The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-18 00:00:00

[PRICE 4D. STAMPED SD•

such success, we may hope for a speedy and satisfactory
termination.
Austria has honourably accomplished the special mission
with which she charged herself, and having stood firm in
her determination, has the satisfaction of seeing tier ulti-
matum accepted, pur et simple, by Russia, as a basis for
negotiation. This result has been brought about by the
pressure of the Cabinet of Vienna, and of the Courts of
Germany; and we think it is also plain, by the conviction
which must have forced itself upon the mind of Russia,
that it is almOst impossible for her successfully to with-
stand another campaign. Entirely dependent upon her
own resources, with no sincere friend, she would have to
face the increasing power of England and France, rein-
forced, as they, maybe too, by new allies.
We have now,"then, gained a great point. The Aus-
trian proposals, all five' are accepted, and Russia is impli-
citly bound by them. The public learn this with satis-
faction. The funds rise with the hopes of peace, and the
next step is eagerly inquired after and looked forward to.
When and where are negotiations to be oommenced upon
the bases now agreed to, is a question universally asked.
It is of much importance that it should be rightly under-
stood that the proceeding which has had sohappy an issue
in determining Russia to make large and important con-
cessions is an Austrian proceeding, and that the five pro-
posals, as accepted by Russia, do not contain on the face
of them all that the Western 'Powers consider necessary
for their safe entrance upon negotiation. When the Cabi-
net of Vienna applied to Englandand France to know the
terms upon which they would consent to make peace with
Russia, a 'direct and distinct reply was given. Upon that
reply Austria founded the proposals which Russia has
accepted; but she has not represented to the Czar the
whole an exact tenor of our demands, and it would not be
fair in us, nor indeed just, either to' Ourselves or to Rus-
sia, to enter upon discussion before the preliminaries
have been arranged so clearly and unmistakeably that Rus-
sia, on the one hand, may not have it in her power to pre-
tend that we have entrapped her into negotiation without
making her fully aware of their insport-nor we, ort,the
other, be open to the manceuvres of the adroit diplomacy
whiCh has already, in former instances, so cleverly amused
our Ministers.
To take an example. In the Austrian proposals the
name of the Aland Islands is never mentioned, but never-
theless, we believe it will be found that Lord Clarendon
had emphatically stated to the Cabinet of 'Vienna that we
must insist upon Russia's binding herself not to rebuild
Bomarsu.nd. This resolve, justifiable on the grounds of
military success, and requisite as a matter of high import
to the well-being of Europe, becomes imperative, when it
is remembered that we have only recently concluded an
alliance with Sweden, and that it is our bounden duty not
to leave our Ally at the mercy of Russia, nor to permit the
re-erection of a huge and menacing fortress within one
hundred miles of Stockholm.
Under these circumstances, then, it will be the duty of
the Belligerents, before the negotiations can be entered
upon, to signify their intentions to Russia, and to require
her acceptance of proposals totally free from the possibility
of misinterpretation. These proposals, we trust, will have
the support of Austria and the German Powers, and will,
we are confident, meet with the acceptance at St. Peters-
burg, if Russia be now really alive to her own interests,
and anxious for the welfare of Europe. If they are ac-
cepted, then negotiation will follow, but not at Vienna,
nor Paris, nor London. All preliminaries being once satis-
factorily adjusted, some more fit place will be appointed
for the conduct of Conferences.
In the meanwhile we must keep our energies braced up,
and relax not one iota of the prodigious exertions that are
being made for the spring campaign. This, we are con-
vinced, is the soul of successful negotiation. The voice of
Europe is in our favour—our resources are immense—our
armaments of greater magnitude than ever. Let us then
hope that Russia will follow up the good course upon
which she has entered, and that, recognising the isolation
of her position, and the hopelessness of her cause, she may
accept all that necessary, and no more than is just ; and
that, by frankly yielding to our demands, she may spare
the nation the horrors of further bloodshed, and inaugurate
a safe and lasting peace, which will be nowhere more sin-
cerely welcomed than in England.

( Front the Morning Herald of this day.)

It would appear that the Cabinet of St. Petersburg has
re-considered its reported rejection of the Austrian pro-
posals, and has gone the length oven of surrendering the
terms contended for in its recent counter propositions.
The despatch in the 7bees, although dated from Vienna,
concludes with " This is authentic." Wo are, however,
too well acquainted with authentic canards proceeding
from the same source, and too much accustomed to the
confident tone of our contemporary when he has least
ground for confidence, to place implicit reliance, in the
absence of corroboration, upon the statement before us.
At the same time, we are by no means prepared to assert
that the report of Russia's concession is devoid of founda-
tion, but if we incline to the belief that she has at length
closed with the proposals of the allies, it is from a conside-
ration of the nature of those proposals themselves, and not
from any belief in the source from whence the information
of that event has been derived.
Russia well knows that the terms recently offered are the
very best she could possibly have hoped for, and the states-
men who surround the Czar are sufficiently acute to see
that they present no real bar to the future pursuit and de-
velopeaiont of that policy which Russia has so long and so
steastily worked out with the resolution of destiny. The
chances of another campaign might—nay they certainly
would—leave her far less confident than she finds herself
at the close of the recent campaign, and far less able to
resist the pressure which would infallibly be brought to
bear against her. The adhesion of the secondary states of
Europe to the cause of the allies would be, if the war lasted,
but a question of time. Wo do not believe—we never did
believe—th:st Austria would in any case take up arms to
redeem her plighted honour, much less that she would do
so simply in the interest of Europe and civilisation ; but it
was manifest that considerable time must elapse before the
German powers could be driven out of the neutral and un-
-dignified attitude they have assumed, if, indeed, they
contemplated in any event its relinquishment. Russia
sees, and must for souse time have seen, that the league
against her would increase formidably—that the free states
of Europe had discovered more than a tendency to gravi-
tate towards the Western powers. Without question the
war has begun to toll most seriously on her internal eco-
nomy, and although her resources are vast they are by no
means inexhaustible. Her nobles are discontented—her
soil is unfilled—her population swept to supply now and
extensive levies—her trade has suffered, not to the ex-
tent it might 11%1'0 suffered, for one of her enemies, at
least, did not care to cripple her in that respect ; and her
obsequious vassal at Berlin has taken care that ho would
turn his neutrality to a friendly as well as a profitable ac-
count. On a cahner view, therefore, of her case—her con-
dition and her prospects —Russia must have seen that she
could only continue 4;1-ss war at, the cost of eventual pros-
tration, and that to support I„zer prestige for a short period
she was paying the penalty of' national rufu.

(From the Daily News of this day.)

How near is Peace ? The exact tenor of the answer re•
turned by the Cabinet of St. Petersburg to the overture
from Vienna must be known before this question can be
answered. According to the telegraphic despatches from
Vienna and Dresden, " Russia has accepted uncondi-
tionally the Austrian proposals ;" according to the Parisian
version, Russia has merely conceded that " the proposi-
tions forwarded by Austria ought to serve as the prelimi-
naries of peace." We have reason to believe that the des-
patch from Paris, though not very clearly worded, ap-
proaches more nearly than those from Vienna and Dres-
den, to the terms of the message received by the English
Government. Russia, we aro given to understand, has
only aecepted the Austrian proposala 55 the basis of nego-
tiations. In like manner Russia accepted, last year, " the
four points" as the basis of negotiations. We do not mean
to imply that the cases are exactly parallel. If we are to
have Conferences in 1856 as we had in 1855, it is to be
loped that the Allies will insist upon their being held in
Paris or London instead of Vienna ; or in Brussels if it is
deemed necessary that they be held in a neutral state. But
even if the Allies are weak enough to allow them to be
hold once more in Vienna, England will be much more
efficiently represented there than she was last year.
It must also,be admitted that the " proposals" of the
Court of Vienna are more precise than " the four points."
The proposals do not admit of the same amount of cavil
and mystification on the part of Russia as did the four
points. It must be borne in mind, however, that there is
a Postscript to the Austrian proposals, which may enable
Russia to open up a series of interminable discussions.
"The belligerent Powers reserve their right to produce, in
the interest of Europe, some special conditions beside the
four guatantees:h Since the Austrian proposals were
framed the relative position of the belligerents have under-
gone some change, through the publication of the defensive
alliance between Sweden artd the Western rowers, the
announcement of the fall of Kars, and the failure of Omer
Pasha's expedition in Mincrelia. If Russia has only
agreed to negotiate on the basis of the Austrian proposals,
with a view to induce the Allies to relax in their prepara-
tions for a vigorous prosecution of the war—a sepposition
quite in harmony with the antecedents of RussianW its diPP"
inacy—she will find in the Postscript ample pro
evading any obligations she may have contrasted With
Austria.
Nor must it be forgotten that the AustrianAorlol Ptehoatistriiriee
more in favour of Austria than of Turkey.
latter Power gains by them is the guarantee, such as it is,
that Russia shall not maintain a formidable fleet in the
Black Sea, or re-establish the military arsenal of Sebasto-
pol. In what regards the immediate causes of the war—
foreign interfonce with the Christian subjects of the Porte,
and a foreien Protectorate over the Danubian Principalities,
Turkey is reft prettynearlywhere she was. En gland,France,
and Austria—and perhaps Russia—aro to interfere collec-
tively between the Sultan and the Christian subjects in-
stead of Russia alone. By assuming Protecterate over
the Principaliti
es, Rtussia inserted the thin end of the
wedge to separate them from the Turkish empire ; the ar •
wed
proposed by Austria will only drive the wedge
;uurtther These conditions may find favour in
tsrhalueitgeteylemes of many, but nobody can say that that they tend
to ensure the " independence and integrity" of the Otto-
man empire. If they are agreed to, the end of the pre-
sent war will, like that of most other wars, forget its oe-
ginning• But, leaving the Ottoman Government out of
the question, is the acceptance of these proposals likely to
benefit the Rayahs or the inhabitants of the Danubian
Principalities ? We have our doubts. A Joint Protecto-
rate of the Rayahs appears to is to mean nothing more than
the permanent establishment of representatives of the
Great Powers at Pere, constantly interfering with and
paralysing the action of the Ottoman Government, and
thereby perpetuating anarchy throughout its dominions.
Until we know what kind of constitution the Principali-
ties are to receive, and until we see the Austrian army of
occupation withdrawn from these provinces, it will be
premature to congratulate the Moldo-Wallachians ou the'
stipulations made ostensibly in their behalf.
All that can with certainty be said at present is, that if
Russia is prepared in good faith to accept unconditionally
the Austrian proposals, this is a proof that she already
feels so severely the pressure of the war as to be hopeless
of the future. The acceptance of such terms cannot but
be most mortifying to the pride of the Russian Govern-
ment. At the outset of the war it asserted a right to arbi-
trate between the Sultan and his Christian subjects, and
seized upon the Principalities as a " material guarantee"
for submission to its arrogant claims. At the end of the
war, if the Proposals are accepted, it will submit to have
the protectorate of the Rayahs wrested from it by other
Powers, and will cede permanently a part of its territory.
This will be all it has lapzed by the lege of its MAO( sea