The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-03 00:00:00

GENERAL ORDER.

Head-Quarters, Sebastopol, Sept. 17, 1855.
No 1. The service for which the Naval Brigade was
attached to this army having been completed by the fall
of Sebastopol, the force has been ordered to rejoin the
Fleet.

The Commander of the Forces heartily thanks the
Officers, Petty Officers, and Seamen, for the very effi-
cient services they have rendered in the batteries, and
on all occasions when their aid against the enemy was
required ; and he has to notice the patience and courage
with which, side by side with the Soldiers of thi s Army,
they have endured the dangers and hardships of nearly
a year's duty in the trenches.
General Simpson cordially acknowledges the obliga-

tions he is under to Rear• Admiral Sir Stephen Lush-
ington, K.C.8., who so ably commanded the Brigade,
from its formation until his removal by promotion to a
higher rank, and to Captain Honourable H. Keppel,
who succeeded him, and retained the command until
the conclusion of this ever-memorable siege.
By order.
(Signed) H. W. BARNARD.
Chief of the Staff.

GENERAL DE LA MARMORA'S
DESPATCH.

The Sardinian Minister of War has received the
following despatch relative to Sebastopol from the
Cominander•in-Chief of the Sardinian forces in the
East :

KADIKOI, Sept. 11.—By a telegraphic despatch
of the 9th I informed your Excellency of the strik-
ing success obtained on the previous day by the
Allies against Sebastopol. I now transmit to you
the details which I have been able to collect, and
the facts which came under my own observation.
After a formidable bombardment, commenced in
the morning of the sth, by all the batteries of at-
tack, and directed simultaneously against the Cen-
tral Bastion, the Flagstaff Battery, the Malakhoff
Tower, and the Grand Redan, interrupted at in-
tervals, and then resumed with fresh energy, at the
rate of 100 guns a minute, it was decided that the
columns of attack should be directed in succession
against the entrenchments of the enemy. (The
despatch here goes into a description of the works
and the mode of attack agreed upon, the whole of
which have been given at great length in the re-
port of Marshal PeEasier, and then proceeds.) At
noon, the Ist Division, under General M‘Mahon,
and the corps of General Bosquet, which had been
suitably arranged in the extreme trenches, oppo-
site Malakhoff, left them en masse, and rushed on
the enemy's entrenchments, provided with scaling
ladders, bridges, and everything necessary to cross
the trenches. The head of the column in an in-
stant had crossed the first ditch, got behind the
first line and the enclosure cf the inner redoubt,
and then rushed from the top of the parapets into
the middle of the work, commencing a hand-te-
hand struggle with the defenders, almost before the
latter were aware of having been attacked. Ia less
than 20 minutes the whole of the redoubt was car-
ried, notwithstanding the high traverses, which ren-
dered the defence of it easy •, and the flag of the 20th
Regiment of the Line already floated in the centre.
All the troops of the First Division followed into
the redoubt after the head of the column, crossing
the ditch under a fire of grape from the batteries
which the Russians had erected to flank Malakohff.
The casemated tower alone held out, defended by
about 100 Russians, who had shut themselves up
in it, and annoyed with their fire the French who
were masters of the redoubt. The division of
General De La Motterouge simultaneously at-
tacked the curtain between Malakhoff and the Little
Redan, took it, and maintained themselves inside
the place, while the division of General Dulac, ad-
vancing in front against the Little Redan, was ex-
posed to a terrible fire, and could not advance be-
yond the ditch. In the Little Redan were collected
a large body of Russian troops, supported by mime-
rous reserves massed in the rear. While things
were thus going on on the right the French occu-
pied and kept the Malakhoff Redoubt, notwith-
standing the vigorous efforts made by large Rus-
sian masses, who, during several hours, returned
in. vain to the charge to retake it. They were at
the same time maintaining a sanguinary struggle
in the Little Redan, and the English troops at-
tacked the Great Redan. The English riflemen
first quitted their trenches a few minutes after 12
o'clock, threw themselves across the ditch, and
oldly gained the parapet, followed by the 23d and
97th of the Light Division and by other regiments.
These a
troops penetrated into the work
began
havingstrugglehand to hand. They gained pos-
session of the work and held it for some time, in
spite of the desperate efforts of the enemy to drive
them back. By reason, however, of the difficulty of
supporting them by more imposing forces, the
courage of these brave soldiers could not stand
against so many attacks from overwhelming num-
bers. The English, after remaining masters of the
Great Redan for more than an hour, were compelled
to abandon it, after suffering a heavy loss both in
officers and soldiers. Malakhoff being taken, or-
ders were
given about one o'clock to the Ist corps
of General de Galles to commence the attack on
the left. The troops of this corps destined for the
assault had been ready in position in the extreme
L trenches ; the division. Levailloaat opposite the

Central Bastion ; the Brigade Cialdini opposite the
Flag-staff Battery ; and the division d'Autemarre
in reserve. The wind from the north raised such
a cloud of dust, and the .smoke was so dense, that
for a long time the transmission of signals was im-
possible. It was only at two o'clock that the cap-
ture of Malakhoff was confirmed, and that it was
known that the signal of attack against the Cen-
tral Bastion had been given. General de Salles
immediately ordered forward the division Levail-
lant. The first brigade, under General Trochu,
was directed against the salient of the work, and
the brigade of Couston against the lu-
nette to the right. In an instant the heads of
these two columns had crossed the ditch and
climbed the slopes of the parapet, exposed for
some minutes to a shower of • hand grenades, ,
which the Russians threw from the top of the pa-
rapet, and to the fire of musketry from the pas-
sages leading to the ditch. General de Salles was
accompanied by Major Govone, 'Capt. Prola, and
Lieutenants Galli and Balbo ; the three first were
slightly wounded. To the cryof 'Vivo I'Empereur!'
raised by Gen. de Salles and repeated-by the troops,
the heads of the columns threw themselves reso-
lutely into the interior of the work, driving back the
Russians at the point of the bayonet. The res tot the
two columns, the 42d and 46th Regiment 4, and
the oth battalion of Chasseurs followed and kept up
a sanguinary struggle with the enemy.- These troops
maintained their ground for a quarter of an hour
in the inside of the Central Bastion; and then meet-
ing with fresh obstacles and fresh columns threat-
ening them on their flank, a movement of hesita-
tion manifested itself. The firmness of Generals de
Salles, Rivet, Lebceuf, and Dulesme, and the other
officers in immediate command of the troops, re-:
stored cenfidence. The troops again rushed for-
ward. They re-entered t,4 work in spite of a f.re-
mendous fire of grape, which ploughed up the
ground in every direction. A Russian battery of
15 guns was spiked by the French artillerymen in-
side the Central Bastion, and if the ground had
offered more facilities for the movement of the re-
serves and reinforcements, these troops would, per-
haps, have been able to maintain themselves in the
conquered bastion. Being, however, much inferior
in number to the enemy, and decimated by the ter-
rible fire of grape which the Russians kept pouring
against the front and the flank of the columns, these
troops were compelled after three hours to return to
their trenches. They had, in this short spaceof time,
lost Gen. Rivet, the chief of the staff of the Ist corps
General Breton, both killed, and Generals Trochu
and Couston, wounded on the enemy's parapet at
the head of their troops, and a great number of
superior and other officers. The French batteries
then re-opened their fire against the Russian
works, but about half-past four the fire had ceased
on all the left attack. The late hour would not
allow the assault to be renewed with fresh troops.
The order fOr the attack of the Flagstaff Bastion,
which had been confided to a brigade of our troops
under General Cialdini, was then withdrawn, as
it had become impossible. I avail myself of this
opportunity to point out to your Excellency the
confidence with which the royal troops awaited
the order of attack. The taking of the Malakhoff,
which was the essential object of the General-in-
Chief, was obtained, and produced the most com-
plete result. The Russians employed the whole
night in preparing the destruction of the town and
their retreat by the bridge which they had lately
erected. (The report concludes with an account
of the firing of the town and the blowing up of the
forts, full details of which have already appeared
in the despatches of Marshal Pelissier, and followed
by a list of five Sardinian officers wounded in the
trenches on the Bth, and four soldiers killed and
31 wounded.)

" ALPHONSE DE LA MAR➢IORA."

LETTERS FROM SEBASTOPOL.

The following extract of a letter from the officer
of the Highland Brigade who first entered the
Redan on the night it was evacuated by the Rus-
sians will be read with interest. Until he and his
party explored it the Allies were not aware that
the Russians had retired :
" I will give, you a short detail of how matters went
on the Bth inst. The Highland Division, consisting of
four regiments—namely, the 42d, 72d, 79th, and 93d—
marched from our present camp at Damara about 8 a.m.
on the Bth inst., arriving at our old encampment about

10, when we put off our knapsacks and feather bonnets,
roiled our great coats in trench order, like a dragoon's
cloak, to throw over the shoulder like a sash. This
done, we marched off to the trenches, where we arrived
about 12 o'clock, just in time to hear the first of the
bombardment. We marched in, under a heavy fire of
shot and shell, to the trenches at the 21-gun battery,
where we remained in reserve fur about an hour. We
were then moved up to No. 8 battery, where we were
kept under a sharp fire till between five and six o'clock
in the evening, when we marched forward to the advance
to relieve the troops who were stationed there for the
day, and such of those as remained of the storming party,
who, I presume, were few in number, as our loss was
very great in officers, non-commissioned officers, and
men, particularly the first two classes. We have been
very fortunate, as we have only lost two men killed on
the spot, and seven lhore severely wounded. When
we went to the front trench we had nothing to do, as
there was little firing from the time the Russians drove
the Second Division out of the Redan until we went
up. I may mention that the French took the Malakhoff
about one o'clock, and when the Russian troops escaped
from the Malakhoff they retired into the Redan, over-
powering our people, who had to leave the place, the
Russians killing every one they could, and causing
the others to leave, being unable to hold it. Things
remained in this position till about 11 o'clock at night,
when they began blowing up some magazines and felts
behind the Redan, in the suburbs of the town. I stood
looking while they sent two or three batteries in the air,
until I felt cold and very uncomfortable. By way of giving
myself a heat and some amusement, I walked along the
advanced trench until I came to a new work lately erected.
Being curious to know what was doing in our front, I
marched up this trench for the first time. I bad not gone
over 20 yards when I stumbled iu the dark over three or
four dead men, through whom I made my way as I best
could, till I was called to by a man of the 19th, who asked
me who I was. When I made answer, lie requested me to
have him removed, as be said he bad only a broken arm.
I answered that I would do what I could for bin. We had
not done talking when I was called to by about 10 or 12
men at once to get them assistance, as they could not get
any one to pay any attention to their requests. When I
passed along the trench to the far end I heard a poor
fellow say, " Here's a kilty officer, ho will get us taken
out of this." Listening to such remarks as "Take us
out of this for the love of God, as there is nothing
the matter with us but broken legs .and broken arms,
and we will pray for you while we live," I passed on,
promising to attend to them as soon as I returned.
I then left the trench, and went on to the plaits open
field between the Redan and our trenches, where our
poor soldiers were lying as thick as you sae the men on
boardship when they used to lie on the deck. I examined
the way to the Redan until I was satisfied that I could
make my way into it. I then faced about, and directed
my steps to the general in command of the trenches,
to whom I reported the state of the wourded. lie
ordered the two regiments in front to have them re-
moved ; and I was turning to leave the general of the
trenches (Cameron), when I met Sir Colin Campbell,
the General of the Highland Division, to whorl I made
known the miseries of the wounded men of the divisions
that attacked ; I also made mention of what I thought
of the renowned Redan, and my inspection of the way
up to it, asking permission to go up and examine it pro-
perly. The leave was granted, with an order to take
10 men with me, if I could get 10 to volunteer for the
service. I proceeded to where the light company of the
93d were, when I made offer of such a proposal as vo-
lunteers for the Redan for the purpose of gong into it
to inspect it, and I am proud to say I had my party
made up in about a minute, with as many more if I
would take them. I dressed them to my own taste, so
as to get close up to the barrier and ditch before we
could be noticed. This done, we marched off. many
doubting if ever any of us would return, as a whole di-
vision and a brigade were repulsed in the same place
during the day. When we passed along the advanced
trench on to the open, we lay down for a little to see if
all was quiet. We then moved on in company with a
party of the 72d, for whom I had to go back a second
time 'before I could find them to go on. When all got
to the open, we started to our feet, and soon made our
way into the ditch ; but, to our horror, when we came
to the bottom, we found our own poor fellows in heaps
above one another. We sprang across to the other side
of the ditch, over wounded, dying, and dead, scrambling
up the parapet like as many cats. I went in an open-
ing where there was a 68 pounder gun pointing out.
I ran to examine about the gun, traverses, pits dug by
them for concealing their men from our shot, shell, &c.,
and this done I examined the interior of the Redan,
where there was nothing but horrid confusion—Rus-
sians and British mixed altogether, with here and
there a British soldier grasping the Russian by the
breast of the coat, with the hold still firma in his
hand, but stretched dead on the ground. When I
satisfied myself that there were none in the Redan
but wounded and dying men, I gave the word to
my party to retire, who obeyed like soldiers. We then
let ourselves down the 15 feet of a bank that we came
up before, and were soon in the ditch and on to the
plain, when I gave over the party to the other officer
who accompanied me, and made my way back to Sir
Colin, whom I found in the advanced trench, and to
whom I reported what had taken place. He shook me
by the hand, and thanked me for the service performed.
I then went to the rear and reported Day safe arrival to

Colonel Hay, who, with the other officers and men, were
proud of the news that the Redan was at their corn-
malid."—North, British Daily Mail.

From a private soldier in the second battalion• of the
Rifle Brigade :
" You have, I know, heard of the fall of the south
side of Sebastopol long before you receive this, which I
am very glad to tell you is true this time ; and I know
that you will be glad to hear that this poor child has
got off so luckily as he has. it was kept very quiet
this time ; in fact, we knew nothing of the attack until
the previous evening, and then they served out two days'
rations to be cooked, and in our haversaCks by six
o'clock a.m. ; then we knew what was up. That was
the time for the canteens ; almost every one that had
any money took good care to spend it before they went,
for none knew whether they would come back or net.
" We paraded at a quarter-past a.m., and piled arms.
We had the order to fall in P-•out half-past 9, and
marched dovVn to the trenches, where we lay until about
12 o'clock, when we had the order to come to the
front. By this time the French had attacked the Ma-
lakhoff, and planted their eagle inside, the Russians
flying from the Malakhoff and all parts of the town into
the Redan, so that when the ,storming party went up
to the Redan, they were very well able to receive
them. Our regiment marched up to the advance
trench, and directly after the order came for our men to
go over the parapet, although there were two regiments
that ought to have gone before us. Our colonel then
mounted the parapet, and cried out, Now my boys,'
waving his sword over his head. I was close to him at
the time, but there were two men who got over before
was the third. Directly we got over, we bad
to run through a complete storm of grape and canister,
and the rifle balls whizzing round our heads like flies
round a sugar basin ; in fact, it seemed almost impos-
sible to get to the Redan without being knocked over.
It almost seemed to me that some had a charmed life.
I bad men fall in front, rear, and each side of me every
few yards that went. At last I reached. the Redan
isuburt. n- - impossible to de,,c-ibe the ideite"fiats
was a ditch at least 20 feet from the top of the Redan ;
this was covered with red soldiers when we came up,
but it soon became dotted with black coats. In the
ditch were the dead and dying. In spite of the deter-
mined manner of our soldiers, the Russians succeeded in
flanking us and driving us back, throwing stones,
hatchets, and all sorts of missiles at us. The sight then
was awful. As aeon as we had the word to retire, I
felt myself slipping down (for where we were was like a
steep bank). I looked into the diteb, and that was
filled with red soldiers, with their bayonets fixed ; but I
happened to see a place left vacant. I jumped down,
and was no sooner down than I had a dozen or two
over me—the bank had given way, and down they came
on the top of me. I made sure that I never should get
out alive, but still I tried ; but I was so crushed that I
had no strength left in me, so I lay quiet. After about
five minutes I felt a shift, and got my right arm loose,
for I was wedged in by a poor fellow that fell on his-head,
and I believe broke his neck. I then managed to get free
from my load, and scrambled up the bank which I rolled
down, and there I lay a minute or two to get breath. I
then got up and ran about 10 paces; then I got a clout on
the 'nut,' which sent me spinning, but I got up again, and
ran on till I got in the trench. I forgot to tell you that
while I lay in the ditch the men's rifles kept falling down,
and the bayonets sticking into the poor fellows as they
lay. I had one that caught me in the ear, and gave me
a bit of a nick, but it was only a scratch. We lost 1
captain and 1 officer and 3 sergeants ; 3 officers and 3
sergeants wounded, and about 200 privates killed and
wounded,. Believe me it was a fearful day. I never wish
for such another.

"Half-past 8 o'clock at Night. —I have just come back
from Sebastopol. I went down with a great coat for a man
on duty. The town is in ablaze. I should think there are
at least 1,000 houses on fire ; it is a splendid sight—a
second Moscow. They are all going away from the south
side as fast as they can, so I think that we shall soon
have it all to ourselves : and so much the better, for
their room is a great deal better than their company.
The French are very brave men ; they attacked the Ma-
lakhoff in prime style But they had no distance to run ;
where they had not above 100 yards to run, we had 200
or 250, which is a great deal of difference. They only had
two large guns fired at them in advancing; we had to
advance under a heavy fire of grape, canister, and shell ;
but, although they beat us back, we made it too hot to
hold them. No one would believe what a strong place
the Redan is the engineer officers said that they might
have bombarded for 50 years, and not made any impres-
sion on it ; and as for the troops shot nor shell could not
hurt them if they chose to look out. But I hope that
Lord Palmerston will be satisfied now, and give us a
chance to winter somewhere else, for it is getting very
cold now towards morning. Remember me to all in-
quiring friends, and tell them that I hope soon to be in
Old England again, and believe me to remain,

" YOUR AFFECTIONATE FRIEND."

From William Snow, aged 18, who unlisted about 12
months since in the Royal Artillery
" Camp before Sebastopol, Sept. 11, 1855.
" Dear Father and Mother,—l write these few lines to
you on a small bit of Russian paper. I hope it will find
you in good health, as it leaves me at present, thank God
for it. Dear father and mother, we have taken Sebas-
topol at last. We took it in high spirits, and cut every-
thing down we came across. We bombarded the place
for four days, and on the Bth our allies stormed it, bllw-
ing up their magaz'nes and burning the shipping. The
came day the Russians fled away to the north side,
where we could not reach them ; but there were but
very few of them, for they have lost thousands. What
few ships we left the Russians sank. We had saved
them for prizes, but they took us in, and I think we
took them in, for their stores were full of articles, but we
were not allowed to touch them. I have got a few arti-
cles, and I will have something more yet, I hope. My
cousin Charles escaped the battle as well as myself, and
he is doing well—likewise cousin Snow Dilks ; and I
hope the next letter I write to you will be news that I
am coming to Old England, the place that I thought I
should never see any more, but I have a little hope of it
now, as we cannot do more at Sebastopol. I think
the Emperor Alexander must give up, for he is crip-
pled now, if ever he was. I hope I shall have my Christ-
mas dinner with you at Christmas. lam so pleased that
I cannot write ; so no more at present from your affec-
tionate son,
" W. SNOW, the Young Conqueror."

BRUTAL ASSAULTS ON WOMEN.

(From the Derbyshire Courier.)

For several years we have thought it our duty to urge
upon the public, and through their influence and that of
the public press, upon Parliament, the necessity of
checking, by greatly increased severity of punishment,
the increased and increasing amount of atrocious bru-
talities perpetrated by certain miscreants of the lowest
orders (the term is quite appropriate) on women.
For a considerable time few public writers rendered
auy assistance in the attempt to obtain redress for the
weakest and most defenceless members of the commu-
nity. 'We felt perfectly certain that redress must come.
Eut out of regard to the character of our countrymen,
and from a wish to diminish the amount of aggravated
human suffering, we urged on Parliament immediate
attention to this subject. Lord Palmerston, much to his
discredit, insisted on " waiting a little longer," till a few
more wretched women had been beaten, kicked, and
knocked into eternity. It was, indeed, according to his
Lordship's view, a grave consideration whether the
women-beaters and women-kickers should be degraded
by the infliction of corporal punishment. This grievance
was therefore left to the usual course of grievances in
England—viz., to increase and expand till it became
intolerable.

That period appears now to have arrived, and Parlia-
ment and Lord Palmerston—now that " the Times has
written a strong article on the subject "—will perhaps
condescend to notice the disgraceful state of the law
under which brutalities which render the name of
Englishman a byword and a hissing throughout the
civilised world, are daily perpetrated in London and our
large towns, and daily reported and sent to every
quarter of the globe.
Why did not the Times express the opinions which
they have expressed in an article which we give in
another column two years ago ? Because it is notorious
that the Times does not aspire to lead the public forward
in the cause of justice and humanity, but comes boldly
forward to advocate the right when the right has become
the popular feeling.
However, better late than never, and so we are ready
to give the Times all the credit, and more than all the
credit it deserves, for its advocacy of the cause of the
hapless victims of these brutal assault cases. The
punishment of six months' imprisonment is, says the
Times " a sigral failure." The brutality of numbers
of the working classes to women and children is a " blot
upon our age." " Something," says the Englishman's
oracle, after keeping silence through years of this state
of "horrid barbarity"—" Something must be done."
That something is, we hear ail Englishmen say, who
now discuss the subject in public and private, to flog
men for half-murdering their wives, and hang them when
they go a little too far, and murder them outright. The
poor should also have the same facilities as the rich in
obtaining divorces. " Unmarried women," says the
Times, "are just as frequently the subjects of attacks as
married women." True, but the law does not bind the
unmarried woman for life to a brutal wretch. A man
cannot legally break into the house of the unmarried
mother of his children, and deprive her and them of the
fruits of their industry whenever he wants means of his
own self-indulgence. At all events an unmarried woman
can leave her brutal persecutor whenever she pleases—
the married woman with a brutal husband is a hopeless
slave for life, and her tyrant knows it.
This state of things being a disgrace to our;uenhtary:e
a disgrace to the national character, and a disgrace to
Parliament, let us hope that for very shame, if
no higher or better feeling, these awful brutalities will
be, as far as human laws avail, prevented.

HONOUR TO THE PROFESSION OF MEDICINE.—The
King of Belgium has just created eighteen of the mo=t
distinguished physicians in his kingdom Knights of the
Order of Leopold.

(From the Times of this day.)

After the first outbreak of the great revolutionary
war Prussia contrived for many years to keep herself
free from entangling alliances, and, by a vacillating and
discreditable but, up to a certain point, successful policy,
to preserve to her subjects the blessings of a dishonour-
able peace long after the rest of Europe was weakenedand desolated by war. But all this caution and tuna-
ming availed not. The wheel of destiny revolved, and
Prussia could no longer avoid confronting those dangers
which she bad so meanly and pusillanimously avoided.
The great military Power of Germany—the school of
heroes, the elysium of tacticians, whose reviews were
visited from every part of Europe by all the students of
high military art—fell prostrate at a single blow, like a
giant without a heart, on the field of Jena, and sur-
remlered within 15 days all her strong places into the
hands of the conqueror. But we doubt if even this
disastrous reverse, and all the unspeakable humiliation
that succeeded it, so effectually lowered the character
and prestige of the Prussian monarchy as the course
adopted by the degenerate successor of Frederick
the Great during the last three years. His con-
duct has proclaimed to the world that the Royal
family of Prussia regards itself as the mere leader of
the van of Russian aggression,—satraps nominally inde-
pendent, because it suits the purposes of their master
that they should be so, but really speaking the language
and doing the will of a foreign and hostile Power. The
effect of this has been twofold ; it has completely de-
graded Prussia from the rank of a first-rate Power,
making her presence in the councils of Europe a mere
fraud, which, under the semblance of equality, really
gives two votes out of five to Russia. The second effect
is, unless we be much mistaken, to establish a wide and
impassable breach between the Court and people of
Prussia. Every feeling of the nation—its patriotism, its
independence, its Spartan courage, its highly developed
intelligerme—has been hurt- and lacerated to the very
quick by the disgraceful spectacle of the last few years.
The names of the Royal family are associated in the
minds of the people with the notions of foreign subjec-
tion, national degradation, and the systematic sacrifice
of Prussian interests to Russian influence. The nation
neither loves nor fears its King, and views in him and
his family the representation of that which it both fears
and hates.

We snake these remarks not with a view of exciting
any ill feeling between this country and Prussia, but
because they happen to have an immediate bearing on a
very delicate and interesting subject. On the very day
on which we announced the capture of Sebastopol it also
transpired that Prince Frederick 'William of Prussia had
arrived at Balmoral for the purpose of " improving his
acquaintance with the Princess Royal." It is under-
stood, so far as a matter of this kind can be understood,
that in the year 1851, when her Royal Highness had
attained the mature age of ten years, a kind of prelimi-
nary understanding was entered into that she was one
day to become the bride of this young Prince, the heir
presumptive to the Prussian Crown ; and now that the
Princess has attained the age of fifteen years it may be
supposed that the negotiation is about to advance an-
other stage. It is the misfortune of Royalty that these
domestic transactions, which in private life are concealed
under so much reserve, must inevitably be treated as
matters of public concern, involving as they do not
merely the happiness or misery of two young people,
but questions of policy and alliance most important to
the future destiny of empires and of kingdoms. Is it,
then, or is it not expedient, that a daughter of England
should take her place upon the throne of Prussia ;
and, in forwarding such a match, are the parties princi-
pally concerned consulting the happiness of the young
Princess, or the safety, honour, and welfare of our So-
vereign and her dominions ? We lay no stress on the
fact of the rapid and visible decay of Prussian power
and influence since 1851 ; nor, following the precedents
of former times, should we regard it as any substantial
objection if King Frederick William should succeed in
placing what was once a great Power on a level with
the petty kingdoms of Saxony, Bavaria, or Wurtem-
berg. It has never been the policy of England to seek
the alliance of first-rate States ; and whenever she has
deviated from that policy she has seen reason to repent
it. In one sense, however, au alliance with Prussia
may be considered as a step towards an alliance with
Russia. The two Royal families are inextricably en-
twined in the bonds of relationship, of sympathy, and
of mutual interest ; and it needs little argument to
prove that the present is, at any rate, an ill-chosen
time for bringing us into contact with the Court
of St. Petersburg, or raising a suspicion of its in-
fluence over any portion of the Royal family of Eng-
land. In humbling Russia we are not only reducing a
barbarous and aggressive power, but plucking up from
the very depths of the ocean that mighty anchor upon
which all the anti-popular dynasties of Europe hops to
ride out the storm of public indignation and contempt.
Why should we place a daughter of England in a situa-
tion in which devotion to her husband must be treason
to her country—why distract her mind between wishes
for the welfare of the family which she has left and that
into which she is to be received ? Nor is this all. Who
is there that does not see that the days of these paltry
German dynasties are numbered, and that it is as im-
possible for them to survive the downfall of Russian in-
fluence as for the branches to outlive the trunk that
gives them sap and nutriment ? Upon what, indeed,
do they rest when deprived of these alien anti exotic in-
fluences ? From their subjects they have withheld the
liberty they promised, and made its loss only the more
keenly felt by adding foreign degradation to internal
servitude. They await but the first blast that shakes
the forest to fall prostrate, bearing down with them in
their ruin the lesser plants that have sought shelter un-
der their shade. The banishment of the Royal family
seems an indispensable step in the course of freedom.
It has been so in England, in France, and in Spain ;
how long may it be until it is so in Prussia also ?
Suppose this marriage to take place, who can tell how
soon we may see the Princess whose betrothal to a mem-
ber of the house of Hohenzollern is now being hurried
on with such ill-omened haste return to these shores,
etript of the pomp and dignity with which she departed
from them, to find as an exile and a fugitive in the home
of her ancestors that asylum which already receives with-
in its arms so many of the great ones of the earth ? Or,
far worse, why may it not be the fate of this Prussian
Prince, as of so many others of Royal and noble lineage,
to enter the Russian service, and to pass those years
which flattering anticipation now destines to a crown in
ignominious attendance as a General officer on the levee
of his Imperial Master, having lost even the privilege of
his birth, which is conceded to no German in Russia ?
Why link the fortunes of a daughter of England with all
this uncertainty—all this danger ? Why embark anew
on the troubled sea of internal German politics, from
which the devolution of Hanover to the male branch has
so happily relieved us ? Surely, the same considerations
which would render it most imprudent for a private citizen
of assured position and easy fortune to unite his daughter
to a man engaged in hazardous speculations ought to apply
with tenfold force to an union with the bankrupt dynas-
ties that yet for a little while encumber the central
thrones of Central Europe. What is his Prussian Ma-
jesty to us, or we to him ? We never seem to agree to
do the same thing at the same time. When in 1850 he
armed against Austria we were anxious for peace ; now
we are involved in war, he in protocols. What sympathy
can exist between a Court supported like ours on the
solid basis of popular freedom and national respect, and
a camarilla just engaged in the interests of a foreign
patron in trampling out the last embers of popular go-
vernment which a revolution, re-isted with perfidy,
yielded to with cowardice, and quelled with insolence,
had left behind it Fur our part, we wish for the
daughters of our Royal house some better fate than union
with a dynasty which knows neither what is due to its
own dignity, to the rights of the people over which it
presides, nor to the place it occupies in the great Euro-
pean confederacy ; and we regard it as a poor sequel to
' the efforts which have broken the strength of Russia
that we should ally ourselves with Princes who are only
too happy to be ranked among her pensioners and sup-
porters. The people of England, at all events, have no
wish to improve their acquaintance with any Prince of the
house of Hohenzollern.