The Express.
London, England, 1855-09-18 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18.

Tue order of the day in which the Emperor of
Bosom has communicated to his army the news of
the fall of Sebastopol le exactly what was to be
expssted. Either the Runtime is conscious that
detest is impending over him, or be is not. Hie wish
in the first case is to fall with dignity and decorum;
is the second, to show that he is seaweed by what
he considers a mere casual reverse. The heir of a
monarchy is taught from infancy to maintain a de-
rumour of dignified impassibility under all circum-
stances, and to act such a part on the throne becomes
second nature with him. ALEXANDER 11. has proved
himself au apt scholar of each a school. His words are
firm, temperate, and decorous, though they are essen-
tially false. He imams that Russia is le arm. to pro.
tect her religion, honour, and independence. Not one
of the three has been threatened. The war has been
forced upon the Western Powers to prevent Russia
from trampling dawn the independence of her neigh.
boars. This is not to threaten the honour of Russia,
for there is no honour in unjust aggression. It
has been proposed that the faith of the Russian
people should be undermined, or their ritual wor-
ship interfered with. And as to the independence
of Russia, it will be respected if she re-
spects the independence of other countries. But the
sovereign of Russia—at least in so far as his words
can be assumed to be an index of his thoughts—is not
yet prepared to confess that he has been in the
wrong, and to accept of peace on the condition of
giving guarantees for his future good behaviour. He
exhorts his soldiers to repel every attempt to violate
the sanctity of the Russian territory. Our main un-
even is to discover whether the EMPEROR and his
councillors are prepared to act up to these bold
words. We believe they are. We believe, indeed,
that despondency already pervades a large pro-
portion of the Russian population a de-
spondency which privations will in doe time
exacerbate into mutiny. But as yet the proud
and reckless faction which is in the ascendant in the
councils of Russia is wilfully blind to this fact.
It is from the characters of these men that the course
they will pursue must be inferred. They are rude
in sentiment ea the iron-banded barons of the middle
ages; they are wooled and voluptuous as tlje courtiers
of Imperial Rome ; they are ambitious, avaricious, and
daring as the pro-consuls of the Roman Republic at
the height of its power. Their exclusive study has
been the art of war, and they fondly deem themselves
masters in it. Their private estates are overbur-
dened with loans from their Government at
usurious interest. They can only obtain the
mesas of maintaining that parade and of in-
dulging is that luxury which are the end and
aim of their existence, by having conquered pro-
vinces subjected to their rule as governors. The
, systematic encroachments of Russia upon her neigh-
bours are less owing to the ambition of her Soul-
., reigns than to the bankruptcy and ungovernable
,: appetites of those nobles who take an active part in
politics. Trained in the ever-changing atmosphere
; of a despotic court, these men are by habit reeking
gambierv, who have staked everything on the hazard
: sea die—who know and seek for no medium between
unbounded power and indulgence, and utter ruin.
Intensely selfish, they will not shrink from involving
their country in their falL A just and moderate policy
which would promote the true interests of Russia,
and accelerate the civilisation of her people, would
relegate these men to penury and obscurity, and to
this they are resolute not to submit. Like SARDA-
NAPALUS, when they can no longer continue their
proud luxurious mode of life, they are daring enough
to close it by immolating themselves on the funeral
pile of an empire. The CZAR and his more moderate
counsellors may be disposed to yield to necessity—
the people may be clamorous for peace—but
these men will compel both to persist in
the war by inaugurating a reign of terror.
This is the soiree of the stubborn resistance
which the Allies have to look for on the part of Rus-
sia. It cannot last, but it will be fierce and uncom-
promising. It can only be put down by bus at
arms. Reason and morality have no Mamma is
the desperadoes who will goad their Government Me
prolong the hopeless struggle in which it is engaged.
There is an old and homely proverb, that the bite of
a rat is never so venomous as when it is caught in a
trap and hopeless of escape. The Allies have the
arrogant and unscrupulous dominant power of Russia
ma trap—they must be at once prompt and wary if
they would disable it from inflicting further evils on
the world.