The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-02 00:00:00

ferences, it would be the task of his Govern
ment 'to discover. They are neither more no
less than what were considered by the Allies th
just development and interpretation of the " Fou
Points," and no allowance has been made for th
events of the year, which justify, and, indeed
render new demands and satisfactory securitie
indispensable. Russia stood the chances of thi
game. She has played out her trump cards, anc
totally and entirely failed. Her stronghold has.
passed to other hands. The " standing menace
to Europe" is in the possession of the Allies.
Sebastopol has fallen, and the Black Sea fleet,
which found shelter under its guns, no longer
exists. There has thus been a practical solution
of the vexata qtuestio, and Russia might, there-
fore, have readily assented to the complete neu-
tralisation of the Elaine, which would have im-
posed no sacrifice of any kind, or even destruction
or surrender of existing vessels. It might have
been considered an infringement of honour and
dignity to assent to the surrender or destruction
of an existing fleet, but there could be nothing of
the kind in an undertaking not to replace those
that had been sent by Russian hands under the
direction of the Russian authorities. The Four
Points have been strongly enforced by the posses-
sion of four other points on the Russian territory,
and Sebastopol, Kinbourn, Eupatoria, and Kertch
offer powerful arguments in favour of the complete
submission that is indispensable, before there can
be any prospect of a restoration of peace.
The two first of the Austrian conditions had
already been agreed to by the Russian Plenipo-
tentiaries. The only addition made thereto would
be solely in the interest of Austria—inasmuch as
she would exercise considerable control over the
ceded districts of Bessarabia, and would thus
practically enjoy the reward acquired by the valour
and expenditure of France and England. The
complete neutralisation of the Black Sea was
the plan originally proposed by M. DROUrN
DE L'HUYS, and which received the earnest
support of Lord CLARENDON. It was that
which Lord JOHN RUSSELL was instructed
to advocate as the most complete and satisfactory
solution of the Third Point, and which was declared
by Count Buor, to contain " a complete and effi-
cacious system," and the fourth condition was
merely the Fourth Point in a very meagre and
attenuated form.
The Austrian proposition is therefore neither
more nor less than one for the resumption of ne-
gotiations exactly where they left off on the 26th
April last, the Allies waiving the benefit of all
the advantages they had since obtained. If these
terms were altogether too lenient under the then
state of affairs—if they then afforded no satisfac-
tory indemnity for the past nor adequate security
for the future, they must, d fortiori, be totally
improper under existing circumstances. It would
be an easy task to point out their many glaring
deficiencies. It would indeed only require a re-
petitien of the arguments we have already urged
usquc ad nauseant, strengthened and corroborated
by intermediate events. But fortunately we are
spared the duty. A diplomatic circular has been

f for the meerschaum and beer for the toast—nectar
and ambrosia to the ',German taste, under whose
e fascinating influence your Herr can forget
✓ everything but himself and Faderland. They
e can fish for themselves ; but German metaphysics
, that in their unfathomable abyss can swallow, not
s merely the subjective ego, but the objective uni-
e verse, they must seek for in his dominions where
I they cannot have it without his consent. How
; sweet a revenge ! Vainly will the prodigals strive
to charm away remembrance of their ingratitude
in wreathing clouds of odoriferous nieotiana, or in
the clinking glass, the roaring toast, and all the
wild merriment attendant on muddy beer. Sour
kraut itself will be valueless without Ger-
man metaphysics ! The scapegraces must
be for ever miserable here, and wander
perplexed ghosts hereafter, unless they make
a speedy return, when—won't they catch it ?
So, under the influence of this delectable
prospect, the regal PARTLETT has put a stop
to the charitable mission of the Berlin Corres-
pondent of a morning contemporary, by forbid-
I ding the collection of German books he was
making for transmission to the famished Legion.
Nous verrons. Nor Berlin, nor Prussia, is
Germany, and possibly the books may
be had elsewhere. In any case it is in
the nature of a duck to swim, and all the
Dame PARTLETTS in the world cannot uproot in-
stinct, or "make an example," without setting
the very one they punish the more effectively
forward. Should the War continue, as there can
be little doubt it will, and the Anglo-German
Legion win laurels, as we trust they will, it is
quite within the range of probability that more
Prussian ducklings may take to the water than
will be compatible with the continuance of the
maternal anxiety and beflusterment of the foolish
hen ; that is, if the Gallic Eagle does not pre
cipitate matters by her appearance on the Rhine.

Both French Eagles and British Lions have a
sympathy with Liberty, and can do execution on
its foes.

COURT CIRCULAR.

issued from St. Petersburg of unparalleled audacity
and insolence, which can only be regarded as the
addition of insult to injury, the mere transmission
whereof would be an outrageous offence to France

and England. It is merely a rechauffee of the
proposition advanced by Prince GORTSCRAKOFF,
and at once rejected even by Lord JOHN RUSSELL.
Looking to the matter per se, it would seem to be
rather the gracious concession of a conqueror will-
ing to exhibit some appearance of magnanimity and
not to push his advantages to the utmost 'point
than of one who bad sustained many serious re-

verses, and to whom a continuance of the War
would prove certain destruction. And so it
would be represented if listened to for a single
moment. Why should the flags that have tri-

umphantly waved over the Euxine be for ever

excluded from the scene of their triumphs, and
why should any matter, however trivial or unire-

portant, be arranged without the participation of
the Western Powers, who have so nobly earned
the right of interference ? The matter is, in

, -
fact, two absurd for serious consideration. The

propositions carry with them their own condem
nation, and merely prove that Russia has not

profited by the painful lessons which she has re-

ceived—that she is a victim to the mad infatua

'on that precedes total destruction.

Did the reader ever witness the spectacle of a
hen discharging the duties of maternity to a brood
of ducklings in the vicinity of a horsepond ? Ii
he has not he has a bit of amusement just suffi-
ciently dashed with pity to heighten enjoyment
in store for him. As if sniffing the water, the little
creatures, guided by an uncontrollable instinct,
no sooner begin to waddle with moderate steadi-
ness than they make approaches towards it, until
at last one more daring than the rest gets out of
its depth, and settles the interesting question of
"Can a duck swim ?" The rest follow, and the
glance of stupid amazement with which Dame
PARTLErr regards theirdeplorable rashness speedily
gives place to a turmoil of anxiety and apprehen-
sion. Fluttering wildly her beclipped wings she
rushes madly along the edge, running the while
the chromatic scale (commencing with a cluck and
just falling short of a crow), stops of a sudden,
and ventures a step or two into the hateful ele-
ment, to return with quickened speed to the
shore, and there renew her flighty peregrinations,
the ducklings all the while wondering what is the
matter with her, and of course never dreaming
for a moment of repentance. Cluck 1 cluck !
ruck-a-tuck ! Quack ! quack ! Cock-a-do-o-o !
Haven't you the SC9/10 before you ? Can't you
conceive the ludicrousness of the situation, and the
nature of the old Dame's feelings ? Of course you
can—we will not do so much injustice to your in-
telligence and our own description as to doubt it.
Well, the feelings of the King of PRUSSIA, in
connection with the escapade of the members of
the Anglo-German Legion, sufficiently resemble
the old hen's to be understood by means of the
illustration. The young German ducks took to
the water, and the old Prussian hen, at first full
of grief and vexation, is now in due succession

endeavouring to resign herself to the mischance—
not, however, without an airy peck, indicative of,
perhaps under the circumstances, a pardonable

In other words, the members of the

Legion having joined the ranks of the Allies, or,

more correctly speaking, of the British army, and

shown no symptom of repentance, nor given any
promise of return to nestle beneath the fostering

wing of the regal PARTLETT, his (?) Prussian

Majesty has taken to peck at their presumptuous
sides--at a distance ! The inexperienced duck-
lings cannot live without aliment, and not having
learnt as yet to dive for as much as they require
for themselves long for a supply from the accus-
tomed source, without going back for it, and the
old hen has resolved that they shall go without
any, if she can help it. To drop metaphor, the
Anglo-German Legion want German books to
while away the tedium of their at present inac-
tive military life, and the King
of PRUSSIA, in
the fulness of wounded feeling, is resolved they
shan't havo any, if he and his police can pre-
vent it.

It is such a pleasing' bit of revenge ! Tobacco

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 2, 1856.

speaking, have not the smallest power to act in any
matter independently of the decisions of the coun-
cil of health. How comes it, then, that the British
authorities complain, and that there has never
been a shadow of difficulty existing between the
Board of Health and the French, Sardinians,
Austrians, and other powers, who have equally
with ourselves their commercial interests at stake ?
The reason is simply this, that all conform cheer-
fully to the laws providing for the public safety,
with the exception of the British traders, who have
been repeatedly guilty of sanitary infractions, and
if they have to suffer on this account, it is entirely
their own fault. All vessels unprovided with a
passport or patente de sante from the local authori-
ties are considered in a state of suspicion, and
treated necessarily as such, according to law in all
countries. This document costs not quite 35., and
still our merchant captains persist in numberless
cases obstinately in refusing to provide themselves
with a passport at such a trifling cost, which would
place them completely beyond the reach of acci-
dents ; "nil non arrogant armis."
You will perhaps object that there is happily no
longer the slightest apprehension of plague, and
that against cholera quarantine regulations are of
little avail. This, however, is not the case, strictly
speaking, I am told ; and on the authority of an
eminent medical man I may mention that there is
not perhaps a more dangerous focus of infection,
whether cholera, plague, typhus, or other zymotic
disease prevail on board, than are, in the great ma-
jority of cases, our British trading vessels. 0 ur noble
steam-transports, for instance, are doubtless splen-
did in all relating to the comforts of the captain,
officers, and passengers—bit not so as regards
those of the unfortunate crew, on whom the whole
safety of the cargo and vessel depends. My medi•
cal friend had occasion to go professionally on
board two magnificent steamers some days ago,
and was horror-struck, he tells me, on comparing
the splendid saloon, with its comforts and various
decorations, in which the captain, officers, and pas-
sengers were carousing, with the miserable and
filthy den called the forecastle, containing berths
for 16 men, whereof nine were suffering in a putrid
atmosphere from severe bowel complaints. In the
second steamer the doctor, having had quite enough
refused to enter the said frightful receptacle or fore-
castle, and six poorpatients, laid up also with gastric
ailments, were accordinglyassisted down to the state
cabin for medical inspection. One of the sufferers,
who really appeared much above his condition, re-
proached the captain in the severest terms, and
said that it was impossible that sixteen men,
closely packed in such a dungeon, could ever en-
joy one day's health, and which had been suffi-
ciently proved during the whole passage. lam
further informed, that in addition to these causes,
the intemperance so notorious among our sailors,
renders them peculiarly subject to all epidemic dis-
orders. I think, therefore, under all these circum-
stances, that our trading ships are rather suspicious
characters, in a sanitary sense, and that they
ought, to say the least, independently of this cir-
cumstance, to provide themselves with a 3s. pass-
port, conformably with the law of the land, cheer-
fully obeyed by all other nations, and thus save
much trouble both to themselves and to the Board
of Health.

Baron Prokesch-Osten, Austrian Internuncio,
arrived here, per Elisabetta steamer, on tho 17th
inst., and had his audience at the Porto on the fol-
lowing day.

ERZEROUM, DEc. 4.
Kars has fallen a sacrifice ; the capitulation was
signed on the 28th of November. As I wrote to
you on the 27th ult., General Williams received
intelligence from here on the 22d which deprived
him of the last hope of assistance. He communi-
cated this intelligence to the Muchir Vassif Pacha,
and to the council. The unanimous decision was
that nothing remained but to treat with General
Mouravieff, the more so as the garrison was so ex-
hausted with hunger that a sortie for the purpose
of cutting their way through the ranks of the
enemy could not have been attended with success.
On the 24th, General Williams betook himself to
the Russian general, who received him with all due
honours. The conferences concluded on the 27th.
It was generally supposed that General Moura-
vieff would have shown himself much more rigorous
and intractable than was the case ; and much satis-
faction was expressed when the terms of the capi-
tulation were made known. They are very nearly
as follows :—The whole of the artillery, arms, and
ammunition are to be given up to General Moura-
vieff. The soldiers of the regular army, the pachas,
generals, and other officers aro to surrender them-
selves as prisoners of war. The Magyar officers
and others in the Turkish service, the surgeons of
the army, the secretary and clerks, the soldiers of
the Redif, and the Bashi-Bazouks are to be at
liberty to depart whithersoever they choose. The
citizens Aro to remain unmolested in Ksr-, "nu
city will be respected and preserved.
The ansilery tonna in nars was composed of 66
heavy gulls and 86 field guns. The muskets
amounted to the number of 20,000. The troops of
the regular army numbered 5,000 men. The Redifs
may have numbered 7,000. In addition to this,
there were about 2,000 Bashi-Bazouks, from Lau-
ristan and other provinces.
Dr. Sand with is at liberty, and we expect him
here. Mr. Churchill, secretary, and Zohrab, the
interpreter of General Williams, are also at liberty
to return here, but it appears that they prefer to
follow their chief to Tiflis and perhaps further.
Yesterday and the day before, there arrived here
from Kars Colonel Schwartzenborg, a Belgian, and
Major Tashler, an Hungarian, and other foreign
officers. They report that on the evening preced-
ing their departure the Russian officers invited
them to a great dinner, in honour of the brilliant
defence of the 29th September. All express their
gratitude for the humanity and ability displayed
by General Williams. They confess that but for
his talent the terms of the capitulation would have
been far different. It may be said with truth that
the siege of Kars ought to have had a different ter-
mination. Never did such exalted heroism receive
such a reward. I forgot to mention that the
Magyars and other foreigners who left Kars were
obliged to take an oath not to appear again in arms
against the Russians. We are now in expectation
of receiving other details, which will probably be
brought to us by the Redifs and others.
Many officers disapprove of the field of action
chosen by Omer Pacha. They believe that it would
have been much more wise to have marched from
Trebizond in this direction to liberate Kars, and
then to have prosecuted the war in the direction
of Alexandropol and Tiflis. By landing at Batoum,
and taking an eastern direction to invade the
enemy's territory, ho separates himself frora a
centre of retreat. Besides this, he advances into
a country made unhealthy by the number of vast
marshes. Having traversed the plain there would
not be sufficient time left to relieve Kars, as he
had promised, at least by his couriers.
People at Kars, however, attribute the cause of
their being obliged to capitulate to the promises
made to them by the Muchir of this place, Mins
Pacha. Depending upon these promises they con-
tinued in a state of comparative want of energy,
whereas, had they been aware that they were to
receive no assistance, they would have made such
exertions to put an end to the siege as might have
been expected from their great but unsuccessful
courage.

considerable force was to be assembled in Asia in
order to oppose the army of General Mouravietf.
It is, however, to be feared that this measure can-
not be carried into immediate execution en account
of the bad weather, but the same cause will also
prevent the movements of the Russians. The
command of this new army will, it is said, be given
to Omer Pacha, who cannot proceed with his ex-
pedition to Inneritia, and who, it was thought at
Constantinople, would be compelled to take up his
winter quarters at Soukoum-Kale. Baron Pro-
kesch Osten had an audience of the Sultan on the
20th to deliver his letters of credence. The mail
from the Crimea had not arrived at Constantinople
at the departure of the last packet, the bad wea-
ther
having prevented the steamer from putting
out to sea.

THE PRINCIPALITIES.
A letter from Constantinople, in the Gazette du
Midi, says :—" The conferences for the organisa-
tion of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia
are expected by many to open here, notwithstand-
ing what has been said of delay. The French and
Austrian Governments would have preferred to
maintain the static quo to the end of the war, in
order to be able to erect something solid and dur-
able ; but the English Government wishes the
matter to be dealt with without delay. To com-
mence the conferences, the arrival of Baron de
Prokesch Osten, the Austrian Internuncio, has
been waited for. Two great difficulties stand
in the way of the plan already presented—the
first is that the union of the two provinces will
not be so easily effected as is imagined ; and the
second, that the populations are not ripe for re-
presentative government, and that the adoption
of that form would have no other effect than to
continue the troubles which have so long afflicted
those unfortunate countries."

GREECE.
ATHENS, DEC. 18. Baron Prokesch d'Osten,
the new Austrian Internuncio at Constantinople,
arrived here in an Austrian war steamer, on the
12th instant, on his way from Trieste to his post,
and left again on the morning of the 14th in-
stant. During his stay the Baron was constantly
closeted with King Otho, and he also dined with
M. Persiany, the Russian Charge d'Affaires,
where he met the Prussian and Bavarian Ministers,
while he altogether abstained from even calling
upon either the English or French representa-
tives. This undisguised course of proceeding is
considered significant of the policy of Austria,
as, no doubt, the Baron had his instructions how
to act when in the capital of Greece, and the natu-
ral inference must be, that his advice to King Otho
will only have confirmed his Majesty in continuing
his senseless opposition to the policy of the Allies.
Why will England and France condescend to listen
any longer to anything that Austria may propose,
or give her the opportunity of still pursuing that
despicable and shuffling policy which has charac-
terised all her acts relating to the present war ?
Yesterday the neatly-purchased and restored Rus-
sian church at Athens was consecrated with great
pomp, and to-day there was a grand service in
honour of St. Nicholas.
The Russian party are to-day in extravagant joy
at the news of the surrender of Kars.

SWEDEN.
We read in the Independance Beige, under date
Hamburg, 27th ult. 1—

"The last two ships of war of the Allied fleet, the
English corvette Falcon and the French !corvette Aigle,
which had re-entered the Baltic after the departure of
the rest of the flying squadron, were obliged by the
winter to quit that sea, and have sailed for their respec-
tive countries. Notwithstanding the reports of peace,
which are, perhapa, less credited in the North than in
any other part of Europe, I can assure you that the
English Admiralty has ordered several extensive build-
ings to be engaged at Kiel and Elsinore for the purpose
of converting them into depots of materi4l of every de-
scription for the use of the fleet next spring. The
victu-
alling department, which is to be confided to contractors,
is also to be organised for that period on a grand scale.
The land force which France will send to the Baltic,
should the war continue, in 1856, will draw their pro-
visions from Sweden, where companies are now being
for Med for that object. It appears that during his stay
at Stockholm. General Canrobert made every inquiry,
and even entered into conditional arrangements with
Swedish companies to satisfy his Government that the
expeditionary army could be regularly supplied with
provisions from Sweden.

EGYPT.
ALEXANDRIA, December 23.—Lord Canning, the
new Governor-General of India, with Lady Can-
ning, Lord de Burgh, Captain Bouverie, and Dr.
Leckie, arrived here from Marseilles on the 12th
in the steamer Caradoc.
Said Pasha, the Viceroy, has done everything to
treat his Lordship ...rah. ne greatest consideration
during bi,..4,..y in Egy te. On landing the Geyer-.
dynor-General was con acted to a palace placed at
his disposal, and on tht? 14th he proceeded to Cairo,
where another palace, situate on the banks of the
Nile, had been prepared for him. Said Pasha,
having returned from the tipper Country on the
15th, received his Lordship with the greatest dis-
tinction, and placed a steamer at his orders to con-
vey him to Upper Egypt, to visit Thebes and the
cataracts of the Nile.
Lord Canning expects to embark at Suez for
Bombay about the middle of January.
Mr. Gisborne has come to Egypt to make ar-
rangements for laying the submarine electric tele-
graph from Constantinople to Alexandria, to cross
Egypt, and to be hereafter extended from Suez to
India.

The engineers who are to survey the Isthmus of
Suez are at present on the line of the proposed
canal, and a steamer is awaiting them at Pelusitun
to inspect the coast.

Au interesting race wa3 run last week at Cairo
between an English mare and an Arab horse belong-
ing to Haleem Pasha, when the former thoroughly
beat the latter. The length of the race was eight
miles, the time occupied by the mare 18i minutes,
over a rough, gravelly, and sandy road. The same
race has baen offered for the last two years against
all England, for 10,000 sovereigns, with the same
horse, and not accepted. The Egyptian Princes are
now convinced that their Arabs can be beaten by
English horses. The late Viceroy, Abbas Pasha,
had offered to stake any amount up to 150,000/.
on his own horses against any others that might be
brought to run.
A serious insurrection has taken place in the
Hedjaz, in Arabia, where the authority of the Sul-
tan is very feebly maintained by a very small
number of troops. The Arabs threaten to expel
the Turks from the coast of the Red Sea, and de-
mand that the English and French flags be pulled
down, and all Europeans driven out of the country.
The primary cause of this rise has been the publica-
tion of the anti-slavery proclamation and tho depo-
sition of the old Shereef of Mecca. The East India
Company's sloop Elphinstone is to proceed to Jed-
dah, to protect English subjects.
The Pasha has annulled his order for the prohi-
bition of the exportation of wheat and Indian corn,
which will be permitted as heretofore.

FRANCE.

The Paris correspondent of the Times (Second
Edition), in his letter dated yesterday, says :--
"The last dayo the
new of
nth yeare sank in
andcloud genialand
mist. The firstyear 1855
rises in amild
sky ; and the sun, which had been hidden from our gaze
for many days, again shone out in this busy city. Let
us hope it is an omen of success for the important work
we shall soon be called upon to do. Another year has
passed rapidly away. It was but a minute fraction of that
portion of eternity called time, yet in it were crowded
events important as any in the history of the world.
i
for ever, like the tide which Mirza beheld
thas
g n
gone
ne
through the broad valley which stretched out
him as he stood in contemplation on the high
before rolling
hit of
Bagdad. The tide still flows on as then, issuing
from thick mists at one end, and disappearing amid im-
penetrable clouds at the other. That year was marked
by events whose consequence no mind can foresee or
conjecture. It has seen the man whose power hung for
years over Europe like the sword overthe head of Damocles,
and whose name spread terror among the weak andeven
awed the powerful, struck down in the fulness of his
pride with a suddenness that was appalling. It has seen
the stronghold which was at once the defence of his vast
dominions and the instrument of his future conqueBt,,
which was at once his boast, his pride, and his defiance',
and whose capture by a foe seemed nob to be within the
range of probabilities, levelled to the dust. When that year
began we had asyet hardly recovered from amazement at
the hardihood which decided the invasion of the Crimea ;
we had so long slumbered in peace that we never thought
our waking would be amid the din of war—and of a war
with Russia. But not the least wonderful of the changes
it witnessed was the extinction of the old enmity between
the Saxon and the Gaul. It has seen a Sovereign of
England make a triumphal entry to the capital of her old
enemy, and welcomed by the acclamations of a multitude,
among whom might have been thousands who took part
in the last battle which it is to be hoped will everbefought
between two such people ; and it has seen the arrival of
another Monarch whose arms are united with our own
in the same noble cause, and whose flag is the emblem of
religious and political freedom at home, and perhaps the
precursor of the unity and independence of another fair
portion of Europe. Great as these events were, they will
probably be surpassed by those that are yet to come. The
lesson we have given in the East has to he repeated in the
North, awl the nations long sunk in lethargy may yet
awake to the sound of our cannon, and rally round the
banners which bring them independence.
"A levee was held at the Palace of the Tuileries this
day, pursuant to the announcement published is the
tlloniteur.
civil, military, and ecclesiastical, the Senate, the
IC was attended by all the authorities,
Legislative Corps, and the other constituted bodies
of the State. The Diplomatic Corps was also in atten-
dance to pay their reapecta on the 000404 of the new