New-York daily tribune., 1861-08-28
BULL BUN AND THE ALMA.

Il
is a cardinal virtue. Let US invoke o little of it
just now.
The EngEsh journals, and to some extent the
French, speak of the battle near Manassas az 0
very light and trivial affair when measured By
| the actual resslts upon the field. Some OF them
deny that there was anything that could be
called severe fghting-no charging upon batteries
no masked batteries at all--nO crossing of
bsyonets-no hand to hand coBtests--in fine,
nothing that elevates the affair above the level OF
q pretty sharp skirni1h.
Those who have peruscd our selections from
these journals nced net be told that few OF
them can hardly find words keen aud bitter
enough to express their ridicule and Contempt of
.ho courage Of the Unios troops, one writer de-
ciaring FIAT " there were no desperate struggles
"exccpt BY those who wanted to get away
while neady AN are emphatic in the assertion
tbat the Sighting was Of the most gentis and
harmless description. EXaggeraticn OF ones own
exploits il foblc Of human natare from which
Americans a,e not exempt. Ere the smoke had
cleared away from Bull Rum, our people greatly
overs sated the desperate character end thcTesrt-
luV cVPIhRe ol Fnb 5nCDNulcIs idfibR uuip'etOu
this, lst us calmly compare the actual facts Of
the e,ssgemeut with another bhttle, still freshly
remembered, in which England ard France were
the asssaing party.
In rome particulars, the ba.tio, Of the Aht7
was stri'Sipgy analogous to that before Man,'sas.
The Russians were posted upOn eeeiiyitias on
tue soutk eide of small strearss Tho Allies
were corrcsiled to crpsa over and attack hem
on their csa chosen 'ground. The contest was
a severe cne, tho -nge Of the ooabstsntst was
undoubted. and that Of the Ruliisns sxtren 'ely
docged, though after hours Of hard hghh og,
they fled lrem the ieI' IN wild dilerder.
For mo1.hs after '!sS engagement not n
eEaud and france only, bat all Europe aud he
world were made 10 ring with accounts Of he
desperate encounter, TIE determined yalor, ae
terrible Slaughter, of tie Allies ae tbe AlIn q.
The English press groaled under the weight of
the sdiecivsS selected todspict the daring cou 2.
age aud frightful losses of .leir oSR- tre"ps u
the battle. We have re,satly run -oureys owe +
columns upon. columns il leadiDg London JOIN =
mails. some editorial, OtbcEs from csrrcspeAdeni .
on the spot, descriptive Of this GOBLET. w e
have psrusod H.. accouBts Of il n two book ;
subsequently published by those eye-witnesso E.
The Euqli,. yocabnlary. Is ranascstd. to I'm
terms whersin 10 eGPresb the a~trs character u
the engage neut, the unprecedented Eaior OF u @
English, and tie ssnguinary Consequence 's
to tie IAss. The battle Il. called teI'-
rib.. horri bloody, iefre, Japelate; the Ha-
qli.h dead las in hepp-. bodies being pied uTa'n
one aaolhs- Just as they f'Lli gyHsnts were dec'
mated and went down rank aite- rlak; small
earthgorL gas slippery with tbs goya0t the Guards
who bad ,a-Tied it; the yor i4ioNsl Lay thick IN ore
lnrr deer line extending several rods; the hillsdes
were strsRed with corpees;. tie R,lssian cannon,
roorug iaS,ssanty ond tslne' doualy poured volley
upon yoley down deep intp thu Allied column doing
fearful o2ccutiou; the dead y Ere of the Russian
Guns msde repeated gops N tbleEngish ranks which
wers Instantly closed upj tho Russians disputed
every inch Of ground s,revnE tlF field closely with
the M liacd bodies Of Drit s,~6hiiers aud horses-
topethp with mach 19te II th. same sort, not
throw a uto mere ephsneraI Aeets, but Deliberately
recorded in books for poster,,! sS weave nts history
TIE. rine dieits are amcog the most etsotiye
fgulss Of speech, lOr they; tell the truth vlh
c,hiaess that prts hord rhetoric to the cJgsb.
,us invoke their aid in estimating tbs cQn.
paF.tiye desperation. and.earnuge of Bull Ran, and
Alma.
IA his frank, honeat, otHcial report Of tie. bn5-
s!s near Manassas Gea. Mcdowell declares that
only goo men of aA arms crossed tie stresW
aud participated in the conflict. 4 few sLsV 3
fell amoug tvo or tAs. other regiments; but. in
the military sense. only these 5000 were en-
gagged. At the t.nc of bis report, the Rav iber
known 10 "a killed WIS ISl, and wounded, on
However, 1,2o0 We're missing, and it hsi since
been ascertained from Trustworthy souroes that
of those full 800 were wounded and tSAcn pris-
oners; THUS making our total l0ss in Killed and
wounded at least l792. This is q fraction less
than ten per cent Of the wtsle nymber under
fire.
Let US turn TO Alma. The English accounts
represent tho number of the AlIiea who took part
IN the fight at full 10000. We will not dspate
them, though the Russians say they reached
GO, 600. The numbers were about equally d.
yided between the English and French-say
90, 900 of each. The English loss in killed and
wounded was, according to the statements Of
the very writers We have quoted, 1865, or nine
and eisht.tenths per cent of the number engaged.
The French loss in killed aud wounded was
1.277, OF triHe over six per cent OF those un-
do, fro. The total allied loss was, therefore
32i2, or s fraction over per cent Of the 40 900
| who crossed the Alma. OF tho 10000 English
3si3 wero killed, or 12S less than fell of our
| IL, 900. OF the 10000 French 3l7 were killed,