The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-14 00:00:00

THE SON n LONDON, MONDAY EVENI NG, MAY 14, 1855

sanctity at this movement. Perhaps there is no
branch of the public service in which a large and
comprehensive measure of reform is so urgently
required, and any alteration that adds to its
Authority, with Out improving its administration,
cannot prove very acceptable to the community.
Now, Lord PALMERSTON expressly declares him-
,elf adverse to any such amelioration. Forgetting '
that the First Lord of the Admiralty is almost
invariably a civilian, with a seat in the Cabinet,
!he boldly asserts that it would be " fatal to the
character and spirit of the army to commit its dis-
cipline to a mere citizen" ! How then does he
justify the arrangements respecting the Admiralty ?
are naval officers less sensitive in their feelings than
1 their military brethren ? Is there not as great a
desire for "appreciation" by a competent authority
by " blue jackets" as by "red coats ?" And why
is there a greater danger in the exercise of Mini-
sterial patronage in the one case than the other ?
IThese are interrogatories that cannot very easily
be answered. If the " first Lord" may be a
: Cabinet Minister, why not the Commander-in-
IChief ? The matter is too ridiculous—it will not
"
bear argument. The inconsistency of Lord PAL-
' MERSTON is obvious to the entire community.

But there are " wheels within wheels"—an im-
perium in irnperio which constitutes the real impedi-
ment— the solution of the enigma is not -very diffi-
cult. Lord HARDINGE is merely the nominal, not
the bona fide, Commander-in-Chief. He is but the
.puppet in the hands of a partially-concealed
power, who pulls the strings according to his R 111
and pleasure, who at the same time controls the
Cabinet and the Horse Guards without the respon-
sibility attached to either office. A certain Party
is the actual Premier, the real Commander-in-
Chief. He acts as he thinks proper, and causes
the truckling to " Germanism" of which so many
well-founded complaints have been preferred. He
himself holds a plurality of offices, as well of emo-
lument as of honour ; while his favourites are cer-
tain of promotion, as "any suggestion on his
part is equivalent to a command." The Colo-
nelcies to which the highest pay was attached
as a reward for the most brilliant services is
held by one who never saw a shot fired in battle.
Everything, in fact, that he could take he has
monopolised to himself ; and, in addition to
these substantial honours, he controls alike the
Cabinet and the Horse Guards. His influence is
paramount in Downing-street, and yet he e'-ades
the responsibility. This is not as it should be.
There should be a more constitutional system in
operation. The great popularity of Lord PAL-
MERSTON was occasioned by his supposed
antagonism to this objectionable practice.
But now that he has openly assumed the
COBURG livery—has become more subservient
oven than " the dear and excellent" ABERDEEN
himself, he must expect a similar fate to his pre-
decessor. He now strives to stave off the
the evil day—but in vain. He has had a fair
trial and failed egregiously, has been " weighed
in the balance and found wanting," and he must
now give place to a more independent, if not a
more talented Minister. Whoever is to be
Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief, let
him openly assume the offices, and then the
people of Great Britain will know what they
have to provide. Better that he do these things
directly than indirectly, fairly and above board
than under shelter of a Ministerial or military
puppet.

Notices have been. given in both Houses of 1
Parliament for the purpose of bringing the
proceedings at the late Conference at Vienna'
under discussion. But not, as it might have been
supposed, to censure the truckling to " German-
ism" and " Muscovitism," not to deplore the
concession offered by the French and English
Plenipotentiaries, under the inspiration of Austria,
but to express an opinion " that the propositions
made by the Government of Russia, for giving
effect to the principle of the Third Article, contain
elements for a renewed negotiation, and may offer
the means of obtaining an honourable and satis-

factory peace !"
And this is a question that will now be seriously
ventilated in Parliament, a Noble Lord, and a
Right Honourable Gentleman, having suffered
themselves to be made the tools of the " peace-
at-any-price " party, to so great an extent as to
put forward such a proposition. Although we
regret the matter for the sake of Lord GREY and
Mr. MILNER GrBSON, we cannot but rejoice on pub-
lic grounds that the opinion of the nation will be
clearly elicited, and the delusion so industriously
fostered as to the state of public opinion on this
all-important question completely dispelled. That
delusion has already occasioned a fearful amount of
mischief. It exercised no ordinary influence in pro-
ducing the original aggression and in causing the
late CZAR to harden his heart, and perversely re-
fuse to avail himself of the repeated opportunities
offered for the cessation of hostilities. To the
Peace Society and to Lord ABERDEEN England
owes the formidable War in which she is now
engaged. Neither, perhaps, could singly have
produced the evil ; but between them they con-
trived to deceive the AUTOCRAT by persuading
him that the time had arrived when he could
carry his nefarious designs against his inoffensive
neighbour into practical operation, without danger
of interruption, or anything beyond an unavailing
protest from England. Russia still indulges in
the hope that she can escape unscathed from
the consequences that she had so wantonly
provoked. Had it been otherwise, she would
gladly have accepted the proffered conditions ;
but, on the contrary, she has attempted to acquire
the right of sending her navy into the Bosphorus
at her mere will and pleasure, and thus to threaten
the throne and authority of the SULTAN at any
moment she may think proper—and this, ac-
cording to Earl GREY and Mr. MILNER GIBSON,
"contains elements for a renewed negotiation,
and may offer the means of obtaining au honour-
able and satisfactory peace !"
We trust that Parliament and the nation may
return suitable answers to the appeals thus made,
so that henceforward there may be no possible
doubt on the subject. It will not suffice to ne-
gative the motions counter propositions must be
brought forward expressing the public opinion on
the undue concessions offered, and that if the
propositions brought forward by the Western
Powers had been unequivocally accepted by
Russia, they would not have produced an honour-
able or satisfactory peace. Ministers may fancy that
these motions afford a loophole for escaping from
the condemnation which their own timidity so
justly merits. But it is not so. Although they
have not fallen into that depth of degradation,
have not committed that treason against their
country, they have much to answer for, and
they must do so at the bar of public opinion.
They must be
taught that they can no longer
temporise, or
energy
wait for Austria, that they must
acloptlanguaebe
s coming the nation they represent,
and exhibit the
urgently required, and determination so
If they
do not so, we must find
others willing to do so.
If, as an English
rrion arch once declared
a Cabinet were to be
einstructed from the Git-813
passers-by at
Charing-cross, we would sooner trust to it than
to those so oblivious of their dutieit

men. The nation will not be cajoled or hum I
bugged any longer. It requires the service of
men aware of what is required at their hands,
and with firmness and resolution to discharge
their duty despite of any interference. We will
not have " Mnscovitism" or " Germanism"—no,
nor " Coburgism "—prevalent in the National
Councils. The nation requires truly English
Ministers, and that it will have at any price, or
under any circumstances. Although not indiffe-
rent to other matters, we feel that the paramount
consideration at present is the energetic and
manly conduct of the War, until "an honour-
able and manly peace be conquered," and to that
all other subjects must, for the time being, give
place.

Some time ago we strongly urged the import-
ance of opening at once the Salina mouth of the
Danube. We are glad to see that one of the morn-
ing journals has at length taken up the subject
in connection with the exclusive power at present
enjoyed by the Allies in the Black Sea. It will
not be long before harvest again waves on
the plains of the unhappy Danubian pro-
vinces—a smaller one probably than in years
of peace, for Russian barbarities and Aus-
trian brutalities, and the absorption of seed
corn, perhaps, by the two classes of invaders,
may have prevented the sowing of as much laud
as usual Still, beyond doubt, there will be a
large surplus on the rich and extensive plains
lying on both sides of the DAnubo. Why ahoulrl
not we and all Europe have the benefit of this
supply ? It may also be of great value to our
Commissariat in the East ; whether we winter
our troops in the Crimea (which we hope
smaller numbers will suffice for before autumn) in
Bessarabia, or in Turkey, the free navigation of
the Danube will be a great commissariat advan-
tage to us.

The object is fully worth all the gun-boats re-
quired. Under their protection, lighters might
load the larger vessels as they already do, and
those of lighter draft perform the whole voyage.
The batteries at the Sulina mouth are already de-
stroyed, nor is there anything that we remember
which could resist our gun-boats, either afloat or
ashore, from Galati to the Black Sea. Steam
dredges might also, under the same protection,
commence removing the mud at once. Besides
the liberation of the Moldavian, Wallachian, and
Bulgarian harvests, the clear and undeniable
opening of the Danube would be like the absolute
control of the Black Sea, and the re-conquest
of the Provinces ; it would be a third
point wrested from Russia, which at any
other conference she could again be told was
wrested from her already, and could never be re-
stored. M. DROVYN DE L'lluys' principle is of
wide application, and deeply it is to be regretted
that so able a statesman should have been the
first practically to renounce it. The Allies have
annihilated Russian ships of war in the Black Sea;
they must be forbidden to exist there again. In
like manner we must now take possession of the
mouths of the Danube, and never again ask the
leave of Russia to keep them open.

Either we underrate the patience of the coun-
try, or the Established Church overrates it. While
every governmental organisation may be said to
tremble in anticipation of an overhauling—re-
trench its arrogance, and mitigate the offensive-
ness of its pretensions—while every other religious
ministry devotes its host energies and employs its
most persuasive arts to conciliate the goodwill of
of the masses, and thereby conduce to their moral
welfare—the State Church—the Church whose
claim to be deemed the People's Church, is the
most effective in securing its toleration as an
establishment, the Church that is endowed with
wealth such as no other Church throughout the
entire world possesses in any corresponding de-
gree, must advance its most offensive claims, and
outrage humanity, and common sense, by
the persecution of industrious individuals,
for the recovery of amounts toe small to be re-
fused save for conscience' sake! Does the Estab
lishment think this is to be permitted to go on?
Just let our readers take the following case as
an illustration of what we mean. It is by no
means the only one, nor the worst we have heard
of during the last year ; but it is the latest that
has come before us, and on that account we have
selected it. The scene is in Cornwall ; the ♦ictim,
a cottager ; the sum sought, fifteenpence ; and
the claim for Church Rates. Now, on the face of
it, a claim for Church Rates on a poor cottager
has an ugly look with it not at all consonant with
the obligations of a National Church ; but an
attempt to enforce such a claim, when the money,
whether owing to conscientious scruples or to
poverty, is not forthcoming, is really shocking--
every religious feeling is outraged by it ; and yet
such an attempt at enforcement took place in this
instance. The churchwarden got two magistrates
to issue a warrant of distress on the recusant cot-
tager for the fifteenpence ; and—let the reader
mark it—ien shillings more for the churchwarden
as " his reasonable costs and charges." The war-
rant was executed, goods valued at thirty-five
shillings were seized and carried off and sold.
The account then ran :
Rate is. 3d.
Church warden's costs los. Od.
Constable's charges 7s. 6d.

Total lBs. 9d.
Goods sold for lBs. Od.

Deficiency Os. 9d.
Thirty-five shillings worth of goods seized and
sold for an unrighteous claim of fifteenpence—
and Mother Church gains sixpence, and the
victim is still ninepence in debt. We don't
mean to say anything against the Churchwarden.
No doubt he followed the dictates of an elevated
nature—far removed from pity, or any other
r little weakness of humanity, or had never an old
coat in his wardrobe to pawn for the occasion.
But we really have something to say to the
Bench of Bishops. We would ask their
Right Reverend Lordships if this is quite
;,he sort of thing, the toleration of which
can add dignity to the lawn and stability
to the Establishment ? Passing ho'pelessly from
them, we would appeal on higher considerations
to good men of all creeds, and say—ls it not your
duty to put a stop to such proceedings—proceed-
ings that sap all respect for religion in the minds
of the masses, which become cognisant of them,
and convert what should be a powerful engine of
morality into a deadly and wide-spread snare ?
Thirty-five shillings worth of goods seized and
sold for a rate of fifteenpence, and the poor cot-
shuarselbyeeant
tgutted—
ends the
stillta
igne whose
Establishment.in d embto.d estA
dfawteallliitnyg

The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland have arrived
i u Paris, and alighted at the lidtei, Bristol, Place Ven-

anae.
The Marquis of Abercorn, Colonel of the Donegal Re-
giment, has resigned, and the Marquis of Conyngham,
Lieutenant-Colonel, has been appointed Colonel, the
Hon. Major Clements to be Lieutenant-Colenel, and
Captain Todd to be Major.
A deputation from Lambeth, consisting of Mr. W.
Williams, M.P., Mr. T. P. Murrongh, M.P., Messrs.
Strattlin (churchwarden), Robert Taylor, Charlps Evans,
Fredk. Doulton, Chas. Barker, and Amos Cane, had an
interview with Sir George Grey, on Friday, at the Home
Office.

DISBANDING TDB MILITIA.

vance.

mines.

sunset.

LATEST NEWS.

THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

WAR DEPARTMENT, MAY 12, 9 P.M.

Lord Panmure presents his compliments to the
Editor of The Sun, and has great pleasure in
transmitting the enclosed intelligence, which has
this day reached him from Lord Raglan.

"SEBASTOPOL, MAY 11, 4.45 P.m.

" The enemy opened a heavy fire on our
trenches last night, and maintained it for nearly
two hours. Their troops did nut attack our ad-

van eed parallels.

"The Russians hoisted a flag of truce yesterday

evening, with a view to bury their dead, who
were killed the night before in front of our ad-

" The truce was granted."

WAR DEPARTMENT, MAY 14, 12.50 A.M.
" The enemy made a sortie last night (Friday)
on the advanced works of the left attack. They

moved forward in two columns, but both were
immediately repulsed with considerable loss.
" The conduct of the troops was admirable.
" Our loss consisted of 1 officer and 5 men
killed, and 30 men wounded "

BERLIN, MAY 12.

The following despatch has been received hero
from St. Petersburg, dated the 11th inst. :

Prince Gortschakoff, under date of the 6th of

May, writes :
Between the sth and 6th the enemy increased
their batteries and strengthened their approaches
against Bastion No. 5.

The fire of the enemy was especially directed
against Bastions 4 and 5, and against the Seling-
hinsk and Voihynia Redoubts, to which we suc-
cessfuHy replied.
Between the 3d and 4th the enemy sprung two
mines, with a view to regain their old entonnoirs.
We worked against them with different counter-

On the night between the 4th and sth we made
a small sortie, and took an English officer and
three men prisoners.
During the last few days three of the enemy's
powder magazines have blown up.

On the evening of the Ist of May the greater
portion of the enemy's fleet stood out to sea, it is
said with 10,000 to 15,000 troops on board. On
the 2d it was seen sailing past Yalta it is believed
in the direction of the coast of Anapa.

NYBORG, SUNDAY.

A French squadron, consisting ,of the Tourville,
carrying the flag of Admiral Penaud Duquesne,
and Austerlitz, line-of-battle ships, and the cor-
vette d'Assas, passed the Belt this morning.

KIEL, SUNDAY.
The French squadron anchored off Bellevue at

COPENHAGEN, SUNDAY.

The Conflict arrived at noon from Elsinore,
and having repaired damages proceeded south-
wards this afternoon.

KCENIGSBERG, MAY 11.

The Invalide Russe says, that from the com-
mencement of the war in the Crimea, up to
March 1, the Russian loss in wounded (without
reckoning the dead) has amounted to 15,123.

BERLIN, FRIDAY, MA! 11.

Count Esterhazy arrived yesterday.
It is rumoured that Austria is on the point
of proclaiming her neutrality, together with that
of all Germany. But the truth of the rumour
is greatly doubted.

VIENNA, SATURDAY, MAY 12.

' There is a talk' of the Western Powers having
raised their pretensions, by vray of answering the

last Russian propositions.

VIENNA, MONDAY MORNING.

The formal rejection of the last propositions
made by Austria arrived here on Saturday. People
speak of counter-propositions, but if such there be,
they can only refer to the future policy of Austria.