The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-10-04

with innumerab!e hosts of her best troops. They
have annlhilated the naval power on which she
has relied to secure her supremacy i'll the
Euxine, and to establish her authority from the
shores OF the Caucasus to the mouths of the
Danube. But, above all, they have shown the
servlle and credulons nations of the East that
the Powers now paramount in the world are
not those of fanaticism and barbaric absolutism,
but those of liberty and civilization. In this
struggle, Sebastopol became at once the test of
strength and the reward of victory. To reduce
1t by force of arms was to overthrow that colos-
sal fabric of Russian influence which century
and half of rapine and intrigue had called
into being, until it overawed the surrounding
nations and threatened the independence Of
Europe. While the expedition to the Crimea
offered the incalculable advantage of circun<
scrlblng within a few square miles of the enemy
territory all the horrors of war, ana of stalking
the strength OF four empires on a single poiDk,
the result of our victory is boundess as tbs
globe. 1t tells the world that the Alliance Cf
England and of France has stood the test Of
warfare by the sufferings of the camp and the
perils of the field. 1t assures mankind that
their united policy can impose its will and exc
cute Its resolutions, even though the timid stand
aloof, and men of baser minds may abandon
the cause of their country in her hour of need.
We owe our success in no slight degree to
the unwavering frmness with which the En-
peror of the French has pursued this enterprise,
and adhered to the policy that dictated it; but
we owe it no less to the clear and unanimous
resolution of the people of England whose
mind was made up that this thing was to he
done. In the course of these events, whica
broke in so suddenly on our wonted avocation i,
we have had much to learn and much to bear.
AT times, the tedium of suspended excitement
became almost intolerable, and more than once
the faint-hearted or the factious lost confidence
in the result. Yet what is the fact? What is
it we have done? A year has not yet elapsed
since the Allied armies set foot in the Crimea.
Within that time they have won three pitched
battles, and twice assaulted fortress of extra
ordinary magnitude. They have encompassed
the works of the enemy with trenches extending
over more than thirty miles of ground. They
have armed these trenches with the heaviest
ordnance, and kept up so incessant a fire, that
not only an incalculable amount of projectles
has been consumed, but five or six siege trains
have been worn out. They have created at
Kamiesch, Eupatoria, and Yenikale, three mill;
tary stations which the Russians have not dareS
to assail, and Balaklava has become populouA
mart. A railroad connects the harbor and the
camp an electric chain binds the Crimea t
Europe, and conveys to US In few hours the
tidings of these triumphant successes. Upward;
of 100000 men encamped within the lines o.
the Tchernaya have been conveyed thither, and
are daily fed, clothed, and housed, from the
resources of Western Europe. All this has been
effected in spite of the rigor of winter, the heat
of summer, and the distance of three thousand
miles from our shores; and within one little
year from the sailing of the expedition, the lead
ing objects of the campaign are accomplished,
and Sebastopol is in our power.