The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-24 00:00:00

Spirit of the Public Journals.

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ter, transforrh herself. - When the whole sense and
aim of the national existence is disaprointed other
forces will come into play, au& for the result we
can aflord to wait. At all events, our course is
clear ; we must persevere until the aggressive
power of the enemy is destrOyed— There is no
reason. that we should look forward to remote po-
sterity, and hesitate to act because nothing that
we can. do will last for ever. It is said that the
result of this war cannot be foreseen ; it-is true,
yet we will proceed, conscious that where our cause
is just the result of success *ill! be prosperity and
peace. It is urged that we only-see a step before
us ; we answer that we will take that step, for then
we shall see a step still further. Many things that
are dark will make themselves plain as we go on.
Many obstacles that look-vast at a distance will be
easily surmounted. If we cannot regulate Europe
for posterity we will for our own time, and give
posterity a vantage ground' which will enable it to
defend itself. -Beore courage and an active will
the - dreams of destiny and an inevitable future
vanish. Political fatalism has nearly given Europe
to the most barbarous and crafty of its foes ; a brief
period of. courage, endurance, and sacrifice has
already; broken the spell and falsified the prophe-
cies of a thousand years.. There is encouragement
to proceed when the history of the past and the
experience of the present point- oat the same
course.

(From the rinsoieiceltiody;)
The King of Naples is indulging in the exalta-
tions. of triumph. He has fairly conquered ; he
has baffled Europe, and won his way to victory
through the Temple of Peace. We acknowledge
our defeat. The battle-ships in which we trusted
have proved of no avail. The Neapolitan monarch
laughs them and us to scorn. The case.,between us
stood thus :—Some little time back the Police
Minister at Naples grossly insulted a diplomatic
agent of Great Britain. England demanded satis-
faction, and threatened hostilities if satisfaction
were denied. The King of Naples immediately
lowered his tone, and promised compliance with
the requisition. Assurances of the most explicit
kind were given by his Ministers that this man,
Mazza, should be instantly dismissed. liisnm
teneatis—we took the King's word as guarantee
for a fact. We believed him, and so may he said
to have deserved the result. For a moment, and
Scarcely for a moment, this favoured agent and
friend of the Neapolitan King was nominally dis-
missed from office. Even during the period of
transition he continued to discharge the duties
which he had ostensibly resigned. As soon as the
storm from the West had blown itself out, and the
awful vision of a hostile fleet at anchor in his
beautiful bay had passed away from the mind of
this politic Bourbon, he revived, he drew breath,
he was a King again, every inch a King. To
policy enough had been conceded, and now let
stern resolution have .its turn. Let Gaeta be for-

( From the Times of this day.)
A prophecy has for a thousand years hung over
the East,—for a thousand years Constantinople
has believed that it saw in dim prophetic vision its
ultimate lords. That city of decaying empires has
always dreamt of the barbarians who were to come
—a race fiercer, more crafty, and more enduring
than that which overthrew old Rome. The great
Leo withstood the full tide of Saracen invasion,
though, while Charles Martel has been handed
down by fame for defeating a predatory band of
Arabs, the deeds of the great Byzantine Emperor,
the real saviour of Europe, are almost forgotten.
Constantinople rolled back the tide of Saracen con-
quest, and from that hour the empire of the Caliphs
began to decline. The Imperial city was doomed
to fall seven centuries later beneath the sway of the
race which had succeeded to the Arab inheritance
of empire. But neither when the Isaurian Emperor
was threatened by the fleets of the Caliph, nor
when the the last Palceologus perished by the Otto-
man sword, was there any belief that the Moslem
was the true destined lord of Constantinople.
Superstition and history both pointed to the North.
New Rome would fall under a race which should
come like the Goth and Lombard from the great
nursery of nations. When, in the ninth century,
the name of Russia was first heard by the pilots of
the Euxine, the old vague belief was strengthened,
and tke faith in predestined empire added to the
terrors inspired by the fiercest and most power-
ful of the northern hordes. In the course of two
centuries Constantinople was four times at-
tacked by the Russian fleets. Their port for pre-
paration or retreat was the estuary of the Borys-
thenes, the spot where the flags of France and
England now wave over the batteries of Kinbourn.
Their galleys often assembled at a little narrow
harbour of the Tauric Chersonese, for ages the
refuge of pirates, now famous through the world
under the name of Balaklava. Ages passed
on ; Constantinople fell before the Crusader, a
yearly decreasing circle marked the limits of its
imperial sway ; when the Sultans were at Broussa
and Adrianople, the city of the Bosphorus knew
its impending fate ; yet, though the Russian was
still in the heart of his deserts, and the Ottoman
was almost on the imperial throne, the legends of
the Greek still pointed to the yellow-haired race
who were to bear rule in the latter days. The old
wars were now over, the Muscovite worshipped ac-
cording to the ritual of Eastern orthodoxy, and
confessed the primacy of the Byzantine Patriarch ;
he was no longer a terror, but a hope ; he was to
rise up as an avenger, and to deliver the sacred
dome of St. Sophia from the pollution of Moslem
rites. No sooner was Mahomet sovereign of the
city than the duration of the Ottoman sway was
predicted. It was to last 400 years. No prophecy
is more explicit, has been more widely extended, or
has raised greater expectation. From the White,
ISea to the Pirsian Gulf it has been the belief of
millions. Its origin we know not ; but, unlike
most predictions, it has been equally received' by
those who feared and thosa who hoped its fulfil-
ment. Greek, Russian, and Turk have alike ac-
cepted it. It has stimulated the ambition of the
Czars, it has encouraged the obstinacy of the
Rayahs, it has unnerved and depressed the Turks,
made them more reckless of the future, and more
selfish in the concerns of to-day. The Christian
has never ceased to speak of Roumelia as his coun-
try, and St. Sophia as his church ; the Mussulman
has acquiesced, and often seeks to bury his dead
on the Asiatic shore, that they may rest in peace
in their own land. Natural causes seemed so likely
to have inspired and to be tending to. fulfil the pro-
phecy, that even Gibbon—no ready believer—gives
an ear to its revelations. " Perhaps," he says,
" tbe present generation may yet behold the ac-
complishment of the prediction—of a rare predic-
tion, of which the style is unambiguous and the
date unquestionable."
The prophecy, however, is not yet fulfilled. Its
accomplishment seems more distant to us than it
did to a historian of the reign of Catherine. We
are now engaged in a struggle against the last of
the barbarians, and as yet its course promises well
for civilisation. The Russians are not now de.
scending the Dnieper to carry terror into the Golden
Horn. On the contrary, the ships of the West
have burst the gate which defends the last strong-
hold of the Czar's naval power, and are preparing
to strike a blow which will crush it for at least a
'century. Kinbourn and Oczakoff have both bowed
their necks to the allies. Nearly a thousand years
ago the Russians were terrible at sea while on land
they were scarcely a match for tribes that have
long perished. Now their courage and skill in the
field are unquestionable, but their navy seems au
expensive and sickly exotic. All has changed but
the obstinate and aggressive spirit which the Greek
fire of the Byzantine galleys could hardly tame,
and which now, through unceasing disaster and the
reprobation of the world, still resists the arms and
the arguments of the West. A conviction of the
strength, the endurance, and the ambition of the
Russians gave rise to a series of prophecies, which
have nearly caused their own fulfilment by the
despondency they have generated. We cannot
wonder that the unlettered conquerors of Constan-
tinople and their angry and brooding vassals should
believe when the calm and reflective historian of an
age that talked largely of reason was almost con-
vinced.
We have no faith in historical parallels, nor do
we wish to make a display of learning. There is a
moral to be drawn from these old prophecies
about the Russians, from the despair and cowardice
which have nearly fulfilled them, and, lastly, from
the courage which, once put forth, has, in less than
a twelvemonth, shown their vanity. The Eastern
world believed that the Ottoman was to fall before
the Muscovite in the year 1853. An English poli-
tician would smile at the superstition, but what
would be his own language ? " After all," he
would say, " it is evident that the Russians must
have Constantinople some day. Russia is a coun-
try which it is impossible to attack with success ;
Turkey is worn out and. can no longer resist ; the
Czar wants an outlet for his navy, which is divided
and shut up in two inland seas ; he is bent on pos-
sessing the Bosphorus, and I do not see how it is
to be prevented. It is a gloomy prospect, but it is
the natural course of things, and we must be con-
tent." Were not those who uttered, or at least
felt these arguments, a majority three years since ?
Even now it is asked why we should attack an
enemy whom we cannot crush ? Englishmen have
been under a spell as well as the tribes of the East.
Philosophical historians have equalled in supersti-
tion the priests of Moscow or the peasants of Rou-
melia. The evil has increased in our own day.
The theory of race has been carried so far as to
become a kind of ethnological Galvanism. Certain
portions of the human race were reprobated and
sbcer.estwvaetessaemlacfolrr wsar
Abouttran_
doomed to vassalage or extinction. The manifest
destiny of others was to rule and regenerate. The
Russians were elected and called to the empire of WAR T
havertbAeNeSnPofoßuTnad.
the old world. To speak of resisting them was a
folly, showing only a narrow education and a limited ports
a dozen of them are now in the transport service, and
intelligence. Yet they have been resisted, the tide they carry a larger number of horses and soldiers, and a
has turned, noman now speaks of their invincibility, greater quantity of warlike stores, i
-11 proportion to their
few even remember the doctrine of their inevitable tonnage than any other kind of steamers.
future. Let us, therefore, take new courage, and THE SWISS LEGION.—The non-commissioned officers
believe that men and nations make their own des- and privates gave a dramatic performance on Saturday
tinier. We were not born into the world only to night last, at the Dover Theatre, in aid of the widows
witness a catastrophe. If barbarism and slavery are and orphans of the British army whose husbands and
to overspread Europe it will be our own fault, and —tolibbee
parents have fallen in tl,e Crimea. The entertainment
not a misfortune decreed by fate. Russia is still was under the special patronage of Colonels Dickson,
Raines, and Sultzerberger.
vast, powerful, and threatening ; but this is not the
Wl3ll C R
LEDON AND B.OYD" An.way.—This line of
first time that civilisation has been menaced and
railway was opened for traffic on Menday. Six trains
that a single heroic deed has saved it. It is the run each way daily from the Waterloo Railway
property of such aggressive empires, when with'. over the above line to Mitcham and
Croydon. Also, in
stood and turned back in their course, to wither concection with the above railway, 13 trains depart and
or fall to pieces. It may be said that we cannot arrive daily at the London-bridge statie
is ofthe iht
Rr g ou
crush Russia, but she may destroy, or what is bet- Failway.

[ified, and Capua add a sterner glory to its tra-
ditional fame. Let lumbering field-pieces be
dragged along the Chiaja and up the Toledo. Let
the word be passed among the Lazzaroui to keep
their stilettoes well ground and their powder dry,
for the State is in. danger. Such appears to have
been the tenour of the orders given forth, and,
when the necessary measures were taken, Mazza—
his country's pride—donned his uniform once more
and repaired to the Palace. The King would see
him as in the good old times—not as during the
intercalary 24 hours when his Sovereign's soul was
heavy and the Western barbarians imperative.
" What will be said," writes our Neapolitan corre
spondent, under the date of the 13th of this month,
—" when it is known that Mazza is still the ruling
spirit of the police ; when he told his myrmidons so
in an address in public after his fictitious fall; that
he was seen as late as the sth of October walking
in front of the Royal Palace, dressed in his official
uniform, and that he paid his Majesty a visit ?" It
is added, that even during the short period when
this wretch Mazza was nominally dismissed from
the service of his Sovereign other dismissals of
persons who were known to •be more favourably
disposed to England were made at the same time,
in order to diminish the effect of the concession.
The Neapolitan Court, however, was soon dis-
gusted with the comparative honesty of its own
proceedings. Until the Sovereign _ and his Minis-
ters had waded through The dirtiest pools in the
slough of falsehood and treachery they suffered•
from the unaccustomed cleanliness of their seusa-
tione.

.The affair may possibly strike upon the- less
astute mind of the northern races in a very diffe-
rent manner. In one sense, no doubt, it might
seem, sufficient to leave a Kite, who has paltered
with goo I faith and violated his pledged word to
the contempt of Europe and of the civilised world.
We do not, however, think that it is consistent
with the character of a nation so powerful as Eng-
land to acquiesce quietly in the position of a dupe.
If the King of Naples has violated his word in the
manner charged he must be compelled to fulfil it,
whatever the consequences may be to himself, to
his States, or to the Italian peninsula. We have
consistently ,deprecated intervention in Neapolitan
affairs, not that we are ignorant of the detest-
able character of the Government and of the
fiendish oppressions exercised in its name upon
so many of her fellow-Men ; we have done so
upon the simple grouna that freemen cannot
be extemporized. If a nation be not strong
enough to win its freedom, it is certainly not
strong enough to keep it. Nothing would result
from premature insurrection but reaction, hang-
ing, shooting, chains, famine, and indescribable
sorrow. We have no wish to take the Kingdom
of the Two Sicilies into our own hands, nor to
meddle in its affairs in any way. Now, it is said
that if two or three English line-of-battle ships were
to anchor in the Bay of Naples and another in the
harbour of Palermo King Bomba's subjects would
rice against him from one end of his
kingdom to
the other. That is, surely, a matter for his con-
sideration rather than for ours. We neither wish
to participate in, nor to hurry on any
premature
explosion ; but we must not be told that the trou-
bled aspect of the King's affairs is a reason why we
should be denied satisfaction for a gross insult
which no civilised nation would endure from ano-
ther. If the King of Naples's subjects be ripe for
rebellion, that is no reason why he should outrage
England with impunity ; nor is it easy to see how
the bona fide dismissal of Mazza can add to the em-
barrassments of his situation, which are the result
of his own acts of oppression, not of the exigencies
of foreign powers.
Under all the circumstances of the case we trust
to hear shortly that the English Legation at Naples
has reported upon the real position of this question.
If faith has been substantially kept there is an end
of the matter; if not, England will not be trifled
with nor deceiv.ed;although the result should be a
political conflagration in the dominions of the Nea-
politan King. We are told that the universal re
port
We certainly heard
atinig in h
N apltesie act of
isthatperfidy. Austria is secretly backing
th e K a
very different tale at the outset of this dispute.
Then we were told an Austrian Archduke had in-
formed the King of Naples that, if he persisted in
his mad career, the Austrian Court neither could
nor would assist him. Such a course of policy is
far more creditable to the character, as well as the
powers,
or o
discernment of the Austrian Cabinet ; for cer-
tainly any assistance they could bring to the
a
Neapolitan monarch would scarcely save his domi-
nions
. fronmglatnnd
alone.attacks W
ofe thehve no maritimewish to enter
upon such a quarrel. Englisbraen had a thousand
times rather that the affair were peacefully
arranged by the simple process of keeping faith.
We will not, however, be trifled with. In a few
weeks a great portion of the Black Sea fleet will be
disengaged and free for service in the Mediterra-
nean. 'There is, indeed, quite sufficient force at
Malta for all that is required. Tt would be ridi-
culous to speak of the King of Naples as a serious
I opponent ; but we confess, when we. hear the name
of Austria so frequently mentioned, now as taking
violent part against our gallant allies the Piedmon-
tese—now as in close union with the Pope—now
as inspiriting the King of Naples to energetic per-
fidy—it seems not, improbable that the Italian
peninsula may become at a no very distant period
' the scene of important events.

BEPBBSENTATION OF SOUTH WARE.

MEETING OF ELECTORS.

Yesterday evening a meeting of electors of the borough
of Southwark was held at the Queen's Head, South-
wark, in complianclb with the following circular, which
was extensively distributed :

" October 23. 1855.
" Dear Sir,—A vacancy having occurred in the repre-
sentation of the borough of SoutfiWark from tho much to
be lamented death of the Right Hon. Sir Wm. Moles-
worth, Bart., I bavo to request the favour of your attend-
ing a meeting of the friends of George Scovell, Esq., at the
Queen's Head Inn, Borough. this evening (Tuesday), at 6
for 7 o'clock precisely, to determine upon the steps neces•
sary to secure his election to supply the vacancy.—l am,
dear air, yours most faithfully, HERBERT STURSIY."
The meeting was attended by a very large number of
electors, and the large room of the Queen's Head was
densely crowded.

Mr.-Jon, who was called to the chair, said he was
delighted to see so many electors present in support of a
gentleman whom they proposed to elect. (Hear, hear.)
'Their friend Mr. Scovell had already been before them
in the capacity of a candidate, and his political views
were consequently well known. On one occasion, when
Sir William Molesworth was a candidate, Mr. Scovell
took the chair at the meetings of his connittee, and
mere.tban once stated that he would never endanger the
seat of that right hon. baronet by his candidature. In-
deed, he said that be would never enter the field if he
tbougbt such a course would endanger the right hon.
baronet's return. (Cheers.) He promised that when-
ever circumstances called for a new election he would
present himself to the constituency, and he was now
before the electors in fulfilment of that promise.
(Cheers.) He (the chairman) would now call upon Mr.
Hancock to propose the first resolution.
Dr. WALSER was rather anxious to ask some quer-

tions before 'the meeting started.- He held in his hand a
circular calling the meeting and nominating a man. He
was not aware that a similar course had ever been
adopted in that borough, and he altogether objected to
it. (Hear.) He had a great respect for Mr. Scovell, but
before he pledged himself to support him he would like
to know what were his opinions, or at all events to see
his address. The nomination of Mr. Scovell appeared to
be the work of Mr. Stormy, who. had adopted a course
which be did not think would tend to secure his election.
If the electors of Southwark wanted Mr. Scovell, they
should have Mr. Scovell at a public meeting, and there,
in the face of the constituency, ascertain what were his
sentiments. He considered Mr. Sturmy's circular to be
a great liberty taken with the electors of Southwark.
(Hear, hear, and great confusion.)
Mr. NEwaekN thought that Mr. Scovell's friends bad
taken a wrong step. A duty was about to devolve upon
thdih to elect a gentleman to represent them in the great
council of the nation, and they were acting in a hasty, if
not a suicidal, manner. (Cries of " No, no."). Seine
time ago Mr. Scovell was a candidate for the representa-
tion- of the borough, and the result then showed that his
principles were not in accordasice with those of the great
majority of the electors. (A. voice—" He was the win-
ning man, no doubt.") It was clear that Mr. Scovell
was not the winning man on that occasion, for he lost
the election. Much had lately been said about having
the right man in the right place. No doubt Sir William
Molesworth was the right man in the right place, and all
that he (Mr. Newman) wanted was that he should have
a worthy successor. There were two or three candidates
in the field, and he thought the electors should wait a
little before they pledged themselves.
Mr. HANCOCK then came forward to move the first re-
solution. He very much regretted that one better qua-
lified than himself had not been called upon to do honour
to the memory of their late representative, a man of
whom he had no hesitation in saying England was proud.
Unfortunately for the electors of Southwark, that dis-
tinguished statesman bad been removed from them by
de;tth in the midst of a career which promised to be of
the highest usefulness to his country. Mr. Hancock
concluded by moving the following resolution :
" That compelled by political considerations to make
immediate arrangements to fill up the vacancy in the re-
presentation of the borough of Southwark consequent upon
the much to be lamented decease of their late vatued mem-
ber, the Right Hon. Sir William Molesworth, Bart., this
meeting feel themselves imperatively -called upon to ex-
press their deep sorrow that he should have been thus sud-
denly removed, just as he was entering upon a position for
which be had so eminently qualified himself, and wherein
he would have upheld the honour of his country, have to
record their appreciation of his political integrity and
fearless independence as a member, and his talent as a
statesman, and to deplore the loss sustained in her Ma-
jesty's counsels and by the country as well, at this import-
ant juncture, by his untimely decease."
Mr. CORNER, in seconding the resolution,. said all of
them respected and admired the man who bad repre-
sented them so faithfully and so well. A great calamity
had befallen not only that borough, but also her Majes-
ty's Councils and the nation at large, in the death of a
most honest and a most intellectual statesman —one of
whom the country had indeed reason to be proud.
(Hear, hear.) He would long live in the memory of the
electors of Southwark, aided as they had been by the
wisdom and integrity of such a man.
The CHAIRMAN put the resolution to the meeting, and
was carried without a dissentient voice.
Mr. PARKER moved the next resolution, which was as

fallows :—" That in the opinion of this meeting the
claims of George Scovell, Esq., to fill the vacancy in the
representation of Southwark best deserve the support of
the electors, as from his long and intimate acquaintance
with the borough, and his well-known liberal principles,
his return will most advance the political and local in-
terests of the borough."
Mr. MARTIN seconded the resolution. He had known
Mr. Scovell for a great number of years, and he was
glad to see such a meeting in his favour, the number of
gentlemen present being almost enough to carry the
election. (Laughter and cheers.)
The resolution was agreed to, Mr. Newman's hand
being the only one held up against it.
Mr. STORMY returned thanks on behalf of Mr.Scovell,
and added that he was enabled to state that that gentle-
man would be in London to-morrow. He had just re-
ceived a telegraphic communication from Mr. Scovell to
the following effect :—" Paris, Tuesday. I shall cer-
tainly stand. My address as soon as possible."
On the motion of Mr. G. D. FIELD, seconded by Mr.
ALDERSON, a committee of electors present was appointed
to take the necessary measures for securing Mr. Scovel►'s
election.

Mr. STURMY said that the friends of Mr. Scovell were
very anxious to call a public meeting of the electors, but
they had re'ramed from doing AO out of consideration for
the memory of their late representative. No meeting
would be called until after Sir William Molesworth's
interment, unless any other candidate who might ap-
pear determined to call such a meeting.
This announcement was met with very hearty expres-
sions of applause.
A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceed-
ings.