The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-24 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1354.

As good fortune would have it, the villanies of
the Russian Government stand exposed—just
before the outbreak of the great Anglo-French
war against the AUTOCRAT—to the recognition
and the abhorrence of all Christendom. It is
perceived by France that England was tempted
by the CZAR to join with him Secretly in a fraudu-
lent partition of Turkey, and that England de-
cidedly rejected his temptations. It is acknow-
ledged by the Moniteur that, subsequently to
this refusal on the part of Great Britain, Russia
made similar advances to the French EMPEROR
with a view to secure the complicity of his Go-
vernment. From these revelations the Cabinet
of VICTORIA and the Cabinet of NAPOLEON de-
rive only additional, and most opportune, and
more than ever effectual reasons for rendering
their alliance close, cordial, and permanent. At
the same time, the disclosure of those remark-
able documents has at last forced upon the
unwilling attention of the German Powers
that throughout these sinister advances of the
CZAR, first of all to England and afterwards to
France, with a view to precipitate the downfall
of Turkey and its ultimate dismemberment—
Austria was scarcely taken for a single moment
into consideration, and Prussia from first to last
was never once even cursorily mentioned. The
consequences of this timely exposure of the secret
machinations of the AUTOCRAT must be obvious
at a glance, disastrous to his own interests, and
singularly advantageous to those of the rest of
Christendom. They must draw yet closer the
bonds of sympathy which have at length bound
together in a cause as elevating and inspi-
riting as it is honourable and magnanimous
the hitherto divided policies of the French
and English Governments. They cannot fail
moreover, by any possibility, to di►ninish the
obsequious alacrity of Austria and Prussia to
pledge themselves to a neutral course during the
progress of these warlike movements. The Go-
vernment of Vienna must perforce feel in all its
bitterness, the ignominy of her treatment by the
northern AUTOCRAT during the development of
these secret and sinister negotiations. It must
necessarily be galled to the quick, now that those
negotiations have been revealed, and that that
treatment has been displayed to the observation
of Europe—it must necessarily, we repeat, be
galled to the quick by an intolerable sense of the
publicity of this faithless and scornful degradation.
The Government of Berlin, with all its callous
disregard of whatever is chivalric or high-
minded, must inevitably, we conceive, be
rendered for once at least to some slight degree
sensitive by the evidence now thrust upon the
knowledge of the world, that it has been treated
by Russia from the beginning to the end of these
disgraceful transactions, with the most unendurable,
because the most supreme and contemptuous in-
difference. Nevertheless—setting altogether on
one side the effect likely to be produced by these
disclosures upon the two chief Powers of the Ger-
manic Confederation—it cannot for an instant be
doubted that among the prominent consequences
of this most timely revelation will be the infu-
sion of still greater ardour into the enthusiasm of
Turkish patriotism, and the happy consolidation
of what has at last become a veritable entente cor-
dial between the French and English Govern-
ments,

The criminality of the Russian policy has thus
been exposed betimes to the Cabinets of St.
James's and the Tuileries, of Potsdam and Schoen-
bruin). It has been laid bare in the last awful
pause, the lull before the storm, while the Western
Powers are waiting for the acceptance or refusal
by the CZAF: of the .ultimatum forwarded by courier
to St. Petersburg. Already it is known that that
peremptory demand on the part of England and
France for the immediate evacuation of the Prn-
cipalities has been met with the threat of a
haughty and abrupt rejection. The CZAR, on
hearing of itg approach, intimated that it would
scarcely require six minutes for it to be answered
in—a remark sufficiently indicative of the bent of
his deermination. Wherefore Europe may count
upon the refusal of the ultimatum by the AUTO-
CRAT. And the n, of course, the next move will
be the declaratiom of war—the first shot will be
fired, and the struggle will commence in earnest.
Whether that declaration of war will come from
Russia, or from Fiance and England, or whether
that first shot will become audible in the Black
Sea or the Baltic, remains yet to be conjectured.
It is at least certain that the Western Allies of
Turkey aro prepared at this moment for both—
for the declaration otc. war on the refusal of the
ultimatum, or for the fir ing of the first shot either in
the Baltic or in the Eu. Kiue—just as circumstances
might render it advisab.le. Admirals HAMELIN and
DUNDAS are in readiness ; for any emergency—pre-
pared at any time to en serge into the waters of
the Black Sea from thei. r anchorage in the Bos-
phorus. Admirals NAPIER and DESCIIENES are
almost similarly situated in regard to the Sound
and the Baltic. For, wi rile Sir CHARLES NAPIER,
at the head of his noble: squadron, is known to
have advanced as far as ( 7openhagen, followed by
several of the French shi fps of war, other vessels
of the imperial navy of France are all but pre-
pared at this moment :it Brest to hasten after
the English fleet, in ordt:r to join it under the flag
of Admiral DESCHENES. Such is the position of
affairs northwards, while eastwards, we learn that
the Retribution and tte Caton, the former an
English frigate, and. the latter a French
corvette, have recently been despatched from
the combined jets at Beycos, in order
to traverse the waters of the Black Sea as far as
the mouths of the Danube, there to break down
at Sulina the obstl aictions raised by the Russians
for the purpose of impeding the navigation. It
is manifest, theref ore, that the allies of Turkey
are resolved upon being no longer trifled with by
the lawless despot, whose ambition has lit up in
the twin proviu ces of Moldo-Wallachia a flame
that may now speedily extend into a general
European con tlargration
If the Gazette ; de Leipzie might be relied upon,
the Idtimatum Inas already been formally rejected
Iry the CZAR, in a brief but decisive answer, ema-
nating in his nar ae from the Cabinet of St. Peters-
burg. :Eloweve r this may be, the nature of the
reply may read lily, at any moment, be antici-
pated. It; vill be a refusal, and that refusal
will be foil -ed up by a declaration of war,
and thereui )0T t the war itself will be at once,
without further parley, commenced in the
Black Sea by • Admirals DUNDAS and HAMELIN, and
in the Baltic by Admirals NAPIER and DESCHENES.
GOD alone k 1 TOWS the result, but in His hands the
issues of bat tle are ever left with a sublime
confidence by those who fight, as England and
France will fight, during this great contest—not
for the gra I ification of Imperial pride, or in obe-
dience to t Le lusts of a lawlem ambition, but to ,