The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-23 00:00:00

M. LAMA RTINE ON THE WAR.

Nearly the -whole of the first page of the Con-
stitutionnel is filled with the preface of the forth-
coming " History'of Turkey," by M. de Lamartine.
We regret that our limits will not permit us to give
very long extracts from this remarkable production.

1
"Russia, which extends from Poland to Persia and
China, already weighs infinitely too much on the globe.
If to such weight be added that of the 100,000 square
I leagues of the Ottoman empire in Asia and Europe, all
balance of forces in the world is at an end. We should
have to enter on a whole hemisphere and on the half
of another, the famous finis Polonice, applied not merely
t to Sarmatia, but to all Europe. . . . . It is known that
Napoleon was accustomed to say whatever he thought
in his familiar conversations with his friends. Count de
Rambuteau, then chamberlain, and afterwards prefect
of Paris, was present one evening at the Tuileries at
one of these grand improvisations, in January, 1813, a
period when fortune had already removed many an idu-
sion. Marshal Davoust and the Count de Lobau, as
well as M. Itarnbuteau listened with a respectful inte-
rest to the affecting anecdotes of the retreat from Russia.
Napoleon all at once interrupted himself in the recital
of his reverses and said :--' Alas ! how the best calcu-
lated plans may be thwarted by the most unforeseen cir-
cumstances ! Placed in 1812 at the head of Europe and
disposing of all the forces of the West, I thought the mo-
ment was come to invade Russia. I. wanted to raise up
against hdr a barrier which she could never pass. I hoped,
at least, to ietard for a hundred years that power, and in
reality I have ad van ced her a century! If ever she eeizes on
Constantinople, she will place Europe and Asia under
th 3 same yoke ! Ah, ifq had known sooner the import-
ance of the Turkish counterpoise at Constantinople.' And
in fact let any one represent to himself a Czar, who re-
cruits his armies, amongst 65 millions of men--men,
whose sole duty is to die for their master ; let any one
in his mind add to that formidable recruitment the 40
millions of Ottoman subjects, Turks, Greeks, Abasians,
Armenians, Circassians, Druses, and Maronites ; and
then add to that the 25 millions ofPersiads, who already
tremble before the advanced posts of Russia ! and there
will be 130 millions of men in one despotic hand to op-
pose 120 millions 6f others. What becomes of the
Black Sea, that lake of Europe and of Asia. • It be-
comes the great dock of Russia, in which her fleets will
be constructed in silence, until such time as these
innumerable sails will debonch .by the Dardanelles
into the Mediterranean, saying to the wind, like the
barbarians :--‘ Blow where you will, wherever you carry
us, the land is ours !' What becomes of the Danube,
which, after having flowed along freely for 600 leagues
across Germany, will be enchained at its mouth, and
will find the Muscovite blockade at its junction with
the seas, in which it went to seek for the sum and wealth
of the East ? What will become of the Adriatic, in
which Austria was commencing to exercise herself in
navigation and commerce by Trieste and Venice, and
which Dalmatia, Epirus, and Albania, henceforward
Russian, will close up like a second Black Sea to the
Austrian flag ? What becomes of Constantinople, '
that Hanseatic capital, situated on two ,con-
tinents, on the shore of , three seas, and of
two straits, common doors, of which the'' keys
ought to be in a neutral, friendly, or independent 'hand ?
Constantinople becomes a Moscow of the Bosphorus; of
which the Kremlin, built on the place of the gardens of
the seraglio, will cause the ships of war of Europe to
pass under its cannon like slaves. What becomes of the
Mediterranean ? It becomes either a Russian 'aka' or a
battle field of a century between the Russian fleet and
the English fleets, holding the commerce of Europe be-
tween two fires. What becomes of maritime France on
that tea where she possesses neither Malta, Gibraltar,
nor Corfu ? Maritime. France becomes the subaltern
vassal of the naval power, preponderating in these
seas, England ; or she becomes the butt of the
insults of Russia even in her ports. When Russia
is in the Dardanelles, the Russian frontier is at Mar-
seilles and Toulon. What becomes of Germany ? Al-
ready borne. down for the last 80 years by Russian
diplomacy or intervention, which she could Still restrain
as long as the Czar felt behind him the counterpoise of
Turkey, Germany becomes Russia. The Confederation
of the Rhine, thought of by Bonaparte, becomes a verity
after the annihilation of Constantinople by the Czar ;
Germany, great and small, becomes a confederation of
the Danube against France. At that price, Russia pre-
serves a slice of Poland and the Rhenish provinces ; at
that price, Austria preserves Italy, and if Italy palpi-
tates at the voice of Franc., a new Su warow descends
from rllyria into her plains with 200,000 Russians to
the aid of 200,000 Germans. Continental France
cannot make a movement on her frontiers without
meeting Germany, the advance guard of Russia, or
without coming into collision with Russia, the re-
serve of Germany. The treaties of 1815 are curtailed,
against us, of all that remained, unconquered in the
East, independent in Germany, and living in Italy. It
is no longer the accidental and temporary coalition of
1815, it is a coalition for ever of which one power, Rus-
sia, will draw up the clauses and give the catchword
every evening to all Europe. England alone will re•
main unseizable and free, because the waves and the
winds cannot be chained. She will not be subjected to
the continental blockade of Bonaparte, augmented by
the blockade of the East by Russia ; she will await with
anxiety the period at which a Russian expedition similar
to that which is at present being accumulated on the
Danube will come, like that of Alexander, and (-rive a
new master to the 200 millions of men who are
labouring at present in India, under her laws.
Such, as to territories and seas, are the ,conse-
quences to the abandonment of Turkey to the Rus-
sians. As to, the civilisation of the world, these
consequences are written in two words, despotism
and superstition ; a Czar and a pontiff in a single
man ; the faith of nations conquered with their liberty ;
the servitude of the mind dreamed of on the earth with
the servitude of races ; an immense check given to the
genius of modern nations • theologists for philosophers,
and Kalmucks for theologians. If Russia is allowed to
bind the West, hand and foot, whilst it is reposing, the
West will never rise again, or it will rise enchained ; it
will break its chains, we know, but it will break them
in one of those revolutionary convulsions which do not
make of the war, as at present, a military campaign,
but an earthquake in which the victors perish with the
vanquished. Let us therefore march with confidence to
the succour of ourselves. Turkey is the advanced guard
of the liberty of Europe. Let us rejoice at having found
in a people considered dead a people living, and let us
write its history, either as the augury of its regenera-
, or as the epitAph of our tomb. '