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

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17, surely it was not too much to 'e.i4FIA- " -I
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14
pet that he should he called on to pay the expenses.' '3'
(Hear.) Russia had thirty sail of the line fully manned ' k ;'fir4ty
in the Baltic. Was there no danger to their shoreirie,4 ~. "----.
the proximity of such a fleet t He was of opinion that a S
the reduction of the fleet, and also of the Russian army,
should be made one of the conditions of peace, so as to
give security to other countries, and especially to Swe-
den and Denmark. (Hear.) But whilst looking to the
security of the nation abroad, he should not neglect to
press for those administrative and Parliamentary reforms
which were so much required at home. (Hear.) ge
thought the time was come when the best man should
bare place, whether he was the' sen of a tailor, a shoe-
maker, or a duke. (Cheers.)
The other toasts of the evening were, "The House of
Commons," to which Mr. A. Pellatt, M.P., responded;
"The Corporation," which was acknowledged by Mr.
Pritchard, the High Bailiff of Southwark ; " The Elec-
tore of Southwark," "Sir C. Napier's Committee,"
" The Stewards and Vice-presidents," which were duly
honoured.

Spirit of the Public Journals.

( From the Times of this day.)
It is recorded in the veracious annals of Greece that
Melampus, one of her ancient soothsayers, understood
the language of worms, and by tbat means saved him-
self from a beam which he learnt from the discourse of
its inhabitants was ab,ont t 3 tumble on his head. We
heartily wish that this knowledge had been transmitted,
with the culture of the olive and the vine, from those
remote ages to the present era, for then we might have
13-en able to understand that which it is at once very
d'fficult and important to comprehend,—the meaning
which should be attached to Austrian and Prussian di-
plomacy. In the absence of the key which has thus, we
fear, been irretrieveably lost, we can only submit to our
fellow-subjects that the readiest rule for understanding
the diplomatic language of Austria is to apply to it the
doctrine of contraries. When she speaks of peace, un-
derstand her to mean war ; and, when she speaks of
war, understand her to mean peace. That, at least, is
the construction which the recent proceedings of Austria,
in her reassumed mediatorial capacity between Russia
and the Western Powers, seem best to support. This
will be evident from the narrative of the facts, no far, at
least, as they have reached us.

It appears, then, that Austria proposed for the con-
sideration of the Western Powers certain terms, which,
if meeting with their approlmtion, she was ready to lay
before Russia, amain Fran ied- with' an IstitinTertioTi that, 'if
these terms were not acceded to by Russia, Austria
would break off diplomatic relations and withdraw her
Ambassador from the Court of St. Petersburg, as a pre-
liminary stage to we know not what desperate resolution
which she was to adopt thereafter. The terms so pro•
posed by Austria were,—that Russia should abandon
her claim to the special protectorate of the Greek Cherch
in Turkey---that the Black Sea should be made into a
mere sea of commerce, from which the ships of war of
all nations should be by common consent excluded—that
Russia should cede so much of the territory of Bess-
arabia as is necessary to secure to all nations the free
navigation of the Danube—that all fortresses on the
shores of the Black Sea should be dismantled, and that
the idea of fortifying the Aland Islands should be for
ever abandoned. Such a proposition must at first sight
seem to carry with it many advantages. It had not, in-
deed, the merit of originality, for, though the terms were
better, Austria's proposed share in the negotiation
was, after all, a mere repetition of her device this
Spring. Austria then felt, with great justice, that, after
having entered into the treaty of the 2d of December,
something more was expected of her than a mere placid
acquiescence in the state of war, and so she summoned
the Allied Powers to conference, and thus fulfilled to the
letter her promise of deliberating ; nay, as far as words
went, she supported the cause of the Allied Powers, and
it was only when words were found to be of no avail that
this great arbiter of the destinies of Europe was found to
be prepared with nothing more. Even so we much fear
it is now. The first idea which was naturally formed
of this offer on the part of Austria was, that, though
nominally speaking for herself, she was really the mouth-
piece of Russia putting forward as her own suggestion
terms which had previously been agreed on between her
and her great protector. This idea invested the proposal
with an importance and a significance which nothing else
could give it, and happy would it have been for Europe, and
thrice happy for Russiaherself,had such a supposition been
founded on anything more than natural conjecture. It
seems now, however, to be clearly understood on all
sides, that when Austria states that she proposes these
terms without the slightest communication with Russia
she is to be implicitly believed. It is enough for her
that she be allowed to play the part of mediator in ne-
gotiations which will not and are not intended to come
to any conclusion, and which only serve to keep Austria
before the eyes of Germany and of Europe as retaining
HOMO faint semblance of the attributes of a first-rate
Power, and still bearing on that which seems to be her
head the likeness of an imperial crown. While Pruss a
is utterly excluded from the Councils of Europe, it is
something for Austria to appear to have still a mission
and a function, and better to enact the part of Mercury,
the fetcher and carrier of messages than to be cast out
of the halls of Olympus altogether. Count Buol, we
are told, most emphatically asserts, and we roost en-
tirely believe him, that Austria is acting or, no under-
standing with Russia, that she does not know whether
the terms she is proposing will be acceptable to that power
or will even be for a moment entertained by her. Her
mission is thus reduced from that of a supposed emissary
of the Czar to that of a self-constituted ambassador of
the Wystern Powers, and the only real value which
could have attached to her intervention is thus lost.
It remains, then, to consider, as there is such very
slight chance of a successful termination to these offi-
cious overtures, what advantage we are to derive in case
the negotiation fail. The question is easily answered.
We shall derive only just the same advantage as we did
from the treaty of the 2d of December, just the same ad-
vantage as we did from the conferences and the negotia-
tions of the Suring. Austria has twice shown that she
will negotiate, and, should negotiations fail, she will
ne-
gotiate again. Will she do more than this now at the
third time of asking I Should her good effices fail, she
undertakes to withdraw her Ambassador. Of the
terrible nature of this threat we may form some
idea from the fast that her Ambassador is just now
on his return to the Court of St. Petersburg, and
that before his departure he has been ostentatiously
fated by P.ince Gortschakoff. But perhaps she will
assume a threatening attitude, and oblige Russia to keep
a large army concentrated on her western frontier, thus
effecting at least a pacific diversion in favour of the
allies ? Vain hope ! Austria is at this moment intent
on reducing her army, and more especially the army of
Galicia, on which frontier she has most to fear from
Russia, and Russia most to fear from her. She dare not
invade, she dare not menace, she dare not displease
Rus,ia, and, should her present overtures be rejected,
she will bear the repudiation of her good offices with a
Christian meekness which becomes a true daughter of
the Church, and comfort herself with her concord with
Rome for discord with all the world besides. She will
have kept up a little longer that in which she really is
concerned, that which is truly the object of her ambi-
tion—the appearance, in the eyes of Germany, of occu-
pying herself ai.oh great affairs, while her rival, Prussia,
rests in compulsory inaction, neither more ignominious
nor more useless than her own perpetual and profitless
meddling.

For our:elves, wo are clearly of opinion that there
is nothing either so new or so captivatig in this
constant mediation of Austria as in any degree to
counterbalance the manifest disadvantages of being
tha first to make to a Power like Russia overtures
towards the conclusion of a peace. The real causes of
war, of its origin, and of its continuance, are to be found
in her grasping ambition and unbending insolence. Till
these are humbled, reason may argue and humanity may
preach, but the human race will not be delivered
t,from
the scourge of war. It is with her, not with us, that
the real difficulty lies ; she is a keen ,peculator ion the
h 0
catch
weakness and selfishness of men, a
at any support to her long-established
si wdill conviction that
he
she is destined, at no distant day, to reign over the
:Teal iillsabandoned there
divided
dope
o subjugated
peace, Europe.
and Ti lt
l thinevers
will be abandoned till Russia is convince that she is
an
is
n.h
c nfronted at last
not only by a greater Power but a
stronger will than her own. In the most active prepa-
rations in a stern reserve
whichati o n s
agoii, utterly repudiates the
r for
makest he n next
advance,o
of u paltry intermediariesNv e
can
ronasner i t
,Abunstt rwi ee,
cannotlie our
auiseotnlobc)°;tP.eJ°%-Vfeepehaacvee everything to hope from strength
mid union. We have everything to dread from prema-
tura advances made to gratify the hopeless and objectless
policy of second-rate Powers, aping a position which
they have neither courage to assert, policy to support,
nor modesty to forego.