The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-28 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1853

CANNING'S famous simile of the ship is again
being illustrated. England is at last awakening
from a torpor that had the appearance of pusilla-
nimity. All the lion in her temperament is
aroused. Her dormant thunders will soon be-
come audible in the Bosphorus. Everything, in-
deed, is now justifying to the full the accuracy of
the arguments put forward in these columns in
regard to our late diplomatic negotiations. The
justness of our opinions in reference to the Eastern
Question is being every day more and more clearly
exemplified. This, we may assuredly be per-
mitted to assert without anything at all resem-
ling vain-glorious exaggeration. It is no mere
assumption. It is a simple verity. It is proved
throughout the various phases of .the Turkish dif-
ficulty—in every separate particular—in every
stage of its development. By the consistent
arrogance and the pertinacious audacity of
the AUTOCRAT ! By the unyielding resolu-
tion, and unflagging perseverance, and un-
flinching energy of the Porte ! By the insincerity
of Austria--and the indecision of Prussia—and
the vigorous promptitude of France ! Finally,
and yet more distinctly, is the fact attested by the
sudden change which has occurred in the foreign
policy of her Britannic MAJESTY'S Government.
Hitherto, we all know that policy has been distin-
guished by its timidity and hesitation. It has
become, at length and abruptly, transformed.
Ministers are adventuring at the eleventh hour
upon the identical course which we have all along
maintained should have been adopted by the allies
of the SULTAN from the commencement. The
circumstance is apparent beyond the necessity of
explanation. It is apparent in the instructions
forwarded to our Ambassador at Constantinople--
in the orders transmitted to our Admiral in the
Mediterranean—in the speeches of our states-
men, and in the activity of our dockyards.
Whatever regrets we cannot but still retain
in our heart of hearts, in consequence of
the loss of invaluable time and of ines-
timable opportunities—are swallowed up, at any
rate, for the time being, by our exultation at the
change which, however tardily, has come over the
councils of our leading Administrators. We
waive, for a while, our heartburnings and our in-
dignation. We turn from a paltry and degrad-
ing past to a propitious and chivalrous future.
We forget, at least for an interval, our miserable
connivance at the passage of the'Pruth, in the
satisfaction with which we observe our enerffetic
resolve at length upon the long-necessitated, but
long-procrastinated, passage of the Dardanelles.
cast—aica jacta est the
Yes—tire die is indeed
Rubicon has been crossed, that Rubicon the Sea
of Mannora. There cannot any longer be uncer-
tainty, thank HEAVEN, as to the direction of the
path upon which the country, through its Cabi-
It is revealed in the ampli-
net, has adventured.
tude of the powers intrusted to the discretion of
Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. It is defined bythe
wording of the despatches for warded to Admiral
DUNDAS in Besika Bay. Movements like these, on
the part of England, were virtually promised by
the patriotic words addressed the other day to the
people of Greenock by the Leader of the House of
Commons. The chivalrous sentiments then express-
ed by Lord John RUSSELL have been since re-
echoed throughout the land—repeated from
mouth
to mouth—borne on the wings of the Press—
inflaming the enthusiasm and re-inspiring the
hopes of the population. During the past few
days language of a similar character has been
listened to by the men of Perth from the lips of
Lord PALMERSTON. Availing himself of a kin-
dred opportunity to that which had recently pre-
sented itself (happily not in vain) to his Minis-
terial colleague, the Home Secretary addressed
himself, on Monday, to the consideration of the
momentous difficulty now dividing the gaze of
mankind between St. Petersburg and Constanti-
nople—the question involving the alternative of
peace or war, and that alternative the interests of
civilisation.

Discredit is being thrown, nevertheless, even
now upon the words and acts here alluded to, per-
tinaciously and perversely thrown by some among
the avowed organs of the Coalition Government.
It is insisted by these recognised mouth-
pieces of the Cabinet that nothing whatever is
meant by the removal of our ships of war from
Besika Bay to the Golden Horn—beyond the
protection of the foreign population resident at
Constantinople. It is, moreover, insinuated that