The Sun.
London, England, 1826-01-20 00:00:00

CO NSTA TI NE.

The ithilit;`Of CosisTasTrme has now been
placed heyondeVery reasonable question.
ampled as :this,eventlias heen,,both in its apparent
willingmeis and qiitet, since the age of Chnrb,,
V., it is little wonder Ulna it should have;stirred
op, HI a Very nonsual degree,, the slumberin,t,
ehoneitti, of conjecture trod itoonislithent,
is indeed so much in' the naine blazonry ot
poWer—so much of lofty fisditntion for
every gallant feeliug, and of promied indoi,
genre for every base elle--L,semething so sedue-
live in its bold and uncompiinioned eVolUtions,
in the luxuries of its prosti adulation, and in
the I-I retch of its terrible ,arm.--that till cases.,
nod wore I,Werially 'yin-. 'aro, ry alit to,
plumzed into amazement, eitll,4 at the coward
blindness which could seek a shelter fromsuchist
blaze of glory,, or at the magnanimity which
could soberly despiseif. By his present conduct,
Constantine appears to have proved himself
el 6,„,. a coward or a philosopher—a colVard tai
have faintly quailed under the load or perils of:
sintiripated empire, or a philosopher to have inane
fully rejeCted them. Nor is each of the supeo-
Siiions without its appropriate entletrrastnedts.
The child of war, and not tmfrequeittly of
ConqueSt---4he 11aiuihaI of the northern
world, do'veted,' ut the very altar, to enter_
prize • and blood,—s‘veoping, in his -Sanguinary
.and broken course, frOM ' Marengo to the
Mosquamust not very readily or rashly
be sospected of the 'nne,:—ner is a ',alt.,'
bred sensualist, already the Viceroy of Poland,.
to be very easily endowed With the twit lilies
of the other. There is in all 'this.a mystery not
easily to be' penetrated. The procures which
have been officially put forth are too weak to
e 07.491 even 'the- most -common mnlerstatulings.
The letters, receipts, suppleinents, manifestoes,'
under colour of which this-abdication 'has "been
advanced, are, perhaps the most dr' yelliftg
and contradictory that we're ever trinde.to Shelter
an extraordinary event. If Constantine Is, its he
informs tts. so Utterly incapable of empire, why
did lie accept, anti that too, against the.constitu•
:lion, the poor governs sot of Polartd.? Why lir"
he date from. a throne that it. is unfit to be a
king ?' Why,' too, does he reserve in his rejec-
tions of tire full hafnium of despoti the toise.i
rablecruMb of a pn rtialand subordinate authority?
By what rule of reason, besides, are a mighty •
people to be tanght to believe that a governor of
Mature age, of-tried capacity, and of large expee
Hence is (pile unable' to command them—while
they are on to obey a raw, obscure, and irreg.,
solute youth, in the known leading-strings Cif ata
ambitious mother ? Why is it, if tlkis resignation
be really so old, that the Minds of the people, and
the army were not long ago prepared for it ?'
Why is it that A lexander himself is made
so readily to accept the rejection of his.
hest soldier and most favoured relative ?
How are we to be told, too, that this old and
irrevocable resolutioo, was never previously sig.
!dried in public or in private, by the slightest
writing or declaration Arid how are we to inut,
gine, as is insinuated by the. Grand Doke
cholas himself, that he, the person most 'favoured
and most concerned, Was kept altoeether igno-
rant of hiar StleeeSsloll ?' Why was tilt stale 'mgt...
entry of a proclamation gone through at all in fas
your or consenpane ; or beinggone through, why'
was. he not himself upon the spot to explain and
fortify his renunciation ? Either there is great,
falsehood or great blundering in all this. There•
is in it either a total falsehood, the fit Punish-•
mentor mitich would be the total deprivation of
that crown which has thus been tossed about like
a bauble without a master—or a blundering the.
most insolent and disrespectful to the feelings'
and goverment of a mighty nation which has
yet been written down in the history of the
world. Is it not awful that the succession to o
throne, the most ,important: of all events in at
country where,that throne is absolute, should be
treated as an affair of mere sportive adoption
in which fifty millions of subjects have no cause
of inquiry or concern ? What , are we to ex-
pect from the interference in other peoples' at-
fairs, of a race who seem to think their native
population born to no rights but despotism, to
no, duty hot obedience ? Bat, these perions,
whatever unconditional authority they breathe
or have beep bred in, must have a serious care.
The army' has shewn that it can and will
resist the 'open defiance of their, predilections ;
and! in Russia the resistance of the army is in-
staotaneous: destruction. The same uniform
Which strangled Paul is yet the badge of the
pillars of the Russian throne. As to the new
policy of :Russia,' there Can be very little reason-
able prophecy. Nicholas has no character or a
hid one.' He is said to want, what .no despot
can want and live, a spirit of determined-resolu-
tion; The hope of his subserviency to, an ume
bilious mother, if it has in any way occasioned
his elevation, Will, if verified, assuredly aeon ).
plish hi; destruction. He has only to look on
the bloody roll in which the names of his long
line "of apron led progenitors are inscribed. Let
hint remember the same fate which .made him LI
despot has deprived him alike, of sympathy and
defence. For Princes of his clasp there ,is no
'quiet or middle course. They must employ their
power, Or its delegation will destroy them- :They
rule actually, forcibly, or they die.---(Edinbores
Obserrer, 'Jan. 17.) • ; '

consnquenco of the neatliel breaking the
fishing, ntlil boats %sere enable to coint.. to
Billingsgate ye,,ieriitly.