The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-27 00:00:00

(From the Morning Chronicle.)

Lord Aberdeen's speech of last night will remove
much uneasiness at home, and many misapprehensions
abroad. The value of his statement would have been
materially diminished if he had retracted or disavowed
any of the language which he held a week ago; for it
might have been argued that unpremeditated phrases
wt-re probably as sincere as a more deliberate manifesto,
and the complaints, just or unjust, called forth by his
former speech, would have been thought a sufficient ex-
planation of a more palatable declaration of opinion.
But the Prime Minister is not a man to retract.

He may have been charged with an imprudent dies
regard of popular judgment, but he has never been
accused of a servile disposition to truckle to any ma-
jori y. It is because the sentiments avowed last night
are consistent with those which, not without the fault
of the speaker, had occasioned so much anxiety within
the last few days, that the country will place full con-
fidence in the good faith with which Lord Aberdeen—
while appealing to his colleagues to testify to the
zeal with which he has uniformly urged forward the
I reparations for the war—announces his determination
to carry on hostilities with vigour.
No speaker or writer has dealt more clearly or more
vigorously than Lord Aberdeen, in his speech of last
night, with the question of restoring the status quo ante.
Austria and Prussia, he says, who are still at peace
with Russia, may, if they think fit, consent to abstain
from hostilities on the condition of the evacuation of the
Principalities. All Europe, indeed,, and even the Porte
itself, would, up to the very eve of the war, have con-
sented to the same solution of the quarrel. "We
thought that it was quite as much as the Emperor of
Russia could expect us to offer, and much more than he
had any right to expect. But, my lords, we proposed it
in the hope that we should be able to preserve the state
of peace." But the Prime Minister distinctly states that,
with the declaration of war, the status quo ante was ipso
facto at an end. " The instant war was declared, the
state of the question was entirely altered. From that
moment everything depended upon the war itself, and
we are left free to exercise our own judgment—to do
that which we think will best suit our own interests and
policy in framing the terms of peace." Too little atten-
tion was, perhaps, given to the remark which his lordship
made in his former speech, that a peace concluded with
the Russians at Constantinople would differ widely from
that which might be enforced by an allied army occupy-
ing St. Petersburg. Lord Aberdeen sees that both the
time and the nature of the treaty to be 'made hereafter
must be determined by the events of the war ; and it is
for this reason that, as we have already seen, he has
been foremost in urging the immediate advance of the
auxiliary armies to join the gallant force commanded by
Omer Pacha. The knowledge that the most devoted
adherent of pea& is the strenuous advocate of active
hostilities, will tend greatly to strengthen the confi-
dence of the country in the Government.
The Ministerial' declaration of last night lays down
with perfect precision the position of all the European
Powers. Austria and Prussia are at_ liberty, if they
think fit, to accept the reported evacuation of the
Principalities as an inducement to prolong their neu-
trality, and, if possible, to negotiate a peace. England
and France are, on the otherlhand, equally free to put
forward and to enforce their own more stringent demands.
The Russian fiction, that a project of Prince Metternich's
had already been received with approbation in England,
is proved to be a deliberate falsehood. The only com-
munication which Lord Aberdeen has had with the ex-
Chancellor of the Empire since his own accession to
office, was stated to the House of Lords with humorous
candour and solemnity. A. lady told the Premier that
she was writing to the Prince, and asked if his lordship
had any message to send. The reply was,'" Pray, pre-
sent to your correspondent my very best remembrances."
The much-talked.of rieSpatch on the Treaty of Adria-
nople will be read with historical interest, rather than
with any immediate anxiety. Lord Aberdeen admits
that he had underrated the power and resources of
Turkey, and that we have new had proof of the vigour,
of the energy, and of the courage and perseverance with
wnich the troops of that empire have maintained
the integrity and inaependence of their country.
But it certainly does not appear that he believed in the
moderation of Russia ; and he unhesitatingly charac-
terizes the treaty in question as "unfortunate," "disas-
trous," and " in the highest degree dangerous and pre-
judicial to the interests of Europe." This is not the
time for raking up the reasons which deter red the Duke
of Wellington and his colleagues from joining in that
armed resistance to the invasion, of Turkey which was
proposed by Prince Metternich. The attitude of the
French Court may have had something to do with a
backwardness which has never, perhaps, been sufficiently
explained ; and, at all events, Lord Clanricarde is ab-
surdly wrong in attributing to Charles X. and Prince
Polignac that cordial understanding between France and
England which Lord Aberdeen established, at a later
period, with the Parliamentary Monarchy of Louis
Philippe. The Bourbons were, on the very eve of their
fall, intriguing' with the Czar against this country, and
the Duke of Wellington may have thought that a
Russo-French alliance would be precipitated by our
armed interference in Turkey. The affairs of the pre-
sent day are, however, far more interesting than these
historical speculations . and the most important state-
ment relative to the Treaty of Adrianople is the Prime
Minister's assurance that the British Government will
not sanction its renewal.