The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-25 00:00:00

TEE WAR IN THE EAST.

On Monday Sir Charles Napier was at Copenhagen ; on.
Tuesday letters for the gallant admiral forwarded by the Bri-
tish Consul in llamburgh, reached Kiel, and were to await
his arrival there. Were any confirmation necessary of tho
statement that Kiel Sound is to be the second stage of our
Baltic fleet, as Wingo Sound was its first, this latter fact
would afford it. We may, therefore, expect hourly to hear
that the bulk of the first division of the fleet under Sir Charles.
Napier is anchored off Fort Frederick, •while the out-strag-
glers are ploughing the waters of the Sound and the Belts.
The next stage will in all likelihood be a longer one. The
first decided operation of the fleet will probably be
the occupation of the great island of Aland, off which there
is good holding ground and tolerable shelter. A pretty strong
garrison has been maintained in that island by Russia, but
the works are totally inadequate to resist the weight of metal
the British fleet, with its French auxiliaries, can bring to ,
bear upon them. The naval forces of the allied powers, once
in possession of this important station, will effectually com-
mand the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland.

On the part of the Czar there is a mighty, bustling note of
preparation on shore. The best points tenable by troops aro
receiving strong reinforcements ; and if tfie news from St. .
Petersburg, Revel, and Riga, can be credited, he is doing his ,
utmost to persuade the inhabitants of the Baltic provinces
that the English are a sort of Ogres, their admiral being the
worst of the lot. With the lodging house keepers and trades- •
men of Revel—the Brighton of St. Petersburg—he may sue-
ceed, but the rest of the occupants of the Baltic provinces
know better. Of course they will remove from all places• .
likely to be the scenes of actual fighting—but simply to get
out of the way of shot and shell, not from any mistrust of the
English. With all this alacrity of defensive preparation the
Czar tarries long with his reply to the last peremptory sum-
mons of the British Government. That reply indeed is mo-
mentarily expected. Couriers aro held in readiness to start
for the Levant and the Baltic as soon as it is received. An.
unfavourable reply will be immediately followed by an
appeal to Parliament by the Queen. All yesterday the answer
was looked for, and ere we go to press it may have arrived..
But the Czar may send no distinct answer. He may abide
by his shuffling policy of delaying--may affect to refuse to
reply on the plea that there is no British Minister at St.
Petersburg with whom he can communicate. This game will.
be transparent; it will be played on the assumption that the
Allied Powers will still allow him to daily and waste time as
hitherto—will not strike a blow till they have had further
parley ; and thus he may calculate on postponing the evil day
of fighting, and strengthening his hold on the Danubian Prin-
cipalities. But surely France and England will not be so in-
fatuated as to waste the brief northern summer in waiting till
the Czar pleases to declare explicitly whether he will be
honest or not. It will be little short of lunacy, after
the fleet has anchored off Aland, to allow one unne-
cessary moment to elapse before earnest steps are com-
menced. What the Governments of France and England.
have in contemplation it is of course impossible to conjecture ;
but what they have not in contenvlation seems pretty obvi-
ous. Cronstadt, though strong, must nevertheless fall if seri-
ously attacked by the combined fleets ; but its capture would:
be of little value, unless as a first step towards the occupa-
tion of St. Petersburg. That would, however, require a
stung military force, and the omission of this element on
board the ships sent to the Baltic seems to indicate that the
Czar's capital is not, in the first instance at least, to bo
menaced.

In the presence of the strong naval force of the allies that
will soon rendezvous at Aland, however, there is another
means of sensibly crippling, the Russian Government in the
north. It must be kept in mind that to the north of the parallel
of latitude of Novgorod, all the territoriee appertaining to the
Russians have been acquired by conquest Northward and
westward of'St. Petersburg the Russian element in her popu-
lation becouies rapidly less prononce and influential. This
holds true to a considerable extent even in the Russianised
provinces of Olonetz and Archangel, but indisputably in Fin-
land and the German Duchies. The original' occupants of
the Scandinavian Peninsula, and of the Russh \xi territories
north of Novgorod, Kazan, and Tobolsk, and as far east as the
Jenisei, appear to have been all tribes of the Finnish
race. In Sweden, and Norwary, and Finland ti,xese abori-
gines fled before, or mingled their blood with, or became tri-
butary to, the Swedes and Norwegians ; to the eastward of
Finland, and north of a line drawn from the mouth of the
Neva to Tobolsk, they succumbed in like manner to , the
Russians. In the German Duchies, now subject to Russia, the
ascendancy of the Germanic race was established by the
Teutonic knights and the Hanseatic towns; before these pro-
vinces passed under the Russian sceptre, they 'were divided
between Sweden and Poland, but by both these powers the
German nationality was respected. The three pi edominaut
nationalities in the region we have been passing in review—
the three types of civilisation that have preponderate& in
them are, the Scandinavian (Swedish and Norwegian) iii Se an-
dinavia and Finland ; the Germanic in Estonia, Liefland, aMd
Carland ; the Russian in the countries to the east and soul %-
east. Wherever the Scandinavian Germanic civilisation or
nationalities are in the ascendant, Protestantism, with i to
accompaniments—more rational and purely spiritual tries vs
of religion—and aspirations after civil liberty were i ntri )-
dueed at an early period, and have struck deep root.
Sweden and Norway the work was promoted by the stru tglcs
of either people for national independence ; in the Ge rum=
Duchies by the influence of the Hanseatic towns, and c the
free nobles (or knights) impatient of clerical dot °illa-
tion. In the Russian provinces, the merciless sub-
jugation and destruction of Novgorod extinguished the
free spirit which had been awakened by connections pith
the Hanseatic League ; and the zealous patronage. of
a merely ritual and thought-repressing church, by the
Governments of Moscow and Petersburg, has contri-
buted to keep the mass of the people at the very lows •st
point of intelligence and morals possible in a count
presided over by rulers who have made some advance ,
civilisation. The most persevering and unscrupulous eel IS
have been made by the Russian Government of late years to
reduce the intelligent and self-respecting populations of ri '1,1"
land and the German Duchies to the low Russian stand CIS
of religion, morals, and knowledge and love of civil ri tb
Corruption, intimidation, exclusion of foreign literatures t— all
conceivable means have been resorted to. As yet the to int of
Russianism is not widely diffused or eradicable, though it is
rapidly spreading. In Finland there are upwards of 10( 1,000
Swedes doggedly clinging to their nationality, and the Fir ;nigh
population sympathises with them ; in the German Duchie s the
educated and wealthy class is (with the exception of Gov ,e,ru-
ment officials) intensely German. Now, in countries where the
feeling of the intelligent, the educated, the enterprising, , are
so decidedly antagonistic to Russianism, were the print d 'pal
strongholds by the allied forces, there can be little doubt ti
the inhabitants at large would be well disposed to assert th eir
independence. These pinions, plucked from the wing of
the Russian eagle, would effectually mar its flight for
the future ; would annul all its usurpations north of
Poland since the days of Peter the Great. How to
dispose of the provinces would bo best indicated by i ;he
circumstances attendant on their disruption from Rust
The warning example of Belgium and Holland is a I me
naut lesson to consult the wishes of the people t hole'
selves, and not to attempt to fuse incompatible nations ptieS
into one by foreign compulsion. Finland would prol 'ably
wish to re-unite itself to Sweden—from which it has be en g°
recently torn ; the German Duchies may possibly be i nfle-
enced even yet by a traditionary remembrance of their former
connexion with Sweden, and the conviction that Swede sr is
the power most favourably situated to support them ags hist
Russian aggression. When Stockholm was the capital t of
Sweden, Finland and the German Provinces now outs j ect
to Russia, it was the centre of a powerful empire. As the
place of government for Swedes, Fins, and the inhabits .nts
of these Germanic provinces, all stamped with the corns non
character of Protestantism, and aspirations after Parliare en-
tary government, Stockholm might again become the seat of
a Government able to hold Russia in check. But to acts can-
plish this disirable end must be the work of these populati one
themselves ; the allies can only afford them an opportunit; yto
commence it.
In intimate connexion with these considerations is the act ,nal
position of the Swedish Government. Russia is said, a fter
much reluctant delay, to have recognised its neutrality. Let
us see that this neutrality is honestly and effectively a:allied
out, in so far as the allies, and especially Great Britain, 2.31:
concerned. The question of protection for our Orkney and
other northern fisheries, mooted last night in the House of 'Com-
mons, has a close bearing upon it. At Archangel there
are a few ships of war ; there is also a inather
numerous mercantile navy, and it may enter the head 0,1 the
Czar to issue letters of marque. Now the northern dis rtriets
of Norway are almost exclusively supplied with prov ;ions
(especially with meal and flour) from the Russian ports
in the White Sea : and in consideration of this, c: ten'
sivo privileges have been conceded to Russian fishing and
merchant vessels in the northern Norwegian ports. The
admirable anchorages on the west coast of the Scandinavian
peeinkula, among the fiords between Drontheim sun 1 the
North Cape, must not be allowed to become stations va hero
Russian cruisers and licensed pirates may lie in wait to pm unce
upon our northern fishermen; perhaps to make butane ;ring
descents on our northern coasts. Sir James Graham and the
Admiralty will of course see to this.—Daily News.