The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-27 00:00:00

THE WAR.

THE :raising of • the-‘siege of Silistria by the
Russians, -a circumstance which we ventured-last
week to predict as not :improbable, has presented
the war 'in a new and more encouraging -aspect.
The mighty force • which, under the flower of- the
Russian generals, was designed to crush all
opposing forces, and march triumphantly towards
Constantinople, While- the allied fleets are sweeping
the Black Sea in vain,• has itself been beaten back ;
and the Turks, even before they received the aid
which was ;hastening to• them, have assumed, the
offensive and-driven the, hordes of Russians before
the victorious Osmanlies. Austria has been so
dilatory that ler aid has -not been wanted, and
soon we may expect to hear that the Turks, with the
assistance of the 'British and French forces, which
must by this time have • reached the advance4eut-
posts, have driven the discomfited Russians not
only across the Sannbe but also across the Pruth.
'This is the gretlest advantage which we may
texpect to gain ;Jr-this quarter, as any attempt to
.carry the war far -into the Russian territory would
be as impracticable as 'the attempt made by
'NAPOLEON BIJONAPAATE in
.181% and, whether
successful or not, as fruitless of results. The only
means by which we eanhope to obtain a guarantee
' for !the future peace of ;Europe, is :by the capture
or destruction of Sevastopol, and for .this end all
available forces should beunited and every exertion
tried. It is the stronghold and ,mainstay of
Russian influence in the Black Sea, proving a
shelter for her fleets, and commanding the whole
coast of -the Crimea, as well as the mouths of the
Danube, of such vast importance to freedom of
commerce., ,and also the ports of Odessa:and other
places on the west coast of the lack Sea, -the Sea
of Azov, and-the territories formerly wrested by
Russia from Turkey. The day of retribution-is at
hand, and as the gauntlet has been thrown down
by Russia, by her unprovoked aggression on the
Danubian provinces, there is no reason why we
should be content with merely a return to the
state of affairs last year, when there are so many
old grievances remaining to be redressed, and no
doubt can now exist as to the boundless character
of Russian ambition. The Black Sea, so long
shut up, is now open to our fleets, but the future
must be placed on a footing so as not to require an
armed force to maintain its freedom, and this can
only be accomplished by depriving Russia of her
stronghold, and lending our fostering aid to the
independence which the hardy mountaineers of
Circassia have struggled so long to maintain.

We have come to look on the war with Russia
a 3 one in which we are almost sure to be successful,
so far at least as preventing her meditated grasp on
Turkey; but wehave scarcely bestowed any attention
on the ultimate result, or speculated on the effect of
that dowufal of Mohammedanism, which it seems
tobe the settled conviction of mostpeople will shortly
ensue. It is certainly an anomaly in the progress
of civilisation that the two fairest spots in creation;
Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia, should be
under the grinding despotism of the Moslem—the
enemies of all progress, all science, and all improve-
ment—while the majority of the population- are
nominally Christians, but their Christianity is of
so debased a character, that it is questionable
whether it is any better than the Islamism of their
rulers. There are, however, signs of a breaking
up wlliel4 may augur favourably for the future,