The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-25 00:00:00

OUR COTENIFORARIES---This Morning

THE EASTERN QEESfftill.

Me Times remarks that it is not difficult to anticipate
ilia reply which Prince Gortschakoff will Ore' to the
despatch of the British Foreign Office. nusdla will
hardly retreat fttne the position which she has be
recently; so decidedly; so offensively taken, yet the
forfns of diplernatic Moderation will of course • be
maintained. We are given' #.O understand that her
ecrmmunicatiore will be firm—that is; she will yield
nothing in substance, yet she will not close the door to
negotiation. This necessitates a corresponding action on
the part of England. We must be firm, yet not close the
door to negotiation. To submit tamely to the affront
which Russia has put upon us while we cannot but per-
ceive the Lientian of the offender and the construction
which the whole world &List place on the act, would be
unworthy of a great Fewer; and bring with it that
loss of consideration which id ar real weakness to a nation.
To accept the principle that a treaty can bu denounced
and videted at the will 'of any party to it would be an
overthrow of public law, and the most deadly blow to the
Political system under which the States of Europe, in
spite of their national fends and the jealousies and
'ambition of their rulers, have been enabled to maintain
themselves at the head of civilization. From the strong,
position which Lard Granville has taken up there must
be no withdrawal ; the e4yuntry will not only support the
Government in maintaining gre principles of their dee-
patch, but insiit that no afMr-ra...,14ve shall practically
nullify them. National honour andinfluenoe are terms that
hare been much abused ; they have been perverted within
the preselit year to the basest purposes of dynaetie ambi-
tion, but they are fiat vain words. England's honour,
and that legitimate influence which the ablest and most
just-minded men of all countries admit to be used for the
benefit of Europe, Must not perish in irresolution and in
that aver-scrupulosity which is always searching after
excuses for an opponent.

The Daily News askgs te, it peace or war? and adds-,
this is the questicur which the Ministers who meet in
Council have to decide,. if it have not indeed been already
decided for them by the despatch of Prince
Gortschakoff, which will form the subject matter
of their deliberations. Let us hope that the Rus-
sian Chancellot and his Master have been wise, if
only in the narrowegi sense of political prudence ;
and patriotic, though only according to the most short-
sighted and egotistic ideas of ,patriotism. A narrow prw-
deuce and a large wisdom in this coincide in their dic
takes ; a selfish and merely Russian policy is, for the Sove-
reign and Ministers of Russia,- at one with a large and
generous European statesmanship. What is the aim
which inspired the Circular of Prince Gortschalcoff? The
Cabinet of St. Petersburg is restive under the restraints
imposed by the Treaty of 1850. It demands, or rather•
declares that it will resume, the excercise of the full rights
of sovereignty in the Black Sea. It bursts asunder the
restrictions by submission to which it purchased peace and
saved-itself from the cession of territory, With MI air of
magnanimity, Prince Gortechakoff declares that the
liberty which Russia asserted for herself she is ready to
grant to Turkey. What she takes she gives, having
no right either to take or give. The Czar can as little
release the Sultan, as he can release himself, from obliga-
tions which both owe not reciprocally to each other only,
but to the faith of the Treaties, and to the companionship
of European nations. Even if the matter lay between
Turkey and Russia alone, the eonsent of Turkey would
be necessary for the legal and moral validity of the re-
nunciation of the convention for neutralieini; the Black
Sea. If Russia maintains the positions laid down in the
first Circular of Prince Gartsoliakolf, she invites war. If
she reduces those pretensions to sets, she makes .war. For
her own sake, not less than for that of I:nrope, of civili-
sation, and of humanity, she is bound to be cautious.'

The Telegraph says: Au incident of such importance as
the reply of Russia to England upon Prince Gortscha-
koff's note naturally caste a long shadow before it is
actually realised. In the abseneci therefore, of textual
information, it has been already pretty generally un-
derstood what the - . purport of that reply would.
be, and we believe th it the accounts already given by
telegram and public rumour are mainly accurate.
The response of the St. Petersburg Government to Lord
Granville'e strong but courteous communication is said to
be .conciliatory.- Telegraphic forecasts of the despatch
which will arrive to-day demonstrate to us that
the manife.sto which has so profoundly shocked
the sentiment of eivilisation and international honour
was conceived in the interests of peace. Russia
is represented as desiring peace and the repose
of the East—blessings which can only be secured by an
equitable* understanding. She declares herself anxious to
assist in arriving at such an understanding, together
with the Powers concerned ; and she does not consider
the statement winch has appeared to involve any
such alternative as retractation or war, but to be
rathei a simple -notice of the fact, that repeated
infractions of the Treaty of Paris, and generally altered
circumstanees, have caused certain conditions of that
treaty to lapse. Russia now explaius, we rejoice to hear,
that she did not mean to put her language upon this
subject into action. It is well ; for we were not
" talking big !' nor diplomatising. Our Minister spoke
but the sense of the nation when he wrote that her
Majesty's Government could not sanction the avoidance,
without proper preliminaries, of a ormtract still in force
and bearing England's signature. We may now
hope that the unmannerly words of Prince Gorts-
chakoff will in proper time lead to a rational discussion
between the Powers, at which other matters besides
this last compiication may be happily reviewed. "'Your
if "is a great peacemaker and if " the Czar's Govern-
ment ineasit nothing but peace and go.d faith when it an-
nounced the intention of defying European opinion and
breaking a registered bond, why, we can only regard
Prince liortschakoff's despatch as an unlucky specimen of
diplomatic literature. •
We owe, says the Standard, to the peace-mongers
the Crimean war—we owe to them the disasters which
accompanied it. We owe to them our unprepared
state, our military shortcomings, and the events which
Earl Russell called " horrible and heart-rending," and
did not exaggerate in so doing. Is this also to be
repeated ? We are not hi a state to go to war,
we are told by some. It is unfortunately too
true, but we are still loss in a position to crave igno
minious peace. We have, at this season of the year,
time to properly organise our naval and military arma-
ments. If we do so, we may not need to use them,
it is true; but will the nation lose by that ? But if we'
drift on, lulled into false security by treacherous assur-
ances at home and abroad, what will our condition be when
the present war is over, when Germany is flushed with
conquest or France inspired by revenge ! Should
peace be patched up between these Powers, without a
supreme struggle, shall we find either pf them amicably.
disposed . towards Englend? We fear not. We
have. now the opportunity to conclude a valuable
alliaace, one that will suffice to check the aggression
of Russitioat least, one that would make even Prussia
hesitate before she adopted the quarrel of a Power which
has derided a . solemn Treaty to which she was a
co-signatory. Austria, in a word, looks to England for
a firm and decided policy, and is ready to act au honest
part.