The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-19 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVENIBER 19, 1855.

" Tell them that if they wish for peace they
must at least make vows for or against us ; for
in the midst of a grave European conflict indiffer-
ence is a false calculation, and silence an error."
This, indeed, is a great truth nobly expressed. It
is an emphatic admonition to the European
Powers, who, regardless of their paramount duties
and obligations, have professed a despicable neu-
trality, or by a course of hypocritical duplicity
and insincerity held out promises of assistance
never intended to be realised. It is a significant
hint to Prussia and to Austria, proceeding from
a quarter that must command attention, and not
only to them, but to the minor States, who, rely-
ing on their insignificance, have evaded the per-
formance of sacred obligations, incumbent on
every member of " the comity of nations."
Independent Sovereigns and Peoples have their
duties as well as their rights. They constitute the
police of the world, who are bound to the best of
their ability to prevent any anticipated disturb-
ance, and to take care that the weakest member
of the confraternity shall obtain strict justice,
and be protected against any unwarranted aggres-
sion on the part of a stronger potentate. France
and England have nobly discharged their parts,
and Sardinia has afforded a glolious example to
the second-class kingdoms. But many other

kingdoms have been found deplorably
wanting.
ussia has completely abdicated her functions
as a first-class Power, and suffered herself to sink
materially in the scale of nations. But the con-
duct of Austria is far worse, for she has betrayed
the cause she professed to support, and disre-
garded solema obligations deliberately and advis-
edly contracted. By extraordinary duplicity she
has induced t'bie Western Powers to consent to
her occupation of the Danubian Principalities—
au occupation far worse than that of Russia,
which they felt themselves reluctantly compelled
to take up arms to resist. This may be looked on
as erg clever
" diplomacy," but straightforward,
v
honest men feel disposed to regard it in a different
point of view, and to designate it in less courtly
terms.

The Imperial ruler of France, who owes his pro_
best possible source, the
minent position to the
cordial and all but unanimous will of his people,
has shown that he will no longer permit himself
to be humbugged by pretended friends or cold-
, blooded neutrals—that he will not be satisfied
with the mere profession of a love for peace, as
the justification, for conduct that originated
and protracted the War. " Tell them that
if they wish for peace they must at least make
•olos for or against us." This manly and truthful
sentiment, appropriately put forward by the Em-
reror of the Fumsen at the closing of the Great
Exhibition, must have struck a chill into the
hearts of those who felt how completely obnoxious
they were to the emphatic reproach. It will be
pondered over by the Cabinets of Berlin, Vienna,
',and Brussels,
and teach the rulers that they must
at length take a
decided part for or against Itus-

sia—oonvince them that "indifference is a false '
calculation and silence an error I" and, as a natu-
ral corollary, that they must be either for us or
against us—the avowed supporters of Muscovite
aggression or the energetic vindicators of interna-
tional law, the first principles whereof had been
so shamefully violated. -
But there has not been something worse than mere
neutrality, somethingthat may, on thepart of some
at least of these parties, be regarded as decided as-
sistance to the enemy ? We have seen how the
Russian trade has been carried on under cover of
the Prussian flag, and how she has obtained the
means of continuing the contest, through the co-
operation of the professed neutral—nay, more,
how she obtained the actual materiel for fighting
which has been conveyed to one of the belligerents,
while the proceedings of the others have been sub-
jected to an uncalled-for and offensive vigilance.
Here, again, Austrian perfidy has gone beyond
Prussian indifference. Prussia at the eleventh
hour refused to forward " oontraband of
war," which has been sent in large quantities
from Austria. We are told that the communications
of Prussian Silesia with Warsaw, and other rail-
road stations on the same line, " have been inter-
rupted by the immense transports of sulphur sent
from by way of Cracow to Warsaw, which accu-
mulate to such an extent that the railway station
at Granitza finds it impossible to forward them as
quickly as they arrive," and that " within the
last month considerably more than 600,000 cwte.(!)
of sulphur have been forwarded in this manner
from Austria to Russian Poland, and every day
about 600 cwts. of this article continue to arrive,
packed partly in chests and partly in casks !"
This is surely going a little too far, and it is high
time that stringent explanations should be de-1
manded for these very unjustifiable proceedings.
But this is not all. Austria, not contented
with the occupation of the Principalities, has
usurped a complete sovereignty, insulting not
merely the inhabitants, but even the representa-
tives of other nations. A very gross outrage has
just been perpetrated on an officer wearing the
British uniform, and under the protection of the
British flag. That uniform has been forcibly
taken from the person of an officer engaged in the
service of England, and replaced by an Austrian
military great coat. The Consul-General of Eng-
land fortwith demanded his liberation, but was
met by a brief and contemptuous refusal. The real
intentions of Austria with respect to the invaded
territory are thus manifested. She seems to
think that the time has arrived to learn she may
at length throw off the mask, and evince her
real purpose without disguise or concealment.
But she may reckon without her host. She may
find to her cost that England and France will no
longer truckle to the principle of Germanism, but
will, however tardily, assert their own indepen-
dence, and compel the respect and sincerity
which cannot be obtained by more gentle
means. King LEOPOLD should also look about
him, and consider seriously whether it is
worth his while to forfeit the vast advantages
which he derives from England and the protection
of France in pursuit of the Austrian phantom—
whether he can sacrifice his English connexions to
German predilections. He, too, must at once
decide, and declare himself for or against Great
Britain.

The last success of OMER PAOHA reminds us
that the War has been a great teacher. It has
taught us all much more of mere geography itself
than we ever knew before ; and it has also re-
vealed both perfidy and meanness on the part of
some nations, or, properly speaking, their Courts ;
and unexpected noble qualities in others. The
raried military and naval prowess of the Allies
has been developed, and not by any means in
the aspects which most of us had anticipated,
while the capacities of individual commanders ansi
leaders have been severely tested, and are now
pretty well ascertained.
We do not mean to take credit for any particu-
lar foresight, but we believe we were amongst the
first to recognise the apparently remarkable genius
of OMER PACHA for high command. Others have
shown bravery, skill, and cleverness, but OMER
PACHA. alone has shown high military genius. The
inspiriting and successful feint at Oltenitza, with
the permanent seizure of Kalafat, and its con-
sequences both military, and civil in regard to
Bosnia and Servia, indicated equal far-
sightedness and ability to lead and inspire
an army. The right positions were chosen for the
present and the future, and each part of his army
did its part with precision, and with the utmost
ardour and confidence in their commander. We
even believe that had not the Allies reached
Varna, it is more than doubtful whether the Rus-
sians would ever have passed Silistria. At least
his moves were so taken that any help from the
Allies became of double value. The next step
was the grand blunder of the Allies ; the one
whose bitter consequences we soon felt and yet
feel. Instead of furnishing the Turkish General
with the one thing he wanted, money to supply the
wants of his army, and to march them, all habi-
tuated as they were to the climate, after the Rus-
sians into the Principalities, the traitor Austrians
were forced upon the SULTAN, his great general
thwarted, and his noble army suffered to melt away!
The immediate military consequence was, that the
only troops of Russia available at that time were
set free to fight the battles of Balaklava and
Inkernian ! Had OMER PACMA been furnished
at once, with what we at last have had to supply,
—the sinews of war, it seems quite reasonable to
suppose that he would have distinguished himself
fully as much in Bessaarnab,ia
thasat the
engagedA l Allies e
ins bhaveo
th
done at Sebastopol ; d
places by potent armies and skilful generals, the
Russians would have cut a very different figure at
Sebastopol itself, especially had Odessa been
destroyed or captured.
All this spring and summer the Turkish gene-
ral has been almost burked at Eupatoria or Con-
• stantinople, for he is not the man for merely subor-
dinate command. Once more he is placed at the
head of independent operations, and is himself
again ; the Asiatic campaign is allotted to him,
and immediately he begins to prove, not only his
own generalship, but the efficiency of Turkish
soldiers in the field as well as in a fortress. The
Ingour is but a repetition
of Citate ; with
the water up to their armpits,as we
are told, like another OLIVER CROMWELL,
in the face of a tremendous fire he crosses the
river
at four points, so complete was the skill of
the general, and so enthusiastic the bravery and
confidence of his men.
We have the most entire reliance on the fore-
sight of his whole scheme. It must be observed
that he did not land at Batouns, the nearest point
to Kars, and make straight for the beleaguered
town, but at Suchum-Kaleh, some hundred miles
nearly further north, and on Russian, not on
Turkish,
not territory.
guess
From this point the enemy
couldwhat he would do. Minerelia,
and Immeritia, with Georgia and their capitals,
Kutais, and Tiflis were equally open to him, and
MURAVIEFF must have been placed in great per-
plexity. At present OMER PACHA. seems to be
making for Kutais, the capital of Inuneritia,
from whence be can march with equal ease to

Tiflis, and so place the Russians between him-
self and Kars, or to Kars itself. Of one thing
we are quite certain, he is the same general
who placed himself securely at Kalafat,
and he knows what he is doing. He has already
secured that influential man the NAIB, and with
him the help of the numerous Caucasian tribes,
and if fairly aided will drive the Russians out of
Georgia and all the country south of the Cau-
casus, as he did out of the provinces. How lucky
in that case that there are no Austrians in Asia
to walk in and appropriate what his skill and
valour had won ! Without meaning to disparage
any General, French or English, we have no doubt
that history will pronounce OMER PAOHA, take
him altogether, as decidedly the superior of any
of them ; the greatest Commander developed by
the War. Could he have been generalissimo of
all the forces, could they by any possibility have
served under him, and could he have had the
tens of millions of money and all the mechanical
resources of the Allies at his command, it is pro-
bable that by this time all Southern, so-called,
Russia, from Bessarabia to the Don, would have
been wrested by this time from the aggressors.
If it could hardly have been expected that the
Turkish General would have turned out the most
remarkable military genius of the War, neither
should we have thought Sardinia and its King
would have so outshone Belgium and its King—
or rather have consigned them to the contempt of
Europe. To be sure LEOPOLD was fain to boast
to his Chambers of the consequence of their
country, as illustrated by the kind of honeymoon
experiences of " my son and his Austrian bride "
among the Courts of Europe. He had better have
told them of the style in which Coburg visits were
received in England, and he may certainly soon
communicate to them the news of a very different
reception for VICTOR EMANUEL. Belgium, a Con-
stitutional government, stands aloof from the
battle for freedom and civilisation. Sardinia
bravely joins in it. LEOPOLD and his people, who
are indebted to an English navy and a French
army for their independence of Holland, the King
being himself a pensioner of this country an the
uncle of its Queen, skulk in selfish and effeminate
ease ; VICTOR EMANUEL and his people, under no
political obligations to the Allies, generously
proffer their aid. We fear, unlike most of the
Garman States, that in Belgium the people are as
selfish and ignoble as their Sovereign. Pocket
reasons in the former case, political reasons in the
latter, deter both from even the mention of a war
for national freedom.
If Turks and their General, and Sardinia with
her King, have exceeded all expectation, we can-
not say that Germany and Scandinavia have dis-
appointed us. Every Court of the former was so
notoriously overriden by Russian influence,—
nearly every despot, if only to save his neck, was
so averse to a war against the despot's friend—,--
each of them, too, was so steeped in perjury and
oppression, that it was impossible to hope with
reason for the aid of any of them. Sweden, on
the other hand, could not move without money,
and ought not to have moved without the pro-
mise of Finland, of a guarantee against Russia for
the future ; and she might properly have asked
also that war should have been carried into
Poland. The Allies ought to have purchased
Swedish alliance at almost any price. They would
have fully saved the cost of it in the Baltic in the
two campaigns. Sweaborg, Cronstadt, Revel,
and Helsingfors, with Swedish gun-boats and our
broadsides, would by this time have been heaps
of ruins, and probably, therefore, a peace worth
having have been concluded this winter.
Indeed the people of this country, taught by
the past, ought now to bestir themselves.
Hitherto they have tolerated the infatuation of
their rulers, merely boxing in gloves, and seem-
ingly only fearful of making too much commotion.
Cruelly has the money and life of England and
France been wasted to the tune of "leaving Rus-
sia her present territories," of " not offending
Austria," of peace with Prussia, and of retaining
Poland, Hungary, and Lombardy in slavery. We
literally 'can afford this no longer. It costs too
much in money, not to mention the worthlessness
of the aim. How can a mere battle between
crowned heads ever command the ardour of
Europe ? The nations want to see the Holy
Alliance arrangements torn to pieces, to se© the
rights and wishes of important and injured peo-
ples consulted, to see a settlement of the map of
Europe not upon the forced and barbarous scheme
which now tramples half of it beneath the hoofs
of hated and foreign despots, but upon something
like respect for peoples as well as kings. What
to civilisation are the Bombas, Hapsburgs, and
Hohenzollerns of the day. Polish emancipation is,
to the peace of Europe, of more value than the
whole worthless tribe of bayonet despots.

The position occupied politically by Belgium at
this moment is more than anomalous. It is sus-
picious. Neutrality at such a time is treason to
the inalienable rights of the nations of Christen-
dom. It is a defection from the sacred cause of
European freedom. It is an outrage to the in-
terests of modern civilisation. And, let it be
remembered especially that—besides being the
immediate neighbour and personal ally of the Em-
peror of the FRENCH—LEOPOLD is 'uncle at once
to the QUEEN and PRINCE CONSORT of ENGLAND.
He himself having been originally husband to
that other grand-daughter of GRonGE 111., appa-
rently destined, at the time of their nuptials, to
rule the destinies of Great Britain under " the
name, style, and title " of Queen CHARLOTTE.
Since which period LEeroLD has been in the re-
ceipt annually of many thousands of pounds ster-
ling, supplied by the pockets of that English peo-
ple from whose just quarrels this princely pensioner
can keep aloof so very economically, and, as lie
doubtless fancies, so very " wisely," too, in his
generation ! Sooner or later a day of reckoning
always-comes to your paltry economists, it mat-
ters not whether he be a monarch or a coster-
monger. And so in due season it must be
known far and wide, and proved in the
face of the whole world, whether it has really pro-
fited the King of the BELGIANS after all to shirk
the
eo responsibilityw Austrian
,u
swtriitahuG
tolerable
o le of his position by emulating the
cowardice of the Prussian and the time-serving of
h
Governments. It
hlotwwfialir
Lbe EoptlOLLenD
has acted judiciously, to say the least of it, by
allowing his policy to be wholly and exclusively
Germanised. Sardinia
w
contrast somewhat favourablyil l then,
wt hwße e
lgiu m conjecture,both
in regard to the credit obtained and the advan-
tag,es accruing from the part taken by each in
reference to the War now being waged by the
Western Allies against the great Russian Auto-
cracy.

Sardinia, we remarked some months ago, is
literally earning Lombardy.. How far Beloium
is earning anything for herself by her conduct in
the present juncture we leave to the sagacious
judgment of the more discerning. There can be
little question but that the upshot of the struggle
between the CZAR and the Allies will be the careful
and comprehensive revision of the Map of Europe.
It will then become apparent, among other things,
whether the Belgian provinces might not in some
manner be rather judiciously absorbed I Whether