The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-09 00:00:00

TILE AVAILABLE ANTAOONISM AGAIN

Tut immediate object of the present war is to
defend Turkey from the attaeks of Russia. In ex-
tending their protection to Turkey, the Western
POINTS have been influenced by two motives. The
Best is a sense of the duty incumbent upon all civi-
lised states to uphold any one of their number ageisat
unprovoked aggression. The ammo understanding
amongst states that such is their ditty is the only
gee:setae we can have for the troth of the declare- 11
boa uttered some time ago by the Emperor of the
PILINCII—that the age of eongeset has past. The
mood motive alluded to is the obvious necessity
tote civilised Europe to make a stand against the west-
ward encroachments of Russia. That empire has for

mare than a century been incessantly annexing to its
dominion one slip of territory after another,
wrested from its neighbours by fraud or force. The
inhabitants of these annexed provinces have been
gradually compelled to adopt the faith, customs, and
laws of their oonquerors. The neutral government
of Russia is quite as much bent upon proselytism as
conquest. Whatever territories and peoples it can
snatch from Western Europe will be subtracted from
the armies and resources of European civilisation,
and converted into instruments for new aggressions
and more extended conquests. The demonstration

against Turkey, to which the MENTCHTEOFF minion
was the prelude, was of itself sufficiently compre-
hensive and audacious to be alarming. The
CiAZ aimed not only at the annexation of
the Danubian provinces, but at establishing
such a relation between himself and the
Strustes subjects of tke Greek rite, as would have
made the Sovereign of the Ottoman Empire de
f ado a vassal of Ratak. And whilst this overt attack
was being made upon Turkey, it hu now been
appertained, beyond a doubt, that emissaries of the
Dux were indefatigably preparing movements in
Hungary which would have ended in the transference
_ _

of that country from the Austrian to the Russian
dominion. The whole of Europe was threatened

quite as much as Turkey. The time evidently had
arrived when it was incumbent upon Europe to arise
in its might, and drive back the tide of Russian

A 'ministerial crisis has been broeght on in this
reentry by the national conviction thatthe kte Govern-
runt either did not see the fall impiirtanoe of the
straggle is which we are engaged, or had a motet

leasing to the messy. The Miiuiti. his
beet the installation of Lord PAumiless, is insf
Lard Asuman. le the heed of arig Ilhendis
versoseat. Upon Lard Pommes, bee devolved
the tub of trioldiog the energise mod ismoorcor of his

country in each a manner that it woiartethily con-
tribal. its part to the repalsion of Russian aggression.
We yretaday directed attention to the measures which
_ _

semi minis& to enable the new Pm= to bring
into fall and effective play the military resources of
England. To-day we propose to inquire to what
extent he is likely to receive amistamm from foreign
allies.

The From& Government has from the beginning
taken what a t3cotehmen would call "entire and

aefauld part" with &gland in the fray. Its policy
has been throughout characterised by fiankness,
. . . . .

foresight, and incision. And dm

ander which the recent French Loan wu raised
prove that the Government has been acting with
the entire sympathy and approval of the nation.
Lord PALM:WON may rely implicitly upon the
fidelity of his French Ally, it Lord 11,uneairrox is
sinews in his professed determination to secure
Ramps against future Muscovite encroachments.l
Aad how great the military power of France is the
people of England do not require to be told.

Of the deterusinatu of the Turkish Government
to resist Russia to the utmost of its power no doubt
eau be entertaiosd. What Europe has to dread from
Russia is prospective ; but with Turkey the struggle
is a matter of life or death. The power end resources

of Turkey are not very great, but they will always
count for something in the contest. Our special
correspondent in Anatolia has recently presented us
with pictures but too true of the weakness and die-
orgaoisation of the proviume of Turkey east and south
of Erzeronm; and our Danubian correspondent has

directed attention to the extrusive and continuous

migration of the Turks from the north to the south

Bide of the Balkan. But trkiog Constantinople as
our centre, and describing a chyle round it, the

circumference of which shall touch the Balkan 1
on the north, the Cilician Taurus on the south,
the Ague' Bea on the west, and Trebizand
and Raisariyek on the east, we have a comparatively i
dense. settled, and thriving population, composed
principally of Osmanli Musulmano. This is the
nucleus of the Button's empire, and the main source
of his power. And by the resources which it places
at his disposal, or the credit it obtainkfor him, he is
enabled to keep on foot that army under Oman
PACHA which is at present distributed between Bul-
garia and the Crimea. We have no duke to exag-
gerate the importance of this army; but its achieve-
ments on the Danube afford a guarantee that it will
prove a valuable auxiliary to France and England in
the contest they are now waging with Russia.
The exact degree of value that ought to be attri-
buted to the alliance of Austria is a more difficult
question to solve. In the first place, the foreign
policy of Austria has been for centuries timid
and tortuous. In the next place, we can only
expect the Austrian Government to act in
conformity with its own views of what is
right, and its own instinct of self-preservation;
and if we endeavour to imagine ourselves for
a moment in its position we mast admit that, in
the present contest between Russia and the Western
Powers, it has a critics) pose to play. If Russia
prevails, Austria will be exposed to incessant machi-
nations on the part of Russia with a view to detach
from it its ficlavonian dominions. If the Allies pre-
vail, the inevitable progress of the opinions of
Western Europe, among the populations subject to
the Austrian sway, will expose it to the risk of popular
commotions. It is not easy for a government so
circumstanced to mike a choice, though the more

imusedlithe and tangible character of the danger
which threatens it from the side of Russia itl
likely to keep Austria true to the Allies. Dist'
there are other complications which hamper the
[movements of Austria. That Government is part
not only of the great European system, but of a
narrower system, which may be called the Germania.
Austria and Prussia, though first•class Esteems
powers, have risen on the ruins of the old German
aspire, of which some vital sparks still linger in the
•Germanic Confederation, from which neither power
is completely detached. Austria dare not cut itself
Jesse from Germany, for with a German dynasty its
German population is small in comparison with the
ether races, the rule over which it has inherited
frith the Empire. Austria is dependent upon its
thethorion with the States of the Germanic Coated.-
I ration for the power to prevent its Solavocian, Ha-
mar, and Italian subjects from asserting their
easpective nationalities. On the other hand, although
Prussia is almost a pure German nation, its territo•
du are so broken up and scattered among the other
German States, that it requires to maintain a aka,
and friendly union with them. Owing to these
eircumstances, neither Prussia nor Austria can act
with the same independence as France and England.
They dare take no step that would lead to their
beeakisg irrevocably with each other, or with the
rest of the German States. At present, Prussia in.
clines to Russia as Austria inclines to the Western
Poems, and their dissensions mutually paralyse each
oust and the whole of Germany. The state of pub-
is option in Prussia renders it extremely unlikely
VIA the Government will openly and actively side
With Itessia ; and Austria's fears from Russian
capeseion connect it with the Western Powers ;
he there is little reason to expect immediate or
afire aid from either in the war which France
mg &gland are waging for the independence and
theority of Europe. At the same time, Austria is wires-
Wise* exacting for the feeble, aedecided, ineffective
rili4it displays towards Use Allies. Its demands
eseursally for its Italian possessions from aggree
1111111 ea the side of Piedmont, and Still more its
Oise, with the Ports to dismiss, or keep in in.
Mien, its best officers, because they are naturally
Odesical to Austria, have been pushed beyond the
verge of endurance.
The position of the minor States of Europe, with
reference to the war, may be briefly touched upon.
Sardinia has thrown itself into the scale of the Allies.
Belgium and Switzerland are necessarily neutral.
Holland is neutralised by the Russian tendencies of
the Court. Denmark and Spain are passing through
I(revolutionary fevers. Sweden and Norway are toe
war Russia to dare to declare for the Allies till
France and England can again show themselves in
force in the Baltic.

Aooording to this review, Lord PALMER TON'S
prospects of foreign aid may thus be summed up : The
brunt of the battle must be borne by England,
France, and Turkey--each in proportion to its avail-
able strength. Little aid can be looked for from
Austria—at the utmost scarcely more than a demon-
stration, to divert the attention of Rusin. And
great ears must be taken that this inefficient assist-
ance is not too dearly purchased. It would never
do to sacrifice the liberties of Europe while pre-
tending to protect it from Russian usurpation. Yet
it is pretty obvious that Austria seeks to obtain
from France and England pledges in return for
its assistance which, if conceded, must be fatal to
more then one European nationality. The path
upon which our new Prime Minister has entered
is one that crane ' wary walking. On the one
head, the adieu will demand that he effectually;