The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOUL),IVALS.

(Prom the Times of this day.)

It is rr.A

respondentF, on ti

authority of a private ]o to from Vienna. that a presF.ing
appeal has lately been addressed by the Empress-Mother
of Russia to the, Archduchess Sophia, mother of the
reigning Emperor of Austria, conjuring her, by the re-
collection of former services rendered by the Emperor
Nicholas to Austria, to make Austria maintain the pro•
positions of Count Buol at the late conference—propo-
sitions approved, it is true, by Lord John Russell and
M. Drouvn de l'Hnys, but rejected without hesitation
by the Western Governments. Without vouching for
the truth of this anecdote, it is at least a probable oc-
currence, and it denotes the change which has undoubt-
edly taken place in the relations of Russia and Austria
within the last few weeks. The gloomy and reproach.
ful air of mistrust which was worn at St. Petersburg
towards the agents of the Austrian Government has
been thrown aside; the large assemblages of Russian
troops on the Polish frontier have been dispersed and
moved off towards the Crimea ; every artifice of flat-
tery, cajolery, and corruption is again employed in the
German Courts, from Vienna to Carlsruhe ; and among
the partisans of Russia in Germany a cry may already
be heard that the worst is now over, since the union of
the German States with the Western Powers is dissolved,
and that the next step will be to throw the military
strength of Germany into the opposite scale. We are
not ignorant of these things ; we are not indifferent to
these things ; on the contrary, we know the cause of
them, we measure their extent, and we are prepared for
their consequences. The rupture of the conferences of
Vienna marks an epoch in the present war, for it was there
that the last and greatest war was made by the Western
Powers to obtain from Austria the fulfilment of her engage-
ments, even at the cost of considerable sacrifices to the
German alliance. Lord Clarendon had said in his ad-
mirable instructions to Lord John Russell on his pro-
ceeding to Vienna, that "if peace could not be arrived
at, it was her Majesty's most Earnest desire to see the
great Powers of Europe arrayed in a combined effort
against Russia, not only because such a league would
most probably lead to a termination of the existing con-
test, butbecause an assurance would. thereby be obtained
that the termination of the war would place on a solid
and secure basis the general interests of all Europe."
We all know how these hopes have been disappointed.
We have seen how it came to pass that the German
States, one after another, increasing the relative weak-
ness instead of upholding their mutual strength, fell
short of the policy they had themselves approved, and
subsided into that neutrality and dependence on Russia
which they at first disavowed. But, although this policy
has not been successful, it does honour to the efforts and
the temper of the Western Powers. and, whatever may
hereafter he the result of these differences, it will stand
recorded that the Governments of France and England
omitted nothing which could serve to identify their
cause with the general interests of Europe, and even
offered to make any sacrifice for the restoration of peace
short of their own consistency and honour. We do not,
for ourselves, regret that these disinterested exertions
were made, although they have not been rewarded as
they deserved to be. On the contrary, if they had not
been made, the British Government might have been.
accused of neglectingits former allies. But,as matters now
stand, we have ascertained beyond all further dispute the
real value of these German alliances. In a cause in
which the interests of Germany and the independence
of Europe are more nearly engaged than the separate
interests of Great Britain, after numerous protocols and
treaties had been signed by these German States abso-
lutely identifying ourselves with the course of our policy
and the objects of the war—when nothing was needed
but the combined resolution of Germany, acting in con-
cert with ourselves, to restore peace on a solid and secure
basis, we have found the secret sympathies of the rulers
of Germany turned against us, we have seen them with
matchless duplicity serving the policy which they affected
to condemn, and we have learned that the people of Ger-
many, though not on the whole approving the dishonesty
of their Governments, are tco feeble or too apathetic to
control the course of public affairs.
Such, then, is the state of Germany—lower, it must
be confessed, in every respect than could be imagined,
although we were aware tbat the debauch of 1848 had
left behind it very general traces of nausea and debility.
The Emperor Nicholas was, after all, not altogether
wrong when he expressed to Sir Hamilton Seymour his
opinion that Austria had only to learn his will to obey
it, and that Prussia deserved no mention at all. With a
generous feeling of sympathy for the Germans we revelled
that withering sarcasm, which blotted out 40,000,000
of men from the policy of Europe. But the Czar was '
right ; he had nothing to apprehend from them. Of the
internal government of a country of which such things
can be said without contradiction it is not our business
to speak. But its foreign policy is a matter of general
interest, and we are led to the conclusion that the ten-
dency of that policy is, first to withdraw entirely the
support which was at first tendered to the Western
Powers, and ultimately, should occasion serve, to throw
the weight of the German States against us under a pre-
tence of mediation. That may not now be their intention,
but their intentions have very little to do with the
matter. The affairs of Germany have been conducted
throughout this contest by a foreign Power, and con-
ducted, we must say, with great ability for the purpose
that Power had in view. To have dissolved the con-•
fedoraey which at one time protested against the aggres-
sion of Russia, to have neutralised the treaty of the 2d
of December, to have saved Poland from the danger of
invasion, and perhaps of a war of independence, are re-
sults of which the diplomacy of Russia may be proud.
That point once attained, we do not conceal from our-
selves the possibility that her increasing ascendancy will r
not stop where it is, and we have abundant evidence
that the Courts of Germany are full of agents who are
straining every nerve to turn the course of public opinion
and of German policy against, this country and France.
We know not to what extent these machinations may
succeed, but we are on our guard against the worst they
can accomplish. To maintain a position of strict and
permanent neutrality in a contest like that which now
divides the leading States of Europe is beyond 'the skill
of any statesmen, and the mere act of shifting from one
side to another is a sign of hostility. But, although we
regret that Germany has failed to give the Western
Powers that support which would have enabled them to
terminate the war, the same internal divisions and
evasive policy which have extinguished her influence as
against Russia render her equally powerless against
France and against ourselves. If the mere chance of
a campaign on the Polish frontier sufficed to arrest the
movements of an Austrian army of 200,000 men, in what
condition is Germany to provoke tho- resentment of the
maritime Powers ? We will go further, and assert that
the loss of confidence and respect which the German Go-
vernments have already sustained iu this country is a ma-
terial diminution of their security. The whole tendency of
their 'policy for many years past has been to alienate
themselves from England. The statesmen who laboured
to cement the alliance have been sacrificed ; the pro-
raises held out to the Germans of institutions more
analogous to our own have been violated ; the press
has been stifled ; and now, when a great occasion pre-
sents itself to enable us to unite in defence of European
interests, every secret wieh of the German Sovereigns
points to the camp of the enemy. It is impossible that
these facts should be lost upon the people of this coun-
try, and They are rendered more striking bY the contrast
between this state of things in Germany and the ener-
getic alliance which has sprung up between England
and France, even under the absolute government of the
Bonaparte dynasty. That same alliance was offered on
the same terms to Austria and accepted by her, inso-
much that a military convention was prepared, honours
and congratulations were exchanged between the two
Imperial Courts, and it seemed as if the union of France
and Austsia was once more to regulate the affairs of
continental Europe. But the Cabinet of Vienna stopped
short in the course of policy it had professed to adopt,
and France and England once more stand detached and
independent in the conduct of the war. We, at least,
have no reason to regret the change in our own interest,
for it relieves us entirely and for ever from those pre-
tensions to conduct a mediation between the belligerents
which some of the German statesmen have flattered
themselves would fall to their lot. But, the effect of
such a position on Germany and German institutions is
not a matter of indifference. She might a few months
back have dictated peace to Russia by a bold and united
display of her forces • she has now become the tool of
Russia so long as she preserves her neutrality, and will
be her victim when that neutrality is at an end. We
extiect no change, we anticipate no improvement in her
relations with ourselves, and, having laboured in vain
to obtain her co-operation, the next thing is to pursue
our enterprise without it.

(From the Morning Post of this day. )

- -
Sir Charles Napier is, no doubt, a gallant and merito-
rious officer ; but, unfortunately, the new character
which he has chosen to reassume of a political agitator
is little creditable either to his taste or discretion. In
our literature, any one can easily place his finger upon
many inimitable pictures of the British sailor—Old Com-
modore Trunnion, for instance, who would not ride in
the wind's eye, and his faithful attendant, Tom Pipes ;
and the more modern and civilised heroes of Marryat
and Chamier, not forgetting the illustrious Capt. Cockle
of Charles Dickens. But no writer of fiction has ever
endeavoured to portray that rare and mongrel speci-
men of a sailor—the sea politician ; and if Sir Charles
Napier condescends to play such a part, with the addi-
tional attractions of party spite and disappointed vanity,
he can neither be surprised, nor complain if his former
services be temporarily forgoten, or if he be subjected to
that criticism which his eccentricities naturally and
irresistibly provoke. For the sake of making a speech,
he yesterday appeared upon the hustings as a candidate
for the borough of Southwark, knowing, of course,
that he had not the remotest chance of being returne4.,
What was the tone of the address of the gallant admiral ?
Was it such as becomes an officer of high rank in her
Majesty's navy, who, according to his own notions, hav-
ing been slighted or disgraced, is anxious to vindicate
his honour in the face of his fellow-countrymen ! It
was, we regret to say, a mere exhibition of spleen and
disappointment, utterly unworthy of the individual,
though suited to a portion of the audience to whom it
was addressed, who cheered on the gallant admiral with
such choice expressions as these—" Go it, Charley—
you're a jolly fellow, Charley." The gallant admiral,
although he stated that he would not " stand a single
sixpence, hire a carriage, or print an address," excused
his interposition in the election by declaring "that Sir
William Molesworth was one of the men who had ill-
used him. Sir W. Molesworth was one of the Adminis-
tration which had sacrificed him to that perfidious Minis-
ter, Sir James Graham." Sir Charles is rather ungene-
rous in thus stigmatising the right hon. member for
Carlisle, for he forgets that his whole case has been sub-
mitted to Parliament during the present session by an
able and learned advocate, and that he has had his say,
although the right hon. baronet was compelled, by a
regard for the public service, to remain silent, Sir Charles