The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-05 00:00:00

AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN KNAVERY

The general impression produced by the publication
of the Austro-Prussian treaty, and of the Vienna proto-
col, appears to have been perfectly just. It was obvious
that a convention to which devoted adherents of Russia
were parties could not be intended to precede an active
co-operation with the Western Powers. Not only Prussia,
but Bavaria itself, may accept all the recent diplomatic
documents as perfectly safe and innocent. It seems to have
been arranged that the invader should undertake, in defe-
rence to the German Powers, to withdraw his forces be-
hind the Pruth ; only his partisans are once more stipu-
lating that he shall, in the first instance, be allowed to
save his credit by some conspicuous military success.
Were this understanding allowed to be carried into effect,
Russia would have proved, in the estimation of the timid
and the sycophantic, that a coalition of all Europe was
barely able to arrest her progress for the moment ; and
the world would remain in doubt whether the retreat of
her armies was the result of moderation, or of a prudent
regard to her own security. It was probably in antici-
pation of the capture and subsequent abandonment of
Silistria that Prussia suggested, as the future case of
war, the advance of the Russian armies beyond the Bal-
kan ; and the whole arrangement coincides in a remark.
able degree with the singular assertion of an English
journal—an assertion, however, which events have
already disproved—that the allied armies were not to ad.
vance until the Danubian fortresses had been taken
by the enemy. Such a scheme for a campaign could
only have been suggested on diplomatic grounds. It
was simultaneously stated in the German papers, that
the Czar had promised Austria that his army should not
advance beyond Trajan's Wall and Silistria.
We are as yet unable to judge how far the summons
which Austria has addressed to the Czar to evacuate the
Principalities, " within a time to be specified by him-
self," is to be regarded as indicative of an approaching
rupture ; but it is certain that the reasons which render
probable an ultimate accordance of the German Powers
with France and England still remain in full force. It has
suited the purposes of four great States to place on re-
cord their undoubted unanimity on one point, which is
for the moment of no practical importance ; but it is
left to circumstances to disclose the three different direc-
tions in which their real policy diverges. Prussia de-
sires peace, combined with the nominal integrity of
Turkey, and with the preponderance of the Power whose
patronage and protection she habitually courts. Austria
wishes for peace, for the freedom of the Danube, and for
the independence of the Porte—desiring, at the same
time, to attain all these objects without inflicting any
humiliation on Russia. Finally, England and France
wish to terminate the war as soon as they have obtained
substantial security against its renewal, and proved that
the peace of Europe is not to be disturbed with impunity.
The obstinacy and bad faith of the enemy are constantly
bringing nearer that alliance with the Western Powers
the necessity for which the Government of Vienna is
anxious, if possible, to supersede. The invading army
will never retire from the Principalities until its position
in advance of the Russian frontier becomes untenable on
military grounds , and the sham fight projected by neu-
trals and by amateur partisans of peace will not suit the
purpose of either belligerent.
At the same moment that Austria apparently relaxes
her precautions on the north-eastern frontier, she takes
measures to counteract the revolutionary agitation which
Russian agents have long been propagating in the south.
A convention with the Porte has been signed at Constan-
tinople, with the approval of the Western Powers, by
which Austrian troops are at once to occupy Albania and
Montenegro, and even, in certain contingencies, Servia
itself. England and France evidently concurred in the
treaty for the purpose of overcoming the reasonable ob-
jections which Turkey has hitherto entertained against
foreign occupation. Safe in the guarantee of its allies
against any abuse of the permission given to the Court
of Vienna, the Turkish Government will be able to di-
rect against the enemy the troops which have hitherto
been employed in watching Montenegro, and maintain.
ing the tranquillity of Albania. Russia, on the other
hand, will take good care to abstain from treating the
alliance of Austria with the Porte as an act of hostility
against herself.—Morning Chronicle.

The contingency to which we alluded on Saturday, as
exceedingly probable, is one to which it is important
that the public mind of this country should be directed.
If, as we then stated, Russia should obey the summons of
Austria and Prussia to evacuate the Principalities, in
terms of their engagement to the Czar to maintain the in-
tegrity of his empire and to uphold his -political position
as one of the leading Powers of Europe,—the Courts of
Vienna and Berlin will be bound to redeem their pledge.
France and England, on the other hand, have entered into
a treaty, mutually bind►ng themselves to exact " mate-
rial guarantees" from the Czar against any further at-
tempt to disturb the peace of Europe, and at the same
time so to cripple him as that be shall not, even were
be so disposed, be hereafter i❑ a position to molest other
countries. Here, then, it is difficult to perceive, sup-
posing that Austria and Prussia adhere to their pledges
to Russia, and F►:ance and England prove equally true
to themselves, --how a collision on the battle-field be-
tween the German and the Western Powers can be
avoided.

This is a new and grave aspect of the Eastern ques-
tion. It is one to which the attention of Parliament
ought to be directed immediately after the recess, in
order that the:country may be informedjwhat course
it
is intended to take in the contemplation of so serious an
eventuality as that of Austria and Prussia becoming our
open enemies, and resisting with force the means to
which we may resort to exact, in terms of the treaty
between France and England, those material guarantees
for the future good conduct of the Czar, which may be
deemed indispensable.
What we are most apprehensive of is, that the West-
ern Powers may not take the same view of what con-
stitutes adequate " material guarantees" as the country
does. They may be disposed to accept of guarantees
which would be so only in name. But the country will
not be so easy to please. It will require guarantees
which shall be so in reality. We have, on more than
one occasion, specified some of the ways in which the
capacity of the Czar for future mischief may be abridged.
Finland must be wrested from his hands—the Crimea
must cease to be a portion of his dominions—the Black
Sea must be thrown open to the navigation of all nations,
instead of being a Russian lake—and the mouths of the
Danube must be placed under other control than his.
These are some of the material guarantees which must
be exacted by France and England from the Czar.
There are others on which it may be necessary to insist,
but which will be dependent in some measure on circum-
stances.

But material guarantees alone will not meet the ne-
cessities of the case, The Autocrat must be compelled
to indemnify France and England to the uttermost
farthing, for the expenses to which they have been put
in checking his ambition and chastising his insolence.
To this point the people of England will attach the
greatest importance. Without his being made to pay
all the expenses of a war which is entirely the result of
his own reckless provocation, the nation will never be
satisfied. No matter how unexceptionable the terms of
peace otherwise, it will be felt that if Nicholas be not
made to defray every farthing of the expenses which
have been incurred, there will be no poetic justice in the
mode of dealing with him.
More than three months ago wo endeavoured to
arouse the country to a sense of the importance of call-
ing on Parliament to render imperative on Ministers
the obligation to demand adequate material guarantees
from the Czar, on the conclusion of peace, for his future
good behaviour, and of also insisting that he should be
made to pay the expenses of the war. We are glad to
find that the advice which we then gave, though not
immediately acted on, was not lost on those for whom
it was intended. The people are beginning to respond
to the appeal which we made to them. On Friday
night, a petition was presented to the House of
Commons from the inhabitants of Corven, in Wales,
calling on the Legislature to demand from on
the conclusion of peace, material guarantees against
future aggression by diminishing her military and
geo-
graphical resources. The petitioners also insist on it,
that she be compelled to pay all the expenses of the
war. The inhabitants of this small town
in Wales de-
serve well of their country, for being the first to take
this patriotic step. Their public spirit ought to put the
citizens of large towns to the blush. We should have
thought that there would have been a patriotic
rivalry among the populous towns of Great Britain
as to who should be the earliest and most ener-
getic in calling on Parliament to require of Minis-
ters that they shall exact the necessary material
guarantees from the Autocrat, for the preservation of
-peace for the time to come, and that he be made to
pay all the expenses to which we have been put in pro-
secuting the war against him. It has unhappily bee
otherwise. Neither London, nor any other of the large
towns, has yet stirred a step in this matter. The honour
of being the first to set the example belongs to a small
and comparatively unknown town in Wares. It is an
honour of which it may well be proud. It is an i
nci-
(lent in this war which will not be overlooked, when
its history comes to be recorded.

The nature of the terms on which peace will be esta-
blished, when the Czar is vanquished, will depend en-
tirely on the country itself. Those terms are in the
hands of the people. If the latter are passive, the
Autocrat will come off triumphantly in reality, though
nominally suffering a defeat. The conditions of peace
will be everything he could wish, in the circumstances
of the case. They will neither wound his sensibilities
on the score of honour, diminish his territory, or abridge
his power. Neither will he be asked to pay the expenses
incurred in prosecuting the war against him. He will,
to use a homely, but expressive phrase, be let off easily.
But we cannot believe that the people will remain pas-
sive under the circumstances. They must, and will,
speak out. This is their bounden duty. -
they
but perform it promptly and well, proper material
d hem will be
guarantees will be exacted from the Czar,
so crippled as to be rendered ever afterwards incapable
of any further senora mischief.--Morning Advertiser..

The Senate had adopted a resolution directing inquiry
as to the propriety of making permanent provision for
rewarding those who may rescue life and property on
board American ships, and particularly the captain and
crew of the Washington, who recently brought to this
port the passengers of the wrecked ship Winchester.
The House of Representatives had passed the Ne-
braska Bill by a majority of 9 votes; it was read a first
time on the M.

According to the New York Herald, the Secretary of
the Navy, probably in consideration of the unsettled
state of the relations with Spain, had issued an order
directing that all vessels of war on the point of da.
parture should be delayed.
The Senate had adopted a resolution offered by Mr.
Clayton, to the following effect :—"That the Committee
on Foreign Relations be instructed to inquire into the
expediency of providing by law for such restrictions
upon the power of American Consuls residing in the
Spanish West India Islands as will prevent the abuse
of the American flag in protecting persons engaged in
the African slave trade."
The Earl of Elgin had arrived at Washington. His
visit, according to the American journals, is connected
with the negotiations respecting the fisheries.
Mr. Everett had resigned his position of senator in
Congress, owing to physical infirmity.
From Mexico the accounts are conflicting. It is
stated that Santa Anna was on his return to the capital
and that his wife had set out to meet him. It was in-
ferred that Acapulco had been taken and occupied by
the army, and also that Santa Anna had re-established
his communication with the city.
Another account, however, and a later one, states
that Santa Anna summoned Acapulco to surrender,
which was refused by Alvarez, who sallied out, attacked
Santa Anna's troops, and took 300 prisoners. Santa
Anna fled.

The United States had arrived at New Orleans, from
Aspinwall ; the Illinois sailed the same day for New
York, with $700,000.
The news from California was down to the Ist ult. ;
the San Francisco markets were dull, and the prices of
leading articles depressed.
The steamer Gazelle had exploded on the Columbia
river, killing 20, and wounding 30 persons.
Accounts from the mining districts were flattering.
Colonel Fremont arrived on the 16th of April ; his party
was completely broken up, only 20 men being left, the
rest having deserted after crossing the Colorado. Mr.
Dillon, the French consul, having been arrested and
brought into court to testify in the case of the Mexican
r•cruiting, had struck his flag, and declined to raise it
without instructions from France. The Mexican con-
sul was found guilty, but recommended to mercy.
According to advices from Honduras, the Congress
had ratified a contract, granting the Honduras Railway.
2,500,000 acres of valuable lands, to aid in the construc-
tion of the work. _

Y•vOn the 17th of April severe earthquakes occurred in
the State of St. Salvador, nearly destroying the capital ;
many of the principal buildings and about 600 families
were buried in the earth.