The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SATURDAY REVIEW.-It cannot be denied that
the English Government at present occupies an
embarrassing position. Neither Parliament nor the
country in the smallest degree wishes for 6 war
with Russia, and yet there are strong reasons
against allowing or compelling France to act alone.
It seems that, to a certain extent, and with a view
to the attainment of limited objects, Austria is
really earnest in the cause. Disturbances in adja-
cent Polish provinces are as disagreeable as a fire
in the next house when the partition wall is made
of lath and plaster. It is true that, in 1846, the
Aaa,;:ian Government perpetrated in Galicia the
same etm:os which are now rousing the indignation
R The lives and property

_ .
of Europe agah_est ,ussia.
of the landowners were used to buy the sordid
allegiance of the peas,:_nts, and it appears that
the animosities which wei.' provoked between
different classes are not yet obsolete. Never-
Galicia, where
theless, as Count Rechberg says,
pfeted,
a lawless, pacification has been t:'"ln
is not to be compared with the Grand Due'hY
of
Warsaw, with its thousands of desperate insurgen.".
It is also necessary in some degree to consult the
feelings of the more respectable Galicians, and espe-
cially of the deputies who sit in the Council of the
Empire. In all parts of Poland, every person who can
read or write is a member of the disaffected or na-
tional party. If Austria had imitated the policy of
Prussia, the revolt might have extended to Galicia;
and when civil war was once commenced it would
be difficult to limit its range, for Hungary also would
probably have taken the opportunity of establishing
its independence, and in Italy 400,000 men are
anxiously waiting for a moment of Austrian weak-
ness. It was, on the whole, judicious in the Court
of Vienna to adopt the more liberal view of the Po-
lish quarrel, and to establish a claim to the friendly
offices of the Western Powers. It is difficult to
suppose that Austria wishes for a war with Russia ;
but, in the event of a rupture, no ally would be more
acceptable to England. The Austrian army might
give effective assistance to the Poles without in-
volving a general derangement of the balance of
power. Joint action with France, although it may
become necessary, tends to more serious complica-
tions. It is impossible to forget the compulsory an-
nexation of Savoy and Nice. Excuses at least as
plausible might be alleged for the conquest of
Rhenish Germany, as the material equivalent of the
idea of Polish independence. It is evident that
England can never be a party to any such project;
and yet it might be difficult to protest against the
consequences of a war which France had undertaken
single-handed. A partnership in operations against
Russia would furnish a right or an opportunity of
remonstrance, and it might even be practicable, as
at the commencement of the last Russian war, to
obtain a formal pledge which would preclude the
acquisition of new territories. On the other hand,
experience shows the inconvenience of joining an
ally who has practically the power of deciding war
or peace. In a concerted campaign the French forces
would exceed the English in number, and as France
has the ear of the Continent, all the credit that
might be acquired would accrue to the complaceht
ally who contrived, in spite of Alma and Inkerman,
to monopolise the fame of the Crimean war, Among
their numerous virtues the French have never in-
cluded generosity to a rival ; and the Poles them-
selves would regard an English contingent as a mere
appendage to a liberating French army. Lord
Malmesbury absurdly objected to the Poles that
they had fought against England under the banner
of Napoleon. The same objection would apply with
equal force to the Italians, who have been supported
by English sympathy in all their recent difficulties
and exertions. If any feeling of hostility has sur-
f vived both the war and half a century of peace, it is
perhaps cherished by the Poles themselves, who
know England only through French representations.
One of their writers lately declared that the
enmity of England to the first Napoleon was pro-
voked by his good-will to Poland. Lord Pal-
-1 merston and Lord Russell will probably persist
in their resolution to frame their communications to
Russia in their own language. Identical notes im-
ply a concerted purpose which at present it would
be premature to announce, especially as it cannot
have been deliberately settled. The answer of the
English Government has been prudently delayed,
in the hope that time may supply some motive or
some excuse for concession ; and, in the meantime,
the combined policy of the three Powers is ripening
into an alliance which may perhaps produce a better
effect than the most elaborate arguments. Russia
ought to know by experience that England,though
in recent times the most peaceable of nations, readily
warms to an impending or actual war. If the
scruples which impede a breach with Russia were
overcome by a rupture, moral indignation against
the massacres and robberies perpetrated in Poland
would come to the aid of patriotic feeling. It is
still possible for the Russian Government to comply
with the English demand, although it may antici-
pate further exigencies on the part of France, and if
an internal peace can be in any manner patched up,
no English statesman will at present demand the
reconstitution of ancient Poland. The Russian
Goverment is to blame for the partial interference
which it summarily and contemptuously repudiates.
Having once entered into a negotiation, England
cannot honourably retire in absolute discomfiture ;
and although the reasons against a Russian war are
numerous and obvious, they may
be overruled or
overborne by circumstances. No foreign country
appreciates the conscientious objection of rational
Englishmen to unnecessary war, but it is easy to
rely too implicitly on the supposed sluggishness
and selfishness of the community.
SPECTATOR. —The slavery of the Frenc h
Lpressitt
lies
costing many Englishmen much money.
paragraphs which,cited "
official, or " inspired," or " officious," or ‘. Ire ,
if they were not supposedd. to be
onre4v,
never
connected" cntoetdi 'e'
noticed
mdeebroadryisoiarnsomcoeftehs:nogr,ewould
with somebody
employed as an
tele-
graphed over Europe, and exchanges rise and fall
because some third rate writer, once
imperial funnel, has turned a sentence rather more
carelessly than his wont. Every day this week the
bulletins have reproduced some silly, or clever, or
officially pompous canard, and as during every pause
in events the instinct of men is conservative, the
general effect has been to produce a belief that war
is much less probable than it was only seven days
since. It certainly would be were there the smallest
ground for all the stories floating about. One d
it is La France which reports that the Court
of St. Petersburg, alarmed, at the Austrian
attitude and indisposed to resist a power
which she had hoped would betray its allies, has
adopted a tone of friendly conciliation. Next
day it is the Independance Beige which reports
that the Emperor seems more cheerful, which is, of
course, an omen of peace, the journal not recognis-
ing the idea that an Emperor may have a digestion.
Then the opinion announces that Prince Napoleon
is to visit his cousin, and as the Prince, like the man
in the Dutch toy house, only shows himself in bad
weather, keen speculators look out for a fall. On
Tuesday some English paper translates from the
Kreuz Zeitung some vague sentences about Prussia
wanting allies more trustworthy than St. Peters-
burg, and affairs are held to look bright; for if
Prussia is shaky, so also must be the Czar. Twenty-
four hours after the same journal republishes (this
time from the official Prussian paper) a paragraph
stating that Prussia "when she draws the sword
will administer very deep cuts," and laces again
look gloomy. A "cut" from a Prussian sword is a
" menace of serious gravity." Tnere are all manner
of rumours about the progress of a somewhat tardy
diplomacy. To-day there is to be an identical note
despatched to St. Petersburg, and to-morrow these
notes are only identical in spirit ; on Tuesday La
France thinks everything is settled, on Wednesday
Austria raises a hitch, on Thursday somebody goes
to settle matters at Constantinople, and on Friday
Albion is for the millionth time " perfidious." To
judge by the avidity with which all these stories
are swallowed one would think that most English-
men hold State policy to be mere matter of whim,
really believed, as gobemouches say, that the world
is governed by petty intrigue, and fancied that the
attitude of a great State on a question like peace
or war could change with every breath. Taken as
a whole, and without pausing to distinguish between
various shades of absurdity, these reports may be
pronounced unworthy of a moment's attention.
LONDON REVIEW.—At length the celebrated
Swinfen case seems to have reached its close. For
nearly ten years—from 1855 until the present time
—this singular suit has occupied the attention of
the courts and of the public. The will, by
which Mrs. Swinfen, who has since be-
come Mrs. Broun, obtained the Swinfen estate,
was made in the year 1851. Every one is fami-
liar with the history of the trial, in which
Capt. Swinfen, the heir-at-law, endeavoured to set
aside this will,—of the compromise made by Lord
Chelmsford, then Sir F. Thesiger,—of Mrs. S win-
fen's repudiation of that compromise, and of her
subsequent success in recovering the estate. There
can be no doubt that it was by the exertions of Mr.
C. R. Kennedy, that Mrs. Swinfen was not only
enabled to retain her property, but nearly succeeded
in recovering damages against her original counsel,
Sir F. Thesiger, for having made a compromief
against her will. Nor can any one be surpriseZ
that her gratitude should have shown itself in a
substantial form, or that a very close intimacy
should have sprung up between them. But, an.
fortunately, Mr. Kennedy seems to have
c
too much upon his position, and to haveused h
presumed
te
influence which he had acquired over the lady
to obtain for himself extraordinary benefits. A
cording to the theory which prevails at the
Eng-
lish bar, the counsel is not supposed ever to
with his client. He
come directly in contact