The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-27


hand a. Madrid. Consequently, we shall not
be surprised if we shall have acquired Cuba,
or rupture with France and Spain, in less
than six months"
Exciting News from Europe-Another Disas-
trous Victory OF the Allies.
The allies have gained another great victory
before Sebastopol, but II is victory which
like that OF the monarch Of Epirus, will not, we
fear, bear repetition. One or two more such
triumphs and the allied forces will melt away
like the hosts of Sennacherib. Instead of songs
of triumph and shouts of exultation, this fresh
success is welcomed in Epgand and France
with manifestations of dount, anxiety,
and even openly expressed apprehen-
sons. The French Emperor imposes re-
srrain,s upon the unreasonable gayety OF his
court, and the volatile population of Paris is for
once looking grave at the alarming turn which
the Crimean campaign is beginning to take !;
while in England the public mind is filled with
gloomy forebodings, and even the government
journals do not hesitate to give utterance to the
mis- givings which it inspires.
And well may the people of England and
France feel troubled at the prospects which the
Russian war is gradually disclosing to them.
In the blind calculations of their national ego
tism, in the arrogance of their military and ma,
val prestige, and in the pride of their combined
resources, these two great nations, which claim
the honor of marching side by side at the head
of civilization, have made the fatal mistake of
undertaking the power and resources Of the formi-
dable enemy they have undertaken to cope with.
They fancied that nation OF nearly seventy
millions of inhabitants, hardy, vigorous, enter
prising, and impressed with superstitious faith
in the greatness of its own destiny, was to be
overawed by the terror of their threats or over
run and subdued by their arms, with the same
facility as the nomadic tribes Of the African de-
serts, or the effeminate population of Hindos-
tan. They are beginning at last to discover
their error. Their arms, though thus far sue
cessful, are gradually exhausting themselves in
prodgious though disproportionate efforts
Their strength is wasting away faster than it
can be recruited from home, even with all the
advantages which they possess of facility of
transport by sea. AS proof of this, we may
cite the fact that out of the thirty thousand
English troops who were originally embarked
on this expedition it is estimated that only one
third of the number now remains. Between
The effects Of the climate, hardships disease and
losses in battle, we may presume that the same
inroads have been made on the other contin.
eerts. If these, them have been the results o.
the partial advance made towards the objects
of the expedition, what Will they be wheo the
winter comes TO add its severity to the suffer
iDgs which the troops have already endured
and wbep smbuldened by the superiority Of
their numbers, which are daily swelled by th'
arrival of fresh endorsements, the Russians
barrass and cut them up by frequently repeated
attacks, each engagement decimating thei
ranks not by hundreds but by tho isands, aud
each victory being infinitely more calamitous
than defeat?
Such, at present is the perspective that the
Crinean campaign holds out. The battle of
the 9th Of November-the details of which we
give elsewhere-iudging by the cautiously
worded despatch of General Canrobert, which
is as one-sided as any official document can be,
must have been quite as disastrous to the allies
as to the Russians. 1t is curious that OF late,
Notwithstanding heir professed desire to give
the fullest and promptest information to he
public, on all matters connected with the var
disposition has been manifested, by both the
English and French commanders, to hold back
specific statements of their losses. This is, no
doubt, to be attributed to the unwillingness OF
their respective governments to add to the dis
courag cement and depression which have seized
hold of the public mind in both countries. Gen.
eral Canrobert, for instance, takes care in his
dispatches to give estimates of the losses of the
enemy, but although he possesses much greater
facilities of verifying his own, we hear nothing
Of Ae probable amount of those sustained by
the allies. The Russians, we are told, lost from
5000 to 5000 men, whilst the sacrifices on the
part of the allies, by which this immense
slaughter was effected, is covered by the general
ization Of well rounded period, which
may mean mach but is intended to convey
little. Whether this suapressio reri occurs
in the original despatch, or is chargeable
TO the jealous supervision of M. Drouyn de
I'Huys or his master, it matters but little. In
either case it indicates in the most marked
manner the consciousness that matters are tax
ing rather o most unfavorable turn, and that
their influence upon the public mind is looked
forward to with apprehension. If this assump-
ton be correct, we are warranted in withhold
ing implicit credence from the French estimate