The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS BY

SCHAMYL.

Our c olumns this morning contain the most satisfac-
tory intelligence which has yet been received from the
seat of war in Asia. After the intrigues and imbecility
which leave hitherto characterised the proceedings of the
Turkish army in Armenia, it is refreshing to turn to the
vigorous inroad of Schamyl and his Circassian followers
into the very heart of Georgia, and to calculate the
amount of injury which he has inflicted on the common
enemy. In a great battle near Tiflis the Russians were
utterly defeated by their old and implacable foe. They
lost, we are informed, "many men, seven guns, 3,000
tents, and all their baggage," and, in addition, " all the
provisions and ammunition of the Russians fell into the
hands of the victors." It is by exploits such as these—
by hard and frequent blows on well-fought fields, and
not by diplomatic negotiations or by naval demonstra-
tions, which lead to nothing—that the Emperor Nicholas
will be brought to feel the hopeless nature of the struggle
into which he has rushed, and that peace will be restored
to the world. No wonder, then, that after such a signal
overthrow, the Russian power in Georgia should totter
to its fall, and that Prince Bebutoff should be summoned
from Armenia to restore, if possible, the fallen fortunes
of his Imperial master.
c a
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with
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Persia
and the Porte was complete. We hope that none of our
readers will be weak enough to imagine that the conduct
of Persia has anything to do with the issue of the struggle
between Russia and Turkey. Persia is the Prussia of the
East, and the policy of the Court of Teheran has been as
vacillating as that of Berlin. When the Turks gain a
victory the Russian Envoy is dismissed, and when the
Russian fortunes are uppermost the Turkish Mi-
nister is suddenly requested to leave the country.
Despised or detested by all Powers alike, the Shah
of Persia owes his political existence to the long suffer-
ance of England, for, if it suited us to take any notice
of his misconduct, the appearance of a few vessels in the
Persian Gulf, carrying a very small portion of our Bom-
bay army to the port of Bushire, would soon bring out
that double-faced Potentate on his knees. On such a
Sovereign, to-day Turk and to-morrow Russian, but who
is really at the mercy of England, the influence of a
British Envoy ought to be supreme ; and for this rea-
son, without wishing at all to disparage the exertions of
those diplomatists who have lately represented this coun-
try, at the Court of the Shah, we are glad to see from
an announcement in the last night's Gazette, that British
interests are about to be cared for at Teheran, and that
Mr. Murray, formerly Consul-General in Egypt, and
lately British Minister at Berne, is to proceed as Pleni-
potentiary to Persia. A better appointment could
not have been made, and we have little doubt that the
energy and ability of Mr. Murray will exercise the most
salutary influence on the policy of tha Shah.—Times.

- T
THE POLICY OF THE PRUSSIAN COUBT.

The policy of the Prussian Goverment at this crisis
of the affairs of Europe is not to be disguised by any
subtleties of diplomatic language, or any affectation of
impartial motives. The truth is plainly discernible
through all the veils with which it ishoped to disguise
it, and every observer of European politics is perfectly
aware that Prussia has not only been false to the cause
which she herself approved, but is doing all that lies
in her power to frustrate the more generous exer-
tions of others. No ophistry of explanation
or argument can affect then simple ficts of the case before the public. A serious dispuie exists between
Russia and Europe, originating in an aggression of the
former power upon a neighbouring
held to be a violation of European lbw, and, as such,
calling for European intervention. In the exercise of
State, which was
this intervention, and fur the enforcement of those prin-
ciples by which the peace of Europe, like the internal
peace of any particular State, is upheld, England and
France have resorted to arms, and are at this moment
endeavouring to compel Russia to the abandonment of
her offensive claims, and to the observance of pub-
lic law. Now, it would bo competent to Prussia, or
to any other Government, either to take a different
view of the original quarrel and to pronounce Rus-
siai the right, or to. maintain that, though Rus-
might have been wrong, the terms _
no w pro-
posed to her as conditions of peace were oppressive
and severe. But neither of these positions has been
token by the Prussian court. That court has expressly
acknowledged—first, that the view taken by the Western
Powers of Russia's conduct was entirely justifiable ; and
next, that the terms of peace which these Governments
have offered were such as ought to have been accepted.
Nevertheless, in direct defiance of these admissions, the
efforts of the Prussian Cabinet have been unceasinglyniaotanocinlythreefuesme;
upports every
but does all in
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is unremitting in her endeavours to prevent Austria from
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ucarrying
,t hp
co-operating actively with France and England. Con-
scious of the blame which such conduct must incur, she
has now attempted to vindicate her policy by a reference
to the particular interests which she was kound to con-
sult, and as if they supplied no incitement to active in-
tervention.

We think it would not be difficult to show that, as far
as any such distinction of interests can be drawn, those
of Germany are certainly more nearly involved in the
pending quarrel than those of France or England. It
surely concerns Germany more than any other nation
that the navigation of the Danube should be free nor could
any Governments be more interested than the German
Governments in the maintenance of the principles which
secure a weak State from the aggressions of a strong one.
The first glance at a map of Europe will show that Eng-
land and France would be the last to be devoured in the
case of a Russian advance upon the West, nor has it
ever been pretended that these Powers are promoting
any interests of their own in tho war they have under-
taken. On the contrary, it has been explicity declared
in the State papers of the two Governments, that they
look for no territorial acquisitions, or other similar ad-
vantages, but are actuated solely by the desire of re-
dressing the grievance presently suffered by the Otto-
man empire, and of preventing the recurrence of any such
disturbances in future. The obligations incumbent upon
the Western Powers in this respect were simply identi-
cal with those incumbent upon the Governments of
Germany, for they consisted merely in the common duty
of upholding public law, and to this duty one State can
be no more bound than another. To assert that German
interests are not involved in the decision of the dispute