The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-09-19 00:00:00

THE WAR WITH RUSSIA

NOTWITHSTANDING the many months which
have elapsed since the note of war was sounded,
and all were on the qui wive to witness the de-
parture of our troops for the East, the question of in-
terest is still as to the progress of affairs, the pro-
bability of victories,. and the prospects of peace.
For weeks we have been amused with announce-
ments of an immediate attack by the combined
forces on the fortress of Sevastopol ; but all the
positive information we have, is, that a powerful
expedition has sailed from Varna, supposed to be
destined for the Crimea, and that, in a short time,
we may, possibly, hear that the long-expected
event has, at last, taken place. Wa, have, how-
ever, become inured to disappointment, and shall
be content to believe that the Allies seriously in-
tend to act on the offensive when we have authen-
tic intelligence that the Crimea is. being effectively
besieged. After all the vast preparations which
were made at the very commencement of the
season, the powerful fleet in the Black Sea, and
the numerous army which was ready for action at
Midsummer, it is a humiliating fact, that, up to the
middle of September, all that has been done by the
flower of European chivalry is the bombardment
of the outworks of Odessa, a questionable advan-
tage, productive of no results but the loss of the
Tiger steam-ship. It is difficult, then, to avoid
the conclusion, that the real traitors to the honour
of England and the interests of Europe are those
who hold the highest offices in the councils of our
SOVEREIGN.
The correctness of this view is further shown by
the disgraceful termination of the expedition to
the Baltic—of which so much was anticipated.
Who does not remember the confident tone which
was assumed when the fleet was entrusted to Ad-
miral NAPIER, who was feted by Cabinet Ministers
on his departure, and he is reported to have used the
self-confident language, that in three weeks he
would be in St. Petersburg, or a hotter place.
This once popular idol has miserably sunk in esti-
mation, and even those who left their native shores
in full confidence of victory, because " old
Wfl.2 sit their now lament that
they have been made the victims of indecision and
inactivity, by which months have been wasted,
and every opportunity lost, until the ice of the ap-
proaching winter shall drive them from the sea,
and Russia be enabled to place Cronstadt and Hel-
lingfors in a better state of defence. There is no
denying the fact, which must now be palpable to
every one, that the Baltic expedition is a costly
failure, and that Admiral NAPIER has either out-
lived his capability for action, or been the victim of
treacherous orders from home, which restrained
him from doing anything. If this .be so, what be-
comes of the insolent speech of Sir JAMES GRA-
HAM, who openly declared, at the notorious Reform
Club banquet, that he gave the Admiral his full
permission to declare war against Russia, and act
upon the- declaration F Alas ! for the' prestige of
English invincibility, we have been beaten without
a foe, and having indulged in threats to take
Cronstadt and besiege St. Petersburg, our fleet is
retiring without having fired a shot against either.
place—all that we have done being the destruction
of Bomarsund, a mere morning's work for the
small vessels, and the capture of a few Russian
I merchantmen. -

But all this time has not been wasted by those
who seem desirous to settle the question by diplo-
matic craft rather than by the intelligible argu-
ments of hard blows, for negotiations have been
carried on as unremittingly as though no appeal
had been made to the stern arbitrement of war.
It was the anxious desire of England and France
that the German Powers should be enlisted in the
league against Russia, in order to convince the
CZAR, of the hopelessness of the struggle in which
he had embarked; and there is no doubt that, had
this arrangement been promptly and cordially en-
tered into, the prospect of an honourable peace
wonlil have been within the bounds of probability.

Both Austria and Russia have, however, from the
first pursued a tortuous policy, coquetting with
both sides, as if afraid to offend either, until, at
length, Austria assumed a bolder tone, affirmed
the continued possession by Russia of the Danubian