The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-28 00:00:00

INCONSISTENT POLITICIANS.

There are some men who take an active part in the
politics of the world who seem never to have the
slightest idea of what they desire. Thus there are a set
of men who profess to have an earnest desire to see the
oppressed nationalities of Europe rise out of their state
of oppression and be received into the great combination
of European states ;—to see the Polish kingdom once
more forming one of the barrier fortresses of Europe ;
to see Hungary freed from the usurping despot who
tramples on her liberties ; to see Italy casting off the
priestly nightmare and the foreign gaoler that crushes
all her energies and turns her beauty into desolation.
And yet the very men who make these large professions
—the men who when Russia was thought to be about
to a,sist Austria against the Hungarians talked of
crumpling her up like a sheet of paper—now hold a
different tone and consider Russia no longer as the
aggressor, but the oppressed. Those men who spoke
so loudly of resuscitating the nationalities of Europe
now would bold back from the slightest movement
in those nationalities because some crotchet of their
own cannot be carried out. Even Mr. Urquhart,
who believes Lord Palmerston to have sold us
to Russia, and who professes to be able almost
to tell the very sum he received for his treachery, even
he would rather see Russia successful in the contest than
that Lord Palmerston should be at the head of affairs
when Russia is thoroughly defeated and humbled.
the purpose of advising the raising of a Polish legi ,l
The meeting held in London a short time since, for
an exemplification of this inconsistency between
b the
Polish desires. The old and staunch friends of th
rationally
de-
sires of men and their knowledge of how to
theeoptoain their
na-
tion feel that a time is come when thoy
great powers of England and France,_
'rependenee against the
assistance in their struggle f_
dorolut their nation from her
hope to move the governments of Europe,
gmiovraeyattbelemasetottehee
despotism which has crutefir,
fiat step they offer to raise
position in Europe. -
ear against te the
publicgthe ne eorailooppressor.
Ahs, shall help to fight the battles of
a Polish legion who
against Austria, that " 11 t
They England
seek
a by
yd of
e.Frarnsecsesai
despotic states of E
hands of the
urope—
metropolis of
snore partici] ,
~
the
emaxPnd to strengthen
3 y °
whose sympathies are with Russia,
a certain Government
ex
whose actions are with her sympathies, while her
and
with the Westernare Powers. It is wished by
r Poland that
tniposrdieeespeeomtsesheofutlhdosbee
mabolne
wtohiognhaorvee.
thßeulitbeimrt
the friends cu a strong voice should go forth
from England, which
t ae
I n's'Ert ,alni aiansst
th
e
neither constitutional governments
Po-
land continually
on their lips, and they say—no—ne
miesedoifatpeoly.
Polish le ;ion—no resuscitation of Polish nationality—
nothing but down with Palmerston. And the Chartists
and pugnacious
peace party, by their clamour and vio-
lence, destroy the meeting, and this opportunity is lost
of speaking with an authoritative voice to the Govern-
ments of Europe. Among the most noisy at this moe 1
obstreperous meeting were some few Poles, who unfor-
tunately seem to care less for their country than for their
°wn peculiar opinions, who, if they cannot have a demo.
cratic and social republic in Poland, seem to prefer that
it should remain under the domination of Russia and
Prussia and Austria, through whose Governments they
have themselves been driven into exile, and their coun-
trymen decimated and oppressed. We pity these mis-
guided men ; we have nothing but contempt for the
Englishmen who assisted to mislead them.—West Briton
1 and Cornwall Advertiser.

EMIGRit.TION FROM THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND.—The
exodus of agricultural labourers from the North of Scot-
land to the Canadas still continues. The second fleet of
American traders will carry out above 600 emigrants
from Aberdeen and neighbouring ports, making the
total number from the North of Scotland and the Ork-
ney Islands about 3,000 persons. Agricultural labour
has advanced in value, and good hands are now getting
scarce.

TEE WAR, THE CABINET, AND THE

COUNTRY.

(From the Dispatch.)
At Exeter-hall (region of congenial cant !) a fierce lec-
ture of recommendation of peace has been delivered. Mr.
George Thompson, as "judicious bottle-holder," sat be-
hind, to pull the wires, the pacific pugnacity of Quaker-
ism being rather at a discount. A resolution was moved
condemnatory of the war ; an amendment was hoisted on
its back, advocating a vigorous prosecution of the cam-
paign—the amendment was hitched off and the peace
motion carried. The audience was large. The chairman
of Mr. Laing's election committee procured from his con-
stituents a declaration that they condemned his cowardly,
counsels—on the member presenting himself to his con-
stituents, they passed a resolution approving of his Par-
liamentary conduct, "while reserving their own views on
the subject of the war." Now, it is high time electors
and audiences of paid peace prosers should be assured this
sneaking and grotesque stultification will not do. The war
is the one object of real import to the condition and
destinies of the nation. In one year we have spent about
a hundred millions on its prosecution. Our honour, the
lives of hundreds of thousands of our citizens, an enor-
mous amount of treasure, and a fearful load of moral re-
sponsibility, are involved in the issue. "War," observed
Mr. Laing himself, " was an enormous evil, and it be-
hoved every man to know whether the objects to be
gained were sufficient to justify the enormous outlay and
effusion of blood. When we are making those sacrifices
we ought to have a clear idea of what we are really
fighting for, and see how far these objects have been
attained." The speech of the member was a truculent
diatribe against the war policy—it was applauded by the
constituents to the echo; and the ceremony (peculiat ly
claw thee," was wound up
Caledonian), of "-claw me,
with a bold and manful resolution that the community of
Kirkwall had their own opinions of the war—that they de-
clined to say whether they approved of Ifr. Laing's or not
—but that, excepting on the only topic of any importance
or significancy whatever; about which they held no tsp-
nions, they approved entirely of their member. Why thi is
like Milner Gibson's joke about the Aberdeen Cabinet,
when he observed that except on the subject of polities,
they were a united Ministry, We do not want " Exeter
Hallery "to agree with us—we do not even particularly
desire that we should agree with the hyperborean sagacity
of the solan geese of Laing-dom—albeit Wick appeals to
be burning down to the socket, and going out wite
strong stink of Russian tallow ; but what the country,
the press, the Ministry, have a right to demand of ail
constituencies is, that they shall make up their minds
on the one engrossing, exclusive question of the day—
that they shall leave their members in no doubt as
to their convictions—that they shall not, deliberate:y
and with their eyes !open, send a marl to, Parliament,
to vote against, intrigue against, turn' out a War
Ministry, if they themselves are in favour of the war—
that it they are in favour of peace, they will not
mislead Ministers into, the idea that their member
does not represent their opinions—and- that, above all,
they will not commit the execrable folly of thinking
it a matter of perfect indifference that, on a point in
the very life of the nation, it is of no consequence'
whether their representative agrees with or differs from
them. Nay, we go further, and add, that it is unjust to
Austria and cruel to Russia to do so. While they are'
led to hope that public opinion in England wavers on the
subject of the war—that our representative institutions
may enable corrupt members to cheat the nation out of
its character and opinions—that faction may over, tile
public opinion to the effect of swindling us into a Peace
Ministry, Hapsburgh will continue to ban-lb:Male . our
treacherous plenipotentiaries, and Romanoff to assail our
armies and our fleets. If, on the other hand, the people
hold no strong conviction on the subject—if this be not
a people's and a nation's quarrel—if in short, they would
sooner submit to ,a paltry truce than part with a jobbing
member who prefers railway contracts and Austrian ceu-.
cessions to the honour and interests of the country, then
let them honestly say so, and make Gladstone Prime
Minister. But let no favour of personal friendship, and
no consideration of general services, stand betwixt their
members and their duty to truth and to the country.
Be just, and fear not.
We nought can rue,
If England to herself be true.

On vital questions members are but delegates_on those
of war, foreign nations only know the convictions of
the country through the vot.s of its members. If these
are opposed to those, at whatever sacrifice of feeline, or
respect, the course of the electors is clear :--
Cassio, I love thee,
Butenever more be officer of mine.
It is no excuse for a representative differing fitrn his cons,
htituents, that the difference is conscientious and earnest.
The deepeC the sourceolautipathy the more energetic: will
he the course of practical antagonism. It is surely not for
Mr. Laing, who has wheeled right round after a visit to
Vienna and the acceptance of an Austrian concession, to
depreciate Lord Palmerston's consistency, or to decYare
his confidence in Lord John Russell just for his posses-
Sion of those qualities which he has notoriously set- at
nought ; having, indeed, changed oftener, inure (haute,'
trically, more unaccountably, and more recently than
any public man except Mr. Laing himself. It is, per-
haps, a work of supererogation to examine the-elerneots
of the Kirkwall speeches. When Mr. Scarth assure ng
that he and those precious transatlantic Republicans who
talk so loudly of being the emancipators of king °pp es.,ed.
pcoplee, while they are at this moment the close corilMe
- rates of Russia, are of opinion that we would "have got
as much by negotiation as in the end we mightget by war,
it is enough to answer that no mere negotiation coo:4 se.-
, cure the circumscription of Russian power, thehumiliati• it
of the aggressiye arrogance of the Czar --tha dentoristrl-
. tiny, essential to the Peace Of Fairotw, that Bitglanele'end.
France are his matters—the proof to the•Raissiane that the
con ►:abl~K, thepolice, the bearers•of tt,c;,,vorti of the
...Air:rate in &Irene, are too stroug for swindlersi pick noel:. ts,
Atstian recervers;•-and Russian btirglarS. When Mr.
Laing, with easy raild impudent effrontery, asserts that,
• • after. a single year -of warfare, Russia did accept the
. Four Points in principle, and that the five Plenipet en-
Varies agreed to a resolution for the limitation of the
Russian power in the Black Sea, lie at once furnishes a
triumphant justification of the war which he condemee,
and Advances a proposition which is notoriously fatse.
The German Powers, from the beginning, neget'atcd
only on this principle—" Heads, Russia wins ; tails, the
Allies lose." Russia, from the beginning until now, r..
: fused either to reduce her army, dismantle Sebastopol,
or diminish its navy, by a single ton or gun. Germany
declined to make that refusal a eas?.ts WU, ,while • she
called on us to make peace with Russia, notwitlistand
ins her rejection of the conditions presented to her by
the plenipotentiaries. Because Tse will not degrade Our
quarrel to the pettifogging-quirks of a special pleader--
because we disdain to recognise the plltriness of a soul.
which labels and numbers the cause of.Eurepe; of the
human race, divides it into eighthslike the stock of a-
share-broker*: r:nd talks of " three and a half poietS"
being satisfactorily' settled"--,,becansie having been
forced into war after mealurelesk pro Vocation and
reareely dignified forbearance, we wiii, not, after.
an enormaes • expenge in teen and money, giVe -op:
the ecntest, without any' redress cr equivakic
whenever a faithle:ri 'and 'Arrei-iant enemy; fiim,ti.g
we are too many for him, clio,oses to mock us w:tti
the form of redress, Witholit any Snbsianc,, hi
retribution or .sectirity—a trdt:)r to his trust,
to the people atid-'tai his edit-are, presumes, wi:h ma: th-
less effrontery,* to arraigns this Christian nation witit the•
indulgence' of the worst paSsione,••and of incurring ',e
awful responsibility of war for the gratification
combativeness of our animal nature. 'SO may the t.',i,
say whernthe the hangrnan peels his hack to thrash idit-
ness and petty larceny out of him ;• or the blood-slyet
eyed parricide when, 'from the awful bench of eight
safety, the judge orders him off to the dung,een t i be
transferred to the gallows: . In sorrovi, far more-than
in anger, do we pursue the huge State criminal' of
Russia to the righteous- doom of offenders against
the human race—in sorrow that' wretched worm Of the
dust, " dreet in a: little brief' authority," should, ny
the weakness, ignorance and barbarity of subjects,
have the power •to " play such fantastic trick's befere
high Heaven?' as to put back the progress of Europe, and
make countless thousands 'rnotrn. • But--it is wtit,.en
—his doomed is sealed—the finger of Providence may
manifestly seen pointing at the crouching victim of its
awful but infallible sentence. Let our countrymen mar.,
the relative condition of the belligerents. The people of
France offer to lend to their Emperor-far more than fie•
needs or will accept to carry on the war. Tneir bar-
vest is of unexampled abundance. We want fiveonillione
for the Turks—thirty millions are offered, and Consols
are about 91. Our own eropS are of more than average
excellence, and the prices of food fall. The United States
have already gathered in a larger hai'rest than they ever
before secured. The cereal produce of Russia has
miserably failed. Her commerce is annihilated. Levy

after levy of her choicest population 'has drained her
serf estates, and her troops have miserably d

of diSease, def6at, diFa‘ter'' forced ii,arches, .►nd pes7-
tilential encampments. She has been ignoinitimi-,iy
thrashed in every enconnter---nothing• occurreddur-
.

ing the whole war but failure' hAvoe and rent, until hilt
soldiers and even her offieershave to be made mad with
fiery rye whisky before they can "screw their coinage
to the sticking place" of a fresh enc,unter. Yet renewed
attacks are an obvious necessity'or her desperate eerie',
tier), because she daily makes her assaults at a greater
disadvantage, and very plainly, solely because, unless mite
achieves immediate relief, 'she sees nothing before her
but submissien. It is but yesterday that 3,000 -attacked
a small force in our trenches and ran a-xay in ten :mi-
nutes without disabling so Much as' a sergeant's guard.
The garrison of Sebastopol As already reduced to half
rations, and it is whispered to us by persons who shou;.l
know, that it is notat ail unlikely the enemy will actually
be starved. out within a fortnight. The French aro
already within 200 burnTred feet of the Malakheff
Tower, the key of the enemy's •position. An enormous
destruction of warlike stores, essebtial to the conduct of
the war in the Crimea, has }effected in the Sea 'of
Aaciff and along the coast of theuxine. The exper:mee.
tai bombardment of Sebastopol haS recommenced under
very encouraging ercurhstances, the vertical firing effect-
ing very serious destruction.. Although the bonabardmeht
of Sweaborg has done little injury to the fortificatiOns,•
its effect upon- the enemy is really similar to the injury
which would have been inflicted' On •us had.the whole of
the contents of the dockyards 'at Plyniouth ariathe rim.
niments in the Tower been consigned to the flames. The
victory of the Sardinians and French on the Tehernava
is described by General Simpson to be equal to an Alma
and Inkerman combined. The odds against the allies
were three to one
; not fewer than 10.000 Russians I
under Liprandi and their commander-in•chief have. twee
'placed hors de combat in one way or another;
60,000
seasoned troops have retreated, after three hours' fight•
kg with less than 20,000, none of the latter British-; 31"1
above all, Italians have borne. the brunt of the figlf, ill
Proved themselves equal to the best troops in the world,
proclaimed to Italy its strength, the old Roman pith and
spirit that still lurk beneath the superincumbent mass of I

lazy and cowed love of creature comfort and fat ease, and
demonstrated to Austria that the day on which she
shall provoke France and England to send the fiery
cross among distressed nationalities, the Italians will
cope on equal terms with the most disciplined coherts of
legitimacy. Alarmed at the success of La Marmora, it is
rumoured that Austria is about to leave the Principali-
ties, and that Omar Pacha, with the flower of the Turk-
ish army, and flanked by a French and English contin-
gent, will be made room for, there to carry the invasion
into the Russian frontier by the significant permission of
Germany, so as to force the war to a conclusion. Here
is our present stand—these are our future prospects—
who that has the spirit of a free man would talk of
patching up a peace ? Who that has the soul of an Eng-
lishman would condescend to negotiation, or degrade the
exalted attitude of his country to the sordid chicane of
paper protocolling and logomachy of obfuscated plenipo-
tentiaries ?