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1131

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2,185 C

A later despatch from Prince MENSCILIKOFF,
dated the 27th ultimo, which appeared in our
mpression of yesterday, proves the almost total
falsehood of the alleged reverses sustained by the
French and. English forces. Two days after the
supposed victory, he announces that nothing im-
portant had occurred up to the 27th October.
Had there been anything that could by any de-
gree of exaggeration be tortured into a triumph,
it would have been expatiated on usque ad
nauseam. Vapouring proclamations would have
b een issued by the CZAR, and Te Deums would
have resounded through every Russian cathedral.
The negative testimony afforded by the despatch
of the 27th is, therefore, decisive as to the men-
dacity of that of the 25th, which was probably a
canard got up for Stock Exchange purposes. A
" bearish" set off against the " bullish" invention
of the capture of Sebastopol, immediately after the
battle of Alma. Save those peculiarly interested
in depreciating the national securities few would
have credited the Russian report, save habitual
croakers, who regard everything through a dis-
torted medium, and revel only in tales of disaster
and suffering. We yesterday gave insertion to
the statement, as was our duty, but we at the
same time declared, after explaining the non-
trustworthy character of the source from whence
it was derived, that our " readers might be-
lieve or disbelieve just as ranch of it as they
thought proper ;" and added, " All that we
shall at present say is, Credat Judceus 404 nonego.
The story may do very wellfor MarinesorMuscovites,
but we cannot accept it on such doubtful autho-
rity." The subsequent 111ENscarKoFF despatch,
which arrived just at the time of going to press,
and which appeared in the most prominent part
of our columns, established the almost total false-
hood of the preceding statements, and must have
remoted
any apprehensions that might otherwise
have' been excited amongst the timid or over-
credulous.
But We are not trusting to merely Russian
reports. It appears that despatches were yester-
day received by Government up to the 25th ult.,
per the Trent steamer, which left the Crimea on
that day, and arrived
at. Varna on the 26th.
These- most important gad interesting accounts
were not fairly given, as
they ought to have been,
but, as we yesterday stated, were "suffered to
leak out through the columns of the favoured
organ," and that, too, in a mode that could not
be generally received as authentic, inasmuch as
it is not stated whether it wai the heads of the
War-Office who adopted the course of
favouritism
so unblushingly pursued by the Admiralty, or
wirtherigt was subordinates, who betrayed the
secrets ti}atizei to their knowledge in the routine
,
, ofthhir-iits uties. Whatever may have been
the MOciei ili.ovver, in which the intelligence may
have lieen,obtained—whether by favouritism or
fraud---
it is'equally discreditable to the Ministers,
who abandoned their former pledges, or resorted
to so very objectionable a mode of redeeming
them ! •
It iii stated that " up to the time of -the- &par-

'cure of the Trent, the siege and bombardment
we re going on with regularity and success," and that
c''so heavy had been the fire of the besieging bat-
teries, and so terrible the loss of life in the town of
Sebastopol, that the air was reported to be tainted
by the dead who had fallen in the defence of the
devoted fortress !" If this be so, it is quite clear
that -there could have been no serious conflict—
no surprise of the English right flank at Taker-
man by thirty thousand Russians, and no capture
of five redoubts and several guns ! Such a de-
plorable transaction would have obtained a pain-
ful notoriety, and have been spread far and wide
before the departure of the Trent, which left at
the date of the alleged MENSCHIIIOFF despatch. If
anything whatever occurred, it could only have
been a mere affair of outposts. It is not impro-
bable that the statement received from Vienna, to
the effect that " the account in the Weiner Zeitung
of the English Army having experienced a serious
reverse was a gross exaggeration" may be quite
correct, and that the true version may be, that
" the affair referred to took place near Eupatoria,
where the Allies were on the look out for the ad-
vancing reinforcements of the Russians, and that
the British cavalry was attacked, but the French
advanced to its assistance, and the Russians re-
treated." Considering the MRNSCHIKOFF tendency
to " make mountains of molehills " when agreeable
to the CZAR, or to depress the mountains to mole-
hills, where the operation can be more acceptable,
we should not feel surprised if the trifling skirmish
were the sole foundation for the assertion that
" Lord CARDIGAN lost half his light cavalry."
We have other MKNSCHIKOFF accounts given
through the Journal de St Petersbourg, the men-
dacity of some of which is apparent ; while others
are softened down to the greatest possible extent.
Thus we hear " that the Russian loss in killed
and wounded at the battle was 4,500." If this
admission be doubted, which will make it more
in accordance with the accounts we had previously
received, it will probably be nearer the truth.
The assertion that "on the evening of the 17th
ultimo"--the first day of the bombardment—
" the English had only two pieces which were capa-
ble of continuing the firing, and that the French had
been silenced earlier," we know to be untrue ;
while the admissions that " a powder magazine
had exploded," and that " Fort Constantine had
been much damaged by the fire of the Fleet," and
that " Bastion No. 3 had 33 of its guns dis-
mounted," only confirm to some extent the intel-
ligence we had previously received.
Under these circumstances we have no reason
to be dissatisfied with the course of events, or to
complain of anything save the unaccountable
taciturnity of the English Government !

How is it that every friend of Poland turns
to the Emperor of FRANCE, and not to the Go-
vernment of Queen VicToßre ? To him appeal
follows appeal, and with a tone of confidence and
hope ; while no one thinks it worth while to
indite a sentence to the chief adviser of our
Queen. We are ashamed as Englishmen to
say the truth ; we have not one master mind,
and hardly, in the wider sense of the word, a
loyal heart, among our governors. As a body
they have not entirely got rid of that aristocratic
instinct which for long years, ever since 1815,
indeed, has turned to Russia, and to European
despotism generally, as the bulwark of their
order. The legitimate, though barbarous, rule cf
a " Mighty Czar," and the absolute government
of the German monarchs, who continued absc-1
lute only by gross violation of faith with their
subjects, have always been favourably looked
upon by our aristocracy. Even Lord. Join
termed. the struggle of Hungary for its
liberties—a struggle so resembling that of his own
nation for its liberties in the time of HAMPDEN—
a rebellion ! Were he to be its historian he
would, doubtless, borrow a title-page from CLA-
RENDON, and denominate it " The Great Rebel-
lion." But this leaning to foreign absolutism on
the part of our autocracy is not all. We really
have not one statesman equal to the occasion.
Lord JOHN is at home enough in the House of
Commons and its parties, but he has not a Euro-
pean mind. He has never pervaded the soul of
Europe by a single utterance worthy the constitu-
tional Minister of the first and freest of European
kingdoms. He has been a veritable JAMES the
First in respect to continental politics ; and now,
unfortunately, he performs second part to a Minister
who will, if be can, stop the leak in European
politics with a peace which will 'in a few
years send all our statesmen to the pumps again.
There is but one security for European peace. -
Every one knows it. Many have boldly spoken
out already. We have conscientiously
been of the number, and shall still be so ; and
that security is a reconstituted Poland. But who
cares to appeal for Poland and Europe to Lord
ABERDEEN? He, worthy man, would doubtless
say to himself, " Oh, yes, all very good ;—but
peace ! peace 1 It would be criminal to fight one
day longer than NICHOLAS stands out. Liberated
Poland--yes, very desirable ;—a European barrier
against Russia,—yes, surely it would be ;—the
right of the Poles—no doubt. Ah ! but peace
give me peace, and Poland must take her chance,
and Europe too, till ABERDEEN is out of the
political scrapes of this world, and then Europe,
and Russia, and Poland may settle it as they best

can."

Of NAPOLEON 111. some thinkers, at least, hope
differently. We have just received the transla-
tion of a very able pamphlet written by some
Frenchman,* by many, and on good grounds too,
supposed to be PERSIGNt himself, in which an
earnest appeal is made to that remarkable man on
the necessity of the Western Powers " recognising
by a common declaration the legitimate exist-
ence of the Polish nationality." The pamphlet
is fully deserving the practical attention of the
English public. In France it is probable the
EMPEROR needs no impulse from popular feeling.
He is understood to be well inclined to the pro-.
posal, and he is sure of a cordial response from his
own people. That generous nation is but too
easily carried away by any noble sentiment, and
to stand forth in history as the heirs to the un.
happily neglected promise of NAPOLEON I. would
arouse all their enthusiasm. Not so here. Our
' people, it is true, are as hearty in the cause of
Polish emancipation as ever the French can be ;
the Lincolnshire fanners cheering Sir John
TROLLOPE are proof how universal is the feeling ;
but unless our people move, their rulers will, we
fear, be but too glad if they can engulph Polish
liberty in winter negotiations, and settle the
question in favour of the CZAR and slavery before
the country compels them to act.
We look upon the appearance of this tract in
France as a most favourable circumstance. It
shows that political discussion of Poland's claims
is not interdicted, and that is a strong presumption
in favour of its being acceptable. For ourselves,
now we are at war, we dread nothing so much as
a premature peace. Enraged and furious as the
CZAR may be, he is
men as cu • 3 like most savages and mad-
, cunning as he i
has alread s passionate. Indeed, he
y manifested the
rage and the basest cunning qualities of demoniacal
aabsolteyeeqruyalotphreo-r.
pro-
portions in the case of Poland,

Perhaps the knave may get the upper hand of the
madman while he is frozen up, and he may at-
tempt to beguile Europe into diplomatic con-
ferences, to waste the time of the Allies, to check
the ardour of their preparations ; and thus, if he
carry on the war through another season, to
induce them to begin late and with hasty pre-
parations, as they did this year. It is dis-
tressing to think how many ' lives, and how
much suffering would have been saved had
the Western Powers not twaddled away at
Vienna the precious_ time which ought to
have been devoted to getting to Varna and the
Crimea whole months earlier. The writer of the
pamphlet before us thinks it impossible that a
CZAR can bend to peace, not even when St. Peters-
burg and the Baltic ports, as well as those of the
Black Sea, shall have been dismantled. There
are very strong grounds for such an opinion. Not
only the temper of Czars, but that of the Russian
party of which even Czars stand in dread, appears
to forbid the supposition ; and we certainly wish
that he may hold out till the Allies are compelled
to hoist the banner of Polish independence as the
indispensable means of European safety.
But why should the Allies delay what must
ultimately be done, and what can be done most
easily and cheaply now we are at work? Let
every reader ask himself what has given Russia her
position in the eyes of Europe. In herself a bar-
barian nation and a dreary land, she has converted
the border states of civilisation into fig-leaves
wherewith to hide her nakedness. Stript of
Poland and the Baltic Provinces, she would ap-
pear the Asiatic and barbarian power she is.
What, again, is the source of her power for
offence against Europe ? The universal answer is,
Poland. Constitute the Poles a free nation, ren-
der it an outwork against Muscovite barbarism,
instead of a high road for Cossacks, and
-Russian
power of aggression on European liberties is anni-
hilated. By a horrible union of the fox and the
bear she contrived to seize and devour the Polish
nation, but she could never again repeat her fraud
and violence. Half a century of chicanery, op-
pressions, and cruelty have burnt into the convic-
tions of all Europe that Czars must be Czars only,
and not be allowed to become anything else. Once
driven from their stolen territories, they would
never be allowed to resume them. The freed coun-
tries must first have their own feelings consulted,
as to their own Government and relations to other
powers, and they must then be treated as integral
parts of the European system, to attack which
would be dealt with as high treason against all
the other States. We have not yet done with
this great subject, nor with the pamphlet referred
to either. The latter we commend to the attention
of every reader ; and on the minds of all English-
men we would leave one more thought, this :
We began the present war on the ground of national
rights, not to gratify military ardour—not for con.
quest. Lord JOHN had at least the merit of em-
bodying in a brief prayer the feeling of every
Englishman—" GOD defend the right ! " Now, if
Turkey ought to be avenged seven times, surely
Poland seventy and seven times. The rights of
Poland have been outraged beyond all comparison
more flagrantly than those of Turkey. Right and
justice can never be satisfied till Poland regain
rights such as Turkey has never lost. The grounds,
therefore, on which this war was commenced are
a far stronger moral reason for including Poland
in its objects. The political grounds we have
shown are equally valid.

* Letter to the Emperor of the French on the Aus-
trian Question, and the re-establishment of the Inde-
pendence of Poland. James Ridgway, Piccadilly.

THE ENVIRONS OF SEVASTOPOL.

Another map of this now celobrated and devoted
city has just issued from the fertile and never-
ceasing ingenuity of our enterprising Geographer
to the Queen, James Wyld. This plan embraces
the environs, with the batteries, approaches, and
clearly-defined positions of the respective bellige-
rents, French, English, Turkish, and Russian—
infantry, cavalry, artillery, the several divisions of
the armies, head-quarters of Lord Raglan, &c. ; to-
gether with the defences round Balaklava, the depth
of water in the several inlets or bays from Cape
Chersonese, to the great harbour itself, within and
beyond, indicated in fathoms. Taken altogether,
Sevastopol, with its numerous harbours, contains
wonderful advantages for both warlike and com-
mercial purposes ; and we are not surprised that
the Russians have endeavoured to turn such a
natural stronghold to the best account. This map
of Mr. Wyld's is a decided improvement on all its
predecessors. I