The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-09 00:00:00

Gw UIL

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1854.

"The Treaty" still forms the subject of general
conversation, to the exclusion of all others. Occa-
sionally an anxious pater familias, afflicted with
a heavy family and a light salary, may commence
a Jeremiad touching the high prices of provisions
and the consequent difficulty of making both ends
meet, together with vague speculations respecting
the prospects of a further increase of the Income
Tax, and his incipient doubts as to the accuracy
of the reasoning with which the Chancellor of the
Exchequer crushed his daring correspondent, Mr.
J. LLOYD PIMPS, of Birmingham, and executed
a war dance over his prostrate body. But he is
invariably snubbed and silenced, and-the conver-
sation is restored to its ordinary channel, through
which the stream rushes like a torrent—what are
the terms and conditions of the new alliance, and
how far has the phlegmatic German been enabled
to humbug his more lively brethren of the West;
for that he has, in some degree, humbugged them
more or less, appears to be the almost universal
conclusion arrived at.
So far as the contracting parties themselves
are concerned the secret appears to have been
well kept. It appears that the details have been
kept strietly private until the " ratifications"
have been completely exchanged. All that has
been announced is, that a Treaty has been con-
cluded and provisionally signed. Everything
beyond that is left to the imagination of the diffe-
rent parties to guess at ; and these guesses greatly
depend on the previous feelings and prejudices of
those-striving to obtain a correct solution of the
political enigma:
A new element has, however, been introduced
that nay elucidate the mystery. It is said that
Prussia, to whom the stipulations were commu-
nicated without a moment's delay, has not felt
itself restricted by any obligation of secrecy, and
that the terms so strictly concealed by the pin_ I
cipals have been suffered to ooze out by Philo-
Muscovites of Berlin. Austria kept the secret
itself, except so far as its babbling partner, the
German " GRINDERSON," was concerned, but the
latter dealt with the information as it thought
proper ; so that within a few minutes it WaS speed-
ing along the electric wires to St. Petersburg,
to enlighten the CZAR as to the new combinations
he would have to encounter, and to be prepared
for the ultimaits. simum, perhaps we should rather
say the ultimo-Us' sts. -sis-simum,
addressed to him by his that was to be
brother Emperor.
It was also given to some favoured journalists—
at least, so they used ; but whether they are
more veracious or trustworthy than others nearer
home, who strive to invest their guesses in an
official garb; is a matter of opinion, on which w©
shall not venture to decide. Knowing,
however,
the bias of the Court, or the Pro-R •
ussian party--
the terms are convertible at Borlin---we would
carefully avoid bestowing unlimited credence on
such statements, however positively asserted,
although, as there is probably some foundation
of
facts—as in the MENSCHIKOFF despatches—we
cannot altogether reject the intelligence, thus
obtained, as uttterly unwarranted by the facts.
If, then, we are to these credit • accounts—the
declarations and engagements contained in the
Notes exchanged on the Bth of August last, that
is to say, the " Four Points," are to be regarded
as the necessary basis of peace, but each of the
Contracting Powers" is to be allowed tho faculty
of extending them by additional conditions !
If this be:so, we really cannot perceive the advan-
tage of defining limits, which any of those con-
cerned may- transgress. at pleasure, and which. t.
transgression may be justified on that rather vague
ustification—the state of the War. In addition,

it is said that Austria enters into the same engage-
ment with Franca and England that she had
already done with Turkey, that she will de-
fend the Principalities from any Russian attack.
We may be very obtuse, but we are
equally insensible of the value of obtaining
a new promise to do that which she had already
undertaken. She was allowed to occupy the
Principalities, solely on the faith that she would
exclude the Russians. If they attempted a new
invasion she should drive them off. We cannot,
therefore, see the value of a renewal of the obliga-
tion that had not been vitiated or impaired iu
any degree.
But, further, Austria recognises " the right of
Turkey and her Allies of making all the move-
ments which may suit them, for the purpose of
attacking either the Russian troops or the Russian
territory." " Thank you for nothing," said the
gallipot. Why, that right was inherent in the
lawful owner. The troops of the SULTAN could
not be excluded on any plausible pretext from
their master's territories. Austria entered nomi-
nally as a friend. She could not, under any
plausible pretext, claim to be the proprietor.
That some difficulties have arisen is indisputable.
We have felt them in the presence of thousands
of Russians at Balaklava and Inkerman, and the
blood of our. gallant soldiers who perished on the
25th October, or sth November, bear fearfu
testimony to the injury occasioned even by thel
hesitation or procrastination of the faithless or
lukewarm friend.

And this, according to the Berlin intelligence,
is all we have obtained from Austria ! If so, it is
indeed " much cry and little wool,"--the most
striking illustration of the diminutive progeny
ever produced by "parturient mountains," to
which even the " ridiculous mouse" was a pro-
mising offspring. But although she gives so little
she takes a great deal in return. " If, in conse-
sequence of her attitude in the Principalities, or
from any other cause, Austria should find herself
at war with Russia, the Alliance, offensive and
defensive between her, France, and England shall
be established by the fact of the War." Here we
are bound to assist her in any difficulty, no matter
how it may arise, while she may leave us in the
lurch to fight our own battles. Everything is
for the protection of the slow coach--nothing for
those who are bearing the brunt of the encounter.
But say they, " if Russia shall not, before the
end of the current year, 1855, have made proposi-
tions which are considered acceptable, and which
insure good and durable peace, the. Three Powers
will advise as to the means of obtaining that
peace." What ! " Advise on the means !" More
negotiation, more special pleading, quibbling,
and equivocation. We have had too much of
these already, and want no more of such matter.

The only additional point is that, " the parties
bind themselves not to accept any propositions for
th© re-establishment of peace which are not de-
liberated on in common." This, however, only
applies to the Western Powers, for Austria has
not been, and is not, at war.

We have not had a very high opinion of Eng-
diplomacy, more especially of those who made
such a terrible " mull" of the former Treaty of
Vienna. But if the Berlin intelligence be accu-
rate, they have afforded evidence of their incapa-
city more durable than auy existing on record
against former bunglers. We never fancied the
Austrian Alliance ; but it is really absurd to
bons of it on such terms as the foregoing.

• 'Crushing preparations and no mercy !--these
are+ the only conditions of success Whether
Russia still show fight or whisper negotiations
through Prussia, we must neither relax nor
relent. We have tried both ; and, on the one
ha-nd, three bloody slaughters of Russian and
Allied troops, and on the other, an obstructive
Austrian policy, have been the results. We re-
laxed our exertions while beguiled by Vienna
diplomacy, therefore Russia crossed the Pruth
and, not long after, the Danube ; we relented
when Odessa lay at our mercy, therefore we
have a hundred thousand Russian soldiers in the
Crimea, and Sebastopol is yet a maiden fortress.
The last advices speak distinctly of Odessa as
the source of overland supplies for the Cri-
mea. The tempest which destroyed many of
our ships destroyed also a whole train of waggons
wending their way across the steppes from Odessa
Perekop. But for that base of operations it is
questionable whether Russia could have brought
an army into 'the field in the Crimea at all ; and
it seems certain she would not have been able to
usaintain it there. Granaries of corn are the
first essential of the munitions of war. All the
pride of the best military equipment ever seen
must be upheld by the same every-day means
v hich sustain a union workhouse or even a prison.
From the time of XENOPHON and CLEsan to this
ty the res frumentaria has been the first
c;,re of a great general ; and to deprive
his enemy of it, the second. We did not
eglect the first, but in overlooking the second
-re committed a fatal, and, now to a great extent,
:In irretrievable error. The dead of Balaklava
and Inkerman can rise no more ; and their death-
warrant was sealed when Odessa survived the 2lst
f April. The men who planned the attack on
k;ebastopol ought to have first laid Odessa iu
:ashes. If, as some conceive, Perakop could not
have been easily maintained by the troops we
c:onld spare, then we ought to have taken thorough
1:ood care that we left to Russia nothing to send
through the Isthmus. It would have been no
great effort for our ships to have destroyed
Odessa,, Nicolaieff, and Kherson ; and, to
nay nothing of the bewildering effect of
this course on the enemy, it would have so
'completely isolated the Crimea, in a military point
'of view, from the rest of Russia, that we cannot
believe Sebastopol would not have fallen a com-
paratively easy prey. With all the refinements
-of the age we cannot afford to reverse the war
maxims of antiquity. War must spare nothing
which can feed, shelter, and equip, or facilitate
the movements of the enemy. Russia, who leaves
her wounded to perish on the battle-field, who
pours rounds of grape on her own cavalry to get
a chance shot at ours, and who bayonets a wounded
enemy—Russia will not spare the property •f
her own peaceful subjects if we do.
We drop these remarks because we are satisfied
that the only determination of Englishmen should
ba to " fight it out ;" indeed the worth of the Aus-
trian alliance will depend entirely on the energy
shown by France and England. Most appear to
think that the CZAR will save us the trouble of
sustaining any such determination. Well, we
hope he will. We are confident that it is best to
settle n9w the grand question whether civilisation
is s.tronger than barbarism ; and decidedly best
that the settlement of the present quarrel should
not take place till the haughty Mongol is fairly on
his knees. If we had little faith in
an ABERDEEN
Cabinet to begin-and carry on a war with Russia,
and if our distrust has been superabundantly con-
firmed by the events of the spring and summer,'
we can still less trust the same Premier to
exact the requisite guarantees for the future. We
have him during the Russian war, like a Pole in
a Russian battery, where fight he must ; but get

him at peace-making, and he would, we fear, let
Russia fawn or bully him out of almost anything.
No ; our good cannon, rifles, and sabres are the
only safe peace-makers now. Not till we have
tried these powers of negotiation a little more
shall we see Russian batteries and fortresses on
the Black Sea destroyed for ever, Turkey really
free, the Crimea put into safe hands, the Euxine
reduced to a purely commercial lake, and the
SULTAN safe in the metropolis of the East.
We do not wish to conceal our opinion that the
Austrian Alliance, even in its best form, is a
very equivocal good. It is a grand hindrance to
that great essential of a stable peace, the recon-
stitution of Poland, and will enable the too will-
ing Aberdeenites to blink that question altogether.
Should it terrify the CZAR into proposing terms
of peace at which our Premier and his colleagues
could clutch, while the Baltic provinces remain
intact, Sweden and Denmark in fear, Poland still
on the rack, and Germany subservient, what would
be the gain commensurate with the cost in life
and blood? We deem it certain that, if the War
be not hushed up, our engineers will settle it the
right way. They will put such weapons and
means into the hands of our brave soldiers as
will teach the CZAR the tremendous odds at which
he fights nations as distinguished by inventive
genius as by valour. Passion and sentiment are,
indeed, parents of invention equally almost with
necessity ; and it is most inspiring to see how the
men of our workshops, of the forge and the rail-
way, our PETOS and our NASALYTHS, all breathe
the same patriotic feeling ; all are soldiers for the
time, and all bring their valuable powers to bear on
the great purpose of their country. Ten thousand
pities were it if the mighty devices of righteous
enthusiasm were all thrown upon our hands before
they had done their work—if by the ill-working
of this alliance Austria should gain a few
more years' furlough for her hateful oppressions,
at the price to Europe of prolonging those of
Russia also. Give Russia ten years more in the
Baltic and in Poland, and her agents will have
placed in her fortresses there those very imple-
ments of English invention, whose superiority
would, next summer, suffice to make them fac-
similes of Bomarsund. The time would, then,
soon come, when the contest must be renewed,
and our own soldiers would be the first to feel the
results of a hagty and imprudent peace. Like
WaLms's and BYRON'S eagle, we should have
winged the weapon which destroyed us. With
these views, we can hope little from negotiations.
•
But even if we could, it would be equally im-
perative on us to trust to nothing but unrelenting
war till Russia had accepted our terms. No
terms worth having will she consent to but at
the cannon's mouth.

The 18th Royal Irish have embarked on board
the Magdalena, hired steam-transport, at Spit-
head, en route for the Crimea. Eleven hundred
disciplined and well-trained soldiers are thus ven-
tured on board a single ship for conveyance to
the spot where their services are so urgently re-
quired, and where their absence would be severely
felt. It would be exceedingly difficult, if not
impossible, to replace them. No mere assur-
ance could cover such 'a risk ; there could be no
adequate pecuniary compensation for the destruc-
tion of so much " bone and sinew," so much effec-
tive power, in a department where " skilled
labour" is in such immense demand.

This may appear rather a heartless mode of
considering the question. But even those who
are influenced by few, if any, feelings of humanity,
who are not actuated by what they are accustomed
to denOminate " sentimental impulses," may yet
dread a calamity in which, in common with the
entire nation, they must themselves participate.
Why, then, should the voyage be rendered
doubly or trebly hazardous ? Why should we
endanger so valuable a commodity—look-
ing on the lives of these gallant men in
no higher point of view—by placing them
in daegerous proximity to a highly destructive
agent 7 The Magdalena did not come into har-
bour because she had a large quantity of powder
—upwards of 50 tons—on board, besides some
200 tons of shot. And this powder is to be
carried in the same bottom with eleven hundred
soldiers ! The fact speaks for itself—it requires
no comment. It will excite a feeling of profound
indignation throughout the length and breadth of
the land, and add another item to the long list
of blunders for which the ABERDEEN Ministry will
have to answer before Parliament and the nation I