Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-07-19

the French leaving 600 prisoners
| We remark that is was only after twenty-four
hours bombardment when tho assault was made,
fact which seems TO establish the correctness of
the observations made by the Times in its leader
OF Monday last. That journal accuses General
Pellssier OF the greatest imprudence, and attri-
butes to him the responsibility for the unheard- of
losses sustained during that day. 1t would APP
pear, IN fact, that contrary to all the rules of art
the assault on the Malakoff fort was ordered
without breach having been made. The Gen
eral wished to take this immense ratification by
a coup de main, as he had already taken the
Mamelon. What the cost has been Of this at
tempt at escalade, ordered by madmen and exc
cuted by braves, may be dssmuated, but it is
nevertheless known that one division, the May
ran division, almost entirely annihilated.
The general who commanded it was killed. OF
the six French divisions, the Monet division is
the one which, next to the Mayran division,
suffered the most. IL is even announced that
this division also lost its general. They speak
likewise of six colonies killed But although
M. Bonaparte's government could not succeed
in hiding the names of the general officers and
superiors who have disappeared it is not thus
with the mere soldiers; and Revolution alone
will one day tell to France the names of those
who are lost. Revolution will make an appeal
for the dead; and, the empire having fallen, she
will appear as an avenger in the midst of the
servile crowds, and begin by fiinging in their
| faces the names of hundred thousand dead
| bodies
| The English government, in its constitutional
capacity, believes itself obliged to publish re-
turns. 1t remains to be ascertaned if these re-
turns are correct. | doubt it, while comparing
the official total with the much more probable
! total which is given by the newspapers, and
which rises to four thousand. One thousand two
hundred and ninety-five men, killed and wound
ed, is all which the mortuary statement Of the
English cabinet acknowledges, This is evidently
a number fixed by Bonaparte. Mr.. Palmerston
counts sixteen officers killed, of whom one gene
raj and two colonies, and sxty-nine officers
wounded, of whom one general and eight colo
nels; in all eighty-fve officers hors de combat
The twelve hundred men, killed or wounded,
which he acknowledges, are the ordinary proper
ton of soldiers for that number of officers He
cannot admit any less; but all the accounts de-
plore much larger number. The number stated
by Lord Panmure ought, therefore, only to be ac-
cepted with all reservations. For myself, re-
iect it completely, after reading the English
sheets. The English ministry is at this time
much embarrassed by the Roebuck proposition.
May the ministry not have sought to extenuate
the catastrophe in order not to be overthrow
byit? Mr. Palmerston is very capable of having
cheated over the dead bodies He sees in the
sepulchre of the English soldiers only cabinet
question; he sees in the national mourning only
his black coat, and in the winding sheet of Eng
land only his white cravat.
will not discuss the funeral figures published
by the French government; they have not even
probabilities in their favor, and this publicity, so
contrary to its usual course, renders them suspi-
cicus to me-
In spite of all these falsehoods and all these
sacrilegious jugglings, public opinion is opening
its eyes, and the two peoples are in a profound
CONSERVATION.
Eight months has the whole world been wait
ing for this assault All has been sacrificed to
this hope-men and milliards. The fall of Sc.
bastopol had become the only idea of France,
the Deienda Carthage of Paris. The assault
alone was thought Of Almost all the disasters
of the interior were forgotten while thinking of
this promised glory-the ruin Of commerce, the
famine, three harvests lost, the failure of the Ex-
hibiton, the sorrow at the conscription, the loss
Of liberty, the sitting Of rights, the death of the
Republic, the ignominy of slavery, all were
nearly eflaced in the wish and in the attempt for
military glory which should lift us up in our
own eyes. Sebastopol having fallen, Paris was
TO dclude itself with the belief Of standing erect
II seemed possible for it TO come out from the
abyss with the scaling of this siege. Sc
bastopol conquered would restore to il its name,
its liberty, its pride, its rank in history. This
assault was for the great nation, fallen, like
new ascension into luminous renown. France
turned towards the flags Of the empire, and asked
them to avengc its disgraces She imagined
that Napoleon was a French word, meaning
glory; that Napoeonian despotism would bring
necessarily the epic trumpet-clang of victories;
that to il was owing Jena, Warram, and Ma
rengo, seeing that she accepted the eighteenth
Brumaire; and that the cannon of the fourth of
December had fired in sight Of Austerlitz.
France has just perceived that Austerlitz
doesn't pay.
Oh, what an undeceiving, and what an enor-
nous deception ! People turn back on all sides
towards the man of December and they ask Of
him an account Of our humiliation on the fields
of battle, after being crushed in the streets.
II is hc-nobody is ignorant Of it, although the
Times and the English press accuse only Pc
lissier-it is he who gives the orders Il is he
who presides over the councils of war: il is he
who decides the lot Of plans of campaign; Il is
he who at every minute Of the day resolves,
weighs, examines. The disasters come back TO
him entirely; the catastrophes are solely his deed
If our armies crumbling, with him is the
fault; if our soldiers are piled up before the
Russian outposts, and the Malakoff tower is de-
vouring ten thousand after the Green Mamelon
had devourcd four thousand, with him. the En-
peror, is the fault. II is the Emperor who has
wllcd it; It is the Emperor who has done Il. Il
is the Emperor who has thrown these unbappv