The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-07 00:00:00

The Conference is finally closed. The shadow
that so long clouded our prospects is dispersed.
We are no longer bound by the injudicious an-
nouncements that we would not seek the reclama-
tion of any part of the stolen territory of Russia.
She has contumeliously rejected every moderate
proposal—has earned for herself a real humilia-
tion, and that she will doubtless receive, to an
extent that may possibly astonish those who
reckoned too much on the good offices of the exceI-
IentABERDERN and his Peelite followers, or the ridi_
culous twaddle of themembers of the Peace Society.
The Western Powers have been compelled to
throw away the scabbard. Heretofore they merely
sought to defeat the nefarious designs of the
Northern despot, to rescue his intended victim
from his grasp. Now they see the necessity of
insisting on his being deprived of the power of
doing further mischief, of the fangs being ex-
tracted and the claws closely pared.
The capture of Kertch, Yenikale, and Genitchi,
and our complete mastery of the Sea of Azoff,
must be followed by the complete overthrow of Rus-
sian influence on the Asiatic coasts of the Euxine
and in the Caucasian districts.. Already Soujak
Kaleh has been voluntarily abandoned, the prin-
cipal buildings destroyed, and sixty guns and
six mortars first rendered useless and then relin-
quished. The Governor did not wait for the
attack, which they knew could not be long de-
ferred, but forthwith commenced the process of
evacuation, and fled before the onslaught could
be commenced. If these successes be duly fol-
lowed up, if the whole of the Caucasian territories
be freed from the invaders, a new and almost in-
superable barrier will be created against Russian
aggressions from that quarter.
The Sea of Azoff itself is truly an important
acquisition. The ample supplies that could be
obtained from Taganrog and Mariopol, and the
districts watered by the Don, are now almost
completely cut off. A long and tedious land con-
veyance will now be indispensable, and if our suc-
cesses be duly followed up, as, doubtless, they
will be, the military road across the Putrid Sea
will also be blocked up and rendered impassable.
Perekop, then, will remain the o2tly available mode
of communication, and even that may be seriously
impeded, and the isolation cf the Crimean army
rendered complete.
We have a right also to demand that Odessa
shall no longer remain a standing disgrace to
British vacillation—that Nieolaieff, on the 1;oug,
shall no longer maintain its mysterious grandeur
—that the mouth of the Dnieper, in the vicinity
of Kherson, should be effectually blockaded.
These matters, which can all he effected by the
naval squadron, will be productive of the most
important results, and prepare matters for the
occupation and eventual resumption of Bessarabia
by Turkey, and its restoration to its ancient al-

legiance.
But while thus active in the East there should
be equal vigour displayed iu the West. Our
triumphs in the Euxine should not lead to in-
activity in the BAltie. There are plundered pro-
vinces in its vicinity which must also be restored
to their legitimate possessors. Finland, Estho-
nia, Livonia, Courland, must be dealt with. St.
Petersburg itself stands on stolen ground, and its
so-called owner must be taught the danger of dis-
turbing the settlements that have been for sometime
acquiesced in. The intended plunderer will receive
no pity if the weapons to which he so wantonly
resorted should be turned against himself, and if he
should be severely castigated by the cudgel he has
himself supplied.
Admiral DuNDAS may now avail himself of the
experience derived during the past year, and the
country will expect some energetic and dashing
exploits, such as might have been achieved if Old
CHARLEY had not been curbed and restrained
until too late by orders from home. There is an
ample field for distinction, and we confidently
hope that the now Admiral will not suffer it to be
wasted or misapplied.
As yet we have said but little of Poland. But
it is not, and cannot be, absent from our memory.
The course of events is favourable to the procla-
mation of its freedom—of its complete and per.
feet independence. It is fortunate that we are
not fettered by German assistance, or prevented
from doing that which may be alike just and
expedient through any necessity for acting with
Austria or Prussia. Let us then avail ourselves
of every opening, and prove that, although so long
apathetic, we are determined henceforward to act
with vigour and energy, to profit by our past
experience, and not any longer to suffer our-
selves to be cajoled or bamboozled by pre-
,ended friends, or bullied by avowed enemies.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE, or his friends
for him, have done well by the publication of the
pamphlet entitled "An Inquiry into the Accusa-
tions made against the Marquis of CLANRICARDE
in the cause of HANDCOCK V. DELACOI7R." A
vindication of the Noble Lord's character was cer-
tainly not uncalled for. The public mind had
been shocked, and the aristocracy as a body had
been lowered in general estimation, by the quasi
revelations in this cause. Conduct that might
brand a swindler with infamy was openly attri-
buted or inferentially attached to the Noble Lord
—conduct so disreputable, immoral, and criminal
that its parallel was sought elsewhere than in the
United Kingdom ; and the general voice pro-
nounced the supposed perpetrator unfit to asso-
ciate with British Peers in Parliament, or with
any assembly of honest men. A vindication, if
possible, from a charge of this sort was not only
necessary, but could not come a moment too soon.
And we are happy to state that a perusal of the
pamphlet has convinced as that the Noble Marquis
is. a deeply-injured individual. Whatever culpa
Way, if any—and there is no proof of any—may
attach to him, it is impossible for us to resist the
conclusion that of the turpitude in question he is
entirely guiltless, and that his position, painful as
it is and
has been, is preferable to that of his
unscrupulously-imaginative accusers. The long
acquaintance of the Noble Lord with the father,
and his appointment as guardian by the Court of