The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-28 00:00:00

as. " the great and generous idea of PETER the
Great," which, however, is now out of place, and
ought to be abandoned.

The remedy for the evils so strongly alluded
to is declared to be "a Congress"—a meeting of
Sovereigns, or their Representatives, who shall
decide upon the solution, which the Five
Great Powers, " who have hitherto governed
Europe with common accord," have been
unable to determine. In other words, it is
a demand for a new " Holy Alliance "—for an
organised conspiracy against theliberties of Europe,
which shall henceforth be consigned to the tender
care of the despotic Governments, Russia, Aus-
tria, and Prussia recovering the influence which
they have so justly forfeited, and having a casting
vote against the Western Powers ; the minor
Sovereigns of Europe, so many of whom are little
better than Muscovite vassals, being the arbiters
and judges on disputed or doubtful points.
We certainly are not prepared to assent to this
new and exaggerated phase of " Germanism." It
is not the " public opinion " which the EMPEROR
invoked in his admirable speech on the closing of
the Great Exhibition, or that to which the peoples
of France and England will always listen with
attentive and respectful consideration. The de-
claration and decision of Europe as to who is
right and who is wrong would unquestionably be
a grand step towards a satisfactory solution ; but
that decision should be fairly and impartially ob-
tained, not pronounced. by the salaried lacqueys
of Russia, who might assume her livery and pro-
claim their dependence without any abatement of
dignity.

Nor is the declaration that " the position of
neutrals can be looked on in a more favourable
light" than at any former period, consistent with
the emphatic enunciation by the EMPEROR, that
" in the midst of a grave European conflict indif-
ference is a false calculation and silence an error."
Nothing has occurred since the 15th of Novem-
ber to obviate the necessity for those wbo had
previously stood aloof from the contest " making
vows for or against us." The news of the de-
struction of Sebastopol was even then stale. The
" decisive success" had been obtained more than
two months before, and the mission of neutrality
was the same then as now. The suggestion, then,
cannot have emanated from NAPOLEON, •r even ,
received his approval, inasmuch as we find it
clearly and distinctly antagonistic in so many
respects to his most recent authentic declara-
tions, nor is it one that can influence his sagacious
mind. Its true character will be discerned
from a close and stringent investigation of all
its details. With this view we have, at consider-
able inconvenience, given it in extenso in another
part of our impression, satisfied that the best
method of refuting the sinister and dangerous
rumours referred to, will be by showing its total
incompatibility with the honourable and straight-
forward course hitherto so steadily pursued by
our Imperial Ally. The poison cannot be very
formidable that carries with it its own antidote,
and the complete publication will do more to re-
move the apprehensions that might be otherwise
entertained than the most elaborate and critical
arguments founded on a merely partial knowledge
of its contents.

Kars has fallen and Odessa is spared ! Look
at it, ponder over it. Ask yourself, reader, what
it means. We are at war with Russia, or we are
not. If we are, what sort of a War is it we are
waging ? It is the season for riddles, and one
more interesting cannot just now be offered the
British public for solution.
Don't give it up ; take a little time for reflec-
tion. Consider what the word War has hitherto
implied—how NELSON and WELLINGTON rendered
it. A contention, was it not, between two or
more combatants for the mastery, in which the
utmost was to be done on either side for the para-
lysation of the strength of the other ? A deadly
combat for a recognised object ; waged with
brain, heart, and sinew, with shot, steel, and
flame ; admitting of some courtesy and humanity,
but no rose•water nonsense ? A contention in
which not to oppose the enemy at all points was
to contribute to his success, and to spare any of
his resources was to fortify him against his antago-
nist ?
" Kars has fallen and Odessa is spared." What
sort of a War is it ? Aye, that is the question,
and what Englishman can ask it without grief
of heart ? Ponder over it. There is no
mutual rose-water agreement between the
contending Powers to embarrass you in
your search for a solution. Russia at Si-
nope, Hango, and Sebastopol has demonstrated
what disposition exists on her part to spare any-
thing she can destroy. No one in his senses be-
lieves that a Russian fleet would spare any one of
our seaports any more than that the EurEnoa
would suffer 16,000 of his best soldiers to be
starved into the surrender of a defensible position.
Never, in point of fact, did foe act more unscru
pulously—nothing that we have spared but Russia
has turned against us. " Private buildings and
unfortified places (foolishly respected as such by
us) she has used for magazines for the munitions
of war and barracks of security for her soldiers"
aye, has even gone so far as "on several occasions
when opportunity offered to unmask those
houses of refuge, and fire on our soldiers and
sailors."

What sort of a War is it when, under such cir-
cumstances, Kars has been suffered to fall and
Odessa has been spared ? We have already quoted
a, passage or two from Mr. GAANTLET F. BERKELEY'S
Letter on the War, which appears in another
column. Let us quote another—thin fur the
humanity - mongers. " The strength of an
empire lies in the wealth of its subjects.
Private possessions are the veins which
supply the great artery of the public purse
—then cut off the supply !- There is not a
true soldier who does not know the import of
those last four words ' cut off the supply,' who

matter,
ther it be of water, food, fuel, or gold, no
they are all important, and cannot be done with-
out—this difference alone exists that if the money

fails it strikes a blow at all." Well, Odessa has
contributed, and still contributes liberally, almost
all these necessaries to the foe, and so long as it
continues wealthy and prosperous, or a stiver is
to be had from it, will go on doing so. Yet
Odessa is spared. Mr. BRIGIIT does the senti-
mental---waxes plaintively indignant, and wipes
face, bead, and ears when its destruction is hinted
at ; and Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT is not so buried in
lint and linsey woolsey as not to be able to reci-
procate a sigh. But would the CZAR spare Odessa
if ho could save or gain anything by its destruc-
tiou ? Will any one venture to say that a con-
templation of the misery its destruction would
occasion to its numerous inhabitants, its vast capa-
city for the export of corn or its many beauties, in-
cluding t 1 Palace of Prince WoßorizoFF, would
*
have sufficient weight to induce him to withhold
the incendiary from his prey ? The man must be
insane who says so. Yet we spare Odessa--we,
too, who know that as surely as it exists the de-
fenders of Sebastopol could not have withstood
our arms for the length of time they did but for
the supplies they derived from it. We spared
Odessa, and it cost us the lives of thousands of