The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

COUNT NESSELRODE'SIRCULAR.
( Prom the Times of this day. )
The circular despatch of Count Nesselrode to the di-
plomatic agents of Russia abroad is the most important
declaration we have yet received of the views of the
Russian Cabinet with reference to the negotiations at
Vienna. for it states the policy of the new reign in rela-
tion to the present conjuncture of affairs. In addressing
his owe subjects, the Emperor Alexander IT. lead
thought fit t ) declare that he hoped to accomplish in
his own person the policy of Peter, Catherine, Alexan-
der, and Nicholas. ; in addres.,ing tie other Courts of
Europe the Emperor epeaks of nothing beyond
the defence of the honour and integrity of Russia
and the accempliAiment of the work of peace. He
renews his declarations of fidelity to the obligations
of treaties, his desire to live in good harmony a itli all
the Powers, his allies and friends, Lie respect for the in-
violability of other States, and his firm resolution to
maintain the rights and national honour of his own coun-
try. If this language be sincere, we find no reason to
complain of it, for it is entirely at variance with the
policy pursued by the late Emperor in the last two years
of his reign. The war in which we are engaged was
not begun in order to assail the rights or to conquer the
territories of Russia. It was undertaken 'solely to en-
force the obligations of public law,•and to protect the
territories of another Power. It is therefore not to be
lost sight of that, when these obligations of public law
are placed on a secure basis, and when the territories of
the Ottoman empire are secured from aggression, the
original and primary objects of the war are accomplished.
This being the spirit which the Russian Pleni-
potentiaries have been instructed to display at the
Conferences of Vienna, we are not surprised to
learn that these meetings have thus fir proceeded
smoothly and successfully. A protocol containing
the arrangement proposed with reference to the
Danubian 'Principalities, which forms the first point in
the negotiation, has already been drawn up and signed,
or at least initialled. A second arrangement on the free
navigation of the Danube has also been agreed to, and
may be considered to be settled in conformity with the
views *f Austria and the Western Powers. It is pro-
bable, therefore, that the discussions which are to take
place in the ensuing week will bring the Plenipotentiaries
to the third and fourth points, on which the main diffi-
culty rests—namely, the diminution of the preponder-
ance of Russia in the Black Sea, together with the revi-
sion of the Convention of 1841, and the establishment
of the rights of the Christian subjects of the Porte on a
footing of freedom and equality. These are questions of
incalculably greater difficulty than those which have al-
ready been disposed of, for they involve the existence of
the maritime power of Russia in the East and:the internal
condition of the Ottoman empire. The Russian Mini-
sters showed their tact and judgment in passing lightly
over the first articles, when others of so much greater
consequence lay behind ; and nothing whatever can be
inferred from the progress hitherto made until the ques-
tions really in dispute are brought under the considera-
tion of the Congress.
Another motive may, however, be assigned for the
facility and promptitude with which the Russians have
yielded on the subject of the Principalities and the navi-
gation of the Danube. Those are the two points which
most nearly concern the interests of Austria, and, by
surrendering them, Russia no doubt hopes to lessen
the firmness with which Austria adheres to the collec-
tive determination of the Allied Powers. We cannot
suppose, however, that the Cabinet of Vienna will be
the dupe of so palpable an artifice, which would lead
to an act of great injustice and bad faith. It may be
true that these two points concern Austria more than
the Western Powers, because the Danube intersects her
territory, and the lower provinces surround the Austrian
frontier. The abolition of
.the separate treaties placing
those provinces under a Russian protectorate and the
opening of the mouths of the river are an immense boon
to Austria. But how has she obtained it ? She has ob-
tained these advantages by the arms of the Western
Powers, and by her own resolution to support their po-
licy. These two points form a portion of a joint and
identical arrangement, of which one part may be more
acceptable to one State and another to another, but
which, in reality, owes its strength and its success to
their union. It would be wholly inconsistent with the
spirit of the Notes of the Bth of August and of the
Treaty of the 2d of December to separate the four pro-
positions, which form one indivisible whole ; arid, in
exchange for the support they have given to the terms
mainly affecting Austria, France an England are en-
titled to expect from Austria the same support to all
the conditions demanded of Russia. The Austrian Mi-
nisters in the Conference have hitherto shown a firm
disposition to adhere to the cause of the Western Poweii,
which is also that of peace. Austria knows that no
solid peace can be restored so long as Russia retains her
absolute preponderance over the Black Sea, and as long
as the relations of the Christian populations of the East
to their Sovereign are unsettled ; and, although her
military honour is not engaged, like that of France anti
England, in the attack on Sebaqopol, the rlsults of that
enterprise are not less .important to the polidy of Austria
than to that of the Western Powers.
We are not in a condition at this moment to farm
any definite or decided opinion on the momentous
question which the Plenipotentiaries now as-
sembled at Vienna will be called upon within a few
days to consider and to solve, for the facts on which their
judgment must be formed are still very imperfectly
known, even to the members of the Conference, and we
cannot weigh without extreme hesitation and anxiety an
alternative of such fatal consequence to the- public and
private
interests of mankind. It would he culpable to
throw away en honest chance of peace upon any punc-
tilious or hasty motive; but it would be not less culpable
to attempt to terminate then) hostilities before the end
for which they were commenced is attained. We have
never shared, and we do not now share, the views put
forward by the more eager of our contemporaries, who
seem to think the territorial dismemberment of the Rus-
sian empire a very simple undertaking. Before any such
territorial questions arise at all, they must be preceded
by actual conquest or occupation ; but, although we
have invaded the Crimea, the allied armies cannot he
said to hold any part of that peninsula beyond their own
intrenched camps ; and before we can reasonably call
on Russia to surrender a went of her dominions we
must at leant have made ourselves masters of it. As
matters now stand, upon the simple ground of uti
Rossi-
detis no territorial question can be said to exist, and it
forms no part of our alliances with France or Austria
to attempt to make any such acquisitions at the present
stage of this war. Indeed, if any conquests had been
wade, we should be embarrassed how to dispose of
them, and they certainly would not have fallen to this
country.
But, though the territorial objects which have some-
times been pointed out as the prizes for which we are
contending would not, in our opinion, justify a
prolongation of hostilities if peace can be obtained with-
out them, yet for this very reason we adhere the more
inflexibly to those results which concern our rights and
our honour. Our forces have invaded Russia, and be-
' sieged Sebastopol, not so much from the necessity of de-
stroying that place, as from a conviction that the destruc-
tion of Sebastopol would most effectually conduce to the
future peace of the East. If the results of the last cam-
paign have fallen short of our just expectations, the
greater is our motive to persevere, until we have restored
our military renown arid our political influence to the
highest point at which they can be placed, for it is more
consistent with the true interests of this country to pro-
long
the war at all hazards, and ley far greater sacrifices
than we have yet male, than to submit to a peace pur-
chased by the smallest diminution of our national cha-
racter. The British empire, extending over millions of
human beings in every part of the globe, is supported
not so much by the actual force we maintain on any
given point, as by the knowledge and belief that the
resources and the will of the people of England are
equal to any emergency. That is the principle for which
our forefathers struggled and died in perils and against
difficulties immeasurably greater than any which are
now before us. That principle it devolves upon us to
defend. With it we are invincible—without it we should
be on the brink of disgrace and decay. We can take
shelter under no compromise with the enemy, and,
though we are ready to grant a peace on the terms al-
ready agreed to, perhaps the highest interests of the
nation will be more effectually promoted by the vigor-
ous prosecution of the war.

THE VIENNA CONGRESS.
( From the Morning Post of title day.)
It is generally understood that the Congress of Vienna
is now approaching a most critical point of the negotia-
tions, and therefore of its existence.

We pointed out some days ago that, in considering
the Four Points aeriatina, the Congress might either
enter upon the consideration, and complete the deter-
mination, of one point after another, or before entering
into details it might pass general resolutions in suc-
cession upon each point, leaving details for future ela-
boration.

We believe that the latter of these courses has been
adopted. Indeed, had the Congress, for instance, en-
tered fully on the first point, involving a revision of many
treaties, and the framing of a new Constitution for the
Danubian Principalities, a month or six weeks might
have been lost in the necessary labours and discussions,
and we should have presented the strange spectacle of
parties arranging details before being agreed upon gene-
ral principles.
We think we are not wrong in supposing the Congress
to have given a general assent to the propositions founded
upon t'le first Two Points ; but here we must warn our
readers not to think that therefore these points are settled.
It is all very well for the Plenipotentiaries to azree that
the Moldo-Wallachian provinces shall receive a new
protectorate and a new constitution, and that the navi-
gation of the Danube shall be free and shall be overlooked
by authorities not exclusively Russian ; but when these
matters come to bo carried out in detail, then it is that
difficulties will arise. In fact, on such points as these,
the difficulty lies almost solely in the detail.
The Third Point is different ; about it there is no de-
tail. It points to one great fact—the limitation of Rus-
sian preponderance in the Black Sea. To this end there.
are but two means--one, the establishment in the Black
Sea of French and English fleets and stations equivalent
to those of Russia ; the other, the reduction of the Rue-
( Sian power, The •An o Brat of theso runa sole