath on their
breasts. Yet at this great official banquet the
English are never once mentioned. We are as
much ignored as if no English soldier had set foot
in the Crimea, as if no English sailor had ever
entered the Black Sea. Marshal St. Arnaud is
spoken of as having made for himself at the Alma a
winding-sheet of the tricolor of regenerated
France ; Marshal Canrobert has the praise of hav-
ing disciplined an army for the conquest of Sebas-
Itopol ; and to Marshal Pelissier is ascribed the
crown of final success. The Generals are congra-
tulated on having renewed the glorious traditions
of the Republic and the first Empire. "Posterity
will say that at Moscow our fathers vanquished
the Russians, but were overcome by the elements;
while at Sebastopol you have overcome the ele-
ments and vanquished the Russians. In history
1854 will respond to 1812. The immense advan-
tage of the war—l say it with pride—is that you
have proved that France still has her Grand
Army.' " Such is the speech of his Imperial
Highness Prince Napoleon.
The two Commanders-in-Chief, Marshals Pelis-
sier and Canrobert, return thanks, and propose
fresh toasts in much the same style. The French
army, its conquest of Sebastopol, and its termi-
nation of the war, are the themes of high lauda-
tion. No other force is mentioned. No allied
Generals are even remotely alluded to as sharing the
glory and the untimely end of St. Arnaud, or the
success and happy return to home of Pelissier and
Canrobert, Niel and Bosquet. We are always
hearing from a certain military set in England of
the esteem which Lord Raglan enjoyed ; how ho
was beloved, admired, and deferred to by his
foreign colleagues, and anecdotes innumerable are
related of this fond and chivalrous confidence.
Yet here the dead English General is unnamed.
Not one of the 52 guests present, not one of the
band of Generals who for so many months met him
in the field or at the council-table, had a word for
the memory which it has been asserted they so
much cherish. Of course, his successors are equally
unnoticed.

In fact, the mot d'ordre evidently was to sup-
press England, and the military failures, the last
and greatest of which was at the Redan, have
given a colour—false as it is—to the cavalier silence
of the Palais Royal. General Simpson, at the
crowning struggle of the war, was unequal to the
occasion, sent an insufficient force of raw youths to
assault a formidable position, was repulsed, omitted
to renew the attack, and failed even to occupy the
place when it was deserted. The result was that the
fall of Sebastopol was mainly the result of a French
exploit. The apology was, that the attack on the
Redan permitted the capture of the Malakoff, and
that a chivalrous ally would not suffer our reputa-
tion to suffer. Whore, now, is the chivalry
Where is the acknowledgment of English services ?
The victor in the eyes of the world takes all the
benefit of appearances. We may prove our merits,
if we can, to a listless audience, which has already
formed its conclusions, and is tired of the whole
subject. Of what avail are mere conventional re-
wards ? General Simpson has his four grand
crosses, and General Codrington is placed over the
heads of other Generals and covered with decora-
tions. But these cannot alter the opinions of the
world, nor restore the prestige which has been lost.
What was the position our Generals had won for
us we may judge by the French banquet. It was
reserved for the courage of the present Premier
and the patriotic resolution of the English people
to insure the fruits of our joint victory, to restore
the country to a leading place in Europe, and re-
gain in the Cabinet the reputation which our Gene-
rals had lost us in the field.