Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-07-10

Tho Russian Massacre at Hango-lndignant
Comments of the British Press-A Loud Call
f,r Vengeance on the Russians
From the london Times.
II has never fallen In our lot in the course of n
Long experience to comment upon any one event
50 distressing to the best feelings Of this nation,
Ga disgraeeful to the enemy with whom We are at
var. 50 shameful II humanity. ms the massacre
committed by the Russians on the boats crew f
a British man of war on the 9th of June at Han
Not only do we mourn the loss of sixteen
gy,lIant Young fellows. whose fate would have
boon rl1rians if they had fallen by any of the
common accidents Of war.-not only are we re-
y,lted by the treachery which first allowed this
boat 10 reach the shore under a flag of truce, and
then hutchered the crew-unarmed, unresisting
with an overwhelming force of troops, who
sprang up from their lurking places in the rocks;
but while we drplore the passion and violence
which So base and feroeious an action will impart
ia every future encounter in this war, We partici-
mate in the conviction that 10 effort is too great
and no measure is too strong to bring the authors
of this crime to the condign punishment they de-
serve. War, no doubt, is full of horrors and is
marked by a long track of devastation and of
blood; but it is also the school of honor, and no
laws are more sacred than those which regulate
its excuses. Between civilized nations those
acts of forbearance and of courtesy which are
not unfreqnent even in the heat of a contest, NIT
irnte the wilder passions, and show that in de
Tending the interests Of their country the comba-
tants have not forgotten the rights of humanity.
The boat Of the Cossack was engaged in one of
these very errands Of ciyility ut the moment when
this murdernus onslaught was made upon it. 1t
was to convey seven Finnish prisoners to Iango,
whom the Admiral had no wish to detain, as they
were not in the service of Russia, chat the boat
was sent on shore. The stewards of the mess ac-
companied the panty, in the hope that this little
attention would be acknowledged by the permits
sion to buy some fresh provisions. Thus coniiding,
thus deceived, Lieut.. Geneste and his men pulled
in behind the islands off lInngo Point. It may
here be observed that this was no plot of our Off
GERS to send a boat into Hango llarbor, for orders
had been given by the Admiral to land the prison
ers wherever they pleased, and it was by their
own choice that Hango was selected.
A flag of truce visible from the shore, was fly
ing all the time on the ship, and ON approaching
the iettv the officer in command OF the boat again
waved the same ensignof peace. 1t Is, howev-
or. apparent from the result that the approach OF
this boat on its friendly errand had been deiber-
atelv used by the Russian officers in command at
Uanpo TO organize one ofthe most detestablo and
bloody stratagems recorded in history. Five
hundred armed men lay concealed in the imme-
date neighborhood of the landing place. The
liberated prisoners and the officers Jumped out of
the boat. they were Immediately surrounded by
this overwhelming force.
j ne llStTtdlI COMMANDING INV p''g - no
to have been a man ofsome education, for he
spoke English-enough at least, TO utter a brutal
oath upon that flag of truce which he was about
TO violate. BY his order the rifemen opened a
sharp fire Immediately and unfortunately on
the officers who had landed; on the men in the
boat, and even on the Finnish prisoners who had
lust been set on shore, and who fell to a man UNI
der the meroiless bullets of their own tyrants.-
Every man was struck down, and, with one eX-
~cpption murdered. One wounded man was drag
ged out of the bottom of the boat, where he had
fallen, and bayonetted upon the ietty. One sole
survivor marvelously escaped by feigning death
as soon as he was hit, and ultimately cutting the
boat adrift.
Another account says that Henry Giiddon, A.
B., was the wounded man who was taken from
the boat and bayonetted on the wharf by the
Russians, and that DIR. Easton was the first man
shot down
A crime of this nature-a violation of all that
is held sacred and honorable and brave among
men-leaves an indelible trace upon the annals
of a nation. A period of22 years has not et
faced from the memory of the people of England
the atrocity of the Amboynam massacre, when an
English sea captain and nine of his men were
sacrificed 10 the suspicious policy of the Dutch;
and a century has not diminished the lnfamy
which the night Of the Black Hole of Calcutta
left upon the memory of the ruler of Bengal.
As long as the annals of this memorable year
are recorded in the pages OF history, the inassa'
ere of Hango will rank with these sinister
achievements. for no parallel can be found to
it save in the worst aud most perfidious actions
which have disgraced humanity. Indeed, this
surprise exceeds them all, for our gallant coun-
trymen were cut off in the very performance of
an act of courtesy and kindness, and under the
shelter of an ensign which every nation but the
Russians knows how to respect.
Throughout the world, wherever this tale rs
told, the compassion felt tor this untimely end ct
these brave young fellows, will be followed by a
thrill of horror at the guilt of their murderers.-
Throughout the CorId, ,chererer the British ma
az can carry its flag or point its guns, an apeng-
ing spirit riii pdk the deep. and not a British
seaman afloat but will remember the boats crew
of the Cossack in the hour of battle.
The advices, as published in the foreign news
Yesterday. would seem to throw some doubt over
the reported wholesale massacre. The Russian
accounts state that only six were killed and Lieut..
Geneste, DIR. Easton, and others, are held as pri-
soners. The Englisa account is based upon the
statement of John Brown, colored seaman who
reported himself as the only survivor.