The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-28 00:00:00

y one of the adv*tages which they haaeetf?bly ear
to whiela they are fully entitled.a4itat, in admitting
it they have gained all they sonaht et could desire in
Crimea, let us not affect to conceal -what we English
re lost. A predominant interest witli us in thisAiiieWC:TADV.le
a ataa,a
was not merely to strengthen the Ottoman emp'
the side of Europe, but oe that of Aeia. y i#4erkea
encreaehments and conquests south eef the C aelskaZ
has not only mastered Persia, but infl;:cted WO:
material loss upon Turkey. What haee Gone
.0 Lal
teract this ascendancy, or even to. di eneustrat 46 •
Asiatic Powers :eel "tribes that we an: able to ,
stand against it ? We have allowed the eonqUest of
we have talerated the intrigues and mar ceuvres cf Periittl S
in favour of the Czar ; we have quietly seen Herat taken,.
and the British Envoy obliged to retire from Teheran ;
and all the time we have utterly failed in making any
use whatever of the boasted sympathies; good dispotie
lions, and power cf the Cireassiane. We destroyed the .e
forts and raised the blockade of their cauntry, yet have r.tt a: ft
teenaged matters so ingeniously ;bat in lateen they have
eot tired a shot or wielded a Ecitnitar for us. We were a q
told that at any time Sel...amyl, by menacing Tiflis, might e-fa vaa
recal the chief forces . of Russia from the extremity of
Georgia ; yet General Mouravi.Af persevered for months
in besieging Kers; and• not only were we unable in any
-way to effcc-.,, a diversion, but we utterlvlost one ufaahe..
noblest opportunities fer triumph of the last importance •
.which lay ready to. our hand, and whiclathe skill .and
prepared.for us.
causideration of the
velour of our own countrymen bad
We are not now entering into any
causes of all this. We are simply explaining tha reani-
fest a-axons why Englishmen de not welcome peace with
exuberaet content ,'.hick overtiowa very naturally from
the bovoms of the French. On the one sitar-, the French
have gained enormously in political eveght through
this war. On the other, our salutary power and ieflo-
e say salutary,
fer_.tye would exert it on hichaif
of peaca, and not for conquest •or aggressiou.—have dimi-
nished precisely in those regions where it most wanted
increase and confirmation.
It may be that Russia, by the negotiations on which
she has now entered, sincerely as well as formally ahrit•
cates her design of augmenting her territories in Europe.
But she may also do this with the secret resolve of in•
dennif3ing herself in Asia, and of directing south of the
C measus the aggression which has been repelled from
the Danube and the Eexine. Wo hale played her game
if this be so, for it is now more practicable arid easy thin
it was at the opening of the straggle.
Si far we have been considering only to ;what degree
the state in which this interrupted war leaves Asia may
not unfairly bare its effect upon the thinker and the
politaian, in ditn;nishing his ardour at the prospect of
such a peace. But in this we have not comprised a
more popular, if nut more dangerous, ground of discen•
tent. The people generally are dissatiefied that the Re.
dan assault should have been the last in•ttf,c,etive blow
struck by England. They aro thoroughly discontented
with the management and conduct of great natal exaela
Cone, undertaken at enormous cost and ending in quite
inadequate results. All this hae led to a. feeling which
may in its turn probably lead to manifettatious rather
startling to our peace negotiators, whether or not their
pacific labours be successful. The extent to which with
us a navy and an army can be kept up in time cf
peace, must hereafter depend more entirely upon the
strength of the good opinion the public may have of the
way in which they are managed and adtraniatered.
one is blind to the distrust and deep discontent which
prevails at present on this head ; ano what another cam.
paigu's success might have done for our military and
naval departments, they will now have to do for them.
selves under triale and difficulties of no ordinary kind.
The Minister who has not courage to look steadily in
the face those thorough changes and reforms which will
now be clamouronsly demanded, or who thinks it possi-
ble to avail himself of any amount of satisfaction caused
ay the cessation of war to get back army and navy to the
old stationary system, will soon find his peace laurels
wither.

Notwithstanding all • these considerations, however,
the relative condition of England and France in the pre-
sence of the peace negotiations may fairly excite some
surprise. When we consider that war has brought no
material increase of direct taxation in France, we may
wonder at her sighing for peace under burdens so com-
paratively light, while England. so heavily taxed, can
yet indulge in the exuberance of a disinterested ardour.
But the most severe of all taxes, the extreme dearness of
the necessaries of life, is so sharply fel tthroughout France
at present, and is so generally attributed to the war,
that peace is greeted as synonymous with returning
plenty and low prices. Whether likely to be realised or
trot, the sentiment prevails ; and 40 years of peace have
in sober truth transformed France, under any continued
strain or pressure upon her resources, into far more of
an economical and an industrial than of a military na-
tion. So recently as four years ago it was a received
axiom throughout Europe that the English were shop-
keepers and the French fire-eaters to a man. The real
fact turns out to be that the French are as brave soldiers
as ever, and the English as industrious citizens, but
that the English, at a pinch, can show as much eager-
ness for soldiering as their neighbours, and that the
French are quite as much attracted as John Bull him.
self by the fireside and by honest gains.