The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-16 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 16, 1855.

Lord JonN RUSSELL'S resignation has been ac-
cepted ! The ex-Plenipotentiary has yielded to a
" hint" scarcely less significant than that given to
the Irishman who left the room because he was
" kicked down stairs." In the Noble Lord's case
the " kicking" had not actually taken place, but
there was a distinct and positive intimation--not
merely from political opponents, but from sub-
ordinate members of the Ministry, and indepen-
dent representatives, belonging to the party of
which for many years the vacillating Statesman
had been the recognised leader—that on this day
they would join in the unpleasant but well-
merited demonstration ; and the experienced
"whipper-in" had declared that there could be
no doubt as to the result, which would involve
the rest of the Cabinet in the painful conse-
quences of the tergiversation and duplicity of one
of their number. Up to that period he had
been encouraged by the rest of his colleagues in
the Cabinet to meet the conflict—the strenuous
support which he received from many Ministers
preventing the others from insisting on his expub
Sion. It might have been anticipated that those
who, with him, 'were willing to patch up a dis-
honourable and transitory peace on terms which
he himself admitted in his despatch of the 18th
of April to be but "an imperfect security for
Turkey and for Europe,,, would sustain and de-
fend him against attacks to which they must have
felt themselves equally liable, and they were
willing to do so until the threatened withdrawal
and the absolute certainty of support,y that they
would be left in a disgraceful minority, taught
them that " discretion was the better part of
valour," and " sauve quz peat"
became the
order of the day. The "political Jorun" was
then readily flung overboard, in the hope
that the storm would be thereby allayed, and that
the remainder of the crew could for some time
longer navigate the vessel of the State in the old
style.

But will the sacrifice be sufficient ? Will the
people be contented to confide the management
of affairs at so vitally important a crisis when
Parliament is about to separate for six months,
and the Government may act as it thinks proper,
without let or hindrance, or even remonstrance,

to an Administration, nearly one-half of the
members whereof were willing to accept that
which Lord GLARENDON declared to be "both
inadequate and impracticable," and Lord JOHN
RUSSELL hin self more delicately declared t• be
"an imperfect security for Turkey and for
Europe ? " Will they consent to persons
who thus itruckled to " Germanism " re-
maining in office, with the power of, at
any moment, striking a fatal blow against the
honour and security of the country ? We think
not ! And should the independent Members con-
sent to do so, it will only furnish additional and
conclusive evidence that the nation is not fairly
represented in that which is termed " the popular
branch of the Legislature." The questions to be
decided are of a peculiarly momentous character,
on the result whereof far more depends than the
possession of office by any man or set of men. It
is not a mere party triumph that is sought—but
the safety, honour, and welfare of the British
nation, and the permanency and cordiality of our
alliance with our nearest neighbours, who have
proved themselves strictly faithful in the dis-
charge of all their obligations, express or implied,
to be able and willing to perform their engage-
, ments, not only to the letter, but according to
the spirit, and true intent and meaning.

Yes, peace with Russia on terms affording but
an imperfect security to Turkey and to Europe
would be, to use Lord CLARENDON'S own words,
" as dishonourable as it would be hollow and un-
safe." It would not only enable the AUTOCRAT
to carry out the traditional and avowed policy of
Russia, which he has pledged himself under all
circumstances steadily to keep in sight, to accom-
plish the wishes and views of PETER, of CATHE-
RINE, Of ALEXANDER, and of NICHOLAS ; but it
would confirm the Muscovite ascendancy and
alienate the friendship of France, compelling us
at some future and not very remote period to re-
new the contest under much more unfavourable
circumstances. We will not say that " peace with
Russia would be war with France," but it
would for ever terminate the entente cor-
diale with that chivalrous nation, and place
England in the same catagory with Austria,
Prussia, and other selfish and time-serving and
double-dealing States, which have proved them-
selves to be utterly unworthy of a position among
the first-class Powers of Europe.
This is the issue raised by the motion of Sir
E. B. LYTTON, and the grand inquest of the
country must return a decisive and intelligible
verdict. Lord J. RUSSELL has pleaded "guilty,"
but there are others whose complicity in his de-
signs is more than hinted, by whom he was aided
and abetted in his projects, and who have merited
the like punishment. The names of Sir GEORGE
GREY, Sir G. C. Lnwis, Sir CHARLES WooD, and
Mr. VERNON SMITH are openly spoken ef,
besides at least two Noble Members of the
Government. Should these Right Hon. Gentle-
men, or any of them, be able to exonerate them-
selves, well ! They will have every reasonable
opportunity of being heard in their own defence.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL has shown that Cabinet
secrets need not be respected, and that subsequent
permission to reveal them may be obtained when
the exigency is pressing. At all events full infor-
mation must be given, and the Cabinet purged of
the Peace party, and all who are not prepared to
pledge themselves that no terms shall be accepted
which do not effectually prevent the possibility
of future aggressions on the part of Russia.

The cashiering of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in de-
ference to the decided war policy of the nation,
ought to inaugurate the commencement of what
we have so long demanded, war in earnest.
Hitherto we have had nothing of the kind. By
war in earnest we have always meant an unspar-
ing destruction of everything which could aid
Russia, directly or indirectly, in carrying on the
war—the cordial acceptance of help from every
quarter—the determination to regain from Russia
as much as possible of those usurped territories,
through which alone she menaces the liberties of
Turkey and of all Europe—and the unstinted use
of money, men, and military munitions of every
kind, from the commencement of the contest to
its close. The strength of Russia is her border
fortresses, erected, all of them, on stolen soil.
Sweaborgandthe Baltic fortresses, Warsaw and the
Polish fortresses, Sebastopol and those of the Black
Sea, and we might add those of Georgia also---all
of them built to keep down the conquered nations
on whose soil they stand, and to threaten the
nations whom she inteilds to enslave next—these
are her strength. Into these she collects from
her scanty population the flower of her peasantry
and turns them into soldiers ; to fill these with
troops she dispeoples her huge territory, and
leaves her richest plains uncultivated ; in a word,

to satiate the ambition which aims to make her
barbarous CZAR the god of Europe and of the
civilised world, she sacrifices the wealth which a
million nearly of men in the prime of life might
produce—expends the wealth of the residue in
their maintenance, and perpetuates the reign of
comparative solitude throughout the interior of
her vast domains. Naturalists tell us that shell-
fish differ from the higher animals in having their
bones outside. Such is the difference between
Russia and the more civilised states of the world.
She must be dealt with accordingly. Break the
offensive defence she has accumulated around her,
and she has no internal strength to support her
ambitious schemes.

The Peelites notoriously deferred war while
Russia
_was preparing it, in hope of purchasing
peace by ignominious concession ; they next car-
ried on a parado war, and when that could no
longer be endured they sold themselves, the un-
fortunate provinces, and our soldiers' blood to Aus-
tria. The Whigs came in ; but, as we again aid
again insisted, they retained the man who had
done more than all others to embolden Russia,
while his language was the most irritating to her
of any ; the man who madly guaranteed the
enemy all his territory, come what would, and who
thus showed more than any one that, however
big his words, he was not for war in earnest. At-
tacked on Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S principle
Russia must have been an idiot not to fight to
the last. She might cause the Allies vast
loss and expense, yet even if ever so
successful this conceited statesman promised her
that what she cared most for--her posts of
aggression—should all be restored to her ! Heads
we lose, tails you win. The author of this mad
declaration is no longer a member of the Govern.
ment. May he never be again ! at least while
the war lasts ; which, conducted on his prin-
ciples, would certainly be for his lifetime.
We have never had a thorough War Ministry

yet. It remains to be
in the unmanageable nature
seen
secret A fault the
ustr beo.
.
Cobuig influence, or in the sympathy of our
aristocracy with Russia and the Continental
' despots. The nation will nct, however, long
endure a half-hearted Cabinet, be the cause what
it will. Here We are, nearing the brink of five
or six months of irresponsible Government, and as
yet we have nothing better to rely on than men
who consented to negotiate on the basis of the four
points, who have been gulled by Austria,

and by Russia through Austria, till this hour,
men who sent no troops or gun-boats to the Baltic
in the first campaign, none to Kertch the feeder
of Sebastopol, none to the Danube to this day,
and who have left Odessa, Nicolaieff, and Khersou
laughing at us. Men who have thrown away the aid
of Poland to please one of her infernal oppressors.
Who has been the cause of this unmanly, this
scandalous policy ? Who has left the historian
such a record of English littleness ? Is Court or
Cabinet, or are both, to blame that our children
and grandchildren are to regard us as the hood-
winked tools of a petty German Prince, or if not
that, as a nation we were afraid to bid de-
fiance to the bully Austria ? The next move
ought to show. Lord PALMERSTON has now
the chance of completing a Cabinet who will
be in earnest, who will take up the magni-
ficent resources of England, who will use
them as Englishmen wish him, who will
care not a straw whether Austria is pleased or
displeased, who will tell her to stand aside, to
in termeddle at her peril, to let those who have
done the work finish it, and to remember that
the next negotiations for peace must be conducted
if not in a conquered Warsaw or Petersburg, at
least in Paris or London.

We shall regard two things in our foreign policy,
as testing its earnestness, and the independence of
our Cabinet. First, the utter casting off of Aus-
tria ; requiring her to leave the Principalities to
their own Government and to us, and taking back
her Croat barbarians to her own domains. The
second, which is but a sequel to the other, the
constitution of a Polish legion. That most
invaluable of, all aid has been refused
hitherto, merely to please the evader of the
Treaty of the 2d of December. She slinks by
equivocations, which would be a disgrace to Old
Bailey, out of her own engagements to fight. No
Minister deserves the name who does not at once
raise the Polish standard, enlist recruits from
that ill-used nation wherever they can be found,
give a bounty to any Polish deserter from the
enemy, lead the patriots face to face with
their hitherto exulting oppressors, and bid them
fight for the liberation of the nations ; and last
not least, if they fought sucessfully, to fight for
their fatherland. With Austria, as an honest
Ally, we ought to have the help of a Polish
Legion ; but, if Austria refuse to fight herself,
the Minister must be as base as she is who does
not at once put the white eagle in the hands of
a Polish standard-bearer.