The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JO URNALS.

The case which we understood was to have come on
yesterday in the Court of Arches, for inscribing on a tomb-
stone a recommendation to pray for the soul of the de-
ceased, only went through one of the preliminary stages.
We shall, however, attend to the progress of a case to
which so much importance is attached by the Church.
Our present impression certainly is, that there never was a I
case of persecution if it is not one. While on the subject
of oppressive proceedings we beg to call the attention of
our readers to a case of great hardship, related by a corre-
spondent, which they will find in another column under the
bead " Oppression of the Poor." Why, as our correspon-
dent suggests, should not all such petty tribunals as that of
the Honour of Peveril, which subjects a poor wretch, for
fourteen shillings, to an addition for costs of writ and de-
claration, swelling the amount to 11. 18s., be at once
swept away by the Legislature, and the jurisprudence of
the country be placed on a uniform and equitable footing ?
Oh, with what reluctance the higher ranks of England
yield their assent to measures calculated to shield the poor
from oppression !—Morning Chronicle.
We are not of those who think that it is sound policy
to conceal the truth, even when matters assume a dark and
lowering aspect. Our impression, on the contrary, is, that
when danger really exists, the wisest course is to acknow-
ledge and proclaim that danger, as by that means only can
the requisite preparations be made to avert the threatened
evils. 'We have no hesitation, then, in plainly and openly
declaring, that Liberal principles are at this moment in the
greatest jeopardy. The Tories are everywhere organizing
themselves, in order that they may, immediately on the
meeting of Parliament, be in a condition to seize the first
opportunity that presents itself of re-possessing them-
selves of that power from which they have now, for
six long years, with one short intermission, been ex-
cluded. And most confident are they that the long
and anxiously-desired opportunity of returning to office
will be afforded them before a month of the approach-
ing Session has passed away. They ground this conviction
on a variety of circumstances. They are elated at the
prospect of being within ten or twelve of a majority in the
House of Commons, on any great party question that may
come before it ; they are encouraged by the divisions that
unfortunately exist among the Reformers ; and they feel
thoroughly assured that the advantages of their position in
these respects will be so greatly increased by the resignation
of Lord Durham, end the consequences to which that
resignation must necessarily lead, as to render their speedy
return to Downing-street a matter of moral certainty.
Surprise is expressed by those who know no better,
that we hear so little of provincial Conservative din-
ners, either in the course of actual enjoyment, or as
being in contemplation. The reason why we hear of
nothing of the kind is sufficiently obvious. The fac-
tion are so satisfied with their prospects, as matters
now are, that they do not think those prospects could be
made better, but might, very possibly, be made worse by
some " untoward" incident were they publicly to congre-
gate together over the bottle. Some imprudent wight
might, under the influence of a too liberal potation of
Port, let out matters which they deem it of the utmost
importance to keep secret. They feel at this moment that
secrecy as to their purposes and plans is of essential mo-
ment. Tory public dinners, therefore, or other gatherings
of the faction, will be few in number between this time and the
meeting of Parliament. And even at thefew meetings which,
from local or accidental circumstances, may take place, the
leading men of the party will take care not to be present, or
if present not to commit themselves by making any im-
portant disclosures. Well, we have warned the Liberals
of Conservative purposes, and apprized them of Conserva-
tive hopes. It will be their own fault if they suffer them-
selves to be taken by surprise. Let them profit by the
example of unity of purpose and energy in the prosecution
of their plans, which their adversaries are now setting
them. If they do this the Tories may yet be defeated,
their hopes may be frustrated, and Liberal principles still
maintain the ascendancy in the Councils of the Sovereign.
If the Reform party take no decided steps to prepare for
the perilous crisis which is impending ; if they be not
ready, when the decisive hour arrives, to act both with
union and vigour, then assuredly they will perish in the
conflict.-11forning Advertiser.
The Ministerial Papers, being no longer able to gloss
over the insidious ambition of Russia in regard to our
eastern possessions with the varnish of " amicable assu-
rances' and " pacific intentions," now take the course of
endeavouring to remove the apprehensions of a Russian
invasion of British India on the ground that it is impracti-
cable. Impracticable, indeed! Let England only sleep
for a few years on the pillow of roses which the authors of
this soothing fiction spread for her, and she will be
awakened by the thunders of a dreadful reality. She will
find the limits of her empire, on which " the sun never
goes down," very considerably contracted, and the " im-
possibility" of Russian invasion refuted by the fact of
Russian conquest. We have before alluded to the design
which the Empress Katherine entertained, about the year
1791, of invading India by the route of Bochara and Balk,
and rallying the native princes round the standard of the
Great Mogul. It is curious enough that plan was of
French origin, a Monsieur St. Genie having been the pro-
poser of it. The Prince Potemkin thought the time had
not arrived for striking such a blow. Are the enervated
barbarians that now occupy the neighbourhoods of Bactria
and Khiva to be compared to those warlike Scythian
tribes that beat back Cyrus from the Jaxartes, or those
Bazarians and Sogdians that, under the able leadership of the
Persian chief Spitamenes, routed the generals of the Macedo-
nian conqueror, and withstood everything but the genius of
Alexander himself.. Yet the Greek warrior traversed the
vast regions between the Hellespont and the Indus, not
certainly in the one campaign, but still he did traverse
them, not only in safety, but in triumph, and found the
means of subsisting his army, as well as subduing all oppo-
sition. But it is probable that at the present day, where
the Macedonian invader found opponents, the Russian
would only meet with allies. Nadir Shah in his day
found the invasion of India an easier matter than Alexan-
der did so many centuries before ; and we suspect the Rus-
sians, with their Persian alliance, and the aid of the Turco-
mans and other barbarous tribes, who have solicited their
protection, would find it anything but an " impossibility" at
present. We are now speaking, not of the conquest, but
the invasion of India—an invasion which has been pro-
nounced by Ministerial writers impracticable. If it were
so, why has Lord Auckland thought it necessary to march
30,000 men towards the frontiers? It did not require
even a corporal's guard to prevent the Russian troops
or their Persian allies from performing an impossibility.
Though our correspondent writes as if the danger
were past for the present, we only believe it to be de-
layed—litussia was not ready to strike a hostile blow at
Great Britain in the field of open warfare, but she is
ready and determined to proleed with that line of policy
which procures for her, in peace, the advantages without
the perils of war. Bonaparte and the late Emperor Alex-
ander had agreed, after the peace of Tilsit, to unite their
forces for an invasion of India. A new state of things in
Europe put a sudden end to that design. Bonaparte, with
the means to be placed at his disposal by Russia, calcu-
lated, as he since :avowed, upon marching from the Eu-
phrates to the Indus in the course of one season, had not
the work which Austria and Spain cut out for him put an
end to the project of the combined attack of France and
Russia upon our East Indian possessions. Bonaparte,
could hardly have failed in achieving a task which Nadir
and Timour,_and other barbarian conquerors, had achieved
before him.. As to Caboul, which has been called the
gate of India, it has long been in a state little better
than anarchy, and if Russian influence did not pre-
°allay it, could offer no combined or concentrated resist-
ance to an invader. The troops of those climes are incapable
of making any stand before the disciplined legions of Eu-
rope. The military force of the Affgbans is, in fact, des-
picable, and not to be thought of as presenting any obstacle
to a Russian army. Runjeet Singh has deen able to beat
them, but Runjeet Singh's troops are little better than those
that they have vanquished. We hear now that this Chi,l
has agreed to assist the British with 50,000 men. Where
did he get them ? Sir John Malcolm thus speaks of his
army at a former time. " The force of Runjeet," he says,
" did not exceed 8,000 men in 1805, His army is now
more numerous than it was, but it is composed of mate-
rials which have no natural cohesion, and the first serious
reverse which it meets will probably cause its dissolution?'
If the gate of India be not guarded by English discipline
and prowess, we fear the military force of the Punjaub
would afford but a fragile barrier against a Muscovite in.
vasion. In the year 1820 the Government of St. Peters-
burg sent a Colonel Mouravief on a mission to Khiva, who
reported :
_id If tis country were under the government of Russia, it
would cerhtainly animate and promote
All that of higher Asia,romote industry, and procure
great advantages to our co ree
and even of India, would be able to pass by the way of Khiva
caravans,
and thence to Astracan. Already
southern provinces, arrive at Khiva. coming from the
If we possessed this
N-
Place, of which the conquest woulddnroetadbeodui
r
made tribes of Central Asia would ffi
cpuol wt, e rt,h and oa
commercial route would be established from the Indus and the
Oxus even into Russia. Then would all the treasures of Asia
aother
enrich our country, and we would see realised the brilliant
project of Peter the Great. Masters of Khiva, m
States would be brought under our dependence. many
itselfwor
d
it is, at this moment, an advanced post which opposes
to the commerce of Russia with Bochara and Northern India.
Under our dependence this-oasis in a desert of sand would be-
come the point of re-union for all the commerce of Asia, and
-would shake to the centre of India the enormous commercial su-
periority of the dominators of the sea."
Thus did a Russian functionary write to his Government
in the year 1820, as those who consult the works of Fra-
ser and Evans will see. Thus did he speak of breaking
down " the commercial superiority of the dominators of
the sea," while the Russian Government was feeding the