The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-12 00:00:00

1
iskp

&.zu,

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MISCH 12, 1856.

The armistice has been duly signed, and is to
continue to the 31st instant ! But there are still
doubts as to its nature and extent ! It seems not
to be thoroughly understood whether it applies
merely to the land, or is equally applicable to the
maritime forces. The exception relating to the
blockades established, or to he established, would
seem to exclude the naval squadron. But while
the Allied Powers would give the most liberal
and generous interpretation of the clause, ther e
seems to be considerable grounds for apprehend-
ing that Russia would arrive at the conclusion
most favourable to her own interests. The na-
tion that celebrated a " Te Deu,m," for the mas-
sacre of Sinope cannot be actuated by very
chivalrous or magnanimous feelings. If Russia
can avail herself of any loophole or opportunity
of wriggling out of fier engagements she will do so,
particularly if the benefit be great. She will
have opportunities of knowing whether the Con-
ferences will end in smoke or otherwise. If the
former, she may have it in her power to inflict
a heavy blow on the 13 Iltic Fleet, or rather a
section thereof, before the remainder of the
squadron have returned to the station ; the ves-
sels are only outposts at present, and they may
be cut off at any moment after the ice has
broken up.

It is said that a special messenger was despatched
to the Baltic last week, to announce that the ar-
mistice extended to that sea. The letter of the
obligation may probably be observed, but not its
spirit. Russia " will keep the word of promise
to the ear, but break it to the hope." If care
be not taken, the Ist of April, which might
then appropriately be termed " All-Fools'-
day," may witness a sanguinary attack by a supe-
rior over an inferior fore°. It is therefore in-
cumbent on the home authori ties not to relax
their vigilance, or to tolerate for a moment any
omission that may possibly lead to such a catas.
trophe.

Commodore WATSON, with his flying squadron,
is still to maintain tho blockade ! How easily
may a collision arise from the due and fitting
discharge of this duty ! We have heard
through the calumniated Press the only
available source of information that many
Russian vessels have been enabled, through the
extraordinary mildness of the weather, to weigh
anchor, and to sport their blood-stained flag in
the Baltic. Others may follow, and what would
be the result ? The British frigates and gun-
boats, which would never yield to any odds,
would be destroyed or captured, and another Te
Deum, scarcely less appropriate than that relating
to Sinope, might be celebrated at St. Petersburg.
It is of vital importance that these possible
dangers should be guarded against—that measures
should be taken to prevent the possibility of such a

trai Laletloll. Let Commodore WATSON be properly
supported before it is "too late." Let not that
stereo typed phrase be again applicable to the Bri-
tish G tovernment. We have already suffered enough
from. the effects of apathy and negligence. Such
resuF must be avoided for the future. We have
been. too seriously injured by the positive results
of the Armistice to receive any consequential
clan ger. The Sovereign assured the nation that
I no I precaution would be ,relaxed, and that every
preparation would be made for the vigorous
maintenance of the War. Let that pledge be
faithfully redeemed by Ministers. There are
many points in which it must be attended to,
but none of greater importance, or where the
consequences might be more serious, than those
rela.ting to the Baltic squadron, or a possibility
of an attack thereon, by the Russian skulkers,
who would gladly avail themselves of the ab-
sence of those who could prevent the possibility
of their interference.

We trust, then, that "My Lords" may be
better informed as to the nature and extent of
the armistice than the community at large. The
secret of the proceedings at the Conferences has
hitherto been well kept. But nothing could ex-
cuse any negligence that would endanger any por-
tion of the British navy, or could give the enemy
even the appearance of, or plausible pretext for,
claiming a triumph. where England has hitherto
claimed to be invincible, and put forward the
proud boast of " infallibility." We have had
reverses by land. They have been submitted to;
but let Sir CHARLES WOOD and his coaijutors take
care that nothing can happen that may affect the
honour of the " wooden walls," in which the
nation has reposed so implicit, and hitherto, hap-
pily, well-founded reliance.

What it may be precisely that Sir DE LACY
EVANS has latterly been aiming at by his pro-
ceedings in the British House of Commons, it
would be rather difficult, we conceive, for the
most astute observer to conjecture. Is he the
apologist of the rotten old system now fast crum-
bling away to nothingness at the Horse Guards ?
Or is he, on the contrary, a Military Reformer,
going heart and soul with the comprehensive pro-
jects of innovation set on foot, of late, by such
thorough-going advocates of improvement as the
hon. members for Sheffield and Aylesbury ? Is he
the most arrant of courtiers ? Or is he, on the other
hand, what many have believed him to be for a long
time past, the out-and-out radical representative
of the out and-out radical constituency of the
City of Westminster ? Which ? Black or White ?
Hot or cold ? " Pale or red ?" Blustering
with BOBADIL after the true braggadociose
fashion " Twenty more—kill 'em ! Twenty more
—kill 'em ! Twenty more—kill 'em !" Or chewing
the leek with " mine ancient" PISTOL, with an eye
askance at the half-drawn sword of Prave FLUEL •
LEN ? How shall we have him—this gallant old
soldier, with the heart of a BAYARD, ancl the face
of a QUIXOTE, and the tongue of a shrew >< His
meaning wriggles out of our grasp like the slip-
pery-est; of eels—the colours of his argument
change as surprisingly, and unexpectedly, and
bewilderingly, as—what shall we say ?—as those of
an expiring dolphin, or of a living chameleon, or of
a shaken kaleidoscope. For example, there was
that very masterly speech of his, delivered in the
House of Commons, on the 29th of this last month
of February—(a speech in every way worthy of
signalising a rant dies like a 29th of February)—
followed three nights afterwards, namely, on the
3d inst., by one that might be characterised as a
" most tame and impotent conclusion 1" Look at
the two—compare them—place them side by side.
They are absolutely, and without the smallest
exaggeration, as different from one another as
black from white, as hot from cold, as pale from
red, as light from darkness.
And no wonder ! For Sir DE LACY EvANs,
with an effrontery but seldom witnessed in
the most callous browbeater at the bar, re-
tracted on Monday evening, March 3, verbatim,
et literatim, et seriatim, word for word, every
opinion, every sentence, every syllable he
had articulated, with such a flourish, and in tones
so sonorous, on Friday evening, the 29th of
February ! He not only most meekly chewed
the leek but—what was much worse, because so
much more rank in flavour than the most acrid
specimen of the national emblem of Wales—ate
his own words with their own natural sauce !
Assuredly, after all which, we must henceforth
regard him as one endowed with the digestive
powers of an ostrich—the bird of the de-
sert of whom DOUGLAS JERROLD has some-
where spoken, as indulging occasionally
in the luxury of a tenpenny nail ! Wonderful,
indeed, are the powers of deglutition of the
honourable and gallant member for the City of
Westminster. He cries Peccavi ! to everything.
Mr. GLADSTONE reproves him as Mr. GLADSTONE
can reprove when he so pleases—with the air of
a hedge-schoolmaster, whose birch is no other than
a bunch of nettles culled from the cool margin of
the contiguous ditch. Smarting under his casti-
gation, Sir DE LACY EVANS avows him Self " very
sorry, and will never do so any more !" And so,
with a wry face—a wryer face than
usual !—lie repudiates everything he has
said but a very few hours previously in a
crowded house and with such confident and ag-
gressive declamation ! On Friday he is very
funny about a queer name abbreviated by the
electric telegraph : asking, as LISTON might have
asked yesterday, or as KEELEY might ask to-day—
" What on earth is Down ? What in the name
of fortune could taking care of Down mean ?"
And more than hinting, while he said it, at some-
thing excessively like nepotism on the part of the
Noble Lord the present Minister of War ! Well—
two or three days pass by, and General Eveles
rises in his place in the House of Commons, penitent
almost to tears, still as ordinarily " the kuight of the
rueful countenance"—and laments his cruelty in
regard to "Down"—says " DOWB " proves to be
a very fine fellow after all " though he said it as
shouldn't"—declares " I am sorry I made any
reference to him (Major DOWBIGGIN)"—adds, " I
am extremely glad that he obtained the promotion,
which I am convinced that he amply merited"—
observes in conclusion, " I am so convinced of
his merit that if I see his name in the Gazette
again it will afford me great pleasure." Very
handsome no doubt, as an apology, as an amends
honorable—but, as a piece of inconsistency,
rather gross of its kiud, we take it par-
ticularly when followed up, as it was,
immediately afterwards with such sugarplums for
bolusses, such, plasters for sore heads ! Par
maniple, there was General SIMPSON—not a
junior officer like poor "Down," we beg pardon,
like the gallant and distinguished Major Dow-
'algal; but one who happened to be once upon
a time no less important a personage than the
Commander-in-Chief. Well, on Friday the 29th
ult., General SIMPSON, if not in himself an ex-
is made the source of consi-
tremely witty man,
derable mirth and laughter in the House of Com-
mons by that very slashing joke-master, Sir DE
LACY ETANS, who is particularlfdroll for the time
in his reference to a message which he described
as having rendered General SIMPSON'S mind more
obtuse even " than it naturally was !" And so