The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-14 00:00:00

acted, without orders, and even against positive
instructions to the contrary, would be a species of
tyranny, to .which we have had no parallel since the
days of-the Star Chamber and General Warrants.
Lord Joll' RussELL has his part to play of pre-
tending great zeal for electoral purity ; but, at the
same time,.the real interests of his party are best
served by doing the least, while professing to do
the most.

Tim PREMIER still holds out a lingering hope
of the dispute between Russia and Turkey being
settled by negotiation, but the surest guarantee
for peace will. be found in the vigorous preparation
for war. The EMPEROR of RUSSIA, as we ventured
to predict, has.driven his pretensions to the verge
of forbearance, and now, the sooner we are pre-
pared at both points—the Black Sea and the
Baltic—the nearer shall we approach:to the long-
desired settlement. The British lion appears to
have been effectually aroused : a naval force suffi-
cient to sweep the Black- Sea is already there, and,
in a very few weeks, an equally powerful fleet will
shut up the northern ports of Russia. At the
same time, British troops will be dispatched by
powerful steamers to the scene of action ; and
should the now- demanded concession not be
speedily made, a blow will be struck from which
Russia will not easily recover, demolishing the
work of years of stealthy aggression, and restoring
that balance of power which she has so long been
silp,tly destroying. With ample materio. for
attack by sea and land, tho hardy mountaineers of
Cfrcassia supplied with ammunition and reinforce-
ments, and Austria compelled to be neutral for her
own preservation, Russia, notwithstanding her
vast territory, will be hemmed in on all sides,
while conditions of peace will be dictated to her
from the cannon's mouth far more stringent and,
humiliating than would have been accepted before
force had been resorted to. In the unsuccessful
mission of Count OBLOFF to Vienna and Berlin,
Russia has exhausted her arts of diplomacy, and
shown the strong anxiety of the CZAR to secure by
any means, but peacefully if possible, the retention
of the Danubian provinces, and his coveted pro-
tectorate of the Greek Church in Turkey. It is
now also evident that the extremity to which the
quarrel has been driven is mainly owing to the
vacillation displayed by the English Cabinet. The
EMPEROR was not to be convinced by diplomatic
professions that England was sincere in her de-
termination to preserve the Turkish dominions
from Russian aggressions ; and now, when words
are being followed up by deeds, he has advanced
too far to recede with honour or credit. Any con-
cession at the present time will be a confession of
defeat, unless an ingenious excuse can be devised
as a means of retreat, and we are rather inclined
to think that the skill of Count NESSELRODE will
be exercised to frame such terms of surrender as
will salve the wounded honour of his master, and
at the same time satisfy the demands of the
Western Powers. It may not, however, be so
easy, for, after raising an addition of more than
ten thousand men to the British army, and adding
more than a million to the navy estimates, to say
nothing of the expenditure incurred by France, it
may be a question whether Russia should not be
called upon for compensation for expenses already
incurred, as well as for guarantees against any
future disturbance of the peace of Europe.