NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Oen last accounts from Sebastopol left the Allies busy prosecuting the works of the siege-approaches: our present intelligence ex- hibits them still at the same work, with a statement by way of Warsaw that the fire had opened on the 17th instant ; and the Russian report of damage to the besieged confesses to a loss of five hundred men—Russian computation—including the death of one Admiral, heretofore doomed to wear the equivocal laurels of,Siaope. The details received by more regular channels explain the difficulties which obstruct the besiegers,—the inevitable dis- proportion of the work to be done to the available hands, men doing the labour of horses, and solid rock obstructing the excava- tion of "regular approaches.",
This, however, is hardly the kind of news to satisfy those wbo have been foolishly reiterating tiresome charges of "delay," znd presumptuously demanding final events Co order. This inordinate craving proves that some of those who clamour have no right to the intelligence they demand; as we shall see when we answer ourselves the question, who has an in- terest in the intelligence by the natural course ? To those who have dear relations and friends in the East we may concede even a morbid anxiety, and they have a right to the very earliest tele- graph: but they cannot learn that a friend is dead before he has exinred, or that another is safe before the danger is past. The pub- did :desires to know as soon as possible what has really taken place, in order that it may be satisfied with the execution of its behests, or prepare for greater exertions. This motive is patriotic; but the demand is rational Ind moderate, and does not require to be fed with reports about events that have not yet happened. There is, however, a numerous class of the public with a canine appetite for gossip, which accepts rumours equally with facts, and more 'willingly if they are detrimental rumours. Journals written to meet the appetite of this class of readers will have a certain com- mercial success; and hence a fourth class of persons elamouring for news again, to whom it is the material for the journalism of depreciation.
The object for which some demand the "news" is to establish imperfections in our military arrangements. The existence of such imperfections has long been a familiar fact. Earl Grey pointed out such things years ago, when he was in office; but they still remained for his animadversion last session, when he was out of office. The disjointed state of our War department, in which the defect originates, has been exhibited by a friendly though un- sparing hand in the current number of the Edinburgh Review ; and as the ease is so well understood, we may presume that enough will be done in the interval before the next session of Par- liament to place the War Minister in a right position before the country, and the Army in a right condition of organization and complete equipment before the enemy.
