The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-26 00:00:00

CENTRALISATION AND MUNICIPAL
INSTITUTIONS.

The Turks have a source of strength which it is mere
folly and ignorance to overlook in their municipal insti-
tutions, while the intense centralisation of Russian ad.
ministration is sure to prove ruinous from the moment
that the system is put to any real stress. In Turkey
the Government may be dilatory, unskilful in business,
and in some respects in that' transition state which is
often one of weakness : the empire may be ill-compacted ;
its commerce is so far from being facilitated by any ge-
neral arrangements that it has to work its way through
all manner of barbarous impediments ; and the soldiery
are so badly officered, that the most sanguine of their
allies dreaded each hour of actual collision with the foe.
Such were the symptoms which, in the keen eye of the
northern vulture, made the "sick man's" case hope- '
less, and set the foul bird pluming itself, and snap-
ping its beak, and sailing down the desert wind upon
its prey. But the sick man's disease turns out to be
merely functional, and not organic at all. Under all his
ailments, his vital strength has never been sapped ; and
he has buffetted the vulture, and sent him drooping
away—hungry and bruised. The sound principle
of local self-government, in opposition to the modern
practice of centralisation, has saved Turkey under
circumstances which made all but the wisest of her
friends despair. Those wisest friends have long observed
that in spite of the poverty and unbusinesslike ways of
the Government, commerce has expanded and improved :
that the Turks have a strong love of country, and espe-
cially an attachment to village life that the constant
and eager immigration from Egypt into Syria testifies to
the superiority of the diffused government of Turkey
to the highly centralised one of Egypt ; and that,
wherever the experiment was fairly tried, the valour of
the Turkish soldiery has proved indomitable. Hence-
forth, truths like these will be more easily recognised
than hitherto; and the source of strength will, we trust,
be everywhere perceived and frankly acknowledged.
The scattered communities of Turkey have been wont
to manage their own local affairs ; and hence has
grown up, an attachment to home and country, and
national faith and usage, which has saved the em-
pire in its day of deep calamity, before aid could
be given by the heartiest well wishers to the cause.
Every man has gone into the conflict a volunteer,
and has fought with his heart as well as his right
arm : and hence the success in spite of the gravest
of all military disadvantages that of deficient
or faulty secondary command. Hence it is that
the turn has come for the cruel foe to be the "sick man."
Sick indeed !—" the whole soul sick, and the whole heart
faint !" And this has come of the very centralisation I
which the Czar has ever prided himself on, and made it
the aim of his life to spread. He reckoned on Austria
as his tool because centralisation is already established
there. He reckoned on Prussia as his tool because the
King clings to the centralising principle, even to the for-
feiture of his solemn promises to his people. The Czar
wanted to force the principle and practice on the nations
who guard their borders from it more anxiously than
from the plague. He long ago put his foot down on the
municipal liberties of Sicily, in aid of the imbecile King
of Naples. He trod them down in Hungary, as much
for his own sake as Austria's. He has now tried what
Ihe can do in Turkey. We know his jealousy of the re-
forms in Sweden, and yet more in Denmark • reforms
which all tend to diffuse self-government through' the
whole body of the nation; and all the world knows that
Norway, with its bold and thorough popular representa-
tion, is an abomination to him. As for us—his recent
proceedings have opened our eyes to our duty to ourselves
as well as to the Turks ; and our demolition of the two
recent schemes of civil service and county constabulary
organisation, is a pretty strong proof that the Russian
principle of government has small chance among us.
Every townsman seems to have the instinct that our
statesmen appear to lose on crossing the threshold of
office; that instinct which is the true bond of alliance
between ourselves and the Turks, and all other true de-
.

fenders of hearth and home . and the lesson which in
England has first to be learned from the adversity of the
Czar is, that no statesman must be trusted who shows
the slightest taint of the Russian disease of centralisa-
tion : and that every citizen must be convinced, once
for all, that national security exactly corresponds with
the diffusion of self-government through the length and
breadth of the Empire. Never was that lesson so taught
as by the success of the Turks at this day.
The old false plea is now demolished, the assertion
that Turkish courage and conduct are owing to fatalist
fanaticism. Fatalism might give the courage, but not
the conduct. And the Russians are fully a match for
the Turks in the attribute and the consequent quality.
The Russians have followed the Cross to the battle-field
full as devoutly as the Mussultnans the Crescent. If
the Sultan is the head of the Faith, and the lord
of all " true believers," the Czar is, to his people,
even more. He is a demigod, and the representative
of the Highest. He is actually an object of worship,
and his cause is verily believed to be that of Heaven.
We know how many of his soldiers have been looking
for Jerusalem on the horizon of Wallachia, and adoring
the comet as the star of Bethlehem ; and how un-
doubtingly they believe that to die in battle is to go
straight to the martyr's throne in Paradise. Yet, has
this fanaticism failed, while the Turkish valour has held
out and conquered. The spell of fanaticism once broken,
all is lost ; whereas the love of country and home is in-
vulnerable and indomitable. If any of us need this les-
son, here we find it taught in all possible solemnity and
pathos. By the heroic joy of the Turks, who have saved
Dome and empire ; by the slaughtered Muscovite serfs,
whose blood cries out to Heaven ; by the anguish of
survivors whose faith and hope are gone, and who have
no liberties to fall back upon ; by the shame, remorse,
and agony of the mad devil who has been constrained to
preach this sermon from his unholy lips—let the lesson
never be forgotten I None are too high or too low to
take it to heart. It is a lesson for the humblest villager
who can read a newspaper—a lesson to observe and up-
hold local laws against licence on the one hand and
tyranny on the other. It is a lesson for grey statesmen
and youthful potentates. A hoary Metternich and a tem-
porising Aberdeen may learn what comes of trusting to any
organisation but what has the popular heart for its vital
principles. As for the Sovereigns—the Sicilian "Botnbas,"
and the Prussian Fredericks, and the Greek Othos' are
incapable of learning, and must remain unbenefitted by
the lessons of the time. Victoria in England, and Oscar
in Sweden, have not waited for the spectacle of retribu
tion to learn their duty and true policy. Popular reforms
have proceeded continuously through both their
reigns. There are younger sovereigns—one in Aus-
tria, one in Spain, one in Portugal, and (in regard to
sovereignty, though not years), one in France. Will
they show a capacity for taking instruction from the de-
feat and humiliation of the most prodigious despot of
the age ? If they and their peoples can learn it together
the world may thank Heaven for an inestimable boon.
If not—there remains a fiercer lesson for them and all
men : that human duty and conscience henceforth forbid
that one man, be he whom he may, should be the evil
genius of his race, as tne Czar Nicholas has been. While
the world grow- more and more careful not to intrude
on the councils of any nation as to its form of govern-
ment it must and will henceforth sec that no single un-
representative despot shall ever again have license to do
what Nicholas has done. If any people choose to let such
an one baptise them into his own blasphemy in blood
and tears, their pitying neighbours cannot save them
from the fate they will deserve; but the vigilance of na-
tions will permit no more sowirvs of the wind—,ecing
that in reaping the whirlwind the melancholy madman
lays waste many a fairer scene than the dismal swamps
and jungle of his own dominions.—Daily Nous.

VAUXHALL GARDENS. —These beautiful grounds have
been numerously attended during the past week, visi-
tors being attracted by the fineness of the weather and ,
the variety and excellence of the amusements. In order
to afford the younger branches of families home for the
holidays an opportunity of witnessing Vauxhall in all its
brilliancy, the dirtctor intends giving a juvenile fete on
Saturday next.
CONFLAGRATION.—Yesterday (Sunday) in orninFs,, at a
few minutes before nine o'clock, the industrious and
densely populated prrish of Bermondsey was visited by
the outbreak of a terrible fire, which, in a compara-
tively brief period, laid in ruins property valned at
several thousand pounds. The premises in which the
conflagration began belonged to Messrs. Morgan and
Sons, rope, line, and twine, manufacturers, and formed
a considerable portion of that part of Bermondsey
termed the Blue Anchor-road, Jamaica-level, and were
adjoined by the equally extensive rope factory be-
longing to Messrs. Ellis and Barwood, so that, when
the discovery was made, it became clearly manifest
that unless the flames could be extinguished in their in-
cipient stage, a fearful fire would follow, and unfortu-
nately the latter has proved to be the case. Owing to
the combustible nature of the building, formed as it was
principally of light timber, the fire extended with such
amazing rapidity, that before an engine had time to
reach the spot the entire structure in which the misfor-
tune commenced was levelled with the ground, from
whence the devastating element extended to the covered
rope factory and walks, and also to the spacious store-
houses. In the last-named premises was deposited
property of great value, amongst which were many tons
of Manilla hemp and jute, worth 751. per ton.
RAILWAY CARRIAGE LAMPS. -- A correspondent
says :—These call for great improvement. At present
the light from them is flickering, cloudy, and inade-
quate for reading. This is the consequence of the ir-
regular and inadequate supply of fresh air, which is
unable to enter the lamp from their being only one ori-
fice to serve for the escape of the exhausted and the en-
trance of fresh air. At present the only orifice is im-
mediately over the flame, and tile descending current is
impeded and vitiated by the impure current that the
flame sends upward, and in consequence of the want of
fresh air, much of the oil is vaporised by the heat, and
passes off as smoke and unconsumed. Were the chim-
ney divided so as to give a separate orifice for the
escape of the exhausted air, or another opening afforded
for the entrance of a free current, the flame would burn
more steadily, the combtistion of the smoke would be
more perfect, and the light would be proportionately
pleasanter and greater.
CORNWALL RAILWAY.—IIia Royal Highness Prince
Albert, Lord Warden of the Stannaries, gave audience
yesterday at the Duchy-office, Somerset-house, to Mr.
Michael Williams, M. P., the chairman, Mr. Tweedy,
deputy-chairman, Mr. Brunel, engineer, Mr. Smith,
solicitor, and Mr. Bond, secretary of the Cornwall Rail-
way, to receive a drawing and plan of the Royal Albert
Bridge, now in course of erection across the Tamar, at
Saltash. His Royal Highness having put several ques-
tions to Mr. Brunel on the subject, was pleased to ex-
press his satisfaction-with the undertaking, the construe-
tion of which is proceeding with great rapidity.
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