The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-23 00:00:00

( From the Morning Herald.)

Nothing, perhaps, is more singular in the history of
the last 50 years than, the manner in which England,
under rulers of every shade of politics, has been made
subservient to the designs of Russia, notwithstanding
the fact that she is herself the ultimate object against
which all these designs are directed. It is hardly neces-
sary to call to our readers' recollection the various ways
in which we have removed obstacles from her path to
universal sway—how we encouraged the Czar in his ad-
vance to Adrianople, and how scandalously we con-
nived at the secret article of the trtaty of Unkiar
Skelessi. The events of the last year are in every one's
mouth—how we permitted the occupation of the Princi-
palities-a-how we attempted to coerce the Porte to make
peace on the basis of the infamous Vienna note—how
we permitted Russia to reinforce her troops iu Asia—
and how we wound up the long catalogue of our iniquities
by directly contributing to the massacre of Sinope, hav-
ing prevented, by direct interference, the Turkish fleet
from giving that protection to her transports which we
ourselves had neither the courage nor the honesty to
afford. All these, and more, are unfortunately familiar
as household words, not only to Englishmen but to all
Europe ; but another delinquency has been committed
by our Cabinet, the results of which promise to be the
cause of even greater danger to England herself than
any of the preceding. That to which we allude is the
manner in which we have at last handed over Persia as
a vassal to Russia, and so advanced the influence of the
latter another 1,000 miles towards India, the great goal
of her desires.

It may appear singular that the Persians, who cannot
be supposed tube wholly ignorant of the ultimate object
of the Czar, should prefer his alliance to that of England ;
but to those who have paid attention to the negotiations
which have at different times taken place between the.
three nations, and who know how invariably England
has been fooled into playing the part of jackal to Russia
--in fact, how completely in these transactions she has
rehearsed the baseness of the last six months—no as-
tonishment can be caused that Persia should feel that if
she is to be coerced by Russia, there can be no possible
necessity that she should also be betrayed by England.
We quote an instance from the admirable work gene-
rally. attributed to Sir John M'Neill, upon the " Pro-
gress of Russia in the East." When the negotiations
were- pending which resulted in the treaty of . Goolistan
(181 A), it is stated:—

" The formal mediation of England was rejected by
Russia ; but the good offices of the ambassador (Sir
Gore Ouseley) were employed, and a treaty of peace was
at length concluded, by which Persia ceded to Russia all
her acquisitions south of the Caucasus, and engaged to
maintain no navy on the Caspian." The Persian pleni-
potentiary had declined to accede to the former condition
unless the district of Talich were excluded, for particular
reasons not necessary to recapitulate.
General Ritischof solemnly pledged himself, if the
Persian ambassador would accept the basis, "to procure
from his court the restitution of Talich as an act of grace
from the Emperor; and deliberately held out the hope
that the other provinces also would be restored."
The British ambassador persuaded the Persians to,ac-
cept those terms, and undertook to use the good offices
of his Government, &c. " The Persian Government,
accustomed to place the most implicit reliance on the
honour of Europeans," acceded to the demand.
General Cathcart, who was sent to St. Petersburg as
ambassador, was instructed by his Government to re-
deem the pledges of Sir G. Ouseley; "but all his good
offices, urged with the whole weight of his public and'.
personal influence," "were unable to procure from the
Emperor the relinquishment of one foot of ground."
" When General Yermoloff," the Russian ambassador,
"arrived in Persia, he would restore nothing, and thus
all the acquisitions of Russia remained in her possession ;"
and to all this England submitted ! Can we, then,
wonder, that after a long series of transactions, of which
the above is only a sample, the name of England is as
much despised in Persia as it will be hereafter in the
Ottoman empire ? In fact, were it not for the dates,ight
and the substitution of Persia for Turkey, we
m
fancy we were reading an episode in the transactions of
the last six months. We have been at the trouble of
extracting the' above miserable piece of baseness, in order
that our readers might deduce from it the fact how com-
pletely we have been accessory to throwing Pen' toa
the hands of Russia, and how little wonderful it Peoria
inn a
country such as Persia—where little patriotism exists,
and bribery is common—that the influence of England
should have sunk to nothing, while Russia is all powerful.
We in a degree indicated, in an article published on
Monday last, the course which we considered it proba-
ble Russia would adopt for carrying out to their full
extent the designs against India which she has long
been knowri to entertain. We may sum them up in a
few words, viz., that taking advantage of the weak state
of Persia at the present moment, and the danger sup-
posed to be contingent on a quarrel with England—an
auxiliary and protective. Russian force may
intro-
duced into the country to supply the place of
thet e
person troops
employed against the 'Turks, and
toprotectwith the history
of the Shah. Those who are acquainted of the person of
of Persia are aware that thepossessor
the acknowledged sovereign dominates without control.
The Affghans rulednamed Shah Sultan boos-
and for many
in the
sein as long as it suited their purpose,
dde facto, as the Vizier of
years Nadir Koolee
nominal successor, Tamasp.
that monarch's son resigned,
These facts prove that
tihtemreuirelyanredquatsreoslutthee
rwulielrl
of
the the Czar to make hull.
Persia, and to give him the disposal of its entire
One of the great errors which has
resources.
usually been made by writers on the subject of the
invasion of India,has been the assumption—against
which their arguments have. been directed—that it would
tempted by a Russian army marching across
be at
Persia, on
through Bokhara, and attempting to accom-
plish the enterprise in a year or two. Russia will do no
such thing. She knows well that the successful invaders
of India have always been those who have for years
been in possession of Persia, and have prepared the
Persians to aid in the enterprise. Alexander himself
when he set out on his Indian expedition, commenced
his ninth campaign in Asia; and although the phalanx
and the companion cavalry formed the nucleus of his
army, the great mass of his forces consisted of Scythians
Bactrians, Dahm, and Persians, troops who had been
engaged or the three preceding years in various expe-
ditious to the north of the Parapomesian range, and had
thus become disciplined and hardy soldiers.

What is there in present circumstances to prevent i I
Russia from adopting the same measures 1 A few years'
occupation of Persia, which we cannot prevent, except ;
by active measures in the Caucasus, the Black Sea, and
on the Danube, will place her in a position which would i
enable her to make her appearance on the Indus with a
Russo-Persian army, which we might find it hard to
resist, and hccompanied by every man inhabiting- the
plains and mountains from Herat to Attoek and Khelat
who could find a horse to mount, a sword to gird on his
side, or a matchlock to throw over his shoulder.
When we last treated this subject we promise 3 our
readers a few details of the means which we have
adopted to conciliate these formidable auxiliaries, whose
attachment or enmity may at a future day turn the scale
for or against England ; but we find that space fails us,
and we must conclude with another extract from Sir
John Al`Neill, which will show the folly and wickedness