The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THUR'SDAY gVENVN NOVEMBER 22 1855.

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Spirit of the Public Journals.

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Compar.

this day.

this day

Bradawl' do! 0
this day.

there is good ground for the calculation that the
64,000,000 of all Russia cannot send so great and
so constant a supply of soldiers to the theatre of
war as the 40,000,000 of France alone, not to
speak of the British, Turks, and Sardinians. These
estimates are now receiving the most authentic
corroboration in the rapidity with which the Rus-
sian conscriptions succeed ono another. Our
correspondent at Vienna quotes from the Augs-
burg Gazette a calculation of the levies made
within the last 20 months, which shows how ra-
pidly the war is drawing upon the strength of the
Russian Empire. These levies were made in
February, May, September, and December, 1851,
and February, May, August, and October of the
present year, and they amount to 52 men per
1,000 for the eastern half of the empire, and 64
men per 1,000 in the western halt. It is assumed
that there are 250 in every 1,000 of an ago to boar
arms and liable to conscription, but that only a
third of them are really capable. This gives 83 per
1,000 as the whole fighting strength of the empire.
If wo deduct from this the 52 per 1,000 already
levied in the western provinces, and the 64 in the
western, it follows that there only remain 30 per
1,000 in the former and 20 per 1,000 in the latter.
Hence, it is evident that if the war goes on for the
next 10 months as it has for the last 20—that is,
if Russia makes the same efforts, with the same
losses, she will literally have levied the whole of
her fighting population, and will thenceforward
have to carry on the war as he best can with her
existing army. The only addition that can be made
to this estimate comes within very definite rules.
While war is making this havoc with the men from
17 to 45, the gap is but slowly filled up by those of
a lower age. The pace of destruction sets at naught
all the resources of nature, and oven if Russia
were to proscribe all the unnesssary arts and
annul every exemption in order to augment the
levies, the supply would still proceed at the
slowest walking pace to overtake a galloping de-
mand. There is no evading the force of these
figures. All the fulsome stuff we have heard
about the hordes of Russia and her inex-
haustible resources is reduced to its proper level of
stamp oratory on the simplest calculation, and on
the confession of the Imperial ukases. hence,
indeed, are these hordes to come ? From Finland
—an icy desert, fringed with a few fishing villages,
and wandered over by a few wretched breeders of
cattle or reindeer ? From the Baltic or western
provinces ? There Russia's best soldiers await in
gloomy idleness the attacks of our Baltic fleet, the
fickleness of the Prussian, and the inextinguishable
hatred of the Pole. From the southern provinces
—mercifully spared from levies, from their paucity
of population and their sufferings by the war ?
From Siberia, the whole population of which does
not equal that of Scotland, or even of this metro-
polis, and which has not contributed so many to
the war ? No. The " inexhaustible resources"
of Russia are a delusion. We have only to press
on the war for a year or two, and the nightmare
will be found to be nothing more than a dream.
Perhaps it will be said, these are very cold-
blooded calculations. But war is a matter of cal-
culation. We are right to count the cost on both
sides. Had we allowed Russia to proceed un-
molested in her criminal enterprises last year, we
should then have bad " Holy Russia"—" in-
exhaustible Russia"—" devoted Russia," with her
paramount destiny of conquest, her plausible vil-
lainy, her exclusive addiction to arms, and her
abominable hypocrisy, securely seated on both
skies of the Bosphorus, and with her population of
61,000,000 suddenly grown into at least 80,000,000
by the absorption of the Turkish empire. There
would then have been some sort of ground for the
extravagant terms in which British orators have
worshipped the rising sun of barbarism. We should
have reason to believe its destiny paramount. In
a very short time the very same men would have
told us that we had let the proper occasion pass by,
and could not now repair the omission. Our pre-
sent duty is a painful one, but it is forced upon us.
It is not without cost, or blood • nor is there any
profit in it, excepting only the Cleliverance of Eu-
rope from a neighbour with a paramount destiny.
It is better that we should have to fight the inex-
haustible subjects of a conquering pontiff in the
Crimea than on the Bosphorus, or in Egypt, or,
perhaps, nearer home. Our children will thank
us for what we have done, though we have met
with some abuse from our contemporaries, who
think we might have loft the Russians and the
income-tax alone for the present. Possibly they
wished to see what would come of it. Charles
Lamb, on sending a dog to a friend, says—
" If he bites your child, shoot the child and
tie up the dog, to see whether he is mad."
We ought, it seems, to have left the Turk
to his fate, and then waited to see what more
the Russian would do. His subsequent career
might or might not justify our forbearance. These
are curious speculations, but, in our humble opi-
nion, they do not become a great nation or a faith-
ful ally. We had no alternative but to step in to
the rescue of Turkey, and every step she has taken

since, every discovery, every event, has satisfied us
that it is our duty to continue the war till we can

dictate terms to Russia. Were any argument
wanting, it would be found in the language of her
apologists, who do nothing but glorify her power,
her virtues, her ability, her religion, her numbers
—everything, in fact, that is formidable and menac-
ing to her neighbours. There is only one way of
dealing with these conquering races, and we are
not ashamed to point it out, and prove by the evi-
dence of figures that we have already made con-
siderable progress.

(Prom, the Times of this day. )
The military campaign has ended, and the poli-
tical campaign has not begun, so that we are left
to entertain ourselves as best we may between the
retrospect of the one and the anticipation of the
other. What Ministers will do during the next
session it is not difficult to divine—their measures
will be few and their estimates will be many.
They will evince a marked preference for short
debates, and carefully abstain from anything which
may have a tendency to prolong them. But
what will be the tactics of the Opposition ? We
do not now speak of Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright,
nor of their new associates, Mr. Gladstone and Sir
James Graham,—they have already run through
the full cycle of change, and cannot possibly, we
should suppose, occupy any other position than that

1 owfhtihche
ltahset ars
ehseslido
uw. i t hNsoor
maruechwediCsile rr ei
od
ui ts at to ti hu the
inquire
(From the Times of this day.) , as to the course to be taken by Mr. Disraeli, satisfied
The strong point of those in this country who that from him we shall hear nothing that will corn-
denounce the war consists in a certain use of the mit him either as to peace or war, and that he will
word "Russians," not without its effect on weak omit no opportunity of damaging the position of
and uninformed minds. The Russians, we are Ministers, without caring much whether by such
told, will never give in. The Russians will never a course ho improves his own or not ; but what we
consent to any limitation of their maritime power. do feel curious and anxious to know is, what will
It is out of the question to think of beating the be the course adopted towards the Government by
Russians in their own territory. The Russians are the real Tory Opposition, and whether they will
inexhaustible, and they have only to call in their follow those who are ready to lead them in a con-
hordes from the Asiatic provinces, and all Europe • tinned series of assaults on the Treasury bench.
will be crushed by the very weight of the torrent. * It is for this reason, rather than from any great
Then, the Russians are devoted to their Czar, and importance that we attach to his opinions, that
regard him both as the head of their religion and we have read with considerable interest the speech
as destined to drive out the Turk and conquer the recently delivered by Lord Naas to his consti-
world. We have been told by an actual flesh and tuents at Coleraine, for Lord Naas occupies exactly
blood statesman in this country that it is vain to that position in the Opposition which entitles him
think of resisting the paramount, destiny of the to be looked upon as a fair exponent of the
Russians. These are some of the shapes in which views of the more moderate of his party. The
the bugbear has been brandished before our eyes speech appears to us to be a very clear and credi-
and rattled in our ears ; and that the artifice is • table view of the present state of the nation, and
not without success in some quarters appears from . quite as favourable to the *Whig Government
the manner in which people open their eyes when as they have any reason to expect. It may, in-
one ventures to intimate that the Russians arc in deed, be taken as a fair exposition of the opinions
the process of extermination. However, that is the 'of the great mass of Englishmen of the present
plain fact of the case. Doubtless, these " Rus- time. He treats the idea of making peace on the
scans "—this terrible noun of multitude—are : basis of the Four Points as perfectly exploded and
obstinate, and brave, and religious after a ridiculous. He considers that we have a right to
fashion, and devoted to their Czar, and deter- : much more ; that we ought not to negotiate till we
mined to conquer the earth, and resolved to have effectually cured Russia of her love of aggres-
die before they will abate ono tittle of their pre- ! sion and domination ; and that, when we do nego-
tensions, and rather clever fellows besides ; but, 1 tiate, the diesiussion should be between principals,
meanwhile, the people who are so formidable, so and the assistance of Austria and Prussia entirely
implacable, and the rest of it, aro ceasing to exist. I dispensed with. For his own part, he professes
A man may be very terrible indeed, but when his readiness to support the present or any other
he is dead his terror dies with him, and the survi- 1 Government that shall carry on the war with
vors are at rest. By and by all these awful qualities j vigour.
will be predicated cf the Russians, but in the past 1 It is only just to the present Opposition to admit
tense, as they may be of the Huns, and of some that they have acted towards the Government of
other races that are no more to be found. Even a Lord Palmerston with more forbearance and gene-
living Turk may be better than a dead Russian. • rosity than was ever shown by any Opposition to
The greatest resolution, the most savage zeal, the 1 any Government during a time of war. Had the
most infatuated loyalty, the most reckless courage, 1 Whigs been in Opposition they might have found
the largest scheme, the utmost confidence in des- , in the traditions of their own
,party, in the con-
tiny, the profoundest contempt for all other races, I duct of Mr. Fox and -Lord Grey, ample authority
are qualities only formidable in proportion to the for a far less patriotic and magnanimous course of
number of those who possess them ' • and if they action. It is painful and humiliating to read the
were ever so formidable when posses ed by a million Parliamentary debates of those days, and to see
fighting men, they cease to be so when the posses- how entirely the narrow spirit of party and the
sore areminished to a few thousands, or consist only disappointments of political ambition were
of old men and children, invalids, triples, and. allowed to darken the clearest judgments and
stunted town artisans. There is something very inn- sway the most honest lips. No contrast can be
posing indeed in great sound and fury. When a wild more humiliating than to read the real history of
beast is roaring, and lashing his tail, and gnashing the toils, the vigilance, the manliness, and the
his teeth, and preparing for a deadly spring, he ex- truth of our own great Commander as depicted in
pandsinto the infinite,and itis difficulttorealise that his despatches and the unfair, exaggerated state-
in a few seconds he may be only a lump of carrion, merits and inferences concerning him which formed
covered with a heartbrug or a winter cloak. Some the staple of Opposition speeches in Parliament
Englishmen, who ought to have a little more sense during the first years of his glorious career. An
in their heads, are equally incapable of perceiving unfair depreciation of our own country, an undue
the hollowness of this talk about " the Russians.' elevation of the position of our antagonist, the
We have gone over the figures several times be- most desponding forebodings of distress and ruin,
fora, and therefore will only now repeat that the and the most bitter and systematic perversion of
population of All the Hussies is not greater than everything into an attack on Ministers form the
that of France and the British Isles, and is nothing melancholy staple of our Parliamentary debates
like so available. Siberia, instead of supplying while we had a Wellington to command on land
" hordes," is a drain upon Russia, and the Polish and Nelsons, Collingwoods, and Exmouths to direct
provinces must always lock rip a great part of her the operations of our fleet. The strong conviction
army. Of the troops marched to the seat of war a of the justice of our cause and the absolute neces-
very large proportion never reach their destination, sity of fighting it out to a thoroughly successful
and, once there, few indeed ever return. Indeed issue, are a sure guarantee to us that our Opposition

will not so far transgress the bounds of reason and
fairness which the existing state of public opinion
imperatively prescribes to them, and within those
limits it is probably not desirable that they should
be less active than they are. Already there are not
wanting symptoms that the Ministry fully appre-
ciate the great strength of a position which places
them almost beyond the reach of hostile majorities,
and use it, as such advantages have generally been
used by their party, for the purpose of family in-
terest and the promotion of cliques and coteries.
All that we have a right to ask from the Opposition
is that they will consider before they take any step
which may have the effect of weakening or destroy-
ing the present Government, unless they are ready
to replace it. There must arise in the course of
the war innumerable cases in which, without the
influence of party spirit, persons may and must
honestly differ, and we have no right to claim that
these differences should be in all cases and under
all circumstances suppressed. All the country has
a right to claim from the Opposition is that they
will well weigh and consider what they do, and
set the duty of not needlessly embarrassing the
conduct of the war against the importance of the
subject of difference, and that such a paralysis of
the Fxecutive as is implied by a Ministerial defeat
shoul'l be fairly weighed and balanced against the
evil that may result from not sufficiently vitnlicat-
ing their opinions. No reasonable man will charge
the Opposition with want of patriotism for freely
discussing the conduct of Ministers, nor, if it see
occasion sufficiently sarions to warrant such a step,
in ejecting them from office by a vote of want of
confidence. But, of all things, let the Opposition
beware of lending itself to such ambuscades as
that planned by Mr. Gladstone at the end of last
session with respect to the Turkish Loan. It is
necessary t) distinguish between such things as
may fairly be done by one party of the subjects of
the Crown of England, carrying on a legitimate
struggle against another party, and things which
are worthy only of the friends of our enemies. All
things are fair in war, and we have no reason to
complain if our enemy steal upon us in the thick
mist of a November morning, or leap into our
trenches under the veil of murky and stormy mid-
night. He has a right to conceal his advances, to
mislead us as to his movements, and to snatch by
stratagem an advantage which the utmost exertions
of his force and bravery could not obtain. This is
because he is our foe, our open and avowed enemy,
who neither gives nor asks for confidence,r.and who
has no other object than to inflict upon as much in-
jury as possible. But when men representing some
of our first constituencies—men who have asked
for and received our confidence, and whom we have
suffered to lead us into our present war—when
such men as these steal a march upon us, and en-
deavour—treating the Government of their country
as their enemy, and their own nation as the army
to be out-manoeuvred and surprised—to snatch an
advantage which they could not take by fair means,
and to weaken the good understanding between us
and our ally, such conduct is not that of an Oppo-
sition, but of adherence to our country's enemies,
and is not likely, even by this nation, most tole-
rant of all political obliquities, to be soon, if ever,
forgotten or forgiven.
To this discreditable proceeding but too many
of the Opposition lent their support. We sincerely
hope the error will not be repeated, and that, what-
ever opportunities Mr. Gladstone may seek for
snapping an advantage, he will henceforth only
number among his supporters those who institute
in the name of peace proceedings closely akin to
those of civil war. Of this we are certain, that
there is no means which the Opposition could
adopt so likely to discredit it with the country,
and to strew thorns in its future political course,
as to lend themselves to the ill-omened combination
of Cobden, Graham, Bright, and Gladstone, and
no more certain means of raising themselves in the
estimation of the country than by an honest and
patriotic forbearance, and by leaving those whose
ambition, conceit, or fickleness has made them the
advocates of a disgraceful peace to work out their
own conclusions for themselves, and to show how
little their sophistries can avail to convince or
their stratagems to mislead the representatives of
the English people.

( Front the Constitutionnel. )

General Bosquest, in responding to the congra-
tulations offered to him by the municipani
the
t
putation of a town near Pau,
made
use e
chances
following terms in speaking of
war appears
of a speedy peace :—" A long
hae
in reality
to me improbable, for Russia a similar son-
no army." From such lips
rennunen
once, although it
sense and
timent possesses great imir
is merely the expression
seen and judged for
experience. Russia has
a prism which has
the last 40 years through
been
1 proportions ; it could
her real
greatly exaggerated
almost be imagined
an that
d
she has been duped by her
own false grandeur _
that she now Judges her
resources with the same
P
present
- °siti(mand
questionedpar-
the power of the Western
governments
tial eye as t,,,0 years ago. Forty years of con-
stant labour
directed to contract alliances with the
small Northernapparently Courts had succeeded
in gaining
all Germany for Russia, the more so as
the oligarchical
government of the German Confe-
deration lends 'thelf more than any other to in-
trigue and corruption. The little states over the
Rhine are the refuge for traditions, prejudices,
and feudal authority. Luxury, gold, and flattery,
united with the Olympian menaces of the Russian
diplomacy, succeeded in producing in the East the
same results obtained in the West by family alli-
ances ; superficial minds could believe that the
Emperor Nicholas was' really the serious and last-
ing arbitrator of states. The unlimited despotism
of the Czars prevents the departure from Russia
of any family without special permission. This
permission, granted with considerable tact an
discretion, had still more increased the
pres-
tige of Russia for Southern Europe ii; observ-
ing
the elegant and generous noblesilanuished
lavish of
g
their gold, accompanied by the most
ladies, imagined that these were the
faithfulc repre-
lst
sentatives of Russia, where all supposed
were to
d Even the
be equally wealthy and well informs leat has been
)
population of Russia, undoubtedly g
opinion
employed to augment thet general 6 The population of
respect-
ing her military stroening
illions. This is very pos-
Russia, it is said, is 7t.
n, large as it sounds, is but
sible, but this pop nia io