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

THE SEJN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 12, 1855.

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 said by our blustering and bumptious old friend
the Invalide Busse, corroborative of any such
victory to the banners of the CZAR ! And surely,
as Galignani 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 MOURAVIRFF

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 PACHI, 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 advices from Erzeroum, dated the
13th ult., it was stated that OMER PACHI 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 lisurghetti. 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 advices 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
heroicWlLLlams and his valiant "brother in arms
and rival in renown," the brave K.airrv, have
been placed, wilfully and shamefully placed, by
SELIM PACHI'S suspicious, if not actually criminal,
hesitation. Even yet, we maintain, it is still to
be hoped that the defence already made by the
garrison of Kars has not been all in vain, but
that, even though it be at the eleventh
hourand three-quarters, assistance may at 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 forefend—that even heroes
cannot achieve impossibilities, and that his-
tory relates how even MASSENA, in 1800,
even 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 KszETY, 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 8,000 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 BOSQUET or WINDHAM, 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
Rizah or Atenah—enabling the gallant soldiers
under IsmaiL 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 of 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 lukewarmness of the authorities at
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 are 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 majority 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 com-
mon wishes, but of encouraging the sub-
ordination of the most reasonable desires to
the claims of national duty and the permanent
welfare of this country and of Europe.
It is, however, now pretty generally acknow-
ledged 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 be 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
place
his throne and Lord PALMERSTON his
a
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 aro falling again, and St.
no
as
k reasonable
ourselves
audit isP Paris
r tahl kweh i lgei v teo
Petersburg
hope of peace,
whether the War is really the cause of most of
the evils we complain of. Taxation, is a
measurable and certain difference. We
know how much more we have to

pay in that shape. But when the War is saddled
with the pressure on the money market, with the
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 October 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 case, 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
country ; 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 Lye 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 Rauch 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 deficient in closely adjoining
countries that we are told there is no profit on
shipments from Dantzic. 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
besging 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 ho 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
penny rather than see our Army and Navy
slink off without giving Russia " a good thump-
ing." It is ourious to think what a host of in-
genious evasions we should have, if those who
charge high prices, (tc., 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.

Even at the eleventh hour the Government has
availed itself of the clause in the Act of 1844,
and permitted the Bank of England to increase
the amount of Securities in the Issue Department
by 475,0004,
the amount which,eaurnlydetrwoth-tehiprdrosvoisfio7nl22,o6f23thl.o,
statute, might have been circulated by bankers
who have ceased to issue their 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, so
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 quartz soctari rirulos."

We should at once go to the fountain head rather
than attempt to mitigate trivial annoyances con..
fleeted with a matter radically wrong. It is es-

sential that the entire 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 given during the ensuing session
to the " Old Lady" to bring the present 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 " ill 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 servo to
reduce the amount of the public burdens, and re-
lieve the too heavily-weighted taxpayers of somo
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. There
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-
sols, 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, ho 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 11., 2/., and 3/. 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.

val in the same capital of Count Stackelberg from
St. Petersburg, and on the same pleasing mis-
sion, to complote 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 may be 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.