The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

FUTURE POLICY OF RUSSIA.

As long ago as the 16th of February last we
declared our conviction " that the decision of
" the Court of St. Petersburg in favour of
" Peace marks distinctly a change in its na-
" tional policy." The manifesto of the Emperor
ALEXANDER amply confirms the justice of this
assertion. He passes lightly over the con-
cessions enforced by the Allies, and prefers to

A

dwell on the blessings to be anticipated from

the tranquillity of his empire. He prays that,

with the aid of the ALMIGHTY, its internal or-
ganisation may be consolidated and perfected,
and that the advancement of civilisation and
all useful activity may spread with renewed
force. These are sentiments, if they mean
anything, proving a departure from the

policy of the late Emperor, which from the
beginning to the end of his reign was
for vat•. His idea seems to have been
that, by sacrificing every other interest of the
country to the maintenance of a vast military
force, he should he in a position, when the
Eastern difficulty came to a crisis, to dictate
its settlement to the rest of Europe. Had he
been enabled to do so, he would have more
than defrayed the cost of his experiment

But fortune was against him. The sick man
still showed no signs of dissolution NICHO-
LAS had strained the endurance of his empire
to the very highest pitch. He must either
relinquish at once the object of his whole
career, or begin the enterprise before the
situation was ripe. With characteristic bold
ness he chose the latter alternative, and,
though inevitably beaten, he fought his losing
game with skill and resolution.
Russia has now, therefore, learned that the
path of foreign development is for the pre-
sent, and let us hope for very much longer,
blockaded against her The lesson has been
a sharp one, but we think she has no reason
to repine at it. Foreign conquests arc a poor
substitute, or rather no substitute at all, for
internal civilisation. If the acquisition of
Turkey had repaid the cost of its conquest,
Russia would still have been left as before.
The prince who would add army to army and
province to province, while his own subjects
are sunk in degradation, and his native soil
scarcely half cultivated, may be a great genius
and a great conqueror, but lie is neither a
wise nor a benevolent ruler. No form of ruin
is more familiar to us in this country than
that which our landed proprietors so fre-
quently bring upon themselves. Too often
everything is sacrificed to the desire of ag-
grandisement, a course not unlike the policy
so systematically pursued by the late Emperor
of Rossiit ; and if the recent war has opened
the eyes of his family to its ruinous tenden-
cies, they will have no reason for regret It
is not too much to say that the fall of Sebas-
topol may have prevented the fall of St. Peters-
burg, and the house of Romanoff be indebted
for its future existence to the destruction of
its own long-cherished policy.
Russia may, therefore, fairly be expected
during the next half century to devote her
principal energies to the development of her
internal resources. Such a system will not
only benefit herself, but all the nations of the
world as well. Were her vast tracts of terri-
t ary as highly cultivated and as densely peo-
p'ed as many parts of Etn ope, what an incal-
culable stimulus would be given to commerce !
And what a potent additional security should
we obtain against the recurrence of war ! If
the attention of Russian statesmen be once
permanently turned in this direction, we may
anticipate great modifications in their tariff.
which is at present strictly what may be called
a governmental tariff—that is to say, one
framed solely with a view to the convenience
of Government. Articles which they require
from foreign countuies, such, for instance, as
steel and saltpetre, are at present admitted
either duty free or with a very slight impost,
while articles of general consumption are
heavily taxed. This is, of course, the natural

conse(inence of a purely military regime. But
now that this has been found a failure, we
may confidently hope for a change.
Should the present Emperor show any pur-
pose (and we believe he has shown it) of
adopting the policy we have indicated, it will
be the ditty of every European Government to
give him the sincerest encouragement lAA
bygones be bygones. If Russia really turn
to the work of social improvement with
hearty good-will—if she seek to strengthen
herself by those means which Western Europe
has recognised as the only true path to