The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-01 00:00:00

5111 to

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1849.

Considerable argument has arisen out of the asser-
tions made by Mr. COBDEN in reference to Russia, on
the occasion of the first demonstration, at the London
Tavern, in favour of the Hungarians. It will be
remembered that in endeavouring to dissipate
the extravagant fears entertained by many as to
Russian domination, the Honourable Gentleman
the representative of the West Riding of Yorkshire
asserted that the wealth of that great despotism—
presumed to be so immense as to be almost inex-
haustible—is wholly imaginary ; and that so far from
being the possessors of a scarcely calculable amount
of specie, the Government of St. Petersburgh
find it impossible to carry on two campaigns without
coming for a loan to the mercantile establishments
of Western Europe. " Russia, possessed of inex-
haustible riches !" exclaimed Mr. CJBDEN, in a tone
of scorn and derision, " I'll tell you what it has—it
has an army cn paper without a soldier ; it has a
navy without a sailor ; it has a military chest with•
out a farthing." Were we to declare bluntly that
the Honourable Gentleman, in speaking thus, only
rushed from one extreme into another, we should not
be very far from stating the truth. Yet while we
avow that it is not less erroneous, and not less judi •
cious to sneer at the force of the AUTOCRAT as insig-
nificant, than it is to dread it as irresistible, we cannot
but confess that there is much truth contained in the
exaggerations of the Member for the West Riding.
His argument is, to our thinking, altogether un-
answerable when he pronounces the terror of Russian
supremacy preposterous ; but we conceive that he is
correct in so say ing—not because Russia is a country
of attenuated powers and of inherent impoverishment,
but because the influence of the grinding tyranny of
the Czar; is so far malign as to negative the wealth of
the country in regard to its vegetative strength and
its mineral productiveness. To say that Russia is
poor from the poverty of her soil, or from the
absence of precious metals in the entrails of her
mountains, is a fallacy; but it is equally a fal-
lacy to assert that the neglect of mining and of agri-
culture in a vast portion of her colcssal dominions is
attributable to any other cause than that of the exe-
crable despotism of her Government.

Upon this subject we obtain' considerable infor-
mation from a remarkable work published not long
since from the pen of Count HENRY KRASINSKI. In
that singular volume, in reference to the Cossacks
of the Ukraine,* it is remarked by its author that
the province of Polish Ukraine, known as
Ukraina Polska, although abounding in everything
calculated to render a country important for its com-
mercial transactions, is, nevertheless, nothing less
than a waste of uncultured profusion. Count KRA,
SINERI tells us of the countless herds of cattle popu-
lating the gigantic and fertile pasturiages; be tells us of
the innumerable fih spawned season by season in the
rivers; he tells us that the land so abounds in tim-
ber, and grain, and vegetables, and blossoms, and
fruit, that it was considered from time immemorial
as " the garden and granary of the neighbouring pro-
vinces;" and he declares that the other products of the
country are so abundant—the oil, the wax, the honey,
the salpetre, the leather, the tobacco, and the salt
that the Ukraine may be justly entitled to the figura-
tive character of a land flowing with milk and honey.
Yet this land of milk and honey, this garden of
blossoms) this orchard of fruitage, this granary
and treasury of Eastern Europe, is so grievously
weighed down by the incubus of despotism that its
strength is enervated, its pomp degraded into penury,
its army a dream, its navyafi von, its military chest
a vacuum ! Why,
only yesterdaymhteareresident from
the interior of Russia
.sthe commercial declares e inm clolumns of a
A3erostrationpr:at o
Contemporary that such
depreciated
of the country,that the old currency has been
in the proportion of 1 to 31, or as 101 d. to 3e
instead of 3s. 4i. ; beyond which it is indubitablei
that the different provinces of the empire are ripe for
a revolt against the AUTOCRAT. No one can have the
hardihood to deny that NICHOLAS will find it impos-
sible, without a loan from the banking houses of
London or Amsterdam, to commence a second cam-
paign against the Hungarians ; and scarcely any man
in his senses will gainsay the truth of the assertion,
that in the event of his imperial army being defeated
beyond the boundaries of his dominions, that defeat
will lead inevitably to a tremendous revolution
throughout his own territories.
In testimony of the fact that notwithstanding the

" Th© Cossacks of the Ukraine, &c., Bm, 8;c." By
Cunt Lionry'Krasiaski. Bvo., pp. 312. London: Par-
tridge and Uakey. 1648.

natural productiveness of the country obedient to the
sway of NICHOLAS—say, for example, the province
of Polish Ukraine—that empire is still incapable of
independent action, in consequence of its pervading
poverty, we will take the pictures drawn of the aspect
of the country by one familiarly acquainted with its
characteristics, Count HENRY KRASINSICI. According
to that intelligent writer, the steppes, though of vast
dimensions, and c'othed with prolific vegetation, are
marked with the savage appearances of a primeval
solitude. Over the enormous expanse the traveller
occasionally sees flights of wild ducks or geese, or
" cranes in triangular bodies, sending forth shrieks
that re-echo in the deep silence around." Sometimes
a solitary eagle floats on its expanded wings down
the welkin ; sometimes a cloud of ravens darkens
the air, or a pack of famished wolves " pursues with
savage howling the flying steeds yoked to the car of
the stranger." To impart an additional singularity
to the spectacle, there are at intervals encountered
troops of

" A thousand horse, and none to ride!"

such as those depicted by the vivid pencil of Lord
Beams, in his " Mazeppa"—rushing past with as-
tounding velocity—
.. With flowing tail and flying mane,
Wide nostrils—never stretched by pain;
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod,
And flAils unscarred by spur or rod.
A thousand horse—the wild, the free,
Like waves that follow on the sea."
Such is the scene revealed in these monotonous wil-
dernesses. " Not a house, not a tree for miles—not a
spot of elevated ground meets the eye—except, indeed,
large barrows containing the bones or dust of the
myriads of victims of war or pestilence." Here it is
that in the inns or caravansaries, scattered at im-
mense intervals over the Steppes (" oases in those
great deserts"), travellers are robbed by the landlords,
and cruelly murdered in cold blood by their ac-
complices. Of these ghastly assassinations, Count
KRASINSEI gives one or two romantic and
striking instances. His volume, indeed, is through-
out filled with entertainingpaunlidticaaul
it adds
so that to the sobriety of argumentsthentic anecdotes;
the charm of literary fascination.
Russia, from
m
Satisfied as we are, however, that
the peculiar influences of her absolute Go-
vernment, is incapacitated from subjugating
the wealthier countries of Western Europe, with-
out first of all borrowing " the sinews of
war" from the merchant princes of those very
dominions—we are, nevertheless, equally convinced
that the tendency of the policy of the Russian Em-
perors is towards the conquest of the European
continent. In proof of this we may refer the
observation of our readers to the celebrated
Will" of PETER the GREAT to his suc-
cessors, a copy of which is published in another
part of our impression. The descendants of Ro-
MANOFF are there called upon to direct the energies
of the Russian Government to the conquest of
Europe ; and that appeal to their ambition has
already led to the annihilation of Poland and to the
present invasion of Hungary. England must pre-
vent the progress of this insidious movement, as much
for the safety of the continental powers as from a
feeling of allegiance to the cause of justice as per-
sonified in the cause of the heroic Hungarians.

Although for the present Might has overcome
Right in Sicily, although the King of NAPLES has
by brute force again obtained possession of that
Sicilian crown which he had previously forfeited by
his violation of the solemn compact to observe
the Sicilian constitution, entered into by his
predecessor, CHARLES 111, and which constitutes
the only right of the Bourbon Princes to the throne
of Sicily, yet the Sicilians have nut therefore for-
feited one jot or tittle of their rights ; he reigns there
by no compact, by no agreement, he reigns merely
by the right of the strongest, and whensoever the
Sicilians may be in a condition to throw off his yoke,
they will be perfectly justified in so doing. They
have throughout the whole of the late transactions
been in their Right, and they will still continue to be
in their Right, should they to-morrow expel from
their island the Neapolitan usurper. It is, therefore,
of importance that the gross misrepresentations of the
obscurantist Tory aristocracy in this country, with
regard to Sicilian affairs, should be corrected, in
order that hereafter it may not be in the power of
any advocate of the absolutist reign of terror to ap-
peal to them as authorities ; more especially is such
correction necessary when the misrepresenter is
one whose assertions may be supposed to carry weight
from his previous connexion with Sicilian
affairs. It is for this reason, and this
reason only, that we are induced to notice
that remarkable specimen of " antiquated im-
becility," the loose, rambling, inconsequential speech
of Lord HETTESBURY, delivered in the House of
Lords during the recent debate on foreign affairs.
To suppose that age has produced its effect, to con-
sider the speech as the mere imbecile twaddle of a
superannuated old man, is certainly the most chari-
table conclusion at which to arrive. Nevertheless it
will not be amiss to analyse the speech and to show
the incorrectness of the assertions which my Lord
HEYTESBURY has thought proper to make, and the
falsehood of the conclusions which he has in-
uendoed rather than distinctly drawn. And,
in the first place, we must draw atten-
tion to one most remarkable omission of his
Lordship. Throughout his speech he never once
alludes to the old Sicilian constitution, which had
subsisted for 700 years, and of which the constitution
of 1812 was merely an alteration, and that this omis-
sion of all mention of the old constition was advisedly
made, was made for the purpose of taking advantage
of the ignorance of his audience, is evident, because if
he had once alluded ,to the existence of this old
constitution he would have destroyed his own argu-
ment. The main point of his argument was this, that
from the moment the British troops were withdrawn
from the island the responsibility of this country with
regard to Sicily ceased—not so, however, thought my
Lord CASTLEREAGH, not so thought in 1816 my Lord
lIATTESBURY himself; for we find in a letter dated
Foreign office, 6th September, 1816, and addressed
by Lord CASTLEREAGH to W. A'CounT, Esq., the
following passage :—" His Royal Highness (the
PRINCE REGENT) would feel himself equally com-
pelled, however reluctantly, to interfere if he had the
mortification to observe any attempt made to reduce
the privileges of the Sicilian nation in such a degree
as might expose the British Government to the re-
proach of having contributed to a change of system in
Sicily, which had in the end impaired the freedom and
happiness of its inhabitants as compared with what
they formerly enjoyed." And in a letter dated
Naples, sth Nov., 1816, written by W. A'CouaT,
Esq., to Viscount CASTLEREAGH, we find that gentle-
man reporting that he had represented to the
Minister of his Sicilian MAJESTY, as one of
the cases which would render necessary an
interference on the part of Great Britain
in Sicilian affairs, " an attempt to reduce the privi-
leges of the Sicilian nation in such a degree as to
expose Great Britain to the reproach of having con-
tributed to a change of system in Sicily which had
impaired the freedom and happiness of its inhabitants,
as compared with what they formerly enjoyed."
Here we have the reason for the omission of all men-
tion of the old Sicilian constitution, an omission
which cannot be accounted for on the loss of memory
consequent on a state of " antiquated imbecility"
merely ; nothing short of drivelling idiotcy can
account for such a loss of memory as this. In
speaking of the constitution of 1812, the
Noble Lord says that " that constitution
was merely a constitution on paper," and then he pros
ceeds to assert that Lord W. BENTINCK was of opinion
that it could not be maintained, unless the island were
handed over to the British Government. If such were
the case, it certainly is somewhat extraordinary that
Lord W. BENTINCK should, in the House of Com-
mons, on the 21st June, 1821, have moved " an
address to the Crown, praying his MAJESTYto inter-
fere to prevent the attempts which had been made
by the Government of the Two Sicilies to
reduce the privileges of the Sicilian nation in such a
degree as may expose the British Government to the
reproach of having contributed to a change of system
in Sicily, which has impaired the freedom formerly
enjoyed by its inhabitants," and that in the course of
his speech, on bringing forward this motion, be should
have. said that "the liberty required for the People of
Sicily had been, he would contend, as•legally pledged
and upon authority as legitimately sacred as that
which bound the Governments of those Sovereigns,

(the Sovereigns of the Holy Alliance) themselves."
We must be excused for preferring Lord W. Bust-
TRICK'S exposition of his own opinions to the uncord
roborated assertions of Lord HEYTESBURY as to what
those opinions were. The discussion which took
place in the House of Commons on the 21st of June,
1821, is also valuable, as enabling us further to
test the accuracy of Lord HETTESBURY'S recollections
with regard to those events in Sicily, in which he
himself was concerned. It will be recollected that on
the 20th of October, 1814, a memorandum was pub-
lished at Palermo, addressed to the Sicilian people,
and signed W. A'Courrr, by which it is contended
that Great Britain, by her Minister Plenipotentiary,
guaranteed the constitution to. the Sicilian nation.
In speaking of this memorandum in 1849, my Lord
HETTESBURY says :—" Now, with respect to the
part taken by the British Government in those trans-
actions, it had been assumed that something amount-
ing to a guarantee of the constitution had been given
by this country. That assumption was founded upon
a document which had been prepared by him, and
whatever the merits or demerits of that document were,
he was entirely responsible for them, for the Go
vernment at home had had nothing to do with
that document." Yet we find that on the
21st of June, 1821, the Marquis of Lon-
DONDERRT, speaking of this very document,
declares, not as Lord HEYTE:BURY asserts, that the
Government at home had had nothing to do v, ith
it, but that] " in 1814 Sir W. A'CouaT was
authorised to explain to the people of Sicily the
reasons which compelled Great Britain to withdraw
her troops from the island ; and it was perfectly true
that in the memorial which he presented on that
occasion he expressed a hope, that whatever changes
were made in the constitution should be worked out
by means of the constitution." It is evidently
whose memory with
reliance on the testi-
mony impossible 0 f to a
of such importance is
regard to transactions
placegentleman
so exceedingly treacherous ; therefore we pass
over his account of the removal of the QUEEN,
who was banished, not for any matters connected
with the constitution, but because she was engaged
in a treasonable correspondence with MurtAT, to
whom she had engaged to betray the English troops,
and to whom she would have betrayed them had not
the Sicilian peasantry risen en masse and expelled the
French invaders, in spite of her orders ; we likewise
pass over his lamentations on what* he absurdly calls
the degradation of the KING, who had been de-
prived of his Government, it being well known
that FERDINAND IV., 111., or 1., (for he in turn
bore all these titles) of Naples, ranked lower in the
intellectual scale than does even the ex-Emperor
FERDINAND of Austria, and that he never governed,
because he was absolutely incapable of governing;
but we cannot permit to pass without observation
what his Lordship says with regard to the general ,
doctrine of international guarantees. "I cannot con-
ceive," says my Lord HETTESBURY, " what in
reference to these transactions is meant by
the word guarantee, for I cannot under-
stand how any nation can guarantee the con-
stitution of another." Innocent Lord HEYTRS-
BURY ! But perhaps the Earl of ABERDEEN may
chance to enlighten his Lordship. In the debate on
the affairs of the River Plate, the Earl of ABERDEEN
said, in justifying his own interference in the internal
affairs of Monte Video, " he was at the Foreign-
office himself at the time (1828) when that state was
created, and Lord PONSONBY acted under his instruc-
tions. No doubt there was no formal guarantee ;
but it was the desire of the British Government that
the future independence of that state should be re-
cognised, and from recent transactions we were bound
in honour and common justice to see that its indepen
dente was maintained." Now this, according to Lord
HEYTESBURY'S version of Sicilian affairs is precisely
the relation in which we stand with regard to Sicily.
Lord HETTESBURY denies that there was any formal
guarantee, but he says that " the Sicilian constitu-
tion of 1812 was drawn up under the directions of
Lord W. BENTINCK j" and we learn from the speech
of Lord W. BENTINCK himself, delivered in the
House of Commons on the 21st June, 1821, that he
had throughout acted under the instructions of the
Marquis of WELLESLEY, the then Secretary of Stat.
for Foreign Affairs ; therefore, according to the
principle laid down by the Earl of ABERDEEN, in the
case of Monte Video, although there may have been
no formal guarantee, yet, " we were bound in honour
and common justice to see that that con-
stitution was maintained." And, to quote the
words of another great reactionary authority,
"it cannot be deemed consistent with the
honour of a great nation to evade the performance of
a pledge, on the ground that it does not amount to
what writers on international law would term a
guarantee." It would appear, therefore, that so far
from Lord PALMERSTON having gone too far in sup
port of the Sicilian constitution, his Lordship did
not go far enough, and that, on the principle of the
Earl of ABERDEEN, he would have been perfectly
justified in interfering by force of arms in its support

TBE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The Patric contains the following semi-official an-
nouncement :—" It was stated to-day at the As-
sembly that Marshal GERARD is to resume the func-
tions of Chancellor of the Legion of Honour, which
he discharged at the revolution of February. In case
the Marshal's state of health should not permit him
to take the office, General ARRIGHI DE PADOUE, the
oldest of the generals of division, will, it is said, be
appointed."
.fhe Moniteur declares that when the last accounts
lift the West Indies, tranquillity had been restored.
in Martinique, Guadaloupe, and their dependencies.
The following order of the day has been posted in
the four arrondissements of Paris :

" Reports have been vaguely circulated that the 4th
Legion was to be dissolved. The 4th Legion during the
difficult days the Republic has passed through has never
for a moment ceased to prove its devotion to the Con-
stitution, and its resolution to defend order with firm-
ness. There could, therefore, be no reason for such a
measure. The Colonel, nevertheless, considered it to be
his duty to assure himself whether these reports, wh"ch
might cause injury to the service, or diminish the zeal of
the National Guard of the 4th Legion, had any founda-
tion; and he is authorised to declare that there never
was any intention of dissolving the corps to which he
has the honour to belong.
" Signed by the Colonel of the 4th Legion, Ramond
de la Croisette." _ _

Several arre,ts of Socialist leaders have been made
in Paris within the last few days.
The Gazette de France has the following extraordi-
nary article:—
•We are abused, notwithstsnding our excessive
moderation. Well, we will at one expose the exact state
of the situation. We are marching to Oileanism
through the Empire. It is proposed to make the Presi-
dent Consul for ten years, and thus pr vide for the Go-
vernment until the Count of Paris shalt attain his ma-
jority. M. Thiers is the chief of this movement, and
consequently the chief of the Royalists, who aid in this
movement without knowing it."
The Gazette de France is one of the most talented
organs of the Legitimatist and parti-pretre party.
The PRESIDENT continues his progress in the
Western Departments ; at Angers he was received
with shouts of " Vive la Republique !"
The majority of those who were last year sent out
by the Government to colonize Algeria have re-
turned to France.

Two companies of the 25th Regiment have been
stationed in the neighbourhood of Pontarlier, on the
frontiers of Switzerland, to prevent the Baden re-
fugees from entering France.
Several members of the Committe of Polish refugees
have been ordered by the Ministry to quit France.
These gentlemen have resided in France for many
years, and have always cautiously abstained from mix-
ing themselves up with French:politics. This is admitted
to be the case, even by the Ministers ; but the orders
of the Emperor of Russia are imperative, and the
Government of the cousin of the Duke of LEUCHTEN-
BERG dares not disobey.
An agent from the lmaum of MUSCAT has arrived
in Paris.

The celebrated Father VENTURA landed at Mar-
seilles on Sunday from Rome.
PARIS BOURSE, TUESDAY, JULY 31, Half-past 4.
The market has been rather firmer, but with still little
business doing, speculators being mostly occupied with
preparing for the settlement, which, from the small
amount of business done during the month, is expected
to be a very light one. Threes at the close were marked
at 53f. 50c., and Fives at 88f. 25c. The market closed
as follows —Threes, for cash, .53f. 45c.; fur Account,
53f. 50e.; Fives, for cash, 83f. 20c.; for account, 88r.
25c.; Bank of France Shares, 2,2701:; Neapolitan, 82f.
50c.; Spanish not quoted.
RAILWAYS.—The Share market has not been very
lively, but prices have been well maintained. Orleans
closed at 755 E; Havre, 250 f.; Avignon, 220 f.; Vierzon,
305 E; Strasburg and Bale, 1001'.; Bourdeaux, 395 c.;
Northern, 418 E 75c.; Paris and Strasburg, 353 f. 75c.;
Nantes, 3C6f. 25c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT TtJE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, JULY 31.
East Indian, 3%—Luxembourg, 2143 ex in.—Namur And