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

rigs LON.Dtvgi WEDNESRAILItv,rNit4Iit_DECEMBER 10, 16b8,

being current of late in Constantinople, to the
effect that the heroic defenders of Kars have been
compelled to succumb under the pressure simul-
taneously of disease and starvation, not a syllable
is by our blustering and bumptious old friend.
the Invalide Busse, corroborative of any such
victory to the banners of the CZAR ! And surely,
as G alignani itself has suggested, the official
organ of the Russian Government would not
remain thus modestly silent about a triumph like
this won by the Muscovite soldiers under the
command of General MOURIVIEFF ?

There is one misfortune, certainly, about the
situation of Kars, a peculiarity very lamentable
under existing circumstances, we mean the
really deplorable fact, that the man entrusted
with the responsibility of carrying relief
to the beleaguered garrison is a general like
SELIM PACHA, one of those hesitating, do-
nothing, laissez-faire, fainéant captains, un-
happily so numerous among the Turkish com-
manders. From Erzeroum to Kars it is a dis-
tance very nearly of a hundred miles, as from Kars
to Kutais it is a distance of upwards of a hundred.
According to advicea from Erzeroum, dated the
13th ult., it was stated that OMER PACHA had
already by that time entered Kutais, the victori-
ous commander-in-chief having previously com-
pelled the enemy to beat a retreat successively
from Sugdidi and Usurghetti. According to later
accounts from the same quarter, it appears that
SELIM PACHA having promised to set forth, at
the latest upon the 14th, on his projected march
for the relief of Kars, had postponed his eagerly
looked-for movement until the 16th, and was
expected to delay and delay still later, notwith-
standing all the urgent representations made to
him upon the folly of such procrastination by the
various English officers-stationed at Erzeroum. Re-
membering that every day all that while has been
of vital import to the garrison of Kars : bearing in
mind, moreover, that the forces actually
under the orders of SELIM amounted, according
to the last advioes from his head-quarters,
to 5,000 infantry, to 1,500 regular and 500 ir-
regular cavalry, together with 24 guns, and from
1,500 to 2,000 Bashi-Bazouks : and knowing
well,. as we do, that the only obstacle to an ad-
vance of this inestimable assistance towards Kars
was discernible only in a small Russian column
numbering merely from 3,000 to 4,000 in the
aggregate, and armed simply with six guns of
very moderate calibre—it becomes absolutely mad-
dening to reflect upon the jeopardy in which the
heroic WILLIAMS and his valiant "brother in arms
and rival in renown," the brave KMETY, have
been placed, wilfully and shamefully placed, by
SELIM PACHA'S suspicious, if not actually criminal,
hesitation. Even yet, we maintain, it is still to
be hoped that the 4efence already made by the
garrison of Kars 11: not been all in vain, but
that, even thou it be at the eleventh
hourand three-quarters, assistance mayat last have
enabled the famished and fever-stricken heroes to
escape the calamity of a capitulation. Should,
however, the worst fears of their friends be ulti-
mately realised, in spite of all their burning aspi-
rations to the contrary, it must be remembered of
these glorious soldiers of Kars, how bravely they
have maintained their position to the very last,
until driven out of it by the irresistible force of
deadly disease and utterly prostrating starva-
tion. Be it remembered, in that extreme
event--which GOD ferefend—that even heroes
cannot achieve impossibilities, and that his-
tory relates how even MassuNa, in 1800,
oven MASSENA, the " spoilt child of victory,"
perhaps the greatest in some respects of all the
great Marshals of NAPOLEON, was compelled, by
the sheer force of famine, to capitulate at Genoa,
while the First Consul was annihilating, as by
one crashing thunderbolt of war, the Austrian
power over Italy upon the bloody plain of Ma-
rengo. Whatever betide them say we therefore
—Honour to the Heroes of Kars, to KMETY, to
WILLIAMS, to the whole glorious garrison !
Why, however, in the name of humanity, in
the name of common sense, in the name of
HEAVEN, why have not the Allies sent long since
to the relief of Kars not 6,000 or B,oob Turks,
but 10,000 or 12,000 Frenchmen ? Why, in-
stead of leaving all to the dilatory caprice of
SELIM PACHA, have we not entrusted to a dashing
General like BosnuET or WixDuam, the enviable
privilege of carrying succour to the beleaguered
garrison of Kars ? Why not have landed aid
such as this not at Trebizond or Surmenah, but at
Riz;ih or Atonah—enabling the gallant soldiers
under Isafart PACHA and Gen. WILLIAMS tolook for
assistance not to a handful of Bashi-Bazouks and
irregular Turkish horsemen, but to an adequate
army of relief composed cf Zouaves or of High-
landers ? Why ? again and again we ask, in the
name of humanity, of common sense, of HEAVEN,
Why ? The answer, we fear, may be discoverable
partly in the lukewarmuess of the authorities a..
home, and partly in the incompetence, or, speaking
otherwise more plainly, in the lack of good gene-
ralship among the authorities abroad, at the seat
of war, in fact among the Allied Commanders-in
Chief !

The Vienna peace bubbles have burst already,
and unless they had been something substantial
the sooner the illusion vanishes the better.
Satisfied as we aro that a premature peace would
be a very costly one, it yet was hardly possible to
escape the fascinations of " peace and plenty."
With the tusjerity of us fancy strove to impo,e
on judgment, and if as journalists we did not ex-
press all we felt, it was because we would not be
guilty of cherishing and propagating pleasing but
mischievous delusion. We can have no more
relish than other persons for War taxes, and
War prices ; but we owe to the public the
grave duty of not pandering to our corn_
mon wishes,
but of encouraging the sub-
ordination of the most reasonable desires to
the claims of national duty
ofauEurdtohp.
the permanent
welfare of this country and

It is, however, now pretty generally acknow.
edged that Russia has made no sign of peace,
and that Austria and Prussia are not the bearers
of any propositions likely to satisfy the Allies, and
of which they can guarantee their acceptance by
Russia. At the same time no party has the im-
pudence to pretend that Austria can be regarded
for a moment, if she affect again to act the part
of mediatrix, and to preside in a conference with
the plenipotentiaries of the belligerents. It is
only as a herald that she can now bo listened
to. If Russia chose to employ her in that
capacity we might listen to Russia avowedly speak-
ing through her, but it would surely cost Louis
NAPOLEON his throne and Lord PALMERBTON his
place if they
were caught in the trap of Austrian
jugglery a second time. What a different cam-
paign would this summer's have been if that in-
fernal machine at Vienna had not deterred army,
navy, and Cabinets from adequate winter prepa-
rations and early spring activity.
Now that Consols are •falling. again, and St.
Petersburg and Paris alike give no reasonable
hope of peace, it is worth while to ask ourselves
whether the War is really the cause of most of
the evils we complain of. Taxation is a
measurable and certain difference. We
ku9w how much more we have to

pay in that shape. But when the War is saddled

with the pressure on the money market, with tl e
high prices of food and the deadness of trade, we
incline to think it but in small part answerable
for these things. We much doubt whether, if
preliminaries of peace were signed to morrow, the
effect would not be, possibly, a momentary
lowering of prices, but as certainly a rapid rise
again to their present level, or very nearly so.
Our reason for thinking so is, that our general
trade, our manufactures, exports, and imports,
are in as satisfactory a state as in most years of
peace. The production of the country has
not fallen off ; and so late as Oatober the
number of ships which cleared both in-
wards and outwards with their tonnage was
considerably more in 1855 than in 1854, amount-
ing, indeed, in the latter ease, to a difference of
one thousand ships, and two hundred and twenty-
five thousands of tonnage ! It cannot be supposed,
then, that production is checked.
Again, the working classes are on the whole
earning higher wages than ever, and in most cases
the rise is equal to the advanced cost of living.
It must be borne in mind that a vast part of the
War expenditure employs our forges, our woollen
manufacturers, our shipwrights, and our artisans
in almost every line. By far the larger part of
the money is spent on the productions of this
Icountry ; we fully believe that to the great mass
of our working men the return of peace
will bring a diminution rather than an in-
crease of employment ; at least we must
think it improbable that prices will fall
materially, while it is almost certain that the
demand for labour will be less. Even the money
sent to the East is far from being unserviceable to
the English workman. It is a striking fact that
the exports of English produce to the East, not
connected directly with the War, amounts to the
enormous sum of five millions and a half more
than in 1853. To that extent or thereabouts the
money our armies have spent in the East has
been returned by the natives in the purchase of
produce shipped from British ports. It would be
well if, when our peace orators are declaim-
ing to our workmen on the War and
the little loaf, they would also inform
them that Turks, Syrians, Egyptians, &c.,
have purchased ive millions and a half more,
through the War itself, of the produce of their
labour. Our working classes are not, it is true,
the recreants which a few of their betters would
make them, but they ought to know that the trade
which maintains them is, perhaps, on the whole in-
creased rather than diminished by the War. One
fact is undeniable, the increase of our trade with
the countries bordering on the Levant, the Arche-
pelago, and the Black Sea, is much larger than
the total of our previous trade with Russia ! So
much for the injury of the War to trade.

But then the high prices and the uneasy money
market—are not these caused by the war ? Not
in all cases, certainly. We have more sugar and
tea than peace would have given us ; since they
have become luxuries hardly procurable in Rus-
sia, her consumption of it is nearly all left in the
Western markets, yet sugar is now fully 50 per
cent. dearer than in the summer. There is much
reason to think that had the spare wheat of Russia
been thrown also upon the markets of the West
it would not have affected its price appreciably.
In many parts of Russia itself the crop was
deficient ; and so deficien't in closely adjoining
countries that we are told there is no profit on
shipments from Dantzie. The plain truth is,
that America is the only corn-growing country
blessed this year with a plentiful harvest—that
Europe has suffered from deficient crops, and that
we are so far better off than our neighbours as to
have been most frequently the exporting country.
That the principal exports of Russia, such as
cotton and hemp, should be dear is a matter of
course ; that, however, is but an inconsiderable
burden.

As to the high price of money, it is mere
begging the question to attribute that to the War.
The currency laws are still as artificial as the corn
laws were till lately ; till they also are brought
under the grand principles of Free Trade, the value
of money will be no index of the natural condition
of the money market, and no inference can be
drawn from its actual state. We all know that
in time of the profoundest peace money has more
than once been dearer than it is even now. Under
a natural system its value would, of course, fluc-
tuate ; but, as with corn and sugar at the pre-
sent time, it would doubtless be easy for us to
discover the causes.
We do not mean to assert that the War affects
us in no way bnt through the tax-gatherer ; but
if the compensations which it brings to trade are
taken into account, we cannot but think its effects
most absurdly exaggerated. They are the easiest
JACK CADE clap-trap with which to catch the multi-
tude, and though the multitude seems slow to take
the bait, it will be long held out to them. We need
not think the wheat and meat orators dishonest ;
they no doubt easily believe what looks so plau-
sible an argument for their predetermined con-
clusion, but it is so much the more to the credit
of those who cannot see through it that they will
not sell the national honour for the mess of pot-
tage. All honour to the working men of Eng-
land. Mr. COBDEN will not persuade them to
change profitable employ for a soldier's life, to
prove their English spirit, but also he will not
persuade them, by promises of a cheap loaf,
to shake hands too quickly with the Despot of
Despots. The English soul of the most illiterate
amongst them hates the whole tribe of people
crushers, and they would gladly pay their last
pen*y rather than see our Army and Navy
slink off without giving Russia " a good thump-
ing." It is curious to think what a host of in-
genious evasions we should have, if those who
charge high prices, to the War were required
by a sudden windfall of peace to verify the
charges after that event ? Were it really proba-
ble, we believe few indeed would make contracts
on the strength of their own arguments, to sell at
ten or twenty per cent, lower after the War was
terminated.

ao
avaEilYe7t the
itself eleventhfthe
e ia
uhu
soe irnt h t
he
eAct of GovernmentlB4h4a
s
and permitted the Bank of England to increase
the amount of Securities in the Issue Department
by 475,000/.) ornearly
two-thirds of 712,6231.,
the amount which, under
statute, might have been • circulated by bankers
who have ceased to issue th • eir own notes. This
may afford some temporary, relief, but it • is clearly
inadequate to meet the exigencies of the case, or
to form even a foundation for a permanent ar-
rangement. It is perhaps right, as Parliament
will not meet before the end of January, that ad-
vantage should be taken of the existing law, se
as to avert the necessity of demanding an act of
indemnity from the Legislature.
We should deeply lament the change if it
could be regarded as a final settlement. There
is nothing worse than " cobbling " or striving to
bolster up a defective foundation—
"Melius est potere fontes quanb sectani rivulos."
We should at once go to the fountain head rather
than attempt to mitigate trivial annoyances con_
nected with a matter radically wrong. It is es.

sential that the en tiro monetary code should be
revised, and a wise and judicious system substi-
tuted for that which has occasioned so much dis-
tress and suffering to the industrial community.
Notice must be iveu during the ensuing session
to the "Old Lady" to bring the pment iniqui-
tous law to a conclusion, and the substituted re-
gulations must be carefully considered, so that the
nation may derive the utmost possible advantage
from the change. The question is one of ." prin-
ciple," which cannot be decided by any trifling
alteration in matters of detail.

The issuing of money, or that which
may be used as a legal tender, is
one -of the most unquestionable prerogatives
of the Crown. Hitherto it has been delegated to
a trading corporation, which has exercised a
monopoly very profitable to itself, but exceed-
ingly injurious to the community at large. We
now want " free trade " in money, or rather in
currency, so that any person who can offer satis-
factory security may be permitted to issue notes,
or, if a monopoly must be• retained, that the
National Exchequer may receive the benefit
thereof, and that the large profits may serve to
reduce the amount of the public burdens, and re-
lieve the too heavily-weighted taxpayers of some
portion of their responsibilities.

The immediate "profits," however, form but a
very trivial portion of the consideration. It is
far more important for the great body of the
people that there should be a circulating medium,
adequate to their exigencies, and capable of de-
veloping the latent resources of the country. It
is a suitable measure and representative of value
that is required, and it is no more necessary that
the measure should possess intrinsic value than that
a standard-yard should be made of unalloyed gold.
That it should pass current, or have the " pur-
chasing power," is all that can be required.
It will be gladly accepted when the reci-
pient is certain that he can pay it away in dis-
charge of his public or private liabilities to the
tax-collector, or the tradesman who supplies him
with articles of daily consumption.
For these matters a really national note of
small denomination is clearly the best. TLere
can be no question as to the solvency of the issuer ;
the holder will know that he is himself responsi-
ble with all his wealth and all his labour for its
liquidation. It will be far better than Con-
-1)15, for it must be received in liquida-
tion of his duties or taxes, and the visits
of the collectors, being neither few nor far
between, he can. either dispose of them himself, or,
if he should be so fortunate as to hold more than
he requires for his own purposes, can easily find
applicants or purchasers for the residue. Notes
for 1/., 21., and 31. satisfactorily secured, will
liberate from thirty to forty millions of sove-
reigns, now in circulation, and render them
available for our foreign commerce, and for what
is even more important at the present crisis, the
energetic maintenance of the War in which we are
involved.

LATEST NEWS.

FALL OF KARS.

We (Morning Post) regret to state that
authentic intelligence has been received, which

leaves no doubt as to the fate of Kars.
Ismail Pacha (General Kmety), with another
officer, who succeeded in eluding the vigilance of
the Russian outposts, have effected their escape.
When they quitted Kars, General Williams had
been compelled by famine to send a flag of truce
to the Russian camp, offering capitulation.

GENERAL MOURAVIEFFS REPORT.
The Invalide Russe publishes the following ex-
tract from the periodical report of General Mou-
ravieff, dated from the camp of Tchivtli-tchai, the
29th of October (10th-November):—
" The blockade of Kars continues ; our de-
tachments daily capture Turks who are taking
flight from the fortress, and attack the enemy's
foraging and detached parties. Thus on the 13th
(25th) of October, Major-General Count Nyrod,
having observed that 200 foragers had left Kars
iu the direction of leui-Keni, sent a detachment
of the Ist regiment of Mussulman cavalry against
them, commanded by Ensign Rostom-Bek-Liala-
Bekoff. Having secretly advanced upon the
enemy, our cavalry charged vigorously. The Turks
fled towards their fortifications, with the loss of

two men killed, and leaving six wounded in our

hands.

"In the night between the 19th and 20th of
October (31st of October and Ist of November)
about 40 Lazes attempted to force a passage
through the outpost of our detachment near
Malik Keui. In the skirmish which ensued 23
of the Lazes were killed, two wounded, and 10

made prisoners. On our side one Cossack was

killed and two wounded.

"On the morning of the 21st of Oct. (2d of
Nov.) two columns of Turkish Infantry, having
left the Schorakh heights, occupied the ridge of
the Observatory-hill with riflemen, and opened

fire against our picquet ; our reserve coming up
compelled the enemy • to retire within his fortifi-

cations.

"Meantime, General Mouravieff, having re-
peatedly received information that the troops of
Vely Pasha were shortly expected at Kars with
considerable provisions, ordered the Commander
of the Erivan detachment to cross the Dram-Dagh,
and to stop the enemy by advancing from Kerpi-
Keuv.

"On the 17th (29th) of October Major-General
Sousloff's detachment reached the defile of Kara-
Derbent ; on the approach of our troops the
Turkish cavalry, about 1,000 strong, which occu-
pied the neighbouring heights, fell back on Youz-
Verian.

"On the 18th (30th) the enemy concentrated
about 2,000 Bashi-Bazouks between that village

and Komatsor ; the remainder of the troops under
Vely Pasha (numbering from 6,000 to 7,000 in-
fantry and about 1,600 horse) advanced from
Dava-Boinou on Hassan-Kaleh ; moreover, 2,000
Btshi-13azouks took up a position near Deli-Baba
and Khorassan, and a garriion of from 2,000 to
3,000 men was left to guard Erzeroum.
"On the 19th (31st) of October Colonel Lik-
houtine of the Staff, by order of General Sous-

loff, made a reconnaissance in the direction of
Kerpi-Iteuv. Near Youz-Verian our detachment
came upon about 2,000 Bashi-Bazouks, whom we
forced to withdraw after a smart skirmish.

"On the 20th of October (let of November)
Yelp Pasha, alarmed at the appearance of our
flying detachment near Ardost, and wishing to
avoid a battle with General Sousloff's troop;
withdrew behind the river Nabitchai, leaving
about 1,000 Bashi-Bazouks, near the villages of
Yagani and Kordobaz, not far from Dava-Boinou."

Several of the Paris journals publish letters
from the East, but they do not contain any new
facts of interest. Omer Paella was on the point
of receiving considerable reinforcements, which
would permit him to advance siill further into
Mingrelia ; meanwhile, ho was collecting provi-
sions and supplies, in the face of any eventuality
which might arise. The most unsatisfactory
rumours were current at Constantinople, accord-
ing to the correspondent of the Pays, with re•
spect to the fate of Kars. The heroic garrison of
that place, decimated by disease and famine, is
reported to have capitulated. This intelligence
must be premature, for the Invaliele Russe would
otherwise have already acclaimed the triumph of
General Mouravieff.

The German, Frankfort Journal says :—" Sclirrr
Paella has boon compelled to renounce his attempt
to relieve Kars, because his detachment of 6,000
regulars and 5,000 irregular troops, which was to
guard the great convoy of provisions destined for
the besieged town, was too late to pass the defiles
occupied by the enemy. In Kars the distress was
at its height, for famine and typhus ravaged the
garrison, which only received a third of its primi-
tive rations. The garrison did not hope to be
able to maintain themselves beyond the 18th
November, when they would be forced to surren-
der if not succoured."
The date of this communication is November
3, and we have news up to November 19, when
we know Kars had not fallen.

val in tLs.same capital of Count Stackelberg from

St. Petersburg, and on the same pleasing mis-
sion, to complete our hopes. Some days ago very
serious doubts were expressed in official quarters

hero that Russia was disposed to accept the
propositions of Austria of the satisfactory kind
I have already described. It is now said, how-
ever, that Russia does accept them, and that she
has signified her intention to Austria. It is also
believed that the English Government does not
refuse, and of the willingness of France no one
has a doubt. It is evident then that, if all

parties agree on the point, peace nrty he consi-
dered certain. At all events, peace is now gene-
rally believed to be at hand ; let us hope that we
may not be again doomed to disappointment—
provided that peace be such as is consistent with
the dignity of two such nations as France and
England.

FINANCIAL CRISIS IN RUSSIA.
The Russian Government has ordained that to

facilitate payments from the State treasury the
normal proportion of bullion to be held by the
Bank against notes in circulation shall be
diminished.

It is feared that the payment of the interest o.

tho public debt will be suspended.

Despatches from St. Petersburg also state tha

the Rnssian Government is making every exertion

to form a fleet of steam gun-boats.

MARSEILLES, DEc. 12.

The Gauge has arrived, with advices from Con
stantinople of the 3d inst.

She does not bring anything from the Crimea.
Despatches leave at 9 a.m.

The Indian mail has arrived. The despatches

leave at 8 p.m.