The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-04 00:00:00

COMPARATIVE POWER OF _ENGLAND

AND _RUSSIA.

The Trieste 'Journal of September 27 exhibits a
wonderful change of opinions and language, as will
be seen by the following article. Events in the
Crimea have opened the editor's (and doubtless the
Emperor's) eyes.
We have recently directed attention to a number of
fallacious calculations, which have materially contributed
to bring about the present state of affairs. The false
data upon which these calculations are based have for
the most part been supplied by Russia, for the errors
made by this power are the reason why the whole situa-
tion has been forinedin the manner it is, such as no one
desired, and Russia herself least of all. It is a misfor-
tune of despotic governments—one that is constantly
recurring, and yet never steered clear of—that they are
not capable of appreci,iting the power of spiritual forces
All autocrats, from Xerxes downwards, have treated
men merely as masses ; they have never taken into their
consideration what a people can do, where each indivi-
dual has the con:scious feeling that he himself is a part,'
concerned when all are concerned. Greece in olden unjd
England in modern times have furnished examples of
this. The islands, with about seventeen millions of
men, not to speak of Ireland, withstood the autocracy
of Napoleon when he 'ruled the world, The undis-
ciplined crowds of Spain put to shame the victors of
Austerlitz and Friedland. Whoever challenges Eng-
land to the contest must know that he has to do
every Englishman, and that the last p:nily with the last
man will have to disappear before England can yield.
England regards every war as .one of defence ; for,
strictly defined in her European territorial extent,
she fears the aggrandisement of every power besides
her own, were it only by a few miles. More especi-
ally does she fear it when such territorial increase
includes fluvial and littoral districts, since on every
reach of coast ships may perchance be built to destroy
the might of Albion. England's existence requires
free movement in trade ; and, where any power
that favours the prohibitive system enlarges itself
England feels herself straitened. Every Englishman
knows, too, that the prosperity of his country and his
own advantage are thereby menaced. They should have
known at St. Petersburg this spirit of the English nation
—they should have comprehended it ; heavily do they
feel there now what weight a nation has whose whole
spiritual tenison can he embodied in the field. No one
will deny the influence which its press exercises on Eng-
land itself—a means, an instrument, that can in vain be
replaced by the enthusiasm of Russian priests. In like
degree no one can deny the influence that this same press
exerci,es on the public opinion of entire Europe, which
in the end no government can ignore. Only in England
could documents like those that contained the conversa-
tions of the Czar with Sir H. Seymour be published.
Queen Victoria may, so soon as peace shall have been
restored, become again good friends with the Emperor
Nicholas, yet those documents injured him more that► a
lost battle.

. Russia deemed her territory unassailable, but the Czar
had not computed the means which the advance of sci-
entific knowledge and the improvements in navigation
had rendered available. Not merely steam-power, but
the application of the motive polders in general, .has re-
ceived such extension, that at this day an army of
100,000 men can be thrown on the coast of the Crimea.
Tne domain of the mathematical sciences is no secret,
' and an insight into them is equally open to the Russian
as to the Briton or Frenchman. They can study me-
chanics at St. Petersburg with as much success as any-
where else in the world ; yet they may summon as many
good professors from all the corners of the earth as they
please ; they may encourage as many foreign architects
as they like. There foreign savans may deliver splendid
lectures, produce a few scholars, or a few machines,
to rival any in Manchester or Birmingham. But ever-
advancing improvements are conditioned by continual
progress. The spring of the mind must always be
kept in tenison, be the nation what it may. The
zealous rivalry, the free movement, the space for
free activity, the space which animates specula-
tion, must all excite capital, urge on mental and
bodily labour, in order that the mind of the people may
train itself universally as well as individually, so as to
mark every sign given by nature and her laws, so as to
subject every difficulty that inert matter presents, and
which progressive mind alone subjugates.
Where the mental power is forced, as it were, to stand
in a tight shoe, like a Chinese foot, in order that it may
have no room to stretch itself, it can only set in motion
a poor knock-kneed body. In such a case, a certain
portion of knowledge is melted out to each caste, where
the close guild-and-corporation sprit clogs work and its
activity, capital and its employment—where narrow-
minded trade laws impound restless industry, the key to
the pound being kept by jacks in office, who open the
gate through favour and caprice. In such a country the
progress, which depends on the mathematical and physi-
cal sciences, will always limp. Create as many mathe-
mathical schools as it may, call into being as many poly-
technical institutes as it chooses, St. Petersburg for all
that will never be the spot where an Archimedes, or a
Newton, or aLa Place can thrive. Even if successful
in producing men of consequence to render the mind of
the nation practical, to make it perceptive, ingenious,
and inventive, is what no Russian system can do, nor
any system like it. Now power by sea so much depends
on this national mind, that it constantly increases in
exact ratio to the growth of the latter, and becomes most
intense among those nations where the mind attains its
greate,t devel ipmenf, be the historic period what it may.
Herein lies the mystery why the fleets of Russia cower
behind granite walls, while the English and French are
bold enough to launch their tens of thousands of land
soldiers across the sea on the Russian coast. This ex-
pedition may succeed or it may fail—it still remains a
proof what nations can achieve where the industrial
spirit of enterprise, not being imprisoned, wings its flight,
and converts seas into mainland. The old proverb still
proves itself true :

" The folk that do by sea command
Have on all shores the stronger hand."

DEATH OF MRS. WARNER.

The severe suffering and lingering illness of Mrs. War-
ner terminated in her death on Sunday week; her secession
from professional duties, the aid refused her in her need
by the Drury Lane fund, the charitable conduct of her
Majesty who placed a carriage at her disposal, when she
needed the benefit of the air, and could not undergo the
fatigue of exercise, are still fresh in the public mind. The
recent demonstration of popular sympathy which took
place on the occasion of her benefit must have been grati-
fying to her in the last moments of her existence, and
must have proved the fact that the publicis not unmindful
of those who ham laboured zealously in its service, and
afferded it gratification.
Mrs. Warner was one of the principal artistes of the
period which posterity will connect with the name of
Macready. Her debut on the London stage occurred some
time before that gentleman undertook the management of
Covent Garden Theatre, and in the earlier part of her
career she " created" the principal female parts in the
Wrecker's Daughter and the Bridal. But it was at Covent
Garden and Drury Lane, at the time when Mr. Macready
laudably advanced to restore the ancient sites of the
drama to their old dignity, that she took her fixed
position as the chief actress of the matronly, or with
the non-juvenile line of tragedy. Like Mr. Phelps,
also a member of the Macready companies, she
was evidently impressed by the example of her
great director, and when Mr. Macreeely had given up
the vain endeavour to settle the poetical drama in its
proper home, it was under the joint management of Mrs.
Warner and Mr. Phelps that Sadler's Wells was placed
on its present respectable footil/4. After • quitting the
banks of the New River, Mrs. Waruor end avonred to
apply the same principle of management—the principle of
making the poetical drama attractive by means .:f elabo-
rate decoration to the Marylebono Theatre, but the per-
finned lion of civilisation was repelled by that remote dis-
trict. On concluding the thankless task of improving the
most " out-of-the-way" of London houses, she devoted
herself to " star-engagements," both in this country and
in America, and continued these till the fatal indisposi-
tion to which she has recently fallen a victim put an end
to her professional exertions.
The great forte of Mrs. Warner was the re resentation
of tragedy in its sterner and more dignified aspect. For
this, her stately figure, and her handsome, though strongly-
marked, countenance was admirably adapted. .Few who
have seen her as Evadne, in the disagreeable play of the
Bridal, can forget the sublimity of defiance with which
she eyed the luckless brid.egrootn, and made vice itself
look dignified from the determination by which it was ac-
companied. The softer emotions she did not often depict; '
and though Hermoine, in the Winter's Tale, was one ,
of her most striking parts, it was the truly sculptured
feeling with which she represented the supposed
statue in the last act that left the deepest im-
pression on her mind. Carefulness in study, and
intelligence in apprehending her parts, marked her
career throughout, and ,had there been a permanent
company of the higher kidd at any London theatre, there
is no doubt she would always have held her place in the
troop as a respected and indispensable member. She had
one drawback, and that was the harshness of her voice,
which gave too masculine a tone even to the stern charac-
ters in which she was most distinguished. In private life
she was universally esteemed, and the members of the
theatrical' profession will long recollect the great contrast
that existed between the terrible passions she depicted on
the stage, and her uniform mildness and amiability when
the mimic storm had passed.
of Mrs. Warner's
tahitoieunghnabmoren winasMilainicdbleasrtternai;.:hd- esrhfeatwhears
was a partner in the firm of Jenkins, fludd
wholesale chemists in Dublin ; he was also common an
coun-
cilman, and his partner was mayor. .e e
Miss Anne
mother was, previously to her ins
pr
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party.
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trial) colifu
and her iuncle, the Rev. Thomas_
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her
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nt
theedd Itr himselfsfl ithhePi
sr otaltnefeset,
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theatricalfi atinifwtithneagesinna nfDop:u-irT.ois-t"s
afesslitioenrataitvea bluastienepsse.rioAEbxyet BBrirsutonit,ona,nathße
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first-mentioned
er,
she came into
Huddart dotal: te
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'a
on tact with Mr. Macready, playing Lady Macbeth to his
contact
; she then went to the Dublin theatre, under
the management of Mr. Caleraft, and performed during
the summer seasons in Liverpool, Manchester, and the
principal Irish towns. The first metropolitan appear-
ance of Miss Huddart was at Drury Lane, wider the di- '
rection of Mr. Alex. Lee and Capt. Polhill ; she then re-
turned to the provinces, and re-appeared in 1836, under
the management of Mr. Bunn, playing various Shako-
sperian characters in conjimetion with Mr. Forrest ;
it was at this period that she made a success as
Marian, in Mr. Sheridan Knowles's unsuccessful play of
The Wrecker's Daughter. The Haymarket was the next
theatre at which Miss Huddart was engaged, and here she
distinguished herself by her performance of the part of
Evadne, in The Bridal. At the termination of this season
she married Mr. Warner. In October of this year Mrs.
Warner was engaged at Covent Garden by .51r. Macready,
and was to have performed in the late Serjeant Talfotird's
play of The Athenian, Captive, but was nrevented by the '
birth of her first child: The late distinguished author, in
the preface to this play, in the collected edition of his
tragedies, thus alludes to tho subject :—" The represen-
tation of thin at Covent Garden Theatre was pre-