The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY .EVENING, DECEMBER 31, 1855

' in earnest, and Lord PALMERSTON had to main-
tain his post against every corner.
Just at this time Europe was startled by the
intelligence of the death of the Emperor NICHO-
LAS, after a very brief and rapid illness. The
AUTOCRAT fell a victim on the 2d of March to his
own arrogance and ambition. Mortification at
the fearful consequences in which he had involved
his country, being, perhaps, his chief disease,
and the tidings of the victory gained by OMER
PACHA at Eupatoria bringing on the crisis. Not-
withstanding the belief that an attempt would be
made to place the Archduke CONSTANTINE—the
turbulent leader of the War party—on the
throne, the Cesarewitch ALEXANDEa sue-
ceeded without difficulty or disturbance.
The hopes that had been formed from
his supposed peace propensities were, how-
ever, dissipated by the proclamation with which
his accession was inaugurated, in which ho pro-
fessed his unflinching determination to pursue the
traditional policy of Russia—the policy of PETER
and CATHERINE, and their successors.
The " hair-splitting diplomacy" at Vienna
soon followed—in which Lord JOHN RUSSELL
committed political suicide, sacrificing any rem-
nant of character which he had previously retained.
Disregarding the very clear and distinct instruc-
tions which had been delivered for his guidance,
he suffered himself to be cajoled by Austria, and
promised to support with all his influence the
sinister and inadequate propositions which had
been put forward by Count BUOL. M. DROUYN
DE L'HWYS, who had been similarly misled, was
forthwith removed from office by our august Ally ;
but Lord JOHN RUSSELL Still clung to place, and
thereby seriously imperilled the existence of the
English Cabinet. His colleagues—or rather
bare majority—fortunately remained firm, the
views of the French EMPEROR turning the scale
at the decisive moment.
While the conferences were still pending NA-

a demonstration again st Riga, commenced and
concluded the exploits of the Allied squadrons
in the Baltie.

' were sugar the most profitable crop in the world,
and. had Jamaica been the best soil fur it, its
cultivation was carried on after a fashion that,
slave or no slave, could not but have ended in
ruin. The proprietors of the soil and the slave
gangs that cultivated it lived, as we showed awhile
back, in luxury here, leaving the man agement of
their estates in the hands of attorneys, who took
special care to make a good thing of it, and to give
the capitalist a chance of getting good interest out
of them by way of mortgage. The result was
when the day of emancipation came it
found a large body of the proprietors
little more than nominally owners—land, slaves,
and all being heavily mortgaged. Slavery, that
foul system on which humanity can hardly utter
too prolonged a curse, being branded bone deep
and sent adrift, left the plausible demon of Pro-
tection in its place to plague the old tyrants, and
Protection, in its turn, left Compensation, which
troubles the planters now. Fcrtunately the
Jamaica press is taking them in hand, and, how-
ever glad we may be of this, they ought to be
more so, the advice it gives being the best that
can be given ; for let them rest assured that,
knowing what the British public know, they would
as lief see Jamaica a desert as remunerate a
quondam slave-owner for his folly and laziness.

The return visit of her MAJESTY and Prince
ALBERT to the Emperor and Empress of the
FRENCH proved how fully the kindly feelings of
the English were reciprocated by their French
brethren, and afforded powerful evidence of the
cordial and, we trust, durable alliance that pre-
vails between these mighty peoples, the great
champions of liberty and civilisation.

On the Bth of September the long-anticipated
attack on tho Malakhoff took place. The French
troops seized the disputed position by a very
brilliant coup, and maintained it despite the most
energetic efforts to regain the decisive ground
—the gallant onslaught by the English on
the Redan, which has immortalised the name
of General WYNDHA.2I, having created a very
valuable diversion in their favour. The eva-
cuation of the South side of Sebastopol,
and the destruction of the •scanty remnant
of the Russian Black Sea Fleet immedi-
ately followed, and the standing menace to Con-
stantinople and to Europe was thus at length de-
prived of its sting.

The capture of Kinbourn and the occupation
of the portals to Nicolaieff and Kherson followed.
It was, however, too late for any decisive opera-
tions during the present year. Much valuable
time had been lost, and we must patiently wait
the return of spring for further efforts. Kars
has unfortunately fallen. The noble defence which
30 strongly excited the popular entkusiasm proved
unavailing. The heroes who so greatly signalised
themselves are prisoners to the Russians, and it
will be the first duty cf Government to retrieve
Cho Lioriow. loss thus occasioned. On tho whole.
although our triumphs have not been unalloyed,
we have every reason to be satisfied with the
military events of the year, and to look forward
hopefully to the future, when more energetic and
determined efforts will, doubtless, produce cor-
responding results.

POLEON and EUGENIE became the honoured guests
of Queen VICTORIA. Never was a more enthu-
siastic and cordial reception bestowed upon a
foreign potentate than that which, on the 16th
of April, greeted our faithful and honoured Ally.
It was not merely lip-service ; it was the welcome
of an entire nation to one who had well-merited
its approbation. A cordial greeting that flowed
from the heart—the "cead mine failthc" of our
brethren west of St. George's Channel. That
greeting will not, cannot be forgotten by the great
man on whom it was bestowed, and it must
cement and render paramount the union between
the mighty peoples, whose friendship will not be
the less firm or enduring because they were so
long arrayed in hostile ranks, and completely mis-
understood each other.

So, after all, it is Austria that is to gain the
benefit of the sacrifices of men and money to
which the peoples of France and England have so
freely and willingly consented. The free naviga-
tion of the Danube, by which Austria will be the
chief gainer, is the main object of the new
proposals, and that is to be attained by
the cession of that part of Bessarabia which
lies between the Fortress of Chotzn on the
north, the Salt Lake !Sasik, on the south,
and the Pru th on the west. Three weeks
are given for the consideration of this proposition,
which Russia will doubtless turn to the best ad-
vantage.

The termination of the Vienna Conferences led
to increased activity in the Crimea. The Allied
Powers clearly perceived the nature and extent
of the deception to which they had been subjected,
and seemed determined by increased activity to
make amends for their previous credulity. About
the middle of May General CANROBERT resigned
the command of the French army, and was re-
placed by General, now Field-Marshal, PELISSIER.
The results of this important change were speedily
perceptible. The greatest activity was manifested
on every side. An expedition was despatched to
Kertch, Arabat, and the Sea of Azoff, which
achieved a series of almost bloodless triumphs of
vast importance. In the neighbourhood of Se-
bastopol, the French troops attacked, on the 24th
May, the Russian position between the Central
Bastion and the sea, and captured it with immense
slaughter. And this was speedily followed on
the 7th Juno by the capture of the " Mamelon
Vert" and two redoubts on Careening Bay, while
the English signalised themselves by the brilliant
capture of the Rifle Pits, from whence the enemy
had been enabled to cause very considerable
annoyance to our troops. Meanwhile the suc-
cesses in the Sea of Azoff surpassed the most
sanguine anticipations that had been formed, and
a series of heavy blows were inflicted on the
enemy without any loss worth noticing.
On the 18th June, a memorable day for France
and England, a simultaneous attack was made on
the Malakhoff and Great Redan by the French
and English troops. The plan was of a similar
character to that which three months subsequently
proved decisive, and accomplished the object of
the tedious siege. Although the officers and men
engaged in behaved with the utmost gallantry and
resolution, they were for the time being foiled,
and very deplorable losses were sustained by the
daring assailants. Lord RAGLAN only survived
this melancholy catastrophe ten days. It was
said that intense mortification hastened his death.
Although we had been compelled occasionally to
notice shortcomings, we participated in the deep
regret universally entertained for the gallant de-
ceased, and rejoiced in the substantial marks of
gratitude conferred on his widow and successor.
Peace to his honoured remains! He was a chival-
rous and high-minded man, who well maintained
and enhanced the dignity of his ancient and time-
honoured family.
While these matters were taking place in the
East, "The Hango Massacre," as it was justly
termed, excited the deepest indignation of the
people. The wanton and treacherous attack on
an unarmed boat's crew, while engaged in a mis-
sion of mercy in restoring Russian captives to
liberty, and under the sacred protection of a flag
of truce, exhibited the brutality of the cowardly
assassins engaged in the strongest light ; and the
attempted, but singularly lame, vindication of the

" Unus seminat alter metat" is a time-honoured
apophthegm, but never was it more powerfully
illustrated. The Western Powers distributed
the good seed—the skulker, who left others
to bear the brunt of the encounter, takes
the lion's share of the profit. French and
English blood has abundantly manured
the crop. French and English capital has
been lavishly expended iu the work, but the pro-
duce is garnered by Austria for its own peculiar
aggrandisement. This would indeed be a very
ludicrous termination to the struggle ; one only
paralleled in the fable which describes the fox as
stepping in between the exhausted lion and tiger,
and bearing away the spoil for which the more
generous combatants had been so fiercely contend-
ing. We cannot, however, conceive that such a
scheme could be accepted. The nobler animals
are not so grievously exhausted as to submit
to bitch a termination of the War. The
free navigation of the Danube is de-
cidedly a matter of considerable magnitude,
but it is not the question for which France and
England have unsheathed their Brforda and it is
of very secondary importance when compared
with the security of the Ottoman empire, and ade-
quate guarantees for the permanent tranquillity
of Europe, together with a reasonable indemnity
for the expenses which we have sustained in re-
sisting the unwarrantable attack of the uncon-
scientious aggressor.

The late rise in the price of sugar has naturally
enough directed attention to the various scenes of
its production, and more especially to America
and the West India islands, and with results far
from unsatisfactory to the philanthropist and the
Treetrader. In America it is found that the
accursed system of slavery is working its own de-
struction, and in the West India islands that a
perception of past error, and of the to us long ob-
vious policy necessary to insure future prosperity,
is fast dawning on the minds of the population.
The production of sugar in the United States
is, it would appear, being attended with more and
more difficulty. Etch succeeding year poor
Quashes is rising in price as a marketable
commodity, and in resolution as a reasming
animal. Not only is ho bad to buy, but had to
keep when he is lsought. He looks the
"stars" in the face, turns the cold shoul-
der to the "stripes," and finds when ho can
in the Canadas a refuge from the tender mercies

of Uncle SA3d, who loves liberty too well to cast it

to the slave. The consequences are, less and less
sugar is being produced, prices rise, and the pros-
pects of the West and East India planters rise
with them, the increased cost of production in
America promising them, if they choose to avail
themselves of the opportunity, a greatly improved
position in, if not the command of, the market.
Taking all things into consideration, we by no
means question the policy adopted by this country
in paying for the emancipation of the slave, the
principles of free trade being then little under-
stood ; but we must say that, were there slaves in
any of our colonies now to be emancipated their
freedom would scarcely be purchased.
Turning to Jamaica, we find the Kingston

atrocious act materially lowered the Russian cha-

ractor in French and English eyes. The discovery
of the infernal machines laid down in the Baltic,
by the explosion of one of which Rear-Admiral

SEYMOTJR, and several of his officers, were seri-
ously wounded, added to Vie disgust enter-
tained for an enemy who had so manifestly dis-
regarded every chivalrous maxim. During this
month the bankruptcy of one of the oldest private
banks in London, and the discovery of grave
frauds committed by the partners, produced in-

Journal furnishing a sufficient answer to th©

memorial of a member of the Jamaica Association
(whatever that is), presented to Lord JOHN

tense excitement. In March the detection of
JOSEPH WINDLE COLE revealed a deep-laid sys-
tem of commercial fraud and turpitude. The
flight of Messrs. GORDON and DAVIDSON fol-
lowed ; and the arrest of Messrs. STRAHAN, BATES,
and Sir JOHN DEAN PAUL occasioned a deep sen-
sation in city circles. The Report of the Sebas-
topol Committee was also made during this
month ; and various demonstrations against the
Pharisaical Bill of Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR
clearly indicated the dangerous nature of the
ground on which the Sabbatarian party were so
recklessly trespassing.

RUSSELL in July last. The memorialist, as will
be seen in this day's Herald, complains of the in-
adequacy of the price paid to the Jamaica planters
for their " property" in human flesh and blood,
and seeks compensation in more cash or renewed
protection, in order to save them from ruin. The
Kingston Journal is of opinion that the causes of
the adversity complained of are under their own
control, and that they have only to exercise a
little common sense in order to get footing
on the highway to prosperity. Instead
of whining like baffled blood-hounds for
compensation from us, he, in effect, advises
-them to adopt measures calculated to giro C3Ol-

Rfeuebssl:nteLs'ss were
political charac-
July completed the destruction of the slender
clearly ex-
rteerm. naanistsvoafciLlloartdionJoaHnNd
posed on his own confession. His sacrifice was es-

penzation, to however small an extent, to us.

He points out in a word the necessity of adopting

sential to the safety of the rest of the Ministry, and
the political JONAH was flung overboard, and Sir

an improved mode of producing sugar, and where
the production of sugar is not likely to pay the

cultivation of articles of commerce adapted to the

WILLIAM MOLESWORTII substituted in bi place.

The change saved the Government, which from
thence materially improved in the public estima-

soil. This is sensible advice, though rather late
in corning, being precisely that we gave the West
Indian planters long ago, the facts on which it
was eliminated being of the most obvious descrip-
tion. For instance, the growth of sugar is com-
paratively modern in Jamaica, its first value as a

tion. Several formidable attacks were successfully
resisted, and Lord PALMERSTON acquired a very

considerable accession of strength in consequence
of his manly and judicious conduct.

commercial dependency arising from its indigo,
hides, &c., and afterwards its coffee. Again,

In August the bombardment of Sweaborgi and