The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-22 00:00:00

A RUSSIAN VIE TV OF RUSSIA'S
SUBMISSION.

The Nord publishes the following article :
" Will it still be pretended that Russia is the make-
bate ' of Europe ; that it is Russia that wished for Near
It is scarcely 43 hours since we said that Russia, listen-
ing to the unanimous wishes of Europe—which, anxious,
timid, and foreseeing terrible_calamities in the prolongs'
tion of the war implored peace from her—would not
turn a deaf ear to that plaintive voice of humanity, sod
would make sacrifices with the most noble self-denial.
We said so frankly, convinced that we were right, and
we have not been deceived. But we should be deceiv-
ing our readers, and showing ourselves unworthy of the
confidence with which we always sought to inspire them,
should we pretend that Russia only accepted the props'
sitinns of peace made to her to please Europe.
"It is not for us to develope this argument, for it
would not satisfy us, and, thank Heaven, we are inde-
pendent enough to say what we think, Truly, a Power
like Russia should never lose sight of the wishes and
interests of Europe. She ought to know, at a pinch,
hnw to sacrifice her welfare to the happiness of others.
But there is a limit to all things, even to generosity,
even to self-denial. Who would believe it, even if we
state it, that Russia has just sacrificed her interests to
those of Europe, and that the has shown herself more
European than Russian? Ne one. And we ourselves
—we own it—we would not believe it.

" We shall therefore be more sincere, and we shall b.
the more readily believed when we say that Russia only
accepted the propositions made to her because it was her
interest to do so, because she ought to do so; and we
will say why.

" Every impartial, loyal, and just•minded man must
own that since the commencement of the war Russia
was always desirous of peace, and that it always slipped
through her fingers because she was never allowed to
conclude it. This time she found herself in more ad•
vantageous conditions to obtain her object. After the
heroic defence of Sebastopol the efforts of her adverse•
ries to seize upon the Crimea failed before the immense
obstacles opposed to them by the Russians, and in Asia,
where she took the offensive, she achieved a great sue•
cess by the capture of Kars.

" In this position, and still in her full vigour, Russia
could await, yet desire peace. She herself made the
first propositions, and when those of the allies reached
her through the medium of Austria she did not hesitate
t ► accept them, for, with a trifling difference, they were
nearly the same which had received her assent at the
Vienna conferences. One point only presented itself
for the first tune, and seemed to have been purposely in'
stilts(' to prevent once more the work of peace.
"Already, on her first refusal, which, however, was
not a categorical refusal, Austria evinced an inclination
to break off her relations with Russia, and to inerease
the complications of the war, while at London men ex'
ulted at beholding Russia once more fall into the snare.
She might, in fact, find the whole of Europe arrayed
against her, which the force of circumstances and a coo'
plication of insidious engagements would have reduced,
even against its will, to that hard extremity. It was
here that the real enemies of Russia laid wait for her ;
is for this result that England laboured. Russia bog
upset their calculations, and she has done well.
"But we maintain that it was her duty to do so on
another ground, which refers to the future—a word
which a great power must never lose sight of in its most
grave resolutions. What, is, in fact, the real cause of
the war ? What is the motive of this general universal
mistrust into which the very friends of Russia have been
driven ? The cause is that which all the most solemn de'
clarations of Russia have not been able to annul, and
which would always have existed as long as no positive
and, so to say, material proof has been brought forward
to contradict it ; it is the idea that the dream of the am•
hition of Russia was the conquest of Constantinople.
However absurd, ridiculous, contrary to the most patent
facts was such a misconception, nevertheless it was so
widely spread—it had struck such deep root in public
opinion—that it would always have been an immense
and most disadvantageous obstacle to Russia. rler ad-
versaries, therefore, put a syllogism to her, which, al-
though coming from an enemy, had, nevertheless, A
certain value.

"If you are sincere (they said) in your protestations
not to wish to seize upon Turkey, why not at one blot./
demolish that terrible supposition, which, rightfully or
wrongfully, will always be suspended over your bead, bf
ceding to the Porte a small tract of land which brings
you in nothing, and which is of no possible use to you
except for the invasion of the Ottoman empire ? Th°,
day upon which you make that material concession all
Europe will believe that you do not follow the dreams of
aggrandisement attributed to you ; it will do more—a
will own that it was in error.
" Russia has just given this material proof of good
faith to Europe, and in giving it she exclaims, 'Do yos
believe me now ?'

" Russia has therefore destroyed at one blow the im-
mense distrust which exists on all sides against her, and
the snare about to be again laid for her too great suscep-
tibility by the hatred of those who regard the present
war less as a political than as a national one."