The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-31 00:00:00

Ij t rt W'" 1'- ~ ~..~ „. No. 100.—VoL. 111. Vrtss. LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCIE 31, 1855. "PRESS" OFFICE, Friday Night, March 30. NOTWITHSTANDING the sinister rumours which have been afloat during the two last days, there is every probability of the prelimi naries of peace being signed by the re assembling of Parliament. The readers of this Journal were informed last week that the main obstacle to a general pacification had been removed by the Em peror of the FRENCH consenting to waive any stipulation for the dismantlement or diminution of the fortifications of Sebas topol. This announcement was imme diately contradicted by all our contempo raries, and its authenticity is now as universally recognised. This menaced position was the only " in surmountable " obstacle to peace. The Four Points in themselves involved no such difficulty. They were originally devised by Austria, with the concurrence of Russia, as a practical means to a pacific solution. [VIDE on this subject PRESS of June 10, 1854, which commences with a memo randum on this subject, furnished to this journal by one of the most illustrious states men of the age.] The Four Points were convenient ma chinery adopted by Powers who really had no distinct aim and no definite policy. They are mere words, and pledged the allies to nothing. They have not been able to run the gauntlet of discussion in the Congress. It is curious, but it is true, that the most considerable objections to them have emanated from the Representatives of the Sublime Porte, who, have, in fact, in one form or another, raised cavils to all four conditions. With regard to the famous third point, we learn that the allies, for its interpreta tion, proposed that the Black Sea, in future, should not be visited by the ships of war of any nation. But this proposal could not bear criticism, and it was felt to be impos sible that a power like Russia, with an ex tensive coast and considerable provinces on this water, could be left without the neces sary naval means of protection for her terri tories. • LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1855. A second proposition was, we understand, then made by the allies, that the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus should be open to all Powers, and that England and France should be permitted to maintain an equal number of ships of war with Russia in the Black Sea. The Court of St. Peters burg made no difficulty on this head. It was quite content that the Treaty of 1841 should not only be revised but abrogated; the result of this second proposition, of course, being that the Russian fleet would be free at all times to enter the Mediter ranean. Here, however, the Sublime Porte interposed, and considered the maintenance of the Treaty of 1841 as indispensable to the independence and integrity of Turkey. Indeed, it is difficult to comprehend how I these political characters could be sustained if the fleets of all nations might sail and anchor, ad libitum, in the waters and har bours of Constantinople. These two profound suggestions having fallen to pieces, a resource was found in a third proposition, that the numerical force of the Russian navy in the Euxine should be limited ; and it is from a want of agree ment as to the degree of this condition that the labours of the Congress have for a moment been suspended, and the Represen tatives of Russia have required fresh instruc tions from their Governmen. Restrictions as to the amount of naval force to be main tained by a sovereign power are at the best but illusory guarantees, and it is difficult to believe that Europe will engage in war for the sake of obtaining a particular gradation of such an equivocal security. It might as well continue the war to obtain an indem nity of some millions from Russia : probably an amount almost equal to that we have already expended on a single item of transports. The truth is, the affairs have been so blundered from the first, the pur pose of the war has been conceived in so petty a spirit, that, when the Powers have come to negotiate for peace, they begin to find there is really nothing worth going to war about. It may be amusing to our readers to have some idea of the scene where these memo rable conferences take place. At a round table presides M. de BUOL, the Austrian Prime Minister ; on his right sits M. de BOURQUENEY ; next to the French Minister Lord JOHN RUSSELL, then Lord WESTMORE LAND. The two Russian Plenipotentiaries follow, and the Turks complete the circle. PRICE SIXPENCE. This is the s3ciety in which, probably on Tuesday morning, M. DROUYN DR LHUYS, the Foreign Minister of France, will find himself. His Excellency arrived in London yesterday, and, we understood, left England this evening, at eight o'clock, for Vienna. He was so pressed for time that, we have been told, he was obliged to deprive himself of the gratifying distinction of dining this day with her Majesty. His Excellency will repair to Vienna with the most pacific in tentions. Nor can we doubt he will succeed in assuaging any storm which the last mo dification of the third point may have excited at St. Petersburg, when we remember that Count NESSELRODE, the constant counsellor of peace from the first, NOW REIGNS SUPREME AT THAT COURT. Mr. BOUVERIE, Chairman of the Corn. mittees of the House of Commons, is appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade. Mr. BURKE ROCHE, M.P. for the county of Cork, will be raised to the Irish peerage. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER has announced that the Budget will be brought forward on the t?Oth of April. Our readers will perhaps recollect that it is upwards of a fortnight since we positively announced that this was the day fixed for the financial statement. EUROPE has lost a great opportunity, but Europa has not lost its honour nor its power. The impending peace will be one mortifying for the allies, but not humiliating. It will be unsatisfactory—it will approach even the ridiculous ; but it will not be tainted with ignominy. Russia has escaped an immense retribution. She was in a vice ; but the hands of the workmen were paralysed. Had there been truthfulness in our Cabinet in 1853—had there even been energy in 1854—the prospects of the world might have undergone a vast and salu tary revolution. The present deplorable result is the inevitable consequence of all the false steps which for two years have perplexed and irritated the country. Insincerity, inde cision, action too late, and therefore precipi tate, faint protests, feeble negotiations. ill planned and ill-timed expeditions, have been links in a chain of irresistible causation, that will permit Russia to emerge from a contest which menaced her imperial existence, with her arrogance unquestionably checked, but her essential strength unimpaired. But we must not, therefore, despair. We must not confound the qualities of " a guilty