The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-13 00:00:00

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THE SUN.
LONDON, SATURDAY, DEC. 13, 1862.

It will be remembered by many as in every sense
of the word the crowning incident of the magni-
ficent ceremonial of the Coronation of the present
Emperor of all the Russias—the Czar ALEXANDER
ll.—that of his crossing the threshold of the great
Cathedral at Moscow arrayed in his sumptuous
robes as imperator, wearing upon his head the
diadem of an autocrat—all the bells of the ancient
capital clanging, trumpets sounding, drums roll-
ing, cannon firing, while the multitude of people
gathered together there from all the ends of the
earth greeted the young Sovereign, then but
newly anointed, with one harmonious roar of ac-
clamations.

1' There were various descriptions of this spec-
tacle written at the time with a most
vivid and picturesque eloquence by those able
representatives of our own Press, who had been de-
spatched thither, for that express purpose, by the
chief London newspapers as their Special Corre-
spondents. Brilliantly as each of these travelled
journalists acquitted themselves, it will hardly
bethought in any way invidious if amongst them
all one writer is here particularised as in all
respects facile princeps : meaning, it need hardly
be added, him whom we were the first to designate
in these columns of The Sun (towards the close of
the Crimean War) " CAPTAIN PEN," that is to say,
of course, Dr. RUSSELL, the Times Correspondent !
Admirably well as Dr. RUSSELL acquitted himself
of his responsibilities in that peculiarly responsible
capacity in Aimee of war (in the Crimean
War, for example, during the war with
Russia, in India during the suppression of
the revolt of the Sepoys, and later yet,
upon the other side of the Atlantic during the
earlier part of this fratricidal contest between the
Federals and the Confederates, until, in fact, the
pencil with which he wrote seemed, in the estima-
tion of the,Northerns, from having been as lumi-
nous as a crayon of phosphorus to have turned into
nothing less burning than a stick of lunar caustic)
as Special Correspondent of the limes at Moscow,
upon the occasion of. the Russian EMPEROR'S Coro •
nation, Captain PEN may fairly be said to have
written at his best. His description of the " crown •
in g" scene, as we have called it, the spectacle already
referred to as having marked the very close of the
Coronation ceremony, was as startling and impres-
sive of its kind as any description he ever put to
paper. It brought to view as vividly almost as if
actually seen by the reader—the stately form of the
young Emperor ALEXANDER, standing there con-
spicuously upon the summit of a lofty flight of
steps, the jewels upon his diadem blazing in the
sunlight, his breast heaving, his nostrils delated,
his cheeks flushed with pride and exultation ! Alto-
gether the aspect of the young CZAR at that mo-
ment seemed to augur a reign of arrogance and of
domination suitable, as it might have appeared, to
the heir to the crown of the Emperor NICIIOLAS I.
It has happily proved quite otherwise. The reign
of ALEXANDER 11, will constitute a noble
contrast in many ways to that of his haughty and
truly autocratic father and predecessor. It will bo
ever remembered as the reign in which Serfdom
was abolished. As daring an enterprise—that
wholesale emancipation of the serfs—as any that a
Czar could ever have dreamt of attempting. It has
been attempted by the reigning Autocrat, and not
only attempted but accomplished. If but the policy
carried out during his reign in regard to the Rus-
sian Empire itself in its integrity, and in regard
also to its relations with the rest of the world, could
be applied in a spirit as generous and enlightened
to the Polish Provinces of that Empire in particular
—the name of AL EXA NDER. IL, the fair fame of ALEX-
Apbliol
posterity.
rlti 15,1: would be consecrated to the veneration of
That, in truth, is the one damning blot
upon his escutcheon. If he be well advised, that
may yet be betimes erased. Apart from it
turning turning
our regard away
from Warsaw, in search
of some evidence of
the
v, nuovbElnero 1
toa
—.let us say towards Moscow,
policy of the reigning
rnofdi
nait vl
li
te
ht cher ioint t
pe
or
sn. i at
el 1
1
direction, in search of some equally eus las
cogent evidence
of the nobler and wiser external policy of the
CZAR, let us say towardusbnrPoaeurrgi Paris--there —ht e
pointedlyt
reigningh e re ar e
reigning
two indications, at this moment, h
before us of the sagacity which, d

ALEXANDER has guided the councils of the Rus-

sian Government.
Yonder, at Moscow, the opportunity alluded
to is afforded to us by the occasion of the
interview between the AUTOCRAT and the
nobles of his Empire. Nearer to us, in the other
instances alluded to, it is brought to view by the
interview between the Emperor of the FRENeII
and the newly appointed Russian ambassador to his.
Court—their ceremonious interview -in the Palace
of the Tuileries. Such has been the enlightened
character of the external policy of Russia during
the reign of the Emperor ALEXANDER 11. that the
Emperor [NAPOLEON HI. could, but just now, re-
mark with truth :—" I congratulate myself upon
the friendly relations existing for six years between
the EMPEROR and my Government, and which
have the more chance of continuing, as they are
due to the mutual sympathies and real in-

terests of the two Empires. I have been
enabled to appreciate the straightforwardness of
heart of your SOVEREIGN, and have conceived
for him a sincere friendship." On the other
hand such meanwhile has been the wisdom
of the firm, but at the same time the eminently
conciliatory internal policy of the Czar ALEXAN-
DER IL that he himself could thus address his
nobles but the other day at Moscow, could thus
address them even within such very recent remem-
brance ,of his bold and almost audacious measure
of the Emancipation of the Serfs.
ti It is particularly agreeable to me," quoth the CaAit to
his patricians, " to see you assembled in our ancient capi-
tal, which is doubly dear to me as it was my cradle. lam
satisfied to be able to repeat to you what I said to the nobles
of Novogorod on the day of the celebration of the thou-
sandth anniversary of the Russian Empire." The EMPE-
aou then adding, "I am accustomed to place my confi-
dence in the sentiments of devotion of our nobility—an
unshaken devotion to the Throne and to the country, of
which it has so often given proof by its acts, especially at
periods of sad trials for our country, as was only recently the
case." And, finally, "I am sure, gentlemen," said his
MAJESTY, " that our nobility will continue to be the
most firm support of the throne, as it always has been
and ought to be. This is why I put my trust in you,
gentlemen, in your unanimity in aiding me in every thing
which tends to the welfare and power of our country. May
God aid us in this task, and may His blessing be with us I
And you, gentlemen, members of the nobility of Moscow,
know that I hold it a special honour to be one of you as
proprietor of this province. I thank you for your cordial
welcome, which I know how to appreciate."

If only the Emperor ALEXANDER 11. would
turn a glance of beneficence and generosity and
wisdom--kindred to those directed towards Rus-
sian Serfdom and European Diplomacy—upon his
unhappy Polish Subjects, a new era would indeed
be recognised as having been:opened by the Reign-
ing EMPEROR of all the Russias—a new epoch of ad-
vance and expansion in the general development
of Muscovite Civilisation.

Lord PALMERSTON,' if he means to fight through
another session, will do well to attend to the moral of
the Southampton election. The political moral we
take to be, that Lord PALMERSTON'S home politics
are not worth fighting for. The battle was, it is
true, a battle between a railway company and a mail
company ; we quite admit that ; but whose fault
was it that what should have been a political con-
test, degenerated into a squabble between two great
trading companies; and a mere battle for supre-
macy between them, since neither candidate was
advocating any particular scheme advantageous to
the town ? We reply Lord PALMERSTON'S. He
has given them nothing better to fight about. He
is indeed popular enough at Southampton. But a
short time before he had been received with all en-
thusiasm on his intentionally accidental visit. Yet,
when it came to an election, the question whether
a follower of Lord PALMERSTON,or a London Alder-
man, who had gone over for the occasion to Lord
DERBY, should be elected, did not seem to weigh a
straw with the Southampton politicians. How can
we wonder at it. What could Mr. MANGLES pro-
mise in the name of his chief, that Mr. ROSE could
not have promised in the name of his ?
It is hardly conceivable that Toryism, as Toryism,
could have fought the battle with a more insigni-
ficant candidate. A London alderman is generally
nobody out of the Guildhall or the Mansion House,
though there are a few passable exceptions. A
London Lord Mayor, even, like a prophet, is
nothing in his own country, though Paris shop-
keepers think MILORD MAIRE to be almost a vice-
roy ; and though we do not wish to speak disre-
spectfully of civic dignities, we suppose it is noto-
rious—if not, the speaking at Southampton made
it so—that Alderman RosE is hardly up to par as
aldermen go. His best friends will doubtless ad-
vise him to adopt in the House of Commons the
policy by which, we are told on the highest autho-
rity, " even a fool is counted wise." Yet, with
such a man, a mere Tory counter—a mere lobby
member—Toryism triumphs in a borough of long
liberal reputation, and with an unquestionable
and large majority of Liberal electors even
now. The Liberal candidate was a man
of somew hat more standing, indeed, still we
must confess that there was not enough in the man
to give him, personally, any overwhelming advan-
tage. It was pretty evenly, so far as politics were
concerned, a vote for PALMERSTON or a vote for
DERBY. We complain only that that difference
was wholly uninteresting to the electors.

An influential contemporary, angry that a
PALMERSTON man should be rejected, complains
that Mr. MANGLES offered the electors only some
political hunks, some effete Liberal cries, as he
terms them, when he ought to have displayed the
PALMERSTON foreign policy, and all the glories of
his magnificent war expenditure in time of peace.
We must differ from our contemporary. Poor Mr.
MANGLES, who justly reproached '-thee-ambitious
Alderman for political tergiversation, and for re-
versing, at Southampton, his political programme
at Newport, was himself but a questionably hearty
Liberal. The Ballot, Church Rate Abolition,
Extension of the Suffrage—he did not mind
voting for all these if the Southampton
folk would send him to Parliament, and gave a
victory to the Railway over the P. 0.; but
who believed that he cared a straw for any of
them P Of one thing, however, the electors were
quite sure,—if even' Mr. MANGLES cared about
them, Lord PALMERSTON did not. And just this,
we have no doubt at all, lost the election. The
Italian cause is doubtless popular enough, but Lord
PALMERSTON is no more likely to get universal
suffrage for the Romans and the evacuation of the
city by its oppressors, than Lord DERBY. And, as
to America, it is quite certain that the Tories would
keep us out of complications there as effectually as
the Whigs. Denmark again, Prussia, Austria,—
in regard to all these Governments what can or will
Lord PALMERSTON do for the butter cause, more
than the Tories. Theoretically, indeed, the Liberals
are far ahead of the Tories in their foreign policy,
but the country sees nothing done.
But when inefficiency abroad is not compensated
by something
shouldthinglike
raouvsiegotrhoeusLLibiebrearlaslo a l
icy at
partypo
contest P They will naturally drop down to local
squabbles. Had the Liberal Lord the good luck to
h
have been the candidate of the P. 0., of course he
would have got in ; so entirely, in the hands of a
non political Premier has the fire of party died
away. We have only to imagine such an absurdity