The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-04 00:00:00

Spirit of the Public Journals.

( From the Times. of this day.) •
The Antigone of Sophocles was acted a few years back
in London. The original Greek was rendered respect-
ably enough into English ; the costumes were copied
from the most trustworthy authorities ; the space usually
devoted to the orchestra and a portion of the pit had
been assigned for the evolutions of the chorus ; the acting
was above mediocrity, and yet the representation was a
signal failure. The reason was obvious enough. There
was not a single Bbre, a single nerve, in the bodies or
minds of any one of the spectators which vibrated, not
to say in unison, but in harmony with the emotions of
an ancient Greek. Our old friend Cardinal Wiseman is at
the present moment following in stile,' footsteps of the
enterprising manager. His repertoire does not, indeed,
comprise Prometheus, or the Theban Chiefs, CEdipus
or Jocastr, Medea or lon. He is a manager of the
eomantic, not of the classical school. -His Jupiter Sevin
tinders from the Vatican. He drapes himself with the
terrors of an Innocent or a Julius, and calls upon me to
bow down before pontifical shadows which have been
long since dismissed from the category of English belief.
Wo are not living in the reign of Henry Vll.,—ofhis son
we speak not, for Cardinal Wiseman was then out of date
—hut of Queen Victoria. Al far as England is con-
oerned; it vvottldibe as rational to get up an agitation for
the Druids, and, treprp.poec, gre cembuetien of, espins,
ming and Mr. Spooner in wicker images constructed for
the purpose, as to denounce us' for not boWing the -kiwi
to Rome. We spOke just slow of Cayslinglirkteparm
of a theatrical-
manager haemiata)teu is Line of re-
'presentation; is still More:like s maicualiMr cliegb6
,on re*rn borne telltale
gropk, tha flowing,robes the
tpitted'olieek;Zlf*tt'rf*Vft''l;joi
•
assistants had agreed to a compromi
sent and the past ; but at five o'clth
beneath the piazza of Covent-garden
market-gardeners Qf A.D. 1855 Jai. to ...eg ut tppy
realities in the shape of sound-hearted cabbages—when
the wall-flowers smell sweet in the baskets of the
flower-girls when the streets resound with the
cries of the early Tenders of milk which is meant
to be drunk, and of actual sweeps who purpose
sweeping actual chimneys which are foul with bona
fide soot—the false Cardinal, the mummer, the mas-
querader, slinks along like a vulgar ghost. What
have real men, in whose veins life is bubbling and
dancing, to do with shadows such as these ? But what
if this mummer should call upon us to desist from our
usual and wholesome occupations, while he convinced
us that the world ought to go back four centuries, that
the present was the past, and that our only course was
to bow our necks to chains which our wiser ancestors
rent asunder, and cast behind them, in their own names
and in the name of their posterity, for ever? Such was
Cardinal Wiseman's position when, on the night of Sun-
day last, from the pulpit of the Roman Catholic Church
oftahf Sise
favour
notableel
fa rty'h sem,
Ael‘auls
sou
torreri fiawne ladcss,
0,
aohfee a e
crodduade
trr.ses:ed Hisbu th i audience
as
not another
e rvindicationw
word
for abuse of England and things English, and, above all,
of " that tide, that] torrent of Anti-Catholic feeling
which seemed to be spreading like a deluge over this
land." The excitement, according to the Cardinal,
arises simply from a misunderstanding as to the nature
of the case. It bas been made one of public interest,
whereas it is in reality " a domestic affair of Catholics"
—a kind of little family arrangement, with which
strangers have no concern.
Had there been two consecutive sentences of reason-
ing or argument in Cardinal Wiseman's address, we
could have met them by corresponding and, we venture
to think, by superior, arguments. Two-thirds of the
address, however, consist of a pompous announcement
' "that he is going to begin," and when his Eminence
has begun, cf course he will make mincemeat of his
antagonist . We read on, not without great expecta-
tion ; but the worthy Cardinal is like one of Homer's
gods—he possesses the art of disappearing from the
scene and vanishing into empty air at the critical mo-
ment. After more than one perusal, we pledge our-
selves to the statement that the single argument con-
tained in it is this .—The Concordat between Austria
and Rome is a wise and politic measure, calculated to
promote the interests of Christian Europe in general,
and of the Austrian dominions in particular, and it was
agreed upon after long consultation, between the Em-
peror and the Pope. There has been great agitation
against it in this country, which was necessarily
without foundation, because we objected to it at
once. "Though two years were spent in drawing it
up and perfecting it," said the Cardinal, " it was
not two hours in the bands of a newspaper editor be-
fore he, to whom the subject was altogether new, with
a dashing did a flowing pen, wrote an indignant article,
bowing the whole thing to pieces." The Concordat was,
no doubt, a new thing—new to unhappy Austria, new
to France ! The ancient Monarchs of those countries
had spent their best energies in struggling against the
monstrous provisions which it contains. We and our
forefathers in England have bee.-acquainted with thorn
from the times of Thomas A'Beckett to our own ; and
some three centuries back they decided that no foreign
priest should tithe or toll in England—that no English
subject should withhold his allegiance from his native
Prince to bestow it upon an Italian bishop. Although,
God be thanked, we have little knowledge here of an
Inquisition such as that which is established in the
Austrian Con oriel, we know very well that precisely
three centuries ago, under precisely a similar jurisdiction,
martyrs were burnt at a distance of ten minutes' walk
from the spot on which these lines are written. If
we would know what the censorship of books
may accomplish in extinguishing the light of the
human intellect we need only turn to Spain, to Italy—
above all to Ron e. There is not, in point of fact, a
single provision in the Concordat which has not actively
engaged tee attention of Europe for many centuries
past. It needs no long cogitations to arrive at the con-
clusion that the young bigot to those unworthy hands
the temporary destiny of so many provinces has been
intrusted has sold -his people body and soul to a tyranny
against which his predecessors, bigoted as many of them
were, bad resisted to the death.
Not only in foreign countries, but in the Austrian
provinces, far more than in foreign countries, the ex-
citement against this juggle of Pope and Emperor is
intense. In Bohemia, so famous for its religious strug-
gles when the rest of Europe lay prostrate before the
Roman Pontiff, the voice of free discussion has never
been silenced, the brilliant light of reason never quenched.
In the hereditary Duchies all respect is lost for the
tenants of those luxurious masteries which are scattered
along the course of the Danube. Tile country folk tel
you strange stories of the doings of these holy men.
In contact on all sides, save on the east, with civilisa-
tion and thought, is that fair portion of Europe which
is known es the SuArian dominions to be reduced to
the coneition in which Spain has many centuries been
held ? What? Europe not know the consequences of
the provisions contained in this Concordat ! In the
Spanish Peninsula-we see the result before our eyes.
The reader will not regret to seethe words in which the
eloquent historian Prescott, in his recent "Life of
Philip 1I.," describes the event of such a policy :
" Spain might now boast that the stain of heresy no
longer defiled the hem of her garment. But at what a
price
of
the was
llives
hi ps
and
fu
orrchteanseeed
ofl
aNfeowt mt
heerue lsya
nbdys
et l; et
hsea crifice
exist-
ing generation, but by the disastrous consequences en-
tailed for ever on the country. Folded under the dark
wing of the Inquisition, Slain was shut out from the light
which in the 16th century broke over the rest of Europe,
stimulating the nations to greater enterprise in every
department of knowledge. The genius of the people
was rebuked and their spirit quenched under the
malignant influence of an eye that never slumbered,
of an unseen arm ever raised to strike. How could
there be freedom of thought where there was no freedom
of utterance, or freedom of utterance where it was as
dangerous to say too little as too much ? Freedom can-
not go along with fear. Every way the mind of the
Spaniard was in fetters !"
For Spain read Austria, and apply this passage to
the future and not to the past, and it may be read as a
warning by an Austrian subject of the present day. The
shifty Cardinal may be very sure that knowledge is not
,wanting when we pronounce upon his Concordat.
Wherever there are three men, two of them laymen,
and the third a Roman priest, the nature of such a
document is perfectly understood.

Frnt opet
peace
elfworhnihngisPonsot.w)
The question of
have led our readers to suppose it would be, has, and
can have, for England but one aspect—namely, that of
a distinct and definite settlement of the dispute between
the Western Powers and Russia on the terms which we
have a right to demand, and which we are resolved to
obtain. The fortune of war bas determioed in favour of
the just cause, and Russia can no longer deceive herself
as to the necessity which will compel her to accede to
our requirements. raised, as we
Europe was too long blind to the designs of the Czars ;
and when, indeed, her Statesmen discovered the huge
ambition of Russia, they were sometimes too timid,
sometimes too occupied, to attempt to control it. Thus,
as years rolled on, the 'Muscovite Empire swelled in
dimensions and increased -in dignity, till its aspect be-
came threatening in the extreme to the liberties of
Europe. The grand Mill of the Russian Emperors via's
•
the possession of Constantinople ) that aim Nicholas
thought it was his destiny to of achieve, and out
•his.
attempt to accomplish it arose the great war in • h w ich
we are engaged. When that Monarch reali •
sed the f
of the far-seeing by making a bold attempt ears
ties of Turkey—Europe, shocked, beheld I on the liber-
interests in jeopardy. She foresaw,
in
theer most sacred
of Constantinople by the Russian Sovereign, possession
of an Eastern Empire, which, strengthened the revival
millions of souls who, in the broad Rby the sixty
sway of an Autocrat, would, in obediencenssias, own the
of conquest, which has been the to the spirit
overwhelm, in detail, the freedom soul of Russian policy,
indeed, prove too strong even of other countries, or,
sistance. for their combined re-

We know how this war arose, and bow England and
France, suddenly allied, made as rapid and as bold a
stroke for the maintenance of the independence and in-
tegrity of Turkey as Russia did for their destruction.
We were first at Constantinople, and saved the Ottoman
Empire.

'then came the question of the magnitude and ogeot

itt 41

4 :lit

(Prom, the Scotsman.)
Mr. Miall, M.P., has in his turn taken his say upon
the war question, or the peace question, or by whatever
name we ought to kuow the question of the day. And
swhhaal
lt
illi
of
tr.Miall
flatter
himma y h sayy
saying
is a
y in
g entitled
because to
he
is a m attention—weanaf
the
(
highest intellect or the soundest judgment, but because,
without any flattering, he is " honest as this world
goes" at this particular time, and because his position is
peculiarly fitted to put his honesty to the most painful
tests. By old political fellowship and other ties he is
deeply involved with the leaders of the Manchester
party, ;nd he represents the borough where Mr.
Bright's well-won influence, political and commercial,
has the greatest potency ; while, pulling him in the
other direction, he has his own good sense and right in-
stinqs and the knowledge that even in Rochdale -the
popular antagonism to the course taken by Mr. Bright
and his party is too strong to permit him prudently to
express concurrence or even to avoid expressing dissent.
It is, therefore, n.t to be wondered at that Mr. Miall,
whose forte is not dexterity, should, in trying to tack
about in order to catch two opposing winds, have shown
some very clumsy steering, and scarcely escaped ship-
wreck.

That the war might have been avoided ; that, having
been begun, it should have been carried on with vigour,
end for avowed objects far beyond those aimed at ; and
that the time has now come when peace can and ought
to be made—are the turning-points in the maze in
which Mr. Miall tries to lose himself. A war that
should never have been begun, that should have been
carried further than was ever intended, and that should
be stopped before it has been carried even so far—are
propositions rasher difficult to understand, and when
clothed in Mr. Miall's expositions, appear more shrouded
in mystery than when they were left in their primitive
nakedne,s. On the first, however, he is tolerably clear
—" l did not concur in the policy which committed us
to a war with Russia"—that is, he did not think that the
preservation of Turkey, or any similar resistance to Ras-
sian aggression, was an object incumbent on this country.
That is too stale a question to be re-argued now ; but
the reason given by Mr. Miall for vigorously pursuing a
wpr which be thinks ouzlat never to have been entered

or, is noticeable for its origivality---"I may have thought
it unnecessary fir the safety of Europe, and for the in-
depe u'ence and liberty of continental nations, to measure
physical strength with Russia, but I never could regard
it as a matter of trivial moment whether, in that measure-
ment of strength, Russia, should make good her boast
of supremacy." While he thought that we had no
right, or at least no interest, in interfering with even
the most unprovoked and gigantic aggressions of Rus-
sia, he thinks that, having begun fighting on that
very po'nt, we were bound to go on fighting until we
ha I proved to the world that we are the stronger.
When Lsrd John Russell, in his ill-phrased speech
lest session upon his proceedings at Vienna, uttered
a warning against " fighting only for victory," the in-
sinuation was resented as untrue and insulting. But now
we see that fighting for victory only is a policy advocated
by at least one man who must be regarded as almost a
member of the Peace party, and who holds that the war
is oiuseless, and therefore, we should say, wicked. The
chief interest, however, of Mr. Miall's speech, is com-
prise I in his reasons for holding that the war should now
take end—the principal of which reasons is that we have
shown ourselves stronger than Russia. Now, it may be
that we have proved this to ourselves, and yet not to
Europe, nor even to Russia.. Mr. Miall says he knew
Lefore the war as well as since that the Russian strength
was a delusion, and now he says—" I venture to assert,
without fear of contradiction, that the power of Ruseis
for al offensive purposes, at least for another genera.
tion, has been broken." But unfortunately it is not
merely sensible people like Mr. Miall that reqeire to
be convinced on these points, but others who have much
more power abroad and at home. The question or
rather the fact is, that, on the whole, the operations of
. the war have not increased the idea of the strength
of the Western Powers, and especially of Great
Britain. We think the existing impression of our
having to a great extent failed is a false impres-
sion, but it is not the less actual and mischievous.
We be'ieve that a better army never left the British
shores than that which landed at Eupatoria, and we did
something the other day tots ards showing that none of
our armies ever did greater things within so short a
psri-d, not to say in the face of such great and novel
difficulties ; yet the fact is, that at home there
lsa
pretty general feeling of dissatisfaction, and abroad of
?
something re-embling contempt. Why is this . Be-
cause, in the first place, an influential portion of the
press
has found pleasure or profit in making the worst
of everything that has happened--of contemning every
party
friends, commander. Bikirc.a
Cu soe in h
Cobden
dent
and
n d secondMr.Bright,pla ce, Ar.
take
elSl iall' a
every
opportunity of tell'n; the world that this country is ex-
hausted and Russia neharmel. And because, in the
third place, men like Mr. Mi tll himself, as he does in
this very speech, do all they can to bring distrust and
discredit upon every Government that has been sects
or is at present possible in this country. Mr. Miall
tells his democratic Rochdale audience that the Govern-
ment is a machine kept up for the personal benefit of the
aristocracy—althous,h it would puzzle Mr. Miall to name
a single un aristocratic man fit to join the Government that
is kept out of it by anything but his own unwillingness.
A still more incredible story is ventured on by Mr. Miall
when he states that it is what he calls " the
ofi111),%1"
ten thousand" who are most eager in favour
wn money and
su
and
war—who " call upon you to pour out your
t the war."
your blood like water for the prolongation
whose earnestness about the war is small o open.
__
thousand" whom Mr.
mei ,it just that " upper ten
' 'on is •
and as promoting
Miall describes as its sole promoters
if there is any class
it for their own selfish ends andp;ecially enthusiastic and re-
that must be regarded
asewghich Mr. Miall addresses as
solved, it is just that class
Now, surely, if there is any class inoer commtousnuitsy.
en ng this fact in view, we feel in-
suffering dupes.
all,
they
h ea
yn and
regardeven tthhaet
set:
ue
gr every
line
as
sn his honesty
this world goes in our'—" as honest as any man
no further thanVergesgoesthan h " All
' that is no honester e.such stuff is of
living
• hief at home, where we know the men, and
little noise
it .
considerably
the facts, but is mischievous abroad,
in-
clined to retract thKeeoptiiinmitsn,tahnadt
toM Mr.
fearM tihalaltis honest as
wbere people think that every man who, like Mr. Cob-
den or Mr. Bright, was influential on one question, is
Mr. Miall, a member of Parliament, is a representative
of the people. And ought not persons like Mr. Miall,
for
influence, prestige, or victory, to be careful above all
men not to lessen by an idle breath anything that may
bare been won at the cost of blood and tears ?
In addition to the supposition, which he himself so
es,lylike
much omtributes to destroy, that we have done enough
to confirm our reputation and influence, Mr. Miall
ownehosoli
has a supplementary reason—we have taken a sufficient
"material guarantee" for the safety of Turkey. Now
there is some truth in this, if—an "if " with great vir-
tue—Russia is ready to bind herself to let things remain
as they are—to keep her Euxine fleet at the bottom of
the sea, and her cherished Sebastopol in ruins. If Rus-
sia is ready to say that, then doubtless the allies are
ready to hear her ; but Mr. Miall seems to mean' I"'''
rse:ps_t,h_reer
the allies should now retire and let Russia,
damages at her own leisure and convenience. •
re-ty"
his own words, which are incapable of carieatuet
,get, up
' fact-wa's; the man was down, and coup no,t4c4,i the
again, while the allies- stood 'over t:::;, ."
iis taken from
guarantee." His idea of a B.e"
- thrallies knock down
insisting that Russia shall
that of •Penelope's web--what
are to rebuild during
ions- t a goo e aviour the
during a year of war,
thwessossghumbly submit that there
a year of peace.
h t d b h '
isle security f
cost the country so much life and
breach of which hag
Miall so much l •
perp exity and inge-
nuity.
findcan a
responsible
ews
poor
ns worst
lb e no Wh
harm m- -

Alderman Farrell was on Saturday elected Lord May
The or
of i
Austrian G
bAlinf orea:ette cont
ensuing
year,
s a letter from Odessa of
Nov. 20, which says :—" The druschines of the Tiver
Militia arrived yesterday at Perekop. General Luders is
at present iu that town, and will shortly hold a counci
of war with General Plantin, Chief of the Grenadier
corps, and General Schabelsky, in order to concert mea-
sures in the event of the enemy making next spring a
general attack against the north.weet coast of the Blac

of the war. Whether it should be purely del
whether it should be carried into the enemy's
for the purpose of compelling him, at the pt,_
'sword, to renourics his projects, and yield up the
of executing them. .on:this course we determined; ant
de results are worthiof the wisdom which dictatedlt.
• Sebastopol is destroyed—the Russian fleets have
existence—the Czar holds not one foot of the "material
gusrantees"—the Danube is no longer his-Lthe Turke,
who dreaded, have learnt to contemn the power of their
great neighbour, and the arms of England and -France
have virtually solved the "Eastern question." It wee'
fir different last'year.
Now, we have only to set up the facts achieved SO
permanent, and-as- forming the bases of the principles
which must for the future rule the, destiny, of the East
On our part, it can be treated but in one
Under these circumstances; the question of Peace comes
before us ;and,
manner. There is but one arrangement possible ; and
that is one which Waall insure the limitation of Russian
ambition, the freedom ofTurkey, and the future -security
of Europe.
The most necessary condition for the attainment of
these ends is the annihilation of _Russian power in the
Black S-a. Sebastopol must never rise again as a me-
nace to the Turks —nor mast any spussiari fleet what-
ever be allowed to exist in the waters of the Black Sea.
This is imperative, and secures the safety of Constanti-
nople and the freedom of the shores of the Euxine. But,
if the approach by sea towards the Turk be time seal'.
against Russia, the approach by land must be equally
made safe from her aggression. The mouths of the
Danube must be given up by her, and they, with the
Danubian Priroipalities, freed from her protectorate,
must be secured to Turkey by the most binding guaran-
tees. All pretension and interference with the subjects-
of the Porte must be fully renounced, and other ir-
rangements with 'regard to the Baltic and the general
interests of Europe must be accepted by Russia on terms
which cal leave no doubt as to the certain solidity and;
efficacy of thoinTry-whternrabetrought- about.
There, tb

.4"*('

._. _ :."'

kneqe, the outlines of the only terms of Peace which
bustipn of Dr..cu0.,.., would achieve our objects, are the only propositions
ages constructed for which the Western Powers would be justified
lot bowing the knee ing to--certain as they are that; if not cdnsented to netAtt" j •
ardinal Wiseman as another campaign would enforce compliance.
staken his line of re. If the move which Austria is making towards nego.
masquerader caught tiations have for object the attainment of terms so satis.
sun. The pastoral factory as these, and if she be ready, as Sweden and Den-
beard, the highly- mark are, to give her Iterdict its.ortr favour, and, when.
gaellght, c en tiit need arises, to enforce that verdict—then are the Western
Ilse between the pre- Powers bound to give heed to overtures which carry on
ock in the morning, their floe no uncertain semblance—no diplomatic chi-
n, when the ruddy canery, but which are open, distinct, and honest.
:easing about happy