The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-21 00:00:00

SIM' ' A v . g ,0.._.. , 1 z I) t rit di6 $4, 1 _ No. 77.—VoL. 11. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21,1854. PRICE SIXPENCE._ :;1t cit the present will be a seven-years' war, or a twenty-years' war, or a thirty-years' war, we cannot tell; but we may predicate with c.a. tainty that it will not be a one or two years' war. It is not to be terminated by dis guising facts or by drivelling of peace. The time for diplomatic intrigue and petty expo. dients, for estimates of the expense of troops "to Malta and back," and for doubling income tax for one half year only, has gone by. We must act on system, prepare for continued hostilities on a mighty scale, and view peace establishments and peace budgets as past blessings not likely to be soon enjoyed again. But are we to believe that Lord Anzatizziee Government—for his it confessedly is—will ever vigorously carry out a war policy? For such a policy there must be complete accord of principle, sentiment, and aim. The resolu tion of the Cabinet must inspire every de ment of the public service, and make i felt in every Court of Europe. There no looking back with regret, and no 1 l forward with fear. Lord ABERDEEN'S qualification for the post he fills—in the opinion of those who know him most inti- , mately—is, that no one but he could keep the existing Ministry together. Whether this implies more of eulogy or censure we do not' stay to inquire. The question is, whether the country is prepared to cry content to a Premier who is tolerated for no other reason than that he keeps his colleagues from flying at each other's throats. Of this we may be well assured, that, while he remains at the head of affairs, the Russian Government will never be lieve that England is earnest in the pro tion of the war, and never credit that cherishes the same high indomitable spirit which has animated her in former contests, and which alone can enable a nation to sustain the burdens and sacrifices of protracted war fare. their fire until they can deliver it with most deadly aim; but it certainly supplies a pre sumption that the works of the enemy, which such extensive operations are deemed neces sary to reduce, must be of considerable strength ; and we cannot regard without ap prehension the effect which the near approach of winter may have on the constitution of both armies. Every day is now precious. The delay at Varna has already cost us dearly. The prisoners taken at Alma related that they belonged to the army of Moldavia, and had only arrived in the Crimea within twelve or fourteen days. !Had the expedition landed three weeks earlier, remarks the trustworthy correspondent of a daily journal, " no one can " tell what results might have been achieved "by our arms at very little cost" What a severe reflection is this on the folly which boasted of the purpose of the expedition so many weeks before it actually sailed ! Should it obtain the complete success which is confi dently anticipated from it, the triumph may be so much the more glorious from being achieved under circumstances of almost unparalleled difficulty. But it will be dearly purchased ; and the most servile adherents of the Coali tion will hardly pretend that it is the duty of a Government to test to the utmost its soldiers' powers of endurance, or to multiply their perils and labours that a heavier butcher's bill may appear in the Gazette. The indecision which occasioned the con test has infinitely aggravated its evils by inter posing delays to its effective prosecution. While the councils of our Cabinet resembled a bear garden from its discordant noises, and long debates ended with no decision, our foe was enabled to collect his unwieldy energies for action. At the commencement of the war some sharp and sudden blows would have gone far to prostrate the enemy's power ; but the only business then done was to devise commercial compliments and concessions, and arrange campaigns which might be con ducted on a new and humane principle of avoiding hostilities. By admitting Russian produce, as we showed last week, we have literally put arms into the hands of our op ponents. The enhanced price we have paid for that produce is a tax laid on the British people for the benefit of the Russian exche quer. Too late for its interests the country has discovered that a great war cannot be waged in white kid gloves. The stern reali ties of strife are now brought home to our own door, and we are beginning to comprehend the sacrifices it will demand from us. We do not imagine that there will be any banquet at the Reform Club to celebrate the return of Sir CHARLES NAPIER. Let our success at Sebastopol be as com plete as it may, it will but inaugurate the war. The curtain has only just risen on the bloody drama in which we have to play a principal part. The contest must be protracted, and must be desperate. If the Emperor NICHOLAS is prepared to fight to his last soldier and his last rouble we must be not less earnest- Our people must dismiss at once from their minds the illusions which, up to this time, have amused them of a succession of brilliant vic tories, to be followed by the submission of the Czar and a speedy peace. An empire which for the last two hundred years has continually made vast acquisitions to its territory cannot be deficient in administrative skill, in re sources, in energy, in determination to main tain the strife she has provoked. Whether LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1854. 1 1 IT would be unjust to the heroism of our troops in the Crimea to conceal their hard ships and sufferings. They advance to the conquest of Sebastopol under heavy disad vantages. From the date of their landing in the Crimea, on the 14th September, until the latest advices left, on the 3rd October, they had never once slept under shelter, but had bivouacked in the open field. This exposure was at first little felt from the mildness of the weather, but with the advancing season it began to tell severely on the health of both officers and men. The cold night dews suc ceeding to the parching heat of the sun, and acting on the frames of men sleeping heavily from fatigue, bred rheumatism, ague, and dysentery; and this cause of disease would, of course, operate with greater severity as the cold increased, and the physique of the men became lowered. The cholera had again broken out with great virulence in both camps ; and, if some accounts are to be believed, four hundred men of the English force, and one thousand of the French, perished from this pest in the two days' march to Balaklava—a greater number, we imagine, than were actually killed in the battle of the Alma. More fatal than the arms of the enemy, this terrible disease was still thinning our ranks, aided by the privations to which they were necessarily exposed from the zeal of their commanders to hurry forward the operations of the siege. The peculiar circumstances of the expedi tion rendered it next to impossible to make proper provision for the comfort of the troops. The enterprise partook of the character of an adventure. The time for accomplishing the designed exploit was 'short, and delay was to be avoided, not only from the sure approach of winter, but from the opportunity it would afford the enemy of receiving considerable rein forcements. We have no trustworthy account of the addition made to Prince MENSCHIROFF ' s force since the battle of the Alma, but, from the position of the armies, it is certain that he has the whole resources of the Crimea at his command, that the roads to Kertch, in one direction, and to Perekop, in another, are open to him, and that his communications with the northern side of Sebastopol are entirely uninterrupted. These are no slight advantages in his favour, and they may, in the event of his being joined by the corps under General OSTEN-SACICEN and that under General LEPIIANDI, enable him to prolong the contest. Accounts from St. Petersburg report that up to the 12th instant the allies had made no movement against Sebastopol ; and this state ment appears probable from the consideration that direct advices from the Crimea would reach London in seven days, and that Lord RAGLAN would not have failed to transmit reports to his Government if any important event had occurred. This time of preparation which now appears to us so tedious may tell with powerful effect when the moment for action arrives. It may resemble the policy which prompts our regiments to withhold OUR NEW LAWS OF WAR. AN impression is gaining ground that some change in our commercial relations with Russia will soon be found inevitable. As the war progresses the pernicious policy of allow ing her to carry on au unrestricted export trade through the ports of Prussia becomes every day more apparent. The wealth of the Mus covite empire, as everybody knows, consists in the abundance of her raw produce, and by far the mast extensive market for her corn and hemp and tallow, is England. Our Ministers, by encouraging the free import of these com modities through Prussian ports, are delibe rately placing in the hands of our enemies the means of protracting the present struggle. The amount of British gold which has found its way to Russia in return for Russian goods since the commencement of the war must have been immense, for we pay in specie for some nine-tenths of her produce. To dwell upon the vast importance of this traffic to our enemy would be wholly superfluous. This novel mode of carrying on war is a pure invention of the Coalition. By the com mon law of England, and by that of every civilised State, all trading, whether direct or indirect, with a public enemy is forbidden. 1 9 ir' I