The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-12 00:00:00

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.s about their ears—land t `'latlilti...l'
point we please—enable us nd,,
along with France, the monopoly of th '' &fine- - --:'
commerce of the world. We had all Itilor ertf" ''',, /
Europe in the last war—we shall have it all • t/ik.;•,14 5..„ c. "
Our nest is sea-girt. We can produce, work, cal- ....'"Th'
cnlate, speculate in security. We have coal and
iron, the great sinews of modern war and ma-
nufactures. If Germany, and Prussia, and
Italy be on our side, the contest will soon come
a
to a close—if they be against us, their in-
ternal distractions, and the measures necessary to
sustain the contest, will render them incapable of
sparing attention to the culture of the arts or to the
reaping of the fruits of peace. Privateers and letters
of marque are no longer formidable. Our merchan-
dise is in a great measure carried in steamers the steam privateers could not, we think, work,
constant necessity of coaling, and the absence of
coals at any point uncovered by our war steamers,
rendering them impracticable instruments of war ;
while mere sailing vessels would be chased by our
steam-frigates over the sea or into harbour, without
the possibility of escape. The Turks, like the Por-
tuguese or Spaniards, may not be very formidable
by themselves ; but vertebrated by even ten thou-
sandFrenchmen' and there can be little doubt that
they will drive the Russians out of the Danubian
provinces " like smoke." The number of British
troops in Spain, Portugal, even at Waterloo, was
proportionately insignificant ; but their presence
makes other soldiers as efficient as our own, and
nerves even the sepoy with the vigour of the " Bri-*
tish grenadier." Should we so very deeply regret
that the exigencies of war afford us a fair reason
for quartering au English and French army of oc-
cupation in Egypt and Turkey ? It should 'not
necessarily cost us a very material excess over our
ordinary expenditure, as our troops must be ra-
tioned and quartered somewhere; and Russia may
find the tables turned upon her policy, and vblleu
she thought only of the Turks falling an easy,
prey to her ambition, she may be doomed to find
the two most powerful nations in Europe in dan-
gerous proximity to her own frontier. In Turk
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we shall civilise- the ma 'lbw - -' . ' --111— .
art of government, and the proper mechanisria
of wise administration—give greater security to the
people against the tyranny and extortion of their
rulers—reveal to them the mighty forces of huma-
nity Ai
and justice, and strengthen the hands of those
who sincerely desire the happiness of individual
subjects, the stability of the throne, and the power I
and progress of the aggregated state and nation.
As for Persia—de/cm/a est ! She deserves no quar-
ter,
and must have none. She must be annexed
either
to our India or to Turkey. Her indepen-
dent existence can be no more tolerated than that
of a loaded blunderbuss in the hands of a highway-
man. She has lent herself, at the time of our ut-
most need, to our bitterest enemy, and declared
war against us without the slizhtest excuse except
that of our extremity and her own opportunity. As
to the "Autocrat of all the Russias it is our de-
liberate opinion that his reign and 'kingdom must
be declared to be at end. • He has put himself
beyond the pale of the humanities of international
law. He has disturbed the peace of all Europe
without the shadow of a reason, except that of his
own " absolute shall," and the rule of the strongest. i
He is not a Christian King, making war upon a
neighbour on account of any real materials of dis-
sen
sion between them, and owning himself amenable ,
to the ordinary casuistry of civilised contention or,
diplomacy. It is as obvious as any spring of human
action can reveal itself by acts that his quarrel is
that of the wolf and the lamb—that he has resolved
upon aggression, and trusted to invent a cause for
it afterwards—that he is a mere burglar and buc-
canier—

A vice of kings !
A cut-purse of the empire and of rule,
Who from the shelf the precious diadem steals
And puts it in his pocket !
To spare him, is to trust to the tameness of a tiger
who cowers, for years it may be, under the eye,
and purrs under the caress, of a keeper, but who,
when least expected, finds the savagery of the
Lybian desert to steal upon him, and tears to
pieces those who have trusted to his tractalilility.
What better shall we, or shall Europe be, if we
drive him to a peace and to a treaty ? How much
safer ? How further remote from fresh pretensions,
renewed aggressions ? You cannot convince a
knave that honesty is the best policy. "Hath he
not cooled our friends, heated our enemies ?" Does
he not intrigue and bribe at every barbarian court,
from Persia to Japan, to set the world against
us, and to plant his foot firmly in our shoe prints ?
Without a perpetual army of occupation in the East,
how can we secure the neutrality of a man whom
no treaties can bind, by whom no rights are re-
spected, who uses religion only -to invoke its aid to
help his treachery, and blasphemes Heaven by ad-
juring its testimony to his hypocrisy and his lies ?
He must be bound in his ancient chains of ice. No
more Emperor of Russia, he must be reduced to
his former title of Duke of Muscovy. Finland
must be restored to its lawful owner. His Asiatic
acquisitions must be rendered back to the dynasties
of the East. A king that would play the thief
must be handcuffed. A sovereign turned high-
wayman, and crying "Stand and deliver," to every
peaceful wayfarer on whose defencelessness he
presumes, must be hunted by • having the
country raised upon him, and thrust into a
cage in fetters. A caution to our people is very
essential. England must not put forth her strength
feebly and in driblets. The war, for such we
see is impending, must not be starved by that par-
simonous penny wisdom which is pound foolish-
ness. Had we overwhelmed Napoleon by all our
force at first, we should have saved hundreds of
millions which we had to spend at last. Let us
prepare our minds to grant with alacrity to the
Queen whatever subsidies may be necessary to pro-
secute the contest with vigour, and to bring it to
an arbitrament with summary despatch. Up with
the besom of destruction at the masthead of our
Black Sea fleet ; let another stand by at the Baltic.
Punish Persia from the side of India, or let Turkey
win her and wear her. As for Austria, if she
moves a finger in the quarrel, let Hungary loose,
and send the fiery cross through Italy, and call
Poland again to political life.
Now on, you noblest English
Whose blood is fetched from fathers of war proof ;
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's a foot ;
Follow your spirit ; and upon this charge
Cry—God for Justice, England and St. George !