The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-19 00:00:00

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[PRICE 4D. STAMPED 5D-

Spirit of the Public Journals.

(From, the Times of this day).

We have recently ors several occasions drawn
attention to the dangerous position which Russia
occupies in the north of Europe. In proportion
as the south is mole effectually secured against her
arms the other obstacles which oppose themselves
to the pent-up torrent require to be strengthened.
From the supineness of our War Minister, and
possibly from the jealousy of our diplomatists,
ehw,
)have must, s 0
b e
lrl re-
trieved, t
Russia has obtained in the capture of Kars an
advantage which ought never to have been per-
mittedcar
in e
cannot
td ,
permitto
at
tahe dl:,
.thocewo losses cost of
ohc
wof
i which f
i n or
money.
jea-
lously excluded from the sea road to Constantinople
to obtain an equivalent advantage by land, and to
turn the flank of our fleet by a march through
Asia Minor just when the last vessels of her own
have disappeared for ever under the waters.of the
Euxine.
But, while vigilance has thus unaccountably
slept in the south, we are happy to think that
much greater prudence and foresight have been
exercised with reference to the plans of aggran-
disement Russia has 80 long cherished iu the
north. While the White Sea and the coasts of
that district of Lapland which belongs to Russia
are encumbered with ice before mid-autumn,
that portion of Norway which is within the
Polar Circle is, by a carious eftpali m of
nature, free from ice during the whole of the
year. The immense depth of the long fiords which
cleave the coast of this wild region is, doubtless,
one cause of the phenomenon. The in:lndriaa: of
the Gulf Stream; the waters of which do tut wholly
lose their tropical warmth after communicating to
the western side of the British Isles a temperature
so perceptibly higher than that of the eastern, is
undoubtedly another. Be the cause what it may,
it happens that while Archangel is locked up for
eight months of the year in thick-ribbed ice, and
the ports of the Sea of Okhotsk are for the same
period inaccessible, the town of Hammerfest, situ-
ated within the Polar Circle, has an open harbour
all the year round, and the inhabitants, instead of
yielding to the lazy influences of an Arctic winter,
employ the long night in fishing and in hunting.
The harbours of this region are, as we have said,
enormous. Compared with them the mighty bay
of Sebastopol itself is a paltry creek ; a long barrier
reef of islands protects the navigation to the south,
and a voyage—we are afraid to say of how few days
—might transport a fleet from these vast harbours
to the shores of the British Islands. It is wonderful
that Russia, while devoting such enormous expense
to the formation of an arsenal and fortress in the
south, should have submitted so long to be
natal
evaml
setraeti'on
in,.,
~
cooped up within the narrow and shallow
waters of the Baltic, and to suffer a blockade
in which ice relieves the efforts of a hostile fleet.
Of late years Russia has awoke to the full import-
ance of this oversight ; all that the most dexterous
intrigues, the most cautious encroachments,—all
that threats and blandishments could effect, has
been tried on the United Kingdoms of Sweden and
to induce them to cede only so much ap-
Bpraeycieofusvasrtrainpgeorfeaosaastll.
her A
worthless territory as would bring Russia
pNaorrenvryy
station on
The Bay of Varanger is forty miles
lmwoinotgdh fishingei busyt scslit'ise::::: Ilesoofn tthij iwide,the
, and
batteriesprotected
could
ltdh e
defylsland
a
It has two outlets, is only fifty
of Skogeso,
numerous enemy.
nt Russian boundary, there is
in depth from five to a - ) )
fifteen fathoms, it abounds in
miles from the prest.'
where a few.
sidesouthernclat an-
choragesiescuearsoytostation which
fish andf
orany affords
nounmibtesr
0,.
vessels.
•Silvvinougld grow into a
o a fortified har-
bour,rtress of the
first class, and the fortress of the first class into a
navalimagine s station, ioown , 8 theoon
Rassi
at
the fortifiedm odest
I y
harbour demands
into a 1.1

military and na'rai arsenal, calculated to overawe
Norway and to menace the shores of Western

Europe.
We have great pleasure in announcing thAt all
these schemes of grasping ambition have, so far
as human foresight can effect it, been complete?y
frustrated, and an impassible barrier imposed be-
tween the aggressive designs of Russia and her
lodgment on the seaboard of the North Atlantic,
which she has so ardently desired. A treaty has
been entered into between the Western Powers

and the United Kingdoms of Sweden and NI
by which Sweden and Norway undertake'-.

one hand, that they will not cede any po'rtion of
their territory to Russia; and the Western Powers

promise, on the other, that they will guarantee
the Scandinavian kingdoms their present bounda-
ries, and neither permit Russia to encroach upon
them to the North, nor to sieze, as it is very pro-
bable she might wish to do, the large and impor-
tant island of Gothland. Thus, it may be hoped,
we have succeeded in drawing a line beyond which
Russian ambition shall not penetrate, and limiting
at last that gradual and constant encroachment

which has been for the last hundred years oblite-
rating province after province from the map of
Europe, and transferring them from the domain of
civilisation and progress to that of brutal tyranny
and retrograde barbarism.
In such negotiations as these, based on the
strong foundation of mutual expedience, and en-
tered into for the clear and well-defined purpose
of promoting an end thoroughly understood by
both parties, we can place confidence, because they
are founded on the mutual understanding of the
common interest, and the determination to preserve
that interest whole and inviolate. How different
are such leagues from those to which we have been
lately accustomed, where a hollow proposition has
been put forward without sincerity or earnestness,
only for the purpose of being rejected, and only
with the prospect of bringing forward something
that may occupy for a moment the attention of

diplomatic circles ! We know not whether this
proposal may be followed up by any more exten-
sive form of alliance, whether it will be deemed ad-
visable by the Western and Scandinavian States
to unite iu arms against the common enemy, and
seek to terminate the war by one great and con-
centrated effort on the fortifications of Cronstadt

and St. Petersburg—of this we know nothing ;
but, at any rate, much has been gained by inducing
these States to assume a firm and self-respecting
attitude towards Russia, and by pacing what we

may fairly hope is an insurmountable obstacle be-
tween that aggressive Government and the object
of its fondest desire—an access to the Atlantic
Ocean never closed by ice, and within a few days'
sail of the shores of France, England, and Ger-
many.

(From the Morning Post of this clay.)
The Western Powers have entered on their
alliance—have gathered their forces—have won
their battles—have seized Sebastopol—have dis-
armed it of its terrors—with certain objects which
England has declared, not diplomatically, but
plainly and straightforwardly, to Austria. It is
Austria, not France nor England, that urges peace.
The terms which those nations have shown that
they are able to win by force—to compel from their
enemy—they are not likely to stoop to solicit from
a foe which has brought on itself as a punishment
of the grossest duplicity the disasters under which
it now suffers. Much less are England and France,
strong as they are in the feeling of their people
and in their resources—flushed with the triumph
of success—likely to wait on the chances that may
depend from the course of a Government which has
fairly shown itself to be free from the ties of truth.
and. principle usually binding on the conscience of
empires.
empires. The war will be pushed
where
on with
war is utmost vigour in every quarter
pos-
sible. Not a gun-boat the less
will be launched
because Prince Esterhazy has le for St.Pethy
work in expectation of the
a hammer will be silent from its us
h result of his mission.
Far from crippling ourselves in anticipation of the
beneficial effects of Austrian intervention, we shall
push to the utmost the preparations now actively
in force for attacking the enemy by land and by
sea, irresistibly, so soon as the spring shall set us
free.
Our Baltic fleet, much as it has done for the
ruin
of Russia, has hitherto done little to satisfy
the country. - The Russian fleet has declined the 1
dangerous honour of meeting our English ships.
Secure under the shelter of enormous batteries, it
has preferred to boast the inglorious security of its
position to daring a trial with the successors to the
place of Nelson and Collingwood. Cronstadt and.
Sweaborg are reported to be impregnable. The re-
port may be true, but an early period of next year
will probably lot us know more of the fact. All
this winter while Russia is agitated, if report speak
truly, with clamours for peace, with distaste for
war, and with dread of its effects—while its com-
merce laments over its ruin—while its trade groans
over the falsities which it is forced to use—whil•
the mass of its people open their eyes slowly and
sadly to the misery to which a mistaken ambition
condemns them—England and. France will be
strong and active in preparation. We shall have a
fleet of gun-boats such as the world has never seen
7 •
Otrm-4 lied such es Will command algae etroriS fiat..

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