The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

"' The geographical relations of Russia and France, in
the present sit nation of things, are as favourable as their cern
me-cial relations, and this to such an extent th et, even in a
state of war, the two powers would not know where to meet
to light. Discussions of limits, little wars about Custom-
house duties, discussions on rivers, discussions on sub-
sistences, and a thousand other little subjects of dis-
pute, which cause coolness and generally precede other
q :arrels, and are the prelude of war, are totally strange
to us; so that to find causes or animosity, recourse must be
hat to thines the most abstract or the ino-t imaginary. The
-friendship and unbounded conkience which the gteet qua
lities of the Emperor Alexander have inspired in the Em-
peror Napoleon, have caused to be sealed by the 10-art what
had already been established and proved ii reason. It tots
situation of thin*. let us take care to do nothing to change
the general relations of commerce and geography which nti-
titre has establi-hid between the two states. To
call the Prince Jerome to the throne of Saxo.ly
and Warsaw would be almost to overthrow in an in-
stant all our relations. There will not be a custom-
house quarrel on the Niemen, a commercial altercation, a
police discussion, which will not pierce directly and instant iv
the heart of the Emperor Napoleon, and by this single
political fault we shalt have torn our treaty of alliance and
friendship, and prepared more important subjects of mis-
understanding than those which have existed tilt the present.
time. The pelicy which is entertained by the Emperor
Napoleon is that his influence shall not pa s the Elbe, arid
he has adopted that policy because it is the only one which
conciliates itself with the system of sincere and constant
friendehip which be has contracted with the great empire
of the North. Time the countries situated between the
Niemen and the Elbe will be the barrier which will sepa-
rate the great empires and prevent the little squabbles which
between nations precede the firing of cannon. In so great
an epech that is specially important is to fix well relations
and limits. As a proof of the evils caused by the intermix-
ture of states, the passage of Anspach should he called to
mind. It sufikes for us to guarantee the sincerity of our
patristism and to defend ourselves against absurd at,acks. to
find ourselves by the side of the Emperor Napoleon. We
think that enough.
"If the Emperor of Russia did not believe in Vie firm
eetablislenent of order in France, and in the maintenance of
peace in Europe, he would nut apparently have purchased
the rentcs of the Bank, he would perhaps have continued to
send us his corn, but most certainly he would have kept
our money. If the Emperor Nicholas, instead of being in-
fluenced, as we have the firm conviction he was, by a
praiseworthy eentintent, had acted from the underhand.
hostile motives which the National suppose:., he would not
have opened a diplomatic negotiation destined to create
immense effect at London, at Vienna, and at Berlin ; he
would have acted in the dark; the banking-houses would
not have refused their assistance; he would have awaited
the moment of the greatest probable decline in prices.
Every hing at this moment in the conduct of the Emperor
Nicholas with respect to France, bears the imprint of sen-
timents the most opposed to those which it pleases some
bind journals to ascribe to him. A little while ago these
newspapers spread the rumour that Russia had prohibited
the exportation of the grain which France needed. What
did the Russian Government then do? It declared that so
far from haying forbidden the exportation of grain, it would
encourage it by all possible means. We must, in- tact, be
very Idled, for where the Natinual sees a danger for France,
we see a pledge given to peace; where it sees a subject of
adljety, we see a subject of security; where it sees one of
the gravest events that we have witnessed for seventeen
years, we see, on the contrary, one of the most propitious
circumstances which have occurred for seventeen years, to
show to England that she must not for the future calculate,
on our part, on concessions without reciprocity, and that she
will d ) well for the future to spare menaces in cases in which
right is only invoked to hide the excese:s of pride, and the
abuse of force."
It is well that we are thus early made aware of the
designs of France and Russia. Forewarned is fore-
armed. In the meantime, however, we would ask
whether this pecuniary assistance is part of the price
paid for the connivance of the French Monarch in
the " abs-rption " of Cracow ? The Union Monar-
chique sees with joy in this transaction an approach
to the principles of Absolutism and Legitimacy on
the part of the Government of the Barricades:—
" As regards the Bank of France, it has, in the position in
which it is placed, done a very reasonable thing, but at the
same time has acted rather for its own particular interests
than for the interest of the public. But it is not against it
that we should complain, and this brings our Government
into question. It may be said, without any malevolence,
that its part in this curious affair is not the best. It has, at
least to a certain degree, placed our credit at the mercy of a
foreign power, which is in every respect beyond her reach—
it has suffered this power to do what it might have done
itself as easily, with less inconvenience, and with much
greater security to the interests of France. It must be con-
fesseil,
however, that our Cabinet may find in policy a de-
sirable compensation for its financial want of foresight..
Simpletons only can believe that the Emperor of Buesia
has come to embrace the systente on the strong- box of the
Bank."

The Union Monarehigne is right. Russia will not
embrace the systeme of the dynasty of the Barricades.
It will, on the contrary, force the dynasty to embrace
the systeme of Absolutism, and if the systeme is em-
braced, the men of the systeme will soon follow, so,
no doubt, hopes the Union itionarchique, the organ of
the Legitaniatists.
In the following remarks, which appear in the
Constitt'iionnel, the question is ably considered in all its
bearings, and the probable results of the convention
seem to be properly appreciated "
no purchase which the Emperor of Russia has male of
the Five per Cent. Government Stock, fuming part of the
reserve fund of the Bank of France, to the amount of
50,000,000 f., has been differently appreciated. Everybody
endeavours to discover the causes of that spontaneous
and unexpected resolution of the Russian Govern-
ment. Those causes are obvious ; they are partly
financial and commercial, and partly political. The
Emperor of Russia has the precious metals in abun-
dance at his disposal. The vaults of the fortress of
St. Peter and St. Paul, at St. Petersburgh, containing the
reserve of the specie constituting the guarantee of the paper
currency issued by the different financial establishments,
now overflow with coin and ingots. The Commercial Gazette
of St. Petersburgh, of the Bth of January, officially pub-
lished the returns of the quantity of precious inetals which
were solemnly transported to these Vaults at different periods
to serve as a guarantee to the paoer currency. The following
is the article of the Commercial Gazette :
" Since the completion, in the fortress of St. Peter and
St. Paul, of the edifice destined to receive the coin and ingots
representing the amount of the paper currency and the re-
serve of the empire, those funds were transferred, at three
different periods, from the vaults in which they were origi-
nally lodged to those of the new edifice, via., in December,
1844, silver and ingots to the amount of 70,464,245 roubles
99 copecks; in June, 1845, 12,180,000 roubles; and in Fe-
bruary, 1846, 11,705,725 roubles 28 copecks. Those sums, re-
presenting 94,349,971 roubles 27copecks consisted of 56,000,000
roubles in silver, 30,385.000 roubles in gold, and 7,964,971
roubles 27 copecks in ingots. The amount of each deposit
was verified each time at a sitting of the Council of the
Establishments of Credit of the Empire, in presence of the
Commander of the Fortress of St. Petersburgh, the members
of the Administration directing the issue of notes of credit,
and with the assistance of the deputies of the corporation of
merchants of St. Petersburgh and the foreign merchants.
In the year 1846, the funds in cash, not included in the stock
in band of the administration of public credit, have also con-
siderably increased, and the guarantee of the notes of credit
and notes of deposit amounted, on the Ist of January, 1847,
to 105,667,149 silver roubles (420,888,598 f. )'
"That reserve, it is true, serves as a guarantee fer the pay-
ment of an immense mass of paper money, estimated at
nearly two milliards. All the payments made by the Go-
verntnent in the interior of the empire, and most of the coin-
mercial transactions, take place in paper money. It is con-
sequently easy for the Emperor to use the specie
placed in reserve, and to substitute for it French Rentes,
that is perfectly solid stock, on which a profit may be
realised. We should also observe, that the metallic
mass disposable in Russia is annually augmented by the con-
stantly increasing produce of the mines of the Oural, and
that, since the month of July last, it must have likewise
received the specie sent to Russia by all the nations of Eu-
rope in exchange for corn. The export of bullion from
France alone amounts to 40,000,00 X Now, whilst money
abounds at St. Petersburgh, it becomes rare in France. In
the meantime the scarcity continues in our country, and
fresh purchases of grain become necessary. We carry on a
very limited trade, and have very few means of exchange
with Russia. Money is indispensable to purchase grain at
Odessa. The merchants of France were consequently on the
point of directing their operations exclusively towards
America, where many of our productions might be taken in
exchange. We can now easily comprehend all the advan-
tages which the able Government of Russia disco-
vered in an operation which has for its results-Ist, to
procure an excellent mode of disposing of 50,e00,000 of
j capital. The French Relates were greatly depressed at the
moment the acquisition was resolved on, the Five per Cents.
being then at 115 f. 65c. The Three per Cents. had 'alien in
the same proportion. The Rentes sold to the Emperor by the
Bank consisted of 2,000,000 f. Five per Cents. and 145,000 f.
Three per Cents. We need not add that, notwithstanding
the etnbarrassment of our finances, there is not in the world
a more secure payment than that of the interest of our
public debt, nor a Government more solvent than ours. 2.
To bring back to Odessa the French trade, on the point of
turning towards America, and thus sell considerable masses
of grain, with which !tussle is overstocked. The value of
that article, trifling at different points of its territory in
ordinary times, has suddenly 'then to upwards of 20f. per
hectolitre at Odessa, that is to 10f., 15f., or 16f., according to
distances, in the localities where the merchants of Odessa,
who have disposed of all the grain in their stores, will be
obliged to renew their provisions. 3. To procure those
advantages to Russian trade, and chances of profit to the
Imperial Treasury. without even displacing the whole of the
specie, since the 50,000.000 are to be paid by Russia in bills
of from 35 to 90 days' date, which will evidently return for
the most part to R-ussia, in exchange for corn, to be im-
ported to France. Thus, on the whole, the Rentes of the
Bank will be paid in corn by Russia. They may be again sold
at a later date, with a profit, in the Paris market, and thereby
occasion a fresh exportation of French coin. The conduct
of the Russian Government was also dictated by political
motives. England and France are now disunited by a serious
dissension. Russia places herself between the two nations, to
render the rupture more complete and durable. The Emperor
finds, at. the same time, the means of appearing to con-
ciliate France without changing his attitude towards our
Government, and of making our country accept a service
from one of the Powers who have suppressed Cracow. This
is one of the grave inconveniences for France of the financial
operation so ably and so promptly concluded by Russia.
Another danger will arise from the considerable mass of
French Rentes now possessed by the Russian Government
being, on a given day, thrown on the Paris market. Never-
theless, we should be sorry to convert an act that facilitates
the importation of provisions, in the present scarcity, in4.o a
subject of attack against Russia. Who is truly responsible
for the embarrassments of our country, and the advantage
taken of us at this moment by a foreign Power ? The
Minister of Commerce, who, by an imprudent circular,
checked speculation at a moment when he should have
stimulated it, forgetting that if it be opportune to create con
fidence in order to retard or avoid financial crises, a quite
different line of conduct shonld be pursued in questions of

prJvisiol '
In the same journal we find a long article on the
comparative force of the British and French navies,

which concluds in the following manner:—

- -
" Whatever may be our desire and our hope to see peace
long maintained, we think that it is the duty of our Govern-
ment not to neglect to raise such fortifications as may be
necessary, and to establish the bases of as formidable a naval
state as posiible. The strength of states is the best gtiarawee

of peace."
We hope that our own Government also will re-