The Press. — London, England, 1853-10-22 00:00:00

r' .. . . Mf ettls No. 25.—VoL. I. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1853. PRICE SIXPENCE. Vrtss. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 . 1, 1853. WARS, as Mr. Conni astutely observes, arise out of wars. fly wars the great States of Europe, swallowing the smaller, grew to those propor4ons which were the object of mutual vigilance ; and, this vigilance to prevent the predominance of any one helping to promote the predominance of some other, wars have bred wars in direct descent, but in irregular succession. No sooner had Europe been fairly secured from an Austrian dom illation by the peace of Westpha lia, than the confinement thereby of Austria to closer limits left room for an alarming expan sion of Fiance, which was limited in turn by the pow of Utrecht. To England, which imposed this latter restraint, was assigned a pre-eminence which for eighty years excited a general jealousy. Losses which she had sus tained made the peace of Paris in 1753 the platform of other rivalries ; till the empire of NAPOLEON electrified Europe. The disso lution of this empire in lsls was materially aided by a deadly thrust from the lance of the Cossack, and thenceforward the Cossack be- came himself suspected ;—and with reason. His vaguest hopes of universal empire, en- couraged by the fall ofPoland,were corrolswated by the retreat front Moscow. From the bleeding valour of Eylau and Friedland to the last pro phetic sigh of St. Helena, he has had a grow ing sanction fin• his grand audacity ; and the boldest breed of English statesmen have been wtu'ntnted in their resolution to commit their country to fresh wars if it should become ne cess►uy to cheek Lis advance. For be it remembered this advance in further ance of a traditional scheme is a filet which can be measured out by dates. Established on the borders of the Black Sea in 1774 by the treaty of Kainardji ; securing the Crimea iu 1774 by the treaty of Constantinople ; acquiring by the treaty of Bucharest in Isl 2 the banks of the Pruth and the province of Bessarabia; and appropriating the delta of the Danube in I►+3tl by the treaty of Adrianople, the Cossnek has crept on till he now threatens the sove reign positions of the Sound and the Darda nelles. We have shown that to him these are the gates of empire, but they are also the gates of Europe, and indispensable to her se curity. Feebly garrisoned, they are thus be leaguered by an enemy who combats alike by force and eot•tltption ; who combines barbs runs vigour and Oriental fanaticism with science and discipline—the Asiatic fury with the Greek tire—who marshals numbers we c►►t►ttut estimate in approaches of which he retains the secret, and who can await the oppor tunity, fur which he watches, to strike home. It is a truism to say that we cannot afford to doze or dawdle in the presence of this enemy. The resources of the Russian empire, with its growing population, are at the instant service of a definite policy in the hands of a ruler of eminent talents and of resolute will. llis dominion, stretckin g from Past to west., lowers over Europe like a thundercloud ; and should he, instigated by our presamptionis folly, sur prise our gates in the hands of their de fenders, his dominion could no longer be thrust back within limits, for it would be everywhere present, yet in no part accessible. Against this catastrophe—apiinst the permitted presentment even of an Wone which might render it possible—all English statesmen of note, *are one, have striven ; but this one has pursued an opposite course ; by tortuous methods has promoted a congenial scheme. and, rigid in his manner as he is supple in his intentions, has deliberately removed im pediments from the path of the Czar. To Lord ANERDICEN attaches the life-long stigma of a traitorous alacrity to second the designs of Russia, hut to the Coalition Minis try the disgrace that in this last instance he has plotted, as it may yet appear, with fatal maladroitness. _ _ .... ...... ________ __.. Almost every one has shared in the common presentiment that l'4001) . I ._ or later the day would come when Europe'a - Russia must close in u i conflict. It might not le till the next genera tion, or the next century ; but every one save the gentle ph ilosophesanf Manchester has been persuaded that It was at s o me time or other inevitable. The date was in a measure at our own discretion, and by guarding our opportu nities of defence we could have intercepted and retarded the occasion of attack. One mode of accelerating this gigantic contest was by evincing a craven anxiety for peace; a second was by creating impressions of a rupture be tween ourselves and our natural allies; a third was lby so conducting an embryo dispute that the enemy was neither deterred from advancing, nor when he had partially advanced could recede with honour. The Coalition, according to the formula, had its choice of these courses, but, with a comprehensive fatuity, it has adopted all three. The first folly is confessed. " It is, indeed, " to be feared," says the reputed organ of one of the Ministers, " that an appettnince of over " anxiety for perme on the part of the Western " Powers has been the means of working mils " chief by leading the Emperor to suppose " that he might tako advantage of this pacific " disposition." Simultaneously we hear the eeho of this admission at Moscow, where the Me tropolitan eongratulates the Czar on " the timid " fears that have," in consequence of his atti tude, " spread through the states ishabited by " other peoples." The second folly is that to which we have at other times alluded—the folly of Sir Cli.tat.Es Wool) after, and of Sir .lAMI;s before, he had dined, in which folly Mr. lii.AnwrosE has just participated by cheapening our Turkish allies in exchange for the cheers of Manchester. The third and en)wning fidly—of permitted ucoupation of the provinces. and of negotiations gra:nett to elicit a eotnpromising statement of her claims by Russia—is contammtated, it, as we hear, Russia will nut recede because ;theism: fern Aral' into a position from which site can nn lonyer recede with wit humiliation. Assuming that this intelligence will rule the issue, the war then which is stout. gates, with its overwhelming responsibilities—its certain pe rils and inscrutable future—is a war into which we have helplebtily blundered. We could not have said "we will never wage it," but we could have avoided it at a date when altruist all the states of Europe had just bowed to the blast of anarchy. United Europe might have sustained it fearlessly. But at this moment. if we have a single ally at our side, it is in spite of efforts from the Premier downwards by suspicion or sarcasm to provoke his hos• tility. If war must come, it is not only the lot. of Englishmen that, we owe that war—sub ,jeet to the predilections of Lord Aistatocts— to the cross purposes and contnteled action of a Coalition Cabinet, but that we must meet. it with the interests on our side dissevered. with empires at variance, and nations dis traeted by class antipathies and bloody souve nirs. The apprehensions which paralyse the nerves'of Ministers, and dictate their aril°. gies, are their heaviest eondenm a tion. ( our age and clear purpose multi have saved all. But the tremors to which our rulers hay', yielded will be not so nundi Justified as pun ished, if the gleam of hostile watehtires should prime a revolutionary beacon, stud the file without should be answered by internal eon. tiamtion. WINTER I'ItOSPECTS. Timms has been much speculation of late an to the causes of the recent, sudden vise ist the vete of interest, and the probablellffelktm of the seareity of money throughout the comlug 1t 'inter. 'Pile deficient harvest, and the im pending was', are very generally supposed to have created the present fooling of uneasiness in commerehtl eirclem, aggravated us that no doubt hats been by the strikes in the Mann faeturing districts, and the unseasonable autumn weather. In short, the muses of the sudden alteration in the state of the Money Market are so apparent that it is dafieult to suppose that two opini o n: e0111(1 exist u pon the subject. A weekly contemporary, how ever, which is specially devoted to the consideration of such topics has boldly tour tratlicted the V44)111111* theory, a n d started 0110 whielt ham at least the attraction of perfect novelty to recommend it. The Er, ##### west assurem Its that the bite st e ady and ra pid 1114(5 in the rate of interest, with all its grave conse quences. is a sigh, not of approaching ilitli• eulty and distress, but of extended pros perity. Free trade, according to this authority, has erected Ko great all eXiallisism 14 our eolnlsieree that means lire wanting for its inereased necessities ; hence, and hence only, the ailginented demand for money, 111141 Its present comparative sestreity. o this startling proposition we would re mark in the first that, if true, we t i diseOVerell it long ago. For the last four years the country 11115 el k joyed the bless lugs of that conimeivial system it 110.1), Heel Ord' ling to the creed of the Eisonmsess, is the parent of perpetual prosperily. For the lust two years at least the condition of the etatittly has been prosperous. We do n ot 'low in q uire into the rause : if is sufficient for our purpose to admit the filet. lint it is (Anions that, it a high rate of interest is a proof of extensive prosperity, the Hank directors ought to have applied the screw' long before the commence ment of the present year. I.ast autumn money could be had to any amount at two p er cent. lit the blitUalti3 to railway And