THE MASSACRE AT MANGO. '
Tem Russian outrage at Mango is so atrocious, that the respect for a common humanity almost induces Englishmen to presume that there must be some error in the story, or some hidden ground of action which the Russians might state. An apology for the enemy has been hazarded in the statement that the flag of truce has been abused on our side. One captain, it has been said, was sent with an unnecessary letter to Sebastopol ; where, under cover of thick weather " and a flag of truce," his officers worked into the inner harbour to take soundings and bearings. This artifice, it has been said, was tried again at Odessa ; and at Reach, under pretence of courtesy to a Russian commander, another captain with officers •disguised as common sailors surveyed the channel and took notes of-the defences.
This statement is inconsistent with the facts. The Retribution did go into Sebastopol, but not with a flag of truce ; for no such ilag ,was wanted, .or indeed available. The combined fleets en- tered: the Black Sea early in 1834; and a message was sent on to the Governor of Sebastopol informing him that the fleet was on the point of appearing in that, sea, in order that he might take such measures as to prevent a collision with the Russian forces. This letter was intrusted to Captain Drummond, of the Retribu- tion, war-steamer; which entered the harbour of Sebastopol, and arrived under the guns of the fortress before she was discovered, and was brought to by the firing of three shots across her bows. The letter was delivered and the vessel came away.; but before departing, Lieutenant Riley took a note of the fortifications and the vessels, and made a sketch. It was in fact' a case exactly analogous to many others in which before hostilities a message is conveyed into the enemy's country, and the messenger, running his chance, penetrates as far as he tan, and sees as much as he cans That there was no ques- tion of truce, is proved by the fact that the declaration of war did not take place till the 28th of March 1854—months after the Re- tribution entered Sebastopol. There was no repetition of the artifice at Odessa. Soon after the declaration of war, the Furious war-steamer was ordered to Wit portlier the purpose of bringing off the British Consul, and
a boat was sent in with a flag of truce. But the officer in charge was not permitted to land ; as he returned to his ship shot and shell were fired upon the boat, with the flag still flying; but he reached the ship in safety. This Russian outrage was avenged by the bombardment of Odessa.
The case of Rertch also is different. It was a questionable pro- ceeding; and the peculiar treatment of it in the accounts of our own journals betrayed a sense of doubt as to the propriety. In the Times of May the 29th, a leading article boasted of the adroitness with which the officer in command of a boat, professing to restore the Governor's private carriage seized in a Russian ship, succeeded in sounding the channel as he passed through the Strait, and had thus piloted the Azoff expedition. This was copied into other journals as a paragraph, printed in small type ; but in the Times of May 31st appeared another paragraph, also in small type, but conspicuously placed, to this effect— "The Highflyer was on a surveying expedition when she saw the Russian boat lying in-store; • the capture was immediately made; and Captain Moore, of that ship, sent Lieutenant Hawker to the Governor, under a flag of truce, to offer to restore the carriage. The Governor received him very cordially, and accepted his offer."
—It will be observed that in this passage the original statement is not contradicted, but the allusion to the soundings is simply omitted ; and thus that part is not, like the rest of the story, formally authenticated. We have, indeed, yet to ascertain how far the tale of the soundings was strictly true. It may be a boast- ful fiction ; but, however gross the irregularity was, it could not justify such an outrage as that at Mango. The party from the Cossack ran one risk through a remissness for which they have been now severely punished. The flag of truce, however sacred in the eyes of civilized nations, confers pri- vileges which cannot be assumed on one side without the consent of the other. In the letter of the law, the Russians may hold themselves free to plead one excuse even for the affair at Mango. When a party is approaching with a flag of truce, it is the rule to wait for the purpose of ascertaining whether the flag is recog- nized and accepted by the enemy ; the acceptance being indicated b the hoisting of a similar flag. Was there any such sign at M ? There could not be; for the concealment of the Rus- sians in ambush left the shore in a state of apparent desertion. The excuse, however, although it might leave a certain flaw in the case on our side, does not exonerate the Russians even in the letter of the law. If a flag of truce is not accepted but refused, it is the custom which has become law, to indicate the refusal on the approach of the flag by the firing of a gun. The Russians allowed the boat to approach the shore, the officers to land, and thus tacitly conveyed the confirmation which was not formally notified by the usual signal. Nor could the literal excuse afford the slightest ex- tenuation of the barbarous cruelty with which the treachery was carried out.
It is after all possible that the Russians, lawless and brutal as they were, may have supposed themselves to possess some excuse in meeting a friendly expedition with treachery. Whether the manceuvre at Kertch was true or not, it was made the subject of boastful and ostentatious accounts in our newspapers. However honestly our officers may have behaved, our newspapers vaunted for them skill in sharp practice, quite enough to make the ittV3,- sians, as rogues, doubly on, their guard. It is true that we used these manceuvres for no purposes of cruelty ; but cruelty has been ascribed to us by the Russians; knavery has been ascribed to us by our own writers.
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