The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-27 00:00:00

STRAND THEATRE.

So e Lessee, Mr. F. W. Allcroft.—Directress, Miss Rebecca Isaacs,

THIS EVENING, MARCH 27,

cbaill be presented "NO IRISH NEED ,\PPI.Y." Principal
Will be preented "NO IRISH NEED U'P[Y." Principal
cbaraeters by Messrs. (I. Hodson, Warren, and Herbert; Misses H.
Noel and Hammond.
Followed by Wily DON'T HE MARRY?

After which, Tat BLUE JACTI„E rq.
Fe slowed by THE PET OF THE PUBLIC.
To conclude with Yfalone's Travestie of 3fACBETII.

- - ---
Stalls, 55.; Boxes, 3a.; Pit, 1 6d; Gall•ery, 6d.; Private Roe
ii. 11.. 64., to be had of Mr. Alleroft, 15, New Bond-street.

ASTLEY'S EUROPE'S NATIONAL A.‘IPHITIIEATItE.

Lessee and Manager, \lr. William Cooke.
THIS EVENING, Msacu 27,
And daring the week, will be presented the new, grand, and
romantic spectacle entitled THE WOOD WA N'S HORSE ; or, The
False Knight—the Woodman's Horse by the pet steed, Beauty,
expressly trained by Mr. William Cooke.
After which, the incomparable .4cenes of the ARENA.
To conclude with BESS OF THE BELL.
Box-office open from Eleven till Four. Stage Manager, Mr. W
West.

.• . lIIGIEL WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
-Tim DAY —Morning 3 min.after 1 I Evening 26 min.aft. 1
-TaMoir4tow--Morning 46 min.after 1 1 Evening 8 min.aft. 2

TIIE WEATHER.—SIIN OFPICIS, Mi 26.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
• „
•s -. 57,--highest since noon yesterday.
t ,441—lowest this morning and during the night.
, _ 56—this day at noon.

BAROMETER, 29.95.
WIND, W.N.W. to N.W.—Fresh breeze ; dull weather,
with alight rain.

MARoll 27.
56-- highest since noon yesterday.
43—lowest this morning and during the night.
50—this day, at noon.
BAROMETER, 30.27—rising.
. .
' WIND, S.W. to W.—Light breeze, with fine, sunshiny
weather.
TBREE O'CLOCK.—The wind has gone round to N.N.W.,
with- cold, foggy weather.

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.
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LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1854.

A Declaration of War may now be confidently
anticipated in the next Gazette—and a Message from
her ,MAJESTY will, in all likelihood, as a prelimi-
nary to the Declaration, be presented this very even-
lpg ,to both Houses of the Imperial Parliament.
It is *hat alone can be rationally expected after
t4eintelligence last received from St. Petersburg.
That intelligence amounted, to all intents and
purposes, to an intimation that the final hope
of any pacific arrangement between the contest-
ing Powers, between the assailant and the cham-
Pions of Turkish Independence, and through
Turkish Independence
of the future progress of
civilisation and of the permanent tranquillity of
Plui!dendom, had, for once and for all, been
dissilAted by the obstinacy of the Russian
AIT"II.4I'. Such is the only deduction ca-
pable. of . being drawn from the peremptory
efus a 1 of the cum to
give any answer whatever
to the ultiinkktAmn, through which the Allies of the
6trvt" insisted upon the immediate evacuation
d the Principalities. It is, in. fact, quite impos-
sible to draw any other
conclusion than this from
the. communication addressed to the French and
English Consuls at St. Petersburg, in the
name of his imperial Master, by
Count NESS-
i
RODE. Flaying declined to reply any way to
the demand of the Western Powers, the Emperor
NICHOLAS has thus virtually declined
compliance
with the request therein submitted to him, for
the instant withdrawal of his troops from the in-
vaded provinces, across the Pruth, into his own
territory of Bessarabia. So that the last faint pro-
bability of a pacification has failed—failed so tit_
te4ly and irretrievably that the Lords. and the
Commons will, in all likelihood, receive this even-

ing a formal intimation to that effect in a Royal

e£4BVO from the SOVEREIGN.
C; ; . 4. VeclaNion of War will fortunately emanate
•,.....,,,,k,l- ~ _ ~
. lipiri Engliid':'uVer several most advantageous
12.111;41ru,:i5.: I will occur only after the most
Viikoo44:ailiancelir‘si been established between our
Ntei,;i113"1,47/11"-r4r'-,nincli. Imperial Government. It
..).4), ~ ,-00DiefifS4iatfs only after every effort, reason-

' able and unreasonable, has been made by the
Ministers of the allies of Turkey for the preven-
tion of bloodshed, and for the conservation of the
peace of Christendom. It will arise—this terrible
and disastrous war—when both of the great
Powers of Western Europe are more than ever
well prepared—when their armies and their
navies have arrived at their most perfect state of
organisation—when they have already insured
the presence of powerful maritime armaments both
in the Euxine and the Baltic--the presence of these
vast armaments, remember, in time for the com-
mencement of hostilities. It is under such a propi-
tious conjuncture of circumstances that France and
England will have to enter boldly on the struggle
with the might, and the pride, and the.ambition
of the Russian Autocracy. Entering upon this
dread conflict, moreover, with the sinews of war
already to the full guaranteed each by its respec-
tive population. Sending their united forces
against those of their great Northern antagonist,
not for the gratification of selfish passions, or
with a view to rapine, or for any lawless purposes
of aggrandisement, but in the cause of Right, cf.
Truth, and of Justice, in the name of all that is
noblest, and loftiest, and holiest in Christendom.
If England enters upon war with Russia only
after having allied herself cordially to the same end
with imperial France—it is not so, however, in the
relation subsisting at this dread crisis between the
Councils of St. James's and the Tuileries, and the
Austrian and Prussian Governments. England
and France, at this moment on the eve of war,
know not actually in what light either Austria
or Prussia should be regarded by the bel-
ligerents. A neutrality the thing is no-
torious—has been long talked of at Vienna
and Berlin : an armed neutrality, affording
the two Cabinets a chance of escape from the
dreaded collision, and of enabling them, possibly
later ou, to ally themselves safely with whichever
side gives promise of proving itself victorious.
A neutrality ! Better an open defiance than
any such despicable evasion ! Better un-
grateful foes, than false, because merely
nominal and pretended, friends such as
those ! Absolutely, nothing could be more rash
than the course thus adopted by the German
Governmen ts. Each, no doubt, imagines its policy
to be eminently sagacious, all things considered.
Whereas we venture to assert that an agreement
with either of the belligerents, an agreement with
either Russia or with France and England, would
have revealed less temerity than this suici-
dal scheme of a neutral line of conduct--a
line drawn, only for the time being, midway
through all this throng and complication, maze
and labyrinth of European difficulties. Does
the Prussian KING, does the Austrian EMPEROR,
for an instant reflect that he places his crown, by
this ingenious device, in imminent jeopardy ?
Have they alike forgotten the precarious balance
upon which each has built up (like an inverted
pyramid) the enormous, and elaborate, and ano-
malous fabric of an unpopular Government ? Have
they, after the agonising suspense of 1849, elimi-
nated all the warning truths inscribed uuon the
stony tablets of history by the bayonet dipped in
blood—that iron pen of the revolutionary annalists
of the Confederation ? Is the Cabinet of Berlin
unconscious of this—that England and France, at
their pleasure, might any day give a signal for the
rising of the whole Prussian population ? Can the
Viennese Government be blind to the fact that
whenever we so please, we may sound the tocsin of the
disruption of the whole of the heterogeneous Austrian
dominions ? That we have but to raise the national
standard, under the shelter of the blended colours
of the union-jack and the tri-color at Cracow,
and Pesth, and Milan—and Poland, and Hungary,
and Lombardy, would have once more, and this
time effectually, achieved their independence ? A
word to KOSSUTH, a hint to MAZZINI, a whisper
of encouragement to the Polish Confederation

and the empire of the House of RUDOLPH would
have crumbled into dust, and Poles, and Mag-
yars, and Lombards would have gloriously won
their emancipation. Holding thus completely
in their grasp the fate of Central Europe, Eng-
land and France can laugh to scorn this babble
about an Austrian and Prussian neutrality—now
when, at this supreme moment, in the Black Sea and
in the Baltic their terrible fleets are about to con-
test with those of the Russian AUTOCRA.; for the
life or death of civilisation, for the tranquillisation
or for the devastation of Christendom.

There is a panic on the Stock Exchange. It is
useless to attempt to disguise or mystify the fact
that the steady and determined action of the
' Bears has for the moment been successful, and
that although the large amount of speculative
dealing was but too notorious, and the amount of
" backwardation" paid on every account proved
that the " ursine" fraternity were utterly incap-
able of supplyingthe stock which theycontracted to
deliver, if the proprietors were only-true to them-
selves, and refused to play into the hands of their
virulent assailants. For ten days past the fall
has been uninterrupted. An occasional brief
rally was almost immediately defeated, and the
depression rendered even more decided in conse-
quence of the abortive attempt. The reduction
within a single weekhas been no less than 3 per cent.
for Consols, while for the railway and other shares
it has been much greater. If we look to the quo-
tations on Friday the] 7th and Friday the 24th (we
prefer that day to Saturday, as many dealers
make a partial, if not a complete holiday at the
conclusion of the week, getting back early to their
rural habitations), we find that on the former day
the price of Consols were 90/ to 91, while on the
following Friday they were 87/ to 88. London
and North-Western Stock on the 17th were par
to premium, or 100 to -4, while on the 24th
they were 4to discount, or 95i- to 96. These
are but samples of the general depreciation, which
may be stated to have been during the week from
3 to 5 per cent. on the value of every description
of property, or security.

But all that power would have been compara-
tively harmless if capitalists had not yielded to
their unreasoning apprehensions, and listened to
the croakings of interested alarmists—men who
were prepared to inflict any amount of injury
upon the community for a trifling profit for them-
selves. Granted that we are virtually at war,
that our troops are far advanced on their way to
take part in the sanguinary game, and that the
combined Fleets of England and France ride
proudly on the Euxine and the Baltic billows
—granted that they will no longer maintain a
useless inactivity, but that they will speedily
display a degree of energy and determination
commensurate with the popular desire—granted,
that a formal message from the British SOVE-
REIGN to both Houses of Parliament, terminating
the hollow peace and formally announcing the
commencement of decided hostilities—any of
these matters, taken singly, might justify the de-
preciation ; but, surely, they have been all long
since fully discounted. There was not a single
person throughout the entire country, possessing
the means of speculating in stocks or shares, that
was not just as well informed on all these matters
on the 17th as on the 24th of March. Nay,
more, there were few, if any of the number, who
do not feel that it was desirable to terminate the
injurious suspense that had so long! prevailed at
any cost.
On all former stages, during the progress of
events, the public supported the national credit.
There was no alarm—no abject terror exhibited.
The speculators for a fall were defeated, because
there were parties ready to rally the
round public
securities and to invest their money at reasonable
prices. They felt that England and France,