The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-15 00:00:00

W.LI I? IItiDEMNITY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANiDARD.

SlE,—Hull has set us a worthy example, an example that
I hope Liverpool will riot be unwilling promptly to follow,
along with other large and influential communities throughout
the country. She has addressed the Throne, praying the mo-
narch to draw the attention of her ministers to the necessity
of exacting an indemnity from Russia for the expenses of an
aggressive and unprovoked war. This is as it should be. It
is a bold but a proper and righteous course to take, and, if
carried out, will be the most potent prevention of another
recurrence of war, for a couple of generations at least ; for
where the sinews of war are wanting, we can have few better
preservatives of tranquillity ; and such an exaction would
require no ordinary time for her exhausted empire to meet,
pari passu with her requirements to re-establish a normal
state of things at home. That she would kick at such a stipu-
lation we can well conceive, but without referring to the first
Napoleon, we have Russia herself, as a justifying example for
such a course, in her cruel pecuniary exactions both from Turkey
and Persia, after plundering those empires of territory, which
plunder I do hope she may shortly be compelled to disgorge.
This indemnity, therefore, is no novelty, now, for a first time,
to be attempted, but a systematised practice, pursued by her-
self, after scandalous robbery of weaker states. Surely our
own Liverpool community will lose no time in following the
glorious example of Hull. It is our duty to strengthen the
hands of the Ministers of the day, (whoever they may be, who
will have to negotiate the terms of peace,) against the petty
batteries of the "Peace at any price" party, who might per-
chance suppose such a stipulation to interpose an obstacle to
an arrangement. Nor would it be either supererogatory or
gratuitous to introduce a further request, that Austrian and
Prussian interference might not only be dispensed with, but
repudiated if attempted ; an interference from which we have
nothing to gain, but everything to fear. My opinion is, that
the more we cease to cultivate either of those two scandalous,
shuffling, and cowardly powers, the sooner shall we arrive at a
satisfactory ultimatum, and on sounder bases too. The time
is at hand when the various factions and parties will be
arranged against the government in the House of Commons,
and the country will do well to encourage any latent feeling
of the minister to propose an indemnity for our expenses, but
which the fear of those various and varying opposing parties
might prevent his attempting, except he be supported by
opinion out of the house.
There is scarcely one of the English press innocent of the
crime of pandering to the vanity and hopes of Russia, by
leading articles full of anxiety for peace, and by magnifying the
courage, resources, and greatness of the enemy, a course antago-
nistic to the result desired. If we are to have a satisfactory
and a speedy return to peace, we must rise in our demands.
We show too much anxiety for it, ever to realise it in a form
in which alone it ought to be made. Indemnity for the past,
must be a sine qua non; security for the future equally so, or
there ought to be no peace with Russia. The four points
must be blown to the four winds. The impertinence of Aus-
tria must be put a stop to ; the enemy told that any propo-
sitions he has to submit must be direct to the three allied
powers, without the intervention of any party. With those
he does battle with—with those alone he must treat. We
must away with all these vaticinations, and this eternal din
and uneasiness for peace; they must be buried beneath a
bolder English front ; the Gallic cock must be spurred, and
the English bull-dog let loose, before the enemy will believe
we are in earnest to conquer peace, and not to sue for it. De-
pend upon it, Russia's game of war is all but played out. Her
present implacability is assumed only to obtain better
terms. Secrecy has ever been her policy. Few foreign intru-
ders into her territory leave it with any reliable information
as to the true state of its policy, economy, and resources for
protracted war. She has sagacity to impress strangers with a
belief in her overwhelming greatness and invincibility. But
where are the proofs? We saw them not on the banks of the
Danube, when opposed to the supposed effete Turks. We
found them not on the banks of the Alma. They are both a
sham, as is everything Russian—except extent of territory,
profundity in diplomacy, and insolent aggression , to all which
an end must and will be put if the united allies use the means
and avail themselves of the opportunity which, to my thinking,
Providence has instituted the present crisis for accomplishing.
Breathes there a man out of ignoble Greece, (save one little
un-English, brainless booby who endeavoured to sell his
eountry's interests at Vienna, to preserve intact what he
traitorously called "the honour of Russia,") breathes there, I
repeat, a man who desires not to see Russia split up into prin-
cipalities and small harmless states ? If there be such an one,
he is an enemy to peace, and, consequently, to humanity.
T., leave her empire as now will be-to leave her to renew
the traditional policy of universal empire so soon as another
Czar and another generation shall arise ignorant of her
present defeats and prostration.
Bat, in my zeal, I am wandering from:the object of my intru-
sion, which was to hope that some influential townsmen will
call a meeting to second the Hull address, to Her Majesty, for
requiring an indemnity for the expenses of the war ; a punish-
ment that will most contribute to keep the Russian eagle's
wings from expanding far a future flight for foreign conquest.
Isle of Many Jan._9,1856. BROOK VALE.

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