The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-24 00:00:00

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censorship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. On
the day that a succinct report was received by tele-
graph of the article in the Morning Post; the tell=
gram containing it arrived at all the newspaper
offices accompanied by a note from the Minister de-
nying the assertions of the English journal, and
quoting an article from the Abend Post of Vienna,
which merely spoke of the negotiations relative to a
state of siege in Galicia, and in no way invalidated
the other assertions of the Morning Post. It was in
this form—altogether unusual, and without prece-
dent in the history of the Russian press—that the
despatch containing the Morning Post article ap-
peared, and nobody doubted whence came the am-
plification of the telegraphic text. It must be ad•L
mitted that the affair was, to say the least of it, odd,
and denoted an extraordinary anxiety not to leave
the Russian press under the impression of the news
which reached it from London. This anxiety is
very significant, and I take special note of it."
In other words, the experience of this journalist
in the Russian capital leads him to assume that
what we have stated must be true, or it would not
have received such marked attention on the part of
the authorities. We have now great pleasure in
sending to the Department of Foreign Affairs in
St. Petersburg a little further information on the
same subject. We have failed to discover among
our files of Austrian papers any article which
directly contradicts what we are about to state ;
but we have no doubt that the official whose duty
it is to provide the antidote to our poison will be
more successful. We trust, therefore, that our in-
discretion will be pardoned when we state that in
the end of January last the Russian Ambassador at
Berlin, M. D'Oubril, informed M. de Bismarck
that it was the intention of Russia to send an invi-
tation to the Emperor of Austria and the King of
Prussia to meet the Czar in Warsaw in May, when
some grand military reviews will take place. The
real purport of the interview is, however, defined to
be their withdrawal, by mutual consent on the part
of all the three Powers, from the obligations of the
Treaty of Vienna, which have long since become
irksome to the co-partitioners of Poland. This in-
tention has been communicated confidentially to the
Berlin Cabinet. Our only excuse for doing what
we can to interfere with this little arrangement is
the hope that our efforts,may not be altogether un-
attended by success, and we are the more encou-
raged to persevere, as a recent experience has de-
monstrated the salutary effects of a timely expose.
We allude to a statement contained in our columns
that Russia had requested Austria not to raise the
state of siege in Galicia. The telegram containing
that statement was published in Vienna on the 6th
of March in the morning. The same day the Em-
peror signed the decree that the state of siege should
cease on the 13th April. We do not for a moment
desire it to be supposed that the fact which we pub-
lished, and which was, of course, denied at the time,
contributed, directly to this result, but there can be
little doubt that the consciousness that a demand so
humiliating to the pride of Austria was known to
foreign Powers contributed to an act which indicated
some resentment on the part of the Austrian Govern-
ment at this unwarrantable interference in their
internal affairs. Just in the same way it only
suffices for the project to which we have alluded to
become publicly known to neutralise the advantages
which Russia hopes to derive from it, if it does not
cause it to fall to the ground altogether. To the
credit of the country be it spoken, there is a very
strong party in Russia entirely opposed to this policy
of the incorporation of Poland. The Grand Duke
Constantine, Prince Suwaroff, Prince Orloff, and
the Minister Golowinn, are all opposed to it. Even
General Berg would speak in the same sense if he
could dare to do so without risking his vice-royalty.
Under these circumstances, we feel that we are
strengthening the hands not merely of the Liberal
party in Europe, but in Russia itself, by letting in
as much daylight as possible upon Ministerial in-
trigues. So long as Sovereigns and their Cabinets
continue to conspire in secret against the liberties
of Europe, so long shall we continue unflinchingly
our.task of dragging their plots into the light of day,
of exposing their machinations, and of cutting the
meshes of the net they are for ever weaving round
the freedom and happiness of its peoples. While it
has latterly been the instinct of the public of Eng-
land, and of the Government by -which it is repre-
sented, to abstain from physical interference in the
affairs of European nations, we are not the less in-
terested in watching the development of those prin-
ciples to which we owe our own contentment and
political well-being, and we regard it as a sacred
duty to exercise whatever moral influence we pos-
sess in the waybest calculatedto promote the triumph
of those principles abroad. The dementis of Foreign
Ministers will affect as little as the anathemas of the
official journal which they inspire. We shall regard
the one as the strongest confirmation we could de-
sire of our veracity, and the other as the highest
compliment which could be paid to our honesty and
sincerity of purpose. However disagreeable the pro-
spect may be, the day is none the less inevitable
when the warring elements of Europe, which have
been so long suppressed, will openly range themselves
against each other in battle array. If, when that day
comes, we can feel that we have contributed, in how-
ever small a degree, to the result which recent events
have only retarded, we shall consider our mission
accomplished.