The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-26 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

(Prom the Hampshire Advertiser.)
As far as can be ascertained at present, the fleet about
to be despatched to the Baltic will be thus composed :
Commander-in-Chief—Rear-Admiral of the Blue, the
Hon. Richard Saundars Dundas, C.B.
Second in Command—Rear-Admiral of the Blue,
Michael Seymour.
Third in Command—Rear-Admiral of the Blue,
Robert Lambert Baynes, C.B.
Captain of the Fleet—The Hon. F. T. Pelham. '
Horse-
Guns. power.
Dnko of Wellington (flag)
Royal George, Captain Codrington, C.B lO2 400
Exmouth (flag)
James Watt, Captain George Elliot 9l 600
Orion, Captain Erskine
Caesar, Captain Robb 9l 400
Nile, Captain Mundy
Majestic, Captain J. Hope, C.B.
Cressy, Captain Warren
Colossus, Captain Robinson
Sansparoil, Captain Heath
Blenheim, Captain W. H. Hall 6O 450
Hogue, Captain Ramsay
Ajax, Captain Warden . 60 450
Edinburgh, Captain Hewlett 6O 450

ftnssell, -Captain Scott 6O 200
Hawke, Captain Erasmus Ommanney 6O 200
Cornwallis, Captain Wellesley
Pembroke, Captain G. H. Seymour 6O 200
Hastings, Captain Caffin
Imperieuse, Captain Watson, C.B.
Euryalus, Captain Ramsay 5l 400
Arrogant, Captain Yelverton 47 360 _
Amphion, Captain A. C. Key 34 300
Horatio, Captain Cochrane
Cossack, Captain Fanshawe
Pylades, Captain D'Eyncourt 2l 250
Esk, Captain T. F. Birch
Tartar, Captain Dunlop
Archer, Captain Heathcote l7 200
Retribution, Captain Fisher
Alagicienne' Captain Tatham l6 400
Odin, Captain Willcox l5 560
Sampson, Captain Brock
Dragon, Captain Stewart
Bulldog, Captain. W. K. Hall
Penelope, Captain Sir W. Wiseman
Lightning, Captain B. J. Sullivan
Vulture, Captain Glasse . 6 470
Desperate, Commander White ... 8 400
Conflict, Commander Cumming
Cruizer, Commander the Hon. G. Douglas 14 60
Harier, Commander Story
Ariel, Commander Luce
Falcon, Commander Pullen
Basilisk, Commander the Hon. F. Egerton 6 400
Rosamond, Commander Crofton
Driver, Commander Rice
Janus, Lieutenant Kano
Locust. Lieutenant - 3 180
Otter, Lieutenant W. A. J. Heath
Porcupine, Lieutenant Jackson
Zephyr, Lieutenant Bond
Recruit, Lieutenant J. F. Day
Weser, Lieutenant Commerell

iEtna
Glutton
Meteor

FLOATING BATTERIES.
16 Thunder l6
116 Trusty

MORTAR VESSELS.
.. 1 Manly
.. 1 Mastiff 1
.. 1 Porcipino
.. 1 Surly 1
STEAM GUN-BOATS.
Gleaner 3 Hind
Pelter
Pincher
Ruby
Teazer 3 Magpie 2
Badger 3 Redwing
Snapper
Biter 2 Snap 2
Boxer
Clinker 2 Stork
•
Cracker
Dapper 2 Thistle 2
Fancy
Grinder
The Belleisle, 24, Commander Hosk en, hospital ship.
The YEolus, 42, ammunition magazine.
The Perseverance, storeship.
The Volcano, floating engineers factory, Master-Com.
mander Dyer.
Rear• Admiral Michael Seymour has hoisted his flag
(pro tent.) as second in command of the Baltic fleet., on
board the Nile, 91, Captain Mundy, at Plymouth.. Mr.
Dyer, secretary at the Devonport dockyard, goes to sea
with Admiral Seymour as secretary.

Blazer
Firn
Hardy
Havoc

THE MINISTERIAL ARRANGEMENTS.
• (From the Times of this day.)
The 'process by which Lord Pahnerston's Adminis-
tration has assumed its present shape is so extremely
singular that we hardy know in what language to de-
scribe •the means employed or the object attained.
Viewed as a whole, the complicated political transac-
tions which commenced with Lord John Russell's ab-
rupt resignation of office in Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet on
the 23d of January, and, end with Lord John Russell's
acceptance of a subordinate position in Lord Palmer-
ston s Cabinet on the 23d of February, are not calcu-
lated to raise the character of public men, or to command
the confidence of the country. ! In sulaitance, the effect
of these changes has been to reject. what former political
combinations had absorbed, and to absorb what they had
rejected—to destroy whatever had, been done in the last
two years towards the reconstruction of the Liberal
party on a more enlarged basis, and to throw hack the
highest offices in the State into the exclusive circle of
Brookes's. Lord John Russell himself, who is the •
harlequin of this pantominre, passes with astonishing
alacrity through -his postures and transformations— •
now up, now down, at one moment everything, at
another nothing—until -he ends in the grotesque com-
bination of a Minister Plenipotentiary at a Euro-
pean Congress and the Colonial Secretary at home.-
It! is evident that to those who regard these
questions - with no -eyes but those of party,
the end of these perturbations has been attained
by the expulsion or withdraWal from the Ca-
binet
of those elements which differed in some
degree from the pure traditions and the personal
connexions of the Whig families ; but we are not
satisfied that the country and the House of Commons
will be disposed to regard in so favourable a light the
results of a change of Government which has still the
air only of a successful intrigue. On general grounds,
and as far as the practical improvement of the Govern-
ment is concerned, Lord Palmerston has thus far been
fortunate, for circumstances have enabled him to over-
rule the pretensions of a rival, and to relieve the Go-
vernment from men whose reputation had suffered most
severely from the mismangement of the war. Lord John
Russell is harmless, and may even be useful upon his
return to England, in the post of Colonial Secretary ;
and,. although no one will dispute the high abilities of
the four ministers who have just retired, the universal
unpopularity and suspicion which attached to their con-
duct and opinions render their departure a matter of
small regret. Mr. Gladstone and his friends appear not
yet to have learnt the political truth that no party,can
! exist for any useful purpose in this country, whatever
' may be the brilliant talents of its members, unless it
rests upon one of the broad distinctions of opinion
which pervade the nation, and represents! some of the
great elements of public opinion.
Under these circumstances, Lord Palmerston ha--; en-
deavoured to extract the materials of a Government
from the remains of the Whig party, with some addi-
tion of men new to the ranks of official life. The first
and most difficult office to fill of those now vacant was-
the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and in default of
Mr. Cardwell, whose exaggerated notions of party-
, obligation led him to follow his friend Mr. Gladstone, he
has appointed Sir George Cornewall Lewis. Although
this gentleman has not before filled any of the higher
offices of State, he has passed with credit through seve-
ral of the subordinate departments of Government. He
was a member of the Poor Law Commission ; he has
since filled the joint Secretaryship of the Board of Con-
trol, the Under-Secretaryship of the Home Department,
and the financial Secretaryship of the Treasury. We
learn with great satisfaction that Mr. Laing, the mem-
ber for the Wick boroughs, well known as the Chairman
of the Brighton Railway, will take office, probably as
the Vice-President of the Board of Trade. Mr. Laing
is already conversant with that department of the Go-
vernment, in which he filled a subordinate situation in
early life ; and his experience in mercantile affairs, his
habits of business, and his excellent manner of Parlia-
mentary speaking on the subjects with which he is con-
versant, point him out as a very useful member' of the
new Administration.

The same remark cannot be applied to Mr. Vernon
Smith, Nho is said to be designated for the Presidency
of the Board of Control. When the administration of
the affairs of India was reconsidered on the passing of
the India Bill of last session the salary of the President
of the Board of Control was raised to 5,0001., in order
that the Minister for India might be on a level with the
Secretaries of State, and that the country might always
command the services of one of its principal statesmen
in that most important office. 'We must be allowed to
say that the nomination of Mr. Vernon Smith to this
department would be a breach of faith with Parliament
and with the public. It would have the effect of throw-
ing back the affairs of India into the bands of the Court
of Directors, for want of a Minister of energy and expe-
rience to conduct them, and it would add nothing to the
weight and consideration of the Cabinet in the house of
Commons or in the cquntry. Of the minor appoint-
ments, so far as we are at present acquainted with them,
some are creditable to the Government. Mr. Illqrsnian pro-
ceeds to Ireland as Secretary, and Lord Carlisle is spoken
of as the new Lord-Lieutenant, in case. Lord St. Ger-
mans should follow the fortunes of his Peelite colleagues.
Sir R. Peel accepts the office of Clerk of the Ordnance,
which had been declined last week by Mr. Layard, and
Lord-Duncan becomes a Lord of the Treasury ; but
several other arrangements of this rank are still incom-
plete.
Upon the whole, we must wait till we are more accu-
rately acquainted with the composition and the views of
the new Administration—for such it virtually is—before
we determine the degree of confidence it may appear to
us to deserve. If the management of its affairs in Par-
liament does not show a far higher degree of judgment
and ability than Lord Palmerston has yet displayed in
the office of chief Minister and leader of the House of
Commons, and if the members who may now be intro-
duced into the Government are not better qualified than
they have yet proved to meet an emergency of extraor-
dinary difficulty both at home and abroad, we can
prognosticate no long duration for such a Cabinet.
With war, however, raging abroad, with most impor-
tant negotiations opened, and with some difficulties of
considerable magnitude at home, we bold it to be ,the
first duty of all who take part in public affairs to give
the best support they can to the Government of their
country. The Government may easily augment this
supportcritics.
intoh
a hundredfold, t
e confi confidence
eo r convertthe nation,
forbearance r bbye a rsahnocw showing
e of
its
a determination to carry the great measures of reform
which the condition of the army peremptorily requires.

(From the Daily Yetas.)
The Government is said to be at length reconstituted.
Lord John Russell has consented to be named as Secre-
tary to the Colonies • Lord Elgin is to be Secretary of
the Board of Control; Lord Stanley of Alderley is to
be President of the Board of Trade ; Lord Seymour is
to be Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ;" Lord Car-
lisle is appointed Viceroy of Ireland, with Mr. Herman
for Secretary ; and Lord Duncan is to be a Lord 'of the
Treasury. Th;s is, indeed, affecting to settle matters in
a most lordly style, and would be ludicrous if it were
not lamentable. We say lamentable, because at a crisis
of the national fate so perilous as the present we think
it deeply to be deplored that any set of men should be
found capable of so wanton and deliberate a defiance of
public opinion.
We have once more a purely Whig Administration.
After thr6e weeks of ifieffectual attempts to set the
dislocated joints of Coalition, Lord Palmerston has
abandoned the task as hopeless. Whether some more
skilful band may yet be found to perform anew that de-
licate operation, we need not here determine ; it is
enough for the present to observe, that finding the mem-
bers he most relied on bad suddenly become still and im-
moveable, the Premier has resorted in more than one
ca'e to substitutes made of wood. We draw tbo widerd,
distinction, as we have ever done, between Whigs of
the calibre and the character of Lord John Russell, and
those who are capable of serving no other purpose than
that of crutches to a lame and halting policy. In com-
bating against the wrong and scandal of exclusiveness
we have never been ourselves exclusive. So long as an
opulent and noble hereditary class exists in England, we
desire to see its members aspiring to the honours of the
State: We never wish to see statesmen of the great ex-
perience and great ability of Lord John Russell absent
from the councils of the Crown. We viewed with regret
the omission of his name from the first list of administra-
tion formed by Lord Palmerston, and we ventured to
prognosticate—what has since happened more speedily
and more signally than we could have anticipated—that
without his aid no Government would, in the present
state of affairs, be able to conduct the busipess of the
country. The deplorable epectacle of the last week has
abundantly vindicated our, anticipations. The Whigs
have been unable, either with Aberdeenite colleagues
or without them, to guide or govern the House of Com-
mons;. and in their perplexity and panic they have ac-
tually been obliged to arrest on his journey to Vienna, by
their urgent supplications to return, the man whom a
few days since they were chuckling at the notion of
having got rid of for the session. The Minister whom
the Times denounced not- a month ago as one whom his
political friends could no longer defend or associate them-
selves with, and as having been guilty of conduct "that
ought to remain a lasting ground of exclusion from the
confidence of the nation and the Crown," is already sent
for in' hot haste by the very friends who had the ineffable
folly and, meanness to hear him libelled and abused,
without venturing to utter a syllable of remonstrance or
dissent. .No secret was made of their delight at
having got rid of the best and ablest man amongst them ;
and the mission to Vienna was laughed at' openly by
every bureaucratic blockhead as a perilous service that
would probably keep Lord John out of the House of
Commons for months to come ; and now they are only
too glad to be assured that he is likely to be back by
Easter, and to be permitted in the meantime to take
shelter under the shadow of his name. Whatever be
the result, we for our parts shall always rejoice at seeing
the conduct of a great department, like that of the Colo-
nies, placed in such capable bands ; and if half-a dozen
such men could be found amongst te Whigs, we should
heartily rejoice to see them in equally important posts.
But it is vain to try to conceal the disappointment
and discontent with which the country will receive the

announcement that the Government is once more to
be monopolised by the membersa 9f a few great families,

their retainers, and nominees. With the exception of
four or five individuals, the Cabinet, as now re-con-
structed, consists entirely. of persons wholly astitute
of the mental vigour or personal weight that we have a
right to look for under any circumstances, but more
especially in the present critical state of affairs.,
It is said that Sir George C. Lewis, whose recent
speech against the policy of the present war we took
occasion to comment on, has been offered the chancellor-
ship of the Exchequer. There is certainly nothing like
an effective contrast ; and in this instance thkrfriends of
Mr. Gladstone will assuredly have no right to complain.
The critics,,of .the outgoing Minister have been accus-
tomed to taunt him with, gradually modifying his opi-
nions in a liberal sense, The severest censor will be
unable to find any similar cause of accusation against
the right hon. baronet. le too, indeed, has gradually
drifted from the professions of his youth ; but it has
been from those of Radicalism towards those of Conserva-
tism. At one time he was all for the Ballot ; at another,
for the overthrow of the Irish Church ; but of late he
has become a proselyte to more aristocratic opinions—he
votes against any change in ecclesiastical monopoly, and
against any curb being put upon the power of landlord
intimidation at elections. Sir. George Lewis has for
sonic, time been editor of the EdinLurgh Review ; and we
must say, that if his administration of the Exchequer be
not more brilliant than his conduct of that venerable
periodical, his hearers in a committee of Ways and
Means will have dull work of it. Some hesitation, we
understand, has been expressed, however, by the re-
cently elected member for Radnorshire about accepting
the post vacated by Mr. Gladstone. Eighteen millions
of extra expenditure to be made up somehow in the next
budget is certainly no peculiar temptation • and though ,
we fear we shall never agree with the right honourable
baronet as a politician, we own we shall think better of
his common sense if he declines the task for which he is
apparently so unfit.

shiftings and promotions will, zit is said,
take place. The gravity of Sir James Graham is to be
replaced at the Admiralty by the levity of Sir Charles
Wood. Mr. Wilson is to be advanced to the Vice-
Presidemey of the Board of Trade, and his place at the
Treasury will probably be filled by Mr. Frederick Peel,
provided no Lord can be got to accept the appointment.
A second vacancy among the Secretaries of the Treasury
having been created by the retirement of Lord Alfred
Hervey, it is variously cobjectured that Lord Edward
Howard, Lord Milton, oo Lord Grosvenor, will be in-
duced to accept that position. Mr. Layard, it has been
said, was not indisposed to become Under Secretary of
War, the inducement probably being that ho would
have represented the department is the House of Com-
mons, his chief being in the Peers. But we believe we
are not incorrect in stating that for this very reason the
Cabinet of Lords (as the new Adminisiration is likely to
be called) deemed the suggestion inadmissible when
made by one of their number. They had no objection to
Mr. Layard being consigned to silence and forgetfulness
in the Colonial-office, the head of which was to be in the
House of Commons ; but this generous and flattering
propsal Mr. Layard is said to have refused. But after
what has been done respecting the principal appoint-
ments, it were idle to doubt the spirit in which the sub-
ordinate offices will be filled up.
And now once more the urgent question presses for
solution—How is the Government of the country to be
carried on ? Mutiny bills, and votes on account in com-
mittee of supply, may be passed sub silentid. But the
annual business of legislation is not yet begun ; and
there would seem to be no disposition on any side to be-
gin it. The conviction appears uppermost in every re-
flecting mind that, unless there be some reasonable pro-
spect of our obtaining a Government capable of carrying
measures through Parliament, it were waste of time and
labour to set about the ordinary work of a session in
laborious earnest.

Wl:ether the House of Common will show any dis-
position to go through th.e force of make-believe legisla-
tion, by way of keeping in countenance the sham 9f ad-
rninistratiou, a few days will probably show.

(Front the Morning Herald of this clay.)

Lord John Russell has accepted the seals of a Secre-
tary of State. We are to have once more an exclusively
Whig Ministry. Matters have reverted, as far as mi-
nisterial arrangements are concerned, pretty much to the
state of things existing prior to Lord Palmerston's ex-
pulsion by Lord John Russell in December, 1851, with
the exception that Lord Palmerston and Lord John Rus-
sell have changed places ; Lord Palmerston is the head
of the Cabinet, and Lord John Russell the subordinate
-Secretary of State.

Strange, indeed, if this were to be the only result of
all the shifting scenes of the drama which has been en-
acted throughout the last- three years. In the beginning
ofDecember, 1851, a Whig Cabinet ruled the councils
of England, with Lord John Russell as its chief. In that
month the country was startled by the announcement
that one of the most able and popular members of the
Cabinet had been dismissed. Lord John Russell, as
Premier, haughtily dispensed with the services of his
colleague. The authority of the Sovereign was invoked
to tear from his hand the seals of office which he held.
By the Queen's special commands Lord John Russell
told him that he must cease to be a Minister of the
Crown. The words of the letter of dismissal were couched
in the authoritative terms of an almost contemptuous re-
primand, and Lord Palmerston was driven from tho
Cabinet of the Queen.

Three years from the date of that strange story have
scarcely passed, when we see again the same Ministry in
office. But the dismissed and reprimanded statesman is
now its chief, and the Prime Minister, who so gravely
and haughtily rebuked him, is now content and proud
to take his place below him. Have all the changes and
chances of these three years been only arranged to settle
the disputa between the two Whig chieftains and give a
personal triumph to Lord Palmerston. It seems as if
their only result had been to reverse and avenge that
contemptuous dismissal of December, 1851.
Whatever is to be the phase of the future, it is cer-
tain that at this moment our ministerial arrangemdnts
have reverted to the point from which they started by
the dismissal of Lord Palmerston in December, 1851.
We have what is termed by a strange misnomer a pure
Whig Administration,- and the family party of the
" great houses" once more try their hand at managing
the affairs of this great nation.

Let us, however, fora moment turn our attention to
another section of politicians who have managed to play
no inconsiderable part in this strange cycle of events.
The remnant of the Cabinet of Sir Robert Peel must
now look on the result with some feelings of mortifica-
tion when they see that they have been only used as a
temporary convenience while the differences of the Whig
party were in process of adjustment. In' 1850 they
joined the Conservatives in an attempt to condemn the
foreign policy of Lord Palmerston, the rashness of which
in relation to Greece appearet likely to damage the in•
terests of the country. Succeeding in the House of
Lords, that effort failed in the Commons, but the debate
in which Lord Pahnerston triumphed over his opponents
will long be memorable for the tone of severity in which
Sir Robert Peel himself and his followers condemned the
policy of the present Premier.
a melancholy accident,
the career of Sir Robert Peel. 'From the hour of his
death, the little band of factionists that have assumed his
forTeihgen eery
next day closed, by
name as their watchword, appeared to be guided by but
one principle of action, and that was to exclude by all
means the Conservative party from Power. With this
object they Supported, and by their support maintained
in office the • Ministry of Lord John Russell, whose
back benches of the
feigjoartnesn
Gproalhicaymthsseyt, hitadis storuvee,heeninteinietly denounced. Sir
Opposition, but he sat there, as his late secretary told
him—

" A sweet little cherub sits smiling alcft
To keep watch o'er the lifq of Poor Jack."

the one solitary
acrdlleDdertbois.aks the chief of
e the reins of
power. We need not go over the discreditable details of
measure Notwithstanding
the
Ecclesiastical t h ei r opposition Titles it
was the gene-
ral support of the Peelites that enabled the Whig Minis-
try to live on through the session of 1851.
the WCheenns et
rhvaattMiveinipsatrrytyf,elwl, Lso a
the conspiracy by which he was driven from office. In
that conspiracy the Peelite faction bore the chief part.
It was entirely by their means, by the personal agency
of the Duke of Newcastle, that there was brought to the
conspiracy 1 he aid of that Popish contingent which
finally decided the conflict. With the fall of Lord Derby's
Administration the Peelites had achieved their great ob-
ject. They had avenged upon their old friends the
never-forgiven defeat of 1846. They had driven from
office the party with whom they had been so long allied,
and they had inflicted a heavy blow upon the principles
which some of them had all their lives supported. But
they thought they had dono more—they stipulated for
a share of the spoil—they, without followers and
without influence, insisted on dividing with the
once great Whig party the Cabinet offices ; nay, still
more, they nominated a Premier-they seized for
their little faction the most • prominet departments
of administration. and if they were content to abandrn
all their Conservative traditions in their home policy,
and do the work of undermining the old institutions of
England, they revenged themselves for it by forcing on
their colleagues a blind acquiescence in their despotic
and absolutist policy in our foreign relations,.
Such has been the position of the Peelites for the last
two years. The political history of England recorded
no such instance of successful intrigue, Men whose
whole lives had been a war upon everything liberal were
placed at the head of affairs by the representatives of
those who claim a monopoly of liberal opinions. Lord
Aberdeen, the very impersonation of absolutist opinions,
was installed as the champion of liberty. The author
of "The Church in its Relations to the State" was re-
garded as the advocate of the extreme opinions of Radi-
cal Reformers ; and at the head of the Liberal party, as
they call themselves, Lord John Russell was made
subordinate to the faction of Lord Aberdeen.
But the day of retribution has come. With
" wounded feelings," to use the phrase of Sir James
Graham, with mortified sensibilities and bitterly disap-
pointed ambitions, successive batches. of this little party
have been driven from office. They have been used as
the instruments to enable the Whig Cabinet to be re-
constructed ; and not only this, they see the ratan whose
policy they most hate advanced as the result of all their
intrigues to the foremost place in the councils of the
nation,' and they have the satisfaction of reflecting that
their presence in the councils of *their • Sovereign is only

to be traced in national disaster, and in the origin of a
war which will make the memory of an Aberdeen
Administration hateful, while England remembers the
calamities it has provoked.
The Peelite party has now dwindled to three or four
—Sir James Graham, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Sidney Her-
bert are its leaders in the Commons. Their followers
are Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Robert Lowe, and, perhaps, Mr.
Goulburn. Sir J. Young has fled to the lonian IslandFt
and even Mr. Frederick Peel is content to hide himself
in any post to which it may please the humour or suit
the convenience of Lord Palmerston to toss him. This
is the result of want of honesty of purpose or steadiness
of principles. To this are reduced the men, who just
ten years ago were among the leaders of the strongest
Administration that England since the days of Pitt had
seen. Their phalanx has melted away like one of our
regiments before Sebastopol, and when on Friday even-
ing the ghastly remnant of what was once the Peelite
party stalked to their places at the head of the Radicals,
where, Radical journals tell us, they were significantly
welcomed by Mr. Bright ! ! they must themselves have
felt, that, bitter as was the lesson, it had its use if they
taught others by their example, that men will be used
because they are clever, but will be respected only when
they are true to some principle and steady to some
faith.

So endeth the history of the followers of Sir Robert
Peel.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S MISSION TO
VIENNA.
(From the Morning Chronicle of this day.)

The diplomatic mission entrusted to the able hands
of Lord. John Russell will speedily enter into its second
stage. The repeated interviews which the noble lord
has had both with his Imperial Majesty and Monsieur
Drouyn de Lhnys have, doubtless, conducted to a per-
fecb understanding of the terms on which the Govern.
ments of Great Britain and France are content to treat
for peace; Ai the same time, the British Envoy will
have decided with the French Minister of Foreign At',
fairs on the means best adapted to arrive at a perfect un-
derstanding with Prussia. At Berlin, Lord John Rus-
sell will, doubtless, encounter a cordial personal reception
on the part of the Crown and the Government ; but that
any satisfactory result will attend his conferences with
the Prussian Monarch, or with M. de Manteuffel, we
are less sanguine. We are forbidden by the vacillating
policy of the Cabinet of Berlin from indulging in any
hopes of the sincere co-operation of Prussia with the
Western Powers. The utmost that we aro led to expect
from the attitude of Prussian diplomatists is, perchance,
a separate treaty,. which the Cabinet of Berlin will con-
tract with the Western Powers, wherein the strict nen.
trality of Prussia will be defined, and the present favour-
able issue of merchandise restricted. Should Lord John
Russell succeed in impressing on the Prussian Govern.
ment a due sense of its duties as one of the first Powers
of Europe, he will have accomplished a task which will
alike prove of incalculable importance to the Allies and
will have consolidated his reputation as a statesman.
Within'a fortnight the Congress of Vienna will have
probably commenced its deliberations, and then will be
decided the portentous questions of peace or war—of a
satisfactory solution of the Pastern question, or a Con-
tinental coalition against the aggressive policy of the
Czar. We have never anticipated any other result of
the Vienna Conferences than diplomatic failure, which
will, however, be followed, we believe, by the firm
altitude of the more important members of the Ger-
manic Confederation, and a warlike decision on the pal t
of Austria.

On the success of Lord John Russell's negociation:
with the Cabinet of Berlin will depend the appearance
or non-representation of Prussia in the approaching con-
ferences. And also on that Cabinet will lay the respon-
sihlity of a general war, or the merit of having clntri-
buted to a lasting pace. By maintaining a firm attitude
Prussia will necessarily impress upon the Emperor the
dangers which a continuation of hostilities would me-
nace him with ; whilst on the contrary, by persevering
in its present feeble and discreditable policy, the Cabinet
of Berlin would strengthen the obstinacy and presump-
tion -of the Czar. Time will prove the amount of sin-
cerity with which the Emperor was inspired when he em-
powered Prince Gortschakoff to open the, conferences of
peace ; and we shall speedily be enabled to observe, by
the attitude assumed by the latter diplomatist and his
wily coadjutor, M. de Titoff, of the precise intentions of
the Czar. Then, also, shall we be relieved from the
weight of hesitation and doubt which at this moment
depresses the energies of Europe. The position will be
then' clearly defined, and in case of the approaching
Conferences concluding in failure, nothing 'will remain
to the Western Powers but to prosecute the war with
vigour, and by every means that their power and influ-
ence may admit.

The manifesto recently issued by the Emperor of Rus-
SIN to his people has not tended to modify our recorded
opinion with respect to his sincerity on the point of
peace. At the same time, the measure it announces—to
wit, the mobilisation of the militia of the empire—must
be considered not only as an unmeaning threat—a pure
bravado—but also a diplomatic etror. In Germany,
the step in question has been considered as a warlike
demonstration in face of the decision of the Diet ; and
in Austria it has been accepted as an act approaching to
hostility. In a militant point of view, the measure of
calling into service the Russian militia cannot be consi-
dered in the fearful light which evidently it had been in-
tended to produce. Not only is the major part of the
Russian population capable of bearing arms already im-
pressed into the Imperial armies ; but the said militia,
composed as it would be, of a disorganised mob, would
most likely prove to be an encumbrance rather than a
valuable auxiliary. If we are not informed how these
unfortunate peasants and citizens are to be disciplined
or rendered effective in the field, yet, we learn, from a
Russian source, the manner in which they will be armed
and dressed. Their uniform will be that of their fathers
in 1812—a grey litefka, or frock coat, a cap of the same
stuff and colour, with a cross in front, bearing the in-
scription, " For faith and fatherland." High Russian
boots will complete their costume. Instead of bearing
pikes, like their fathers in the memorable campaign of
Napoleon, they will be armed with muskets, and will be
exercised therewith.

This Russian mil tia does not then, we confess, inspii e
us with any great degree of dread. To organise any
body of magnitude will require not only time but money,
and fathers of families are not likely to be seized with
that martial ardour which the inscriptions on their caps
would lead a superficial observer to fear. The military
annals of this militia do not in the least tend to inciease
our terrors, for in the campaigns of 1812 its especial
functions were either to conduct prisoners into the
interior of the country, or to hang upon the retreat-
ing force, and to fall with superior numbers upon
desultory bodies of the enemy. In the present con-
flict such auxiliaries would be less than useless.
The demand for provisions, and not the desire of
peace, has resulted in the recall from the Austrian
frontier of the troops concentrated over the king-
dom of Poland ; and in such a position, when the ser-
vices of the Imperial Guard are thus neutralised, the
inefficiency of the disorganised militia will be still more
evident.

It ha; never been our aim to depreciate the military
strength of the Russian empire. 'We willingly admit
that in warlike times a despotic State can claim advan-
tages over those commanded by a constitutional Go-
vernment ; but at the same time the individual courage,
the military instinct possessed by the soldiers of Eng-
land and France,. have proved themselves so superior
over the tried legions of the Czar, that we are tempted
to confide in them without fear of the result.

The latest intelligence communicates to us a repulse
of an attack directed by the enemy against the Turkish
army concentrated at Eupatoria. Although we do not
believe the attack in question to have merited the im-
portance with which popular desire has invested it, yet
we are rejoiced to find that our Ottoman Ally has been
enabled to drive back a first assault. The declaration
of war pronounced by the Czar against Sardinia, owing
to the peculiar position of the two countries, is deprived
of any peculiar importance, and is merely the natural
result of the alliance contracted by the Cabinet of Turin
with the Western Powers. That the diplomatic mission
of Lord John Russell may be crowned with results
equally favourable to Great Britain as that of the co-
operation of Sardinia, is our sincere wish ; and by con-
quering the hostile tendency of Prussia, and consolidat-
ing the active alliance of Austria, the ex-President of
' the Council will have rendered greater service to the
country and to Europe, than has been fated to be ac-
complished by many diplomatists of well-tried value and
experience.