The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Under the head of " Poland" will be found
an interesting commentary on the strange de-
fence set up by M. Thiers and General Bu-
geaud, purporting that the importance of the
Polish question to France was not commensu-
rate with the prodigious force which would
have been required iro carry the objects of
French policy in despite of Russia,—that is,
to liberate Poland from the Russian grasp, and
to restore and secure her independence. There
are two facts which ought never to be lost sight
of by French or English statesmen :—First, the
inordinate passion for conquest entertained by
Russia : secondly, when put to the test, the
miserable disproportion between her military
means and her ambition. It is true that Russia
has hitherto succeeded in all her plans of ag-
grandizement ; and why ? Simply because she
has never been opposed in them by any one
great Power—we might say by a Power of
even the second order. With the single ex-
ception of the wanton invasion by Napoleon, in
the latter part of which the climate took part
with Russia, and destroyed the aggressor, who
sought his own annihilation by his criminal and
frantic plunge into an abyss of cold and hunger,
—with that exception, when has Russia, other-
wise than as a member of some vast confederacy,
fought against any one formidable European
Power ? Finland was sold to her during the
reign over Sweden of one unpopular madman,
or that weak and ineffective State of the fourth
rank would have repelled and defeated her. Po-
land was distracted, exhausted, and tottering,
before Russia, with two fierce despots on her
side, ventured upon the actual partition. In
her successive conquests upon the Euxine, the
Caspian, and towards the Danube, she has had
Persia or Turkey for her antagonists. The
latter of these, however barbarous and ill-orga-
nized, has more than once found abundant work
for the Russian armies ; and the slightest fill-up
from an European force in aid of the unfortunate
Ottomans would have laid Russia on her back,
to the utter demolition of any one of her whole
series of enterprises. What, finally, has been
the truth in her last grapple with the worn-out
remnant of what once was Poland ? It was—
that until Prussia faithlessly and inhumanly cut
off the communications and provisions of the
Polish army, ministering to that of Russia the
most ample facilities in both, the Poles had
literally—a body of 40,000 Poles—baffied and
beaten in a long succession as well of fights as
of manceuvres the entire force of the Russian
territory, from which it is well known that every
disposable and effective soldier had been dili-
gently draughted, to make head against the in-
surgents of the Duchy of Warsaw, and to save
the robber empire from a general rebellion of
the conquered and ruined nations. What, then,
can the French Ministers have intended by the
They sa
mixture of meanness and extravagance which we
find in their attempted vindication of the indif-
tfheraetncay
enexshuibbsittaeiduiatol wasasridsstanPeeolatondp Poland
would
?
have compelled France to maintain an army of
800,000 men, that she might have been enabled
to march 400,000 to the Vistula ! Is this, on
the part of MM. Thiers and Bilgeaud, innate
stupidity or astounding impudence ? Every
man of sense must see that the march of a
French army across the Rhine, and through
Germany, was not the right way to embarrass
Russia, or to render aid to Poland. There was
no, friend of Poland insane enough to think of
invading Germany and provoking a direct con-
flict with Prussia and Austria as a useful diver-
sion to the Poles. No—a squadron with a
military force on board to the Euxine, and
another to the neighbourhood of the Russian
ports in the Baltic—such were the expeditions
by which Russia would have been irrecoverably
paralyzed, by which all Lithuania, with Courland,
and every province of ancient Poland eastwards
towards the Dnieper, would have been stirred
to arms—by which the vast region from the
Pruth to the Caspian would have been electrified,
and a rational and probable chance created of
wresting every foot of conquered territory from
the grasp of Russia. That occasion has been
unhappily omitted, but others may succeed to
it, and it is never too late to retrace an erro-
neous path. The French apologists for the
Ministry have shown bad taste, to say no worse
of it, in their choice of excuses, but let them
learn better.— Times.

The tone of the Journals lately received from
Germany tend further to strengthen the belief,
now generally entertained, that the peace of
Europe is not at present in danger of being
disturbed. It is difficult to over estimate the
, from our exten-
nisgeorsnitetlariieeatl
lialoptctiraoteertsillant
bni
opoeufanerssti
justifiedci
nu
wllaae,r
advantages of peace to the population of Europe,
h
t
tasa
vedde ete existing
tntt
hedhiinaPstveuaenffrbiol
noersdndugilna un-
fortunately
sgtbaetaeeidn
intimately ;
connected. That we might, under
to Donna Maria, we believe ; and that a very
small aid from this country might put an end to
the unnatural war, is also possible ; but it is
also possible that consequences might follow
from the intervention not now anticipated ; and
it is quite certain that an expedition, on a scale
to produce any effect, would be attended with
' considerable expense. We are not of the
number of those who consider the resources of
the nation unequal to a great struggle ; but we
deem it of the utmost importance that these
resources should not be unnecessarily wasted.
Protected as this empire is by its situation, a
case can hardly be conceived in which our own
safety should render a participation in a Cinti,
nental war necessary. Our policy ought to he
determined by our situation. It ought to be
precisely the opposite of what it has been during
the greater part of the last century, and down to
the last peace. The session of Parliament
approaches, and assuredly Ministers will have
quite enough on their hands without the addi-
tion of a war in the Peninsula. The country
expected perhaps more from the Reform Bit(
than the Reform Bill can give. • he Reform
Bill could not at once enable any set of men to
correct the abuses of a century. These abuses
are so interwoven with much that is valuable in.
our institutions, that careful inquiry must precede
all attempts to ameliorate, if we would avoid bring.-
lug reform itself into discredit. But the people
are too apt to forget these difficulties, and to sup-
pose that nothing more is wanted than the will to
have everything at once placed on its proper
footing. Organical reform merely annihilated
the system which gave to a small number of in-
dividuals an interest hostile to that of the nation.
The use to be made of the freedom which we
have obtained will depend upon the degree of
political wisdom and aptitude possessed by Mi-
nisters and the men to whom the nation has
confided its interests. The multitude of objects
demanding the attention of Parliament is very
great indeed. One, the tithe question, is at,

tended with so many difficulties, that we almost
despair of any arrangement. Putting aside all
considerations with regard to the property of the
share of the tithes now enjoyed by the Church,
it is quite clear that, whether the tithes belong
to the nation or the corporation now enjoying
them, they form a fund to which the landowners
have no claim whatever. Thus, with regard to
the share of tithes in the possession of laymen,
they must be dealt with like ether property. But
it is quite evident, from the language held at
county meetings, that any arrangement on the prin-
ciple of a fair commutation will be rejected by the
landowners and yeomanry in general. The yeo-
men of Devon and Cornwall have taken it into
their heads that tithes ought to be commuted at
a tenth part of the rent. he injustice of that
is well pointed out by Mr. Charles Buller, in
his letter read at the meeting at Liskeard. The
rent, as he observes, is one third of gross pro-
duce ; and a tithe of the rent is, instead of a
tenth of the gross produce, only a thirtieth part.
We are, therefore, by no means sanguine as to
the possibility of an arrangement ; and we be-.
lieve the farmers are, in the eastern parts of
England, lukewarm on the subject. Another
question, the settlement of which will be at-
tended with much difficulty, is the corn ques-
tion. In all the great towns, and throughout
the manufacturing districts, great importance is
attached to a free trade in corn. On the other
hand, no representative will hereafter be re-
turned from a county, not pledged to vote
against a free trade in corn. The landowners
are persuaded that the effect of a free trade
would be to lower the average price in this
country, and consequently to lower rents ; and
they will not yield to any abstract considerations
of national benefit. So long as the manufac-
turing population continue in full employment,
the danger from having a question like this
unsettled may not be great ; but the first recur-
rence of manufacturing distress will give a
fearfulimportance to it. In a country whence
manufactures are exported, corn must always
be dearer and manufactures cheaper than in other
countries, and therefore the landowners of Eng-
land are without a shadow of justification for
the use they make of their ascendancy in the
Legislature in inflicting this injustice on the
community, and clearly may we all yet have to
repent their injustice. Besides the question 01
tithes, there is the separate question of the
claims of the Dissenters, and the reform in the
Episcopalian Church. There will, we should
suppose, be little difficulty with regard to the
claims the Dissenters now mean to urge. The
Dissenters are too prudent to press points at
present on which the nation is not sufficiently
informed. The question of union between
Church and State, and the mode of making the
Universities available to all sects, require to be
further elucidated. With respect to the reforms
in 4he interior of the Episcopalian Church
itself, there are difficulties which may be
obviated, but we do not well see how, if
the reforms are to be.of importance. But there
are many other questions claiming the attention
of the Legislature, but more especially the two
for which Commissions of Inquiry have been
appointed—the poor laws and the state of the
municipal corporations. The laws with regard
to the poor are full of abuses ; and in many
parts of the country the unemployed labourers
fill the owners and occupiers of land with the
utmost alarm. In some places, a sort of Agra-
rian system is in operation, as the only remedy
for the- demoralization caused by want of em-
ployment. The bastardy law and law of settle-
ment are among the worst parts of the present
poor system. It will require great exertions and
great sacrifices to escape from the consequences
of the paying wages out of the rates—an evil,
which, wherever it prevails, has reduced the peo-
ple to a bondage far worse than that of the
middle ages, because there is no suitable
machinery for compelling the labourer to work in
our days. The Corporation Inquiries will open up
a boundless field of controversy. Every part of the
field of law demands reform. Our colonies, too
are in a state which demands the notice of the Le.

gislature. Hitherto colonies have been places for
the reception ofall idlers possessed of Parliamen
tary influence to whom it became necessary to give
an income at the expense of the people of thi,
country. We have said nothing of the imme-
diate demands which will be made from all

quarters on the very opening of the session for
the repeal of taxes. Financial questions must

necessarily occupy a great deal of the time of the
ensuing session. We have deemed it not un-
advisable to indicate some of the matters which
demand more attention than Parliament can

give to them—and with respect to many of
Which a good deal of 'dissappointment will be
felt—ht order to render more evident the wis-
dom of the policy that would concentrate the
attention of Government and the Legislature on
our domestic affairs. We have a long arrear of
reform before us which cannot be safely delayed.
Let us avail ourselves of the opportunity while
we may. There is much in this country to
endear it to its inhabitants ; and it becomes,
therefore, the more necessary neither to proceed
xashly with reforms, so as to endanger what
merits preservation, nor to procrastinate so much
as to render the people indifferent and hopeless
of effectual ameliorations.—Morn. Chronicle.
The specific announcement of a close and
intimate understanding between Russia and
Austria on the subject of Wiley, made by the
Allgemeine Zeitung, seems to us a superfluous
piece of information. It is not to be supposed
that Austria could be so blind to her own in-
terests as to regard with indifference, or without
alarm, the progress which Russian ambition is
making in the East of Europe, if site had not
a secret understanding with Russia to' participate
in the advantages of the vast project of aggran-
dizement which the latter Power is preparing,
when opportunity serves, to carry into complete
execution. Russia is virtually in possession of
Constantinople, and has been so from the mo-
ment that she obtained that treaty which binds

the imbecile Government of the Ottoman em-

pire to close the Dardanelles against any or
*every other Power at the requisition of the Au-
tocrat, There can be no doubt that if this

troty had been concluded without the knowledge

-- -
or consent of Austria she would have taken

Alarm. The formidable movement of the colossal

power of Russia southwards would have re-
called to her recollection that from the scat

of the ancient Byzantium a warlike people once
poured their victorious legions to the gates
of Vienna. She knows that the Turks could

never again become a conquering Power in
Europe, while a Russian nation planted on the
Bosphorus might prove itself a most dangerous
neighbour. The bonds of amity must, there-
fore, be very closely drawn between the two
Powers—their union, indeed, must be cemented

by something far more binding than mere gene-
ral expressions of diplomatic courtesy, to have
the effect of preventing the jealousy of the one

Power from being excited by the aggrandizement
of the other. The most probable explanation
of the apparent apathy of Austria is, that her
portion of the spoils of the defunct empire of
Turkey is guaranteed to her by a secret treaty,
as in the case of the original partition of Poland ;
and it is likely that Prussia also is to have some
territorial equivalent for the great preponderance
of power which Russia will acquire when her
designs upon Turkey shall have been consum-
mated. It is true that, with regard to the con-
nection between Austria and Russia, a correspon-
dent of the Allgemeine Zeitung now denies the
existence of a treaty which that Journal lately
announced as having been concluded between
those two Powers. Nothing can be more
deceptive in general than what are called
official and demi-official announcements. One
half of them are Cabinet fictions, to de-
ceive the public through the medium of the
press, and a large proportion of the other half
consists of the fictions of persons who pretend
to be in the secrets of the Cabinets, or of stock-
jobbing inventions, to operate on the money
market. At least the experience of late years
bears out our description, and justifies us in
relying more upon the evidence of probabilities
as to the intended proceedings of Governments
than upon any announcements " from autho-
rity." Thus, if we had placed any reliance
upon the repeated announcements made during
three years past by our own Treasury Papers of
the speedy or immediate settlement of the Belgic
anti Dutch question, we should have been, like
them, under the awkward necessity of continu-
ally making statements only to retract them.
Instead of so doing, we looked to what was
probable or improbable, according to the general
course of policy which particular Governments
pursued. We observed whether any affair of
state which was announced was in unison with
such policy or not. Thus, ex evidentia rei, we
were enabled to draw conclusions which proved
to be correct, when the repeated announcements
of all the Treasury Papers turned out to be a
repetition of ignorant assertions, or gross delu-
sions. The Funds, it is true, were operated
upon, and they went up and down alternately,
and so the speculators made their market. The
Belgic question remains still an unsolved enigma
—our own opinion is, and we have expressed it
long ago, that the three Northern Powers have
had no other object than to harass the Belgians
into a restoration—nor should we wonder at that
people preferring any alternative to continuing
to suffer the protocol-persecution of our Minister
for Foreign Affairs. It was by not implicitly
pinning our faith upon any Government an-
nouncements, or diplomatic declarations, that we
were enabled to take that just view of Russian
policy, by which we anticipated all those dangers
to English influence and English commerce,
which the Treasury Papers begin to see, when
the time for adverting them appears to have
passed. How often, when we endeavoured to
excite the vigilance of Ministers and of Parlia-
ment as to the ambitious designs of Russia,
have we been met by the angry or sneering
rebukes of the Treasury Journals !—those saga-
cious oracles that ivied to see nothing but pacific
virtue and honourable intentions in the wily and
rapacious Cabinet of St. Petersburgh, and now
take credit to themselves for something like
profound wisdom in discovering whnt we have
been telling the public for years past ! We pre-
dicted what would be the consequences of that
profligate transaction—the Russian-Dutch loan
job, by virtue of which millions were given
from the overtaxed people of England, just in
time to enable the Autocrat to subjugate the
Poles ; ever since which he has held the under-
standing and the courage of England in equal
contempt, and has acted successfully on that
impression, from the time that he trampled on
the Treaty of Vienna, until the secret treaty
with Turkey, and the recall of our fleet from
the Archipelago. We observe that, in speaking
of that recall, the Hampshire Telegraph says
it was in consequence of orders which had been
sent out from the Admiralty in the latter end of
November. Of course the recall of the fleet was by
orders from the Admiralty. Who ever denied
that? But we say, though the orders must
have come from the Admiralty, the cause of the
orders was political. It is asserted in the Aus-
trian Observer, in the Allgemeine Zeitung, and
other German Papers, quite as well informed
on political matters as the Hampshire Paper is
on nautical, that the fleets of both France and
England were recalled, in consequence of the
energetic remonstrances of the Porte. It is not

denied anywhere that such remonstrances were

made, and that they followed the formidable

" demonstration" which we made in the East,
by repeatedly reinforcing our fleet up to the time
of those remonstrances. Neither is it denied

that our Ambassador made, in the first instance,
a bold and explicit reply touching the " secret
treaty ;" nor that immediate orders were given
by the Porte to put the forts of the Dardanelles
in a state of defence; whereupon our fleet was
ordered back to Malta and the French fleet to
Toulon, when they might have wintered on the
eastern side of the Archipelago, at Smyrna ; in
which case the French line•of-battle ship, the
Superb, would not have been lost; or they
might have wintered on the western side in the

harbour of Napoli: but these places are incon-
veniently near the scene of Russia's ambitious

opera ti on s.—Morning Herald.

The decrease of business in bankruptcy is so
wonderful that the funds in the hands of the

Chief Registrar of the Court have been barely

enough to meet the quarterly demands of the
Judges, Commissioners, Registrars, Deputy
Registrars, Ushers, Clerks, Trainbearers, and
Messengers, for their respective salaries, which
were due on the 11th inst. How the ex-Com-
.

missioners are to be paid we know not, for their
is in their fund a deficit of some thousands of
pounds, and Mr. Thurlow's compensation alone
will, it is said, swallow up all that is in hand.
These facts mark the very strong dislike
with which the mercantile and professional
world look upon the Court. The Solicitors,
at its first institution, conceived themselves
ill-treated by it, and vowed to bring no
work to it, and they have now almost con-
summated their triumph ; for when there
are no funds to pay the officers we do not
see how the Court can go on. Mercantile
gentlemen, on the other hand, do not like the
appointments of official assignees, and do every
thins in their power to patch up their insol-
vencies without bringing them into Court, where

an enormous proportion of their always small
dividends is sure to be given, by way of allow-
ance, to one of the worthy gentlemen assignees.
We advise the Lord Chancellor to look to it,

or there will soon be a halt in Basinghall-street.

The surplus of fees, which was last year divided
amongst the officers of the Court, will not be
large enough for any division again ; and, if
the humes3 continues to fall off during the next