The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-26 00:00:00

was, however, occasionally compelled to address the . obtaining the high approbation of neighbouring
house to defend the acts of his administration, and ' despots."
whenever tried he has acquitted himself with sue- Let these " rebels" but learn that the allies have
cess. When we have integrity of principle, sound raised up a standard around which the sons of
sense, the power of addressing an assembly if not j Poland are to gather ; let but the Western Powers
in a brilliant, at least in a satisfactory manner, effect a lodgment on the southern coast of the Fin-
what more can be expected from a man to whom as nish Gulf, and proclaim the arrival of the great
yet the higher opportunities of distinction have struggle for Polish independence—and the ranks of
been denied ? In these days every man will think the Autocrat's army, already thinned by the losses
for himself, the principle of authority is weakened, of Crimean warfare, will suddenly melt away by
and happily so in political affairs, so that mere elo- desertion into mere skeleton legions ; the war of
quence carries few votes. A modern statesman is i national independence will spread from Samogitia
powerful in the house and popular in the country , and Lithuania to the Ukraine ; and Great Britain
in so far as he represents the opinions of the maw- will not only have the glory of playing the noble
rity, or at least of a large section of the commu- part
of a champion of Liberty, but have also pro-
mity. Lord Palmerston at the present moment is vided in the most efficient way for her own na-
the representative of our determination to continue tional, financial, and military advantage. We
the war with Russia until terms are obtained which cannot better conclude than with the words of an
shall preclude the necessity of appaaling to arms j eloquent and learned speaker at the recent war
again, for similar reasons, at least, until another meeting at Glasgow—" In mercy to Europe, pro-
generation has passed away. Hence the popularity nounce the word Poland
of his Administration. With such a cause, and
with the full weight of opinion out of doors at
his back, the Premier seems inclined to oppose
plain common sense to the attacks of the regular
gladiators of the House. Mr. Baines has, as he
declares in his address, accepted office with the full
determination of lending the whole strength of his
ability to this cause, and, with so good a brief in
his hand, he will, we trust, hold his own against
the oratorical ability upon the other side.

THE WAR IN ASIA.

(Prom the Examiner. )

The difficult nature of the prolonged struggle before
Sebastopol must explain and account for the otherwise
inconceivable neglect shown to the defence of Turkey on
the side of Armenia. Among the Russian plans for the ,
conquest of the Ottoman empire and the reduction of its
capital, that of a march through the central valleys of
Asia Minor had long been considered the most feasible
and sure, and the least liable to interruption from the
maritime powers. The condition of such advance was
that it should be gradual, not precipitate, until a point
was reached from which the Bosphorus and Constanti-
nople might be menaced in not many days. Already mas-
ters of Akhalzikh, Gumri, and Erivan, Kars and Erze-
roum are stations on the way up the great valley of Arme-
nia to Kesaviek. We have seen with what boldness the
Russians, after a few partial advantages in the open field
won over the irregular forces forming the Turkish army,
marched to surprise Erzeroum,and invest and assault Kars.
And joyfully we have learned how the skill and courage
of English officers guiding and encouraging the noble
bravery of Turkish soldiers renewed at Kars the success-
ful heroism of Silistria.
Notwithstanding this it is painful to think that the
Russians would never have dared to employ their chief
force south of the Sour, had the Turks kept even a
moderate army at Batoum. The war was begun in that
quarter most gallantly by the capture of Fort St Nicho-
las. Since then, the British fleet has afforded puissant
aid by demonstrations which compelled the enemy to
abandon the whole of the Circassian coast ; and the
Turks or Allies ought long since to have occupied those
provinces at the foot of the Caucasus which touch
the Black Sea, are easily invaded from it, and are so
difficult to defend, The neck of the Caucasian isthmus
is here cut by two rivers, which rising on different
sides of the same mountain, run east -and west,
one into the Caspian, the other into the Black Sea. The
river and the valley entering the latter are short ; the
other river, the Kour, with its valley, is longer and
wider. It constitutes Georgia Proper, and contains
Tiflis. To be master of the more western of these rivers
is to menace the other ; so that if the Turks had occu-
pied and held Imeretia and Mingrelia, the Russians
dared not have stirred from Tiflis, while the Turks, if
they had only been in force and commanded by an able
general, might at any convenient time have made an at-
tack upon it. For which enterprise they could have
Icounted on the powerful aid of Schamyl and the Ca--
cassian mountaineers.

(From the Morning Advertiser of this day.).

The anniversary of the Polish Revolution of
1830 is near at hand ; let us hope that imposing ;
manifestations will be made throughout the coun-
try
on that memorable November 29. Already we
are glad to hear of popular gatherings which are to
take place, not only in this metropolis, but also in
many trading and manufacturing towns of the
United Kingdom. Besides London, there are
Glasgow and Liverpool, and other communities in
the field ; and if we are rightly informed, the gene-
ral sense of the resolutions everywhere will not be
a mere expression of sympathy with the cause of
Polish freedom, but a formal memorialisation of
Government—" To take such steps as may conduce
to the establishment of the independence of Poland,
by which means the enthralled people of that na-
tion would be detached from the strength of the
enemy, and the power of Russia so crippled as to
force her to sue for a peace which would be alike
permanent and honourable to our country."
Such, at least, are the words of a number of bur-
gesses and inhabitants of Liverpool in their address
to the Mayor of the town. A similar spirit, we
trust, will pervade the popular meeting which is to
be held in St. Martin's Hall on Thursday next. If
ever there was a time in which the necessity of
bringing the Polish element into this contest could
be understood by men of all ranks and classes, that
time is surely the present. After two years of exer-
tion we have now before us the failure of succes-
sive Baltic campaigns, the false dealing neutrality
and growing insolence of German dynasties, the
suspicious hesitation of the Swedish Court, the
protraction of the struggle in the Black Sea, the
insufficiency •of a purely maritime blockade, an in-
creased drain on our financial, naval, and military
resources, and—last, but not least—a pretty pro-
spect, not of peace, but of the expanding influence,
in Russia, of the Grand Duke Constantine, who,
if to-morrow he became Sovereign, would tax all
the strength of his empire and employ all the chi-
canery of his Pan-Sclavistic schemes in order to
restore the political balance in favour of absolute
Muscovite supremacy. With ,uch a position be-
fore us it would be suicidal on our part still to re-
frain from appealing to Polish co-operation.
We demand Polish co-operation from the point
of view of our own national interests ; and to those
who question the propriety of this policy, we only
address the following questions :—Have we, or
hare we not, an intention of making an end to
Russian rule in the Baltic regions ? If we have—
why, it is necessary to our own interest that we

All these opportunities, too long neglected or thrown
away, are now grasped at. Omer Pasha sailed from the
Crimea, followed by some of his best troops, and landed
at Soukund-Kaleh • and as the Russians still hold the
rivers and their valleys, as well as their connection with
the sea, the first efforts of Omer were of course directed
to drive them from these positions. For this purpose he
attacked their entrenched position south of the Ingour,
a stream that runs obliquely and in a sonth-west direr.
tion from the mountains. It was the best line of defence
the Russians could have chosen. So strong indeed was
it that Omer Pasha was blamed by many for not landing
south of it, and, so turning the Ingour. The Turkish
commander, however, knew what he was about. He
passed the river in front of the enemy, and marched to
the attack of his entrenchments, as if to prove (which was
denied him at Sebastopol) that Turkish soldiers were
good for attack as well as defence, and could storm the
batteries of the enemy, as well as repel him from their
own.

create a diversion in the rear of the Livonian,
Curish, and Esthonian garrisons of Russia ; and
this rear is Poland ! Are we, or are we not, re-

The immediate aim of Omer Pacha's advance

. .
solved to destroy the treacherous connection be-
tween the Autocrat and the territory of the German

doubt Kutais, from whence there are roads, either eas
ward to Tiflis, or southward to Akhalzikb. Tire valley
of the ancient Phasis was, we need scarcely inform
our readers, one of the great channels of commerce ;
and the country is rich enough of itself to afford mate-
rials of trade, which would become of first-rate import-
ance were the Russians driven from Georgia altogether.
There is no man more capable of effecting this than
Omer Pasha. But it must not be concealed that were
the declared object to be any ultimate making over of
the province to the Porte, serious obstacles would at
once arise, of which the greatest would be the aversion
of a large Christian population to be given up to a Mus-
sulman Sovereign. Jews and Armenians form the prin-
cipal inhabitants of Kutais -, and Tiflis of course has
even larger elements of a Christian population. Such
strength as Russia possessed in these countries has no
doubt lain in the belief that she is essentially a Chris-
tian, and a fanatically Christian power; and for the
allies to march against them in an exclusively Maho-
rnetan cause could only tend to render Georgian resist.
ance religious as well as national. These difficulties are
obviated in a great degree, however, by the existence of
a native prince in the province now entered by Omer's
army ; and if a final conquest of the province could be
achieved, even without the reduction of Georgia, a hos-
podarate might be established there under the joint pro-
tection of England, France, and Turkey, which wouid
effectually exclude the Russians from any communica-
tion with the Black Sea, or from possessing any port or
territory on its eastern stores. This is one of the desi-
derata to be obtained by the present war ; and Omer
Pasha's expedition mast be regarded as leading directly
to its achievement.
We need not enlarge on its advantages. It will be
a'i especial service to the Porte to render its Armenian
frontier secure against future aggression, and this would
be accomplished by the establishment of an independent
state in Imeretia, if not in Georgia, Its inunediate
effect wonl I not only give peace to Kurdistan and
eastern Turkey, but deprive the Persian court of all those
incentives to treachery, or excuses for extortion, which
it delights to act upon. Nor, even apart from his great
military genius, could any commander be found better
fitted for executing these delicae tasks than Omer Pasha,
?no is a strong stickler for Mussulmau dignity. without
being a fanatic for the religion he has adopted. The
choice of an English agent is equally commendable, that
post being filed by Mr. Long worth, known long since
for his adventures in Circassia, and grounded in oriental
policy and habits by long residence in the east.
Effective co-operation from the Allies may also now
be expected. Their attention has at last been particularly
drawn to the many benefits derivable from their now un-
disputed possession of the east coast of the Black Sea.
Thsir naval forces can be seconded not only immedi-
ately south of the Caucasus, but north of it by the Cir-
cassians, who can molest Russia as much on the Kouhan
as upon the Kour ; and hence a station for our vessels
nearer to the eastern shores of the Black Sea than Ba-
laklava or Kamiesch is now seen to be desirable. The
shores themselves have no convenient harbour, nor does
the coast of Asia Minor afford one. Neither Kertch
nor Yenikale give the security or facilities required.
But there is Kaffa, too long neglected.
It is the best port in the Black Sea, or at all events in
the Crimea. It is open at all seasons, and presents a
shelter not to be found off Kertch or lialaklava. In it
vicinity, too, the original Tartar population is still to be
found, and the Russians are there detested as much for
their degradation and devastation of Kaffa, as for their
oppression of the Crimea. From Kaffa is the shortest
sail to any of the ports around the north-eastern corner
of the Euxine. From Kaffa it is but a short distance to
Arabat, and not more than thirty miles to Karasoubazar,
on that high road from over the Putrid Sea to Sun-
pheropol by which the Russians there and above Sebas-
topol are chiefly supplied. Expeditions from Kaffa for
cutting off such supplies would inflict far more mischief
on the Russians than has been effected by those from
Eupatoria. Indeed the cavalry sorties from Eupatoria,
though ably led and handled by General d'Allonville,
have not ended in a single capture of importance in
the way of provisions. Let us hope that our admirals
and generals, therefore, are not iikely to leave Kaffs,
in the power of the Russians this winter. Such a con-
quest joined to that of Kiubourn, and attended by that
of Mingrelia by that of Omer Pacha, would render the
year indeed glorious to the arms and encouraging to the
prospects of the Allies in Asia.

Princes ? If we are, no other means are left to us
than to drive in a wedge by means of a Polish in-
surrection. Do we, or do we not, intend to
strengthen the hands of the Swedish and Norwegian
nations, and to enable them to overpower the
philo•Russian leanings of the Court ? If we do,
we must prove to the Scandinavians that our wish
of weakening Ressia is a real one ; how could we
better show this than by adopting " Poland" as
the watchword of our war policy ! Is it, or is it
not, our desire to drive the Czar's army from the
Crimea, and to secure the lilperty of the Danube
by operations in Bessarabia ? If it is, we cannot
better serve our purpose than by occupying the at-
tention of the Government of St. Petersburg on a

point in its immediate neighbourhood ; and who
can doubt that this point is Poland ? Would we,
or would we not, forge a chain of blockade which
shall effectively prevent Russia from the contact
with the commerce of Europe 7 If this is our de-
cision, if we would not pay a costly farce of block-
ade with our tax-wrung gold, if we would not be
mocked by Russian trade making its egress through
Memel, Pillau, and Myslowitz, over Prussian and

Austrian territory—why, then, we must hermeti-
cally close also the land frontier of the Czar's do-
minions ; and this land frontier consists of Polish
provinces. All our commercial and military in-
terests, all our interests of national honour and
prestige in the present war centre here ; it is a
folly, therefore, to talk of the Polish question as if
we were to engage in some Quixotic affair of senti-
mental romance.
Without the participation of Poland in this
struggle, we can neither hope to conquer a
" speedy," nor an " honourable," nor a " lasting"
peace. Not a speedy peace—because Russia never
will give in so long as she concentrates almost her
whole strength on one or two outlying points. Not
an honourable peace—because no peace can be ho-
nourable to England till the stain on her honour is
removed which successive Governments have caased
1 by their treachery and connivance with Russia in
regard to Poland. Not a lasting peace—because
it is idle to believe that the real strength of Russia
can be destroyed by the demolition of Sebastopol
or Cronstadt, the secret of her sway over Central,
Northern, and Southern Europe being contained
in the projecting territorial position she occupies
between the dominions of Austria and Prussia. It
is this contiguity with the empires of the Haps-
burgs and Hohenzollerns, it is this commanding
station of Russia on the Vistula, Prosua, and
Vartha, that makes her the arbiter of German
affairs, and the Lord Protector, so to speak, of the
whole Sclavouian race. Take away from her the
iule over this Polish territory, and she sinks back
into the dimensions of a barbarous but powerless
Asiatic Khanate.
\
The very wish of securing Turkey for ever against
Muscovite attacks must induce us to re-establish
this Polish bulwark ; for the weakening of the Ot-
toman empire through Russian aggression has kept
equal pace with the gradual encroachment of the
Cz trs upon the independence of the Polish race.
Peter I, pursued his projects against the Porto
before the Polish Republic bad been overthrown.
It is known that he entirely failed 1 Catherine 11.,
on the contrary, proceeded to attack the Turkish
empire after the independence of Poland had been
impaired by the first partition. It is known that
her schemes succeeded ! It is a curious historical
fact, that all the conquests of Russia along the
Dnieper, Bong, Dniester, and Pruth, all her ad-
vances along the Black Sea and inthe Caucasus,
have been subsequent to the first Polish partition,
and that ever since that time she has gradually'
encroached upon European and Asiatic Turkey.
This circumstance alone ought to teach us that the
true security of the Ottoman empire lies in the re-
construction of the independence of Poland; and,
in fact, if Turkish statesmen had been left to them-
selves in 1853 and 1854, there is no doubt they
would have pursued a policy conducive to this
' effect.
The mere proclamation, on the part of the
Allies, that they are ready to avail themselves of
r the sympathies of Poland, would strike terror into
the heart of Russia, disconcert her plans, throw
the germs of dissolution into her armies, which to
a great extent consist of Polish natives, and threaten
the Muscovite empire altogether with a complete
exhaustion of its resources. "It is not," a Polish
writer justly exclaims, "it is notßethnia, Finland,
Archangel, the Caspian, or European Tartary, nor
is it the fortifications of Cronstadt or Sebastopol
which furnish the Czar with his most powerful
means of domination and perpetual menace.
- fertile These
moans are supplied by the populous and
Western districts, all torn from Poland. Does not.
the grain of those provinces pay for the luxuries of
the whole empire in time of peace, and fill the
magazines in time of war ? Is it not with their
l'orses that the Autocrat mounts his cavalry ? Is
it not with their cattle and leather that he feeds
and equips his soldiers 7 Where does he find wood,
hemp) and tar for his fleets ? In the north-east of
Poland. Whence does he take his regular squad-
rons ? Prom the south of Poland. With that
wool does he clothe, with what iron does he arm )i
! his battalions ? With the wool of the Lower, and
the iron of Upper Vistula. But above all, it is
! from the population of the Polish plains he
fills up his quickly-thinned ranks ; for, whilst
he could not raise a sufficient force from the
i population of Great Russia without ruining
! the domains of the Crown, and exasperating the
he has only to send his press-gang towards
it nobles,
the West to find what he requires—while
1 he knows, moreover, that he will only be ruin-
ing rebels, favouring the rest of his empire, and