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

TILE POLICY OF ALEXANDER H.

( From the Morning Advertiser of yesterday.)
It is difficult for us to understand how a contemporary
can pretend, "that the imlicatisna hitherto given in
Russia of the policy of the new reign Are nearly all of a
more temperate character, and that there is a wide dif-
ference. between the present language of the Russian
e
Cabinet and the insane appeals addressed by Nicholas to
the fanaticism of his subjects in opposition to the com-
bined policy of Europe." Let us look to the facts.
isnolTidbaet:
which
en e
hwisr
Alexandereiegmn p has been :n) e
II: e. nt
hpeirnohaciul
gal
iu!
enrss at tetddgt he will byCon-
solidate a manifesto,
of powerha
and glory, and that through him shall be fulfilled
the designs and desires of his predecessors, Peter
the Great, Catherine 11., Alexander the much.
beloved, and of his own august Father. This is tolerably I
strong. The late ruler of Russia also acted, it is true,
according to the principles laid 'down by his proto-
types in aggression ; ye:-.. he never, even in his moat
frantic appeals, openly confessed himself the per-
petuator of conquering despotism ; he rather disclaimed
ambitious views. The present Muscovite Sovereign,
on the contrary, not only pursues the traditional
policy, but explicitly makes a doctrine of it ; nay, he
declares that he will not only workout what is known
to be the patent policy of Russia, but pursue even the
most bidden "designs and desires" of his models. Nor
is this all. To give the manifesto still more significance,
to connect it still more intimately with the views of the
late Emperor, it has now been divulged in the Musco-
vite capital—as we see from St. Petersburg letters—
that the document issued after the, advent of the new
Czar, had been sketched out and read before the dying
Autocrat, who gave it his full approbation. In these
last days, too, Alexander IL, in a speech made to the
so-called Senate, asserted "that for upwards of ten yearn
he had participated of, and had his full share in, the acts
of Government, and had been initiated into the projects
of his deceased father"—an expression which seems to
indicate that he does not intend to swerve from the here-
ditary policy of the house of Rotnanoff.
His appeals to the army breathe the same spirit ; and
Ithe famous dictum of Nicholas,' "In te, Domine,
speravi,- non confundar in ceternuin !" is quite- eval-
led, and even surpassed, by the menacing exclamation,

" Woe to the enemies of Russia !" which is contained
is Alexander the Second's order of the (ley to the
army. Besides, some more Imperial lucubrations have
since come to hand. For instance, an open letter to the
Cossacks of the Don, in e•itich the Government of St.
Petersburg strives to work up the zeal of these rude
warriors, by presenting thelo, as a token of gratitude for
their faithful and glorious services, with the Cossack
uniform worn by the deceased Czar, and which "hence-
forth is to be preserved among the sacred treasures of
the Don Cossacks, as a holy relic and an imperishable
remembrance for ages to come."
Through another letter Alexander 11. transmits to the
Czarewitsch Crown Prince the post he himself has
hitherto held, of Ataman of all the Cossack hordes ;
and he takes this opportunity to vow a most romantic
eternal love to the Guard regiments -of the Cossacks,
" with whom he has identified himself." In a docu-
ment addressed to Prince Alexander Sserjewitsch
(llenschikoff), he rejoices over the " truly Russian valour
with which the troops have repulsed all efforts of their
enemies." lie thanks the gallant defenders of Sebastopol
for the glorious deeds, by which they have rendered
illustrious for ever the war-annals of the Empire, and,
repeating the doctrine of Holy Russia, he urges on his
troops to battle by assuring them that " the late chief of
the Orthodox army, who has entered into eternal life,
loOks down from Heaven upon, and gives his benedic-
tion to, the perseverance and unprecedented intrepidity
with which the troops sustain the struggle."
Such is the language of the Russian Government, en
the temperance of which the Times has such flattering
r praises to bestow. Perhaps it has not occurred to our
contemporary that, in all the public manifestoes, open
letters, orders of the day, &c., issued since the 2d of
March, and of which there is an authentic text before
us—(and there are a great many, though a part only of
them have been published in this country)—not in one
single instance has the word peace been pronounced ;
whilst Nicholas, be it remembered, almost invariably
.took. the prec4ntion of hypocritically veiling his ambi-
tious pretensions by allusions to the re-establishment
of peace. This is quite in accordance with the actual
state of parties at the Russian Court. Only a few days
ago, as we see from the Berlin papers, the Court of
Frederick William was filled with sorrow at the news
that the Old-Russian war-party were getting more and
more paramount at St. Petersburg. The only occasion
when Alexander 11. alluded publicly to efforts at pre-
sent making for bringing the Eastern contest to a con-
clusion was in an oral communication to the Diplo-
matic Corps assembled on the 7th of March in the Win-
ter Palace. The Muscovite Sovereign, on that day,
arrogantly pretended that "he would give peace to
Europe" if honourable conditions are offered to Russia;
but should they not be so, he would rather perish than
accept them. In a similar manner, Alexander 1., in
1812, repliedrto the offers of the French Emperor :--
" Rather than accept dishonourable conditions I
will retire into the depths of Siberia !" Another
remarkable feature in the declaration spoken by
tho present Czar on March 7, is the reference to
the Holy Alliance. Though this Absolutistic Lcaeue
has virtually been dissolved by the events of 1848, Alex-
ander 11. said he had reason to hope that the principles
upon which the despotic solidarity of Russia, Prussia,
and Austria was founded might soon again serve as a
bond between those States. This expression little milli-
rates that the Court of Vienna is about to cross swords
with the Bashkirs. It seems rather a proof that the
Muscovite Cabinet believes itself to be master of the
diplomatic game which is being played in the apartments
of Count Duo! Schauenstein.

It has been said, "there is nothing like Russian
leather ;" but henceforth it may be said there is nothing
like Russian " temperate" policy. Fulfilment of tile
designs of Peter, Catherine, Alexander, an l Nicholas—
victory to the ortlio,lox army on the sacred soil of the Mus-
covite Ernpire—re-establishment of the Holy :
this is pretty well fir "temperate" programme ; and
most unwise, most unstatez.rnanlike would it be in us
to throw any difficulties in the way of a Sovereign who
pm sues so unambitious a policy. So think: our
G'overniamit. So are our Plenipotentiaries at Vienna
instructed to think. So all temperate and moderate
people must think. The fact is, since the accession of
the new Czar, there exists no longer any Russian ques-
tion at all ! It is true, the world has in these latter
times allowed itself to be subject to a most passionate.
anti-Russian fever—but the crisis is now over, the
draughts of our diplomatists at the Peace Congress are
Certain to remove the last symptoms, and only most in-
veterate Russophobes can any longer refuse to swallow
the marvellous antidote offered, under the modest name
of the Four Points,

A.s, however, there might here and there be still ex-
tant among the public some groundless aversion to these
Four Points, our contemporary has, in his Tuesday's im-
pression, published an explanation and direction for the
use of that famous medicine, and we will not neglect to
give our readers the full benefit •f it, by republishing
the hints and remarks the Times has on this subject.
In respect to the first point—the protectorate over the
Danubian Principalities—we are informed that the "ex-
clusive" protectorate exercised by Russia will cease, and
that the only question is, " how the suzerain rights of
the Porte can best be secured without infringing on the
independence of the Christian authorities, whioh alone
can administer these countries." From this it is quite
clear that the Czar, in future, will have a co-equal right
of interference with the affairs of Moldo-Wallachia, and
that the question is 'not to drive out Russia, but to su-
persede the Ottoman Government, which is declared to
have no right of administering two provinces of its own !

But to i .of Moldo-Wallachia
only from the hands of the Porte would scarcely be
worth while ; better to swallow up at once European
Turkey whole. " Indeed, the farther," says our con-
temporary, "the Plenipotentiaries of Europe proceed
in their discussion the more forcibly will they perceive
that the whole system of the Ottoman Empire, in
dealing with its dependencies and its Christian sub-
jects, must pass under their revision." Of ceursd, the
innocent reader will ask himself, in great astonishment,
whether this is the settlement of conditions and
restrictions to be put upon the Russian aggressor.
The answer, however, is ready at hand. "It will pro-
bably be found before long," says our oracle, " that in
these negotiations the Turkish obstacles are not the
least difficult to be surmounted, and that, before we can
reckon on any of the political results we had hoped to
obtain from this war, we have as much to require from
our ally as from our adversary." In a word, not only
the. Government of Moldo-Wallachia, but of twelve
millions of Turkish subjects, is to be wrested from the
hands of the Sultan.
After basing settled thus two knotty points, our con-
temporary approaches the navigation of the Danube.
'But, as there can be no idea of giving back the
Danubian Delta and Bessarabia to Turkey, in order to
secure the free navigation of the river, the only solu-
tion of this point being a verbal promise of the Rus-
sian Government, our contemporary does net stop
long at this affair ; and at once turns to what is be-
lieved to be the real difficulty, viz., the freedom

of the Black Sea. Uere, however, there is no diffi-
Culty, after all ! Nobody thought of abolishing the
Convention of the Straits, which gives to Russia security
from attacks upon her Pontic possessions ! Nobody,
also, thought of demanding that Russia should raise the
fortifications of her Crimean stronghold ! "The real
aggressive power," we are told, " lay not so much in the
"fortifications of Sebastopol," as in the fleet sheltered by
that harbour. The reduction of the Russian fleet, there-
fore, can only form the subject of discussions and de-
mand, and upon. that point the Plenipotentiaries are-
prepared to take their stand.
By a mot wonderful process all questions concern-
ing Russia have thus been simplified and reduced to a
single bead—the Muscovite fleet in the Euxiue.
Arrived at this port, our contemporary, however,
ahruptly leaves his readers ; and therefore we, on our
part, take up the work in order to coinpleto the feel-
ing of public satisfaction. The Russtan fleet in the
Black Sea—mark. this!—once consisted of fourteen
ships of the line. But when . the Allied squadrons ap-
proached the harbour of Sebastopol, Prince Mensebikoff
caused six of them to be stink at the entrance of the
p. rt—eight ships then remained ! Sonic time after'
it was found that the entrance bad not been sufficiently
blocked up, and the Muscovite "Admiral" accordingly
despatched anothi r ship under water—reducing the whole
number to seven. Now, the number to which the fleet
of the Czar ought to be reduced, according to the pro-
jects of the Vienna diplomatists if the correspondents
of our contemporary be well informed, six ships of the
line ! The whole Eastern and Russian question then re-
solves itself into the problem, " What shall we do with
the ono supernumerary ship of. the line at 'Sebastopol ?"
This problem may cause some discussion ; it is, however,
to be hoped that our diplomatists will find means to
get over the difficulty. As a contribution to its solution,
we venture to suggest that Alexander 11. may be re-
quested to do an act of magnanimity, and graciously to
allow that this ship of the line may serve- to carry the
flag of the English Admiral who will re-transport our
army to receive on its return, if not the !wird wreaths
of victory, the palm leaves, at least, from the happy
bands of Messrs. Cobden and Bright, just in the same
manner as if our soldiers had succeeded in storming, the
great stronghold of the Northern Autocrat. lhus,
peace will be concluded, Turkey be reformed, and Eng-
land become ripe to undergo the mode of treatment most
in accordance with the designs of Peter, Catherine,
Alexander, and Nicholas.

NEWCASTLE AND CARLISLE RAILWAY.—The annual
meeting of this company was held in the Board Room of
the Directors, at the Central Station, Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, on Tuesday; W. Woods, Esq., chairman of the di-
rectors, presided. The chairman read the report of the di-
rectors, an abstract of which has already been published.
He remarked that there had been a considerable increase
during the past year in the cost of coke, the amount
being 2,3001. in excess of the former year. The income,
however, was so satisfactory that the directors had felt
themselves justified in adding considerably to the reserve
fund, and paying fur a new locomotive out of revenue, a
charge which has usually been placed to the account of
ca;)ital. ]le congratulated the shareholders on the satis-
factory position of the company. Mr. P. G-. Ellison
moved that the reprt be adopted. Mr. Matthew Ball
seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.
The retiring directors were re-elected.