The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-18 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OT THE MORNING ADVERTISER.

Sir,---The news of the appointment of Prince Yer.
moloff at the head of the Russian Foreign-office is very
likely a Tatar canard. There is no Prince of that name,
and the old General Yermoloff is older than Prince
Paskiewitch, and having always been a military man is
very little appropriate to be the chief of the diplomacy.
The Russian War Party is now represented by the
Grand Duke Constantine, who really exercises such great
power as to paralyse the good will of the new Emperor.
He aims at nothing less than to become the head of a
Slavonian and Greek Empire. But I think that, with all
his ambition and capacity, he is not to become a Charle-
magne, or a Constantine, or the founderof a new empire. It
is ragretable that there is not any British Ambassador
now at St. Petersburg who would check the influence
of the younger brother of the Czar. Diplomacy may
sometimes do more in such circumstances than several
bombardments. The Grand Duke Constantine may
have more energy than the new Emperor, but be is less
generous and liberal. His patriotism is only calculated
to make partisans to him, and he is so devoted to Abso-
lutism, that the formation of a Greek empire cannot be
of any benefit to mankind. The Constitution of Greece
is far too liberal for the Grand Duke ; and the watch-
fulness of Europe will, of course, prevent him from car-
rying his ambitions plans into effect, provided that some
more intellect would preside at the present war. The
" Holy Alliance," sir, believe me, is far more to be
feared than the Holy Russia.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
May 17, 1855.

IVAN GOLOVIN.

• A commission, consisting of Lord Talbot de Mala-
hide, Dr. South, and Mr. Harrison, has been appointed
to inquire and report upon the Dublin hospitals.
SHOCKING MURDER AND SUICIDE.—One of those
truly heartrending events that mark " the history of our
own times" in Kent, has just occurred at Littlebourne.
A mother, devotedly fond of her children, has hurried one
into eternity, attempted the life of the second, which
made its escape from its frantic mother, and subse-
' quently she succeeded in depriving herself of life. The
author of the sad catastrophe, Mary Ann Cooper, lately
was deprived of support by the death of her husband,
and then left comparatively destitute, with two young
children to support. The parish gave her the usual allow-
ance for a widow, with 2s. weekly for the children. It
appears, however, that the relief, so far as that granted
to herself as a widow was concerned, has been discon-
tinued within the last two months bytherelievingofficer,
supported, it is believed, by the board of guardians. The
r
woman has lately been observed to be strangetin he
manner, and at times almost frantic. At length, would
appear that she was impressed with the fear of her
children starving, and therefore determined to deprive
them, with herself, of existence by hanging. The
wretched woman had prepared three pieces of rope for
the purpose, and covered the ends with velvet. Ono of
the children escaped ; the other, whou cut down, was
,learl, and the mother in the last agonies. Verdicts of
Temporary insanity" and " Wilful murder" against
the mother were returned in the two easee.—South,
ik Noel. Clagett

!

r PIUCE SD.

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIO JOURNALS.

(From the Times of this day.)
The Russian Government has formally announced to
the German Powers, by M. de Glinka, the Russian En-
voy to the Frankfort Diet; that.olthough the Confer•
ences of Viennft have led• to no definitive result for the
conclusion of peace, Russia is prepared to adhere to the
arrangement provisionally concluded on the first two
points of the negotiation, provided the States of Ger-
many persist in their resolution to remain neutral in the
contest. This declaration was hardly needed to prove
that the real object of Russia in consenting to treat for
peace at Vienna, and in prefessing to accept the Four
Points, was to secure the dentraiity of Germany and to
avert the danger of a European coalition against herself.
For the same reason she showed considerable alacrity
in making the necessary concessions on the subject of
the Principalities' and on the navigation of the Danube;
the two points most essential to Germany ; for it is evi-
.

dent that whenever cOrniitions are. supported by the
united strength of Europe Rusitia is not:able to resist
them. Eighteen . months ago, and down to the, period
of the declaration of war, it would havo been thought
no inconsiderable trinmph over the policy and prt ten.
sions of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg to compel her- not
only to evacuate the Principalities, but to relinquish
the protectorate she had acquired by treaty over those
rirovinces, and, to place the navigation of the Lower
Danube under the superiutend:nic of a commissi,bn of
the great Powers. These are instalments of the terms
which it is reasonable to ask, and which we hope even.

tually to enforce. Russia has for the present receded
altogether from the menacing attitude she had assumed
just two years ago, and she hats even assented to some
of the conditions which wi 1 probably form part of the
definitive treaty of peace; but all her concessions have
been wrung from her' by force and by fear, and have
therefore been made too late. She refused to recognise

. .
the. intervention of Ear( pe in her quarrel with Ttikey
until that intervention a,surned the ebn,raeter of hos-
tilities. She rejected the Four Points, nentlined iu
the Notes of the Bth -6f August unfit they- MO become

mixed up with military considerations which increased
the difficulty of a solution ; and she still continues the

petty policy of attempting' t o buy off her creditors one
by one, instead ent.njng upon a general liquidation of
their claims. Our only course in dealing with such a
Power Is to take all we can get, and to persevere in the
course which has wrung so much from her until we se-
cure the remainder. Sooner or later the mere hostile

occupation of the Black Sea and the B:►ltic will compel
Russia to submit, and, though the process may be cnatiy
and tedious, the progress already made in obtaining our
just demands is such as to insp►re us with full confidence
that we mutt ultimately accomplish all we require. Al-
though, therefore, it may suit the present temper of
Germany to declare herself satisfied with these half-con-
cessions, and to turn back from the plough to which she
has set so faint a heart and so feeble a hand, to us this
partial success is an encouragement to persevere in our
efforts, and never to desist from them on terms deroga-
tory to our own position and influence in Europe.
Assuming, however, that the future administration of
the Danubian Principalities is to be conducted in con-
formity with the principles already adopted by the Con-
ference of Vienna, and that even Russia adheres to that

portion of the late imperfect negotiation, we are entitled
to revert with increased force to the suggestion that this
arrangement should at once be carried into effect. The
war may be indefinitely prolonged, but the Danubian

Principalities are no lo'nier threatened by either belli-
gerent, though they are suffering all the evils of a pro-
longed military occupation. It is obviously important
to the general interests of Europe, and to the welfare of
these provinces, that they should be restored to their
normal condition, and rescued from what we must term
their present anomalous and revolutionary situation.

According to the last account, Gen. Coronini, now com-
manding the Austrian forces at Bucharest, has actually
proclaimed martial law, which is, in other words, to as-

Sumo, on behalf of the-Austrian military authorities, an

arbitrary and supreme command over the country. The
Wallaaian, people are so little accnAomed to resist op-

. .
preesion in any shape, and so utterly powerless in the
hands of their masters, that it is impossible to justify

such a measure by any political necessity. We assert on
the contrary. that this act is a direct violation of the

,reaty of the 14th of June, 1854, between the Emperor
)f Austria and the Porte. By the third article of that

treaty the Court of Vienna contracted a positive engage-
ment to restore, in concert with the Ottoman Porte, as
far as possible, the legal state of things in the Princi-
palities. Can it be contended that by way of restoring a
legal state of things in a country occupied by the troops
of an allied power for a particular purpose the general
commanding these troops is entitled to proclaim martial
law—that is, to supersede all the established authorities
of the State by his own foreign military authority? It is
a mere abuse of force, subversive of all law and govern-
ment, and the more reprehensible, inasmuch as this oc-
cupation was the result of a compact alliance between
Austria and the Porte. Among other things that treaty
expressly provided that, in the event of the occupation
taking place, "the commander of the Imperial army
would t.lll:Ureti Was strlctest, dihulpllne of the traop., and
that the property, laws, public worship, and customs of
the country should be respected." Have these conditions
been observed I On the contrary, many of the regiment.
sent on this service are Croats, whose conduct has been
to the last degree offensive, disorderly, arid tyrannical.
Nien of eminence have been driven from the country
without a pretence and without form of trial. The ad-
ministration has been kept for the most part in the hands
of the same individuals who served the Russians, and
would servo than again. Prince Stirbey has evaded the
promised inquiry into his conduct ; nothing has
resulted from the Mixed Commission which was to
sit at Vienna on the affairs of the Principalities ;
and it is probable that the scandalous confusion of the
Government may be the reason alleged by General
Coronini to justify the proclamation of martial law. But
such a state of things is destructive to the provinces,
injurious to the Porte, and discreditable to Austria.
The remedy is to be found in the immediate reconstitu-
tion of the government in its definitive form, so as to
substitnte legal order for martial law, and constituted
authority for foreign occupation. The Porte and its
allies have a right to expect the assent of the Court of
Vienna to such a proposition, for it is identical with the
engagement of an existing treaty ; Russia herself has
accepted the principle of this arrangement, and it would
be prudent for Fiance and England to require from
Austria some categorical statement of her intentions on

this subject. AR long ago as last session we think that
papers were promised to be laid before Parliament with
reftrence to this occupation, and it would be desirable
to ascertain from Mr. Calquhoun's reports what mea-
sures have been taken to restore the legal government
and to correct the gross abuses of the former adminis-
tration. We are also entitled to ask on what grounds
and by whose authority this declaration of martial law
in the Principalities has been male, for, unless it has
been done with the consent of the Porte, it is a mere act

of violence, not more justifiable than:the original Russian
invasion. The continuance of this state of things is
only the prolongation of those evils winch were the most
direct causes of the war; to terminate it is the first step
towards peace.

It is true that Russia has artfully affected to make
r recognition of this principle depend on the neutrality
of Germany ; but, in fact, if Germany sewed to be
neutral, Russia would only he the more compelled to
respect it. The neutrality of Germany does not depend
on any such consideration. It is the result of the in-
veterate divisions and jealousies which divide the Con-
federation, of Russian influence over the minor Courts,
and of the want of genuine resolution and purposelike
energy among the people ; insomuch that, until a mate-
rial change has come over the policy of those rulers and
the spirit of the nation, we have lost all confidence in
their support. Germany had last year a magnificent
part to play in the affairs of Europe, for, united with
the Western Powers, she might at once have checked
the ascendancy of Russia, and terminated the evils of
war. She proved, however, altogether unequal to the
occasion, and even the Court of Vienna has been para-
lysed far more by the intrigues of her own confederates
than by the hostile influence of Russia. The policy and
operations of the Western Powers have at no time been
made to depend on these precarious adherents, and,
though we acknowledge the importance the German
States would immediately acquire by action, their neu-
trality and their passive condition virtually obliterates
them from the political'map of Europe.

(Prom the Daily News of this day.)

East Anglia is the first of the English provinces to
follow the example set by London in the agitation for
Administrative Reform. That peninsula, extending be-
tween the German Ocean and the fe,.-lands, has long
been distinguished by its devotion to liber.rl and enlight-
ened sentiments. It was the country of the Greshams,
the founders of our English financial system. It was
the country of the Bacons ; and those who are familiar
with the annals of the Commonwealth know what effeo-
tive service was rendered in the development of our
constitution by more than one kinsman of the sage of
Verulam. It was the country of the Cokes—of the
family to which we owe the greatest luminary ,of our
municipal law, and one of the sternest asserters of the
people's liberties. It is from this district England re-
ceived her Walpoles and Wyndhams. In later times,
it has given England her greatest naval warrior, her
most influential promoter of agricultural improvement,
her Gurneys, and her Frys. It isno mere accident that has
rendered the East Anglian peninsula so fertile in valuala
citizens. Its contiguity to the Netherlands tended to make
it one of the earliest seats of English manufactures. The
oppressions of the Spaniard led to its becoming a city of
refuge for the skilled and industrious Hollanders and
I3rabanters. The principles of the Reformation, and the
virtues which spring from regulated industry, struck
early and abiding root in East Anglia. The great men
whom that province producedethmems
ee
da toweredin as
at
sthi
teawbf a theirnedtosr:Efteahls-et
fel-
lows, because their characters were formed in a society
in advance of that which was to be found in mostb other
d
as,
mutreh of its pristine
risatroifctrsaiolfwEay7
England.
agricultural Anglia long retained and retains
free from character. The men of Norfolk and S
and they are remarkably
unreasoning boors of the merely a• ° "e not the
pleasing features of ourinanufactuffil some
of
the
less
in
north. It is of good omen for the g populations of the
moyeme4t that this truly achninistrat*
English rve reform
"4 of Engliislatueu

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