The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-29 00:00:00

ASIA MINOR.

Tna English, it is said, always require a little beating

at the coi

of a war, just to excite their

energies—as a swordsman who despises his opponent
comes off all the better for a slight flesh wound at
first that puts him on his mettle. It will be some
compensation for our recent miscarriages in Asia
Minor if they produce a similar effect upon the
public mind, and arouse us to a sense of the real
importance of our operations in that quarter which
we have hitherto regarded with comparative indif•
ference.

The two leading points which ought ever to be
borne in mind in our consideration of this subject,
are these :—First, that there is no Asiatic Power
capable by itself of resisting Russia ; and, secondly,
that her aggressions on Asiatic Powers lie beyond the
ken of European statesmen, and are pushed on with
a secrecy and impunity that in Europe would be
impossible. It is a question, indeed, if even Turkey
and Persia united could resist the whole weight of
the Muscovite empire. But the presence of a
Western army in Asia, which is the only event that
could accomplish such a union, would also give it a
solidity and a permanence, against whicn the might
of Russia would dash Itself in vain. But in the
meantime she advances slowly but steadily—fighting
her way both by steel and by gild—and keeping her
eye fixed with native tenacity on the shores of the
Persian Gulf, and the treasures of our Indian
empire. South of the Caucasus there is in reality
no barrier against the accomplishment of these
cherished visions. And it may well be that Russian
statecraft has long ago seen the advantages to be
derived from her aggression on the shores of the
Black Sea, in the shape of a blind to her aggressions
on the shores of the Caspian.
But there is another obvious argument in favour
of pressing on the war in Georgia ; which is this—
that it is there only that auy real and permanent
blow can be inflicted upon Russian power. We may
in Europe repress her encroachments, but we cannot
carry the war into her own country, or deprive her of
any of her present possessions. Such notions are,
at least, exceedingly chimerical. The only two
countries that it is thought possible to dissever from
her empire are Poland and Finland. But the former
is now thoroughly incorporated ; and the reports of
travellers on the sentiments of the Poles are con-
firmed by actual observations on the present war.
There are few or no Polish deserters ; and the officer
who wished to blow up Kinburn, in preference to
surrender, was a Pole. On the other hand, Finland
has been treated with singular kindness and con-
sideration by Russia, as being the principal nursery
of her seamen; while she has recently sustained
such severe injuries at the hands of the allies as
will, in all probability, attach her still more to
her present masters. The reverse of all this is
the case in Mingrelia and Georgia. The inhabitants
are burning to throw off the yoke of Russia; and
a campaign that would wrest the Ti

provinces from her grasp, and inflict an irreparable loss
on her material power, as well as her prestige in the
East, would, in all probability, cost the Allies less
than one-fourth of what it would cost them to con-
quer the Crimea, which would inflict little loss
upon either.
It is most unfortunate that these truths were not
earlier understood by English statesmen. They
have defended Turkey all along as if they really be-
lieved it was no use to defend her; and that all that
could be done was to prevent Russia from appro-
priating her European provinces. The Turks have
been kept in leading strings. When they offered
last spring to send a fleet and army to Circassia,
which must have given a totally different turn to the
Asiatic war, they were not trusted to do so. If we
vote them money we superintend its expenditure, as
if they were children ; and the next thing to be
done will be to despatch an English tailor to make
the Sultan's clothes, and send in the bill to us.
This sort of thing will never do. We must treat
them as men and as equals ; and in that case we
shall have no reason to complain of their conduct.
A large Turkish army, °filtered by Englishmen,
would soon become as effective an engine as the
Portuguese army under WELLINGTON. Our coun-
trymen seem able to perform this particular duty
with greater success than the French ; and a force
of this description, sent early next spring to co-
operate with OMER PACRA, would very soon, unless
the deplorable mismanagement of our War•office is to
continue, change the face of events in Asia.