The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-19 00:00:00

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PROCRASTINATION OF THE WAR.

(From the Times.)
We have no wish to ofter premature criticisms on the
conduct of a war which may yet tax all, and more than
all, the patience -which the nation has, to bestow. We
are also perfectly aware how difficult it is at the great
distance of time and place at which we find ourselves to
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uea Bciset
placed
perfectlytchoo confessutm fairfaenetdhl
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e of
oii.ulmarvpeaot
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ehcaneen
udacnloomanubdorl
sue
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amounting
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1 i
but
e
Russians
taradapnp sel
formedaart
so, elsewherea
oc
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to
olack Sea, between Ghelendjik andeGagri, a series of
piuthrpotiseieguft:t ealtrhnitschsoetaalstntevoinafenhte
.of
Turks.preventing
T his the t
he Ru s abominableßussian
tphoes posts,
Caucasus
stuhse w
is
traffic in human beings carried on by the inhabitants of
version. A hostile critic might, no doubt,
suggest
other motives, but the motive is for the preient purpose
immaterial. On the breaking out of the war these posts
became completely ieolated,' and Prince -Menschikoff
received orders to destroy the posts and remove their
garrisons, a task which' be executed, says the !ma-
Ude Anne, with that success which 'uniformly
accompanies the operations of the ,Ruasian fleet in the
Black Sea. A squadron, consisting of 12 vessels of dif-
ferent descriptions, the names of which are pompously
enumerated in the Russian journal, .started on this ex-
pedition, which, considerino• the vicipity.of the Trench
and English fleets, may truly be called adventuroue, and
entitles those who planned and Carried it out to just and
well-earned credit. Never was expedition more suocear-
ful. 5,000 troops, the stook of provisions belonging, to
the Government, -the artificers, and the fimilles of all
employed, were conveyed without loss or difficulty to a
place of safety, in defiance of the imaginary dangers of the
Black. Sea and the near presence of our fleet, and—what
no doubt gave additional zest to the triumph—an Eng-
lish and French steamer were fallen in with, and thus
secured as witnesses of the exploit. Thus concludes the
Invaliple Russe:—" Our military resources have been in-
creased by an effective force of picked troops, trained to
war by a long service in an unconquered country;"—
no unacceptable addition, we should suppose, to the gar-
rison of Sebastopol. It is time we should know whether
we are or are not masters of the Black Sea, and whether
the fine fleet we have sent thither is to leave the Rus-
sians an unlimited license to range at will over the
waters which we so idly pretend to close against them.
The country will reqaire to be told what condition of
weather that could be which rendered the Black Sea
inaccessible- to our fleets, but offered no obstacle to the
enterprise of Prince Menschikoff. ' Are the English
become such fresh-water sailors that they are forced to
permit an enemy to snatch a prize from their grasp be-
cause they dare not trust themselves to the elements
which he braves with impunity ? We have taken upon
ourselves the blockade of the Black Sea, and the man-
ner in which we appear to execute that duty is by lying
snug in harbour ourselves, and vainly hoping that our
antagonist will do the same. It was not by such timid_
and sleepy proceedings as these that the reputation of
the English navy was made, nor is it by these that it
can be maintained. What avails our naval superiority 1
if it be so slothfully and negligently put forth as to leave
the seas open to our enemies, and enable them to act
as if an overpowering naval force 'were not present ?
Our fleet has been a witness of the disaster of Sinope,
which, if it could not prevent, it might at any rate have
avenged, and it now sees .our enemies reinforced with
the same impunity as that with which our friends were
destroyed. Better to peril our ships in the storms of
the Euxine than to keep them safe at such an inglorious
price. If they are to avail nothing towards checking
the operations of our enemies or protecting the weakness
of our friends, it matters hot greatly whether they arc
preserved to us or not.
If we turn from the sea to the land, it seems not un-
natural to ask, what is being done with our cavalry ?
Are they really to go or are they to stay ? If the army
is to be kept waiting for them, why are they here? Why
are their commanding officers still in London ? We are
counting too much upon Russian complaisance. Whether
their movements be judicious or not, they are con-
ducted with vigour and decision, and are the acts of
men who thorougly appreciate the value of time. The
moment the first relaxation of winter made operations
practicable they were in the field. Not a day was lost
in crossing the Danube and putting matters to the arbi-
trament of a battle. But these enemies, so active and
so intrepid, we oppose with generals not yet emanci-
pated from the silken dalliance of London drawing-rooms
and Parisian saloons ; with infantry whom we have kept
for a month eating oranges on the rock of Malta, while
idle transports stood ready for their conveyance, and
with cavalry, three troops only of whom are yet em-
barked. We shall probably be informed that it is
great presumption in the press to remark on matters
of so purely a professional nature, but we appeal
from such conventional answers to the common
sense of our teaders, and ask, without fear of con-
tradiction, whether there be any one who either
thinks that our army is not very greatly needed in the
East, or that it has been despatched with the vigour
and celerity which the resources of the country permit
and the situation of our affairs demands. The speed
with which our men were sent to Malta showed what
could be done with the means at our disposal, and the
delay which has since supervened bow easily those means
could be wasted and misapplied. The public can only
attribute such mortifying and unexpected remissness at
the very moment when events call most loudly for des-
patch to the evils of that system of divided authority—
that multiplicationlof departments and frittering away of
responsibility which' attaches so conspicuously to our
administration of war. War has hitherto been the Sa-
turnalia of Government, responsibility has been relaxed,
and the public eye, intent on the more prominent actors
in the game, has had little attention to spare for those
not less potent agencies that are placed behind the scenes.
But this will not be so now. The mechanism of govern-
ment is better understood, the difficulties to be sur
mounted and the means of surmounting them are tho-
roughly appreciated, and, in proportion as the resources
of war are greater, the responsibility of those who put
them in motion will be greater also. We are but just
launched on the contest, but already we have seen our-
selves twice baffical without striking a blow, and our
fleet and our army loitering in compulsory idleness,
while the game in which they should bear a part is
played out by other hands.

(From. the Morning Herald.)
Nothing can ,be more insulting or humiliating to the
.common sense and good feeling of the English people
than the poor and transparent shams with which that
portion of the press devoted to Peelism and Russia at-
tempts to mislead them, from straightforward and manly
opinions, into a false sentimentality utterly unworthy of
them. There is, howeVer, one of those wretched plausi-
bilities which is at the present moment more promi-
nently put forward than any of its brethren, and which
it is especially necessary to expose, as, however, con-
temptible in itself, its prevalence to any extent would
be fearfully dangerous to the honour and interests of
the country. We are happy to observe that one of our
contemporaries, with whom we have always co-operated
on the Turkish question, and who was at first inclined
to give more weight to the delusion than it merited, has
now repudiatedit with the contempt it deserves.
The sham to which we allude is this—that it is
" unpatriotic" to expose the misdeeds of the-Coalition, .
because they have involved the country in a war, as by
so doing we might cripple their energies I •
Really this is the most daring and dangerous assump-
tion we ever recollect to have heard put forward. Becouse
this Government by a long course of fraud—nay, of abso-
late treachery—has at length involved us in a contest with
Russia, we are to place implicit confidence in their future
proceeding!!! This certainly is a singular doctrine—
that the more untrustworthy our Administration has
shown itself to be, the More unflinching confidence we
are to place in it hereafter. Why, what must the mental
condition of a country be reduced to in which 80.D2w"•
strous'a sham can obtain a moment's. apprebation_3e
One of otir ministerial contemporaries, the G?ob i!as
amused itself by stating that Mr. Urquhart must be
in
Baru) because he announced his belief that
our Ministry
are not even now sincere in their efforts to aid the Turks
'against the assaults of the, modern Attila. Why, where
does the writer live ? We
be will
ienpfiean
rodeuatth that
promiseirhimilhat if he parades
q ires from 'the first ten of his
the streets any day,'
acquaintance whom haen4Miniuencounter,
Mr. Urquhart's opinion'isa
iihorttlembywaitlllehase tpnr
the number, and that manyl almost irrefutable•
demonstrate its truth, by cironmstan:
; and, for thea msatiifaction of the Globe, we
tial evidence
will now undertake the task.
Lord ClaYendon's expression of confidence in the Czar's
peaceable intentions, when he had in his desk the com-
munication Minister
from the Turkish Prime that Prinee.
Menechikoff had offered the Porte the assistance of a fleet
and an army of 400,000 men, to make war against his
well-beloved English ally, proves to demonstration that
an assertion made by the Coalition Cabinet is simply ut-
terly unworthy of the most infinitesimal portion of belief
that can be attached to any declaration and we shall,
therefore, confine ourselves to facts which cannot be de-
nied, and leave the deductions to our readers.
We are now going to make an admission that we are
well aware will astonish our readers, but we hope to ex-
plain away satisfactorily the surprise which they will
undoubtedly feel. The admission is this—that through
the whole of these proceedings Lord Aberdeen may have
imagined—nay, we believe, did fancy that he was
acting a patriotic part. ' We utterly and-entirely repu-
diate any appearance of approval of the means by which
he tarried out his policy ; those means were utterly un-
warrantable, being simply a system of chicanery and
double dealing of which the most ardent disciple of
Loyola might have been ashamed—but' we do, concede
that in the main'he imagined his policy to be the best
for England.- This very belief is, however, one of. the
-fittest important reasons why that policy should be well
undeistood, as we are firmly convinced it is a most de-
structive one, and that the present Premier will clipg to
it pertinaciously through evil and through good.' Let
Englishmen; then, ponder upon this fact, that Lord
Aberdeen believes, and will always act upon the belief,
that the future safety of England and the `rocoe.°l
Europe depend upon the close connection of the Britec.,
empire with tlie'despotic powers. The probableresults of
a continued attempt to coerce or deceive the nationinto
such a career, and the resistance with which It 144_ 12! knot

e-
/VIP.

when once the people are convinced that such ig the objet
of their rulers, are really too fearful to contemplate with-
out dismay. Such a struggle would, we verily believe,
upheave the very foundations of society. Lord Aber-
deen, as has been often stated, commenced his career as
a pupil of Metternich, the statesmen, par excellence, of
the Holy Alliance, and by the traditions of that asso-
ciation the whole political life of the Premier has been
guided.
It is useless to refer to the eviderme, which must have
long since had its effect upon the public mind, of the in-
timate connection of the Czar and the Premier as far
back as Adrianople in 1829, and the conferences of Lon-
don in 1844, or to the fact' that the Emperor Nicholas
resumed his designs within twelve days after his " old
friend's" instalment in office. We pass over also the 12
months of purposely prolonged negotiations, the sicken-
ing catastrophe of Sinope, the delays of Malta,
Besika,
Beycos, and the various checks which we have imposed
upon the Turks, and our hindrances of their acting
with energy at the proper time. All these topics are
familiar to our readers, and we come to the present state
of things.

In the first place, the Russians have crossed the
Danube in force, and' our auxiliary army of infantry is
on the high seas, with a miserable force of artillery, and
not a single cavalry soldier. That army will not be fit
to move out of its cantonments at Gallipoli before
August.
That army, as we told our readers in the autumn of
last year, should now be in activity at Varna, where
the presence of an Anglo-French force of 80,000 men
would probably turn the scale of battle, and perhaps
finish the war. But to have been at Varna in the early
spring, such an, auxiliary army should have been orga-
nised in the winter. It was not so cilapilied, =of
sent to the Danube iu the autumn iv will 'belbst. Now
England must reap the bitter fruits of beingVuTnrefiired.
Up to the very latest moment the Coalition thought
that they could avoid the war ; and even now they ima-
gine that it will never become a serious conflict. We
are not going to cast censure upon any officer employed
by the Crown, in any delay which has taken place;
however we may lament dilatory proceedings, we are
sure that they are acting under orders. Soldiers are
never independent until absolutely in the field. Often
—too often—not then. It has been openly asserted
that Lord Raglan makes no secret of his opinion that
" that there will be no serious fighting in Turkey."
We not believe that the noble chief of the Eastern ex-
pedition ever did make such an assertion ; but we do
believe that he expressed an opinion " that there would
be none this year." We fear that in so doing his lord-
ship only enunciated a self-evident fact. Her Majesty's
Ministers have taken good care, that unless the Turks
are totally defeated on the Danube, and early in the
year, that there shall be none. To send English or
French troops to Varna in driblets, we assert, is to throw
away their lives ; and no large body can possibly take
the field before the fever commences in July. We are,
therefore, to have another year of fruitless negotiations
—another year of exhausting expense to Turkey—an-
other year of machinations on the part of Russia to
rouse the slave populations—another year for Austria to
find out that Thessaly and Macedonia require her fos-
tering care as well as Servia and Bosnia, and to see the
of occupying them, always in the interests of
tnheeceOttoman Porte—another year for the Czar to at-
tempt to sow dissensions between England and France.
Where, we ask, does it appear that the Coalition is now
in earnest any more than it was twelve months since—
and if it be not apparent, why should we trust or spare
them ?

Again, referring to the Turkish news, we find, " the
new Mufti has been insulted." Who has done this ? We
answer, Lord Aberdeen ; he it is who has thrswn the
apple of discord between the Sultan and the fanatic ➢ius-
sulman population. Why was this done, if not in the
interests of Russia ? The fleet was kept at Beicos Bay
to coerce the population of the capital, and now that it
has taken its departure even the Times sees the danger.
So, characteristically, does the servile weekly organ of
the Peelites, the once respected Spectator—it now finds
out that " Turkish reforms may become an item in the
accounts of the English Chancellor of the Exche-
quer." Russian interests, however, required that these
disturbing questions should be thrown into the already
seething cauldron, and Lord Clarendon did his
duty. The secret despatches and the St. Pctersboury
Journal have shown that the Czar always held that the
introduction of those questions at a critical period way
the surest lever fur breaking up the Ottoman empire ;
and the Coalition took the hint. Most assuredly had ho
been really consulted, such is the advice he would have
given. We say again, Lord Aberdeen does not calcu-
late on a war. Let us look at home and see what pre-
parations are snaking for carrying it on. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer has made no sign of monetary prepara-
tion, except a small addition to the income tax. Surely
even the author of the abortive attempt to pay off the
South Sea Bonds does not imagine that a conflict with
the hugest military powerin the world can be carried on
out of the current revenue of the country. But if we
are not providing money, perhaps we are preparing sol-
diers. We do not believe that that great warrior, the
Colonial Secretary, can fancy that 25,000 men will suf-
fice for so great a work. Where, then, are the militia,
from which the army is to draft its supplies ? It is
exactly where Lord Derby's Government left it : 50,000
men have been enrolled, out of the 80,000 promised for
this year, and the magniloquent announcement that the
Scotch and Irish contingents were to be called out has
passed away to the winds.
With these facts before them, we fancy few will agree
witn the Globe that Mr. Urquhart is insane when he
asserts that the Coalition are not in earnest in support-
ing the Turkish empire.

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