The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-25 00:00:00

THE WAR IN THE EAST'.

On Monday Sir Charles Napier was at Copenhagen ; on
Tuesday letters for the gallant admiral forwarded by the Bri-
tish Consul in Hamburgh, reached Kiel, and were to await
his arrival, there. Were any confirmation necessary of the
statement that Kiel Sound is to be the second stage of out
Baltic fleet, as Wingo Sound was its first, this latter fact
would afford it. We may, therefore, expect hourly to hear
that the bulk of the first division of the fleet under Sir Charles
Napier is anchored off Fort Frederick, while the out-strag-
glers are ploughing the waters of the Sound and the Belts.
The next stage will in all likelihood be a longer one. The
first decided operation of the fleet will probably be
the occupation of the great island of Aland, off which there
is good holding ground and tolerable shelter. A pretty strong'
garrison has been maintained in that island by Russia, but
the works are totally inadequate to resist the weight of metal
the British fleet, with its French auxiliaries, can bring to
bear upon them. The naval forces of the allied powers, once
in possession of this important station, will effectually com-
mand the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland.

On the part of the Czar there is a mighty, bustling note of
preparation on shore. The best points tenable by troops are
receiving strong reinforcements; and if the news from St.
Petersburg, Revel, and Riga, can be credited, he is doing his,
utmost to persuade the inhabitants of the Baltic, provinces
that the English are a sort of Ogres, their admiral being the
worst of the lot. With the lodging house keepers and trades-
men of Revel—the Brighton of St. Petersburg—he may suc-
ceed, but the rest of the occupants of the Baltic provinces
know better. Of course they will remove from all places
likely to be the scenes of actual fighting—but simply to get
out of the way of shot and shell, not from any mistrust of the
English. With all this alacrity of defensive preparation the
Czar tarries long with his reply to the last peremptory sum-
mons of the British Government. That reply indeed is mo-
mentarily expected. Couriers are held in readiness to start
for the Levant and the Baltic as soon as it is received. An
unfavourable reply will be immediately followed by an
appeal to Parliament by the Queen. All yesterday the answer,
was looked for, and ere we go to press it may have arrived.
But the Czar may send no distinct answer. He may abide
by his shuffling policy of delaying—may affect to refuse to
reply on the plea that there is no British Minister at St.
Petersburg with whom he can communicate. This game will
be transparent; it will be played on the assumption that the
Allied Powers will still allow him to daily and waste time as
hitherto—will not strike a blow till they have had further
parley ; and thus he may calculate on postponing the evil day
of fighting, and strengthening his hold on the Danubian Prin-
cipalities. But surely France and England will not be so in-
fatuated as to waste the brief northern summer in waiting till
the Czar pleases to declare explicitly whether he will be
honest or not. It will be little short of lunacy, after
the fleet has anchored off Aland, to allow one unne-
cessary moment to elapse before earnest steps are com-
menced. What the Governments of France and England
have in contemplation it is of course impossible to conjecture ;
but what they have not in contemplation seems pretty obvi-
ous. Cronstadt, though strong, must nevertheless fall if seri-
ously attacked by the combined fleets ; but its capture would
be of little value, unless as a first step towards the occupa-
tion of St. Petersburg. That would, however, require a'
strong military force, and the omission of this element ow'
board the ships sent to the Baltic seems to indicate that the:
Czar's capital is not, in the first instance at least, to be
menaced.

In the presence of the strong naval force of the allies thatt
will soon rendezvous at Aland, however, there is another
means of sensibly crippling the Russian Government in the
north. It must be kept inmind that to the north of the parallel'
of latitude of Novgorod, all the territories appertaining to the
Russians have been acquired by conquest. Northward and
westward of St. Petersburg the Russian element in her popu-
lation becomes rapidly less prartonce and influential. This
holds true to a considerable extent even in the Russianised-
provinces of Olonetz and Archangel, but indisputably in Fin-
land and the German Duchies. The original occupants of
the Scandinavian Peninsula, and of the Russian territories
north of Novgorod, Kazan, and Tobolsk, and as far east as the
Jenisei, appear to have been all tribes of the Finnish
race. In Sweden, and Norwaty, and Finland these abori-
gines fled before, or mingled their blood with, or became tri
butary to, the Swedes and Norwegians ; to the eastward of.
Finland, and north of a line drawn from the mouth of the
Neva to Tobolsk, they succumbed in like manner to the
Russians. In the German Duchies, now subject to Russia, the
ascendancy of the Germanic race was established by the
Teutonic knights and the Hanseatic towns; before these pro-
vinces passed under the Russian sceptre, they were divided
between Sweden and Poland, but by both these powers the
German nationality was respected. The three predominant
nationalities in the region we have been passing in review—
the three types of civilisation that have preponderated in
them are, the Scandinavian (Swedish and Norwegian) in SCan--
dinavia and Finland ; the Germanic in Estonia, Liefland, and.
Carlaud ; the Russian in the countries to the east and south-
east. Wherever the Scandinavian Germanic civilisation or
nationalities are in the ascendant, Protestantism, with its
accompaniments—more rational and purely spiritual views
of religion—and aspirations after civil liberty were intro-
duced at an early period, and have struck deep root. In
Sweden and Norway the work was promoted by the struggles
of either people for national independence ; in the German
Duchies by the influence of the Hanseatic towns, and of the
free nobles (or knights) impatient of clerical domina-
tion. In the Russian provinces, the merciless sub-
jugation and destruction of Novgorod extinguished the
free spirit which had been awakened by connections with
the Hanseatic League ; and the zealous patronage of
a merely ritual and thought-repressing church, by the
Goverlnments of Moscow and Petersburg, has contri-
buted to keep the mass of the people at the very lowest!
point of intelligence and morals possible in a country'
presided over by rulers who have made some advance in
civilisation. The most persevering and unscrupulous efforts
have been made by the Russian Government of late years to
reduce the intelligent and self-respecting populations of Fin--
land and the German Duchies to the low Russian standards
of religion, morals, and knowledge and love of civil rights.
Corruption, intimidation, exclusion of foreign literatures all
conceivable means have been resorted to. As yet the taint of
Russianism is not widely diffused or eradicable, though it is
rapidly spreading. In Finland there are upwards of 100,000
Swedes doggedly clinging to their nationality, and the Finnish
population sympathises with them ; in the German Duchies the
educated and wealthy class is (with the exception of Govern-
ment officials) intensely German. Now, in countries where the
feeling of the intelligent, the educated, the enterprising, are
so decidedly antagonistic to Russianism, were the principal
strongholds by the allied forces, there can be little doubt that
the inhabitants at large would be well disposed to assert their
independence. These pinions, plucked from the wing of
the Russian eagle, would effectually mar its flight for
the future ; would annul all its usurpations north of
Poland since the days of Peter the Great. How to
dispose of the provinces would bo best indicated by the.
circumstances attendant on their disruption from Russia.
The warning example of Belgium and Holland is a preg-
nant lesson to consult the wishes of the people them-
selves, and not to attempt to fuse incompatible nationalities
into one by foreign compulsion. Finland would probably
wish to re-unite itself to Sweden—from which it has been so
recently torn ; the German Duchies may possibly be influ-
enced even yet by a traditionary remembrance of their former
connexion with Sweden, and the conviction that Sweden is
the power most favourably situated to support them against
Russian aggression. Wheu Stockholm was the capital of
Sweden, Finland and the German Provinces now subject
to Russia, it was the centre of a powerful empire. As the
place of government for Swedes, Fins, and the inhabitants
of these Germanic provinces, all stamped with the common
character of Protestantism, and aspirations after Parliamen-
tary government, Stockholm might again become the seat of
a Government able to hold Russia in check. But to accom-
plish this disirable end must be the work of these populations
themselves ; the allies can only afford them an opportunity to
commence it.

In intimate connexion with these considerations is the actual
position of the Swedish Government. Russia is said, after
much reluctant delay, to have recognised its neutrality. Let
us see that this neutrality is honestly and effectively carried
out, in so far as the allies, and especially Great Britain, are
concerned. The question of protection for our Orkney and
other northern fisheries, mooted last night in the House of Com-
mons, has a close bearing upon it. At A rchangel there
are a few ships of war ; there is also a rather
numerous mercantile navy, and it may enter the head of the
Czar to issue letters of marque. Now the northern districts
of Norway are almost exclusively supplied with provisions
(especially with meal and flour) from the Russian ports
in the White Sea : and in consideration of this, exten-
sive privileges have been conceded to Russian fishing and
merchant vessels in the northern Norwegian ports. The
admirable anchorages on the west coast of the Scandinavian
peninsula, among the fiords betwoen Drontheim and the
North Cape, must not be allowed to become stations where
Russian cruisers and licensed pirates may lie in wait to pounce
upon our northern fishermen ; perhaps to make bucaneering
descents on our northern coasts. Sir James Graham and the •
Admiralty will of course see to this.—Daily News.