The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-22 00:00:00

OUR COTEMPORARIES

.This norninz

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

We, the Times says, have a ~ growing hope that the
Russian Government will recognise the false step they
have taken, and will not compel the action that
would be the inevitable result of any attempt
to act upon the pretensions of Prince Gortscha-
koff's note ; but, whatever be the issue of this
doubt, it cannot be wise in us to help to make
others our enemies simply because their temper is not
friendly. There is au immense interval be ,ween cool-
ness, or even resentment, and hostilities The people of
the 'United States might, perhaps, not be displeased to see
us fighting with difficulties, audit is an old remark that the
misfortunes of our best friends give us some comfort, but
they will most assuredly not be arrayed against us, and they
will even take care, for the sake of their own grievance, to
prevent the repetition of the feats from which they them-
selves suffered. Germany is engrossed with a task that
was not becoming easier when Prince Gortschakoff's note
appeared, and is made more difficult now that it has been
published. If Russia forces on a war, she will, to all appear-
ances, stand alone. It is country the vital parts of which
are almost beyond the reach of an enemy. Blest as
it is in this circumstance, and happy also, as it would
seem, in the fact that her power for attack becomes
feeble when attempted to be extended beyond
her western borders, she . ought to be a land of
perpetual peace. We hope her peace will not be
broken. that the Czar and his counsellors,
enlightened by the judgment of Europe on the, circular of
his Chancellor, will see that wisdom and morality require
that the claim of Russia to violate Treaties whenever it
suits her should be quietly abandoned, if it be not actually
retracted.

What with honest and dispassionate speculators "for
the fall," Tory sympathisers with swollen armaments and
wasteful expeditions, generous sympathisers with French
misfortunes, Polish believers in the resuscitation of
Poland, and English believers in the resuscitation of
the Second Empire, the Daily News thinks we
are in danger as a nation of losing our heads, our
senses, and even our national character for phlegmatic
calmness and courage. Some writers and some speakers
are challenging Russia with all the chivalrous heroism of
M. Paul de Cassagnac and M. Edmond About, when
those ardent patriots invited the German legion to come
on. The fanfaronade which we were wont to ascribe
to the Gaul is becoming acclimatised and natu-
ralised as a British accomplishment. We ought, accord-
ing to these fiery spirits, to be very much obliged
to Prince Gortschakoff for enabling us to cast off in
a spasm of indignant public and patriotic virtue this
slough of prosperity and peace which for fourteen years
has paralysed this degenerate country. For what is
the policy which some of our enthusiastic public instruc-
tors are prescribing to the -Government ? Nothing
more or less than that we should insist on giving
and taking an insult. And lest the Emperor
Alexander, not mindful of the tragic fate of his father,
and really solicitous as he was supposed to be of preserv-
ing the advantages of peace to his people, should turn
away just wrath by a mild answer, Lord Granville is
required to fix a quarrel upon Couat Bismarck by
charging the Cabinet of Berlin with complicity in Rus-
sian designs. Now, to people who ha ie not yet parted
with their sober senses it seems probable that Count
Bismarck will be satisfied to bring one great war to an
end before he deliberately rushes into another. There is
no reason to believe that King William or the North
German Chancellor was either cognisant of or ap-
proves the course taken by Prince Gortschakoff. The
knowledge that the action of the Russian Government
is censured by all the Powers who were parties to the
Treaty of 1856, and the conviction that those Powers are
ready to reconsider what is objectionable in the terms of
that Treaty, afford a ground of hcpe that the peace of
Europe will not lie broken.
The Telegraph says the circumstances of Russia are not
such as to encourage her to immediate hostile action.
Rather, looking to the vast social revolution now in pro-
cess of accomplishment, to her embarrassed finances, to
the incompleteness of her military and naval armaments,
and to the natural distrust which the conspicuous bad
faith she has now displayed must excite in those
who might otherwise court her alliance, we should
be disposed to say that the Emperor Alexander is at pre-
sent heavily under bond to keep the peace of Europe. We
might, indeed, strengthen our argument by shadowing
forth other contingencies which, however remote, are by
no means improbable in their bearing upon the foreign
policy of the Empire. Of such a character are the rooted
disaffection of Poland—a dangerous influence, were
Austria and Hungary inimical—the still unsettled
state of Russia's relations with her Caucasian
provinces, and the chronic hostility of the
nomad populations to the east of the Caspian
and Aral Seas. It is quite clear that, while we have
taken firm ground, we are not called upon, for the pre-
sent, to do more than hold that ground with unshaken
resolution. We are under no pressure to take any
precipitate step ; we must leave to the Power
which provoked the question the whole responsibility
of any such initiative. Russia has already placed herself in
the wrong by her first move ; do not Let us give so wily a
disputant the chance of putting us at a similar disadvan-
tage. Taking our stand firmly, we may listen with all the
better temper and all the greater calmness to any repre-
sentations that Russia may offer of a kind to attenuate
the force of her first brusque and imperious mandate,
and to leave, her full use of that loophole for
retreat which Prince Glortschakoff has so distinctly
reserved. In the interval between this strangely timed
warning and the season for real and effective action, we
have full time to resurvey the whole position, to take
counsel with other Governments, and to adopt that course
which will be most certain to vindicate the honour of
the nation and prothote the interests of civilised order in

Europe.
Discussing the Paris Treaty of 1856, the Standard says :
The neutralisation of the Black Sea was a distinct benefit

to Russia herself.

It saved her from the necessity of

maintaining large armaments in this direction ; and
it virtually secured the whole of her southern frontier.

By limiting the sphere of war in Europe it was so far a

direct contribution to the cause of peace and of humanity.
And are we to be called upon now, under threat,
to undo this one sole useful and beneficial result of the
Crimean war ? Are we to be told that it is a mere ques-
tion of form whether we permit Russia to break the
treaty? It is extraordinary that thost who argue.
as if the Russian cause were identical with that
of peace and of civilisation in the East should
fail to see, in the very substance of the de-
mand itself, as well as in the mode of enforcing it, the
strongest possible reason for doubting the intentions of
Russia. What can be the motive of Russia for requiring
the de-neutralisation of the Black Sea? Why does she
desire to rebuild her arsenals (if she has not done so
already) in that sea, and to cover it with her iron-clads ?
Who is Russia's enemy in this quarter, and from whom
does she anticipate danger ? Whom does she fear,
and against whom does she arm ? It is prepos-
terous to suppose that it is dread of Turkey which
inspires an alarm so great that it can only be
appeased by the sudden violation of the treaty. The
ferocious dispositiOns of the lamb ha‘;ci in all ages served
to excuse the appetite of the wolf, but is it a little too much
to expect Europe to believe that it is indispensable for the
safety of Russia that the northern shores of the Black

Sea should bristle with forts and irondads. There is

but one imaginable motive in a Russian armament in
the Black Sea. It must mean an aggression on Turkey,
or it means nothing. It would be even more respectable
in a great Power like Russia were she to openly avow
her true purpose, and declare candidly that Clauses 11,
14, and 16 of the Convention are intolorable, because
they do not Buffet her to maintain that influence over the
Christian population of the Sultan which is necessary to
the future extension of the Muscovite empire.
The Ilanch,ester Courier says : —Whatever may be
thought of the withdrawal of Italy at the present
moment, there can be no doubt of her right to take that
course ; none the less, however, must it be regarded as a
fresh sign of the extent of Count Bismarck's intrigue, and
of the evident determination which exists of throwing
upon England alone the responsibility of maintaining
the integrity of the treaties. Reasons assigned may
be very different, but Whig, Tory, and Radical are agreed
with hardly an exception as to the necessity for activity
and boldness. • Mr. Froude may ask whether a change of
front is not possible to England ; Mr. John. Stuart Mill
may be 'wise after fact, and may assure us
that everything we. have done in connection
with the present
.war has been • blundered, as he
Would probably have said had the policy which he now
recommends been tried, and tried unsuccessfully. Apart
from these two gentlemen, and from the immediate circle
of their admirers, there is but one feeling in the country,
that the unholy alliance between Germany and Russia
must be opposed by all possible means, and that the gross
and profligate attempts at dictation by the new-found
friend must be suppressed at any hazard.

LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.—A large and influential
meeting of ratepayers was held last night at the Grafton
Hall, Tottenham-court-road, to hear an address from Mr.
Hepworth Dixon. Colonel Lothian Dickson, occu-
pied the chair. After a very eloquent speech from Mr.
Dixon. the usual motion was proposed by Mr. Cliurch-
warden Reed, seconded by Mr. Morgan, and carried
unanimously.