The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-30 00:00:00

told that they are interfering in a matter which ex-
clusively concerns the principals in the quarrel ;
yet it is now virtually admitted that they are enti-
tled to enforce an armistice, if only it is imposed
impartially on both belligerents. The circumstance
that it suits the immediate purpose of the aggressor
to fight rather by land than by sea, cannot invali-
date the acknowledgment of a right on the part of
the allies to intervene in the dispute.
It appears that the agents and partisans of Rus-
sia in Paris have for some days past been making
the most strenuous efforts, though without the
slightest success, to separate the policy of France
from that of Great Britain. It has, from the first,
been a principal object of Russian diplomacy to
detach the Allied Powers from each other, by an
affectation of regarding their respective positions
as essentially different. At the commencement of
the dispute, it was urged that England was inte-
rested in supporting the cause associated with legi-
timate dynasties and with the so-called order of
Europe. The controversy about the Holy Places
was prominently put forward as the main occasion
of the original rupture ; and it was not forgotten
that the English ambassador had recommended the
Porte to concede all the demands which Prince
Menschikoff could devise in reference to the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre. At a later period, still
more zealous exertions were made to win over the
French Government to the side of usurpation.
The Parisian organs of the Court of St. Petersburg
vied with each other in shameless adulation of
France, and in unprovoked animosity to England.

( From the Morning Herald.)
The combined fleets have at last gone into the
Black Sea to meet—Parliament ? Considering that
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe announced to the offi-
cers and sailors of the fleet that they were entering
the Exuine on a strictly pacific mission, we appeal
to our readers, and ask what other possible con-
struction can be placed on the long-delayed and
often-threatened movement ? Surely no man in
his senses can deny that had it not been for the
inevitable advent of that black Monday denomi-
nated the meeting of Parliament the of
ships
anidnisEtrynglawnerde concerned
might have remained, so far
Franceaas
o
Ministry
runtil their keels grated on the be in Beycos Bay,
beef bones thrown
overboard. We really do not think, notwith-
standing the pompous announcement of our con-
temporaries, that the positson of Lord Aberdeen's
Cabinet is benefited in the slightest degree by the
enforced advaice which the dread of having to
render an account to the people of England has
compelled them to direct. It is true that the flag
of Great Britain now floats over waters in which
her armed vessels have long been strangers ; but
unless our armaments have gone there for purposes
of real and determined action, our opinion is that
they had much better have remained in the Bos-
phorus.
It has been, and will continue to be, said, that
their appearance in those hitherto forbidden seas
will have the effect, by convincing the Czar that
France and England are at last in earnest, of in-
ducing that potentate to listen to the propositions
which have been forwarded to him within the last
month, and so secure the establishment of peace.
Supposing such to be really the case—a result in
which we do not place the smallest confidence our-
selves—it will only have proved the truth of that
doctrine which we have been urging for many
weary months—that it was not by concession and
prostration that the Autocrat was to be mollified.
What, then, can have been the use of all the delay,
all the disgrace, all the expense, all the disturbance
of trade, which has fallen, thick, strong, and
heavy upon England for the last eleven months ?
We have said above that we do not believe that
the Autocrat will yield in good faith to the demon-
stration we have made ; but should it prove that
he does so, it becomes incontestable that the means
which have proved effectual at the eleventh hour
would have been equally, if not more, efficacious
• had they been made use of at a far earlier stage of
the dispute. Granting, however, that all the prog-
nostics of peace and amity which Ministers are in-
dulging in, for the purpose of persuading the Bri-
tith Parliament that unaccustomed halcyon days
are to take the place of the usual storms which
prevail in the Euxine, in what better position shall
we find ourselves if peace be made on the basis of
the propositions which have been lately forwarded.
to St. Petersburgh than if we had miginallp ac-
cepted the ultimatum of Prince Menschikoff ? If
we have read those propositions aright, it is " a
mockery, a delusion, and a snare," to say that they
differ in anything but the name from that once no-
torious but now forgotten document.

THE TAYLEUR AND THB GREAT BRITAIN.

( From the Bristol Mirror of Jan. 28.)

Our recent arguments in favour of building docks at
the mouth of our river have, during the past week, re-
ceived additional force from the melancholy catastrophe
which we have elsewhere recorded. It is not, in our
opinion, going too far, to say that neither the Tayleur
nor the Great Britain would, in all human probability,
have been wrecked had they sailed from the Avon instead
of the Mersey. Both were lost upon the Irish coast,
the dangers of which they would have totally escaped
had their point of departure been from hence. With
the ocean before them, the severity of the gale would
Dare been, comparatively, of little consequence, and we
should not now have had to mourn the loss of hundreds
of valuable lives, as well as the -less distressing, but
still serious, destruction of property. The Tayleur,
we learn, left Liverpool on Thursday week, and her
captain intending to pass South of Ireland, directed
his course down St. George's Channel ; but, from the
violence of the wind and its unfavoi'rable direction, he
was induced to go "north about "—in other words, to
retrace his steps, and endeavour to pass to the north of
Ireland. Driven, however, out of his course by the
tempestuous state of the weather with a crew chiefly
composed of Chinese and Lascars—many of whom did
not understand a word of the English language—no one
on board the ill-fated vessel appears to have had the
least idea of their whereabouts, and the helmsman's as-
sertion that he saw land was either disregarded or dis-
believed, until the fact became evident, too late for
remedy. The ordinary measures of precaution appear
to have been executed with difficulty, or not at all ;
three hours, it is stated, were consumed in taking in
one sail ; and the crew refused to endanger their lives
by going out on the yards. Until, however, a full in-
vestigation has taken place, we forbear to pronounce an
opinion on this part of the matter ; but we are desirous
of calling attention to the fact, that our steam-vessels
are now built of so enormous a size, as to render Liver-
pool, in the opinion of nautical men, decidedly unsafe as
a port of departure, owing to the risks which, in case of
bad weather, must be encountered in the Irish Channel.
Were further evidence needed on the above subject it
would be found in the admirable report of the Bristol
Chamber of Commerce, a document which reflects the
highest credit on the committee of that body, and of
which a brief abstract appears in our columns to-day.
We have been more particularly struck with that part
of the committee's report which relates to the great ad-
vantages of Bristol as a Government Emigration Port.
On this head the Admiralty Engineer, Mr. Wm. [Bald,
says :
" I have throughout been struck by the fact that the
subject of this investigation has been one of the greatest
importance, so great indeed that I do not think the like of
it has ever been brought before a public inquiry, or is
likely to do so hereafter, concerning, as it does, the pros-
perity of a city, which, looking at its important geogra-
phical position, I do think ought to be the second
port of the British empire. It is so well situated for
a wide commerce approached by a fine, deep bed of
water, opening to the borders of the Atlantic, and
opening, as it does, a communication with all the
states of the Western world—with America and with
the West of France,—having, too, such a channel of com-
munication, surrounded by an extensive, fertile and popu-
lous country, and surrounded, I may venture to add' at
an inconsiderable distance, by mineral fields of greatira-
portance. Looking at all these things, it does certainly
seem strange to me that Bristol has not risen in as great a
proportion as other cities and places of less geographical
importance have done. I will instance Liverpool. Liver-
pool is beset with difficulties : in ;the entrance to the
Mersey there are shoals and shifting sandbanks, dangerous
ie,:iaysatorillolennhee
lar;:vaaennandtnioodipstuer
neci hnzdetrhwiene
obstacles.
the navigation
hear,
rro a
c'
unsurpassed
nh
sei
u:Br
psr iaasfset
elad
nbdy Channeleaansyy
owbtofieittfinhhnaeevtri
port. Ib think, therefore, that under this and every other
point of view, if the difficulties under which the port has
been labouring can be removed in any way satisfactory to
the citizens, and in a fair, just, and equitable manner, it
will be very desirable, in order that the trade of the place
may be restored and extended in a way proportioned to
its important geographical position."
Is it not almost time that these facts were recognise
and acted on ? The above valuable evidence applies, o
course, with greatly increased force to the vast steam-
ships which are now being constructed both for emigra-
tion, and also for that important branch of commerce,
the American cotton trade.
We also beg to direct the attention of our mercantile
readers to a singular and significant confirmation of the
views we last week expressed respecting the policy of the
Great Western Company towards Bristol ;and Milford.
On the very day on which those remarks were published,
we learn by the London papers that it had been deter-
mined, at a special meeting of the Great Western, South
Wales, and Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Directors,
to build a number of powerful steamers to ply between
Waterford and Milford ; thus intercepting, as it were,
in its come one of the most valuable and important.
branches of commerce yet remaining in Bristol, viz., the
trade with Ireland.
Surely, this will open the eyes of our merchants, and
induce them, while there is yet time, to take some steps
in their own behalf. Surely, this will convince them
that the railway which they made, and which ought to
be an important aid to their prosperity, is likely to be-
come, not a dead weight merely, but an active and
powerful opponent. Unless some practical effort be
made to cope with this new rival, the days of Bristol's
commercial greatness are probably numbered.
Those who desire to understand the outline of a scheme
by which a valuable auxiliary to the Docks would be
created, are requested to read the able and lucid
speech of Mr. Adam Jack, at the meeting on Wednes-
day last, which will be found in our Supplement. Mr.
Jack's suggestions are most valuable, in a local point of
view, as well as in developing a means of preserving our
extensive trade with South Wales.