The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TITURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 4, 1853,

now well known. To the nations the policy
of the English Government must have had
but one aspect, that of seeing liberty crushed
with complacency, whether by domestic or by
foreign troops. The result is, that America is
more feared by Russia and Austria than England
herself.

But what is the pecuniary loss involved in all
this ? Why, first, that we have been obliged to
increase our military and naval establishments
quite as much as if we had acted decisively in
1848. Our timidity emboldened other Powers to
courses which required on our part an armed
peace. Then we have lost the almost boundless
trade, free trade, be it remembered, which was
opened to us with Hungary, and which, as Kos-
RUTH demonstrated at Manchester, must have
amounted to many millions a year. This is clear
and certain loss. Italy would most certainly
have been on a much better commercial footing
with us, in proportion to its liberty ; but what
we have lost there is not so clear. Then comes
the crisis of this year. Already the interference
with trade has cost us millions. Our trade with
Turkey itself, worth nearly three times our trade
with Russia, and rapidly increasing, while that
with the latter is steadily decreasing, is seriously
affected by the unsettled state of things. Some
300 ships laden with corn are imprisoned in the
Danube by the intentional neglect of Russia ;
and the possibility of war, coupled with the
detention of supplies, much more than any
serious prospects for harvest, have made them-
selves felt by every one in the price of the
quartern loaf. While Russia, in the face of our
diplomatists, is seizing on Turkish provinces, suck-
ing their life-blood, and that of Turkey itself also,
establishing itself in the best military positions
for seizing on the empire it is convulsing and in-
sulting—we, we here in England, are feeling it in
demands upon our national Exchequer, in obstruc-
tion and injury to a most thriving portion of our
commerce, and even in the price of food itself.
Adding the loss of European trade consequent
upon our suffering Hungary, and in part Italy, to
be placed under the exclusive tariff of Austria—
to the sacrifices direct and indirect consequent
on Lord ABERDEEN'S not uniting at once with
Louis NAPOLEON to forbid the onward movement
of Russia—we believe we should not be at all
above the mark in setting down ten millions as
the lowest sum sacrificed during the present year,
directly and indirectly, by this country, through
the counsels of a RUSSELL and an ABERDEEN over-
powering or obstructing those of a PALMERSTON.

The moral of the whole is, that economy is by
no means always on the side of an inglorious
peace, nor safety on the side of the strong desert-
ing the weak in their hour of need. If a stalwart
Peace Society man choose to be robbed and beaten
unresistingly himself, we may respect his sincerity
in acting out his illusions ; but if he could
see his wife or his child, or a feebler neighbour
maltreated without intervention, our respect
is lost in indignation that any theory can eradi-
cate from his breast the most necessary and noble
instincts of our race. But the worst consequence
of all is, that the man is a virtual patron of thieves
and robbers. In like manner, amongst States, we
regard with contempt or anger the powerful ones
which merely, or hardly, protest, while another
strong State is tearing to pieces a weaker one ;
but their selfishness and treachery is sure in the
long run to recoil upon themselves. All the mis-
chiefs of jeopardy or uncertainty will harass
them for a time, while the battle will have to be
fought at last. To us, Russia appears to have
pursued one scarcely veiled course of defiance of
the rights of nations, and of insult to all parties
to Turkish treaties, from beginning to end.
Spoliation is her palpable object, perhaps her pre-
sent intention. It would have been easier to
have thwarted that intention at the banks of the
Pruth than on those of the Danube, in the passes
of the Balkan, or, it may be, at the walls of Con-
stantinople. Russia has stolen from England, not
from France, the benefit of the old adage—" For-
tune favours the bold."

The King of Hanover, as well as the Queen, have
taken the measles. The two young Princesses are also
suffering from the same complaint, but the Crown Prince
is recovered.
DETERMINED CASE OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. —On
Tuesday, a gentleman endeavoured to destroy himself
by drowning in the Regent's Canal, Regent's-park,
nearly opposite Bentinck-terrace, St. John's-wood, and
failing in the attempt, got on shore and endeavoured to
do it more successfully by cutting his throat in two
places. A bargeman passing by observed the unfortu-
nate man, and gave an immediate alarm. Medical aid
was sought immediately by the police, calling in Mr.
Allen, surgeon, of 3, Portland-terrace, who promptly
attended to the poor man, dressed his wounds, and had
him conveyed to the parochial workhouse in a cab,
where he accompanied him, and then handed him over
to the charge of the medical officers in the establish-
ment. He was reported late in the evening to be going
on favourably.
SERIOUS FIRES, AND NARROW ESCAPE OF SIX.
PERSONS.—This morning, about 20 minutes before one
o'clock, the premises belonging to Mr. Dickeson, whole-
sale bonnet dealer and milliner, situate at 41, Newing-
ton-causeway, were discovered to be on fire. One of
the neighbours, it appears, in passing the house, found
smoke issuing through the shop shutter apertures, and
which induced him to give intelligence of what he had
seen to police-constable 265 M, who on gaining the
front of the establishment at once saw sufficient to con-
vince him that the lower part of the place was on fire.
The first thing he, therefore, attempted to do was to
arouse the inmates, consisting of six or seven persons.
After some considerable trouble the officer succeeded
in making the whole of the inmates sensible of their
impending danger, and without delay they made an
attempted to descend by means of the stairs ; but the
smoke and heat from the fire (which had obtained pos-
session of the lower part of the place) was so great that
none of the persons living there were enabled to escape
by the regular means. Some of them managed to get
upon the roof, and remain there until Smart arrived
with the Royal Society's escapes, down which he con-
veyed one of the affrighted persons. The engines of the
London Brigade, parish, and West of England office,
were soon on the spot, and as quickly in operation,
throwing some immense columns of water upon the de-
vouring element, but it was not until nearly two o'clock
that the fire was entirely extinguished. The total loss,
it is believed, will have to be borne by the British Empire
Mutual Office. A short time before the above fire hap-
pened, another broke out in the neighbourhood of the
Albany-road, Camberwell.
CITY OF LONDON MUNICIPAL REFORM ASSOCIATION.
Last night the first public meeting of this association
was held in Farringdon-hall, Snow-bill, for the purpose
of nominating a general committee of management and
ward committees of improvement, the appointment of
officers, and the adoption of requisite measures for the
effective organisation of the body. The chair was taken
by Mr. J. Wightman, and Mr. Acland gave the meeting
a brief history of the movement for corporate reform,
and complained that when the Legislature undertook to
deal with the question it had excluded the city of Lon-
don from the provisions of the bill by which it had re-
formed the municipal bodies. He did not charge the
corporation of the city of London with corruption but
with incompetency, as there were not at its council any
men of real influence. There were two classes of citizens
—the privileged and the unprivileged, the first of whom
should not exist, as a system of privilege was inconsistent
with the spirit of the age. The present association, which
sought for such reform, now numbered 764 of the most
important citizens. There was a great necessityfor such an
institution, for no fewer than 4,032 persons were at
present under summons to take out their freedom, many
of whom were already freemen, and generally known to
be such, although the corporation itself knew not who
were freemen and who were not. Another evil of the
mischievous results of the incompetency of the corpora-
tion was, that the local taxes in the City doubled those
in the county of Middlesex. There was now a commis-
sion about to sit upon the state of the corporation, and
he looked forward to its report for the reformation of
many, if not of all, the abuses. Several other gentle-
men subsequently addressed the meeting, denouncing
the corporation, complaining of its tyranny in forcing
the traders of the City to take out their freedom, and
claiming for all rated citizens a share in local self-go-
vernment. A committee of management was then ap-
pointed, the officers of the association nominated, and
several rules agreed to for the effective working of the
institution, the collecting of evidence to place before the
commission, and the defence of those prosecuted by
the corporation. The proceedings then terminated with
a vote of thanks to the chairman.
CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE THAMES.—The gentlemen
amateurs desirous of possessing the honorary distinction
of champion of the Thames contended yesterday. There
were four competitors, Mr. James Paine, Mr. Ripping.
hall, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Nottidge, and all had taken
considerable pains to get themselves into a befitting
condition to contend for the enviable distinction. The
distance was from Putney to Kew-bridge, and the gen-
tlemen all got to their stations a full hour or more before
high water. A very beautiful start was made by the
whole party, who were scull and scull for a few paces,
when Messrs. Paine and Rippinghall soon began to
show in front, and it was not long before Mr. Paine had
acquired a good lead, which he maintained, ultimately
winning easily. A very beautiful race occurred between
Messrs. Nottidge and Smith, in which the former rowed
very prettily ahead, and maintained his lead, although
it was strongly menaced at Barnes-bridge by the very
plucky pulling of Smith, who afterwards fell more astern.
Mr. James Paine is a leading member of the Argonauts
Club, and is a very capital oarsman as well as scalier.