Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1854-01-11
Military Operation In The East En.I,nd and Franc.

hihlarS operation In lie East England and France.
FROM the London Times, Dee. %.
The Journal de 81. PETERSBURG announces to the world
in repeated supplements, a long array os bulletins. ,r;oi.
cinss,, snd thanksgiSings, which form a strange contrast 10
narratives, and to the mass Of human suffering caused Dy
the hateful work OF destruction and ofdeath. 1.-THE most
pions Gar, says the Journalist of that Court, "thanked
the Lord OF Lords for the success Of the victorious Russian
arms which triumphed in the sacred combat for the ortho.
doS faith" II is difficult to express the disgust with which
one reads such expressions; and, bad as every part OF this
Transaction has been on the part Of Russia, these violations
OF the law Of nations and OF man are stamped with n deem,
er guilt when they are imputed to the favour of that Al
mighty Power which is the source of perfect Justice and
the aSenger Of innocent blood. This language and these
est pitch the fanaticism Of tho Russian people, and 10 Give
the character % a crusnue to the war. But beyond the
frontiers OF that empire they will serve only to display
more palpably the hypocrisy which first gave the signal Of
war under the preteIt OF religion, and has since preserved
the mask OF negotiation only to conceal more extensive
preparations and more violent aggressions.
Among the bulletins Of the Russian forces.-whicl
must be read with due allowance for the source they pro
coed rom,-the account OF the battle of Sinope il nv far
the most interesting, and, from the widespread destruc.
lion which overlook the Turks on that occasion. we must
probably accept the testimony Of the yictors az our chiel
evidence. Moreover, the facts, "a related by the Russians
themselves, completely bear ont the case against them
Admiral Nachiu"ii was cruising on the coast Of Anatolla,
when he perceived a squadron Of Turkish ships in the
roads oil SinoPr. lie must have seen that the Turkish
hotila was already inferior IN strength TO his own saua.
iron, Tor he bad tEen with him three two.deckers and six
frgatesi hg., not content with this advantage. he sent the
steamer Bessarabia back to S~ebasiopol to fetch three line.
OF battle ships OF l20 guns each; and it was till these
sniPsItme VIE de paris, The Grand Dnke Constantine,
and the Fri Sviatitelin-had joined his own fleet that he
proceeded to rcconnoitie the position Of the enemy
ihese three-deckers joined in the night of the eth OF
SoVemoer,- they must have been sent for some three OF
Iouf days before and the battle was not fought till the
"Oth. SO that the whole operation was planned and CT
ecuted with the utmost drhbcration, aud there Was annie
time Tor the Turkish authorities IN Sinope to have receiy
ea rein'"fcements IL they had seut for them. On the 3Oth
between = and I'D a. M. with q favorable north east breeze
tue Russians entered the roads in two divisions, under
cover OF fog and rain, which concealed their approach
until they were within Two hundrad yards OF the Turkish
frigates. The Russian AImiraIs shin. the Empre., Mari,
aud the Iihede Paris, leading the port division, dropped
'herr anchors, AMI the Turks opened their Gre.
The heavy three-deckers did terrific execution. and
several Of the Turkish ships we're blown nm by shells from
the htn7sian PaiShan guns. At 2 O'Clock the firing
ceased three Turkish irgates were in flames and the
transports altogether sunk. The Turkish portion Of the
'owh o. ,Sinope was on fire, but. by one OF those portents
"hlch only occur In these sacred contests, we are informed
by the bulletin that The cOnfagration respected the omar
ter lhhaolted by the Greeks. II does not appear that any
portion OF the crews or treasure on board had been landau
on tue following morning We are further told that uoHjDo
rHHdihed OF the Twelve yas-slz composing tho TnrkisI
squadron except q sloop aud q corvette run ashore, and
a panletta Egyptian irgatc, all Of which were then or
dereu TO no burnt. In these small vessels was found o..
man Pasha, the Admiral, wounded in tie leg, a few Off.
GERS, and about so men. These appear to be the sole
survivors, 81 an armament which must have numbered the
day before several thousand sosls. In this manner "a ue
were informed by Prince MonschikoT in his deqpatch.
the orders OF His Imperial Msjcsty have been most bril-
lastly executed" IL IL impossible To have further ptooI
that ths catastrophe was not the result Of a casual encoun.
Ter, but I deliberate assault on the vessels of Turkey and
W. tomn " HlhOpe' which were supposed to be under the
protection Of the French and English fleets.
The Russians remained ia the roadstead of Sinope nm.
W the "a OF December, aud II was not ill the 4tb that
they returned to the port Of SebastOpoI. From these dstes
u may be inferred that, when the intelligence of the hat
Tie reached Constanlinople on tho evening OF the 2d. II
was not 100 late to give effect TO Admiral Dundas' bold and
sealnanike proposal Of immediate pursuit. To make Sc
oastopoi With a breeze from tho northeast, .he Russian
heet must have sailed considerably to the west of the CI.
meai aud, had the operation proposed been executed az
raPidy az u was conceived, We might have beard by the
same courier OF the outrage aud Of the punishment Il
merited. ~ 3"
meanwhile, az " to remove all doubt from the character
Hhich hussia givestbi wal, we Learn that a sharp, though
,neHectual attack, hiss been made on Matschin. a Turkish
,oIt on the night bank Of an ara Of the Danube, which the
husIans probably intended IN convert into a Lie a, mont
oppo.No tneT oTn fortress Of HrtiloW, so as to cover the
passage Of their left wing. In Asia the war has been car
riod on with Vigour, and several actions fought, in which
'ne hu.'lans claim a decided advantage. Their bulletins
% evidently gross eIaggerations, but we are inclined TO
oeHv'e INST the result Of these eugap menta. in the Last
week OF November, was unfavornbIe 20 the Turks. The
iufkIsh army u too much subdiViied, and IN commanded,
" onceIs VINO are not even agreed on their plau Of ope-
Lh.'onsi ana The successive actions fought by General An
uIohlkoh and Prince Bedoutoh, show that the enemy fell
~ separate divisions Of the Turkish forces. One corps
mas already reiterated 10 disorder on Kars. aud we adhere
70 ime option We have already expressed, lhat we shall
sno'uy he'r OF the Russians marching on Ffzeroum. IL
= enutely useless, aud indeed mischioyoua. TO dispute
tne hct mat tile Turks have sustained on these occasions
s'eh' fe'eTAes, AZ everybody expected they would ir 20
"u,qia'a struggle but they haye at least shown q spirit
'"u Non'age not to be supposed by more civilized nations,