The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-21 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN NOTE

The Spectator says it is a tremendous If, this,—lf Count
Bismarck is behind all this, and his mighty arm is going,—
as in the childish game of the Dumb Orator,—to beat
time by rhetorical gesture' to the otherwise not very
startling threats of Prince Gortschakoff,—lf that be so,
what ought England to do then? Nor is this "if" by any
means a mere dream of panic-stricken politicians. The
Pall Mall of Thursday has drawn attention to the fact
that the Note of Prince Gortschakoff is dated (allowing
for the difference of styles) immediately after the news
of the surrender of Metz became known in
St. Petersburg, which looks very much as if
Russia had waited till she thought the German triumph
assured, for making her move. Now, had there been no
understanding with Prussia, Russia would have acted, if
at all, while she thought the hands of North Germany
were too full for interference, not on what seemed like the
eve of her complete victory. We can only strike effec-
tually at Germany by aiding France. Through the
co-operation of France we could at the same time
prevent a great wrong, and bring both Germany
and Russia to their senses twice as soon as by any other
policy. If Russia be really relying on Germany for aid,
she will not dare to go on without the help of the Ger-
man arm, and that arm once paralysed, Russia would
probably draw back fast enough. We say, then, without
hesitation, that if Count Bismarck has authorised
Russia to break the. Treaty of 1856, in this high-handed
manner, and has in consequence broken it quite as flagrantly
himself, our first duty would be to co-operate, and co-
operate by arms, with France against the
invaders. We have written wholly upon an
" It"— an If, which, we heartily trust will
turn out to have introduced a mere counterfeit
to our notice. For Germany and German statesmen we
have nothing but good-will, if they would but inaugurate
at once that great pacific career of which they talk so
much. But "if " it be otherwise, if they are pulling the
strings of the Russian diplomacy now,—then the sooner
and the more vigorously we assail this dangerous attempt
to impose an intolerable dictation upon Europe, the
better both for Europe and for ourselves.
The Economist quotes the second article of the Treaty
of Paris, which says :—" Any infraction of the stipula-
tions of the said Treaty will be considered by the parties
signing the present Treaty as a casus hill,. They will
come to an understanding with the Sublime Porte as to
the measures which have become necessary, and will,
without delay, determine among themselves as to the
employment of their military and naval forces." Now,
unless treaties are waste paper, these words must be
construed according to their plain meeting, and we must
be prepared to act upon that meaning. No one can be
more pacific than we are. Very few people can care less
for Turkey or hope leas from her. One of •the first
merchants in the City of London—a member of one of
its very greatest houses—said at Bristol that he thought
" the Crimean war a gigantic mistake." And for this
purpose we are quite ready to concede that it was so.
But here is the Treaty that ended the Crimean war ; here
is a recent, clear, direct, explicit contract which we made
then. If any words are to mean anything, we must
make these mean something, if any nation is ever to rely
on any other nation again. We must not, however we
may dislike it, show that we are unworthy of reliance now.
There is a notion that England cannot, if it would, do
anything. And it is quite true that we are not a military
Power, like France or Germany. We have not a vast
system of compulsory service, arid it would be very
cult for us to have any. But in the present case, England
can do all that is wanted. Russia wants to make a new
arsenal in the Black Sea, and to keep ships of war there;
but a very few ironclads can prevent this arsenal from
being made, and can destroy any ships of war that may
appear. No peace can be permanently promoted, nor any
real good gained, by shrinking from promises such as
these. The plain policy of England is, that she is ready
to revise the Treaty of 1856 ; that she is ready to consider
the change of circumstances since it was made; but that
while it is in force it must be kept, and that though we,
or some of us, may regret our promises, yet, especially
when they are explicit and recent, we will to a certainty
fulfil them, and abide by them.

The Midland Railway Company for some time
past have been making arrangements to carry out over the
whole of these lines the block telegraph system.
Snider breeach-loading rifles have been served out
to the 7th Surrey Rifles (Colonel Beresford). taking rank
as second in efficiency of all the metropolitan corps, pre-
ceded only by the 48th Middlesex, or Post-office Rifles,
who were the recipients of the first issue. The new
weapons were distributed the other day among the mem-
bers of the 3rd Battalion of Renfrewshire (Barrhead) and
two Glasgow battalions of rifle volunteers.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—TWO LADS DROWNED.----OR
Friday morning, about nine o'clock, two young men,
named Thomas Breeze and Charles Davis, employed as
ironworkers, aged 16 and 14 years respectively, were drowned
in a pond at the foot of Joseph-street, Stockton-on-Tees.
Davis and a youngei brother of Thomas Breeze had
gone on the frozen pond, when it broke in, and they
were immersed. Breeze managed to keep himself up
with the ice, and his brother Thomas, thinking he could
rescue him, went to his assistance, when the ice gave way,
and he was drowned. A man named Coultas managed to
save the younger Breeze, but Davis shared the same fate
as the elder brother of Breeze. The bodies were soon re-
covered, but life was extinct.
TWO GRAVEDIGGERS BURIED ALIVE.-011 Friday
an inquest was held at the Black Bull Inn, Heywood,
before Mr. Molesworth, touching the death of James
Pollitt, aged 59, a gravedigger in the employment of the
Heywood Cemetery Board, who was suffocated on the
previous day in a grave. Wright Slater, a gravedigger,
stated that he and deceased were engaged on Thursday
afternoon opening a grave in the Heywood Cemetery.
The grave was 12 feet deep, and the earth on each
side was kept up with planks and stays. While they were
engaged inmoving some of the stays to make room for the
coffin, the other stays gave way, they were caught
between the planks, and the earth from the side of the
grave fell in upon them. An hour and a-half elapsed
before witness was extricated, and half an hour afterwards
James Pollitt was got out quite dead. The jury returned
a verdict of " Accidentally killed."

A DELPHI THEATRE ROYAL.—SoIe Pro-
prietor, Mr. BENJAMIN WEBSTER Mr. B.
A7* EBSTER and Mr. F. B. CHATTParms.—THIS EVENING, set,
THE GREEN BUSHES, oa ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
Miami, Madame Celeste supported by Mrs. Alfred Mellon,
Mrs. Billington, Mr. Billington, Mr. Ashley, Mr. John Rouse,
Mr. C. 11. Stephenson. Mr. C. Sennel, and Mr. Charles Wilmot.
And TWICE KILLED. Mr. Crabb (his first appearance here),
Mrs. A Mellon, Miss E. Barnett. and Miss. M. Cooper.