The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-01 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 1855.

We live in strange, eventful times ; and the
year which has just terminated will be regarded
by the historical student as one of the most
memorable recorded in British history. After
thirty-nine years of profound peace and tran-
quillity the torch of War has been enkindled--
the Temple of JANUS re-opened. Nor is it a
" little War" in which we are engaged. The
prophetic foreboding of the. Great NAPOLEON is in
course of verification. The attempt has been
made to render Europe " Cossack." France—
happily governed by the nephew and legitimate
representative of that NAPOLEON whose dynasty
we wasted so much blood and treasure to over-

throw—is united heart and hand witk the British
Empire in a determined opposition to the grasping
cupidity and boundless ambition of the Northern
Despot--united by bonds that, we trust and be-
lieve, will day by day be more closely cemented
until they become indissoluble. They are engaged
in a sacred cause. It is, indeed, a " Holy Alli-
ance," in the true sense of the expression. "Holy,"
because there is no private or personal feel-
ing involved in the quarrel. " Holy," because
they seek no political aggrandisement ; and that
having shown a profound sense of th• blessings of
Peace, they have yet flung away their scabbards
rather than suffer the triumph of injustice—the
victory of " might over right." This is real
" chivalry," not the caricature denominated
" Quixotism," but an earnest feeling of what jus-
tice demands, and an unbending determination to
see that it be enforced. It is the result of an un-
flinching obedience to the Divine precept, " Do
unto others as you would they should do unto
you." France and England have, therefore, in-
terposed their power and authority between the
oppressor and his intended victim. And they
have done so, not hastily or recklessly, but
with a thorough knowledge of the danger, diffi-
culty, expenditure, and bloodshed that must be
encountered. Perhaps we may be wrong in
ascribing this latter knowledge to the entire

nation. When the Government, or rather a portion
of the Government, comprising all those whose
offices gave them any control over the manage-
ment of hostilities, appeared to remain in
total darkness. Lord ABERDEEN, Mr. GLAD-
STONE, and some others, unquestionably exhibited
a blind credulity in hoping even against hope that
peace could be still maintained ; and by their
professions and practices they probably occasioned,
and certainly rendered the War more for-
midable and onerous, for they induced the
CZAR to believe that an exhibition of
haughty determination might enable him
to escape from the false step he had taken, and
to be allowed to play out his game with impunity.

At the commencement of 1854 we were still
at peace, although the aspect of the politio.tl ho-
rizon was peculiarly lowering, and all, save a few

devoted " ABERDEENITES " and members of the
Peace Society, looked on a speedy collision with
Russia as inevitable. The massacre of Sinope
had taken place. The nation was disgusted, not
merely at the brutality of the Russians, but also
at the apathy and indifference of our own Admi-
ral, who, with an overwhelming force under his
command, suffered the fleet to come forth from
Sebastopol and to perpetrate the awful and heart-
rending atrocity that horrified the British nation.
It had, however, produced one result. It had
led to a more resolute demand on the part of the
Western Powers, who were determined no longer
to stand idly by while su3h atrocities were being
perpetrated. They demanded that the Princi-
palities should be vacated by a fixed period, the
30th of April, offering, at the same time, certain
definite proposals that might possibly have led to
an amicable arrangement had they been received
in a suitable spirit. The CZAR, however, dis-
missed them in the most summary manner, stating
that " the proposals did not require a moment's
consideration."

Meantime, however, Parliament had assembled,
and notwithstanding the gravity of existing cir-
cumstances hopes were held out of various mea-
sures of reform which were urgently required.
Some of the less important, or, at least, the less
anxiously looked for, were carried, but the vast
majority were relinquished with more or less de-
monstrations inonstrations of regret on the part of their puta-
tive Parliamentary
innocents were surrendered3por ance of regret, while wi hn out ssome
the casesapp etahre-
in others the arent
exhibited strong indications of th e painful strpuggle
he had endured before consenting to the sacrifice.
If we obtained a small
instalment of University
Reform, we were obliged
o to relinquish the fondly-
cherished expectations of Parliamentary Reform,
which seemed within our grasp when it had been
especially announced in the Royal Speech. The
last relics of the obsolete Usury Laws were erased
from the national statute-book ; but the Ecclesi-
astical Courts remained unimproved, the law of
marriage au divorce unaltered ; and if there was
a consolidation of the Mercantile Law, we were
still compelled to await patiently the long-pro-
mised codification of the Criminal Law. Of the
last Session we may say, se far as matters uncon-
nected with the War were concerned, that it was
one of large promise and of Scanty performance,
and that the chief changes to be
noticed were i
those in the fiscal department namely, the
doubling of the Income Tax, the large Increase
of the Malt Duties, the Spirit Dutie ase
s, aria
the stoppage of the reduction of the Sugar ,
Duties, atd the promise of a suspension of all
further reduction of the Tea Duties—one of the
kind in which we are enabled to place faith in
the promises of Ministers.
We also had the creation of a War Minister.
But the chosen of the nation was not appointed,
and the Duke of NEWCASTLE, who received the
post to which the voice of public opinion had
nominated Lord PALMERSTON, has not been very
successful in the performance of the onerous and
important duties confided to his charge. Return-
ing, however, to the all-important question
that absorbed the attention of the community.
We may say that War was proclaimed at the close
of the first quarter of the year, or the 28th of
March.

Twoexpeditions bad previously been despatohed,

A British army was despatched to Scutari, and a
British fleet to the Baltic. The latter captured
and destroyed Bomarsund in conjunction with
the Allies, and made the Russian fleet keep close
under the walls of Sweaborg or Cronstadt. It
did not fulfil the expectations of the nation. But
that we firmly believe to have been the fault of
the Home authorities, and not of the gallant Ad-
miral in command. The land expedition lay for
some time inactive, while disease and privation
more than decimated their ranks. They saw
their Allies engaged in a life-and-death
struggle, but no effort was made to
relieve 'or assist them. It was not until August
that a movement in advance was attempted, al-
though the intention was suffered to leak out, so
as to put the CZAR on his guard, and enable his
servants to prepare a warm reception. Tran-
sports were then assembled, and in the beginning
of September the army sailed for the Crimea, where
they were landed at Old Fort on the 14th of Septem-
ber, without loss, or even a show of resistance. On
the 20th the glorious battle of the Alma followed,
and soon after the celebrated flank movement on
Balaklava, the propriety whereof is at present
more canvassed than on its first announcement.
Since then there has been the attempted surprise
at Balaklava, rendered memorable by the un-
fortunate misapprehension which led to the
self-devoted sacrifice of so many of our brave
cavalry soldiers ; and the battle of Inkerman,
where a greater number of the assailants were
placed hors de combat than the entire number of
the defenders of the position.
We have also had a winter Parliament, remark-
able only for the establishment of an unconstitu-
tional force, and the impression .ccasioned by the
Ministerial proposition that Englishmen were un-
able to defend themselves without the venal aid
of mercenaries.

We must Row look forward confidently and
hopefully. We trust the New Year will bring more
resolute councils, and that the British Government
may, eves at the eleventh hour, show themselves
worthy of the position in which they ars placed,
and fulfil the expectations and wishes of the people
whose destinies are placed in their hands.

Let Sebastopol" be taken, and Austria will have
serious grounds enough to dread the vengeance of
Russia. NICHOLAS can no more forgive his im-
perial serf than he can a patriotic Pole. Her con
tribution to British losses at the victory of Inker-
man will not mitigate his wrath in the least.
Austria dared, by mistake, to congratulate the
Alliesf and has since dared to set OMEII. PACIIA at
liberty for the Crimea, and to sign " a treaty
which, defensive to-day, may become offensive to-
morrow." She has sinned beyond the hope of
pardon. This position of hers is the only ground
on which we can hope that she nay do from ne-
cessity at last what she ought to have done from
a sense of honour and right long ago. It is,
however, time that she bestir herself. Whenever
the Crimea becomes a hopeless battle-field for
Russia, she will bring the greater part of ker
power to bear on Austria. The young murderer
of the Hungarian officers for whose life even a
PASKIEWITCH interceded, the young tyrant who
has suppressed the national institutions of Hun-
gary, will then have that yet powerful country
more favourable to the Russians than to him.
Prussia will never help him, and the Poles, unless
gained in time, will be his bitter enemies. Aus-
tria has wronged them only less than Russia, and
they will gladly seize any opportunity to plunge
their bayonets into either oppressor.

NICHOLAS has, moreover, one advantage over
the boy-king. His people and. the Poles are of
one race—they are all Sclavonians; and deeply as
they feel the wronge inflicted on them by their
fellow Sclavonians of Russia, they are yet more
incensed perhaps with the Austrian and Ger-
man contempt for their race. Austria was
indebted to her Sclavonian population for
pissing through the revolution of 1848-9
without dismemberment ; they expected as
a reward a Sclavonian policy, but they have
been recompensed with a steady effort to convert
them into Germans. This, being the majority of
the population of Austria, they naturally resent.
NICHOLAS has therefore but to offer some conces-
sions to the Pules, and to take the lead in a cru-
sade for vengeance on the contemners of the Scla-
vonian race, and the Poles would follow him.
Why should they not? If Austria be not willing
to restore them to nationality as the best safe-
guard against Russia, nor the Allies as their only
reasonable material guarantee for a lasting peace,
why should they, not take up with the next best
thing, and compel one despiser of the Sclavonian
race to feel its terrible power when aroused and
united to avenge, where it can, a long series of
insults. If Austria is to be secure against the
possible vengeance of Russia next summer, and
against the despairing co-operation of Poland to
inflict it—if, too, the Allies mean to have Poland
with them and not against them, and to secure
the aid of Sweden, who waits on this one condi-
tion—then the declaration of ;'Polish nationality
as the fifth and the greatest point must not longer
be deferred. Count VALERIAN KnAsiNsKr, who,
at least, may be presumed to know the minds of
his countrymen, assures us that from such consi-
derations as these alone the question is an urgent

one.

It has been frequently asked by a leading jour-
nal, and with an air of perfect knowledge—Row
are we to get at Poland ? Whether our ships are
to sail on dry land and disembark their troops at
Warsaw ? It is interesting, in reading the care-
fully-reasoned pamphlet alluded to, to see the
difference between pretentious and scoffing decla-
mation and real knowledge. We give in
another column an extract from the Count's
pamphlet, which will be interesting information to
nearly every one of our readers, and which will
show that the writer fully understands the prac-
tical as well as the political part of his subject.
Re marks the very part of the Baltic from which
Poland may be invaded with success, with the)
certain co-operation of the inhabitants of the dis-
trict, and with equal certainty of cutting the
Russian line of communications, while the base of
our operations would be a sea coast comparatively
near to the ports both of England and France.
In fact, the more the question is discussed and
studied, the more must every thinking man be
convinced that it is pre-eminently the great prac-
toi;avlmeanoynalestiwoirftitte an hres, hsoouldr.
toltAmusatyriasuaint
dtheßpurpose
n
pooh pooh it as the vagary of refugees ;
itltlBtelyB,catno, an aristecracy aristocratic Cabinet to forgot, if
as noble as themselves,
though their days in Siberia, or as'
though pining
emigrants ; it may suit
a Ministry which would
like for its credit's sake perhaps
to boat Russia,
but not to disqualify her for the
position
the b
rfatehres
despot's hope—to leave her close
0
of Germany ; but if our people become alive to
their own interest, they will force on our Govern-
ment a reconstituted Poland, even as they forced
on it a righteous war. They will force it on them
to hasten the termination- of the War, to spare in
an honourable way the needless effusion of English
blood, and to take the only effectual guarantee
for European peace,

DESPATCHES FROM THE
PACIFIC.

We have been favoured by the Admiralty with the
following :

(No. 19.)

President, at San Francisco, Nov. 15.

SIR,—A.B a sequence to Captain Sir Frederick Nicol-
son's letter of the 19th September last, addressed to me,
the duplicate of which was forwarded hence on the 16th
ult. ; I beg to transmit lists of the names of the seamen
and marines belonging to her Majesty's ships who were
killed at Petropaulovski, or who have since died of their
I am, &c.,
CHARLES FREDERICK,
Commodore.
Ralph Osborne, Esq., M.P.

wounds.

(Signed)

President, San Francisco, 14th Nov., 1854.
Return of Officers, Seamen, and Marines, belonging to
her Majesty's ship President, who were killed or have
died since from wounds received in the attack cn
Petropaulovski

OFFICER.

Captain Charles A, Parker, Royal Marines.

SEAMEN.
James Ariell, able seaman.
James Callaghan, „
David Stedman, ~
John Leask, ordinary.
Richard Tassell, „
George Durrant, „
MARINES.
Private Richard Tunall.
„ John Saines.
„ Francis Russell.
„ George Henderson.
ft Robert Woodards.
(Signed) RICHARD BURRIDGE,
Captain.

List of Men lately belonging to her Majesty's ship
Pique, who were killed, and who have since died of
wounds received in the operations against the Batteries
and Town of Petropauloveki, Kamtschatka, on the
4th of September, 1854.
Joseph Batt, master-at•arms.
Wm. H. Garland, second class ordinary.
Daniel Davey, A. 8., died on board from wounds on
13th September.
James Alfred, captain foretop.
Charles Browne, alias C. Brown M‘Dermot, leading
seaman, died on board from wounds on 15th Oct.
Noah Yates, sailmakers crew, died on board from
wounds on 7th Sept.
Thomas Morrison (1), ordinary.
Joseph Hatch, A.B.
James Thiriwell, A.B.
Joseph Down, ordinary.
James Marks, boy, first class.
Lanman Race, ■erjeant.
John Carter, serjeant.
Joseph Jackson, Ovate R.M.
Henry Jefferies, private R.M., died on board from
wounds on 6th Sept.
Thomas H eweson, private R.M.
Williom Carne, private R.M., died on board from
wounds on 15th October.

List of persons belonging to her Majesty's ship Virago
killed during operations, and since died from their
wounds.
Killed at Petropaulovski, 4th Sept., 1854--
George Tee, stoker.
Henry Fowler, gunner, R.M.A., 3d Class.
Thomas Martyr, private, R.M., 3d Class. .
Died of Wounds—
George Julier, gunner, R.M.A., 3d class, 14th Sept.
Samuel Sergeant, stoker, 14th Oct.