The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-01 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1853.

Reconciliation at any price—peace at all cost—
quietude in return for any or every concession :
such are the aspirations of Lord ABERDEEN'S Go-
vernment. War d r outrance—that is the declara-
tion of the Russian AUTOCRAT. Upon the one
side, how much arrogance, how much audacity,
how much bold and haughty determination !
Upon the other, what craven weakness, what
pitiable irresolution, what paltry evasions of dan-
ger, what timidity and what procrastination !
England and France, it is true, as identified with
each other in the policy adopted of late towards
Turkey, must obviously share between them the
discredit of not having accorded a nobler and
more chivalrous support to the Government of
Constantinople. Yet, it is no less true at the
same time, it is no less obvious and undeniable,
that a large amount of odium in this respect belongs
by right peculiarly to the Cabinet of Great Britain,
to the Earl of ABERDEEN'S hesitating, reserved,
and self-contradicting Coalition. If France has
hitherto refrained from aiding more promptly and
openly the Councils of his Majesty the Sultan-
Caliph ABD-UL-MBDJID, she has done so, at any
rate, for two reasons, sufficiently apparent and
comprehensible. NAPOLEON has been impelled
to this course,
firstly, by the circumstance of
England being a clog upon any designs or
instinct with magnanimity —and secondly, by the
very rational desire to attest the truth of his
memorable avowal at Bordeaux, r Empire c'est /a
Pain ! Yes—he has in very deed given earnest
to the world of his faithful adherence to that
moderate line of policy marked out for himself
immediately before his accession to the throne of
NAPOLEON, and prior to his acceptance of the
Crown of CHARLEMAGNE! He has, indeed, afforded
by his acts conclusive testimony of the sincerity
of his declaration, that his empire was an Empire
of Peace within itself, and with the rest of
the States of Christendom ! For, in proof of
that, has he not yielded to the over-eagerness
revealed by Lord ABERDEEN'S Cabinet to purchase
at any cost the preservation of European tran-
quillity? Yes, we repeat it, he has indeed proved
beyond the possibility of a doubt the sincerity of
his pacific promises, and the cordiality of his
good feeling towards England—he has proved it
by his toleration of the dilatory and timorous policy
of the Coalition, by all but compromising the honour
of France and the dignity of his own reputation.
Nevertheless, it cannot be overlooked, as already
intimated, that if the Cabinet of the Tuileries,
by its complicity with the Cabinet of St. James's,
shares in the odium resulting from the recent
conduct of the Western Powers towards Turkey,
it has the merit at least of occasionally enun-
ciating its views in language bold and manly, if
not actually chivalrous and rna,7naasuimous. Boldly
Minister
Ro
er.
fDorruoYrNeiDgnE
and manfully, for example, n
CHITIN, in his capacity as
Affairs, spoken out, from time to time, in Official
hisp Im-
perial
ac
documents, honoura ble alike to his own ea
ity
in statesmanship and to the dignity of
Master's Government. Nobly and man-
fully too has NAPOLEON THE THIRD himself pro-
claimed, more than once, his resolve not to aban-
don the SULTAN to the lawless ambition of the AU-
TOCRAT—more particularly during the last few days
when talking of the affairs of the East to the Ambas-
sadors assembled at Fontainebleau. Not so has it
been at this juncture with ourselves. Not thus
have our Statesmen and Administrators asserted
the course upon which England should adventure
in the vindication of the outraged rights of
Turkey, and of the violated laws of Christendom.
Instead of this, indeed, we have observed in high
quarters the maintenance of the old, dull, pur-