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

THE DISCLOSURES.

It would be idle now to discuss the merits of the Aus-
trian scheme for converting the Black Sea into a dock
for the construction of as many Russian, French, and
English ships of the line as might seem fit to the Rus-
sian Government; except to observe that such a mea-
sure could be regarded only as the first step towards a
partition of the Turkish empire, the very catastrophe
which the war was undertaken to avert. As the Times
has well remarked, it was the preponderance of Russia
over Turkey against which the third article was intended
to provide ; but-Count Buol's scheme left that prepon-
derance not only without limit, but legalised its increase
to any extent.

We will not affect to conceal the pain and surprise
with which we have learnt that such terms as these,
which would as little have secured the objects of the war
as those of which the rejection was so deeply deplored
by Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cobden, and Sir James Graham,
obtained the sanction of Lord John Rus4ell's approval.
It is a triumph for the peace•at-any-price party, and their
Russian allies, worth infinitely more to them than the
success of the 18th of June.

Nor have we only to regret that a statesman we so highly
honour and value should have committed what we regard
as a grave error of judgment. In the circumstances and
manner of disclosing the opinion he had unhappily
formed, an error even more grave was committed. Al-
though not a member of the Government when he under-
took the mission to Vienna, Lord John was a Cabinet
minister when he declared his approval of the Austrian
proposition. As a mere Envoy, he might perhaps with-
out any great imprudence have expressed himself favour-
ably respecting a project of which the reception by the
Government he represented was, to say the least, very
doubtful ; but when to this character he added that of a
member of the Government which sent him, he was no
longer in a position to express any decided opinion with-
out distinctly compromising his colleagues. Whether
or not his communicatie❑ violated the oath taken by a
privy councillor we will not stop to inquire ; but at any
rate the evil was produced against which the oath is in-
tended to provide. The advice tendered by the council-
lors of the Crown has been made known to the Queen's
enemies. The most authentic intelligence has been con-
veyed to them of deliberations which it is justly consi-
dered treason to reveal.

The excuse to be made for Lord Jobs Russell involves
the condemnation of his original appointment. Brought
into contact with some of the ablest and most unscrupu-
lous diplomatists in Europe, he found himself in a com-
pany for which all that was high and generous in his
nature unsuited him. Mais que diable allait it faire
dans cette galore ? He doubtless thought, as Lord Lynd-
hurst in his late speech said he was bound to think, that
Count Buol was a man of honour. Unused himself to the
artifices of diplomacy, his caution was disarmed, we ca❑
well imagine, by the Count's perfect frankness and cordia-
lity. Our English minister believed, in short, that he might
place the same confidence in the Austrian Minister as in
an English gentle►nan. He communicated his opinion,
he tells us, "at a confidential interview ;" and of course
the Austrian re-communicated it
_immediately to the
Russians, and subsequently to the world. Lord John
Russell unhappily did not remember that it is the pride
of Austrian diplomatists to be distinguished for duplicity ;
and that he had only very lately seen one of them, and by
no means the worst of his c:ass, at the same time publicly
denouncing an individual as a traitor, and carrying on
with him a secret correspondence as the most valued
servant of the Crown.

Other excuses to be suggested are of a more general
kind. It is said of some sea-captains that they never
take an observation of either latitude or longitude, but
are contented to ascertain where they are from any
vessel they may happen to fall in with. Such appears to
be the conduct, as regards foreign affairs, not merely of
Lord John Russell, but of almost all other English
statesmen. They perpetually lose their reckoning in
these waters. Unfailingly ready and erger are they
always to seek advice from any one who is supposed to
have given himself some trouble about a subject which
they have themselves systematically neglected. And the
expedient favoured above every other has been a re-
course to the Austrian diplomatist. Par excellence your
Austrian has been thought a safe adviser, the interests
of Austria and Russia in the East, as everbody is aware,
being so manifestly opposed to each other. Lord Aber-
deen openly avowed, and notoriously acted upon, this
principle of navigation ; and, by cruising after a sail,
which, as Lord Lyndhurst has pointed out, can have
been no other than the Flying Dutchman, the ex-Pre-
mier drifted into war.

In common with most other public men, we repeat,
Lord John Russell has displayed the same kind of error.
If the creed of foreign politics most familiar to statesmen
in this country contained two articles more fixed than
the rest, these were that the Turkish empire was in a
state of irretrievable decay, incapable of offering
any resistance either physical or moral to Russia;
and that Austria was a power of prodigious Conserva-
tive force, which might safely be relied upon as a bar-
rier against Russian ambition in the E. In justice
to Lord Palmerston we must remark that he has more
than once stood almost alone among public men in ex-
pressing a decided dissent from both these propositions.
He has been denounced as a firebrand for venturing to
point out the causes of weakness inherent in Austria,
and as an enthusiast for believing not only that the
Turks were making good progress in the arts both of
war and peace, but that any immediate reinstatement of
the Greek empire at Constantinople was not to be ex-
pected. Those opinions were of course considered de-
testable by all who then swore by the Austrian, Russian,
and Prussian Ministers, whether in Parliament or the
press ; and by their means public opinion in England
was at last brought into such a condition that the Czar
thougrht he might safely propose a division of the Sul-
tan's dominions to Lord Aberdeen.
In all frankness and sincerity let us add that while
the Vienna disclosures have greatly shaken the faith
we placed in Lord John Russell, they have not a little
increased our confidence in Lord Clarendon. The des-
patches bearing his signature, which were laid upon the
table of the house on Thursday night, are remarkable
alike for moderation, firmness, and good sense. It is
thus that the Foreign Minister speaks of one branch of
the proposal to which Lord John Russell gave his ad-
hesion

"I then proceeded to state that her Majesties Go-
vernment could not attach much practical value to the
engagement of Austria to make, at some future period,
a casus belli of the increase of the Russian fleet beyond
a given amount, for she had already declared that it was
beneath her dignity to discuss numbers, and that she
could not admit that the question of peace or war should
turn upon eight or ten ships of the line ; and if such
were the case now, when circumstances would enable
Austria to go to war with advantage, what prospect
would there be of her doing so some years hence, under
circumstances likely to be far less favourable, for the
very same cause, though in a lesser degree, that she
would not now entertain."

It thus appears not to have been the fault of Lord
Clarendon, any more than of Lord Palmerston, that the
English plenipotentiary fell in so readily with the views
of his Austrian colleagues. But Lord John Russell has
of late very frequently taken occasion to declare that
England would not seek assistance in this war against
Russia from the nation she oppresses ; and supposing
that the refusal of Austria to join the Allies might render
necessary a resort to this effectual but dreaded expe-
dient, he seems 'o have determined on making any sac-
riffice to avert so great a catastrophe.—Examiner.

EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE.-A few days since,
while one of the ordinary passenger trains was travel-
ling from Bristol to Exeter, the guard, on returning to
his box at one of the stations, found a parcel directed
" E. Weller, Culmstock, to be left at the Cullompton
station till called for." On his way down a most offen-
sive smell was emitted from it, and as he threw it out at
the Cullompton station he remarked on the unpleasant-
ness of its odour. In compliance with the direc-
tions, the bundle was placed in the office, but the
smell became so bad that it was deposited in a horse-
box near the goods station. Here, however, it became
worse, and at last it was so bad that it was taken to the
station-master,contain thebodyand of a full-grown male infant, which it was opened, when it was found
to
was rapidly approaching a state of putrefaction. An in-
quest was held upon it, and the guard stated that he
was unable to give any explanation as to how the parcel
came into his box. Under these circumstances the jury
returned an open verdict.
MILITIA.---Two returns relating to the strength of the
militia were published on Friday. From the first it ap-
pears that the total number of volunteers in the United
Kingdom serving on the Ist of March last was 68,266,
and on the 15th of April 52,835. The number of those
enlisted before the 12th of May, 1854, who left their re-
giments after Lord Panmure s circular of the 27th of
Marchlast, was 16,269, of whom 11,909 were re-enlisted,
taking the 11. extra bounty. The second relates to the
actual strength of the regiments in England on the 30th
pf April, with the number bf those present and those
absent on leave on that day. There were present 1,813
officers, 5,420 non-commissioned officers and 28,474
privates ; on leave, 275 officers, 268 non-commissioned
officera„ and 8,392 privates.