The Express.
London, England, 1855-03-23 00:00:00

LATEST FROM ABROAD.

The Monikur of yesterday contains • note from
Constantinople, stating that the French embassy had
obtained from the Porte an authorisation to build
catholic churches at Trebizonde, Metelin, Moraine.
and Binged. The necessary *mans have been sent
to the competent authorities.

DENMARK.

(sT aiscraio razzes Arm.)
00113/PONDIIT OP Till DAILY WIMP.)
COPENHAGEN, TavisDAT.

The Volluithing has refused the @mud readiag of
a bill to cover the sum of 68,000 dollars spent last
year without authority by the Minister of War and
Marine.
The session closes os the 31st.

RUSSIAN OBSTINACY AND AUSTRIAN
AMBITION.

THE position of ALEXANDER 11., we are given to
understand, is good. He has ostensibly pieced him-
self, without reserve, in the hands of the only states-
man possessed of his father's real intentions ; and
this has produced such a favourable impression upon
what we suppose we mast call the Russian pubic,
that he will apparently find it comparatively easy to
settle the business bequeathed to him as he shall
think proper. One or two other circumstances have
contributed to strengthen him. His own amiable qua-
lities have had some effect ; perhaps sill more will be
accomplished by the rather studied but very striking
death-scene. His own dispositions predispose him to
seek peace ; and a desire for peace is also said to be pre-
valent among his subjects. The nobles dislike the dimi-
nution of their incomes, and still more the blouses
of their expenditure—in the shape of voluntary
contributions to the cost of the war. As for the
lower orders they have no martial spirit. Unlike the
Englishman, who is pugnacious by nature and no
soldier by habit, the Russian is naturally a very
peaceable animal compelled to assume the appear-
ance of a soldier by a military government. And
yet, notwithstanding all these inpuenoes, we cannot
but look upon peace as a remote and improbable
event. The demolition of Sebastopol is the only
material guarantee that can be afforded for the dimi-
nation of the undue preponderance of Russia in the
Black Sea. Upon the success of the attempt to
reduce Sebastopol, our ally, the Emperor of the
FRENCH, may be regarded as having staked his
throne; for failure in that attempt might
awaken a spirit in the French army that would be
fatal to him. But to the demolition of Sebastopol no
Russian Government can or will submit, unless under
extreme pressure. The Russians would prefer the
destruction of Bt. Petersburg to that of Sebastopol
The possession of the latter they regard u ensuring
to them the Indefinite extension of their empire to-
wards the south. St. Petersburg, on the contrary, is
a eul-de-sse, which leads nowhere ; and the Russians
know well that it is pretty certain to be destroyed
by natural eansee.before another half century passes
over their heads.

Here, then, will be the stumbling-block in the
Vienna negotiations. With many a grimace Russia
may swallow the conditions of the Allies relating to
the free navigation of the Danube, and the renuncia-
tion of the exclusive protectorate of the Danubian
provinces and the Christian subjects of the Porte.
But when the question of limiting Russia's ascen-
dancy on the Black Sea, and to that end dismantling
Sebutopol, comes upon the tapis, then Russia will
make an obstinate stand; exhaust every wile of
diplomacy; and, finally, break off the negotiations
rather than consent.

Nor is this the only difficulty with which the re-
presentatives of the Western Powers will have to
contend:at the Vienna Conference. Their ally, Austria,
may give them quite as much trouble as their
adversary, Russia. When Austria occupied the
Danubian Principalities, on the retreat of the Rus-
sians, it was with no intention of ever again relin-
quishing its grasp upon them. No efforts will be
spared by the Austrian diplomatists to obtain the
consent of the Western Powers to the virtual, if not
the avowed, annexation of the Principalities to the
Austrian dominions. Now, there are three sufficient
reasons against the acquiescence of France and Eng-
land in any such proposal. The first is, regard for the
rights of their ally, the SULTAN. Feeble though the
link he that binds Wallachia and Moldavia to the
Turkish Empire, it is still a bar to the acquisition of
these provinces by Austria. France and England
have armed to smart the independence and integrity
of the Ottoman Empire against Russia; can France
and England with honour or consistency consent to
any encroachment on the integrity of the Ottoman

Empire by Austria! The second reason is regard
for the rights and interests of the inhabitants of the
Principalities. They have been more, and more
unjustly, injured during the present struggle than
any other parties. Whatever the merits of the con-
troversy between Russia and Turkey, it hes never
been pretended •that Russia had any ground for
quarrel with the Wallsehians and Moldavian'.
Even though the CrAs had had real cause
for being angry with the Porte, he could
not pretend that he had been injured by the %Mi-
shima and Moldavian,. Yet he punished them for
the belts of which he pretended the Porte had been

guilty towards him. H. invaded their territory; he
seised upon their public moneys; he allowed his
soldiers to live upon them at free quarters; Be salt.
jetted them to martial law. Well, this plague ease
to an end in time. The Runtime were obliged to
evacuate the Principalities. Bat no sooner were they
gone than the Austrians entered, and proved a sore
intolerable plague than their predecessors. It is
strange, bet take, that the Austrian, the most
stupidly good-natared of human beings at boo*,
begonias the most brutal and outrageous of ty-
rants when invested with power in a foreign
land. The outrages of the Austrian soldiery almost
made the Moldavian sad Wallacbians wish for the
Russians back again. During the Oriental struggle,
an marauding people have been harassed and
plundered by both sides. And if the Austrians are
allowed to retain the Prineipalities, the future fate of
the Inhabitants of those countries will be even worse
than the past. The Austriaos will be in Wallachia
and Moldavia what they have been in Italy—and
worse, for there they will be more removed from the
control of the public opinion of Europe. The
third reason against allowing the Austrians to