The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-12 00:00:00

Ire obliged to seek protection against our quasi
protectors—to repeat the interrogatory, " Quis
eustodiet ipsos custodes 3 i'
Three cases have recently occurred—two of
them reported in our impression of yesterday—
that strongly illustrate the above position. In
one, the least important, perhaps, of the number,
a policeman was convicted, and sentenced to 12
months' imprisonment, with hard labour, for
stealing poultry in the very district in which he
was acting as the paid guardian of the property
of its inhabitants ! The sufferer, a lady, had
complained to him of the losses she had sustained.
He received ample information as to the situation
of the property, and after earnestly denouncing
4C the boys" of the neighbourhood as the offenders
faithfully promised " to keep an eye out," in order
to ascertain the offenders. That he did so is cer-
tain, for it turned out that he was himself the
depredator, the stolen property being traced to
his own poEsession.

1 In another case a person was charged at the
Middlesex sessions on Wednesday with an assault
on a policeman in the execution of his duty.
For the prosecution there was no evidence but
that of the prosecutor. He admitted that, " al-
though net intoxicated, he had been drinking,
and that the defendant had, before any disturb-
ance, charged him with havingkissed his wife," and
when assistance came up to the prosecutor, it
was the defendant's face that was bleeding.
On the ether hand, for the defence three wit-
nesses were produced, two of them strangers to
the defend:wilt, who swore, distinctly and po-
sitively, that the prosecutor had originated the
disturbance by kissing the prisoner's wife, and
then assaulting and taking him into custody when
he complaiin ed of the outrage. Notwithstanding
the groat, preponderance of testimony, the jury
only gave the defendant " the benefit of the

doubt," which rendered his acquittal indispensable,
and the gallant policeman has escaped with im-

punity.
The tliird and most formidable case is that
of a man. named KING, who appears to have acted
a sort of rmodem JONATHAN WILD, organising pre.
datory bt u ids, placing them in the best situations
for plund.or, he himself remaining deaf and blind
to all prit)ceedings, and participating largely in
the booty obtained under such circumstances.
This is t.h e charge which as yet awaits fur-
ther inN.e stigation. Sufficient, however, has
been elicited to require that the scrutiny shall be
of the most stringent character, and that it
shall be= discovered whether the charges
apply to more than a single member of
force.

While such occurrences are even possible
we may :repeat the question of JuvrafAL, and
again ask , pointedly--
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes !"

:PEACE OR WAR.

The toVowing important letter has been re-
ceived thras morning from Paris :
" The 1u amber of those who do not yet believe in
the sincei:il y of the Emperor Nicholas, nor in the
probabilif ty of a speedy peace, has not diminished.
There art i few who do not desire peace, but there
are many -who think, perhaps erroneously, that it is
still far f torn us. The treaty of alliance between
France a ad England disavows all idea of any per-
sonal ads antago or territorial aggrandisement, and
proclaims ; their sole desire to be to secure the peace
of the we slid for the future. If peace be possible,
on conditions that can be accepted frankly and
loyally, I ►e may be certain that the obstacle will
not proce ed from the West, nor from the Powers ,
who Row defend the interests of Europe. But
the clues tion is whether those conditions now
wrigt_ Ts ; it probable or possible that the Czar,
so Ultra( :table and so haughty only a few
days ago, is now prepared to accept without reserve
the condi Iti.ons demanded of him by the Allied
Powers ? All the despatches that have reached
us for som .e days past, and which there is no reason
to regard ; its otherwise than correct, in substance or
in detail, e iswer in the affirmative. Prince Gorts-
chalc-Off, ey 7 312 before the expiration of the delay that
had been sccorded to him by the Allied Powers,
has ultimata 3d to the representatives of Franco and
England the a his master adhered in principle to the
four guaras ttees, and to the interpretation which
they had re ceived in the conference of the 28th
December, • with the exception of some slight modi-
fication ; dhe at once demanded the opening of
negotiation! ; to treat and settle all the points in
dispute. T hus, then, Russia most suddenly and
most un.sx pectedly accepts, at least in appear-
ance, wh at she declared unacceptable and de-
void of all" r eason only some days previous. Thegua-
rautees t o lshich no objection is now made were de-
clared in the very last circular of Count Nesselrode
as utterl y incompatible with the dignity of the
Czar, ant I opposed to the interest and views of his
Governm out. This is passing strange ; and it is
this very strangeness that astonishes every one.
With this astonishment is joined a mistrust, in-
voluntar: r but insurmountable, of the sincerity of
Russia. People are in spite of themselves reminded
of what p assed at the period of the famous note of
Vienna. Then almost every one believed in the
re-establishment of peace, and the faith in the
frankness of the adhesion of the Czar to the pro-
positions of the Vienna Conference was general and
profound, , and there was scarcely one dissentient
voice wh( sn the objections of Turkey (which have
since pro ved so prudent) were declared frivolous
and venal sous. It required the memorable circu-
lar of Cot ant Nesselrode to enlighten ministers
and state ien on the true intentions of the Em
peror Ni, :h olas.

There , :an be no question that the acceptance,
pure and simple, of the four guarantees, would be
not only a great moral check for Russia, and a
great moifa,l victory for the)Western Powers ; it
would als, be a great material defeat to her policy.
It would he neither more nor less than the annihi-
lation of a 1 l Russian traditions, the ruin of all her
projects of conquest and extension in the East ;
and, as it -w ere, the bulwark of the law of Europe
raised for war against the encroachment and in-
vasion of the Sclavonic races. The whole of the
Czar's mrkn.ifestoes for more than a year, all the
notes that have issued from the Minister of Russia,
have not once failed to avow and maintain that
policy. T here was the same firmness on the subject
of the pre tensions originally put forth at Constanti-
Hopi. by Frisco Aftwachikoff, of the strenztlienin&
the ortho clox influence with the Greek subjects of
the Porte , and the refusal to annul or even to revise
the treati es between Turkey and Russia ; and, in
the more recent manifesto of all, the Czar once more
made appeals to the religious fanaticism and. de-
votedness of his subjects against the barbarians of
the West ; and is it possible, after all this, that the
same hau, whty potentate bows the head, and signs
the condi Lions we dictate 8 It is strange it is
incomprel sensible. Every one knows, or ought to
know, wh at the guarantees are. One, by trans-
ferring tho protectorate of the Danubian Provinces
from one eole Power to that of Europe in common,
establishes, between Russia and Turkey a barrier
which cannot be passed without a declaration of

war against all Europe. A second proclaims tl;
free sovereignty of the Sultan, and, by enabling
Turkey to form one of the concert of Europe, de-
prives Russia of her most powerful means of in-
fluence and action over the various populations of
the Ottoman Empire. The third restores the free

_---
.
navigation of the Danube, and frees the commerce
and people of Central Europe from the caprice and
yoke of the Czar. Perhaps the most serious of all
for Russia is that which relates to the revision of
sired that th
the Treaties of 1841. The abrogation of that in-
strument means the restoration of the freedom of
the Black Sea. It will be remembered that in pro-
posing that condition the French Government de-
sired
the collective iiotaGe
limited in theepredominance of Russia should be
Black Sea. The principle of that
limitation via
Courts to Prince positively assured, adopted in
moadtclressed by the three Allied
of 1841 should beersviesseTially
orrerhakoff on the 28th of Dec.
last, and it was a
(faire cesser are the words e:lo las to cause to cease
that ' the treaty
81300ayd) the predomi-
nance of Russia in the Black
wisdisnfvaaiiine
asked by Prince Gortschakoff that the
cesser should bo changed to dimintcer.
sentatives of the Allied Powers would not °coßnespro. and again Prince Gortschakoff was corain_ andoclenbt; his master to accept the faire cesser. it requires
more substantial proofs of the sincerity of those
acts before the Emperor of Russia will persuade
the public that some new act of treachery is not at
bottom. We know the value of time to Russia. It
is her interest to continue her efforts to prevent 1
Prussia from adhering to the alliance of the 2d of
December, and to prevent the defensive treaty now
existing between Austria and the maritime Powers