The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-21 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1856.

It appears, then, after all—after so much
blood, and gold, and hope, and glory, squandered
to no purpose, and scattered idly to the winds of
heaven—that the terms of this precipitate, and
because precipitate, most dreaded and disastrous
Peace are actually upon the eve of being formally
arranged and ratified. Well, it is only delaying (yet
a little later on) the last inevitable day of reckon-
ing. And when it does come, as come it assur-
edly will—woe will then be to those upon whom
must devolve the infamy of the disgraceful com-
promise ! Whether it be Minister of State, or
anointed SOVEREIGN ! Whether it be captain by
sea or by land, Administrator or Diplomatist !
Whether it be a sham patriot, who sacrifices
everything to the end that "place " and its
covetted "perquisites" may be retained, or
some cotton-spinning charlatan of a dema-
gogue, who deprecates the championship
of Right and beslavers Might however intrinsi.
tally and notoriously execrable from its blood-
guiltiness, solely through a sordid greed of a
"penny-wise" gain, grasped at the sacrifice of
every noble principle and every heroic sentiment !
Sooner or later, to each and all of these, the ex-
piatory punishment must--be sure of that—come,
in some shape or another, overwhelmingly.
Either in lifetime or in deathtime—either through
individual disgrace or through posthumous exe-
crations.

The great struggle upon which it was supposed
we had already entered, in very deed, at last--is
only, Nice again, for an interval postponed. The
struggle foretold by the Captive of St. Helena in
his prophetic exile—the struggle between despo-
tism and democracy—the struggle which is ulti-
mately to leave Europe either Cossack or Repub-
lican ! Alittle later, and that struggle must come at
length in real earnest. GOD alone knows under
what perillously disadvantageous circumstances !
Of this at least every one among us must rest at
this moment perfectly well satisfied, that never
could it by possibility have occurred under
auspices in every way more propitious for the in-
terests of humanity than those which axe now being ,

rapidly dissipated "into thin air" by the incon-
ceivable fatuity cr the ineffaceable guilt of the

Western Governments. Never in the history of
the two countries had England and France a more
precious or more glorious Opportunity. Never
was a "gift of the gods" more wilfully and in-
famously sacrificed. We are already standing at
the goal—the ball is at our feet—and we are for
dividing it, like an orange at desert, among the
guests assembled round the table of the Paris
Conferences 1 •

Poland is again loft to groan and bleed un-
avenged under the weight of the triple despotism
of the three great robber conspirators. Tur-
key, in spite of all her gallant self--abne-
gation of late years, is abandoned anew
to the infectious influences of that con-
tiguous tyranny which may in truth at
last reduoe it to the condition of the
sick man whose possessions are to be the spolia
opiina of a better-timed, and, consequently, more
successful Muscovite Invasion. Italy is to behold
once more fading away from view the cherished
day-dream of her long and vainly-looked-for re-
generation. Finland is still to remain the appan-
age of the Imperial Spoliator of so many adjacent
kingdoms—that all-absorbing Government of St.
Petersburg, whose acquisitions have simultane-
ously enlarged the limits of its awful empire with
the same appalling rapidity, to the east, and to
the west, to the north, and to the south. Eating
like a gangrene at once far into Asia, and far
into Europe. Extending its conquests by hun-
dreds of miles, indiscriminately, in all imaginable
directions, like radii from a centre, overshadow-
ing the Moslem, crippling Persia, disabling
Sweden, paralysing the German Confederacy,
reducing the African triumphs of France to utter
insignificance by sheer force of contrast, more
than counterbalancing in the old world the in-
fluence consequent in the new upon the rapid
political growth of America, advancing with
gigantic strides upon the confines of China and
of Tartary, and while accomplishing all this in
obedience to the recorded mandate of PETER,
misnamed the Great, threatening in regard
to England the perpetuity of her remote
and magnificent empire in Hi ndos tan !
Such is the dread power which the Allies
are now insanely upon the eve of restoring
to its original puissance—without extorting from
it, first of all, the severest guarantees that the
crimes of the House of RO3IANOFF are not to be
at once multiplied in number and enhanced in
enormity. " HEAVEN helps those who help them-
selves." Are the Allies acting in reverent obedi-
ence to that most wise and holy suggestion ? So
far from doing so, are they not, by their criminal
haste, to arrange the preliminaries of a disgrace-
ful peace, are they not, on the contrary, adopting
the most certain course that could well be chosen
for playing out wholly, in his own favour, the ter-
rible game of their most wily and most implacable
antagonist ? Than this, surely nothing could by
possibility be more perverse, or in every way
more insensate. It is a crime—this deplorable
dynastic compromise—which will have (we repeat
it) sooner or later to be very frightfully expiated.
But the hour for that inevitable expiation cannot,
of course, at the present juncture, be even dimly
conjectured. It will remain to be struck in
HEAVEN'S good time, at the fiat of an infinitely
just and overruling PROVIDENCE.

The strict secresy to be observed with respect
to the proceedings of the Parisian Conferences
will be very distasteful to the British people.
We are, it appears, to know the result, but not
the mode in which it has been arrived at. We
may learn, when too late, to do more than enter
a useless protest to the final arrangements, but
' not the parts taken by the different Plenipoten-
tiaries. We cannot ascertain who have remained
faithful to their trusts, or by whom these trusts
have been abandoned or violated. This is unfair
to all parties. It is doubly so to L )rd CLAREN-
DON who must be the chief sufferer from the use-
less mystery. It may be very agreeable to the
despotic Powers, who think that peoples should
have no voice in the management of t'seir own
concerns—that the enunciation of the will of their
rulers is all that is necessary, and that their only
part is tohearand to obey. But theslavish doctrine
is not suited to the atmosphere of Great Britain.
Here secret diplomacy is regarded as an unmiti-
gated evil, which can only be tolerated so long as
it is absolutely indispensable ; and any stipulation
to the above effect would be not only unconstitu-
tional, but absolutely invalid. Ours is happily a
limited monarchy.
No Plenipotentiary selected solely 10y the Crown
could control tor restrict the sovereign rights of
the people, or refuse the information required by
their chosen representatives. The attempt to ex-
tend the so-called prerogatives of the Crown
might be attended with very serious consequences,
and lead to very mischievous consequences, which
cannot be too earnestly deprecated on all sidr,s.
No American Statesman would dare to enter into
such An arrangemant ; and, notwithstanding the
positive assertions to the contrary, we still in-
dulge in the hope, that one who has hitherto en-
joyed the oonfidence and respect of the British
people would not stultify himself by going so far
beyond the limits of his constitutional powers.
Lord CLARENDON has unquestionably had a
difficult card to play. He has to contend against
a variety of sinister influences both at home and
abroad. He has witnessed the political self-
immolation of one with whom he was long united,
and who recklessly sacrificed the high reputation
he once enjoyed. He should therefore have care-
fully avoided the obvious danger, and even had
he the power—which we positively deny—have
refused to leave the slightest peg whereon to hang
a doubt. Englishmen are apt to conceive ghat
where there is silence there is guilt, and that
fearless and laudable conduct will not shun the
light or seek for concealment. No one should
be better aware of these facts than the Foreign
Secretary, and although absent from the House
he must have seen that the Peers have on a very
recent occasion shown themselves firmly resolved
to resist any undue extension of the Royal Pre-
rogatives. The attempt at secresy would, there-
fore, be perfectly futile, and could it succeed
would be exceedingly unwise and impolitic on
the part of the Crown and of the Minister.

The only thing that could preserve the parties
concerned from the odium that must otherwise
fall on them would be the full and complete pub-
lication of all the papers relating to the negotia-
tions. Hints that the British Plenipotentiary
had " boldly asserted the determination of his
country to obtain complete
guarantees and satis-
factory assurances" will not suffice. There must
be clear, intelligible, and decisive proofs on the
point. We must be enabled to maturely consider
and carefully weigh every argument adduced—to
perceive exactly the positions taken up, and the
causes that led to their abandonment. Discover
those, if any, to whom praise may fairly be ac-
corded, and the others who should bear the full
burden of the responsibility of the untoward re-
sult. If the PALMERSTON Government hopes to
retain the confidence of the nation, it can only be
by casting aside all disguise, and provicg beyond
the pozsibility of dispute that they have acted a