The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1853,

Gradually we are getting nearer the truth as
to the actual course of the warlike operations in
Moldo-Wallachia. As we anticipated in our re-
marks yesterday, the Turkish army has not been
compelled to retreat across the Danube—having
only retired for reasons of strategy or from simply
prudential considerations. It must not be over-
looked, moreover, that the fate of the campaign
does not necessarily require to be decided in the
vicinity of Oltenitza. It is not in that quarter
alone that the troops of the SULTAN have taken
up a position formidable to their Russian antago-
nists. So far is this from being the case, that the
principal portion of the Turkish armament crossed
the Danube much higher up than Turtukai—
indeed as near to the point where Servia, Walla-
chia, and Banat are as contiguous as Widdin, and
this with a view to command Krajova, and, by
commanding Krajova, to prevent the Russians
from withdrawing into the Austrian dominions
and seeking shelter in the fastnesses of Transyl-
vania. A division alone crossed the Danube be-
tween Turtukai and Oltenitza, thereby threatening
the Wallachian capital, Bucharest. Meantime, so
3LER
adroit and well-considered were the tactics of
0
that simultaneously with the pas-
sage affected by the main body of his army at
Widdin, and of admission at Oltenitza, a third
portion of his soldiery crossed over to the
left bank of the Danube in the vicinity of
line
eefuttein
effectually
hbeyl.e thatss,
although means
Braila,
Ng e:fert.
Moldavian
communication with the
Russianterritories.
the main body of the Turks •
accomplished the
passage at Widdin, and although another part of
the SULTAN'S army, by establishing itself lower
down the river at Braila, interrupted the Rus-
sians, as we have shown, in the direction of Mol-
davia—the division which had at the same time
appeared on the left bank of the Danube opposite
Oltenitza, at once assumed to itself a chief
portance by that brilliant success of the 4th in-
stant, by which the Muscovites were completely
discomfited—a success which was speedily followed
•
up by another yet more remarkable in its charac-
ter, entailing a loss upon the enemy, as it would
now appear, of 500 killed and 600 wounded.

No wonder, that, after this initiatory victory on
the part of the Turkish forces, the general atten-
tion was diverted, for a while at least, from
Braila and from Widdin, and concentrated almost
exclusively upon Olteuitza. Indeed so important
did the events occurring in this quarter appear to
be in the estimation of the Russian Commander-
in-Chief, that his head-quarters were forthwith
established not far from Kopaksen, at a place
situated on the road from Oltenitza to Bucharest,
and known as Butesschtei. Thither all his avail-
able troops
have been hastily gathered together,
so that at that point alone, at the lowest compu-
tation, some 24,000 Russians are concentrated)
under the banners of GORTZCEIAKOFF. Yesterday
the intelligence received through the Russian
authorities, stated them to amount to as many as
40,000 in the aggregate. To.day, that formid-
more able total was shrunk by an eighth to nnn
but the real amount, we believe, may be
cor-
rectly stated, as before remarked, as about 24,0001

altogether. It must be remembered still further,
however, that they are 24,000 men weakened by
disaffection, debilitated by scarcity, depressed by
disease, and discouraged by two very recent and
successive discomfitures.

Affairs are thus situated on the banks of the
Danube. A division of the Turkish army estab-
lished at Braila—the main body between Widdin
and Kalafat--but the most interesting portion of
all for the time being opposite Oltenitza.
Naturally we cannot but be interested in
learning that meanwhile other remarkable occur-
rences are transpiring elsewhere. That orders for
their march have been received by the Russian
regiments cantoned in the south of Poland. That
the Sublime Porte has received offers from the
Lebanon of 3,000 Druses and 3,000 Maronites.
That an enormous mass of Russian troops,
some say as many as 50,000 altogether,
have crossed the Pruth under General OSTEN-
SACKEN as a reinforcement to the army of GoRTz-
CHAKOFF. That the capture of Shefkatil has
utterly dismayed the Muscovite armaments in
Asia, revealing to them the uncertainty of their
power and the peril of their situation. Yet at-
tractive as these particulars are, significant as
they are, important as they are—they all yield in
attraction, significance, and importance to those
coming to us from the central portions of Wal-
lachia, from Bucharest, and from the neighbour-
hood of Oltenitza.

We would again most strongly urge upon the
consideration of impartial observers the chief and
glaring contradiction of the latest intelligence re-
ceived from the former place—the capital of the
Principality. We would urge it upon their atten-
tion, because we cannot but perceive in it an addi-
tional and conclusive reason for regarding with
suspicion the accounts furnished to Western
Europe simply on the authority of the Russian
Functionaries. According to their assurance, the
Turks have been compelled to retire across the
Danube—and yet, according to despatches received
at Paris from Bucharest up to the 9th instant in-
elusively, we learn from the French Consul in the
latter capital, " FOR THREE DAYS PAST WE HAVE
HEARD a continuous cannonade." For three days
past a continuous cannonade audible at Bucharest,
in the direction of Oltenitza, and yet, according
to the same accounts, before those three days the
Turks had been forced by the Russians to recross
the Danube into Bulgaria. Why, the whole
statement involves a perfectly preposterous con-
tradiction. However, it only incites us, for
that very reason, to observe the progress of events
in, and the fluctuations of intelligence from, the
the seat of war, with more than ever cautious and
vigilant observation. Heretofore it is satisfactory
to feel assured that the only information upon
which we can count with anything like certainty
is directly and signally in favour of the Turks—
whereas the intelligence favourable to their an-
tagonists comes to us under most suspicious au-
thority, and replete in almost every paragraph
with absolutely ridiculous contradictions. One
thing, at any rate, has long since become unde-
niable—alea jacta est—the struggle has com-
menced in earnest ; and now, while this struggle
is yet raging, let us ask again, and yet again,
must England await supinely news of the mo-
mentous consequences ?

Would universal suffrage, or any approach to
it, swamp the middle and upper class voters ?
We have seen this repeatedly asserted, but no-
where fairly examined. It is taken for granted
that it must be so. The argument seems very
short. The working classes are an immense ma-
jority ; they would vote in the interests of their
class—therefore, we should have a House of Com-
mons composed of their nominees. We think the
reasoning too abrupt to be conclusive. It is the
logic of symbols rather than of facts. Though
desirous of the widest extension possible of the
franchise, we have no dogmatical preference for
any particular one of the broader schemes, and
should be content with any enlargement which,
either by its present extent or by its including a
scheme of gradual self-extension, should be as
nearly final as possible. It is, we suppose, uni-
versally felt that, were it possible to give the
franchise to every adult male who could be regis-
tered as residing somewhere, this would be in
itself the simplest and best plan. It would make
the political privileges of the Commons of England
equal ; it would harmonise with the legal adage
of the highest authority, that representation and
taxation ought to go together, since every English-
man pays at least indirect taxes ; it would destroy
by the roots one cause, so fertile in bad times, of
political discontent ; and it would be dealing with
man as man, and ignoring the invidious dis-
tinction of rich and poor. For such general
reasons all of us would prefer what is, for conve-
nience sake, termed universal suffrage, unless some
danger were apprehended from it, either to class
interests, or to " our glorious Constitution in
Church and State." In the former case, it is
feared lest workmen should make laws for their
masters, and perhaps their masters' masters too ;
in the latter, lest the middle and commercial
classes, who since the Reform Act have been the
chief power in the House of Commons, should
have to hand over their power to the class below
them.

It is worth while, then, calmly to consider the
probabilities of the working of even the most
widely extended suffrage. Without the ballot, or
some means of securing the independence of the
poor man's vote, it is obvious that it would make
no sensible change whatever in the position of
parties. Suppose, however, independent voting
fairly secured, yet even then how many things
are there to modify or prevent combined and do-
minant action on the part of the working class.
It is common to think of them as a class ; but
the truth is, that from the beggar upward to the
foreman to whom the master gives his orders, they
are a series of ascending classes ; or a set of auto-
cratic circles if we will, each looking down upon
the circle below it, and resenting its intrusion
upon their higher one. It is so in every trade
where large numbers of hands are employed, and
except perhaps in a mere contest about wages,
which will never henceforth become a political
question, it would be almost impossible for all the
men to combine for mere class purposes. Partly,
again, owing to the same circumstances, a very
with
others large proportion of those who are termed working
men are closely connected in interest and feeling
h the raid cases distant
of distant
relationship, in
hlasersses. obviousn manyoonlinun
in-
terests,
in many we would hope the strong at-
tachment of faithful servants to considerate mas-
ters. Altogether the numbers must be great in-
deed of those wh
o could and would be influenced
by their interest in
their employer's success, by
his superior intelligence or his
kindness. We are,
moreover, apt to be misled by
occurrences like
strikes to a very exaggeratedestimate of the ten-
dency of the labouring class to combination.
Factory and mining operatives possess unusual
facilities for doing it. They are, however, after
all, but a small part of the population, and on
every question but the non-political one of wages
would have no peculiar bond of union with the
innumerable tribes of other working men who
cover the face of the country. Indeed, after but
little discussion, the different classes of operatives
will thoroughly understand that higher wages
to all will be but little gain to each, the
enhanced price of the products of labour increasing
the individual's expenditure, and perhaps the les-
sened demand for them throwing him oftener out
of work. The Tyne collier's wife will soon com-
plain of " these Preston turn-outs" if she has to
;
pay a halfpenny a-yard more for her gown and the
labourers throughout the kingdom will be wroth
in mid-winter with " those fellows who only want
higher wages, to work fewer days, and make coals
dearer." The interests of different classes of