The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURN.

(From the Times of this day.)

The speeches delivered by Lord Lyndhurst and Lord
Clarendon on Tuesday night in the House of Lords on
the present relations of the Austrian Government to the
Allied Powers deserve to be read with the utmost atten-
tion, not only in this country but abroad, for they are a
most creditable proof of the forbearance and moderation
with which English statesmen of the highest experience
and position have never ceased to deal with the most
cautious and timid of the German Powers. But we
cannot admit that this forbearance and moderation have
been confined to our statesmen alone ; on the contrary,
the press of this country and public opinion in general
have been disposed to make the greatest allowances for
the difficulties of the position in which the Austrian Go-
vernment has been placed. A foolish attempt has been,
occasionally made, by those who write under the influ-
ence of the Hungarian or Italian refugees, to impute to
us what are called Austrian opinions, and this class of
agitators has avowed its disappointment that the present
contest did not assume the character of a revolutionary
war ; but, upon the whole, the people of this country
have not lost sight of the historical fact, that in the
greatest struggles we have had to carry on for' the last
150 years Austria has been our useful, though cautious,
ally ; and that on the present occasion it is far better
to have her partially with us than altogether against us.
France and England knew, when they engaged in
offensive operations against the Russian empire, that
their own territories and interests were wholly out of the
reach of the enemy, and that the losses caused by this
war must all be borne by the offending party. Austria,
on the contrary, has been compelled to act in this ques-
tion as a Power conterminous with the Russian empire,
with a frontier in some degree commanded by the power-
ful strategical position and immense fortified works of
Russia in Poland, and with a capital Vi ithin a few days'
march of this stronghold of the Russian power. We
have no doubt—and Lord Clarendon fully confirmed this
opinion on Tuesday evening—that when the Cabinet of
Vienna separated itself from that of Berlin, proposed
the four bases of peace, and urged upon the Western
Powers the conclusion of the treaty of the 2d of Decem-
ber, Count Buol and the young Emperor relied upon
the speedy success of) our operations in the Crimea, and
hoped to bbtain' either from Germany or from the other
belligerents, the assistance required to enable
them to confront the armies of Russia in the field.
Throughout the autumn sand winter Austria made
strenuous exertions to obtain from the Diet the
mobilisation of the armies of the Germanic Confedera-
tion, but her policy was defeated at Frankfort by the
active intrigues of Prussia and of the Russian agents,
as well as by the inertness and repugnance of the Barn-
berg party. She then appealed, though less officially, to
France, to know what number of French troops could
be sent to her assistance ; and to England, to ascertain
what pecuniary contributions she might expect to enable
her to support an army already far exceeding the limits of
her finances. From P i.ris she was told that every avail-
able regiment would be sent to the Crimea • and from
London, that the British Government and the British
Parliament had no disposition to recommence the system
of subsidies. Being thus deprived of the hope of direct
assistance from Germany, France, and England, the Aus-
trian Government appears to have thought that it was too
weak to hold the position which it had attempted, and,as
we believe,intended to assume. As Lord Lyndhurst justly
observed, there cannot be a stronger proof of the territo-
rial ascendancy which the partition of Poland has given
to Russia over the German States, and especially over
the Austrian empire, than this transaction. It is the
first time since the consummation of that political enor-
mity that the Northern Courts have been divided and
brought to the verge of hostilities by a great political
interest, and the result shows that Austria cannot stand
against Russia on the Vistula, even when she is backed
by the indirect support of the Western Powers, who are
attacking Russia elsewhere.
These things afford matter for grave reflection to any
far-sighted Austrian statesman, and we have little doubt
that if Prince Schwarzenburg bad lived
,he would have
preferred to run any risk rather than to accept the pain-
fully humiliating position in which the Cabinet of Vienna
is placed by the failure of its policy. After spending fir
millions of money in preparations, it is reduced to the
necessity of disbanding its army without having obtained,
the smallest military result • and, after entering into for-
mal engagements with the Western Powers to unite its
efforts to theirs until the complete fulfilment of their
common policy, it is compelled to desist from the under-
taking without an effort to accomplish the task which
its own Ministers had projected. From such a result
Austria herself suffers immeasurably more than we can
do, for our military operations and political objects have
never been made to depend on her assent, and are now
completely released from any influence she might have
exercised over them. We read with the greatest satis-
faction Lord Clarendon's express declaration, that, "as
the four bases were to be maintained in their entirety,
and as the third bases had been rejected, and the re-
sponsibility of breaking off the negotiations at Vienna
does not rest upon us, but upon Russia, we consider
ourselves entirely disengaged from those bases." That
is the language we have held in this journal from the
termination of the negotiations. It is the language
Lord Lyndhurst wisely and manfully recommended to
the Government. It is the only language becoming the
dignity and policy of this country, and we are confident
that it is cordially adopted by the nation. The German
Courts appear not yet to have discovered that in the
conduct of these great affairs nothing but themselves is
stationary. The course of events rolls rapidly onward ;
the policy of the Ministers who are actively engaged in.
them is powerfully modified by the successive incidents
of the war; and it is absurd to argue that the solution,
which might have terminated the contest at one time is
to be held to be equally satisfactory at another. At the.
stage at which we are now arrived the German Po were
fall entirely into the second rank, and we learn from the
occurrences we are witnessing that of really great Powers
in Europe there are but three, since that term can only
be applied to states thoroughly capable of giving effect
to their own policy and of asserting their position in the
councils of Europe. Prussia and Austria have, as far as
the present state of affairs is concerned, we will not say
forfeited that position, but resigned it ; for, although the
King of Prussia blustered a little a few months ago
about his exclusion from the Vienna Conferences, he
now appears to be satisfied with his lot.

Although, on general grounds, we may see reason to,
deplore this state of things, yet, as regards the political,
influence of this country and its allies, we find in it nib
cause for apprehension or regret. The alliance Of
France, which has now been tried and gloriously ce-
mented by the events of the war, is of incalculably
greater moment to the people of England than
that of the German States ; indeed the long con-
tinuance of hostility between this country and
aeFY
Germanyr aecree.
fourehrtoi
however,
ae
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,rc
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we have
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htaho
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France was one of the main causes of our alliances
lastwiin ttlnthhheeG elast
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against us, or lukewarm, in all the principal transactions
in which we have been engaged, with the sole exception
of the Syrian question of 1840, when Lord Palmerston
allied himself to Russia and Germany against France.
The present crisis has, more than any preceding one,
brought the value and honesty of our alliances to the
proof.. We have seen the German Powers, not denying
the rightfulness of our cause and the justice of our de-
mands, gradually siding out of the quarrel, incapable of
giving effect to their engagements, and probably bound
by some sort of secret understanding to afford our ad-
versary subsequently the benefit of that neutrality which
they refused him openly. We have eeen, on the con-
trary, France prosecuting the war witbla vigour worthy
of her great position as a military Power, and cordially
united to our own efforts. We have seen, likewise,
Sardinia giving full effect to her engagements, and send-
ing the flower of her army to the Crimea to stand beside
the troops of the Western States. It is impossible not
to lament that a nation like the Germans should see
their influence neutralised and their independence sacri-
ficed by the Governments under which it is their fate to
live ; but in withdrawing their support from the cause
of the Western Powers those Governments have done
themselves a far greater injury than they can inflict upon
us ; they have weakened their influence in Europe, and
they have destroyed the confidence once placed in them
py this country,