The Sun.
London, England, 1821-12-24 00:00:00

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]

• We' have very substantial reasons for believing
that orders have been given by the Vienna Ca-
Linet that the. Austrian troops, stationed in Si-
cily, should evacuate the Island, and proCeed on
to Upper Italy, that is, to the neighbourhood of
Milan and Lombardy, and, in all probability,
these unexpected instructions are now carrying
into execution. The Austrians have in Palermo,
and the other Sicilian towns, a division of from
to 10,000 men, and with a less.number they cer-
tainly could not have 'enforced obedience there.
This sudden dete'rmination, which by its conse-
quences will eventually affect the whole of Italy,
must, of course, "be attributed to some very im-
portant cause. Well-infarmed per Sons at Vienna
di) not hesitate to state it as their opinion, that
this movement is connected with some Change of
policy with regard' to Russia, anti they argue
thus :—lf Austria takes part with Russia,- in the
schemes in which she is now engaged, these
troops would be useless in Sicily, in the event of
a- war, as they would fall a prey to the British
and their. Allies, being isolated and' at a distance
froM .any point d'appizi. .If, on the contrary,

Austria is to be Oppi)sed to Russia, she will be in
want of these men, to emplby them against her
antagonist. The 'great and, general question, at
the present .moment, no doubt, is, what part will
Austria take, in case of a rupture ? This evacu-
ation of Sicily, however, may have been resolved
upon partly. on account or theidisposition- evinced
inFrance towards Austria, which certainly is
every thing but favourable at the present crisis,
knd an `aPprehension for the safety of the North
of Italy, which can hardly fail to avail itself of
So favourable a conjuncture. Indeed, a report
is already* current in France; that the countries
at the foot of the Alpi are already in an insurrec-
tionary state.

[MORNING POST.]
French Papers to the 2.lst' inst. arrived yester-
day. The calm which followed the lme.e?cplo-
ion had not yet been disturbed, and though the
Chambers had :each had a Sitting,
~no trial of
strength had Yet take.' place between the Ex=
Ministers and their successors. 'The only intern-
'kquce of interest In these' Paperi relates„ to '.the
Grecian- war; for the contest has assume. d a cha-•
.racter raisesit'abov the-nature of an in=
'Snrrection. It is no longer 'a' 'series of partial,
struggles, divided, in poiu,t:of time and place,
against a superinr 'eneniyi in possession of.all -the
;s,frong cities and resources of the country. •Tt is
the connected' trid:universal rushing of a people
Yong oppressed but unbrolin in spirit" and
rolling back on all sides the defeated armies

of., its tyrants. It is also no 1,w2.,e r a soll-'
tarp effort. .The aid delayed or denied b)
Christian Princes, has been furnished by the
Persian worshippers of .Allah, and whilst the
Porte loses fort after fort, and province af-
ter province in her Grecian dominions, the
proud capital of her Asiatic Empire, the great
and magnificent Bagdad is said to have opened
her gates to the warriors. of Persia. Even the
Austrian Observer, the official Journal of a Chris-
tian Court, and the constant advocate of Maho-
metat, power and cruelty, has at last been com-
pelled, by the force of events, to drop that tone
of joyful confidence with which it anticipated the
total suppression of the Greeks, and to express
its alarm for the fate of Turkey in the following
terms The future will chew us how the
Porte will succeed in extricating itself from this
labyrinth. But what is evident, and what all will
easily conceive, is that revolution like that_of
the. Greeks, which was commenced with forces
so inconsiderable, and against which the whole
Ottoman power has not been able:to effect any
thing of importance, is not likely to be put down
by a single branch of that power ; and yet the
Divan must of necessity divide its fortes, if it
will not abandon to the Persians, its most dan:
serous and irreconcileable enemies, the whole of
.Asia Minor, that magnificent cradle of the
Turkish empire." Such language on the part of
the Austrian Observer may be considered as de-
cisive on the question of Grecian independence.
INt were not the opinion of the Austrian Court,
its public expression would not have been al-
lowed.

[NEW TIMES.]
That there are two great causes propelling.
Russia to war cannot be denied-Lambition and fa-
naticism—that there are two causes operating in
a contrary direction is, we believe, equally in-
contestable—the personal wish of the Emperor
for peace, and the inadequacy of the 'finances to
support an expensive war. So far as Russia alone
is considered, no doubt the two former of these
causes far outweigh the two latter A. thirst for
extended Empire has been, from the time of Peter
the Great, the distinguishing feature of the policy
pursued by the Russian Cabinet. The natural
tendency of despotism is towards universal Mo-
narchy. Such were the views attributed by their
respective cotemporaries to Charles V., and
to Louis XIV. In our own days, Buonaparte
made the most open efforts, and the most sac-
cessful progress toward the attainment of such
an object ; but in disclaiming such ambition on
hiss-oWn part, he declared (see the Moniteur of
the 24th July, 1805,) that he " .perceived, in
futurity, the Russians oppressing the whole
world, as they now oppress the North, and-ar-
riving by degrees at that universal Monarchy,
'with the- dread of which Europe had so long been
filled." It is beyond a doubt, that the personal
-character of the Emperor Alexander is marked
with great Uatural moderation in the exercise of his
*power, as Autocrat of the most extensive empire in
the world. We believe him sincere, too,in the piety
which dictated a Holy Alliance in support of the
Christian principles of religion, peace, and public
-order. Nevertheless the reign even of this vir-
tuous Monarchs has seen additions of immense
extent made to the dominions befOre possessed by
Russia. She has acquired by. treaty the- second
half of Swedish Finland, and a large portion of
what now constitutes the kingdom of Poland :
she has enlarged her frontier on the Black Sea,
and the Caspian ; and by a late Ukase, she has
claimed the North-west' coast of America, so far
to the South► as to include many of t`►e British
discoveries.